Best-bets for May 12: Let’s visit happier days

1) “The Happy Days of Garry Marshall,” 8-10 p.m. ABC. For two years, Marshall had TV’s two most-watched shows, “Happy Days” (shown here) and “Laverne and Shirley”; the next year, he had three of the top four, adding “Mork & Mindy.” He went on to movies and more, dying in 2016 at 81. Some of his top stars – Penny Marshall (his sister) and Robin Williams – have died, but others gather here, including Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Pam Dawber and (from “Pretty Woman”) Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Read more…

1) “The Happy Days of Garry Marshall,” 8-10 p.m. ABC. For two years, Marshall had TV’s two most-watched shows, “Happy Days” (shown here) and “Laverne and Shirley”; the next year, he had three of the top four, adding “Mork & Mindy.” He went on to movies and more, dying in 2016 at 81. Some of his top stars – Penny Marshall (his sister) and Robin Williams – have died, but others gather here, including Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Pam Dawber and (from “Pretty Woman”) Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

2) “24 Hours to Hell and Back,” 8-10 p.m., Fox. In 2016, Ellicott City had what was called “a once-in-a-thousand-years flood.” The downtown was rebuilt … then flooded in 2018. There are new water plans, but businesses in this Baltimore suburb need help. Gordon Ramsay suspends his 24-hour rule and tackles three of them, with help from designer Nate Berkus and baseball great Cal Ripkin. In a feel-good (albeit stretched) special, we see things spring to life … before being closed by the pandemic.

3) The Voice,” 8-9 p.m., NBC. On Monday, the final nine contestants sang and viewers voted. Now the show has made a late change in what happens next: Those votes will push one person from each team into next week’s finals. Then viewers get an instant vote to add one more, making it a final five.

4) “Asian Americans” conclusion, 8-11 p.m., PBS. The first two hours showed waves of bias, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Japanese internment in the 1940s. But there’s more to this story than being victims. Asians started the historic grape strike, before merging with Cesar Chavez. They shut down San Francisco State campus in and ethnic-studies protest. They’ve advanced in politics, technology (co-founding Yahoo) and entertainment. That’s shown in this richly detailed documentary.

5) “The Flash” season-finale, 8 p.m., CW. It’s changeover time for CW, with the season-finales of ”Flash,” “Katy Keene” (Thursday) and “Batwoman” (Sunday). In this one, the Flash ponders a risky plan to save Iris; also, Ralph tries to stop Sue from making a grave mistake.

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