Best-bets for April 30: “Tom Jones” leads a drama cascade

1) “Masterpiece: Tom Jones” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Fresh from the celibacy of “Sanditon,” PBS goes in a different direction. The 1749 novel and the 1963 movie both celebrated a lad’s lusty adventures. There’s a lot of that here, including bedroom mix-ups and an older seductress. But this time Tom (the likable Solly McLeod, shown here) is a decent chap, looking for his true love. The resulting four-week story is light, loose, sometimes goofy and often fun. Read more…

1) “Masterpiece: Tom Jones” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Fresh from the celibacy of “Sanditon,” PBS goes in a different direction. The 1749 novel and the 1963 movie both celebrated a lad’s lusty adventures. There’s a lot of that here, including bedroom mix-ups and an older seductress. But this time Tom (the likable Solly McLeod, shown here) is a decent chap, looking for his true love. The resulting four-week story is light, loose, sometimes goofy and often fun.

2) More 9 p.m. dramas. This overcrowded hour is a tad simpler this week, with reruns of NBC’s “Magnum” (done for the serason) and Showtimes’s “Yellowjackets” (back next week). But HBO has a new “Succession” and AMC has the second-to-last hour of the terrific “Lucky Hank” (rerunning at 10:01). Hank’s wife has moved to a new job in New York. An odd scene — late in the hour, in a New York cafe — demonstrates this show’s offbeat brilliance.

3) “Call the Midwife” and “Marie Antoinette,” 8 and 10 p.m., PBS. These opposite shows each set up strong finales for next week. “Midwife” has another grim hour (a frequent occurrence this season), this time focusing on addiction, dementia and homelessness. “Antoinette” has the king – now, at last, in love with his wife – desperate to learn who has defamed her.

4) “Malcolm X” (1992), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. The month-long tribute to Warner Brothers’ 100th birthday concludes with Spike Lee’s masterful epic, followed by “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) at 11:30 p.m. and “Argo” (1983) at 2 a.m. There are great films all day, including “Chariots of Fire” (1981) at 11:30 a.m., “The Right Stuff” (1983) at 2 p.m. and “The Killing Fields” (1984) at 5:30.

5) ALSO: The 90th-birthday tribute to Carol Burnett – great fun, despite repetitious praise – reruns from 7-9 p.m. on NBC. “American Idol” (8-10 p.m., ABC) reveals the top 10, who do songs from people in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And Paramount+ has the first three-episodes of an eight-part “Fatal Attraction” reboot, acted with subtle skill by Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan.

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