1) “SWAT.” return, 8 p.m., CBS. After months of alternatives, CBS has re-assembled the line-up that gets strong ratings on Fridays. They’ll have reruns for now, with their new seasons starting Feb. 16. In “SWAT” (shown here in a previous episode), it’s Patrol Day, when the elite team must work the streets. Trouble soon follows. Read more…
1) “SEAL Team.” 9 and 10 p.m., CBS. After a long stretch of comedies (the original, British “Ghosts”) on Thursdays, CBS shifts to military action. Over two weeks, it reruns a four-parter that wrapped up a season on Paramount+. Jason (David Boreanaz, left, in a scene from another episode) takes the team to Venezuela, for a tough mission involving Iran’s nuclear program. Read more…
OK, I know I keep lobbying for all award show to have hosts. The hostless years of the Oscars were borderline dreadful.
But after the Golden Globes (shown here), I realize I should have been more specifics. Shows should:
1) Choose a funny host; and
2) Give him or her time to think of something humorous. Read more…
1) “Nature: Big Little Journeys” opener, 8 p.m., PBS. This three-week series shows small creatures with big migrations. Only one per cent of baby turtles reach adulthood, we’re told; in Canada, we see one try to cross a highway and reach a lake, to avoid freezing. And in South Africa, a bushbaby (shown here, not in a scene from the film) looks for a home. Both encounter creatures – a moose, an elephant, etc. — much larger. Read more…
1) “La Brea” season-opener (shown here), 9 p.m., NBC. In a classic understatement, someone says: “Things look pretty bleak now.” Oh, it was bleak long ago, when people fell through a sinkhole and emerged in 10,000 BC, with mammoths romping. It got worse when a time portal went awry (don’t they always?); Eve was swept away and dinosaurs arrived. Now we’re just six weeks from the Feb. 13 finale. Read more…
1) College football national championship game, 7:30 p.m. ET,. ESPN and ESPN2, with pre-game at 7. This is the finish that fans might prefer: There were two tight semi-finals, eacb unsettled until the final play. Surviving were Washington (shown here)and Michigan, undefeated and ranked No. 2 and 1 when the regular season ended. Now they collide. Read more…
Crafting a new edition of HBO’s “True Detective,” Issa Lopez had opposite impulses.
One was to go with sorta-familiar characters.. “I’d heard that people just write themselves over and over again,” she said, in a press forum. “That might be true.”
And the other was to go with a wildly unfamiliar setting. She did that, too.
“True Detective: Night Country” (shown here) — starting at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, on HBO and Max — gives us Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as police detectives. Tough and relentless, they may have the qualities Lopez hopes to see in herself. “They are also the women that I fear I am,” she said. “They have flaws that I see in myself.”
But the location? This is set in the Alaskan Arctic and filmed in Iceland, a zillion or so miles from her turf. “I’m Mexican, so I was not prepared,” she said. Read more…
The next couple Sundays will be award-show days.
It will be the Golden Globes (8-11 p.m. ET, CBS) on Jan. 7 and Critics Choice (7-10 p.m., CW) on Jan. 14. We’ll end up hearing a lot aboug “Barbie” (shown here); we’ll also get an idea of movies to catch up on.
The shows do have other things to offer: There’s humor from the hosts – Jo Koy for the Globes, Chelsea Handler for the Critics Choice. The Globes also have a full set of TV categories. Still, the important thing may be telling us which movies to look for, pror to the Academy Award nominations (Jan. 23) and ceremony (March 10). Read more…
1) “All Creatures Great and Small” season-opener, 9 p.m., PBS. The sweet, village-veterinarian life will be shaken in this excellent season. Tristan has left for World War II and James, who’s talkimg with Helen (they’re shown here) about having a baby, might be next. Siegfried will soon hire a bookkeeper and a young vet. Tonight brings gentler problems, including a stray dog and a sort-of-stray boy. Read more…
1) Football. The week starts and ends with big games. Today, the college season has its national championship at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN2, with a pregame show at 7. Michigan (shown here) and Washington – undefeated and ranked No. 1 and 2 – collide. Then the pros start their month-long playoffs. There are two games Saturday and three on Sunday, plus one more on Monday, Jan. 15.
Read more…
