Each Sunday, Chicago has a new responsibility.
On TV, it represents all of urban America. It’s the backdrop for:-
– “The Red Line,” from 8-10 p.m. on CBS for four Sundays, starting April 28.
— “The Chi,” at 10 p.m. on Showtime. April 28 brings the fourth of 10 episodes. Read more…
What follows, after a few paragraphs, is the commentary I wrote Monday, as the “Gotham” finale neared.
It describes the great/bad quality of a show that has stunned us — but only with its visuals.After I wrote it, the finale became available to critics. It’s better (and, occasionally, worse) than I’d expected. Read more…
1) “The Red Line” opener, 8 and 9 p.m. Sunday, CBS. For years, CBS has remained No. 1 by playing it safe — dependable dramas with an ending (happy, usually) for each hour, Now comes a bold risk, a story spread over eight hours on four Sundays. We see a tragic mistake and its tangled impact. There are flaws here: The incident is too clear-cut; a key admission (late in the first hour) is unmotivated. Still, this is beautifully done; in the second hour, Noah Wylie (shown here) delivers some deeply moving moments. Read more…
1) “Motown 60,” 8-10 p.m. Sunday, CBS. It was 60 years (and three months) ago that Berry Gordy borrowed $800 and created Motown Records. It soared; one week, it had eight songs in the top 10. Some of the stars – Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Martha Reeves, Thelma Houston, Smokey Robinson (shown here with Pentatonix) will perform and others (Mary Wilson, songwriters) will offer memories. Also performing: Tori Kelly, John Legend, Meghan Trainor, Fantasia, Ne-Yo, Ciara, more. Read more…
This website was down for a week, while getting its fancy reboot. During that time, the Capital City Film festival was booming ahead. But here are two notes:
1) If you happen to be reading this in the Lansing, Mich., area on Easter Sunday, there’s still time. For a schedule of the final day, go to www.capitalcityfilmfest.com. Read more…
Life is different in Canada, it seems. Streets are clean, people are calm and “Murdoch” is forever.
“Murdoch Mysteries” arrived in 2008, with Yannick Bisson as a polite policemen solving crimes in early-1900s Toronto. “I thought, ‘Wow, this will go a couple good years,’” Bisson recalled.
And now? Its 12th season recently concluded in Canada and has just started on Ovation, an American cable network. Compared to U.S. crimesolvers, that ties it with “Bones,” “Dragnet,” “NYPD Blue,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “Murder, She Wrote,” trailing only a couple “Law & Order” series. Read more…
1) “Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration,” 9-11 p.m., CBS. Here is a cascade of stars, young (Tori Kelly, Chloe x Halle, Fantasia) and old, with Thelma Houston, 72, Diana Ross, 74, and co-host Smokey Robinson, 79. There are potent medleys from Ne-Yo (shown here) and Jennifer Lopez, plus a rousing tribute to Motown women. And there’s deep emotion: Watch Ross sing to Motown founder Berry Gordy … Stevie Wonder sing to a montage of departed stars … and John Legend soar with the music of Marvin Gaye. Read more…
1) “The Ten Commandments” (1956), 7-11:44 p.m., ABC (check local listings). This has become an ABC tradition – on the night before Easter, showing Cecil B. DeMille’s epic. In its time, the mega-movie – with Charlton Heston as Moses – was well-regarded; it drew seven Oscar nominations (including best picture), winning for special effects. By modern standards, it feels stiff and the effects aren’t that special. Read more…
1) “I Love Lucy Funny Money Special,” 8-9 p.m., CBS. When not obsessing on show-business, Lucy schemed about money. These 1954 episodes (with color added by computer) are vivid examples. The first – selling homemade salad dressing – is moderately funny, if we forgive the cliche that only men figure finances. The second – a scramble to win the “bonus bucks” contest – is a giddy crescendo of greed and error, boosted by Lucille Ball’s mastery of sight gags. Read more…
1) “Life in Pieces” season-opener, 8:31 and 9:30 p.m. CBS. John (James Brolin) chose the site for the family vacation. which is short on a few luxuries — toilets and water, for instance — but long on bugs, bats and snakes. That’s in the first episode. which skips the usual, four-story format and focuses on the vacation, with hilarious results. The second has Joey King (who’s brilliant in Hulu’s “The Act”) as a pregnant teen. Colleen and Matt want to adopt her baby, but must compete with a rich couple. Read more…
