Hollywood loves to see an innocent man scramble to clear his name.
But here’s a flip side: There’s more drama in seeing a guilty man try to do the same.
That’s what happens in the compelling second season of “Bloodlands” (shown here). Its six episodes – two-per-Monday – begin streaming on Feb. 6 at www.acorn.tv. Read more…
1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox. After leading the regular season with 14-3 records, the Kansas City Chiefs (shown here) and Philadelphia Eagles survived the play-offs. Now they collide, with Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen in the broadcast booth – each working his first Super Bowl. Erin Andrews, doing her fourth Super bowl, will be on the sidelines, with Tom Rinaldi. And at halftime, Rihanna takes over, in a show produced by her mentor, Jay-Z. Read more…
As the Fox network nears its Super Bowl spotlight, there’s good and bad news about its future:
— The good: “The Cleaning Lady” (shown here with Elodie Yung) has been renewed for a third season. That could have gone either way; the show has had modest ratings and a serialized story that reached some conclusions as the second season ended.
— Also good: Fox has expanded its agreement to put all of its scripted and reality shows on Hulu, the day after they air.
— And the bad: The spot after the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 – a perfect place to launch a new drama or showcase a fairly new one – will instead go to “Next Level Chef.” Read more…
1) “Malcolm X” (1992), 4:30 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. During Black History Month, TCM is stuffing Saturdays with key films. That starts with Denzel Washington(shown here) in Spike Lee’s richly crafted epic. It’s followed by the comedy “Cooley High” (1975) at 8 and the moving drama “Sounder” (1972) at 10. There’s more ahead, led by “A Soldier’s Story” on Feb. 11 and “In the Heat of the Night” and “To Sleep With Anger” on Feb. 18. Read more…
1) “Welcome to Flatch,” 9:01 p.m., Fox. Here’s the season-finale – and, alas, maybe the series-finale – for this erratic show, which is sometimes funny and always interesting. Tonight, Barb (shown here) and Kelly are determined to prove the town should be the permanent home of the Butter Bust Museum. Also, the pastor has been distracted lately; his assistant, Mandy, is in charge of blessing the town’s animals. At 9:30, “Call Me Kat” has a Smoky Mountains road trip. Read more…
1) “Fire Country,” 9 p.m., CBS. After its big showcase (Sunday, following pro-football’s conference championship game), “Fire Country” is back to its regular slot, with another new episode. Firefighters (including Manny, shown here, played by Kevin Alejandro) battle a dangerous forest fire and try to save environmentalists protesting a housing development. Read more…
Over the past four decades, Dean Devlin has seen large chunks of show business.
He was an unnoticed TV actor, guesting briefly on “Fame and “Happy Days” and such. He was a movie writer-producer, scoring big with “Independence Day” and “Stargate.” He drew criticism from others (and himself) for special-effects epics … then redeemed himself with “Leverage.”
Still, he said, some emotions persist. He’s felt that on “The Ark” (shown here), which debuts at 10 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 1), on Syfy: “Walk on the set, you’re suddenly 12 years old again. It’s like, ‘I’m on a spaceship!’” Read more…
1) “Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong,” 8 p.m., ABC. It’s the fifth round of “Singalong,” which became a pandemic hit. This time, clever songs about grammar, government, math and more are sung by stars. Derek Hough does “Figure 8”; his sister Julianne does “Interplanet Janet.” Others include Black-Eyed Peas, Ne-Yo, Muppets (shown here), Broadway stars and even Shaquille O’Neal, backed by the Boys and Girls Club for “Conjunction Junction.” Read more…
1) “Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World” opener, 9-10 p.m., PBS. On Aug. 11, 1973, a Jamaican-born teen, dubbed DJ Kool Herc (shown here, later), used turntables and mega-speakers to make his sister’s party festive; hip hop was born. It would be six more years before rap records took off; by then, other hip hop facets – break-dancing, graffiti and DJ’s — had soared. This opener of a four-part film follows the early years of a genre that’s now in its 50th year. Read more…
As the Academy Awards near, the nominees have a descending order of fame.
At the top this year are the stars – actors (Cate Blanchett, Angela Bassett, Judd Hirsch, etc.), a director (Steven Spielberg) and some songwriters (Lady Gaga, Rihanna). And near the bottom, every year?
“You are the lowest on the totem pole as a short-doc filmmaker,” Cynthia Wade said
That’s the short-documentary category. She won it in 2008 (for the 39-minute “Freeheld)” and had her moment on global TV, being handed an Oscar by Tom Hanks; she was nominated again in 2013.
This year, hers was one of four National Geographic Channel films that made the short list of consideration for the two documentary categories. It wasn’t nominated, but another Nat Geo one, Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” (shown here) was nominated as best feature-length doc. Read more…
Best-bets for Feb. 9: It’s time to honor cooks and quarterbacks 
Best-bets for Feb.8: an overload of openers and debuts 
Best-bets for Feb. 7: State of the Union … and lots of alternatives 
