1) “Stumble,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. After two straight hilarious episodes, here’s one that’s merely quite funny. Amid a town blackout, the cheer team can’t practice. Its coach fidgets, schemes and ignores her husband’s free-time suggestions. We miss seeing most of the cheer kids, but there’s a dazzling moment (shown here) near the end. Read more…
CBS has announced some reality-show and soap-opera details. They include:
— The 16 chefs — all of them award-winners or nominees — in “America’s Culinary Challenge,” which starts March 4.
— The 10 “classic episodes” that will rerun at 8 p.m. weekdays, leading into the Feb. 25 start of the 50th “Survivor.”
— And, jumping ahead to June, a multi-episode crossover between two soap operas — “Beyond the Gates” (shown here), which has its first anniversary Feb. 24, and “The Young and the Restless,” which began 53 years ago.
These came out during Zoom press conferences today with the Television Critics Association. Details include: Read more…
1) “Next Level Chef” opener (shown here), 8 p.m., Fox. Eight professional chefs battle for five spots. (And yes, we mean “battle”; in the early minutes, two women have an intense tug-of-war over a tuna carcass.) The next two weeks will have similar competition for home chefs and for internet chefs. Read more…
1) “Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV” finale, 9:02 p.m., ABC. This wraps a three-week look at a dark time for daytime TV. Once the benign world of Oprah and Phil, it was overrun by rate, accusations, paternity tests and (shown here) onstage fights. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. The first half-hour is compelling and deeply moving. Using his words (plus photos and stylish art), it tells of the Holocaust experience of Elie Wiesel (shown here) and the dark years after he was freed at 16. The final minutes are also moving. Some middle portions (a modern classroom, a Reagan controversy) run too long. Read more…
(This is the second of two stories; the first was an overview of TV mysteries, “cozy” and not.)
These days, mystery shows reach our TV sets from all sides — streaming, cable, broadcast and beyond. They range from “cozy mysteries” (including “Miss Scarlet,” shown here) to their opposite.
A generation ago, however, PBS virtually had a mystery monopoly.
The British, after all, were the mystery masters. And “until the late 1980s, there hadn’t been much competition for British drama,” Rebecca Eaton wrote in “Making Masterpiece” (Viking, 2013). Read more…
1) “American Idol” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. Half her life ago, Carrie Underwood, 21, was the fourth “Idol” winner. Now, 21 years later (show here), she’s sold 95 million records … won eight Grammys … and starts work as an “Idol” judge. This season, the show will be once a week, not twice. Read more…
(This is the first of two story about TV mystery shows; the second one focuses on PBS.)
Sprawling across the TV landscape, mystery shows seem to fit opposite categories.
There are “cozy mysteries” (including “My Life is Murder,” shown here) and, well, uncozy ones. Sometimes, the difference is small.
And there are good and bad ones. Often, the difference is enormous.
These mysteries are especially big on two streaming networks (Acorn and Britbox), two cable channels (Ovation and Hallmark Mystery) and many Sundays on PBS. But they also reach further. Read more…
1) Football. The Broncos (shown here) host the Patriots at 3 p.m. ET on CBS; then it’s Rams-Seahawks at 6:30 on Fox, with both winners going to the Super Bowl. The Rams were 12-5 in the regular season; others were 14-3. But the Broncos’ quarterback is injured; veteran back-up Jarrett Stidham will face the team that drafted him in the fourth round, seven years ago. Read more…
CBS is continuing a familiar habit — sticking with shows that work.
In one swoop, it has renewed 10 shows for next season. They join four previous renewals, making it easier to ask what shows are still pending.
It’s a tiny list that includes: Read more…
Best-bets for Feb. 5: fun chefs, serious sports 
Best-bets for Feb. 4: Muppets and talking dogs 
Best-bets for Feb. 3: a night of crimes, true and not 
