Year: 2022

Nat Geo gives Disney+ a surge of nature epics

Two potent forces – Covid and Disney – could have blunted the National Geographic Channel.
Or not. Courteney Monroe, president of National Geographic Content, told the Television Critics Association that her projects are bigger and busier than ever. She announced a flurry of them — some global (including a new version of the 2010 “Great Migrations,” shown here) and one stretching for a decade.
All of those will go straight to the Disney+ streaming service, skipping the linear outlets — National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild. But Monroe insisted that neither channel will be trimmed back “and shows from the linear channels will find their forever homes on Disney+.” Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 11: Commotion amid water, ice and snow

1) “The Perfect Storm,” 7-10 p.m., AMC. After this, we really will be afraid to go near the water. “Jaws” (1975) is at 8 p.m. on BBC America, on the same night that Mark Wahlberg is in two movies about real-life disasters. “Deepwater Horizon” (2016) has a fire on an offshore oil rig; “Perfect Storm” has Wahlberg (shown here) and George Clooney as mariners, as weather extremes converge. “Jaws” is a classic; the others were well-crafted, each nominated for two technical Oscars. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 10: Former Big-Bangers bring laughs

1) “Call Me Kat,” 9 p.m., Fox. It’s time to celebrate Mayim Bialik’s busy stretch. While many shows duck into reruns during the Olympics, she has four-and-a-half new hours each week. At 8 p.m. (Tuesdays through Fridays, for two weeks), she hosts ABC’s “Jeopardy National College Championship.” And tonight also brings her likable (if lightweight) comedy (shown here). In this episode, Kat (Bialik) spies on the boyfriend of her mom (Swoosie Kurtz); also, the guys try yoga. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 9: U.S. has gold-medal prospects

1) Winter Olympics, 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., NBC. For viewers who prefer events with American contenders, here are two big finals, both live. There’s the women’s snowboarding halfpipe, with Chloe Kim (shown here), who won in 2018 at 17. And there’s men’s figure-skating: Nathan Chen is a three-time world champion, but finished fifth in the 2018 games. The winner that time, Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, is trying to be the first guy in 94 years to win the event three straight times. Read more…

Super Bowl Sunday? Here’s a guide

For sports fans, TV viewers and other humans, this will be too much – WAY too much – of a good thing.
It will be Super Bowl Sunday AND the Olympics. NBC will have quarterbacks, speedskaters, rappers (including Kendrick Lamar, shown here), linebackers, gospel singers, ice dancers, a country star and commercials. Lots of commercials.
It will also have hours of people talking about football … at the same time that a sister channel (the USA Network) ranges from the dazzle of freestyle skiing to the non-dazzle of curling.
It’s a busy blur for viewers … and a busier one for Mike Tirico, who anchors the Olympic in Beijing and does play-by-play of the Super Bowl in Inglewood, Cal. Here’s a guide to the day (Feb.13); times are ET and, except where noted, shows are on NBC Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 8: Stars of song, slopes and school

1) TONIGHT’S MUST-SEE: “American Masters,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Just 51 weeks after PBS had a splendid Marian Anderson profile, here’s an even better one. Last year’s film focused on the peak: Banned from the segregated Constitution Hall, Anderson had a triumphant concert (shown here) at the Lincoln Memorial. This film includes that, but has a deeper profile of a winding life – a phenom at 8, a high-school grad (finally) at 24, a star who performed for royalty, but sat in the back of the bus. Read more…

His super analysis goes back decades

On his final day as a football player, Cris Collinsworth displayed his skill as an analyst.
That’s what he’ll be doing on Super Bowl Sunday. When his old team, the Cincinnati Bengals, faces the Los Angeles Rams (6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13), he’ll be in the NBC booth with Mike Tirico.
But in the Bengals’ previous Super Bowl, on Jan. 22, 1989, he was a receiver. His team had just gone ahead of the 49ers 16-13, with three minutes and 20 seconds left. As Bengals coach Sam Wyche recalled it in “Super Bowl Sunday: The Day America Stops” (Addax Publishing, 2000), Collinsworth (shown here in his playing days) “came over and elbowed me and said we may have left too much time.” Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 7: jeans and skaters everywhere

1) “American History: Riveted: The History of Jeans,” 9 p.m., PBS. At first, jeans were just supposed to be sturdy and practical; cowboys and farmhands could wear them forever. Then they were worn by everyone from civil-rights protestors to hip hop stars to model (including Brooke Shields in the ad shown here). They became fashionable … and expensive; they were ripped and faded (on purpose). It’s a fun and fascinating story. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 6: all athletes, great and small

1) Olympics, 7-11:30 p.m., NBC. The figure-skating team portion concludes with finals in three popular categories – women, pairs (shown here in 2018) and dance. Also in prime time, NBC has live coverage of the women’s alpine giant slalom (which then concludes from midnight to 2 a.m.) and women’s freestyle skiing. Men’s freestyle skiing is live at 1:30 a.m. on USA. There’s more all day, including the USA network’s live coverage of U.S.-Switzerland women’s hockey, at 8:10 a.m. , rerunning at 5 p.m. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Feb. 7: a super (and Olympic) time

1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC. It’s a battle of newcomers: Until this year, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (shown here) hadn’t won a play-off game in his 12 seasons; the Cincinnati Bengals hadn’t won one in 31 years. Now they collide, with the world watching. The Rams were 12-5 during the regular season; the Bengals were 10-7, in a remarkable turnaround. Two years earlier, they were 2-14; that brought the first draft choice (Joe Burrow) and new life. Read more…