Month: November 2024

1) “Brilliant Minds,” 10 p.m., NBC. The subject here is pain – an unbearable excess of it or an unexplained absence of it. There are flaws; a “revelation” from one patient is something the doctors should have known from her medical history. But the story is told with intelligence and emotion, particularly from Zachary Quinto (shown here with Alex MacNicol), as Dr. Wolfe. Add the doctors’ personal dramas and you have a strong hour. Read more…

1) “Holiday Spectacular,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. The next few weeks will have plenty of specials, bubbling with bright colors and Christmas music, That starts from Disneyland and Disney World. Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribiero host and sing. Other performers: Elton John (shown here with the hosts), Carly Pearce, John Legend, Pentatonix, Leslie Odom Jr. and Ava Max. Read more…

1) “Grinch” and “Reindeer in Here.” We can catch back-to-back animation – old and new, great and fairly good. First is the superb “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” at 7:30 p.m. on Bravo. Then switch to CBS for “Reindeer in Here” (shown here), a good-enough hour from 2022. Moving to a new town, a boy feels lonely … until a confused reindeer needs help saving Christmas. Read more…

1) “Henry Mancini: 100,” 9 p.m., PBS. Linking a concert, recording sessions and more, we hear the range of Mancini music, from frisky (“Pink Panther,” “Peter Gunn”) to warm, with “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses” done twice. There’s too much bland talk, alongside great vocals — Michael Buble (shown here), Cynthia Erivo, Monica Mancini — and instrumentals. Read more…

1) Thanksgiving Day parade (shown here in a previous year), 8:30 a.m. to noon, NBC and Peacock. It will be a mega-parade — 22 floats, 11 bands,17 balloons, 10 performance groups, one Santa. And NBC adds Rockettes, more dancers, soloists (Jennifer Hudson, Billy Porter, Kylie Minogue) and the Broadway casts of “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders” and “Death Becomes Her.” Read more…