1) College football. On the season’s first full day, games abound. At noon ET, Fox has national champion Indiana (shown here from last season), ranked No. 6 pre-season, and North Texas. ABC has Alabama (No. 13) and East Carolina; ESPN has No. Houston (No. 23) and Oregon State. At 7:30 p.m., it’s LSU (No. 14) and Clemson on ABC, Michigan (No. 16) and Western Michigan on NBC. Read more…
1) “Sheriff Country” and “Boston Blue,” 9 and 10 p.m., CBS. After being bumped by football last week, both are back with reruns. First, the sheriff (shown here in a previous episode) is wedged between the DEA and loyalty to her people. Then the Silvers mark the anniversary of their patriarch’s death, but also tackle cases, including the murder of a beloved shop owner. Read more…
Streaming networks have done some thing splendidly.
They’ve shown us action and adventure, love and lust, scares and thrills. What they haven’t done nearly as often is make us laugh.
But now we’re in a good stretch, stuffed with half-hour comedies. Some — “Adults” (shown here) on Hulu, “Colin From Accounts” on Paramount+ — are terrific; most are at least fun.
Granted, the streamers have given us lots of stand-up comics and hour-long comedy-dramas. But half-hour sitcoms? They’ve been scarce, but now we’re into a busy stretch, with: Read more…
1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. Here’s a rerun of the terrific season-opener. Stephen Colbert plays a talkshow host (which he used to be); Andy Richter (right) plays a sidekick, which he used to be. Amy Sederis (left) plays the producer for one and wife for the other, neither of which she is. It’s sharp and fun. Read more…
1) “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” Disney+. Summertime movies are starting to reach our TV sets now. “Michael” is on Starz, including 9:05 p.m. today; “Scary Movie” reaches Paramount+ on Thursday. And here’s the film (shown here) that led the Memorial Day weekend. Disney+ — which already has three “Mandolorian” seasons — also adds a related Lego special. Read more…
1) “9/11 United We Stand: 25 Years Later,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Two former New York sports stars, Derek Jeter and Michael Strahan, produced this view of sports and entertainment after the Sept. 11 attacks (shown here). It includes Pete Davidson (whose dad, a firefighter, died that day), Jon Bon Jovi, Jon Stewart, Matthew Broderick, Robin Roberts, Jimmy Fallon and more. Read more…
1) “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” finale, 8 p.m., ABC. Three people remain in the running to become one of the pro dancers on “Stars.” There are two Los Angeles women — Selena Hamilton (shown here), 21, and Adele Zaikman, 24 — and a London guy, AJ Pritchard, 31. They dance tonight with Adam Rippon, Nev Schulman and Charli D’Amelio. Read more…
For actors, there seem to be two states of existence.
One is unemployment. That’s most of the people, most of the time.
The other is overemployment. For a long stretch, that was Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer. “It was a very hectic 18 months,” he said.
Now comes the pay-off: While rushing between other roles, they wrote, produced and starred in the final season of “Colin From Accounts” (shown here); all eight episodes — funny, warm and engaging — arrive Sept. 10 on Paramount+. Read more…
1) “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 10:11. Here’s a remarkable detour, beautifully written and played. It imagines what might happen if Maggie (shown here) and Negen had met in a no-zombie world. She’s a cool-headed farmer, visiting her sister in the city; he’s calm and thoughtful … with rage still at the core. The result is compelling. Read more…
It will be a double Dolly night Sunday (Aug. 30) on TV.
Both CBS and ABC will have new Dolly Parton specials. ABC will also include her movie, “9 to 5.”
Parton (shown here) died Tuesday at 80, in the cancer wing of a Nashville hospital. There have been waves of tributes for her music, her philanthropy and the sheer joy of her personality.
CBS had a special that night, but will follow with another Sunday. “Remembering Dolly: A Rhinestone Life” will be at 8 p.m., nudging “Big Brother” to 9 and removing “Tracker.” Read more…
Best-bets for Sept. 5: Football begins; “Creek” returns 
Best-bets for Sept. 4: current cops, classic crafts 
Best-bets for Sept. 3: a great night for comedy 
