Day: March 28, 2022

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 30: crack crisis, Covid crisis, more

1) “Snowfall,” 10 p.m., FX; rerunning at 11:02, 12:04, 1:06. We’re in the aftershocks of the fierce attack that almost wiped out Franklin’s crack-dealing empire. Louise and others want revenge on Kane (whose brother Kevin was killed by Franklin, who’s shown here in a previous episode) and Peaches. Leon resists. “It’s about Black bodies in the street,” he says. “It’s about our people wiping each other out.” And – in a strong, pivotal episode for him – the oft-violent Jerome is torn between the two. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 28, 2022
Stories

Comedy springs from a working-guy gamble

In the real-life, regular-guy world of Tom Smallwood, this was a long shot.
He was a laid-off autoworker, the son of an autoworker, in a factory town. His people got steady paychecks, but he was going to take a chance. At 31, married with one child, he took a detour.
He “decided, against all odds, to follow his dream of becoming a professional bowler,” said Brian d’Arcy James, an actor-turned-producer. That’s at the core of “How We Roll” (shown here), the comedy that debuts at 9:30 p.m. Thursday (March 31) on CBS. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 28, 2022
Stories

At the edge of civilization, country stars vary

If you think all country-music singers are alike, try this simple experiment: Plunk two of them into the Panama jungle.
That’s what “Beyond the Edge” (9 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS) did, dropping Craig Morgan and Lauren Alaina into the jungle, alongside seven other celebrities. The result?
— For Alaina (shown here, front), it was overwhelming at first. She recalls “going, ‘Are we alive? What’s happening?’”
— For her country colleague, it was sort of natural. “Without Craig Morgan, none of us would be alive now,” Paulina Porizkova, a former supermodel, said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 28, 2022
News and Quick Comments

Oscar documentaries are on TV now

In the aftermath of the Academy Awards, we can still see some of the nominated documentaries.
Short docs? The winner (“The Queen of Basketball”) airs at 6:30 p.m. Monday (March 28) on the NBA channel; another nominee, “When We Were Bullies,” is 9 p.m. Wednesday on HBO.
Feature-length docs? “Writing with Fire” (shown here) has its TV debut at 10 p.m. March 28 on most PBS stations, under the “Independent Lens” umbrella. With that in mind, I’ll rerun a recent story I wrote about “Fire” and “Lens”: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 28, 2022