Fame reached Sheryl Crow (shown here) at its own odd pace. It was slow and gradual … and then came in one big whoosh.
“There is no handbook for becoming famous when you’re a really private, small-town person,” she told the Television Critics Association. “It was emotional; it was exhausting.”
She’s still sorting it out in “Sheryl,” an involving documentary that debuts at 9 p.m. Friday (May 6) on Showtime. Read more…
1) “Good Sam” finale, 10 p.m., CBS. Shows are starting to wrap up now. Coming are the finales of Fox’s “Call Me Kat” on Thursday and CBS’ “Magnum P.I.” and “Blue Bloods” on Friday. First, we get “Sam,” which never quite caught on – in Nielsen ratings, it’s 30th of 31 CBS shows, topping only “Come Dance With Me” – despite likable people. Sam (Sofia Bush, shown here) became chief of surgery when her dad (Jason Isaacs) was ill; he’s not happy about it. Read more…
Life is different, Stephen McGann has found, when you’re married to an in-demand TV writer.
Books keep arriving, in hopes that Heidi Thomas will adapt them. They form “the growing mountain of night-time reading we stack by our bedside,” McGann wrote in “Call the Midwife: A Labour of Love” (2022, Neal Street Productions).
Thomas reads fast and discards quickly. But a dozen years ago, she announced: “You know, I think I might be able to do something with this.”
The result is “Call the Midwife” (shown here with McGann and Max Mcmillan, who plays his son),now at a key point: Previous episodes are at www.pbs.org and the 11th-season finale is at 8 p.m. Sunday (May 8) on PBS: Last week, a crash left three people on a train, near death — Sister Julienne and a former patient … and Dr. Turner, played by McGann. Read more…
1) “Holey Moley” season-opener, 8 p.m., ABC. Is it summer already? Apparently. This opened its past seasons on June 17, May 21 and June 20, fitting the light tone of a miniature-golf show. But here it is already, with the Muppets joining Joe Tessitore and Rob Riggle (shown here) for commentary. Jeannie Mai works the sidelines and Stephen Curry (who’s also quite good at basketball) is the golf pro. Read more…
It’s easy to dump on Jeff Zucker, the former head of NBC and CNN and more.
But let’s look at something that has turned out well: Under Zucker, CNN developed a strong lineup of shows on Saturday and Sunday nights; that’s clear now, with:
–Sundays: “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” has just started its second season. Barring breaking news, it’s at 9 p.m. and midnight, with another travel-and-food show (“Nomad with Carlton McCoy”) at 10 and 1, plus a Tucci rerun at 11.
— Saturday, May 14: “Navalny” (shown here), a compelling documentary movie, reruns from 9-11 p.m., followed by Tucci and McCoy reruns. It had been set for May 7, but then was pushed back a week. Read more…
1) “American Idol,” 8 p.m., ABC. A decade ago, in a detour from the usual voting, the top two “Idol” spots went to country-music teens. Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina (shown here) went on to find Nashville success; now they’re back for this special, celebrating (a month early) the show’s 20th anniversary. Other winners will perform, including Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17). Read more…
1) “Ten Percent” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., BBC America. At a public-relations firm in London, only the founder (Jim Broadbent) seems peaceful and pleasant. His son (Jack Davenport) is frazzled, especially when young Misha shows up. An aide fumes; a young agent struggles with delivering bad news to Kelly McDonald (playing herself). The result is fast and funny … sometimes too fast, with the British accents. “Ten Percent” also streams Fridays on Sundance Now. Read more…
Sylvia Fox didn’t really want to go to small-town Italy for her niece’s wedding.
She had plenty of things to do in London. Working for the MI-6 unit, she handled informants worldwide; also, she had an ex-husband with benefits.
But after fuming at her bosses, she departed for the wedding. She would soon prove to be one of the greatest aunts in fictional history.
That’s the start of “Signora Volpe” (shown here), an exceptionally good mystery series. The first season – three movie-length tales – streams over three Mondays (starting May 2) on www.acorn.tv. Read more…
1) “American Idol” special, 8 p.m. today, ABC. It was 20 years ago (almost) that the first “Idol” auditions aired. On that June day, Americans met Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and more. Now “Idol” pauses for an anniversary concert. It has the top two from its 10th season (Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, shown here), plus more winners – Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17), plus others Read more…
1) White House Correspondents Dinner, 8-11 p.m. ET, CNN. This event has been cancelled for the past two years (due to Covid) and hasn’t had a president there in six years (due to, well, Trump). But Joe Biden plans to be there, barring an emergency, to take and deliver barbs. Trebor Noah (shown here) hosts; the best parts tend to come near the end. Read more…
