It’s easy to grumble about the upcoming “Matlock” season-finale (shown here).
We could gripe that the two-hour episode (9 p.m. Thursday, April 23, on CBS) starts with that shabby cliche: a long dream scene. Or we could point out that this story is arriving a year late.
But belated or not, this is worth watching. A once-delightful show is finally getting back on track. Read more…
1) “Bear Grylls is Running Wild” opener, 9 p.m., Tuesday. Two 50-ish chaps — Grylls, 51, and Matthew McConaughey, 56 and far from his Texas roots — tackle an imposing stretch of Norway (shown here). They descend a steep, 800-foot granite cliff; eat reindeer testicles and swim in 35-degree water. Also, they chat about Woody Harrelson, “a perpetual 8-year-old.” It’s all fairly entertaining. Read more…
1) “Sullivan’s Crossing” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. Last season seemed to be ending cheerily. With her dad leaving, Dr. Maggie Sullivan would run his resort, start a clinic and be with Cal. Then Liam showed up, saying he’s her husband. (he’s shown here, right, with Maggie and Cal in the center.) Now more complications (personal and medical) pile up, in a show that manages to remain mostly sunny and likable Read more…
Surveying the twisty history of “The Way Home,” Andie MacDowell offered an understatement.
“This was a reach for Hallmark,” she said.
And then some. The show — starting its fourth and final season on the Hallmark Channel — has time-travel and a magic pond. Hallmark doesn’t even have a card for that.
But here “Way Home” (shown here) is, at 9 p.m. Sundays, starting April 19.This season, it even has Del (MacDowell) jump back a century, to the 1920s. Read more…
“All American” — the show that has survived CW purges — will have its eighth and final season this summer.
When new owners took over the network, they soon canceled most of its scripted shows, which were strong on fantasy and superheroes. The one survivor has been the non-fantasy “All American” (shown here in a recent season). Read more…
1) “The Audacity,” 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 10:20. As the opener ended last week, Duncan (Billy Magnussen, right) grasped at a scheme. His tech company was crumbling, but he had caught his therapist using her clients (including Zach Galifianakis, left) to fuel insider-training. Now he wants her to feed tips to him — if he can find her. Meanwhile, their teens struggle. It’s a brilliant episode, deftly blending satire and drama. Read more…
1) “Matlock” season-finale, 9-11 p.m. Thursday, CBS. It may be a long time before we see some more new episodes: “Matlock” is this year’s first CBS drama to wrap its season … and it won’t be on the fall schedule, waiting until mid-season. For now, Matty and colleagues (shown here) are close to nailing Senior, until a hurdle appears. Also, they have two new cases in court. Read more…
1) Basketball, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC, with pre-game at 8. It’s opening day of the pro playoffs. Amazon Prime — which aired the “play-in” portion this week — has games at 1, 3:30 and 6. Then ABC has Kevin Durant’s Rockets (shown here) and LeBron James’ Lakers, which finished 5th and 4th in the 15-team Western Conference. On Sunday, games will be on ABC in the afternoon, NBC at night. Read more…
Some familiar CBS shows will be on the shelf this fall.
When the new season starts, don’t look for “Matlock” … or “Ghosts” (shown here) … or “NCIS: Sydney.” All will be waiting for mid-season spots.
For that matter, don’t expect “DMV” or “Watson”; they’ve been canceled.
Replacing them, for now, will be shows from familiar sources: A comedy from the “Ghosts” producers, a lawyer show from the “Elsbeth” producers, another “NCIS” show and the return of “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist,” which had a brief run this winter. Read more…
Each year, a few TV networks remind us that Earth Day is still important.
There is, after all, still an Earth; there is a day (April 22) to celebrate it. And there are gifted filmmakers, with high-tech equipment.
So nature shows will abound that day on broadcast (PBS), cable (National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Animal Planet) and streaming (everyone).
Here are details. We’ll start with one advance marathon (April 18) and end with a few post-Earth Day shows, plus streamers that are available any time. Other than that, however, everything is on Wednesday, April 22: Read more…
Best-bets for April 21: reality openers; taut “Trent” 
Best-bets for April 20: love, “Idol” and revolution 
Best-bets for April 19: modern scheme, long-ago strife 
