1) Steve McQueen marathon, Turner Classic Movies. McQueen was a great, raw talent who worked for top directors. Today has three John Sturges films — “Never So Few,” 6 a.m., ET; “The Magnificent Seven,” 12:45 p.m.; “The Great Escape,” 3 p.m. Norman Jewison’s “The Thomas Crown Affair is at 6, with (oddly) the low-budget “The Blob” (its poster is shown here) at 8. Read more…
As the Hallmark Channel celebrates its 25th birthday, it’s planning a lot of the same. A lot.
The cable network started on April 5, 2001, as an unlikely merger of three H’s — Henson (Jim, the Muppet man), Halmi (Robert, a movie/mini-series guy) and Hallmark, the greeting-card folks.
The others soon departed, but Hallmark kept growing. It has Christmas movies — roughly a zillion of them — and more, sometimes with tie-ins.
It’s again linking with pro-football (the Bears, this year) and with the Biltmore estate. It has also set a movie linking with Disney … which makes historical sense: Long ago, we’re told, Hallmark was one of the first businesses to license Mickey Mouse.
There’s also has a streaming service, Hallmark+ (currently with a Lacey Chabert mini-series, shown here). We’ll start there: Read more…
1) “Anna Pigeon” debut, 10 p.m. Friday, USA Network. Anna (Tracy Spiridakos of “Chicago P.D.”) has big-city roots and an arts degree. But after her husband was killed, she became a detective park ranger in Montana; now she finds life-and-death crises, including one (shown here) tonight. Despite flaws (dense boss, absurd failure to address injuries), it’s a strong story with solid, likable people. Read more…
1) “The Bear” series finale, 9-10:20 p.m., FX. The restaurant has just survived its roughest night — overbooked, undersupplied and belted by a fierce storm. Now life changes, especially for Carmy (Emmy-winner Jeremy Allen White, shown here in a previous episode). In a quietly compelling finale, he has an emotional scene with Syd and, later, a remarkable, five-minute monolog. Read more…
1) “The Shards” openers, 9 and 10:11 p.m., FX. In “beautiful, empty houses,” Bret says, teens with absent parents cavort. Bret (whom writer Bret Easton Ellis based partly on himself) is a closeted bisexual with a hot girlfriend (they’re shown here) and an obsession for the new guy (played by Homer Gere, Richard’s son). A killer looms, in a story as smart, gorgeous and hollow as its characters. Read more…
If you want a pleasantly adequate TV show, here are good elements — cops, canines and Canadians.
All of which point to “Hudson & Rex” (shown here), which starts its season at 8 p.m. ET Thursday (Aug. 6) on UPtv.
No, this isn’t one of the most famous TV shows (or one of the 200 most-famous) and it’s not on a famous network. UP reaches a little over half of U.S. TV homes, via cable, digital, Philo, Frndly and DirecTV. It likes shows that are upbeat (hence the name) and family-friendly. Read more…
For fans of British-style mysteries, this is the gap month.
PBS’ Sunday shows wrapped on Aug. 2: “Patience” ended a good second season; “Grantchester” ended a great, 11-year run.
Now we wait through a stretch of reruns or pledge drives. On Sept. 6, things bounce back with “Marlow Murder Club” and “Marble Hall Murders.”
But what do we do in the interim? Try the Britbox streamer or the Ovation channel? Maybe even read a book?
Possibly, but here’s an alternative: The Acorn streamer (www.acorn.tv) chooses this ideal time for its new season of “The Chelsea Detective” (shown here). Each of the first four Mondays in August adds a movie-length tale; most have clever plots, all have interesting characters. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m.,, NBC. Now comes a fresh twist. The show has already sent 28 acts to the live episodes (starting Aug. 18); twelve are musical, five are acrobatic, others range from dancers to dogs. But the judges (shown here) have picked 23 acts for “callbacks”; they’ll perform for individual judges, hoping for the final spots in the live shows. Read more…
As August arrives, TV viewers get fidgety.
They wonder when the fall season will begin. The answer — for the four big networks — depends on what they’re looking for:
— Scripted shows? A few arrive early — ABC’s “R.J. Decker,” Sept. 15; NBC’s new “Line of Fire,” Sept. 21; Fox’s shows, Sept.22 (including “Best Medicine,” shown here) and 27. More consider Oct. 4 to be premiere week.
— Unscripted ones, however, arrive earlier. ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” has a two-night blitz, Sept. 15-16; NBC’s “The Voice” has a three-nighter, Sept. 21-23. All the others have September starts, including NBC’s new “Traitors” spin-off, Sept. 17.
— And football? Well, that waits for no one. We’ll start there; this round-up is confined to the four big commercial broaadcast networks, in prime time: Read more…
1) “American Ninja Warrior” (shown here in a previous episode), 9-11 p.m., NBC. It’s time for the central region finals, sending people to the national round. That reruns Saturday, part of a big week for NBC: “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m. Tuesday, rerunning Friday) starts its callbacks. Then there’s the start of the pro football pre-season Thursday and baseball Sunday. Read more…
Best-bets for Aug. 8: top films … and a blobby one 
Best-bets for Aug. 7; adventures on Earth and beyond 
Best-bets for Aug. 6: fun, games and deep emotion 
