1) “Accused,” 9 p.m., Fox. Whitney Cummings (shown here) gives a perfect performance – subtle, layered, deeply moving – in a strong episode. Cummings is known for fun; she’s a brash stand-up comedian, creator of her own show (“Whitney”) and co-creator of “2 Broke Girls.” She plays a stand-up comic here, but the story soon veers into dark turf. We won’t reveal any plot points, but it’s a tough and disturbing hour. Read more…
1) “The Voice” opener, 8-10 p.m., NBC. Two new coaches – Niall Horan (shown here) and Chance the Rapper – arrive, facing the show’s big winners: In 22 editions, Blake Shelton has had nine champions and 14 runners-up, sometimes simultaneously; in eight tries, Kelly Clarkson (back from a one-edition break) has had four champs and a runner-up. Reba McEntire will be the mentor for all four teams Read more…
For almost 40 years, Mel Brooks has inhabited Nick Kroll’s comic mind.
Kroll was about 5, he says, when he munched a fish stick and proclaimed, “It’s good to be the king.” It was a start.
“Some of my very first laughs ever (were) from me parroting Mel Brooks,” Kroll told the Television Critics Association. “And many, many years later, nothing has changed.”
Now he’s assembled an all-star project: “History of the World, Part II”(shown here), an eight-part sequel to Brooks’ film, airs (two per day) on Hulu, Monday through Thursday (March 6-9). Read more…
1) “Gone With the Wind” (1939) and “Casablanca” (1942), 4 and 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. A week from the Academy Awards, TCM fills its line-up with great films. That peaks here, “Wind” is ranked No. 6 on the American Film Institute’s best-film list; “Casablanca” (shown here, with Dooley Wilson and Humphrey Bogart) is No. 3. They’re sandwiched by the epic “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) at 12:30 p.m. and “The Way We Were” (1973), a lushly emotional Streisand/Redford film, at 10.
Read more…
1) Academy Awards, 8-11 p.m. ET Sunday, ABC. For three dreary years, the Oscars had no host and little fun; one year even exiled songs to the preview year. The show bounced back last year and should be fine now. Jimmy Kimmel hosts, something he does well. There’s music by Rihanna, Sofia Carson (shown here), David Byrne and more, plus an “American Idol” hour afterward. And there are some films – “Avatar,” “Elvis,” “Top Gun: Maverick” – people have seen. Read more…
1) “Kids Choice Awards,” 7 p.m., Nickelodeon channels, plus CMT, TV Land, and MTV2. Each year, this offers lots of star and slime. This year’s hosts are Nate Burleson of “NFL Slimetime” and Charli D’Amelio, who was slimed two years ago. There’s music by Bebe Rexha (shown here) and Young Dylan and a career award for Adam Sandler. Presenters include Pete Davidson, Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina, Chris Pine, Halle Bailey, Seth Rogen and more. Read more…
Movie moguls used to have a consistent image.
As portrayed (in films and stories and such), they were big and blunt. They drank a lot, smoked as lot, didn’t read much. They definitely weren’t cherubic-faced book nerds.
That’s what makes this surprising: Reese Witherspoon has become one of Hollywood’s top producers.
Yes, that Reese – the one who convinced us she was a ditz in “Legally Blonde” movies. After lots of success in the past – from “Gone Girl” to “Bright Little Lies” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” – her company, Hello Sunshine, has four series streaming this spring:
— “Daisy Jones & the Six” (shown here) starts Friday (March 3) on Amazon Prime. A richly crafted series about a fictional rock band, it’s filled with characters who are deeply flawed, yet deeply fascinating. Read more…
1) “Grand Crew” season-opener, 8:30 p.m., NBC. After a so-so first season, “Grand Crew” bounces back with a terrific episode, focusing on its two best characters. Noah (Echo Kellum, shown here) is a hopeless romantic, ready to marry his girlfriend so she doesn’t get deported to Canada; Nicky, his sister, is skeptical about love and is hiding a romance. Noah has a funny flight of imagination and then a frantic rush to the altar, while friends have their doubts. Read more…
1) “Alaska Daily” return, 10 p.m., ABC. This well-acted drama stepped aside mid-crisis, for a 15-week break. Now it’s back, with Eileen (Hilary Swank, shown here, a two-time Oscar-winner) at gunpoint. Once a star reporter, she’s rebuilding her career at an Anchorage paper. She exposed officials’ corruption and their indifference to the disappearance of native women; she’s also made an enemy, who now holds a gun. Read more…
1) “True Lies” debut, 10 p.m., CBS. Back in 1994, this was a fun James Cameron film, with Jamie Lee Curtis unaware her husband (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was a master spy. In this modern update (shown here), that won’t do; the wife (Ginger Gonzaga) learns quickly about her husband (Steve Howey) … then trains to work with him. This gets a silly at times; criminals seem awfully easy to defeat. Still it offers a rare TV blend — action and glamour, spiced with humor. Read more…
