Fox finally has a fresh flurry of shows

After a sluggish stretch, post-strike, the Fox network is now a-swirl with new projects.
This week (March 4-6), the network is launching three new nights. That includes some scripted shows, after months when Fox (cartoons excluded) had none.
Now Fox has set its summer reality-show plans, including the return of Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne (shown here) and the addition of Lisa Vanderpump. It has also set other projects, including a sort of male strip special. Details include: Read more…

Best-bets for March 7: It’s state-of-the-union time

1) State of the Union address, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. In an election year, this speech is crucial; so is the Republican response (by Katie Britt, a U.S. senator from Alabama), set for 10 p.m. If you insist on skipping these, we’ll list alternatives (one is shown here) for most time zones; then we’ll view the 8 p.m. hour. Read more…

“NCIS” gets the “Young Sheldon” treatment

If “Young Sheldon” works, then why not a “Young Leroy Jethro”?
That’s sort of what CBS hopes to do, but it will entitle the show “NCIS: Origins.”
The network has announced the casting of Austin Stowell (shown here in a previous role with Lucy Hale) in the lead role. He’ll play an early version of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the “NCIS” hero. The show will be narrated by Mark Harmon … just as Jim Parsons narrates “Young Sheldon,” tracing the early years of the guy he played in “Big Bang Theory.” Read more…

Laughs emerge, amid crime-soaked Tuesdays

So you’re looking for a little fun on a Tuesday. You flip on your TV at 8 p.m. and find – well, the FBI … and the GBI … and some drug-dealers.
Clearly, there’s a void here for NBC’s only comedies to fill. “Night Court” (shown here) and “Extended Family” face CBS’ “FBI,” ABC’s “Will Trent” (a Georgia Bureau of Investigation cop) and Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady.” Alongside that tough turf, we get: Read more…

Best-bets for March 6: Raccoons (and people) are funny

1) “Animal Control” season-opener, 9 p.m., Fox. The network’s only comedy (cartoons excluded) is a good one, skillfully mixing sight gags and verbal humor. It’s always fun to see raccoons misbehave in a bowling alley, but there’s also joy in the personal bits: Victoria (shown here) is in danger of being deported … leading her co-workers to a startling discovery: They’re not considered essential workers Read more…

Female forces create epic “Queens” series

In its formative years, nature-on-TV was a BBC artform. Its masters were English and white and, especially, male.
For “30 years, I worked in wildlife filmmaking,” Vanessa Berlowitz said. Whenever “I looked around, I didn’t see women.”
As she said this, she could see plenty of them. She was one of eight women telling the Television Critics Association about “Queens” (shown here), a documentary epic on Hulu, Disney+ and (at 8 p.m. March 4 and 11) the National Geographic Channel. Read more…

Best-bets for March 5: Two seasons start, one show ends

1) “The Cleaning Lady” season-opener, 8 p.m.,, Fox. A month after the death of one of its stars, this adjusts nimbly. Adan Canto died at 42 of appendix cancer; he was terrific as Arman, a good-hearted drug boss who rescued Thony, the doctor-turned-cleaner. Now we’re told Arnan plans to use a drug plane to extricate her sister from the Philippines; a crisis forces a fragile pairing of Thony (shown here, center) and Arman’s wife-or-widow. Read more…

Best-bets for March 4: Double “Bob” and lots of dancing

1) “Bob (Hearts) Abishola,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., CBS. One of TV’s best comedies gets two episodes, propelling some plot shifts for its final season. First, Bob’s sister (shown here, center) says she’ll have a baby on her own; that nudges Abishola and Bob to re -examine the notion of having a baby. Then Abishola’s ex-husband suddenly arrives from Nigeria; he charms most people … and makes others suspicious. Read more…

Sudden surprise: explosive role for gifted actor

For an actor, the notion of “career plannng” is sheer whimsy.
Just ask Matthew Jeffers (shown here), who delivers a stunning, Emmy-worthy performance in the latest “Walking Dead” spin-off.
“When I moved to New York, I envisioned … this happening – going from 15th-century England to post-apocalyptic America,” he deadpanned.
Nobody really imagines that,.but it happened. After co-starring in a Shakespeare in the Park production of “Richard IIII” in New York, he soars in the second episode of “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”; it airs at 9 p.m. Sunday (March 3) on AMC and streams on AMC+. Read more…

Best-bets for March 3: zombies, despot and Jackie

1) “I Am Jackie O,” 7-9 p.m., CW. “So many of my boyfriends are dumber,” the future Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wrote in a letter. “It’s a curse for a woman to be bright.” Then came Jack Kennedy, who matched her in intellect and education. (They’re shown here, with Caroline.) She helped him get elected, campaigning in Spanish and Italian … then retreated behind an image of wispy-voiced blandness. Here’s a profile of an intriguing life. Read more…