Best-bets for Jan. 25: Messy romances in fiction and fact

1) “Our Kind of People” (shown here) finale, 9 p.m., Fox. Officially, this is just the season-finale, but don’t expect it to return. Ratings have been weak and Fox didn’t order the second half of the season. The good news is that this mostly works well as a series finale; questions are answered, evil is punished, romance messes are bsettled. The bad news is that the final minute thrusts everything into permanent limbo. That’s typical of a show that kept making brash and soapy choices. Read more…

1) “Our Kind of People” (shown here) finale, 9 p.m., Fox. Officially, this is just the season-finale, but don’t expect it to return. Ratings have been weak and Fox didn’t order the second half of the season. The good news is that this mostly works well as a series finale; questions are answered, evil is punished, romance messes are bsettled. The bad news is that the final minute thrusts everything into permanent limbo. That’s typical of a show that kept making brash and soapy choices.
2) “Judge Steve Harvey,” 8 and 10 p.m., ABC. If we watch much of this, we’ll assume every romance is daft. First, a new hour has a guy sue to have his girlfriend pay rent and pay bills. Then a rerun sees a woman sticking with her longtime boyfriend (and their children), but suing him for the bachelorette party she’s never had. Also, a guy hires his ex-girlfriend to cater his date with someone else … then sues her for sabotaging it. Harvey – not a lawyer, but a sensible human being – is startled.
3) “American Auto,” 8 p.m., NBC, and “Abbott Elementary,” 9 p.m., ABC. In a slow season for comedies, these are two of the best new ones.  NBC’s show – which is quite inclusive (with Blacks in key roles and women in power) – has the auto company re-shooting a commercial to make it more inclusive. Then ABC’s show has Janine delighted (temporarily) to have a student re-assigned to her room.
4) “This Is Us,” 9 p.m., NBC. Tuesdays are the night for key series in their final season. On this one, Jack takes a road trip to Ohio; on “Black-ish” (9:30 p.m., ABC), Jack gets a job in the Lakers locker room; that brings worries for his parents … and a chance for the show to have basketball stars in guest roles.
5) Movies, cable. True stories make strong cinema, as we see twice tonight: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018, 5 p.m., FX) sees Freddie Mercury (Oscar-winner Rami Malek) and Queen soar; “McFarland, USA” (2015, 6:48 p.m., Starz) sees a coach (Kevin Costner) stir a cross-country team in a hard-scrabble town. But sometimes, it’s more fun to start with bits of truth, then show what should have happened; that’s what makes “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (2019, 8 p.m., FX) a delight.

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