1) “CMT Crossroads,” 10 p.m., CMT. For 17 years, “Crossroads” has blended genres. Country stars mixed with everyone from Elton John to Bon Jovi. Brooks & Dunn (show here) did that in the show’s third episode, linking with ZZ Top. This time, however, they’ve diverted from the plan; they stick with the country singers, who are on their “Reboot” album, including Luke Combs, Jon Pardi, Brett Young and Midland. Read more…
1) A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m. Thursday, PBS, rerunning at 10. Each year, this offers a feel-good mix of music, emotion and fireworks. This time, pop music prevails — Carole King with the Broadway cast of “Beautiful” … Colbie Caillat and her Gone West band … and people from the three big competitions – winners of “American Idol” (Laine Hardy) and “The Voice” (Maelyn Jarmon). plus an “America’s Got Talent” runner-up (Angelica Hale). Also: Vanessa Williams, Lee Brice, Yolanda Adams and more. Read more…
1) “In the Dark” season-finale, 9 p.m., CW. Last week’s episode ended with a double surprise: The good news – a sudden, passionate romance between Murphy (the blind woman obsessed with solving her friend’s murder) and Dean (the cop working the case). The bad — a cop, maybe Dean, is linked to the killing. That sets up a fierce finale, with great work from Perry Mattfeld as Murphy (shown here with Brooke Markham, left, who plays her only friend) and Rich Sommer as Dean. “Dark” ends its season and wraps its main story with some powerful jolts. Read more…
1) “The Amazing Race” finale, 9-11 p.m., CBS. Veterans of three CBS reality shows collided … with “Race” the clear winner. It had five duos in the running and three are still there: Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl are friends, Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran are cousins, Colin Guinn and Christie Woods are “life partners.” Also surviving — one of the three “Big Brother” duos (Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo, here showing their boat skills) and none of the three “Survivor” duos. Tonight, the winner gets $1 million. Read more…
1) “Pose,” 10 p.m., FX. Two stories – both of them passionate and life-changing – alternate here. To preserve the impact, we can only describe them in general terms: One has a brilliant performance by Indya Moore (shown here in the season-opener) as Angel, the street-tough transgender beauty who has a shot at being Eileen Ford’s face-of-the-year; the other finds Elektra with a work emergency. Superbly written by Our Lady J and directed by Janet Mock (who both happen to be transgender), it’s a high-stakes story, beautifully told. Read more…
You might remember cowboys.
They used to be big in the movies. And on TV. And, perhaps, in our daydreams.
“Bonanza” ran 14 seasons; “Gunsmoke” ran 20, a record for a drama. In the fall of 1959, the three networks had 23 cowboy shows, from Bret Maverick and Bat Masterson to “Have Gun, Will Travel.”
And now? There are just two major ones, both confined to cable, and they’re at turning points: Read more…
1) “Grand Hotel,” 10:01 p.m., ABC. Deep in debt to crooks, Santiago had one solution: His step-daughter would marry a rich guy whose family would buy the hotel. Alas, she slept with a singer named El Rey; at the altar, the groom denounced her and attacked him. (Yes, it’s that kind of show.) Now Santiago’s biologic daughter (Denyse Tontz, shown here) wants to save the hotel with an El Rey concert; others have doubts. Also, Danny’s secret – he’s the brother of the missing worker – is discovered by another staffer. Read more…
He had the loudest voice, the bulkiest body, the most relentless mind.
It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that Roger Ailes dominated television … then dominated American life.
Now a powerhouse Showtime mini-series — “The Loudest Voice” – captures that. Russell Crowe vividly depicts the late Ailes as a man of volume and venom and (when needed) subtlety. Read more…
Stop and think about the weddings you’ve gone to.
Now do a calculation: In what percentage did the bride and groom say “I do” and become married?My own figure is 100 percent, but I might run with a dull crowd.
In the TV world, excluding finales, it seems closer to 50 percent. Read more…
1) BET Awards, 8 p.m., BET (which reruns it at 12:30 a.m.), MTV and VH1. On a night stuffed with music, Cardi B l(shown here) eads with seven nominations; that includes best album, facing Travis Scott, Meek Mill, Ella Mai and The Carters. She’ll perform; so will Billy Ray Cyrus, DJ Khaled, City Girl, Migus, Lucky Daye and more. Mary J. Blige gets a special award; Regina Hall hosts and is also up for best actress, going against Viola Davis, Taraji Henson, Tiffany Haddish, Regina King and Issa Rae. Read more…
