Year: 2024

Best-bets for July 9: Double-Feud leads game surge

1) “Family Feud: Decades of Laughs,” 8 p.m., ABC. It’s been five decades, almost. “Feud” did daytime for eight years on ABC and five on CBS, was gone for a while, then did syndication and prime time. From Richard Dawson to Steve Harvey (shown here), it’s had sharp hosts and a clever concept. This hour offers some of its funnier moments. Read more…

Best-bets for July 8: season-openers for dating and drama

1) “The Bachelorette” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. A big week for ABC — with four season-openers and two specials –starts with Jenn Tran (shown here), the first Asian-American star of a “Bachelor” show. She’s 26 and near a Master’s Degree in clinical medical studies. She’ll meet 25 men, ranging from a med student to guys who focus on wine and pet portraits.
Read more…

Here comes TV’s summer, Part II

No one seems to agree on when summer starts.
Many people say June, but the TV networks disagree. Two (NBC and Fox) started their summers in May; the others aited until July.
So now we get a mid-summer surge on ABC and CBS. It includes new seasons of– five game shows, plus “Big Brother” (shown here from last season), “The Bachelorette,” a light-hearted judge show and even a few specials. Read more…

Best-bets for July 7: more sharks, more dramas

1) Sharks (shown here), Discovery. The 37th annual “Shark Week” begins, with reruns during the day and new hours (21 of them) at night, hosted by John Cena. . The first two are in New Zealand — a 29-foot fake whale stirs a feeding frenzy (8 p.m.), a 60-foot real one battles a shark (9).Others, in California and Australia, are at 10 and 11. Read more…

Best-bets for July 6: feuds begin, sharks continue

1) “Celebrity Family Feud,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. This fun show is scooting in to save ABC’s summer. A special, viewing some of the funnier moments from 48 years of “Feud,” will be 8 p.m. Tuesday, with the season-opener at 9. First, here are three reruns; contestants include the casts of “Yellowjackets” (shown here) and “Drag Me to Dinner.” Read more…

Best-bets for July 5: from comedy to piercing drama

1) “Snowpiercer” marathon, noon to 9:15 p.m. AMC. A train keeps circling the frozen Earth. Inside (shown here) are survivors – the only ones, perhaps – of the eco-disaster; also inside are class-struggles and a murder probe. That’s the set-up for a richly crafted series that TNT ran for three seasons, then abandoned. AMC which starts the fourth and final one July 21, shows us the start. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for July 8: ABC starts its summer spurt

1) “The Bachelorette” opener, 8-10 p.m. today, ABC. A big, busy week for ABC starts with the first Asian-American as a “Bachelor” show’s star. Jenn Tran (shown here) is the daughter of Vietnam immigrants, she’s 26 and near her Master’s Degree in clinical medical studies. She’ll meet 25 men, ranging from a med student to guys who focus on wine and pet portraits. Read more…

Best-bets for July 4: a flashy, fun Fourth

1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m., PBS; repeats, 9:30-11. Each year, this offers a zesty blend of music, followed by fireworks (shown here). This time, the music is from Motown great Smokey Robinson and Broadway’s Fantasi aand, Darren Criss, p;lus Loren Allred, Chloe Flower, Sheila E, Sister Sledge and Fitz & Noelle fom Fitz and the Tantrums. Read more…

Best-bets for July 3: “Hope,” heat and Eddie Murphy

1) “Hope in the Water,” 9 p.m., PBS. At an Asian market, we’re told, you might find 35 kinds of fish. Most Americans, however, focus on three – tuna, salmon and shrimp; others are caught here and exported. This hour views ways to stir interest in the others. Shailene Woodley (shown here), the “Divergent” star, sees people turn sea urchins into a delicacy. Read more…

He was a micro-budget movie master

Hollywood has people who think big, talk big, spend big. Budgets soar.
But then there was Roger Corman, who died last month at 98. He made kinda-good movies on really awful budgets. Now they’re featured in three Wednesday marathons on Turner Classic Movies.
Wedged into 28 hours on July 3, 10 and 17 will be 18 movies – some of them scary (including “Masque of the Red Death,” shown here) some of them frantic, none of them expensive. Read more…