Will summertime TV become a blur of reality and reruns?
Well, mostly. Fox, however, will try some scripted shows – two cartoons– including the new “Housebroken” (shown here) — on Mondays and, sometime in August, a new version of “Fantasy Island.”
The Fox news came shortly after ABC announced an ambitious summer plan, filling five nights with reality (including “Bachelorette”), games and quirks. Fox’s plan, with more coming, has: Read more…
After losing much of last summer to the pandemic, the networks aren’t ready to do it again.
ABC has announced a line-up that has four full nights of non-reruns – or more, if you add in news and sports. That includes a quick return of “The Bachelorette” (now with Katie Thurston, shown here), a slow return of “Bachelor in Paradise” and a flood of games, quirks and reality. Read more…
By now, TV viewers might figure they know every aspect of World War II. Or not.
How about the Swedish-born princess who became Norway’s best lobbyist? Or the bankers behind bars, performing Shakespeare? Or a Spanish diplomat, defying rules to help Jews flee from Nazis? Such stories show up in two PBS shows that debuted on Easter and continue on Sundays:
– “My Grandparents’ War” has British actors learn about their kin. It started with Helena Bonham Carter and now has Mark Rylance (April 11), Kristin Scott Thomas and Carey Mulligan.
– “Atlantic Crossing” traces Princess Martha, the niece of three kings (Norway, Denmark and her native Sweden) and the wife of her cousin, Crown Prince Olav of Norway. In the opener (shown here), they barely escaped the Nazi invasion; on April 11, a plan emerges: Olav will stay in London with his father (the king) and the government-in-exile; Martha will attempt a sea journey to the U.S. with their children. Read more…
The dead will, apparently, keep walking for a while.
Last weekend (on Easter Sunday, oddly), “The Walking Dead” finished its second-to-last season. This Sunday (9 p.m., April 11), “Fear the Walking Dead” (shown here) returns.
But the season-finale also included a key announcement: The final season will start earlier (Aug. 22) and last longer (24 episodes) than usual; it will also have more size and scope. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. A great week of Burns brothers biographies concludes. For three nights, we had Ken Burns’ “Hemingway”; now here’s a beautifully crafted Ric Burns film: In 2015, Oliver Sacks (shown here), 81, learned he was dying of cancer. He spent 80 hours with Burns, who added other interviews. We see the gentle neurologist (depicted in the movie “Awakenings”) who was also a champion weightlifter, an amphetamine addict and someone who painfully buried his homosexuality. Read more…
1) “Rebel” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Erin Brockovich (shown here) was a law-office clerk – a former beauty-pageant winner, with no legal training – when she confronted a utility giant. Using savvy and social skills, she helped get a $333 million settlement. That was back 1993; the “Erin Brockovich” movie arrived seven years later, with Julia Roberts winning an Academy Award. Now Brockovich is one of the producers of this series, with Katey Sagal playing someone a lot like her. Read more…
Last year, one of TV’s best characters arrived.
Matilda, 17, was confident (sometimes), quirky (always), talented and likable. She was also autistic.
And she was, apparently, authentic. Kayla Cromer (shown here), who plays her in “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” (10 p.m. Thursdays on Freeform, starting the second season April 8) is on the autism spectrum.
“I wasn’t coddled,” Cromer, 23, said by phone. And maybe she would have survived Matilda’s ordeal. Read more…
Fan of “procedurals” – the TV dramas that wrap a story at the end of each hour – can get used to this:
For now, there will be lots of spin-offs from existing franchises.
CBS recently announced two of them for next season – a new “FBI” show and a reboot of the first “CSI.” with some of the original stars, including William Petersen (shown here). That comes as NBC airs its new variation of “Law & Order.” Read more…
1) “Kung Fu” debut, 8 p.m., CW. This reboots the 1972 series, but borrows only the basic notion: A Chinese-American studies at a monastery in China, then returns home after a teacher is slain. This time, there’s a modern spin: It’s an all-woman monastery; Nicky (shown here in a rendering) returns to San Francisco with stunning skills and a hint of the supernatural. The visuals and fights are spectacular, but “Kung Fu” also has balance: Nicky’s brother, sister and ex-boyfriend are far from her martial-arts world, adding human depth. Read more…
So there was Michael Colton, getting unemployment checks. That happens to writers sometimes.
And there was his twin, with a very different reality: “He sold a company for about $7 million,” Colton told the Television Critics Association.
Colton’s brotherly reaction to this? “It was all of these feelings of anxiety, mixed with pride, mixed with jealousy and insecurity.”
Then he went to his default position – comedy. The result is “Home Economics” (shown here), which debuts at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 7) on ABC. Read more…
