1) “Saturday Night Live” season-finale, 11:29 p.m., NBC. Natasha Lyonne (shown here) – a streaming star via “Orange is the New Black” and “Russian Doll” – gets her first chance to host. The music guest is Japanese Breakfast, led by Korean-American musician-author Michelle Zauner. Also, “Weekend Update” anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che have a season-finale tradition of making each other read rude jokes. Read more…
Somewhere amid the storm and fury of the first Warner Brothers Discovery presentation to advertisers there were glimpses of what’s ahead for CNN.
Yes, Chris Licht, the network’s new chief, is talking about getting back to basics. “In a time when extremes are dominating cable news, we will go a different way,” he insisted.
But Licht is also continuing CNN’s habit of being an entertainment network on Sunday nights. This fall, that will include:
— Some of the shows that were slated for the now-vanished CNN+. Chris Wallace (shown here) will have his interview show then … on the same night where his dad (Mike Wallace) used to rule with “60 Minutes.” Eva Longoria will also have her food-and-travel show viewing Mexico. Read more…
At a time when other networks are timid, CBS is giving its schedule a full-scale renovation.
Gone are “Magnum P.I.” “Bull,” “Good Sam,” half the Thursday comedies and several reality shows. Arriving are three new dramas (including “Fire Country,” shown hre) and a dating show.
Others are changing nights, as the network shifts its philosophy. For instance: Read more…
1) “George Carlin’s American Dream,” 8-9:55 p.m., HBO; concludes Saturday. Carlin (shown here) seemed to be performing forever. He was the first host of “Saturday Night Live” … and then the first host of its competitor, “Fridays.” He had 14 HBO specials and 130 “Tonight Show” appearances. His style went from button-down to shaggy; he struggled with addiction and with police, but remained sharply organized. Now Judd Apatow has co-directed a profile that includes Carlin’s family and comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and more. Read more…
ABC calls it “unprecedented stability”; viewers might call it “same old, same old.”
Either way, the trend is clear: The fall schedule that ABC announced Tuesday (May 17) has few new shows. The same was true of the ones that NBC and Fox announced Monday.
ABC has only three new ones, and two sound terribly familiar – a “Rookie” spin-off starring Niecy Nash and a series version of “Celebrity Jeopardy.”
That leaves only one totally new show, which brings some solid credentials: “Alaska” (shown here) is written by Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”) and stars two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as a disgraced reporter, trying to re-start her life at a newspaper in Anchorage. Read more…
1) “Station 19” and “Big Sky” season-finales, 8 and 10 p.m., ABC. Next week, “Grey’s Anatomy” wraps its season with its 399th and 400th episodes. First, ABC clears out the other Thursday shows: On “Station 19,” Andy is on trial for manslaughter, after foiling a rape attempt; now she finds a key witness. On “Big Sky,” Jenny (shown here in a previous episode) rushes to find Travis; Cassie, after a surprise, changes her quest forever. And after meeting both, the new sheriff may stick around. Read more…
NBC will play it safe this fall, then get only a tad friskier as the season goes on.
Its line-up, announced today (Monday), has only two new shows, both with familiar names. One is a reboot of “Quantum Leap,” with Raymond Lee (shown here) as the new star; the other has George Lopez, now paired with his daughter in the comedy, “Lopez vs. Lopez.”
Another reboot arrives at mid-season: “Night Court” has John Larroquette returning to his Emmy-winning role, now with Melissa Rauch (“Big Bang Theory”) as the judge. Read more…
Update: A half-day after leaving it in doubt, the Fox network has made something clear:
Yes, it will have “9-1-1” and “The Resident” (shown here) next season.
When executives talked to reporters early Monday morning, that was still in doubt. Charlie Collier, the network CEO, would only say that negotiations were going well; he even took the unusual step of announcing the other shows for the fall season – but not a day-to-day schedule.
A spin-off, “9-1-1: Lone Star,” was definitely coming back, but “9-1-1” – Fox’s top show in the Nielsen ratings – was indefinite. Heading into its sixth season (as is “The Resident”), it needed a new contract.
Now the earlier story:
Read more…
1) “So You Think You Can Dance” opener, 9 p.m., Fox. From its debut in 2005, “Dance” (shown here in a previous season) has been one of TV’s best reality competitions. It had great dancers and (after the auditions) gifted choreographers; it also had a producer and head judge (Nigel Lythgoe) who took this seriously. Now the show is back (for the first time in three years), but its leader isn’t. Lythgoe, 72, is out; JoJo Siwa, who turns 19 on Thursday, is one of the judges, alongside Matthew Morrison (“Glee”) and Stephen “tWitch” Boss. Read more…
In TV’s olden days, summer brought a slow slog through reruns. People had to settle for alternatives – friends and family, parks and playgrounds and such.
Not any more; summers have become fairly busy with new shows.
This is the season that spawned “Survivor,” “American Idol” and more; it’s still the time of “America’s Got Talent,” “The Bachelorette” and — returning after a two-year absence — “So You Think You Can Dance” (shown here). And now it also has a fairly good collection of new, scripted shows.
Here’s a sampling, with more announcements still coming. We’ll stick to the channels (broadcast or basic-cable) that most homes get. If you have premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz) and streamers (Netflix, Disney+, etc.), the list explodes. You might never reach the beach.
Read more…
Best-bets for July 12: double-Joel, plus sharks 
Best-bets for July 11: a Messi moment for Cup 
Best-bets for July 10: perspectives on “BB,” JFK 
