1) “Toby Keith: American Icon,” 9-11 p.m., NBC. By one count, Keith (shown here) had 42 top-10 country songs, including 20 at No. 1. In a tribute to Keith (who died of cancer at 62), his music is sung by Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Ashley McBryde, Jamey Johnson and more. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 8-9:30 p.m., PBS. Blake Edwards was known for cinema silliness — “Pink Panther” films (shown here), “The Great Race,” lots of sight gags. But before that was “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” later came films (including “10”) reflecting his depression and mid-life crisis. Here’s a superb portrait of a talented and complicated guy. Read more…
1) “The Bachelorette,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. Jenn Tran (shown here) takes her final three guys — Devin Strader,.Marcus Shoberg and Jonathon Johnson – to Hawaii. After dates via boat, Jeep and helicopter, she invites them for separate “overnight dates.” Tuesday brings the “Men Tell All” episode, setting up next week’s two-night finale. Read more…
As the political conventions ended, networks retreated to their previous lives.
They have new game shows and old cop shows. The election is confined to their newscasts and occasional debates.
With one exception. PBS was the only broadcast network to give all of prime time to the conventions; now it has more coverage. In addition to “PBS News Hour” (7-8 p.m. weekdays on most stations) and any debates, that includes:
— “Counting the Votes” (shown here), 9:30 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 27). Margaret Hoover starts with Jeb Bush and the bipartisan reforms that followed the 2000 election chaos in Florida. She goes on to tour other states and finds, among other things, that virtually every presidential vote is now on paper. (I posted a story on this previously, but I’ll include it at the end of this list.) Read more…
1) “Orphan Black: Echoes” season-finale, 10:07 p.m., AMC and BBC America. A once-promising season spirals into despair. Yes, the slow, pensive style has drawn great performances from Keeley Hawes, Krysten Ritter (shown here) and Amanda Fix. Now, however, that approach creates trouble; people sputter and stall, as disaster nears. Read more…
1) “Toby Keith: American Icon,” 9-11 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. By one count, Keith (shown here) had 20 No. 1 country songs, starting with his debut, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” He died of cancer at 62; now his music is sung by Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Ashley McBryde and more. Read more…
1) Football, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC. Most years, the season starts with a focus on HBCU (historically Black college and university) teams. This time, Florida A&M (shown here) — last year’s HBCU champion with a 12-1 record — faces Norfolk State, which was 3-8 last year. Read more…
1) “Great Performances,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. Amid the beauty of an Austrian palace (shown here), Here’s a high-octane concert by the Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor Andris Nelsons opens with Wagner, closes with waltzes and has propulsive numbers in between, led by “Sabre Dance.” Lise Davidsen, who often sings of death and despair, gets a burst of Verdi joy. Read more…
1) Baseball, 7:15 p.m. ET, Fox. While other networks cover the Democratic convention, Fox will go with (varying by region) Braves-Phillies or Astros-Orioles. And at 7 and 9:30 p.m., TruTV has “Field of Dreams” (shown here, 1989), the beautifully written gem that has Kevin Costner build a baseball diamond in his corn field. Read more…
Phil Donahue, who died Sunday at 88, reflected a time when we could find neat surprises in odd parts of the day.
There were entertaining shows – Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres. And there were the two masters who could do it all – Donahue (shown here) and Oprah Winfrey.
And yes, those entwined. As a kid, O’Donnell would rush home from school to watch Griffin; Winfrey has said there would be no “Oprah” show if there wasn’t a “Donahue.”
Those two might talk lightly with stars one day … do family issues the next (Donahue even had on-air DNA tests) … then tackle major issues. Read more…
