Year: 2023

Best-bets for Feb. 28: “Black Broadway” leads a strong night

1) “Black Broadway,” 8 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Here are some of the best musical moments you’ll see on TV, back-to-back. After a bland overture (the only weak point), Corbin Bleu blasts a “Ragtime” anthem; soon, Nova Payton (shown here in a previous PBS special) sings from “The Color Purple” and “Dreamgirls.” These are potent, passionate songs that were first performed by Blacks. Stephanie Mills does a “Wiz” ballad she debuted 49 years ago, but mostly it’s a splendid showcase for young stars. Read more…

This year’s Oscars could be fun. Really.

As the Academy Awards (March 12 on ABC) get closer, the signs are encouraging: This time, these people want to entertain us.
That hasn’t always been the case, you know. Two years ago, the main ceremony swept everything aside; it had no host, no songs, no fun.
That concluded a three-year stretch of hostless gloom. The Oscars bounced back last year with three hosts and some splendid songs from Beyonce, Billie Eilish and Reba McEntire. And now:
— Already announced is music from Rihanna (shown here), from Sofia Carson and from a combination including David Byrne and the Son Lux band. With luck, Lady Gaga is next. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 27: “Alert” and “AGT” conclude

1) “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” finale, 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. After their son Keith vanished, Jason (Scott Caan, shown heree) and Nikki drifted. He struggled after returning from the military; she became a missing-persons cop and is engaged to a colleague. In the opener, they found a teen who seems to be Keith. Now these episodes wrap that up, alongside other cases. The two villains are way too similar and overwrought, but if “Alert” isn’t renewed, it’s had a strong finish. Read more…

“True Lies” truly brings action-adventure fun

There’s a type of story that movies savor and TV rarely tries.
It’s high-octane action-adventure, sometimes with comedy tossed in. It might have James Bond or Charlie’s angels or the bad boys or the folks from “Ocean’s 11” or “Fast and Furious” films.
“It’s mainly a movie genre,” said Matt Nix. But now he’s adapted the 1994 “True Lies” movie into a series (shown here) that airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS, starting March 1. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 26: “Red” returns, witches leave

1) “The Blacklist” season-opener, 10 p.m., NBC. For nine seasons, “Red” Redington (James Spader, shown here) has been one of TV’s most distinctive characters. Rich and clever, he’s a likable crook who smites unlikable ones. As this final season starts, we see him only briefly – but see his impact as an apartment explodes. Soon, FBI agents are busy – and are meeting a key new character. This serialized tale leaves everything in limbo, but remains fascinating. Read more…

Reluctantly, he discovered fresh vistas

This is the sort of job many sane folks would cherish.
It’s a travel show to Italy, Costa Rica, Maldeves and more. It “visits some of the world’s most beautiful and intriguing destinations,” said Rita Cooper Lee of Apple TV+.
And it centers on Eugene Levy (shown here) … who says he really didn’t want to go.
“I’m not a great traveler,” Levy told the Television Critics Association. “I don’t have a great sense of adventure. I’m not curious by nature. I’m not proud of any of this, but it’s just a fact.” Which fits “The Reluctant Traveler,” an eight-week debuting Friday (Feb. 24) on Apple. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 25: Women rule award show

1) “NAACP Image Awards,” 8-10 p.m., everywhere. For a while, this was billed as “only on BET”; then common sense prevailed. This ceremony – strong on starpower (including Viola Davis, shown here) – has usually had a broadcast network, often NBC of Fox. This time, it gets CBS and many of its sister networks – CMT, VH1, MTV, TV Land, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, TV Land, Paramount Network … and yes, BET, which follows with two advance episodes of “The Ms. Pat Show.” Read more…

Week’s top 10 for Feb. 27: CBS soars with “Lies,” “Survivor,” more

1) “True Lies” debut, 10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. In the 1994 movie, Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t know her husband (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was a master spy. In this amiable series, that part vanishes quickly. The wife (Ginger Gonzaga) learns (shown here) about her husband (Steve Howey) … then trains to work with him. This gets a tad silly at times; master criminals seem awfully easy to defeat. Still it offers a rare mixture — action and glamour, mixed with bits of humor. Read more…

CBS renews most of its line-up

CBS’ line-up next season will look a lot like the one this season.
A lot.
The network announced Tuesday that nine more shows (including “CSI: Vegas,” shown here) have received early renewals for next season. That makes 19 so far; it gets easier to see which ones haven’t yet been renewed.
Only two scripted shows – one new (“East New York”) and one old (“SWAT”) – remain in limbo. That’s three if you count “True Lies,” which will debut March 1. Two others – “Blue Bloods” and “NCIS: Los Angeles” – had already announced that this is their final season. Read more…

Best-bets for Feb. 24: revisiting Jedi and divas

1) “The Mandalorean,” 8 p.m., ABC, Freeform and FX. Here’s the first episode of a “Star Wars” spin-off (shown here) that has made a big splash. In each of its first two seasons, it won seven Emmys, for sets and stunts and such; in the second, it also was nominated for best drama series. Now this sampling will try to lure us to sign up for Disney+ and see those seasons, plus the third, which starts Wednesday. Read more…