Best-bets for May 29: ninjas, Beach Boys and FDR

1) “FDR,” 8-10 p.m., History; rerunning at 12:03. At the end of this three-night series (on Wednesday), historian Jon Meacham sums it up: Americans got lucky; when they needed it the most, they got Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Now historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has deftly profiled each of them. This is her best one yet, tracing a man (shown here) whose optimism overrode mountains of personal and national agony. This opener concludes with a New Deal surge. Read more…

1) “FDR,” 8-10 p.m., History; rerunning at 12:03. At the end of this three-night series (on Wednesday), historian Jon Meacham sums it up: Americans got lucky; when they needed it the most, they got Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Now historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has deftly profiled each of them. This is her best one yet, tracing a man (shownnhere) whose optimism overrode mountains of personal and national agony. This opener concludes with a New Deal surge.

2) “American Ninja Warrior” women’s championship, 8-10 p.m., NBC. The summer TV season has started and NBC wants to grab us early. On Tuesday, it launches the “America’s Got Talent” season; next Monday, the regular “Ninja Warrior” season begins. First, however, here’s this special, which was filmed right after last season, pitting the 12 best female contestants.

3) “Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys,” 9-11 p.m., CBS. It’s always best to start a summer with Beach Boys music. Now CBS has the first of two Grammy reruns. The second, on Wednesday, has Paul Simon; this one has sunny songs from Beck, Weezer, Charlie Puth, My Morning Jacket and more, plus emotional ballads (LeAnn Rimes, John Legend, Brandi Carlile) and insights: When “In My Room” came out, Bruce Springsteen, 13, played it over and over, in his room.

4) “The Rising” and “Barons” debuts, 8 and 9 p.m., CW. This summer and beyond, CW will harvest lots of shows from other countries. Most are Canadian, but these two are British and Australian. The first has a young woman trying to determine who killed her; the second has former surf buddies compete in business. That one is based on a true story; the other, you might have guessed, is not.

5) Memorial Day films. Turner Classic Movies has war movies all day; History counters with films at 8 and 11 a.m.. and the “World Wars” documentary from 2-8 p.m. Both include Clint Eastwood – as an actor (the 1970 “Kelly’s Heroes,” 4:15 p.m. ET, TCM) and a director (the excellent “American Sniper,” 2014, at 8 a.m. on History. Other key films include “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016), 11 a,m,, History, and “The Dirty Dozen” (1967), 1:30 p.m. ET, TCM.
— Mike Hughes, TV America

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *