Year: 2024

Best-bets for Nov. 5: The election … and alternatives

1) Election. TV people are quite serious about this one – what with the future of the free world and such. So they’ll start early and stay late. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on PBS; 7 on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox; and 8 on CW. The cable news channels started approximately in July. And yes, we’ll list alternatives, including “Mary Poppins” (shown here). Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 4: vampires, cops and elections

1) “What We Do in the Shadows,” 10 p,m., FX. Three weeks from its finale, this terrific show pushes its stories into overdrive. Nandor (shown here, left, in a previous episode) realizes that for a while – well, for centuries – he’s drifted from his role as a great commander. Now he’s organized an army that seems suspiciously invisible. Stick with this episode, because the final minutes pack surprises Read more…

It’s a wild world — even in our cities

These used to feel like different worlds.
There were humans, with their cities and streets and such. And somewhere beyond, there was nature.
“Nature was ‘other,’” filmmaker Nate Dappen said. “It was something that you went to find and it wasn’t happening here.”
Until we found it everywhere. An example is “San Diego: America’s Wildest City” (shown here) at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 6) on PBS, under the “Nature” banner Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 3: monsters & zombies, funny & not

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. “Treehouse of Horror” again has three tales – all of them weird and some very funny. The first is timely, as political rage creates red and blue monsters (shown here). The second (a Scrooge take-off) is so-so, but has a funny closing bit. The third is clever (albeit very adult); at the Pants For the Amply Rumped store, Homer gets killer jeans. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Nov. 4: election … and alternatives

1) Election, Tuesday. It’s finally time to end the voting and start counting. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on PBS; 7 on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox; and 8 on CW, plus earlier on news channels. This takes patience; last time, it wasn’t final until Saturday. But at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart (shown here) has a live hour: “Indecision 2024: Nothing We Can Do About it Now.” Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 2: Mulaney on “SNL”; country stars at fundraiser

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. John Mulaney (shown here) hosts “SNL,” which is his home turf. He was a writer there for five years, co-creating the Stefon character. Since then, he’s hosted five times (plus five uncredited visits). Chappell Roan has her first time as music guest; her “Midwest Princess” album was No. 2 on the Billboard chart.
Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 1: cops in crisis, joy in afterlife

1) “Coco” (2017), 8:30 p.m., Freeform. A Mexican tradition has Nov. 1 as “Day of the Dead,” a time to think of departed ancestors. So it’s logical that today Freeform airs this gem, with a boy entering the Land of the Dead (shown here). Freeform will show it Saturday and ABC will have its turn Sunday. The film won Oscars for best song (“Remember Me”) and best animated feature. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 31: Halloween with ghosts & Elsbeth

1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. Mac wakes up on Halloween-with a haircut, a hangover, a tattoo, an arrest and a foggy notion (a nightmare? a memory?) that she shot someone. She’s a former child star, beautiful and clueless; now Elsbeth (in Halloween costume) investigates. Brittany O’Grady (center) is terrific as Mac, in an hour that’s clever and fun Read more…

Preston’s husband becomes her “Elsbeth” foe

So there is some logic to the TV world, after all:
Michael Emerson will soon be a recurring character on “Elsbeth,” the show that stars his wife, Carrie Preston. (They’re shown here.)
That starts Dec. 12, with Emerson-playing Milton Crawford. CBS says he’s a “haughty, soft-spoken judge” from a prominent New England family.
And yes, that combination has always seemed logical. “I would love, obviously, to have my husband come on the show,” Preston, 57, told the Television Critics Association session in July. Read more…