Country-music people keep finding ways to have TV specials in a COVID era.
Now come two more announcements – a CBS special with Garth Brooks (shown here) and Tricia Yearwood, Dec. 20 on CBS, and the line-up for an intimate “CMA Country Christmas,” Nov. 30 on ABC. That comes shortly after CBS announced a Dolly Parton special, Dec. 6 on CBS. Read more…
David E. Kelley is finally back where he started – writing and producing for a broadcast network.
He did that for a quarter-century – from “L.A. Law” and “Chicago Hope” to “Ally McBeal,” “The Practice” and “Boston Public.” He was the master at crafting intelligent and entertaining TV over 42-minute stretches, plus commercials.
And then he left – until now. “Big Sky” (shown here, 10 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC) is Kelley’s first broadcast-network show since “Harry’s Law” ended its lone season eight years ago.
“I was not anxious to get back to the broadcast world for a lot of (reasons),” Kelley told the Television Critics Association last month. “Mainly the commercials.” Read more…
1) “For Life” season-opener, 10 p.m., ABC. Aaron (Nicholas Pinnock) is a jailhouse lawyer – literally. He got a law degree in prison and uses it to help fellow inmates. (Pinnock is shown here with Dorian Missick.) But as the second season begins, there’s a bigger goal: This is based loosely on the true story of Isaac Wright, who won his own freedom and became a defense lawyer in the outside world. Now Aaron has a complex plan to get his conviction overturned. Success would let him try to rebuild his shaky relationship with his wife, his daughter and the world. Read more…
1) “Big Sky” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. David E. Kelley has written the best shows on broadcast (“L.A. Law,” “Boston Public”), cable (“Big Little Lies”) and beyond (“Goliath”). Now he returns to broadcast, adapting a novel. We meet two sisters, on an empty Montana highway … and a lonely trucker who lives with his badgering mother ,,, and a highway patrolman in a wobbly marriage. And Cody (Ryan Phillippe, shown here), surrounded by two women – his detective partner and his ex-wife. Soon, they’ll intersect. Read more…
1) “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” season-opener (shown here), 8:30 p.m., CBS. Last season’s best new comedy returns, picking up the pace a bit. Last season, Bob slowly and drolly tried to romance Abishola, the Nigerian native who had nursed him back from a heart attack. Now he wants to move faster, but her world is crowded and complicated; that includes aunt, uncle, son, jobs and (back in Nigeria) traditions and a marriage that was never formally ended. This opener, as usual, is a splendid mix of humor and warmth. Read more…
1) “Fargo,” 10 p.m., FX. This is pure “Fargo” – strange and cryptic, yet brilliantly crafted in its own weird way. At the core is Rabbi Milligan (shown here in a previolus episode), a pawn in the 1950 Kansas City power struggle. As a kid, he was twice traded to opposing families, in a futile attempt to keep peace; then a trade gave him young Satchel. Now they drive the backroads, eluding danger. A mostly black-and-white episode, with hints of “Wizard of Oz,” it’s the sort of episode in which nothing happens … until everything does. Read more…
1) “American Music Awards,” 8-11 p.m. Sunday, ABC. Ten months ago, Jennifer Lopez teamed with Read more…
1) “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “Bull,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. This was supposed to be a big night for CBS – a collision between high-scoring Alabama and Louisiana State football teams. But the game was postponed due to COVID at LSU, leaving the network with reruns of unspecified episodes. “Bull” will have its actual season-opener Monday; before that, “NCIS: LA” (shown here) has its second new episode Sunday. Read more…
1) “The Blacklist” season-opener, 8 p.m., NBC. For seven seasons, Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader, shown here in a previous episode) has been pointing Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) and the FBI task force toward big-deal villains. Now he has another, named Roanoke, who specializes in extracting people. He also has bigger problems: Keen is finally bonding with Katarina, who is her mother … and a former Soviet spy … and maybe one of the only people who know Red’s true identity. Read more…
Just as the fall TV shows belatedly arrive, there’s a bonus: Two networks – ABC and Fox – have announced mid-season plans.
For ABC, that ranges from “The Bachelor” on Jan. 4 to “American Idol” on Valentine’s Day. For Fox, it includes January starts for six scripted shows – five of them returning, plus a new comedy that Jim Parsons is producing, with Mayim Bialik (his “Big Bang” wife) as star – along with “Hell’s Kitchen” and the new (shown here) “Masked Dancer.”
Read more…
