Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 12: It’s Tony time … plus Watergate and more

1) Tony Awards, 8-11 p.m. ET, CBS. For the first time in three years, here’s a full-scale Tonycast, with glimpses of Broadway’s best. There will be performances from all six nominated musicals and from two of the nominated revivals,. That includes the music of Stephen Sondheim (“Company,” shown here),, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and more, performed by Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, Billy Crystal and others. Ariana DeBose, the “West Side Story” Oscar-winner, hosts; other performers include Billy Porter, Bernadette Peters, the New York Gay Men’s Chorus and the original cast of “Spring Awakening.” Read more…

Best-bets for June 11: a night of despicable pleasures

1) Despicable Me 3” (2017), 8-10 p.m., NBC. This seems to be family-movie day, celebrating the end of the school year. Even NBC, which rarely has movies, offers this animated film (shown here), setting up “Despicable Me 4,” in theaters next month. There’s more animation on Freeform, with “Up” at 4:30 p.m., “Princess and the Frog” at 6:40 and “Wall-E” at 11:50; that’s broken up by a lesser film, “Aladdin” – the so-so, non-cartoon version from 2019 – at 8:45. Also, the ultimate all-ages masterpiece, “ET” (1982), is on Syfy, at 1, 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Read more…

Best-bets for June 10: “Charmed” ends; “Oz” never will

1) “The Wizard of Oz” (1939),” 8 p.m., ET Turner Classic Movies. On the 100th anniversary of her birth, we get some of Judy Garland’s best films. That peaks with “Oz” (shown here), which the American Film Institute puts at No. 10 on its all-time list. it’s followed at 10 ET by an “Oz” documentary by Jack Haley Jr. (Garland’s former son-in-law) and at 11 by “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), the radiant musical directed by her husband-to-be, Vincente Minnelli. There’s more in the daytime, leading to the popular “In the Good Old Summertime” (1949) at 6. Read more…

Best-bets for June 9: ghastly rerun or almost-finales

1) “Ghosts,” 9 p.m., CBS. Two first-year comedies – ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts” – managed to be ratings successes this yer. Now CBS has declared the “Summer of Ghosts.” It will have odd events around the country and, mid-summer, a 3-D internet experience. And it has reruns, starting with one of the better (and more-recent) ones. Trevor (shown here, far right) is the self-centered stockbroker who died wearing a suitcoat … but no pants. This episode tells us what happened; it also suggests that Trevor may not be a complete jerk, after all. Read more…

Best-bets for June 8: Two traditions — Celtics, weird costumes

1) Basketball, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel at 8 and pre-game at 8:30. After two games in San Francisco, the best-of-seven series moves to Boston … which takes these things VERY seriously. The Celtics (shown here) have won 17 championships, losing in the finals only four times; by comparison, the Lakers are 17-15 … and the Golden State4 Warriors are 6-5. But it’s been all Warriors lately; they were in the finals for five straight years (2015-19), winning three times. Now they face the Celtics, desperate for their first title in 14 years and second in 36 years. Read more…

Best-betsf for June 7: judge & Johnny & more

1) “All Rise” season-opener, 8 p.m., Oprah Winfrey Network, rerunning at 11. It was 13 months ago that this show – a courtroom drama with dabs of comedy and romance – was canceled by CBS. (It’s show here in its early days.) If you want to catch up, the final CBS episode is at 7 p.m. today; the final two are at 9 and 10. Or just jump in: Judge Lola is fretting on election night … Lopez has gone to Puerto Rico, at least temporarily … her ex-boyfriend is working defense, in a tricky case involving a birthdate. Likable characters tackle fairly good stories. Read more…

Best-bets for June 6: Three season-openers collide

1) “American Ninja Warrior” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., NBC. Here’s half of the one-two punch that gives NBC strong summer ratings. “America’s Got Talent” has already started its season on Tuesdays; now “Ninja Warrior” (shown here) takes over on Mondays. Adapted from a Japanese competition, it has people tackle obstacle courses, with a chance for $1 million if they fully conquer the finals. (Only three people have done it, in 13 editions.) The season starts with try-outs in San Antonio and Los Angeles. Read more…

Best-bets for June 5: Here are the movie and basketball champs

1) MTV Movie & TV Awards, 8 p.m., MTV, plus CW, BET, VH1, Comedy Central, Pop, TV Land, more. As the summer movie scene heats up (and the “Top Gun” sequel makes a kajillion dollars), we honor recent hits. “Spiderman: No Way Home” (shown here) leads with seven nominations, including best movie, facing “”Dune,” “Scream,” “The Batman,” “The Adam Project” and “Shang-Chi.” “Euphoria” has six, including best TV show, facing “Loki,” “Squid Game,” “Ted Lasso,” “Yellowstone” and “Inventing Anna.” Vanessa Hudgens hosts; MTV has a follow-up at 10 . Read more…

Best-bets for June 4: ‘SNL” shines with post-rehab Mulaney

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. It was a hectic stretch for John Mulaney: He went into a drug-rehab program in September of 2020 … hosted “SNL” on Halloween (shown here) …then relapsed. Friends – many from “SNL” – had an intervention and he returned to rehab in December. Here’s a rerun of the show he hosted 14 months later, with LCD Soundsystem as music guest. And yes, Mulaney managed to turn that intervention into a long and funny monolog. Read more…