In the tangled TV world, consider this:
— Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”(shown here) is simultaneously up for best-comedy-series awards for its second season and its third season.
— It will learn about the third-season results a week BEFORE the second-season ones.
— And a week before that, its first season will rerun on ABC. Read more…
1) “Quantum Leap,” 8 p.m., NBC. Last week’s episode had a finish that was far-fetched, even by time-travel standards. Now “Leap” bounces back; an engaging story, set among spies in 1950s Egypt, marks the return of the show’s best character. Hannah (Eliza Taylor, the former “100” star) is the only person outside the lab who knows about Ben’s time-travel. He met her when she was an underemployed waitress and steered her toward her career as a physicist (shown here); now they meet again in Egypt. Read more…
As the real TV season finally nears, viewers can start to ask about their favorite shows.
They might wonder when the final seasons begin for “Young Sheldon,” shown here, or “Blue Bloods” (Feb. 15 and 16). They might want the first season of Jon Hamm’s animated “Grimsburg” (Jan. 7), the 20th of “Grey’s Anatomy” (March 14) or the 25th of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (Jan. 18).
Most of those details are available now, so we’ve put them into two alphabetical lists. One has 14 new shows; the other has 49 returning ones.
This sticks to prime time in the five main broadcast networks, plus the Sunday dramas on PBS. It skips cable and streaming networks, which tend to have fluid schedules, even during the strikes. It also skips the few shows (“Simpsons” or “60 Minutes,” for instance) that never went away. A few shows haven’t been scheduled yet and everything is subject to change: Read more…
(This is an updated version, adding several CW shows)
After waiting semi-patiently for three months, TV viewers have a logical question:
Now that the strikes have ended, when will the real season start? The answer varies; it will be:
— Quite soon. Two comedies (one is shown here) arrive Dec. 23; 11 more shows arrive in the first week of January.
— Really late. Another 12 shows – led by the eternal “Grey’s Anatomy” – wait until March.
— Or somewhere in between. You could think of the Super Bowl, on Feb. 11, as the turning point. Read more…
1) “Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir,” 8-9:30 p.m., PBS. From its opening moments, this is a truly gorgeous concert. More than 500 volunteers are in the massive choir, orchestra and more, with Lea Salonga (shown here) — from Broadway and from Disney’s “Mulan” and “Aladdin” – as soloist. The music soars through classical and pop, sacred and secular, and David Suchet tells a moving story. This also airs on BYU-TV on Dec. 17, 21, 22 and 24. Read more…
1) “Big Brother Reindeer Games” start, 8-10 p.m., CBS. For eight hours over the next two weeks, we’ll see past “Big Brother” contestants compete in action games. The nine-person field includes the winners from 2020 to 2022 (Cody Calafiore, Xavier Prather and Taylor Hale), plus the 2016-17winners (Nicole Franzel and Josh Martinez). They’re joined by Danielle Reyes, Cameron Hardin, Frankie Grande and Brittney Haynes.Others (including Jordan Lloyd, shown here, will help with the games.) That continues Tuesday, Thursday and next week. Read more…
1) “A Grammy Salute to Hip Hop,” 8:30-10:30 p.m. (but 8-10 p.m. on the West Coast), CBS. Fifty years and four months ago, a Bronx party launched the music and mood of hip hop. This celebration includes three people who went on to big acting careers – Will Smith (re-united with DJ Jazzy Jeff), Queen Latifah (whose “Equalizer” rerun follows) and LL Cool J. (Smith and Latifah are in the center of this photo.) Others are Common, Questlove, Cypress Hill, MC Lyte, 2 Chainz, Jeezy, Three 6 Mafia and more. Read more…
1) “Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration,” 8:30-10:30 p.m., CBS (but 8-10 p.m. on the West Coast). Nelson turned 90 almost eight months ago, but why quibble? A 12-time Grammy winner, he performs in a concert that has his sons, Lukas and Mikah, plus more. There are stars from country (George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton) and beyond (Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and Snoop Dogg, shown here with Nelson). Read more…
Two broadcast networks have now set tributes to the late Norman Lear on Friday.
CBS will have a new hour at 8 p.m.; many PBS stations will rerun a 2016 “American Masters” profile at 9.
Lear wrote and produced “All in the Family” (shown here) and other shows that nudged TV into its first golden age of comedy. After his death Tuesday, at 101, several mini-networks scheduled tributes. Now two larger ones have also jumped in; the list includes: Read more…
1) “Primetime Hoops” opener, 7 and 9 p.m. ET, Fox. These days, Fox focuses heavily on live events – wrestling on Fridays, pro football on Sunday afternoons and now its new “Hoops” format each Saturday. That starts with UCLA (shown here) at Villanova and then Notre Dame at Marquette. Earlier, there’s Syracuse-Georgetown at 11:30 a.m. and Alabama-Purdue at 1:30 p.m. There’s more on cable, plus the final game of the pros’ tournament, at 8:30 on ABC. Read more…
Best-bets for Nov. 9: “SNL” will try to laugh 
Best-bets for Nov.8: a semi-happy place; a musical salute 
Best-bets for Nov. 7: ABC is back; CBS is fun 
