1) “An American in Austen,” 8-10 p.m.,, Hallmark. Lots of people might imagine being in the world Jane Austen created for her best character, Elizabeth Bennett. In this film, that happens: A modern Austen buff (played by a Canadian actress, shown here, who happens to be named Eliza Bennett) is transported to that era. Also, “Paging Mt. Darcy” (2024), set at an Austen conference, reruns at noon. Read more…
For Olympic fans, the days of the primetime surprise may be over,
NBC will have a different approach for the games (July 26 to Aug. 11) in Paris: Every major event (including gymnastics, with Siimone Biles shown here) will be live in the daytime, then repackaged for night.
That’s a big change from the days when it was easy to keep secrets. Major events – including, in the winter, U.S-Russia hockey and Kerrigan-Harding skating – could be delayed for hours, then delivered to surprised viewers at night.
Not any more. “The network is going to be live (in the daytime), no holding back,” Molly Solomon, president of NBC’s Olympics coverage, told the Television Critics Association. At night, the same events will be in “a curated presentation – the best performances of the day, distilled down to three hours.” Read more…
1) “The Good Doctor’ season-opener, 10 p.m. Tuesday, ABC.. A well-crafted show starts its final season … trimmed from 13 episodes to 10. There’s a lot to cover in the world of Shaun (Freddie Highmore), the brilliant and autistic surgeon. He and Lea are raising their baby (shown here) while he faces a tough case — two babies needing a heart transplant. Also this season, a younger autistic doctor will arrive. Read more…
In the wobbly world of media, this might have seemed like a long shot.
“The 19th” – a journalism source with a female perspective—was launching in the midst of the pandemic. “Are you insane?” one amiable investor asked with a laugh.
That’s shown in the early moments of “Breaking the News” (shown here), a documentary that airs at 10 p.m. Monday (Feb. 19) on PBS’ “Independent Lens.” As it turns out, the idea proved to be quite sane. In its first two years, The 19th – named after the amendment that gave women the vote — raised a reported $12 million and broke national stories. Read more…
1) “Blue Bloods” season-opener, 10 p.m., CBS. This wraps up a packed week, with season-openers for virtually all CBS shows. It’s the final season for “Blue Bloods,” “Young Sheldon” and “Bob (Hearts) Abiishola,” but with a difference: The others will end in May; “Blue Bloods” will pause this summer, then wrap up in the fall. Tonight, Jamie goes undercover in a human-trafficking wing and his dad (Tom Selleck, shown here)m the police commissioner, again battles the mayor. Read more…
1) “Young Sheldon” season-opener, 8 p.m., CBS. Gradually, this has become less about Sheldon and more about his quirky clan. Now that peaks as the final season begins, with Sheldon and his mom in Germany. They bring some good moments, but the best ones are back home, where a tornado flattened his grandmother’s house. Now she’s wedged in (shown here) with the rest of the crowd, including Sheldon’s dad, siblings, baby niece and more. Read more…
1) “Resident Alien” season-opener, 10 p.m., Syfy and USA Network. This gem is finally back, with its blend of solid scii-fi and goofy humor. Sent to destroy all humans, an alien killed the local doctor, took his body … then decided he might like people. Now some of them know his secret, one boy can see his real form (shown here) … and a more-evil alien is in town. The result, as usual, is an odd delight. Read more…
It was a maybe-typical day for Gina Rodriguez.
She laughed, she cried, she hugged Charlie; she seems to do all of that a lot. But ths was different because:
— It happened to be 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday (Feb. 7). While she was at work, her show, “Not Dead Yet” (shown here with Rodriguez, right, and Hannah Simone) was airing its season-premiere on ABC.
— The Television Critics Association was there to visit the show’s set.
Reporters viewed the bedroom of her character Nell (messy, lived-in) and her landlord Edward (obsessively tidy). They also saw a newspaper box (you do remember newspaper boxes?) for the paper where Nell writes obituaries. Then they met the actors plus Charlie (almost 1), who cuddled her and ignored them. “He doesn’t like to perform,” she said. “He’s not his mother’s son.” Read more…
1) “La Brea” series-finale, 9 p.m., NBC. A wild and bizarre tale (shown here in a previous episode) concludes with a lot to settle. Last week, Levi was killed by soldiers; also, Maya grabbed the chip – which might propel the deadly military project that created this trouble. Now the answers seem to be in the year 1965, Gavin heads there with his daughter, his niece and Sam … whose daughter may be captive with Gavin’s wife and son. Read more…
1) “Gospel,” 9-11 p.m. today and Tuesday, PBS. Henry Louis Gates goes back to the start of a splendid artform. We see the preachers (including Aretha Franklin’s father) with a rich musicality and the singers with a message. He introduces the early masters — writer Thomas Dorsey, singer Mahalia Jackson (shown here), etc. — and, on Tuesday, modern forces who merge rock, gospel and show-biz flair. Read more…
Best-bets for Nov.8: a semi-happy place; a musical salute 
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 
