Best-bets for Nov. 17: Shakespeare plus a streaming spree

1) “Making Shakespeare: The First Folio,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. When Shakespeare died in 1616, about half of his 36 plays had been published. The rest – including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest” and “Julius Caesar” – could have faded away. But two friends, using stage copies and more, made the era’s biggest and most expensive book. This documentary has fascinating details … plus, oddly, long looks at “Hamlet” (shown here), which is not one of the shows that was rescued. Read more…

1) “Making Shakespeare: The First Folio,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. When Shakespeare died in 1616, about half of his 36 plays had been published. The rest – including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest” and “Julius Caesar” – could have faded away. But two friends, using stage copies and more, made the era’s biggest and most expensive book. This documentary has fascinating details … plus, oddly, long looks at “Hamlet” (shown here), which is not one of the shows that was rescued.

2) “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain,” Peacock. The guys who make those hilarious “Saturday Night Live” videos now try a full movie. Some moments – with the low-key quibbling of friends – are great; others strain way too hard to turn a 30-minute idea into a 94-minute movie. But with help from Bowen Yang and Conan O’Brien, it adds up to low-impact fun.

3) MORE STREAMING. One day after returning “The Crown,” Netflix adds more: “Rustin” tells of the man who showed civil-rights leaders the art of peaceful resistance; the animated, eight-part “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” has a reluctant teen hero. Three days after the compelling start of “A Murder at the End of the World,” Hulu has a documentary on dancing dogs. Also, Apple TV+ enters Godzilla turf for the international 10-parter, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.”

4) EARLY CHRISTMAS: Disney+ (yes, more streaming) has already started the second season of Tim Allen’s “The Santa Clauses”; now it adds a family movie, “Dashing Through the Snow.” Also, at 8 p.m., there’s a new film on Hallmark (“Navigating Christmas,” with a divorcee and her son at an island lighthouse) and reruns elsewhere. Freeform has Allen’s “Santa Clause” movies at 4:30, 6:30 and 9; TBS has Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation” at 8 and 10.

5) “Blue Bloods,” 10 p.m., CBS. This reruns the episode centering on the wedding of Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) and his police partner, “Eddie” Janko (Vanessa Ray). As it nears, Jamie’s sister starts to doubt Eddie’s honesty. Their brother Danny probes a victim’s complicated love life and their dad, the police commissioner, argues with top brass.

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