1) “Lucky Hank” finale, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 11:02. This superb mini-series finds Hank (Bob Odenkirk, shown here) flailing. The school president wants him to fire three faculty people … his wife (Mireille Enos) is in New York, with a big, new job and a tiny, new apartment … and their daughter’s marriage is crumbling. It’s a busy hour that, as usual, offers deep characters and witty dialog. Read more…
1) “Jeopardy Masters” debut, 8 and 8:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, ABC. After lots of season-finales, ABC gets an early start on summer fun-and-games. This show will go on for two more weeks (Mondays through Wednesdays), with Ken Jennings (shown here) hosting current “Jeopardy” leaders — from James Holzhauer (almost $3 million) to Sam Buttrey (around $150,000). Others are Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and Andrew He. Read more…
1) Coronation. The actual ceremony for King Charles III (shown here) starts at 6 a.m. ET and is expected to last a couple hours. Most networks, however, are planning all-out coverage, from 5-10 a.m., bringing some of their stars. Anchors include Anderson Cooper at CNN, Savannah Guthrie at NBC, Martha McCallum at Fox News, Alex Witt at MSNBC, Michael Strahan at ABC and the Saturday-morning trio at CBS. Each will be joined by reporters and royalty experts. Read more…
Let’s think of this as another quick – and unsettling – reaction to the writers’ strike:
ABC announced today (Wednesday) that “Dancing With the Stars” (shown here) will return to the network.
In fact, it will sprawl across three entities: Episodes will air live on ABC and Disney+ , then show up the next day on Hulu.
As the strike began Tuesday, some quick consequences included: Read more…
On the first day of the writers’ strike, two bits of news seemed especially ominous:
— “Saturday Night Live” is dumping this week’s new episode … and, probably, the rest of the season. It would have been a big night, with Pete Davidson hosting.
— “FBoy Island” – previously a summertime distraction(shown here) – will be in the regular-season line-up for the CW network. So will its spin-off, “FGirl” Island.” Read more…
1) “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amazon Prime. It’s been a big streaming week, with the season-finale of the delightful “Schmigadoon” (Apple TV+) and season-opener of “Bridgerton” (Netflix). Now it adds the futuristic “Silo” on Apple and a terrific “Maisel,” jumping ahead to a tribute/roast for Susie (shown here, left, in a previous episode — now powerful and alone. Also streaming today are shows that will reach cable Sunday — Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and AMC’s superb “Lucky Hank” finale. Read more…
The last time TV covered the coronation of a British monarch, it did a sturdy job.
The pictures were black-and-white and kind of fuzzy, but we got the idea: A young woman we knew little about had become the royal head of a thriving empire.
Since then, TV has had a lot of time – 69 years, 11 months and five days – to improve its work. Now – with crisp, pretty pictures on endless networks – an old man (shown here) we know too much about is crowned as the royal head of a shrinking empire.
The coronation of King Charles III starts at 6 a.m. ET Saturday (May 7) and may last for two hours or so. (Even that is an hour less than the previous one.) Most networks are planning to cover it from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.; here’s a round-up: Read more…
1) “Bridgerton,” Netflix. Thursdays have become strong nights for Netflix mini-series. There was “Florida Man,” a sunny adventure spiced with great characters … followed a week later by Kerri Russell’s “The Diplomat” … and now, two weeks after that, this six-episode prequel to a lush series. We’ve known Queen Charlotte as a stone-faced ruler. Now we meet her as a brainy teen (shown here), falling for a young king who shares her love of science.
Read more…
The Fox network will go into next season without two of its top dramas – “The Resident” and “9-1-1.”
For viewers, however, there’s a key difference: “Resident” is apparently finished, but “9-1-1” (shown here) will simply jump to ABC.
Both shows have filmed six seasons and faced the usual tug: Costs nudge up, while ratings stagnate.
Complicating that are two other factors for “9-1-1”; the show is: Read more…
A quarter-century ago, a cinematic duo was created.
Reed Harkness was then 18 and had just found his dad’s old super-8 camera. Sam Harkness, his half-brother, was 11 and ready for anything.
“He was this very resilient kid,” Reed told the Television Critics Association. “He was always taking falls and then getting right back up again.”
They made goofy films with Sam as The Blue Panther, forever crashing, smashing and surviving. Then they made a dead-serious one about surviving something in real life: When Sam and his older brother Jared were in their early teens, their mother simply vanished.
In a way, Reed “spent 25 years making ‘Sam Now,’” said producer Lois Vossen. Her “Independent Lens” series will show the documentary (shown here) at 10 p.m. next Monday (May 8) on most PBS stations. Read more…
Best-bets for Nov. 19: Yes, TV still has comedies 
Best-bets for Nov. 18: surfers, vampires and da Vinci 
Best-bets for Nov. 17: As “Yellowstone” nears the end, new show arrives 
