The coastal expanse of Northern Ireland seems to be waiting for a tough murder mystery.
Now it has one. “Bloodlands” (shown here) opens Monday (March 15), for a four-week run on the Acorn streaming service.
“The idea came from that very distinct sense of place,” writer Chris Brandon told the Television Critics Association. He wanted “a story that really used the landscape of Northern Ireland.” Read more…
1) Grammy awards, 8-11 p.m.ET, CBS (5 p.m. PT, rerunning at 8:30). After 40 years, Ken Ehrlich – creator of the “Grammy moments” mash-ups – has retired from producing the show. He avoided comedians, but now now Trevor Noah hosts. Performers include Billie Eilish (shown here), BTS, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard and Megan Thee Stallion, plus DaBaby, Lil Baby, Bad Bunny, Doja Cat, Black Pumas and country’s Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Mickey Guyton. Read more…
1) “Genius: Aretha,” opener, 9 and 10:08 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic; rerunning at 11:05 p.m. and 12:12 a.m. Few humans could match the awesome range and talent of Aretha Franklin. Cynthia Erivo (shown here) can. In these first two hours (of a four-night, eight-hour run), she ranges from gospel and soul to jazz and a gripping ballad. She’s also a gifted actress, in a story that bounces between Franklin’s youth and early career, but has a sameness – type-A guys (her dad and her husband) intruding on greatness. Read more…
1) “Kids Choice Awards, 7:30-9 p.m., Nickelodeon, rerunning at 9:30. Kenan Thompson hosts and Justin Bieber (shown here) performs – a year later than expected. Bieber was scheduled for last year, until the show was delayed two months and done virtually. This one will also be virtual, but he’ll sing “Anyone” and (with Quavo) “Intentions.” His wife Hailey will appear; so will Kim Kardashian, Lin-Mamuel Miranda, Gal Gadot, BTS, Millie Bobby Brown, Anthony Anderson, Jennifer Garner, Tiffany Haddish and more. Read more…
1) The Maltese Falcon” (1941), “Casablanca” (1942) and “Citizen Kane” (1941), 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight ET, Turner Classic Movies. A great era im filmmaking is celebrated here.. Each movie was shot stylishly in black-and-white, with a smart script and strong characters. Humphrey Bogart stars in the first two; Orson Welles stars in “Kane,” which he also directed. The American Film Institute puts it No. 1 on its all-time list, with “Casablanca” No. 3 and “Maltese Falcon” No. 31. Read more…
Summertime television may be back to normal – or close to it – this year.
NBC has announced a prompt start for two audience favorites (“America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior”) and a critics’ darling (“Making It,” shown here).
“Ninja Warrior” will start Monday, May 31, with “Talent” the next night. “Making It” is two days later, on Thursday, June 3. That compares to last summer: Read more…
1) “Coronaversary.” It was a year ago today that the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Now Joe Biden plans a speech at 8 p.m. ET; in Eastern and Central time zones, the networks will nudge their schedules back 20-30 minutes. That’s on a big night for ABC (shown here), when its dramas return. And a “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Coronaversary Show” is set for about 11:55 p.m. ET on ABC. Pete Buttigieg, who guest-hosted the show a year ago, will be there, with Kimmel, Joel McHale and music guest Adam Duritz. Read more…
Alanis Morissette’s life seems to be in perpetual transition.
She was a tween, doing peppy dance songs. And a teen, writing songs of pain and rage. And a grown-up, at the top of the music world. And a latecomer to Broadway success.
And now? “I watch animated shows … a lot,” said Morissette, 46. “I have a 10-year-old son and that’s mostly what we do.”
She also co-stars in one of those shows. In “The Great North” (8:30 p.m. Sundays on Fox), she plays herself (appearing inside the aurora borealis, shown here, in the Alaskan sky), chatting with a teen girl. Read more…
1) “Chicago P.D.,” 10 p.m., NBC. Easily the best of NBC’s three Chicago dramas, “P.D.” sometimes surprises us with a great episode. It did that at the end of last season, when Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins, shownhere) reported on a bad cop; now it finds a way to isolate him with Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) and a White cop arrested for shooting a Black student. Here are the show’s best characters – one Black, one White, both fiercely honest but with differing perspectives. The result is beautifully written and acted. Read more…
“The Masked Singer”is back, with its layers of illusion.
The performers (shown here in a previous season) are masked, the voices are altered and the studio audience is make-believe.
“We want to give people something that takes them away from the reality,” Robin Thicke said.
That reality is COVID-scarred. Performers sing to an empty theater; Nick Cannon, the host, was replaced by Niecy Nash for the already-taped first half of the season (8 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox, starting March 10), after he tested positive. Read more…
