1) “English Teacher” debut, 10 and 10:32 p.m., FX; rerunning at 11:06. In a liberal sub-section of Texas (suburban Austin), Evan is a proudly gay teacher. Most people are fine with it, but issues appear: Kissing his boyfriend? A drag show? This sounds heavy, but writer-star Brian Alvarez (left) keeps it funny, with a great supporting cast. Read more…
1) “The Chosen” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. Already a hit online, this series adds a broadcast network for its fourth (of seven) eight episode season. “Chosen” (shown here) traces Jesus and the people nearby; any stiffness in the dialog is redeemed by skilled filming (in Texas and Utah) and acting. Tonight includes the death of John the Baptist. Read more…
1) Pro football openers, 8:20 p.m. ET, Thursday and Sunday, NBC; pre-game at 4. The season starts with rematches. Last year, the Chiefs (shown here) beat the Ravens 17-10 in the conference finals, then won the Super Bowl; they meet Thursday. And last year, the Lions edged the Rams 24-23 in the wild-card round; their game is Sunday. Read more…
1) College football. The first full day of the season starts with the top-rated teams. Georgia (No. 1), shown here, hosts Clemson (No. 14), at noon ET on ABC. Then Ohio State (No. 2) hosts Akron at 3:30 on CBS. There’s more, including, at 7:30, Notre Dame-Texas A&M (ABC), UCLA-Hawaii (CBS), Fresno State-Michigan (NBC). Read more…
Imagine you’re a young writer/actor, long on ideas and short on opportunity.
You could take the approach of Brian Jordan Alvarez. He made a quirky, low-budget digital series; praise and a big-time cable series followed promptly.
Well, semi-promptly. Alvarez’s “English Teacher” (shown here) debuts at 10 p.m. ET Monday (Sept. 2) on FX … eight years after his “The Gay and Wonderful Life of Caleb Gallo” was named the year’s best web series.
“I had sort of tried to make my way through the studio system,” said Alvarez, 37. “And I had failed in a variety of ways. I really couldn’t figure out how to get through it.” Read more…
1) “The Fall Guy,” Peacock. This has it all – great action, clever dialog, likable stars and a solid plot. Still, it had so-so box-office ($178 million worldwide), not enough for its budget. Ryan Gosling (shown here) plays a stunt man, with Emily Blunt as his director and ex-lover. The stunts are great – and you can choose a version with 20 minutes extra Read more…
1) Football. The first full day of the college season is Saturday, but lots of teams are starting early, including three at 8 p.m. ET on national TV. Fox has North Carolina (shown here), 8-5 last season, and Minnesota, 6-7 … ESPN has Colorado, with the father-son Sanders duo, and North Dakota State … CBS Sports Network has Coastal Carolina and Jacksonville State. Read more…
The streaming world is full of brief pleasures — movies … six-episode series … epics that take two years between seasons.
But then there’s “Only Murders in the Building” (shown here). Each summer, it brings a fresh, 10-episode season; each seems even better than the previous ones.
That’s especially true of this fourth season, which arrives Tuesday (Aug. 27) on Hulu. It’s fresh and different, yet richly mines its past. Many actors return from previous seasons … even some whose characters were killed or jailed. Read more…
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…
Best-bets for Nov. 3: monsters & zombies, funny & not 
Best-bets for Nov. 2: Mulaney on “SNL”; country stars at fundraiser 
Best-bets for Nov. 1: cops in crisis, joy in afterlife 
