Month: April 2022

Best-bets for May 2: stars of singing and of studying

1) “American Idol,” 8 p.m., ABC.  A decade ago, in a detour from the usual voting, the top two “Idol” spots went to country-music teens. Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina (shown here) went on to find Nashville success; now they’re back for this special, celebrating (a month early) the show’s 20th anniversary. Other winners will perform, including Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17). Read more…

Best-bets for May 1: drama debuts, “Idol,” more

1) “Ten Percent” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., BBC America. At a public-relations firm in London, only the founder (Jim Broadbent) seems peaceful and pleasant. His son (Jack Davenport) is frazzled, especially when young Misha shows up. An aide fumes; a young agent struggles with delivering bad news to Kelly McDonald (playing herself). The result is fast and funny … sometimes too fast, with the British accents. “Ten Percent” also streams Fridays on Sundance Now. Read more…

“Signora” brings smart stories, Foxy fun

Sylvia Fox didn’t really want to go to small-town Italy for her niece’s wedding.
She had plenty of things to do in London. Working for the MI-6 unit, she handled informants worldwide; also, she had an ex-husband with benefits.
But after fuming at her bosses, she departed for the wedding. She would soon prove to be one of the greatest aunts in fictional history.
That’s the start of “Signora Volpe” (shown here), an exceptionally good mystery series. The first season – three movie-length tales – streams over three Mondays (starting May 2) on www.acorn.tv. Read more…

Week’s top 10 for May 2: Music and documentaries thrive

1) “American Idol” special, 8 p.m. today, ABC.  It was 20 years ago (almost) that the first “Idol” auditions aired. On that June day, Americans met Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and more. Now “Idol” pauses for an anniversary concert. It has the top two from its 10th season (Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, shown here), plus more winners – Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17), plus others Read more…

Best-bets for April 30: laughs from D.C. and SNL

1) White House Correspondents Dinner, 8-11 p.m. ET, CNN. This event has been cancelled for the past two years (due to Covid) and hasn’t had a president there in six years (due to, well, Trump). But Joe Biden plans to be there, barring an emergency, to take and deliver barbs. Trebor Noah (shown here) hosts; the best parts tend to come near the end. Read more…

It’s a world filled with hard-trying teens

Donna Schmidt realized she was in an alternate universe.
Her daughter Rachel went to Lowell, the high-achievers’ San Francisco high school that’s now featured in a compelling PBS documentary (shown here). Everything was sort of backwards.
In other schools, kids might toss their books in a corner for the weekend and focus on leisure. Not Rachel or her classmates.
“Friday, when she gets home, she would start studying,” Schmidt told the Television Critics Association, in a press conference for “Try Harder!” (10 p.m. Monday, May 2, on PBS, under the “Independent Lens” banner). “That was just the weirdest thing …. So that’s (my) Friday, too.” Read more…

Best-bets for April 29: “Magnum” is back, draft continues

1)“Magnum P.I.” return, 9 p.m., CBS. This used to be dependable on CBS, with three crime hours each Friday. Lately, that’s shrunk to two and (for the last couple weeks) just one, Now “Magnum” is back, with only its second new hour in six weeks. It borrows an idea that has worked for “X-files,” “The Godfather,” “Law & Order” and more: A guy wakes up, covered with blood and unable to remember if he’s committed a crime; Magnum and Higgins (shown here) try to find out. That’s followed by “Blue Bloods,” which this week was renewed for its 13th season. Read more…

She finds humor in illness and in home-shopping TV

Vanessa Bayer manages to see the bright side of things – including childhood leukemia.
“I was able to get a lot of perks from it,” she told the Television Critics Association. Indirectly, that led to “I Love That For You,” at 8:30 p.m. Sundays on Showtime, starting May 1.
Bayer (shown here) plays a cancer survivor, stretching for her dream job, at a home-shopping network. In real life, her dream job (seven years on “Saturday Night Live”) came after survival.
“I had leukemia when I was 15,” she said. She’s fine now … and she’s mastered the art of making the best of something. Read more…

Best-bets for April 28: Streamers surge, football retools

1) NFL draft, 8-11:30 p.m., ABC and ESPN. Baseball season has started, basketball and hockey are peaking … but football grabs our attention. It’s the first round tonight, with edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson (shown here about to make a sack) possibly going first; two more rounds are Friday, with the final four Saturday afternoon. Rece Davis anchors, joined by Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and lots of clips and commentary. ABC will focus a bit more on the people side, ESPN on stats and stuff. Read more…

Best-bets for April 27: Portugal unspoiled, singers unmasked

1) “Nature” season-finale, 8 p.m., PBS. The 40th season – a good one – ends with some spectacular views of Portugal. Brutal wind and the world’s biggest waves (up to 100 feet) have left shipwrecks, where creatures make their homes. The coast also has one of the largest seahorse populations. One island has a shrinking number of monk seals (about 30) and expanding number of wolf spiders (maybe 5,000). On land, we see wildfires and wild horses; we also see cork trees – their bark harvested every eight years – holding giant stork nests (shown here). Read more…