1) “American Masters” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. Sun Ra (shown here) proclaimed he was an angel from Saturn. His concerts matched that mystical feel, merging jazz, dance, poetry and pageantry. In truth, he was Sonny Blount; he had his own big band as a Memphis teen, was disowned by family and friends after resisting World War II, then created a fascinating persona. Read more…
Fox’s spring line-up will look suspiciously like a summer one.
Three shows that usually anchor the summer — “MasterChef,” “The 1% Club” (shown here) and “The Quiz With Balls” — will arrive in mid-April. By then, the network will be awash in games and reality.
And scripted shows? Most will end their seasons early — “Memory of a Killer,” April 6; “Best Medicine,” April 7; “Doc,” April 14; “Animal Control” and “Going Dutch,” April 19. After that, it will be just the cartoons.
Fox’s one new scripted show — a three-Sunday mini-series, “The Faithful: Women of the Bible” — will conclude on Easter, April 5. Soon after that, the network will be all games, reality and cartoons: Read more…
For CBS, the winter slumber is finally ending.
It’s been a long one. Most shows haven’t had a new episode since mid-December; it was Dec. 9 for “NCIS: Origins,” Dec. 8 for “DMV.”
Now — after 9-10 weeks of hibernation — the surge begins. In one stuffed week, CBS has:
— Two new series: “CIA” at 10 p.m. Monday (Feb. 23) and “Marshals” (shown here) at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 1.
— The start of the 50th “Survivor.” It gets a three-hour launch, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25.
— And the return of 11 more series, from “The Neighborhood” at 8 p.m. Monday to “Tracker” and “Watson,” at 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday, March 1. Read more…
1) Figure skating, 1-5 p.m. ET, NBC. For many viewers, this is the peak, with the women’ long program. It has created pop-culture stars, from the U.S. (Tara Lipinski, who is now NBC’s commentator, Dorothy Hamill, etc.) and beyond (from Sonja Henie to Katarina Witt). Now the current stars — including the U.S.’ Amber Glenn (shown here) and Alysa Liu — get their chance. Read more…
1) “The Beauty,” 9 p.m., FX and Hulu. Two potent monologues propel this hour. One is an intense sales pitch by Ashton Kutcher (shown here), the other a personal reflection by Anthony Ramos. Both– plus FBI agents and fight scenes — are part of this look at a fierce obsession with beauty. Read more…
As the Olympics fade from our TV screens, viewers might re-discover PBS.
They’ll find a lot, from music (Broadway, opera, chamber) and mini-series (“Forsytes” is shown here) to documentaries pointing to Earth Day and the 250th birthday of the U.S.
On the night the Olympics end, PBS will have both the AARP’s “Movies for Grownups Awards” (7 p.m., Feb. 22) and the feel-good season-finale of “All Creatures Great and Small” (9 p.m.).
It will follow with with a compelling portrait of pioneering Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (10 p.m., Feb. 23) and an interesting trip to Turkey, site of the oldest temple on Earth (9 p.m., Feb. 25). Then, after a pause, things will be busy beginning in mid-March. Highlights, subject to change, include: Read more…
1) “Best Medicine,” 8 p.m., Fox. For the second straight week, the town has a big, bizarre festival. Last week’s blueberry fest was awash in blue; now a “Blood Factory” event is all-red. That’s trouble for the doctor, who’s allergic to blood … and (shown here) trouble for the participants. “Best” has become the opposite of the show it’s based on. “Doc Martin” was droll, dry and clever; this is just amiably goofy. Read more…
1) Winter Olympics. The final week begins, with NBC going live at 10 a.m. ET (instead of noon on other weekdays) and carrying a women’s hockey semi-final at 10:40. The USA Network starts the pairs figure finals — which includes the U.S. duo of Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, shown here — at 1:45; at 3:55, NBC takes over and USA catches the other hockey game. And as usual, NBC re-packages it all, from 8-11 p.m. Read more…
After a long Olympic break, “Saturday Night Live” will return with three new episodes.
They’ll be hosted by Ryan Gosling (shown here), Connor Storrie and … well, somebody.
The Winter Olympics bump “SNL” on Feb. 7, 14 and 21. Once that’s done, however, there will be new episodes: Read more…
1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. The first episode (back in 1989) included the rescuing of a scraggy greyhound. Now the 800th shows what happened next: Homer overindulges him; Marge transforms him into a sleek champion… and takes him to a national dog show in Philadelphia. The rest is awash in Philly (shown here) and “National Treasure” moments, many of them quite funny. Read more…
Best-bets for Feb. 20: skaters, stumblers, Sun Ra 
Best-bets for Feb. 19: going for gold in skating, hockey 
Best-bets for Feb. 18: beautiful evil, dangerous love 
