Back in the days of “The Office,” Michael Scott gave a talk at a college.
“Paper will always be important,” he said (or some such thing). “Write that down.”
That brought some dutiful click-click-clicks. Students were writing it down on their computers, with no paper in sight.
It was a sign of things to come — including the sometimes-terrific “The Paper” (shown here), which debuts its entire 10-episode season Thursday (Sept. 4) on Peacock. Read more…
1) “Highest 2 Lowest,” Apple TV+. With TV in its pre-season lull, streamers are bringing their top stuff. For this movie, Spike Lee directed Denzel Washington (shown hgere) in a remake of a Japanese crime classic. That follows Thursday’s terrific “The Paper” (Peacock) and “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” (Paramount+); coming Tuesday is Hulu’ “Only Murders in the Building.” Read more…
Now that it’s finished its 50th year, “Saturday Night Live” seems to be paying extra attention to its future.
The 51st season (starting Oct. 4) is adding five new people, one of biggest turnovers in decades. That includes Ben Marshall (shown here) — the towering redhead from “Please Don’t Destroy” videos — plus four lesser-knowns.
The show is also dropping some, but hasn’t said how many. In recent weeks, four people — Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Watkin and Michael Longfellow — have said they won’t be back, without mentioning whether that’s by choice. Read more…
1) Football, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC. . The pro season begins, promising to dominate TV viewership. This opener has the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (shown here in a previous season), 14-3 in the regular season, host the Dallas Cowboys 7-10, with a pre-game show at 7. Most of the other teams start Sunday. Read more…
Growing up in a “very silly” and very mobile family, Emily Corcoran knew she liked comedy and liked Greece.
She also liked the idea of mismatched half-sisters. Now she’s combined that in “The Sunshine Murders” (shown here), debuting 8-10 p.m. ET Thursday (Sept. 4).
That’s on UpTV, a family-friendly cable channel that juggles reruns, movies and a few shows from other countries. “Heartland” and “Hudson & Rex” are Canadian; “Sunshine” is … well, from Greece, New Zealand, England, Cyprus and beyond.
It follows the recent trend of “cozy crime” shows, ones — from “Elsbeth” to “Grantchester” to “High Potential” — in which the crimes may be foul, but many of the people are warm and pleasant. Read more…
1) “MasterChef,” 8 p.m., Fox. A week from the finale, four duos face a huge challenge — creating a dish simultaneously with Gordon Ramsay, while switching back and forth. It’s an “out-of-body, instinctive” task, one woman says. Adds another: “Too many pots, too many pans; you’re screaming at me.” It’s also a fiery experience (shown here), but in its own frantic way, it’s fun to watch. Read more…
(Here are the five TV best-bets for Tuesday, Sept. 2, a bit early because
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. In the third of four quarter-finals,11 acts perform. There are six music acts (including two rappers), plus a dancer, a juggling duo, an aerial duo, an AI magic act and Anna Dangerous (shown here), wielding her crossbow. Then viewers vote; on Wednesday, they’ll learn which acts four acts advance to the semi-finals. Read more…
1) “Survival Mode” finale, 10 p.m., NBC. In 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship diverted from its planned route and struck underwater rocks near Tuscany, partly sinking (shown here). An elaborate rescue began, using helicopters and boats. In all, 33 people died and the $600-million ship was ruined. Read more…
1) Stellar Awards, 8 p.m., BET, rerunning at 10:30.Steeped in gospel tradition, this 40th ceremony is hosted by BeBe and CeCe Winans — whose dad co-hosted in 1988. CeCe (shown here), 60, has had 56 Stellar nominations and 21 wins. Still, there’s room for new generations: Pastor,Mike Jr., 42, is up for his fifth straight artist-of-the-year award. Read more…
1) College football. The first full Saturday of the season starts with a clash of titans. Texas (shown here, last season), ranked No. 1 in a pre-season poll, is at Ohio State, No. 3, at noon ET on Fox. The rest of the day has lots of mismatches, with a key exception: At 7:30 p.m., ABC has Louisiana State (No. 9) at Clemson (No. 4). Also at 7:30: New Mexico is at Michigan on NBC. Read more…
