1) Basketball. The college tournament begin with perhaps the day’s best match-up – MSU vs. MSU. Michigan State (shown here) annd Mississippi State, seeded No. 9 and 8 in a 16-team quadrant, collide at 12:15 p.m. on CBS– which also has games at 2:45, 7:10 and 9:40. Other games are on TruTV (12:40, 3:10, 7:25 and 9:55); TNT (1:30, 4, 6:50 and 9:20); and TBS (2, 4:30, 7:25 and 9:55). Read more…
Even in an ordinary year, NBC tends to dominate the ratings. And Olympic years are quite extraordinary.
So the network will stick with what works this summer – “America’s Got Talent,” “American Ninja Warrior” (shown here) and three game shows – “Password,” “The Wall” and “Weakest Link.” It apparently won’t try anything new and won’t need to. Read more…
This was a quick change, sort of like Superman in a phone booth or The Flash anywhere.
Less than two years ago, CW was the network of superheroes and such. Superman was in Smallville, Jughead was in a gang, Batgirl was in charge, The Flash was in a hurry..
And now? The network is a mash-up of cops, crooks and Canadians (lots of Canadians), plus golfers, wrestlers and more. It has shed most of its old shows, with a few exceptons, including “Walker” (shown here), which returns soon. It also shed its brand image.
“What is NBC’s brand?” Brad Schwartz, the CW program chief, asked the Television Critics Association. “What is CBS’ brand? What is ABC’s brand? What is Fox’s brand?” Read more…
For decades, Mariana van Zeller (shown here) has reported about scary people in scary places.
“She really is the bravest person I know,” Courteney Monroe, the president of the National Geographic Channel, told the Television Critics Association.
But she still feels fear and regret. “As a working mom who travels all the time, I live with this eternal guilt of not being there at important moments,“ van Zeller said..
That peaked last summer, in an embattled desert country. The story will be on the season-finale of “Trafficked,” at 9 p.m. Wednesday (March 20) on National Geogeraphic; van Zellar gave the TCA a verbal preview. Read more…
1) “Wild Cards” season-finale, 8 p.m,, CW. For the new, low-budget version of CW, this has been a bright spot, wth likable people in clever plots. But there are only 10 episodes in the first season and talks have dragged on about a second. Giacomo Gianniotti (shown here) plays a cop, working with a semi-reformed scam artist (the delightful Vanessa Morgan). Now he’s drawn into a case from her shaky past. Read more…
1) “Extended Family,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. After a quarter-century as a writer-producer-actor, Mike O’Malley gets to craft the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day episode. Yes, it’s two days late and (sometimes) a tad silly. But ii does double-duty: It has the usual cliches – Jim’s dad (shown here), after all, has an Iriish bar in Boston – but follows with a sharp reality check. Read more…
1) “Photographer,,” 8 and 9:21 p.m., National Geographic Channel. After triumphing with “Queens,” Nat Geo again shows it knows great photography. This six-part, three-Monday series starts with Cristina Mittermeier (whose photo is shown here) and Paul Nic, a married duo whose photos make them activists for the ocean. That’s followed by Anand Varma and egg embryo photos. Others will range from fashion to war. Read more…
For fans of great photography, Mondays have become the must-see-TV day. That’s when the National Geographic Channel:
— Had the epic African series “Queens,” which then went to Hulu and Disney+.
— Will have its usual strong coverage on Earth Day, April 22.
— And now has a series, simply called “Photographer.”
In six episodes on three Mondays, the series (also on Disney+) will feature people who share a few traits. They have “dedication and discipline and an audacity to refuse to be held back,” Chai Vasarhelyi, who produces the series with her husband (and fellow photographer) Jimmy Chin, told the Television Critics Association. Read more…
1) “Nolly” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. In real life, “Nolly” Gordon was a British TV pioneer, a talkshow host and program executive with a soap opera built around her. Fame and awards followed. It was a makeshift era, captured brilliantly by writer Russell Davies (“Doctor Who”) and Helena Bonham Carter (shown here). “Nolly” is funny and warm … and then, mid-way in the first of three parts, takes a sudden shift. Read more…
Happy endings are possible, it seems, even in the grimmest circumstances. That’s:
— Even in a post-apocalyptic world in which most folks have frozen to death; and
— Even in something that the Discovery people have touched.
In short, “Snowpiercer” (shown here) has been rescued. Its first three seasons will rerun later this year on AMC+; its fourth one will debut early next year on AMC. Read more…
Best-bets for Nov. 7: ABC is back; CBS is fun 
Best-bets for Nov. 6: San Diego goes wild; Fox has fun, fun, fun 
Best-bets for Nov. 5: The election … and alternatives 
