The Pac-12 conference now has its own football deal with a broadcast network.
It’s not a big network, but then again, it’s not a big conference. It only has two teams, Oregon State (shown here) and Washington State.
We’ll pause here, for the benefit of idealists who assumed the Pac-12 has 12 teams. These are the same people who think the Big Ten has 10.
(It has 14 now, but in August will have 18, none of them specializing in math.) Read more…
1) “Audra McDonald at the London Palladium,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. Broadway’s all-time leader (with six Tonys) fills the night with show tunes, backed by a 40-piece orchestra. Some viewers will wish she spent less time in the upper octaves. Still, McDonald (shown here in a previous concert) finds lots of fun and has powerhouse moments, including several songs about diversity, plus the triumphant “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” Read more…
ABC will fix any doctor shortage this fall. Its comedy gap, however, keeps growing.
The network’s “The Good Doctor” wraps its seventh and final season next Tuesday (May 21). But “Doctor Odyssey” will arrive in the fall, sharing Thursdays with “Grey’s Anatomy” and “9-1-1.”
But comedies? “Abbott Elementary” (shown here) will be all alone, surrounded by non-fiction on Wednesdays. One comedy (“Not Dead Yet”) has been canceled; another (“The Conners”) will wait until mid-season for its final season.
Lots of other shows will be with it. “Will Trent” and “The Rookie” will have 18-episode seasons, but will be waiting with “The Conners” and several reality shows. Read more…
1) “Young Sheldon” series-finale (shown here), 8 and 8:30 p.m., CBS. This is one of the best hours of the season, or of any season. It manages the rare feat of being funny and subtly moving. Propelling it is the death, a week ago, of Sheldon’s father. The reactions vary widely, bur perfectly fit each wonderfully complex character. As a bonus, the second half-hour peeks at the nowadays Sheldon and Amy. Read more…
There will be a new feel to the Fox network this fall – no wrestlers, but lots of rescuers, no “Family Guy” (for now), but lots of football.
That’s as Fox hopes to be what Rob Wade, its CEO, calls an “independent, right-sized network.” It’s the only one of the big-four not with a movie studio and a big streamer.
The network has been tryiing to produce animated shows, instead of just buying them from outsiders. This fall it will have two – the returning “Krapopolis” and the new “Universal Basic Guys.’ That leaves “Family Guy” off the fall schedule for the first time in about two decades . It will be back at mid-season, Michael Thorn, the programming chief, promised. “We’ll give it a great re-launch.”
Fox has also finished its five-year deal with the WWE. It will try to fill the no-wrestling gap on Fridays with college football.
It will also stuff action into Mondays. “9-1-1: Lonestar,” which didn’t appear in this strike-shortened season, will be at 8 p.m. Mondays, followed by “Rescue: HI-Surf” (shown here) hich Thorn calls an “absolute adrenaline rush.” Read more…
Roger Corman – who died recently at 98 – will probably be remembered most for all the great careers he launched.
This was the guy who gave many people their directing debuts. That included James Cameron, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme. Joe Dante, Peter Bogdanovich and more.
But something else made him stand out: He was the master of getting something for (almost) nothing.
Corman (shown here) had an engineering degree and a sophisticated manner, but his specialty was making entertaining schlock on tiny budgets. In a world now stuffed with people dreaming of making movies on their smartphones, he was someone to sort of emulate. Later, I’ll have a longer commentary on his life and work. Read more…
1) “Nature: Saving the Animals of Ukraine,” 8 p.m., PBS. Encased in horror, people still rush to the rescue. “To save animals is to remain human,” says Asha Serpinska, 77. Evacuees (shown here) clung to cats and dogs. Lions were rescued from private zoos. A 13-year-old house cat survived a 60-day ordeal. It became a national hero; so did a little dog who finds land mines. It’s a richly human story. Read more…
It isn’t easy to face questions about your imminent death – even a fictional death.
Still, Lance Barber did that with his usual ease. In February, the Television Critics Association asked about the possible passing of his his “Young Sheldon” character, Sheldon’s dad George (shown here).
“I had fingers crossed from the beginning. (hoping) I would make it to the end,” he said.
Then he almost did. Last Thursday (May 9), a week before the show ends its seven-year run, viewers received a jolt: In the final minute, two friends arrived to say George had died of a heart attack.
Now that consumes the show’s finale. After reruns (including the pilot film) at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Monday, the last episodes are 8 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday (May 16). One focuses on the funeral, the other on the aftermath. Both manage a rare feat – being deeply and subtly moving, while also including humor. Read more…
1) “Tonight Show” anniversary. 9-11 p.m., NBC. After some stumbles, NBC had a fresh idea: Jimmy Fallon — then 39, boyish and upbeat — took over “Tonight” on Feb. 17, 2014. Ratings soared, then feel due to Covid, strikes and other shows’ focus on Trump-era satire. Now Fallon (shown here) is No. 3 in ratings, but thriving. In prime time, he’s had three game shows plus this clip-filled special. Read more…
After helping NBC survive the strikes, two dramas will be rewarded with cushy timeslots this fall.
“The Irrational” (shown here) will be at 10 p.m. Tuesdays, after the second “Voice” night. “Found” will be at 10 p.m. Thursdays, after two “Law & Order” shows.
They’ll be joined by just one new drama – “Brilliant Minds,” with Zachery Quinto – and two new comedies. One, from the “Superstore” producer, is set in a hospital and will be paired with “Night Court”; the other, starring Reba McEntire, will be paired with “Lopez vs. Lopex.”
To make room, the network is moving “Law & Order: Organized Crime” to the Peacock streamer and dropping several others. They includes “Magnum P.I.,” the sci-fi shows “Quantum Leap” and “La Brea” and the Jon Cryer comedy “Extended Family.” Read more…
Best-bets for Nov. 6: San Diego goes wild; Fox has fun, fun, fun 
Best-bets for Nov. 5: The election … and alternatives 
Best-bets for Nov. 4: vampires, cops and elections 
