For the next week, our TV sets will become history machines.
Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, with ceremonies at the 9/11 memorial (shown here) and beyond. Much of the coverage will be packed into Friday and Saturday, but there will also be a couple earlier reports.
Here are some of the highlights. Afterward, I’ve included three separate stories that I posted last week: Read more…
I don’t usually reprint press releases here.
Come to think of it, I NEVER reprint press releases. But this one is too good to ignore.
The basic background: “Seinfeld”(shown here in its wonderful Chinese-restaurant episode – which is, of course, the best comedy in television history – will move to Netflix on Oct. 1. Instead of sendig a standard release, Netflix dispatched the following:
Hollywood, CA — Netflix will launch 180 episodes of a situational comedy called ‘Seinfeld,’ created by rising New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who wrote for Saturday Night Live for a single season. Read more…
Scrambling to fill pandemic holes, TV people searched internationally.
Occasionally, they found winners. NBC had Canada’s “Transplant”; CW has Canada’s “Coroner” and New Zealand’s “Wellington Paranormal.” And PBS discovered a couple four-hour gems – England’s “Us” and now Scotland’s “Guilt” (shown here).
The latter aired two years ago, as the first original project for the new BBC Scotland. Now it runs in two-hour chunks (9-11 p.m.) Sept. 5 and 12 on PBS’ “Masterpiece,” filling a drama dead zone. Read more…
The website was down for a couple days of technical fix-ups, but now we’re back during a busy time. I wanted to briefly mention:
— The death of Ed Asner today (Sunday, Aug. 29) at 91. This was someone who mastered both comedy and drama … inside the same character. Playing Lou Grant, he won three Emmys for comedy (“Mary Tyler Moore Show”) and two more for drama (“Lou Grant”). He could range from crusty to lovable; he laughed once when I mentioned that he holds the Jewish record for the most times playing Santa Claus.
— The upcoming debut of “Come From Away” (shown here), Sept. 10 on Apple TV+. More on that in a minute.
— And the surprise: “Manifest” is returning . Netflix will give it a final, 20-episode season, with the details pending.
Read more…
Looking back 20 years, to the waves of Sept. 11 tragedy, Joseph Pfeifer tries to focus on the positive.
This was a day (shown here) when his fellow firefighters did what they always do, he said. They rushed in, found people, saved lives. They did “ordinary things – but at an extraordinary time in history.”
Pfeifer, 65, retired three years ago as assistant chief of the New York City Fire Department. Now he appears often in “9/11: One Day in America,” which arrives Aug. 29-31 on the National Geographic Channel, ami a surge of 20th-anniversary documentaries.
“The moment the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, my life changed forever,” Pfeifer told the Television Critics Association. Read more…
Yes, supply-chain issues keep confounding businesses.
But some TV networks now have more new shows than ever. A prime example is Showtime, with one-fourth more new hours this year than it had pre-pandemic.
“That was part of the intent to grow,” Jana Winograde said. Viewers will see that quickly when:
– “Billions” (shown here) returns Sunday, Sept. 5, to start the final five episodes of its fifth season. It will then “make up for lost time by premiering Season Six in January,” Gary Levine said. He and Winograde, co-presidents of programming, had a virtual press conference with the Television Critics Association. Read more…
Television’s surge of New York-themed specials will get an early start.
CNN has just added a live, New York City concert, with Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon and many more. It will focus on the city’s comeback from the pandemic and will honor front-liners.
That will be 5 p.m. ET Saturday (Aug. 21), one day before HBO launches Spike Lee’s documentary (8 p.m. Sunday) about New York in the 20 years since the World Trade Center was attacked. Many other New York-temed specials will be closer to Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the attack. Read more…
Peeking ahead to PBS’ fall schedule, one thing is clear:
These people are serious. Other networks may have become a bit lighter and brighter and simpler, but you won’t find that here.
In a three-day stretch of virtual press sessions, PBS took the Television Critics Association through imposing subjects, from Muhammad Ali (shown here) to the aftershocks of Sept. 11.
Yes, the network can sometimes be fun – especially on Sundays, when it has dramas and (on Aug. 29) a concert version of “Wicked.” But often, it will be serious, including: Read more…
For fans of the lush “Sanditon” series (shown hee), PBS has semi-encouaging news:
It will be back … well, sometime. And probably in 2022.
“They are just about three weeks into filming now,” Susanne Simpson, the “Masterpiece” producer, told the Television Critics Association. “But you will see ‘Sanditon’ next year.”
Based on a novel that Jane Austen had barely started, the show created a seaside world filled with schemes, ambition and romance. It drew mildly favorable reviews from critics and strongly favorable comments from viewers … but the British company that created it decided against a second season. Read more…
As the true-crime trend surges, Hulu will approach it from all sides.
One documentary will be a straight-forward crime tale. Another will view the long-range impact of such stories. And a fictional tale (“Only Murders in the Building”) will turn the trend into comedy.
That last one is from Steve Martin, who says he’s a true-crime fan. “Steve’s a deep well (of knowledge) when it comes to podcasts,” producer Dan Fogelman told the Television Critics Association.
Martin hatched the idea of three crime-buffs obsessed with a possible murder in their apartment building. He stars with Selena Gomez (shown here) and Martin Short, in a 10-part comedy-drama that starts Aug. 31. “This is one of the most unusual things that I’ve done,” he said, “because it actually has a plot.” Read more…
