Year: 2021

Best-bets for Nov. 18: grief on ABC, fun on CBS and cable

1) “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” 8 and 9 p.m., ABC. It’s Thanksgiving on both shows, as people try to deal with last week’s tragedy. Dean Miller was killed in an explosion. (Okieriete Onaoowan, who plays him, wanted to leave the show.) Vic, his sometimes-girlfriend, was shattered; Ben (Jason George, shown here, center) promised that he and Bailey (from “Grey’s Anatomy”) would raise Dean’s son. Now the firefighters link with Station 23 for the holiday; at the hospital, Bailey and Richard seek emergency surgeries. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 17: The Thanksgiving laughs begin

1) “The Goldbergs,” 8 p.m., ABC. Many of TV’s best comedy episodes have centered on Thanksgiving – when people are thrown together in fresh ways. Now this year’s crop starts here. Linda Schwartz plans afeast; Beverly Goldberg – whose daughter is engaged to Linda’s son – gets competitive. Also, Beverly (shown here at the head of the table) is surprised when her father-in-law (Judd Hirsch) brings a new “lady friend.” Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 16: superheroes, super troubles

1) “The Flash” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. Now for something really big: This show– which finished its seventh season in July – starts its eighth with a five-week epic. The world is in peril (again) and all of the superheroes – well, all the ones in CW’s universe – are needed. A villain named Despero arrives; The Flash assembles his friends. We quickly see Brandon Routh as The Atom (shown here with The Flash); also on the way are Batwoman, Green Arrow, Black Lightning, Sentinel, Damien Darkh and Reverse Flash. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 15: strong drama in fiction and fact

1) “Ordinary Joe,” 10 p.m., NBC Most weeks, this leaps nimbly between Joe (James Wolk) in three variations of his life – a rock star (married to Amy), nurse (married to Jenny) and cop (unmarried). Tonight, however, the focus is sharply on Amy, beautifully played by Natalie Martinez (shown here with Wolk in a previous episode). She’s dating Cop Joe and pondering the future with a friend of Nurse Joe. But the real power comes alongside Rock Star Joe: Amy is a congressional aide whose boss has just been killed; tonight’s final 10 minutes pack fierce emotions. Read more…

Week’s top 10 for Nov. 15: music, holidays, more

1) “American Music Awards,” 8-11 p.m. Sunday, ABC. Eleven days after airing the Country Music Association awards, ABC has more music. One song, “Butter,” links BTS and Megan Thee Stallion. Others will link Carrie Underwood with Jason Aldean and New Edition with New Kids On the Block. Also performing are Kane Brown, Bad Bunny and Olivia Rodrigo (shown here), who leads with seven nominations. She’s up for artist of the year, alongside BTS, Drake, Taylor Swift, Aiana Grande and The Weeknd. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov.14: On a busy night, Adele reigns

1) “Adele: One Night Only” (shown here), 8:30-10:30 p.m., CBS (but 8-10 p.m. PT). At 33, Adele is already one of the all-time great singers and songwriters. Her first three albums won 15 Grammys; the second is this century’s highest-selling album. Now the fourth – her first new music in six years – goes on sale Friday. In this special — filmed outside the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles — she does some of its songs, plus past hits. She also sits with Oprah Winfrey, discussing her marriage, divorce, weight-loss and raising her son, now 9. Read more…

Stockwell’s child-star years get TCM focus

To many TV viewers, Dean Stockwell was the actor who filled catchy supporting roles in “Quantum Leap” and beyond.
But Stockwell was also a child star. On Nov. 22, a Turner Classic Movies marathon will have seven films he made before he was a teen-ager, including “Kim” (show here with Errol Flynn) and “The Secret Garden”; most of them were dead-serious, many had crying scenes.
Stockwell died Sunday (Nov. 7) at 85, six years after he had a stroke and retired from acting. By then, people knew him as a supporting actor on “Quantum Leap” (getting four Emmy nominations), “JAG” and “Battlestar Galactica.” Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 13: holiday flurry & Swift “SNL”

1) “A Picture Perfect Holiday,” 8 p.m., Lifetime. We’re still 12 days from Thanksgiving, but Christmas movies abound. The Hallmark Channel started new ones before Halloween; at 8 p.m. today, it has “My Christmas Family Tree” and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has “Christmasin My Heart.” Now others jump in. At 7 and 11 p.m. ET, UPtv debuts “A Snowy Christmas.” At 8, Lifetime has Tatyana Ali (shown here) of “Fresh Prince,” as a fashion photographer; on a reluctant vacation, she meets a willdlife photographer. Read more…

They fought for the U.S. … which then wanted to deport them

John Valadez had become an expert on subjects of bias, law and Mexican-Americans.
Still, this was new to him: Two brothers (shown here), both U.S. war veterans, said they were fighting deportation.
“I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him,” Valadez recalled. “It seemed really weird.”
But it turned out to be true. The result – almost a decade later – is “American Exile,” at 10 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 16), on PBS. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 12: music masters & Disney’s day

1) “Great Performances,” 9-10:15 p.m., PBS. Yes, we know John Williams as the guy whose music propels “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and many more. But he’s also a gifted conductor and classical composer. Williams, 89, conducts the debut of his 32-minute violin concerto for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (shown here in a previous concert). They stay for a “Star Wars” love song, then depart; the Boston Symphony carries the rest of a strong musical evening. Read more…