Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 21: Big music events collide

1) “Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince,” 9-11 p.m., CBS. Those music-from-home specials have been appreciated, but here’s what we need now – some high-octane, rock spectacle (showh here). Taped Jan. 26 in Los Angeles, this has Prince’s songs performed by top stars – Alicia Keys, John Legend, Beck. Chris Martin, H.E.R., Usher, Juanes, Mavis Staples, Susanna Hoffs, Gary Clark Jr., the Foo Fighters, Earth, Wind & Fire and a merger of Prince’s old colleagues – Sheila E, Morris Day, Time and Revolution. Read more…

Best-bets for April 20: That’s all for Saul (for now)

1) “Better Call Saul” season-finale, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 11:30. Jimmy really should be used to chane, you know. He changed his business name to Saul … he married Kim … he agreed to haul the $7 million bail money for a drug dealer (for a $100,000 fee), barely surviving with Mike (they’re shown here in a previous episode) after a shoot-out and a desert trek. But the change that stunned him was when Kim gave up her big-money law firm, to work pro bono. Clearly, that’s not his style. Tonight, AMC says, they make a risky move, with tough results. Read more…

Best-bets for April 19: “God” nears the end

1) “God Friended Me,” 8 p.m., CBS. Next week, this likable show ends its two-season run. Tonight’s episode might set that up: Earlier, Miles responded to a “God account” suggestion by helping Rose re-unite with Lt. Freemont. The problem: Now Trevor (Ben Rappaport) says that ruined his life. While trying to help Trevor resolve his feelings for Rose, Miles (shown here) starts pondering his feelings for Cara. Read more…

Best-bets for April 18: It’s a music marathon

(Here are the five TV best-bets for Saturday, April 18; feel free to use in any form, all or some, print and/or web)

1) “One World: Together at Home,” 2-8 p.m. on streamers (YouTube, Facebook, etc.), 8-10 p.m. on ABC. CBS, NBC and CW. Here’s a music mega-show, with Lada Gaga lining up top stars, including Taylor Swift (shown here), Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish and Eddie Vedder. Other musicians, working from home, include Alicia Keys, Camila Cabello, John Legend, Keith Urban, Kacey Musgraves and more. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert co-host the network part.
Read more…

Best-bets for April 17: Let’s celebrate Hollywood

1) “Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story” (2015), 8-10 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Harold Michelson drew movie storyboards, then became a production designer, Oscar-nominated for “Star Trek” and “Terms of Endearment.” His wife Lillian was a researcher; married for 60 years, they were even the namesakes for King Harold and Queen Lillian in “Shrek.” This documentary is sandwiched by two terrific films – “Some Like It Hot” (1959) at 5:45 p.m. ET and “Deliverance” (1972) at 10. That’s on a strong Hollywood night, including Jack Nicholson (shown here) in “The Departed”; see next paragraph. Read more…

Best-bets for April 16: “Dark” drama, light tunes

1) “In the Dark” season-opener, 9 p.m., CW. The first season started strong, meandered, then ended fiercely. Murphy (Perry Mattfeld), who is blind, realized Dean is a crooked cop who killed her friend. She kicked him into a car crash, barely surviving. Now “Dark” is in strong shape, thanks to two supporting characters – Brooke Markham (shown here withg Mattfeld) as Murph’s only friend and Morgan Krantz as the oft-hapless owner of a guide-dog business. Desperate to keep the business going, they stole drug money. Consequences follow. Read more…

Best-bets for April 15: Three seasons end, one begins

1) “Chicago P.D.” season-finale, 10 p.m., NBC. The seventh season ends (earlier than planned) with a quietly powerful episode. It starts with trying to catch thugs selling mini-Uzis. There are complications – there usually are – and then the real plot takes over. We won’t spoil any twists, except to say it’s a deep dilemma for Atwater, superbly played by LaRoyce Hawkins (shown here). The advice he gets – from his boss and from an ex-alderman (Wendell Pierce) now in prison – is complex and layered. So is the story. Read more…

Best-bets for April 14: A subtly strong season-finale

1) “New Amsterdam” season-finale, 9 p.m., NBC. This is an extraordinary episode. That’s partly because of the prologue, which we aren’t supposed to tell about. But it’s mostly because of the rare subtlety: Medical shows tend to crank up the emotion; they assume it’s more dramatic to have kin weeping and wailing. In truth, we suspect, it’s more common to have muted resolve. That’s what you get in tough moments here, played with subtle perfection by the actors (including Janet Montgomery, shown here) and new director Dinh Thai. Read more…

Best bets for April 13: Two new shows, one new season

1) “Baker and the Beauty” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. The Garcias are warm, hard-working folks who have a Miami bakery. They expect life to be kind of normal. Then Daniel (Victor Rasuk) and Noa (Nathalie Kelley, who was Cristal in the first year of the “Dynasty” reboot), a Kardashian-type pop-culture star, accidentally meet. You could call this a modern Cinderella, with the genders flipped … or a Latino “Notting Hill.” Either way, it’s subtly written, well-played and beautifully filmed. Read more…

Best-bets for April 12: A packed Easter

1) “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” 7-9:30 p.m., NBC. This 2018 production was called a concert, but don’t worry: It has costumes, sets and some impressive staging – all in support of great voices and soaring music. John Legend plays Jesus, with Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdaleine, Alice Cooper (shown here) as Herrod and lots of Broadway stars. Read more…