Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 16: Hope vanishes, “Old Man” arrives

1) “The Old Man” openers (shown here), 10 and 11:30 p.m., FX. For the first 15 minutes, you might be tempted to switch away. Don’t;; a strong drama – tough, intense, richly crafted – is waiting on the other side. In those early minutes, we see a solemn widower (Jeff Bridges), with his two dogs and memories of his wife’s descent into Alzheimer’s. He talks to his daughter on the phone, digs tin cans out of the garbage and seems a bit daft. Just stick with it; a compelling, seven-part adventure is coming, with great work from Bridges, John Lithgow and more. Read more…

Best-bets for June 15: new competitions, old “Price”

1) “So You Think You Can Dance,” 9 p.m., Fox. The 300th episode of this oft-excellent series (shown here in a previous episode) marks a changeover. The try-outs are finished and 12 contestants move to a TV studio – a big step for a show that missed two summers during the pandemic. And there’s a new judge: Matthew Morrison was ousted, reportedly for sending a note to one of the contestants. Taking over is Leah Remini, a popular actress (“The King of Queens”), also known for strident documentaries opposing scientology. She joins JoJo Siwa and Stephen (tWitch) Boss. Read more…

Best-bets for June 14: brutal bikers, tasteful kids

1) “Mayans M.C.” season-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11:43 p.m. and 1:27 a.m. A passionate season concludes fiercely, Last week, Galindo returned, showed a warehouse filled with heroin and asked the bikers to be his dealers. Now EZ (shown here, left) faces that … and a murder attempt … and a former prison colleague who knows his secrets Galindo’s wife, on the run, learns her son has been kidnapped and her sister has been killed. There’s much more, in a great episode that starts with Coco’s funeral and ends with a jolt — and a mystery for next year. Read more…

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…