Year: 2022

Best-bets for Aug. 17: an “Abbott” mini-marathon

1) “Abbott Elementary,” 8-10 p.m., ABC Arriving at mid-season, “Abbott” has soared. It swept the Television Critics Association awards – program of the year, plus best new show, comedy and comedy individual (Quinta Brunson, shown here); it also has seven Emmy nominations, including best comedy. Now ABC celebrates with four reruns, starting with the pilot. At 8:30, Janine (Brunson) tries to know her colleagues better. Then come a step-dance class and “desking. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 16: Dramas debut, ancient bikini returns

1) “Devils” season-opener, 9 p.m., CW. With sleek visuals, this European series makes financial schemes feel like tech thrill rides. In the first season, Massimo battled his ex-mentor (Patrick Dempsey; they’re shown here) and took control of a mega-bank. Now we jump between crises – Brexit in 2016, Covid in 2020 – that created financial chaos. There are murders, past and present, and careers wobble. It’s hard to follow some of the fiscal-babble, but easy to feel engaged. Read more…

For a lawyer, hulking up can be tricky

Most women know this feeling, we’re told:
People keep making impressions based on physical appearance. They think one thing if you’re dressed dourly in a lawyer’s suit; they think another if you’re 6-foot-7 and green and …
OK, maybe that exact experience isn’t universal. But it’s what we see in “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law” (shown here), a nine-week series that starts Thursday (Aug. 18) on Disney+.
“‘She-Hulk’ is an extreme version (of what) every person – especially every woman – goes through,” said Kat Coiro, the show’s head writer. “Just dressing up changes the way that you’re perceived.” Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 15: Call “Saul,” one last time

1) “Better Call Saul” series finale, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 10:38. A great series concludes. Since this is a prequel, we know where part of it is headed. We know Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk, shown here), re-dubbed “Saul,” will be the scheming lawyer working with the “Breaking Bad” guys. But in the flashforward scenes after that, he’s bottomed out. His wife has left (a flashforward showed her new life in Florida); he calls himself “Gene” and has done a cruel theft. We’ll see how or if he survives. Read more…

There’s another “Alien” oddity: a happy Asta

When you hang around with an outer-space alien, you can expect some changes in your life.
Now Asta Twelvetrees has experienced huge ones. In the next “Resident Alien” episode (10 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17), she even feels joy.
“I was a little shocked with the ‘Happy Asta’ segment,” said Sara Tomko, who plays her. “I had to talk to Chris (Sheridan, the showrunner), like, ‘What does Asta look like when she’s happy?’”
Don’t worry; that phase won’t last long. Nothing does in the Harry Vanderspeigle world. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 14: Four seasons end, one begins

1) “Masterpiece: Grantchester” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. It’s been a terrific season, a quick rebound from the drab “Masterpiece: Endeavour.” Alongside some solid mysteries, there have been personal crises for Geordie (lost in an alcoholic funk) and Will (shown here, center, last season), who dallied with a temptress while overlooking Geordie’s good-hearted niece Bonnie. Last week, Geordie’s wife let him return home; now come more key moments, including another murder of a homeless man. Read more…

Lifetime line-up: Heche, “Bad Seed,” true-crime, more

Anne Heche’s next film – an intense one – is ready to air on Sept. 17.
An Aug. 5 crash left Heche (shown here) in a coma and she was later pronounced dead. he’d aslready finished “Girl in Room 13,” which has been edited and is ready to go. “She did a phenomenal job,” said director Elizabeth Rohm.
Heche plays the mother of a young woman (Larissa Dias) who has disappeared. It’s a fictional story, done with Polaris, which tracks human trafficking.
That’s part of a flurry of movies Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network discussed today (Aug. 11) with the Television Critics Association. They include: Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 13: Movies have Diana, DeBose, “Desire”

1) “The Princess” debut, 8 p.m., HBO. This feels like a wonderfully mismatched triple-feature. HBO’s new Diana (shown here) documentary is surrounded by Oscar-winning performances in terrific 2021 films. At 5:30 p.m., Will Smith is an unstoppable tennis dad in “King Richard”; at 10, Ariana DeBose is a potent Anita in Steven Speilberg’s superb “West Side Story.” Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Aug. 15: dragons, da Vinci & reality

1) “House of the Dragon” debut, 9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, rerunning at 10:10. Towering over everything else is this “Game of Thrones” prequel (shown here). HBO spent a reported $200 million on the 10-episode season, which started filming 16 months ago. Set 200 years before “Thrones,” the show has newcomer Emma D’Arcy as the princess and dragonrider. Sci-fi fans will spot Matt Smith of ”Doctor Who” and Olivia Cooke of “Ready Player One.” Read more…

It’s the end of the “Breaking Bad” world

Vince Gilligan was getting ready to close his “Breaking Bad” world … again.,
He’d already done this once, wrapping up “Breaking Bad” in 2013. He killed the main character and saved his colleague, drawing lots of praise and some dismay.
Now he’s at it again. At 9 p.m. Monday (Aug. 15) on AMC — rerunning at 10:38 — the acclaimed “Better Call Saul” (shown here) has its series finale. Did he feel pressure to do it right?
“If we don’t win the Nobel Prize for winning this, I’ll be highly disappointed,” he joked to the Television Critics Association. Read more…