1) “America’s Got Talent” (shown here), 8-10 p.m., NBC. It’s a turning point for the season, wrapping up eight weeks of auditions. After tonight, the show takes a two-week Olympic break before switching to its live episodes, with viewers voting. There will be five semi-finals (Tuesdays and Wednesdays), setting up the Sept. 18 finale. Read more…
1) “61st Street” season-opener, 9 p.m., CW. AMC filmed two seasons of this deeply layered story, with Courtney B. Vance (above) as a Chicago lawyer – but only aired the first one. More than two years later, we see the second on a different network. It’s tough, with a brutal assault and emphasis on the attacker, propelling the lawyer down a lonely road. Read more…
(This updates the obit/appreciation that I posted earlier)
There’s a logical question people ask: “What’s (so-and-so) really like?”
Often, there’s no good answer, but for Bob Newhart – who died Thursday (July 19), at 94 – it’s simple: He’s exactly like … well, Bob Newhart.
Few people have had so much success wrapping a stage personality around a real one. He kept playing a quiet Midwestern accountant, surrounded by a noisier world. Read more…
1) “D.I. Ray’ season-finale,, 10 p.m., PBS. Slowly and solemnly, this season has unfolded two stories. Ray (Parminder Nagra, shown here, best-known for “ER”) has probed a murder involving two crime families, plus an internal story, involving a police conspiracy. Now both end solidly. Read more…
1) Olympics begin, Saturday and Sunday. In a bold change, every event will be shown live (via NBC, USA, Peacock, etc.), despite a difference of six hours ET, nine PT. NBC also repackages the day, from 8-11 p.m. Track and field wait until Aug. 1, but others start now, including gymnastics, basketball and medals in swimming (shown here) and diving. Read more…
The Bob Newhart tributes are expanding now, sprawling through the weekend and into Monday evening.
Newhart died Thursday at 94 Newly added are:
— A three-hour burst at 8 p.m. Sunday on TBS, with six “Big Bang Theory” episodes that have Newhart as Professor Proton, Sheldon’s TV hero.
— A documentary hour at 8 p.m. Monday on CBS. “Bob Newhart: A Legacy of Laughter” includes clips, plus comments from Jim Parsons, Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, Jason Bateman and Michael Weatherly. Read more…
1) “Mammals,” 8-9:23 p.m., BBC America. In Chile, sea lions stroll a marina, snacking from fish merchants. In Singapore, otters cavort in pools; in Zimbabwe, elephants walk the streets at night. These are pleasant portraits of the “new wild,” adding humans. But there are also nasty moments – dogs confront the seals (shown here), farmers drain hippos’ water holes. Read more…
Gone too soon and noticed too rarely, “Reservatioon Dogs” is finally getting a tad of attention.
“Dogs” (shown here) voluntarily ended this year, after only three wonderfully eccentric seasons. It finally got some Emmy attention this morning – nominations for best-comedy and for young actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (second from left).
Yes, that’s just a mini-ripple in an Emmy ocean. (“Shogun,” leads with 25 nominations, including best drama.) But it’s a sign that an oddly brilliant show can get some attention. Read more…
1) “Lady in the Lake” opener, Apple TV+. In a 30-year career, Natalie Portman (shown hwew) has ranged from epic (three “Star Wars” films, three “Thor: ones) to artful (an Oscar for “Black Swan” and two more nominations). But except for brief visits, she’s skipped TV. Now, at 43, she stars in this seven-parter, as a housewife-turned-journalist, probing a murder. Read more…
These days, viewers can try three sizes of convention coverage. There’s:
— The big gulp. PBS (shown here) has three hours (8-11 p.m.ET,, through Thursday) of gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican convention. So do the cable and digital news channels.
— Small sips – an hour a night, starting at 10 ET. That’s on ABC, CBS and NBC (which adds a 9 p.m. hour on Wednesday and Thursday).
“We gave much more time to the conventions” in the old days, Andrew Lack — a network news executive from 1976 to 2001 – told the Television Critics Association. That gave networks room “for more reporting that they could share with the public over a longer period of time.” Read more…
