For “Big Brother” fans, this gets sort of dizzying: Thursday’s episode has been moved yet again,
It was originally moved to Friday. Now, instead, it’s part of a two-hour bloc Sunday.
The shift began when CBS decided to air the congressional Jan. 6 committee hearings. That’s from 8-10 p.m. ET Thursday, ousting two comedy reruns and starting the nomadic journey for “Big Brother” (shown here). Read more…
It’s shark time again, which sort of makes our season complete.
“I don’t think you can have summer without Shark Week,” said Jeff Kurrm, producer of the “Air Jaws” films (shown here) and more.
Yes, the competing Shark Fest has been running for two weeks on National Geographic, with more to come. But Shark Week on Discovery (and now Discovery+) is the original, going back to 1988.
“We used to do seven or eight new films a year,” Kurr said. “Now how many are there?” Well, 28 new ones, starting July 24 (7 p.m. to midnight) and concluding July 30 (8-11:30 p.m.). Add the reruns and this goes from 2 a.m. July 24 to 4 p.m. July 31; that’s 182 straight hours of sharks. Read more…
1) Congressional hearings, 8 p.m. ET, CBS, news channels and more. The second primetime hearing for the House’s Jan. 6 committee is expected to focus on a specific question: What was happening in the White House, during the 187 minutes, from the time violence (shown here) began to President Trump’s request that protesters go home. For CBS, the coverage will bump two comedies and delay “Big Brother” to 8 p.m. Friday, pushing “Secret Celebrity Renovation” back a week. Read more…
1) “The Green Planet,” 8 p.m., PBS. With gorgeous, slow-motion photography, plus astute narration from David Attenborough, this is a weekly gem. Now it has a particularly good episode, focusing on seasonal changes. One great sequence has a sapsucker interrupting syrup’s rush up a maple tree … until it’s so busy fighting squirrels and hummingbirds that the tree is spared. Another sees the fire lily (shown here) emerge four days after a wildfire, leading a renaissance. Read more…
1) Baseball’s All-Star Game, 7:30 p.m. ET, Fox; pre-game at 7. It’s time for baseball’s best to go Hollywood, with the game in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium. Appropriately, two Dodgers (Mookie Betts, shown here, and Trea Turner) were voted starters; so were two Los Angeles Angels (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani). the Dodgers also have pitchers Clay Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin. Read more…
A new Jane Austen movie (sort of) has just debuted on Netflix.
It has the same title (“Persuasion”) and the same characters as Austen’s novel; it has the look and elegance of the same 1817 era. Still, it’s thoroughly different: Some people will enjoy it (as I did); others have already complained.
The biggest difference is attitude: From the first moment – when we learn that the baron (Richard E. Grant) savors any reflective surface, because he can see his image – this has verbal wit. Often, his daughter Anne (Dakota Johnson, shown here) talks directly to the camera, just as Phoebe Waller-Bridge did in the award-winning “Fleabag.” Read more…
1) “American Ninja Warrior” (shown here), 8-10 p.m., NBC. The semi-finals begin. In five weeks of qualifiers, only seven people conquered the “Mega Wall.” Now they – and others – move on; they’ll face up to 10 obstacles, including the new Kaleidoscope, Ghost Town and Spin Zone. Read more…
1) “Dark Winds,” 9 p.m., AMC. A terrific mini-series ends with a so-so hour. Joe Leaphorn (shown here) and his two tribal-police deputies have figured out a complex plot that involved a bank robbery, a helicopter escape and hidden loot. Now comes the prolonged finale, with some too-convenient timing. Read more…
1) “Transplant” season-finale, 8 p.m., NBC. It’s a pivotal episode for this well-made Canadian show, with huge changes, plus cliffhangers. Bash (shown here), a Syrian refugee, saved the life of Bishop (the emergency room chief), who later vouched for him despite a lack of paperwork. Then there’s the intense Mags … and the closed-off Jane … and Hunter, who retreated to a far-away job. There are also key moments from patients, including great scenes with one in her 90s. Read more…
Every person, we’re told, has a story. Every life would make a good movie.
Perhaps, but TV and movies keep telling one life-story over and over. That’s Elvis Presley.
The latest example is Baz Luhrmann’s glittery, jittery “Elvis”(shown here) now in theaters. Some critics found it too frenetic, but most approved; with a few reservations, I liked it a lot. Read more…
