Maybe we should quit grumbling about all those airline delays.
We should use that down time to create hit TV shows. That happened once.
The latest “TV We Love” episode (9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, on CW) looks at “Happy Days” (shown here), First, let’s catch an account of the show’s birth: Read more…
ABC will again go into holiday overdrive. The four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas will be stuffed with music, movies and more.
Some things, of course will simply be re-re-reruns. We’ll get double Julie Andrews (“Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music”), plus “Home Alone,” “The Santa Clause” and some familiar cartoons.
But alongside that are:
— New specials. A third “Prep & Landing” (shown here) arrives, filling out a three-hour animation block. Also, the “Dancing With the Stars” people will have a holiday hour. Read more…
It will be a rerun Christmas on the CW network, ranging from Dolly Parton to Yogi Bear.
The Hollywood Christmas Parade (Dec. 12) is new each year, but it will be alongside a sea of shows that have been somewhere before. They include:
— CARTOONS (all at 8 p.m.): “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” is Nov. 28, repeating Dec. 10. The 1980 movie “Yogi’s First Christmas” is Dec. 19. Read more…
So there we were in 1984, at a Television Critics Association session.
Jac Venza, founder of PBS’ “Great Performances” series, was talking about its latest “Dance in America” special. It had “A Song For Dead Warriors,” by the San Francisco Ballet.
And, Venza told us proudly, we might be familiar with the composer, Charles Fox. He wrote the theme song for “The Love Boat.”
At this point, we promptly did what critics do. We moaned, groaned and offered a general air of derision … before Venza could continue: “And here he is: Charles Fox.” Read more…
There’s good news for fans of tough, taut drama:
“Dark Winds” (shown here) will be back for its fourth season. It arrives earlier than usual (Feb. 15 on the AMC cable channel) and gets its three main characters back together.
Based on Tony Hillerman novels, the show has been produced by the late Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin, the “Games of Thrones” author. In each of its first three seasons, it had a 100-percent score among critics tabulated by Rotten Tomatoes. Read more…
“Saturday Night Live” will have a lot of first-timers in November.
It will be the first time hosting for Nikki Glaser (shown here) and Glen Powell and the first time as music guests for Sombr and Olivia Dean.
The season started with three new episodes, pauses for a rerun Oct. 25, then has another string of three new ones. Coming up (11:30 p.m. on NBC) are: Read more…
CBS has announced a modest-but-cheerful batch of Christmas shows.
Barring late additions, the line-up has no holiday movies, no holiday music specials and two animated specials — one new, one not. Filling in will be some other weekend specials (Kennedy Center Honors, family film awards, Latin music), plus some festive game shows. Read more…
Ah, the sweet memories of state fairs — bright lights, loud music, fast rides … and grease. Lots and lots of grease.
That’s what we see on “The Simpsons” (shown here), at 8 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 19) on Fox.
There are deep-fried pickles and deep-fried cheese steaks. There’s mac-n-cheese on a stick and fried butter sticks on a stick. There’s more.
What could go wrong? Plenty, since this is the annual “Treehouse of Horror.” Read more…
(Portions of this are excerpted from “Television, and How It Got That Way,” a book-in-process. I’m running it now, because of an “I Love Lucy” profile airing at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, on CW. For the almost-complete book, click “The Book,” on the right side of the home page.)
To ponder the miracle of “I Love Lucy,” consider the void around it.
This was 1951, when TV was young and wobbly. There were a few worthy shows — Sid Caesar, Ed Sullivan, live dramas — and a lot of others.
In a week of primetime shows that fall, you’d find wrestling (twice) and boxing (twice). You’d find “Georgetown University Forum” and “Johns Hopkins Science Review, “Youth on the March” and “American Youth Forum,” plus “Film Filler” and “Lessons in Safety.”
Into that shaky field came the “Lucy” show. “It should bounce to the top of the ratings heap,” a Hollywood Reporter critic wrote. Read more…
Most people knew that Malcolm-Jamal Warner (shown here) was a skilled comedy actor. He’d been doing that since he was 13.
But in recent years, the Fox network has shown us something else: This guy was gifted at drama — filled with subtle intensity.
Now we see one final example: Warner — who died in a swimming accident in July, at 54 — has an emotional role in “Murder in a Small Town,” at 8 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 7) on Fox. Read more…
