Month: September 2020

Best-bets for Oct. 2: Benign boss, double Dracula

1) “Undercover Boss” season-opener, 9 p.m., CBS. Waiting for its big shows to return, CBS has a loose blend – Sunday movies … a couple scripted shows from elsewhere … and lots of non-fiction. Now the amiable “Greatest #AtHome Videos” is followed by the 10th “Boss” season. Tonight has the CEO of TGI Fridays (shown here, right); coming are Bowlero, Club Med and Smoothie King, plus the mayor of Shreveport. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 1: Halloween get a whole month

1) Halloween marathon, Freeform. For two decades, Freeform has “13 nights of Halloween.” Now 13 isn’t nearly enough; the holiday consumes all of October. At 11 a.m. are three holiday “The Middle” episodes; later, light movies (which will rerun often) begin. It’s Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” (2005) at 3 p.m., the bland “Casper” (1995) at 5, the delightful “Hotel Transylvania” (shown here, 2012) at 7 and “Hocus Pocus” (1993) – an October tradition for Freeform – at 9. Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 30: Basketball begins,”100″ ends

1) Basketball, 9 p.m. ET, ABC. This is just what a shut-down nation needs – a fresh burst of sports. On the same day that baseball begins its National League play-offs, basketball starts its best-of-seven finals, with LeBron James (shown here) and the Los Angeles Lakers) facing one of his old teams (the Miami Heat). Other games will be Friday, Sunday, Oct. 6 and (if necessary) beyond. Today has a pre-game show at 8:30 p.m. and a pre-pre-game show – “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night” – at 8 … or after the game, on the West Coast. Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 29: A debate, plus despicable alternatives

1) Presidential debate, 9-11 p.m. ET (6-8 p.m. PT), ABC, CBS. NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. Sure there are alternatives (including the “Despicable Me” movies, shown here), that we’ll mention in a minute. But this is what counts — a high-stakes collision between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with Chris Wallace of Fox News moderating. others will be Oct. 15 and 22 … plus an Oct. 7 vice-presidential debate with Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 28: “Comey” ends fiercely

1) “The Comey Rule,” 9 p.m., Showtime. If you missed the first half Sunday, don’t fret; it reruns at 7:25 p.m. today. It’s well-made … but no match for the fierce emotional energy of this conclusion. The opener ended with the 2016 election; now FBI Director James Comey faces a new boss (shown here, with Jeff Daniels and Brendan Gleeson) and a new world. A tsunami of events is about to overtake him and the nation. Read more…

“Fargo” is here — at last

The world seemed to conspire against there ever being another “Fargo” mini-series.
The first three – spread over four years – drew waves of praise. There were 53 Emmy nominations, a Peabody Award … and lots of Hollywood admirers. “I thought it was easily the best thing on television,” Chris Rock told the Television Critics Association.
But there was a three-year delay, while writer-producer Noah Hawley was busy making “Legion.” He finally started a fourth “Fargo,” to debut this April 19, with Rock (shown here) starring. Actors gushed, critics praised … and then, with three episodes left to shoot, there was the COVID shutdown. Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 27: A mega-night of Homer, “Fargo,” Comey, more

1) “The Simpsons” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. In a burst of self-discovery, Mr. Burns finds that his workers don’t like him. His solution is in the “Undercover Boss” style: With an elaborate disguise, pretend to be a new worker. The result is darkly funny and a reminder that animation shows weren’t stopped by COVID. The season-opener of “Bless the Harts,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Family Guy” follow at 8:30, 9 and 9:30 p.m.
Read more…

Daniels towers over his “Comey Rule” role

It’s a problem Jeff Daniels rarely faces – being too short for a role.
But this was a role anyone in Hollywood – well, anyone except Brad Garrett or John Salley – would fall short of. Daniels was playing James Comey, the 6-foot-8 former FBI director.
“I put two-inch lifts in my shoes,” Daniels said, “which got me to 6-foot-5 …. I could act the other three inches.”  (He’s shown here with Comey towering over Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, played by  Holly Hunter, who’s 5-foot-2.)  
That’s part of the towering persona of someone who exudes authority. Comey confirmed that, Daniels said, during the only day he visited the set of “The Comey Rule,” the Showtime mini-series. “He said, ‘You’ve got my posture, the uprightness.’” Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 26: Eddie Murphy’s triumphant return

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. A week before launching its new season, “SNL” reruns one of its best episodes. Eddie Murphy (shown here) had stayed away from the show (not counting an anniversary special) for 35 years. Once he returned, however, he did all of his best characters – including a brilliant “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood” bit in which he swiped Amazon packages in his gentrified neighborhood. He won an Emmy (his first) for best comedy guest; Lizzo is the music guest Read more…

Documentary masters tackle the MacDonald mystery

Like many teen-ager, Marc Smerling wanted to see a horror film.
But the movie – it may have been a “Halloween” re-release, he said – was sold out. Instead, he saw “The Thin Blue Line,” Errol Morris’ distinctive documentary about a murder case.
“It blew me away,” Smerling recently told the Television Critics Association. He savored “the visual storytelling, the soft of courage it took to make something that incredible.”
Now, decades later, he’s working with that filmmaker. “A Wilderness of Error” (shown here with Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald and his wife) — debuting at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, on FX — is directed by Smerling; Morris wrote it, adapting his own book. Read more…