Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 27: The 8 p.m. hour is packed

1) “The 1% Club,” 8 p.m., Fox. Joel McHale’s comedy (“Animal Control)” finished its season last week, but he’s still busy hosting TV’s best game show. Amid fascinating questions, McHale (shown here) toys with contestants. Today, they include one person who’s been on Jerry Springer’s show and another who was a zombie on “The Walking Dead.” Read more…

Best-bets for April 26: dramas, elegant and audacious

1) “The Forsytes” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. Amid all the Victorian-age glamour, there are deep waves of emotion. At work, Jo was right; Soames wasn’t, destroying a client. At home, both men’s marriages are crumbling. Jo left after his wife (they’re shown here) banned him from seeing his long-ago lover and their children. Now come great moments, especially from his grandmother. Read more…

Best-bets for April 25: Marty & Freddie & such

1) “Marty Supreme” (2025), 8 p.m., HBO. A terrific film (shown here) makes its cable debut, one day after reaching HBO Max. In 1952 New York, Marty (based on a real guy) obsesses on ping-pong. Director/co-writer Josh Safdie crafted a frantically entertaining story. It drew nine Oscar nominations, including for best picture and for Timothee Chalamet’s brilliant performance. Read more…

Best-bets for April 24: music, movies, more

1) “Now Hear This,” 9 p.m., PBS. The second half of this four-week series is as much a gorgeous travelog as a music show. Next week is Iceland; today is Istanbul, an ancient city aglow with sights and sounds. Host Scott Yoo (shown here) brings his wife, Alice Dade. He’s a violinist, but its her flute talent that fits the local music. An “International Jazz Day” concert follows at 10. Read more…

Best-bets for April 23: Seasons end, draft begins

1) “Matlock” season-finale, 9-11 p.m., CBS. A year overdue, the show finally wraps its main story. This is the episode viewers expected a year ago: Matty and Olympia push to pin blame on the burying of a report that could have saved lives. It starts poorly (a dream scene, rarely a good idea) and has odd twists involving Senior’s ex-wife (shown here) and others, but ultimately gets a good show back on track. Read more…

Best-bets for April 21: reality openers; taut “Trent”

1) “Bear Grylls is Running Wild” opener, 9 p.m., Tuesday. Two 50-ish chaps — Grylls, 51, and Matthew McConaughey, 56 and far from his Texas roots — tackle an imposing stretch of Norway (shown here). They descend a steep, 800-foot granite cliff; eat reindeer testicles and swim in 35-degree water. Also, they chat about Woody Harrelson, “a perpetual 8-year-old.” It’s all fairly entertaining. Read more…

Best-bets for April 20: love, “Idol” and revolution

1) “Sullivan’s Crossing” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. Last season seemed to be ending cheerily. With her dad leaving, Dr. Maggie Sullivan would run his resort, start a clinic and be with Cal. Then Liam showed up, saying he’s her husband. (he’s shown here, right, with Maggie and Cal in the center.) Now more complications (personal and medical) pile up, in a show that manages to remain mostly sunny and likable Read more…

Best-bets for April 19: modern scheme, long-ago strife

1) “The Audacity,” 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 10:20. As the opener ended last week, Duncan (Billy Magnussen, right) grasped at a scheme. His tech company was crumbling, but he had caught his therapist using her clients (including Zach Galifianakis, left) to fuel insider-training. Now he wants her to feed tips to him — if he can find her. Meanwhile, their teens struggle. It’s a brilliant episode, deftly blending satire and drama. Read more…

Best-bets for April 18: glory of basketball and nature

1) Basketball, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC, with pre-game at 8. It’s opening day of the pro playoffs. Amazon Prime — which aired the “play-in” portion this week — has games at 1, 3:30 and 6. Then ABC has Kevin Durant’s Rockets (shown here) and LeBron James’ Lakers, which finished 5th and 4th in the 15-team Western Conference. On Sunday, games will be on ABC in the afternoon, NBC at night. Read more…