PBS this summer: mysteries, music, more

As long as there’s a PBS, summertime viewers won’t be confined to reruns, reality and game shows.
The network will have new mystery episodes on Sundays this summer, including “Grantchester,” the final season of “Endeavour” (shown here) and two new arrivals. It will also have an opera, a symphony, a Little Richard profile and the annual 4th-of-July mega-concert.
Viewers looking for new, scripted shows in the summer often turn to cable or streaming networks, or to CW, which will have new “Nancy Drew” and “Riverdale” episodes through Aug. 23.
But the bigger broadcast networks have resisted. For instance: Read more…

A neighborly world turns 100

In the past – or maybe it was in fiction, or in Canada – neighbors’ interlocked.
Lives were spent on the front porch and the front lawn, Everyone knew everyone.
That’s the world that exists in “The Neighborhood” (shown here) which has its 100th episode at 8 p.m. Monday (April 10) on CBS. Some of the stars recall it from their childhoods.
For Max Greenfield, 43, that was in Dobbs Ferry, population 11,000, in New York’s upscale Westchester County. “We definitely knew our neighbors,” told the Television Critics Association. “You were able to walk around town. It felt like I had a lot more freedom back then.” Read more…

Fox stuffs its summer with food

As soon as this TV season ends, Fox will start stuffing its line-up with food.
In a quick stretch (May 22-24, plus May 29), it will launch five summer shows – three centering on food. The line-up includes four returnimg shows – “MasterChef,” “Crime Scene Kitchen,” “Beat Shazam” and “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” – plus the new “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.”
That last one is sort of a “Shark Tank”/”Apprentice” blend: Contestants are entrepreneurs with food-related businesses. Ramsay(shown here) – also the producer and host of “MasterChef” and more – will give them challenges, then invest $250,000 in one of their businesses. Read more…

Best-bets for April 9: good vibrations, great dramas

1) “Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys,” 8-10 p.m., CBS. Here’s a romp through great songs – many of them sunny and frilly, a few deep and dark. The hits are there, sung by Beck, Weezer, Charlie Puth, My Morning Jacket and more. But we also get emotional ballads from LeAnn Rimes, Mumford & Sons, and (shown here) a Brandi Carlile/John Legend duet. There are also key comments: When “In My Room” came out, Bruce Springsteen was 13; he played it over and over, in his room. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for April 10: Women, modern and not, face crises

1) “Single Drunk Female” season-opener, 10 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Freeform. Sam (Sophia Black-D’Elia, shown here) starts the second season on her 29th birthday, 549 days into sobriety. She likes her job, tolerates her parents (Ally Sheedy and Ian Gomez) and clings to her AA sponsor. But now there are big changes at work and for her friends. The result is a sharp blend of clever dialog and quiet moments that give this comedy some sharp bits of drama. Read more…

Best-bets for April 8: Easter-eve music, laughs, more

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. In the two decades since leaving “SNL,” Molly Shannon has popped up on the show a few times, but only hosted it once, in 2007. Now she’s back, with the Jonas Brothers as music guest. Lately, Shannon has thrived in the streaming/cable world. She did two “White Lotus” episode and the one-season “I Love That For You”; she plays a pop star’s mom in “The Other Two” (shown here), which starts its third season on May 4. Read more…

She strayed into a wild, beautiful life

By now, some readers know the dizzying extremes of Cheryl Strayed’s life.
She was a star student who crumbled after her mother’s death … and a heroin addict, her life adrift … and a solo hiker on the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail … and an author whose work keeps being filmed.
There was “Wild,” with Reese Witherspoon as Strayed, hiking the trail. And now there’s “Tiny Beautiful Things”(shown here with Kathryn Hahn) – debuting Friday (April 7) on Hulu, with a unique concept.
As Liz Tigelaar, the series creator, told the Television Critics Association: “I started to think: What would it look like if Cheryl had never hiked the Pacific Crest Trail? ’” Read more…

Best-bets for April 7: beautiful music and “Beautiful Things”

1) “Now Hear This,” 9 p.m., PBS. Violinist Scott Yoo did great work in a dozen previous episodes, often visiting old European sites (shown here) where classical music was formed. But here’s his best hour yet – a dazzling visit to Buenos Aires and the life of tango master Astor Piazzolla, We see superb musicians and dancers; then Yoo and his wife (gifted flutist Alice Dade) join in – hesitantly on the dance floor, brilliantly with the music. Read more…

Best-bets for April 6: Pink Ladies roar, Renner reflects

1) Jeremy Renner interview, 10 p.m., ABC. Renner’s career had been thriving – two Oscar nominations (“The Hurt Locker,” “The Town”), a series (“Mayor of Kingstown”) and steady work as Hawkeye (shown here) in the Marvel movies. Then he was run over by a seven-ton snowplow, breaking eight ribs, a shoulder and both ankles; a lung collapsed and his life was in danger. Now, three months later, he talks with Dianne Sawyer about the accident and his recovery. Read more…

“Grease” is the word; so is “Schmigadoon”

For decades, musicals have had a mixed existence.
They’ve thrived on stage – everywhere from high schools to Broadway – but were rare on TV … until now. Suddenly, the streaming networks have jumped in big-time.
The second season of “Schmigadoon” starts Wednesday (April 5) on Apple TV+; “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” (shown heere) debuts the next day on Paramount+. Two weeks earlier, “Up Here” debuted on Hulu.
Each is a full-scale musical series, with original songs and demanding choreography. “We were in rehearsals from the beginning to the very end …. We’d start the day with Scene 9 of Episode 2 and then end the day with Scene 6 from Episode 3,” said Marisa Davila, a “Pink Ladies” star. Read more…