1) Academy Awards, 7-10:30 p.m. ET Sunday ABC. It won’t be easy to keep us entertained. With a few exceptions (“Wicked,” shown here, for instance), the nominees are obscure; there will be music, but not the best-song nominees. We’ll hope for fun from the host (Conan O’Brien), announcer (Nick Offerman) and presenters, including Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler and Bowen Yang. Read more…
One day, we’re told, a Juilliard professor heard something upsetting.
Someone was performing an adjusted version of a classic. He stomped in, asking who dared to edit Rachmaninoff.
He found Hazel Scott, age 8, at the piano. She had made changes because her hands weren’t yet big enough for some of the moves.
Scott (shown here) would soon become Juilliard’s youngest student. And, in her teens, the youngest performer at the elegant Cafe Society. And, at 22, the spark for a brief movie strike. And, later, a star on TV and in Paris.
That’s told in a fascinating “American Masters,” at 9 p.m. Friday (Feb. 21) on PBS. Add an “American Experience” profile of Walter White (9-11 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25) and you have a strong finish to Black History Month. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 9 p.m., PBS. Hazel Scott (shown here) was a piano prodigy at 4, a Juilliard student at 8, a nightclub performer in her teens, then a movie co-star. At 22, she led a three-day strike on a movie set; at 29, she had a DuMont Network TV show … until McCarthyism intervened. Here is a passionate profile, spiced by clips of a great singer and pianist. Read more…
1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. A slick consultant (Matthew Broderick, shown here) assures people he can get their kids into an Ivy League college. That leads to trouble and (as usual) murder; soon, Elsbeth is fencing with him – verbally and literally, It’s a good episode, with Broderick’s son, James, playing Carl. Read more…
1) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. At 98, David Attenborough (shown here) keeps trying new ideas; here’s one of his best hours ever: He pretends to visit London’s Natural History Museum overnight; then special effects bring extinct creatures back to life. The result is honest — he tells which parts are definite and which are speculation – and immensely entertaining. Read more…
Amid a sea of clever Canadians and tidy budgets, here’s a slight detour:
The CW network is adding a show that’s smart, fun and (surprisingly) American. “Good Cop/Bad Cop” (shown here) debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 19), the perfect companion to the 8 p.m. “Wild Cards.”
For CW, this is part of a quick makeover. The network had been best known for slick superhero shows. It lost money, but its co-owners (Paramount and Warner Brothers) did well be then selling the same shows overseas.
Then CW was sold to people who had no interest in loss-leaders. They dumped all of the scripted shows (except “All American”), kept some unscripted ones and mostly started over. Read more…
For a moment there, the 50-year celebration of “Saturday Night Live” seemed to be veering off-course. Then it kept getting better, funnier, more entertaining.
The night (Feb. 16) started with a great monolog by Steve Martin (shown here), but followed with several sketches that were long on commotion and short on wit. Such sketches are a part of the “SNL” tradition, but why front-load them?
Just in time, however, the special rebounded with a bit involving questions from the audience. Interestingly, a football guy (Peyton Manning) had some of the best lines. Read more…
As she molded the glittery world of “Beyond the Gates” (shown here) Michele Val Jean suspected it might be an empty exercise.
After all, there hadn’t been a new daytime soap opera since 1999. Soaps were being canceled, not created.
“There were 13 on the air,” she said. “Now there are four – and one is streaming.”
But now it’s happening: At 2 p.m. Feb. 24, “Beyond the Gates” debuts on CBS. We’ll meet the Duprees, who are rich, Black, ambitious and – this is a soap, after all – troubled. Read more…
1) “Doc,” 9 p.m., Fox. Struggling to remain a doctor, despite losing eight years of memories, Amy has been opposed by Richard (now her boss) and Sonja (shown here). Now we see the human side of both. Richard (Scott Wolf) faces a rough problem at home; Sonja encounters a man from her past. This hour (the seventh of 10) packs potent emotion. Read more…
1) “Thomas Jefferson” opener, 8-10 p.m., History. Jefferson (shown here, in a painting) was filled with contrasts: He was shy (his inaugural address was barely audible), but his writing roared … He sold all his books (creating the Library of Congress) to avoid bankruptcy – then bought more … And he wrote of freedom, but failed to free his slaves. It’s an intriguing story, told over three nights. Read more…
Best-bets for March 14: some cops, lots of fantasy 
Best-bets for March13: lots of laughs (plus sharks) 
Best-bets for March 12: a fun night, even with crime 
