From London confinement to coastal splendor

Louisa Binder’s life did an instant, 180-degree flip.
This was pandemic time, when London was finishing its third lockdown. “I had been stuck in my flat, by myself,” she recalled.
Then came the news: She had a lead role as Constance (shown here) in “Hotel Portofino,” the lush period-piece drama. Soon, she was going from urban confinement to splendor on the Croatian coast.
“It was breathtaking,” Binder said. “I get off the plane and it’s sunny and the sea is turquoise.” This was the proper way to start a professional acting career.
Now the actors have filmed three six-episode seasons. The second one starts at 8 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 15) on PBS, juggling moments that are brash soap opera and serious historical drama. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 9: tragedies, fictional and real

1) “Irrational,” 10 p.m., NBC. As one of this fall’s few new, scripted shows, this had big expectations. . The first episode was terrific; the second had a wildly unlikely finish. Now this third one bounces back neatly: A skilled pilot crashes, raising suspicion. (In truth, this episode says, there hasn’t been a fatal crash of a major airline in 14 years.) Our hero, a psychology professor, visits the crash site (shown here) and discusses some fascinating human quirks. Read more…

An old master brings “Frasier” back

Life has a special place for the masters of the old arts.
There are the blacksmiths, the locksmiths, the whatever-smiths. There are the keepers of native tongues and the cousins who memorized grandma’s recipes. And there’s James Burrows.
At 82, he retains a special skill – directing situation comedies that are filmed before a studio audience. We’ll see that when the first two episodes of the “Frasier” revival (shown here) debut Thursday (Oct. 12) on Paramount+, then rerun at 9:15 p.m. Oct. 17 on CBS. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 8: Mysteries end; Cruella returns

1) “Professor T” season-finale, 8 p.m., PBS. This is basically a case-of-the-week series, with clever crimes solved by a criminology professor. Along the way, however, it has planted secrets among the police: Lisa (Emma Naomi, shown here) had a secret romance with Dan; their boss has a secret one with an undercover cop. Dan raged about Lisa’s secret shot at promotion … while he was secretly moonlighting with thugs. It all explodes tonight, in a terrific finish. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Oct. 9: New dramas; not-new Disney

1) “Transplant” season-opener, 9 p.m. Thursday, NBC. Once confined to summertime, this Canadian drama deserves attention. Dr. Bashir Hamed and his sister fled from Syria to Canada. After rescuing the emergency-department chief, he got a hospital job, some friendships and a possible romance with the intense Mags. But now there’s a new chief, Mags has a new job and a friend (Theo, shown here with Bash) has survived a crash. It’s a crowded hour, but has strong moments Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 7: Steve Martin Short and a baking champion

1) “Great Chocolate Showdown” finale, 8 p.m., CW. This amiable Canadian show has become more American since adding the CW mini-network. This year, seven of the 10 contestants were from the U.S., including the final four. Last week, Tim Eford, an Atlanta cop, was eliminated. That leaves Mike Casner, 38, a Chicago doctor; Ashlee, 33, a Baltimore medical assistant; and Kristen Washington (shown here in a previous episode), 23, who drives food delivery in Jackson, Miss. Read more…

An “Indian auntie” caterer solves crimes

Rippling through “Mrs. Sidhu Investigates” (shown here), the new streaming series, is the notion of “Indian aunties.”
These aren’t the family-tree aunts; you usually only get a few of those. They’re the it-takes-a-village type; Suk Pannu, the “Sidhu” creator, figures he had dozens.
“They gave us lots of love and lots of food,” he said. “They knew what we were up to, before we did.”
And, he figured, they could probably be great crimesolvers. So he created Mrs. Sidhu, a skilled caterer. That brings her in contact with the higher-ups, who seem to be murder-prone. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 6: masterful drummer; streaming surge

1) “American Masters.” 9 p.m., PBS. Back in the late ‘80s, one man was filming jazz great Max Roach; another made audio recordings of his memories. Much later, they merged, adding old clips and new interviews. Now we see a vivid life, spanning genres; Roach (shown here) ranged from the bebop masters (Monk, Miles, Dizzy) to a rapper. Alongside great music, we gret glimpses of friendship (Clifford Brown), romance (Abby Lincoln) and agony. Read more…

Late shows return … with a lot to talk about

The late-night TV world boomed back Monday and everyone seemed excited to be there.
How excited? “More excited than the guy who went to see ‘Beetlejuice’ with Lauren Boebert,” Jimmy Fallon said. “More excited than the Jets fans for the first three plays of the season.”
Yes, they had a lot to talk about.
Boebert (a congresswoman from Colorado) and her guy were ejected from a theater, after being accused of vaping, groping and yelling. Jets fans were giddy until their new quarterback was injured on the third play. There was much more.
At 6:17 a.m. Monday, Jimmy Kimmel (shown here) said, one of his writers received this text from his mother: “Please don’t make tonight’s monologue all about Trump.” Kimmel shared that text with the audience and then … well, had a long chunk of the monolog that was all about Trump. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 5: cooks, cats and lust

1) “Hell’s Kitchen,” 8 p.m., Fox. Last week’s opener left Gordon Ramsay seeming oddly pleasant. The women edged the men via a tiebreaker and no one was sent home. Now each side has to work on a dinner service and Ramsay returns to his screaming mode. Then “Lego Masters” (shown here) has an unusual challenge: Turn plastic bricks into playful home for real kittens. Read more…