1) Academy Awards, 7 p.m. ET, ABC. This one should actually be fun. There’s a clever host — Jimmy Kimmel (shown here), for the second straight year and fourth overall. There are movies – led by “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” – people have actually seen. And there’s music: Billie Eilish, Becky G, Jon Btatiste, Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson, Scott George and the Osage Singers. Read more…
When you’re traveling, ii seems, you might settle for sorta-good.
Things are rarely perfect. In his second season of “The Reluctant Traveler” (which starts March 8 on Apple TV+), Eugene Levy found:
— An island hotel at the northern edge of Germany. The setting was “absolutely gorgeous,”he told the Television Critics Association, but there was a wellness theme. “You couldn’t get a cup of coffee there. You couldn’t get a glass of wine. You have to fast for three days.”
— A Swedish town (shown here), filled with cute buildings, sweet people and “mosquitoes – like a lot of mosquitoes. Like, it was a very thick season for mosquitoes.” Read more…
1) “Grey’s Anatomy” season-opener, 9 p.m. Thursday, ABC. One of the last shows to return post-strike, this is one that people miss. It’s the 20th “Grey’s Anatomy” season, tying it with “Gunsmoke” for No. 3 among dramas (trailing two “Law & Order” shows). It opens with a doctor (Teddy) and patient (Sam) in peril. Meredith is re-thinking her research and interns (shown here is Harry Shum Jr.) are immersed in a tough case. Read more…
1) Oscar prep. On Academy Awards eve, here are two best-piicture nominees. “Past Lives” (7:15 p.m., Showtime) is also up for best original script; it’s extremely slow and subtle, sort of the opposite of a soap opera. “American Fiction” (8 p.m. and midnght, MGM+) is up for adapted scriipt, music, actor (Jeffrey Wright, shown here) and supporting actor (Sterling K. Brown). It has a wonderfully clever plot Read more…
As Oscar night approaches, things seem promising. On a night with Barbie (shown here) and Oppenheimer and Kimmel, this could be fun.
The Academy Awards used to be great fun – clever monologs, big music numbers, sly presenters and (remember these?) movies people had seen in theaters.
Then things deteriorated. There were three dreary years, 2019-21, with no host (and, in one case, no primetime songs). There was little to watch except tedious speeches.
The result was harsh: In 1998 (Billy Crystal hosted, “Titanic” won), 55.3 mllion people watched in the U.S.; in 2021 (no host, “Nomadland” won), that was 10.4 millon. But now the fun returns. Here’s an overview of this Sunday, March 10: Read more…
1) “SWAT,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. For the second time in four weeks, this ambitious show (shown here in a previous episode) has a two-parter. This time, the parts air together: A Chilean arms dealer kidnaps a woman and her daughter in Los Angeles. Then bikers steal a cache of armor-piercing bullets; the team tries to catch them before they can pull off a heist. Also, there are personal crises for Tan, Nichelle and others. Read more…
CBS has found another way to feast off its past hits.
Next season, it will have a comedy with Montana Jordan and Emily Osment (shown here) continuing their “Young Sheldon” roles as Georgie and Mandy.
That comes one day after the network cast a prequel, looking at the earlier years of Leroy Gibbs, whom Mark Harmon played in “CSI.”
This new one, however, is unusual. It’s a spin-off to a spin-off and a sequel to a prequel. Read more…
After a sluggish stretch, post-strike, the Fox network is now a-swirl with new projects.
This week (March 4-6), the network is launching three new nights. That includes some scripted shows, after months when Fox (cartoons excluded) had none.
Now Fox has set its summer reality-show plans, including the return of Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne (shown here) and the addition of Lisa Vanderpump. It has also set other projects, including a sort of male strip special. Details include: Read more…
1) State of the Union address, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. In an election year, this speech is crucial; so is the Republican response (by Katie Britt, a U.S. senator from Alabama), set for 10 p.m. If you insist on skipping these, we’ll list alternatives (one is shown here) for most time zones; then we’ll view the 8 p.m. hour. Read more…
If “Young Sheldon” works, then why not a “Young Leroy Jethro”?
That’s sort of what CBS hopes to do, but it will entitle the show “NCIS: Origins.”
The network has announced the casting of Austin Stowell (shown here in a previous role with Lucy Hale) in the lead role. He’ll play an early version of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the “NCIS” hero. The show will be narrated by Mark Harmon … just as Jim Parsons narrates “Young Sheldon,” tracing the early years of the guy he played in “Big Bang Theory.” Read more…
