Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 9: “SNL” reruns a gem

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. For Phoebe Waller-Bridge, this is a can’t miss year. She won three Emmys (for writing, producing and starring in “Fleabag”) and was nominated for a fourth (for producing “Killing Eve”). Then she hosted the season’s second “SNL,” which reruns here; it was a big improvement over the first. The “Mid-Day News” sketch was sharp and another – letters between a war-time soldier and his love, with Mikey Day (shown here) and Waller-Bridge – was wonderfully clever. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 8: Musicals, young and old

1) “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” 8 p.m., ABC. For a while, it looked like musicals might become an old-people thing. Then came “High School Musical” and a new generation. That’s been followed by two sequels, a theater version, more Disney/ABC musicals … and now this: When the Disney+ streaming service starts on Tuesday (Nov. 12), it will include this series (shown here), which pretends to be a documentary, following teens trying out for the school show. Tonight, ABC gives us the first hour. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 7: Lotsa laughs

1) “Perfect Harmony,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. The Perpetual Praise mega-choir is overwhelming. “They are the Death Star of church choirs,” Dwayne says. They have platoons of singers, fog machines and an arena-like facility with giant screens. Now the tiny Second First Church choir is lured into a challenge … while its conductor (shown here) is having a bad hair day. After a so-so Halloween episode last week, “Harmony” reverts back to form, as the best new series on a broadcast network. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 6: Fox is back; Halloween lingers

1) “The Masked Singer,” 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. When the World Series went seven games, it wiped out two Wednesdays for Fox, creating confusion. Fox scheduled “Masked Singer” and “Almost Family” for tonight, then detoured. “Almost” (a good show) will sit out for its third straight week, so “Masked” can double up. Things starts with a terrific performance by “Rottweiler” and an interesting one by “Ladybug”(shown here) … whom Jenny McCarthy promptly proclaims “the Lady Gaga of ladybugs.” Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 5: Mayans, mermaid & medics

1) “Mayans M.C.” season-finale,10 p.m. FX; rerunning at 11:36 p.m. and 1:12 a.m. Rippling with macho energy – off-camera, as well as on – this has been a tough ride. Kurt Sutter, the co-creator and co-producer, was recently fired; he granted that his own hard-charging approach has been part of the problem. But “Mayans” remains, flaws and all, what we need – intense, involving TV. Now two wars loom: The Mayans against another biker club and EZ (shown here) and his brother against efforts to deport their dad. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 4: Master minds collide

1) “Jeopardy,” check local listings. James Holzhauer stirred fresh interest in a show that’s been around for 55 years. He won 32 straight nights and amassed $2.46 million, close to the non-tourney record of Ken Jennings ($2.52 million, with 75 wins). Then Emma Boettcher, a young librarian, beat him; she won twice more, totaling $98,000. Now the two-week “Tournament of Champions” begins. The schedule has him on Wednesday and her on Thursday; they could collide next week. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 3: Farewell to “Durrells” and “Affair”

1) “The Durrells in Corfu” finale, 8 p.m., PBS. This has been an amiable, four-season run, following the real people described in Gerald Durrell’s books. Widowed and broke, Louisa moved with her four children to a Greek island in the 1930s. Now their boarding house is doing fine, their lives are settled … but the Germans have invaded Albania, just two miles away. Larry has returned home, Margo is on the way and Louisa scrambles anew, in a well-crafted farewell episode. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 2: Kristen Stewart, all day

1) “Twilight Saga” and/or “Saturday Night Live.” Clearly, this is Kristen Stewart’s day. The entire saga – in which she finds love and/or lust with a vampire and a werewolf – is on the Paramount Network at noon and 3, 6, 9 and 11:30 p.m. And if you skip that last one, you can see her second time as “SNL” host, at 11:29 p.m. on NBC; Coldplay is the music guest. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 1: The streaming war heats up

1) “The Morning Show,” any time, Apple TV+. A new streaming service is born – with an even newer (and bigger) one looming. Unlike other streamers, Apple doesn’t have a backlog of classic shows. What it has, however, is starpower. “Morning Show” has Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. Another series — “For All Mankind,” imagining an accelerated NASA – is from Ronald Moore, the “Outlander” and “Battlestar: Galactica” producer. And Disney’s streamer will follow on Nov. 12. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 31: Laughs or gore on Halloween

1) “The Good Place,” 9 p.m., NBC. Ratings go down a tad on Halloween, so CBS’ comedies have reruns tonight. Not so with the NBC ones, which are new. “Superstore” and “Perfect Harmony” (8 and 8:30 p.m.) have Halloween episodes, big and busy and intermittently funny. Avoiding the holiday are “Will & Grace” (9:30) and this show, which has lunk-headed Brent writing an awful novel. It’s a clever episode, punctuated by wonderfully stylized moments in which Michael (Ted Danson, shown here) tells the story to Bad Janet. Read more…