News and Quick Comments

TV gets bonus football games and more

The sports world has been giving some big breaks to TV networks … and to viewers.
Breaks are needed, at a time when COVID has slowed the fall TV line-ups. During that time, any sports event brings a spurt of interest; lately, the breaks have gone to:
– CBS. For the second straight week, it gets a primetime, pro-football game. Both games were postponed because of COVID, then re-scheduled as a weekday bonus. This one could be a dilly: At 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (Oct. 13), two undefeated teams collide, with Josh Allen (shown here) and Buffalo (4-0) at Tennessee (3-0). Read more…

Good news: Satire survives and thrives

This is the golden month for political satire: The final weeks of an election ripple with possibilities.
And now some of that potential has been realized: “Saturday Night Live” is off to a strong start … and Seth Meyers (shown here) had a hilarious “Closer Look” special in prime time.
This should be the time when satire thrives, but you can’t be sure. In August of 2016 — amid snowboalling interest in the election — Comedy Central suddenly canceled Larry Wilmore’s late-night show. Four years later, it looked like COVID might mute all laughter. Read more…

A soul-crushing loss for movie theaters

This is another leap forward for the streaming world … and a nasty fall backward for movie theaters:
“Soul” (shown here), the new Pixar movie, won’t be in theaters after all, at least in the U.S. On Christmas Day, it will debut on Disney+; it will only reach theaters in parts of the world that don’t have the streaming service.
This is the third film to make that jump for Disney. It was “Hamilton” on the 4th of July, “Mulan” last month and now “Soul” for Christmas. Read more…

A COVID bonus: CBS gets primetime football

As COVID decimates the TV networks, it occasionally gives them a break.
Now comes a big one: Tonight (Monday, Oct. 5), CBS gets some primetime football.
That’s 7:05 p.m., with the Patrick Mahomes (shown here) and the current Super Bowl champions (Kansas City Chiefs) hosting the previous champs (New England Patriots). It partly collides with ESPN’s regular “Monday Night Football” – now pushed back to 8:50 p.m. – with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Atlanta Falcons. Read more…

Latino voters flash political power

A new math ripples through this year’s political campaign.
Yes, the ethnic groups are key. But now, by a smidgen, Latinos are the largest of the groups.
At times, said Bernardo Ruiz (whose PBS documentary airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday), that’s a hard group for anyone to dominated. “The Latino vote has never been a monolith.”
But at times. it seems like one. “Latino Vote: Dispatches From the Battleground” starts with a Latino surge, helping Bernie Sanders more than double anyone else in the Nevada primary. That was sparked, Ruiz told the Television Critics Association recently, by “the work that Chuck Rocha (shown here) … and others did, including a number of local organizers ancommunity activists.” Read more…

PBS walks thin line between classy and soapy

There’s a thin line between quality drama and brash, soap-style excess.
“Flesh and Blood,” the new four-part “Masterpiece” tale, keeps skidding near the line. It stays on the good side, thanks to first-rate directing, dialog and … especially, acting.
This is a mini-series filled with skilled actors – led by Francesca Annis and Imelda Staunton (shown here, center and right, with Stephen Rea) – who are PBS favorites. They bring some gravity to a story that wants to spin wildly out of control.
The opener (9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4) sets up the basics: There’s been a tragedy – maybe an accident, maybe not – that left someone dead or critically injured. Police do interviews, spurring flashbacks. Read more…

Documentary masters tackle the MacDonald mystery

Like many teen-ager, Marc Smerling wanted to see a horror film.
But the movie – it may have been a “Halloween” re-release, he said – was sold out. Instead, he saw “The Thin Blue Line,” Errol Morris’ distinctive documentary about a murder case.
“It blew me away,” Smerling recently told the Television Critics Association. He savored “the visual storytelling, the soft of courage it took to make something that incredible.”
Now, decades later, he’s working with that filmmaker. “A Wilderness of Error” (shown here with Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald and his wife) — debuting at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, on FX — is directed by Smerling; Morris wrote it, adapting his own book. Read more…

The new TV season has started … sort of

(This is an updated version of a story from the previous week.)
We finally have an answer to TV’s peskiest question: When will the season start?
It started (sort of) on Sept. 21, with Fox’s “L.A.’s Finest” (shown here) and “Filthy Rich” and CBS’ “Manhunt.” It will be smaller than past years, but there will be lots of new shows on the five commercial broadcast networks.
Fox is the most thorough. With one exception – it has to wait a couple weeks for Thursday-night football – it will be rerun-free. Read more…

PBS sets Ginsburg special Thursday (Sept. 24)

(PBS has just scheduled a new Ruth Bader Ginsburg special. I’m putting that here, on top of the previous story about Ginsburg movies; thast story follows.)
A PBS special Thursday (Sept. 24) will view Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and the aftermath.
That may be difficult for many people to find, however, “RBG: Her Legacy & The Court’s Future” is set for 8 p.m. Thursday. That’s a slot usually as local-station time, with nothing scheduled by PBS.
Altermative places to find it include pbs.org. pbsorg/newshour, the PBS Video App and PBS; FaceBook, YouTube and Twitter sites. Read more…

ABC’s dramas return; CBS sets movie night

The wobbly plans for the new TV season have received a couple boosts lately.
One is a temporary step: Next month, CBS will revert to making Sunday an old-movie night.
And the other is more thorough: ABC will have most of its dramas return in November.
One ABC drama (“The Good Doctor,” shown here) returns on Nov. 2; five more arrive Nov. 12-19. That includes “Big Sky” from David E. Kelley (“L.A. Law,” “Ally McBeal,” “Big Little Lies”); its arrival on Nov. 17 should make it the season’s first new, scripted show on the five commercial broadcast networks. Read more…