1) “American Ninja Warrior” season-opener, 9-11 p.m., NBC. The 18th season starts with people who are easy to root for. A teen farmgirl works out by chasing chickens … a cowboy sometimes carries his disabled wife … Kathy Zimmerman (shown here) and her family have a homemade, backyard course. Now re-designed obstacles have all of them swinging and scrambling. Read more…
1) Tony Awards, 8-11 p.m, ET, CBS. The night will be stuffed with big musical numbers. There are the nominated new musicals — “Schmigadoon” (shown here), “Titanique,” “The Lost Boys” “Two Strangers” — and revivals (“Ragtime,” “Rocky Horror,” “Cats”), plus the original “Book of Mormon” cast. And Pink, who hosts, joins a 30th-year tribute to “Chicago.” Read more…
1) Band of Brothers,” 9 a.m. to 11:19 p.m., Sundance. On the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, we can re-see a superb mini-series (shown here) about an Airborne company that was there. The first episode involves training, but the second (at 10:41 a.m.) sees men parachute behind enemy lines on June 6, 1944. The story continues through the end of the war and beyond. Read more…
1) “Dutton Ranch,” Paramount+. Here’s a pivotal episode in what has quickly become a great series. Last week, a tragedy shattered the cattle ranch. Now Rip (shown here) and Beth take surprising steps to rebuild their life. Also, their adopted son had found a hot lover and a chatty friend; now he, too, confronts tragedy. Read more…
When soccer ends and the world goes home, Fox will have Part II of its summer line-up.
In mid-July, it will debut one show, start new seasons of two (including Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares,” shown here in a previous episode) and resume three more.
For now, Fox is obsessing on the World Cub, which brings soccer teams to the U.S., Mexico and Canada, from June 11 to July 19. Every game will be on Fox or Fox Sports1, in addition to Telemundo and streaming on Peacock and Fox One.
To clear the way, the network started many of its summer shows early and will finish three of them early. “Farmer Wants a Wife” and “Bear Grylls is Running Wild” end on June 9, “The Floor” on June 10.
But some others will be back. The plan,announced today (Tuesday) includes: Read more…
For the geographically disadvantaged (that’s most of us), the annual Tony telecast is important.
It shows us the joy of Broadway. It shows what we’d savor if we had the time … and the money … and a proximity to New York.
We don’t, of course, so we catch the Tonys, at 8 p.m. ET Sunday (June 7) on CBS. In a three-hour stretch, we’ll see lots of awards, get a few laughs … and see production numbers from at least nine musicals.
And this year, there’s a bonus: We can stream (via Apple) “Schmigadoon” (shown here)m which a front-runner is based on, Read more…
1) “The Americas” return, 8 and 9 p.m. NBC. Next week, NBC starts filling Thursdays with big, British-American documentaries — the new “Surviving Earth” at 8 p.m. and reruns of the splendid “Americas” at 9. Filling those spots this week are “fun facts” variations of two hours: We visit the warmth of Mexico (shown here), then reach the frozen Arctic. Read more…
1) “Brilliant Minds,” 8 p.m., NBC. For its final six episodes, this wades into heavy turf. Sofia seems real to Dr. Wolf, but others feel he’s imagining her. Now he’s admitted himself into a psych institution, while his colleagues (shown here) handle a tough case at the hospital. Pivotal and emotional events follow. Read more…
As June arrives, we start scrambling around the TV universe.
Broadcast networks are sinking into a summer of reruns and reality. If we want more … well, that’s why the world invented streaming and cable.
Some shows, listed below, offer the full range. One (“Little House on the Prairie”) takes us back to the frontier; others — including new “Simpsons” episodes and a “Big Bang Theory” spin-off (shown here) — fling us into alternate worlds.
There are shows produced by Barack Obama (who was elected president) and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (who was arrested, as a teen, for drug-dealing) and Mindy Kaling (who was Kelly in “The Office”).
In short, there’s a lot. This sampling leans heavily on the start of the summer, with more announcements expected. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., NBC. A Nigerian-born engineer dances without music; a Chinese engineer (shown here) dances without humans; Canadians dance with dogs. There’s much more, including a Cuban-born rapper, a French comedian and also some Americans who, like the others, have talent. It’s an impressive (and sometimes emotional) start. Read more…
Best-bets for June 08: time to leap, swing, dunk 
Best-bets for June 7: Tonys rock; so does a vampire 
Best-bets for June 6: D-Day memories; sports moments 
