Day: December 6, 2021

Pandemic resilience: Mitchell and mega-concert return

Standing in a massive – and empty – concert hall, Brian Stokes Mitchell (shown here) had a bittersweet feeling.
He’d been there years earlier, when it was packed with sound, spectacle and people. There were 21,000 in front of him then, more than 500 more behind him in the chorus and orchestra.
And now? “The bitter part was that there weren’t any people there,” he said. “But the sweet part was that we were still able to make a show. We were still able to celebrate.”
The result is “20 Years of Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir,” airing twice on PBS (8 p.m. Dec. 13 and 24) and four more times on BYU TV. It offers epic moments in the past and adds a few new ones. We see Mitchell singing alone with a pianist – and, in an amazing number, backed by 300-plus choir members, each recorded separately at home. Read more…

Best-bets for Dec. 8: tense moments, from Vegas to a volcano

1) “CSI: Vegas” finale, 10 p.m., CBS. Since its debut (shown here) in October, this has focused on a key story: Evidence suggests Hodges faked his lab work. His old friends (Grissom and Sidle) have been trying to show he’s been framed; if they fail, he’ll go to prison and countless convictions will be thrown out. Now – in the 10th and final episode of the season (and maybe the end of the series) – Hodges is missing. His friends desperately search for him. Read more…

Once a camcorder cheapie, “Sunny” makes TV history

In the 72-year history of TV’s situation comedies, one show now has a top spot.
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (10 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays on FXX, then on Hulu) has started its 15th season. That puts it above “Ozzie & Harriet,” as the longest-running sitcom (cartoons excluded). And yes, that surprises:
– Some of the show’s stars. Glenn Howerton and Caitlin Olson (second from left and center( have never seen “Ozzie & Harriet” – which ended a decade before they were born.
– John Landgraf, the boss of FX and FXX. This success, he said, would have seemed “impossible when we first watched the pilot shot on a home camcorder and made for $200.” Read more…