Regis Philbin (shown here) will have one more primetime moment.
ABC is inserting a special remembering Philbin, who died Friday at 88. That will be 8 p.m. Tuesday (July 28), leading into a previously scheduled coronavirus special (“American Catastrophe: How Did We Get Here?”) at 9. Read more…
As TV networks’ fall plans sputter, there’s a counterpoint:
PBS still has big plans for the season. That includes concerts (including Lea Salonga, shown here), dramas, politics, nature and whimsy.
Well, not a lot of whimsy. (This is PBS, after all.) But it will air “History of Zombies” on the eve of Halloween and visit “Santa’s Wild Home” before Christmas; it will also have a jazz tribute to “Sesame Street,” visit tropical islands and board the queen’s plane. Read more…
The current hot-button issues – COVID, race and politics – will be faced in four new documentaries.
Freshly added is an ABC special Tuesday, looking at the evolution of the U.S. virus crisis and interviewing Drs. Anthony Fauci and Robert Redfield and others. That joins one documentary (Sunday) on race and two (Friday and Tuesday) viewing conspiracy theories of Alex Jones as they affect politics. Details, chronologically, are: Read more…
This has, apparently, been a fun pandemic. Online, anyway.
CBS’ second at-home videos special (8 p.m. Friday, July 24) does the same as the first, only more so. It has a dizzying collection of videos people created at home.
(Shown here is one family’s “Les Miserables” take-off.) Read more…
John Lewis, one of the towering figures in American history, will be remembered in two Sunday-morning reruns on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Lewis died Friday at 80, after a six-month struggle with cancer. The son of Alabama sharecroppers, he played a key role in the civil-rights movements, from Selma (he’s shown here revisiting the site) to the March on Washington, where he was a keynote speaker at 23. He was a congressman from Georgia for more than 30 years.
The specials will be at 11 a.m. on the next two Sundays (July 19 and 26); they are: Read more…
From classrooms to farm fields, the pandemic is having a disproportionate effect on Latinos.
Now two documentaries – one streaming, the other on PBS – look at that. They are:
– “Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis,” at 9 p.m. ET Sunday (July 19) on CBSN, the digital news service run by CBS. It’s also available any time at www.cbsnews.com/pandemia.
– “Frontline: COVID’S Hidden Toll” (shown here) at 10 p.m. Tuesday (July 21) on PBS. Read more…
The world of Grant Imahara – filled with robots and imagination – will be featured in the next two days.
Imahara (shown here) – a “MythBusters” regular for a decade – died Monday of a brain aneurism at 49. There are marathons this morning (Friday, July 17) on Discovery and Saturday afternoon on Science. Read more…
This is a busy time for TV changes, ranging from Tyra Banks to Daniel Tiger (shown here). That includes:
– TYRA TAKES OVER: Tyra Banks will be the new “Dancing With the Stars” host.
Tom Bergeron is leaving after hosting all 28 seasons. Also leaving is Erin Andrews, who was a contestant (finishing third) and then co-hosted for six years. Read more…
Let’s say you want a compromise plan for this summer’s “Sharkfest.”
You’re not planning on watching the full, five-week marathon. (What, you have something better to do?) You’ll skip all the reruns – tons of them – and stick to the new shows.
Here (subject to change) are the premieres. “Sharkfest” (see separate story) starts July 19 on the National Geographic Channel, then jumps to Nat Geo Wild on Aug. 9 – the same day Discovery launches its Shark Week. Read more…
“The Nest” (shown here) arrives Monday (July 13) on Acorn, giving us one of those couples we can all envy.
Rich, smart and attractive, they live in a gorgeous, waterfront home near Glasgow. And then … well, then they meet a woman who has a mysterious past and nothing to lose.
Parts of that plot could describe many movies. This could be “Chloe” with Amanda Seyfried or “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” with Rebecca De Mornay or countless others. Storytellers love to start with perfection, then stir things up.
But “The Nest” has the advantage of time and detail. It’s a five-hour story – the first two hours debut Monday on www.acorn.tv – with the time to provide depth to each character, while spinning them through fresh detours. Read more…
