Here’s a tiny smidgen of good news, amid a cascade of postponements:
“Frozen 2” (shown here) will reach the Disney+ screening service on Sunday (March 15), three months sooner than expected. Read more…
As the coronavirus impact grows, TV is making quick adjustments.
CBS and ABC are filling the voids left by canceled basketball games. That means more reruns, plus spreading the two-hour “Hawaii Five-0” (shown here) finale over two weeks.
And PBS has a helpful reminder: We’ve been through much worse. Changes include: Read more…
As reaction to the coronavirus spreads, here are a few quick TV notes:
– First, a quick one for tonight (Thursday, March 12): At 10 p.m. ET, CNN has a town hall: Coronavirus: Fact and Fiction,” with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper. From the start of the crisis, Gupta has done a superb job of bringing clarity and sanity to the coverage.
– Now a later one, after the current rush: At 8 p.m. next Thursday (March 19), PBS has “Confronting Coronavirus.” Judy Woodruff anchors, with Amna Nawa, William Brangham and a panel of experts. Read more…
This may be good and bad news, all rolled into one:
“Slay the Dragon” (shown here) – the praised documentary about Michigan’s anti-gerrymandering drive – was expected in a few theaters this weekend. Now, instead, it will have one release date, April 3, for theaters, video-on-demand and digital platforms.
“We saw what was happening with the spread of coronavirus and sat down with (the distributor) to discuss a last-minute change in our release plan,” the directors (Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance) said in a statement. The new plan, they said, means “nearly every home in America will have access.” Read more…
Reacting to death and disease, television has a string of specials – some of them scheduled quickly – in the next few days.
A James Lipton special is today (Wednesday, March 4) on Ovaton, but then will be available online for the next week. A Kirk Douglas marathon is Thursday on Turner Classic Movies and a coronavirus special is Friday on ABC.
Lipton (shown here) died Monday at 93; Douglas died Feb. 5 at 103, but TCM tends to schedule things a month in advance. The specials are: Read more…
(Right now, you’ll spot an odd convergence of stories about FX. That’s because the network has been holding back, waiting to start its “FX on Hulu” hub. Now is the time; highlighted here are stories on FX’s “Breeders” and “Devs”; one on “Dave” is coming. But the story here pauses to take an overview of the hub, including future shows — “Mrs. America” is shown here, with Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly — and ones this week. Here we go:)
There’s a new streaming service – yes, another one – out there.
Or you might call it a semi-service – a hub to something that was already there. Either way, “FX on Hulu” is a major player. Read more…
It’s the circle of life (TV version). Some shows die … some return … some live forever:
1) “Hawaii Five-0” is ending (again). The original version ran for 12 seasons; the reboot is wrapping up after 10. Its two-hour finale will be April 3. There’s no explanation for why it’s leaving now, but CBS has an overload of successful dramas – including “Magnum,” with the same producer and same setting – and “Five-0” is an expensive show. All shows have to end sometime.2)
Or do they? “Murdoch Mysteries” has finished 13 seasons now, with no sign of slowing down. At 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) Saturday, March 7, it will air its 200th episode. Set in early-20th-century Toronto, the show finds a way to pack that era’s top people – from Einstein and Edsion to Tesla and Curie –into one busy hour.
3) And the best news is that even canceled shows return via reruns. Now one of the all-time best – “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” (shown here) – will be on GetTV. Read more…
There’s a genre that we’ll call “whaaa(!?!) television.” Or, simply, “WTF TV.”
These are shows in which the characters have no idea what’s going on. Nor do the viewers. We kind of hope the writers do, but we’re never sure.
Reality is juggled, time is shifted, minds are bent. The result is both compelling and confusing; and now two such shows are arrived, almost simultaneously.
Hulu’s “Devs” will be March 5, so we’ll discuss it another time. It’s set among tech geniuses, so we expect them to be bending and shifting and such. But AMC’s “Dispatches From Elsewhere” (shown here) is another matter, it arrives Sunday (March 1), descending on four ordinary people. Read more…
There really are some things that Donald Trump and I agree on. For instance:
1) We both feel Nancy O’Dell is attractive. (Only one of us, I should add hastily, has tried to lure her into breaking her marriage vows);
2) We both feel the Vietnam War was a mistake; and;
3) We were both surprised when “Parasite” (shown here) won the Academy Award for best picture. Read more…
Some shows – like some people – make themselves difficult to love.
.Jim Carrey’s “Kidding” has been like that. It’s fresh and original, with a warm heart, weird humor and talented cast. But it keeps pushing viewers away, deflating any sense of hope.
Now, however, it has redeemed itself. The next episode (shown here, with Ariana Grande), at 10 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, is exceptionally good … and different. Read more…
