Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 28: Janet Jackson re-visits triumphs and troubles

1) ”Janet Jackson,” 8-10 p.m., Lifetime and A&E; concludes Saturday. Merely with her music career, Jackson (shown here) would merit a documentary. She’s sold 160 million records; in the U.S., she’s had seven No. 1 albums and 10 No. 1 singles; among women, only Madonna and Mariah Carey have more. She’s also an actress (with an Oscar nomination) and has had a complicated life. She discusses the deaths of Michael and her dad, plus the Super Bowl controversy, three marriages, giving birth at 50 and more. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 27: positively a comedy night

1) “B Positive,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., CBS. The good news is that we get two episodes of this always-appealing show; the bad is that its future is unclear. “B Positive” will be bumped by a “Celebrity Big Brother” hour next week and by a new comedy (“How We Roll”) on March 31; the rest is pending. The first season introduced the delightful Annaleigh Ashford as Gina, who gave a kidney to a guy she barely knew. In the second, she inherited millions and bought a retirement home; she’s shown here with Linda Lavin, who plays one of the residents. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 26: A sci-fi gem returns

1) “Resident Alien” season-opener, 9 p.m., Syfy. This wonderfully weird show mixes solid drama, zesty sci-fi and an abundance of humor. An alien killed Dr. Harry, took over his body and prepared to kill all humans. There were technical woes and he tried to return home, but Max (shown here with him) stowed away and they crashed. Now “Harry” has a concussion and starts babbling the truth – which, of course, everyone ignores. He also think he’s a TV cop. The few humans who know his secret try to help him, with amusing results. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 25: Messy romances in fiction and fact

1) “Our Kind of People” (shown here) finale, 9 p.m., Fox. Officially, this is just the season-finale, but don’t expect it to return. Ratings have been weak and Fox didn’t order the second half of the season. The good news is that this mostly works well as a series finale; questions are answered, evil is punished, romance messes are bsettled. The bad news is that the final minute thrusts everything into permanent limbo. That’s typical of a show that kept making brash and soapy choices. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 24: “Promised,” “‘Piercer,” Playboy

1) “Promised Land” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Amid the sprawling beauty of Sonoma Valley, the haves and have-nots scheme. The Sandovals have a vineyard and a winery; Carlos Rincon has just entered the country with his sisters. John Ortiz stars as the patriarch; better known are Bellamy Young as his antagonist and Christina Ochoa as Veronica. Ochoa starred in “Blood Drive” and “Valor,” then was Renn in “Animal Kingdom” and the secretive secretary in “A Million Little Things.” Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 23: Football takes us to “Hawaii”

1) Football, 3 p.m. ET, NBC and 6:30, CBS. The Tampa Bay Bucs host the Los Angeles Rams; then the Kansas City Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills. The opener offers two veteran quarterbacks: Last week, the Rams’ Matthew Stafford (shown here) got his first playoff win … and the Bucs’ Tom Brady, who has seven Super Bowl wins, got his 35th. In 2009, Stafford was the first person drafted; nine years earlier, Brady was the 199th. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 22: Forte, films, football

1) “Saturday Night Live,”  11:29 p.m., NBC. A decade after leaving “Saturday Night Live,” Will Forte finally returns as host. That fits neatly with the fact he’s now doing “MacGruber” (shown here) – originally an “SNL” character, then a failed movie, now a series – on Peacock. Forte did eight years on “SNL,” then had his own “Last Man on Earth” series for three years. He’s been busy with voice work and had a serious turn in “Nebraska.” Tonight’s music guest is Maneskin. Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 21: “Judas” goes solo

1) “Stars on Stage,” 9 p.m., PBS. This wraps up a series that gave three Broadway-style talents each an hour-long concert. Now it’s Brandon Victor Dixon’s turn. On Broadway, he’s portrayed the music greats – Eubie Blake and Berry Gordy; he’s won a Tony (for producing the “Hedwig” revival) and been nominated for two more. Still, more people may know him from two live TV performances – in “Rent” and a sensational, Emmy-nominated turn as Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” (shown here). Read more…

Best-bets for Jan. 20: comedies and historic tragedy

1) “Women of the Movement” conclusion, 8 p.m., ABC. With the world watching, two women testified in a packed Mississippi courtroom. One was a store clerk, 27; after Emmett Till (14, visiting from Chicago) talked to her in 1955, he was kidnapped and killed. The other was Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The case would propel the civil rights movement; Till-Mobley (played by Adrienne Warren, shown here with Cedric Joe as Emmett) would go on to get a master’s degree and be an educator and an activist. This wraps an intense mini-series; a documentary follows at 10:31. Read more…