1) Football, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC. . The pro season begins, promising to dominate TV viewership. This opener has the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (shown here in a previous season), 14-3 in the regular season, host the Dallas Cowboys 7-10, with a pre-game show at 7. Most of the other teams start Sunday. Read more…
Growing up in a “very silly” and very mobile family, Emily Corcoran knew she liked comedy and liked Greece.
She also liked the idea of mismatched half-sisters. Now she’s combined that in “The Sunshine Murders” (shown here), debuting 8-10 p.m. ET Thursday (Sept. 4).
That’s on UpTV, a family-friendly cable channel that juggles reruns, movies and a few shows from other countries. “Heartland” and “Hudson & Rex” are Canadian; “Sunshine” is … well, from Greece, New Zealand, England, Cyprus and beyond.
It follows the recent trend of “cozy crime” shows, ones — from “Elsbeth” to “Grantchester” to “High Potential” — in which the crimes may be foul, but many of the people are warm and pleasant. Read more…
1) “MasterChef,” 8 p.m., Fox. A week from the finale, four duos face a huge challenge — creating a dish simultaneously with Gordon Ramsay, while switching back and forth. It’s an “out-of-body, instinctive” task, one woman says. Adds another: “Too many pots, too many pans; you’re screaming at me.” It’s also a fiery experience (shown here), but in its own frantic way, it’s fun to watch. Read more…
(Here are the five TV best-bets for Tuesday, Sept. 2, a bit early because
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. In the third of four quarter-finals,11 acts perform. There are six music acts (including two rappers), plus a dancer, a juggling duo, an aerial duo, an AI magic act and Anna Dangerous (shown here), wielding her crossbow. Then viewers vote; on Wednesday, they’ll learn which acts four acts advance to the semi-finals. Read more…
1) “Survival Mode” finale, 10 p.m., NBC. In 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship diverted from its planned route and struck underwater rocks near Tuscany, partly sinking (shown here). An elaborate rescue began, using helicopters and boats. In all, 33 people died and the $600-million ship was ruined. Read more…
1) Stellar Awards, 8 p.m., BET, rerunning at 10:30.Steeped in gospel tradition, this 40th ceremony is hosted by BeBe and CeCe Winans — whose dad co-hosted in 1988. CeCe (shown here), 60, has had 56 Stellar nominations and 21 wins. Still, there’s room for new generations: Pastor,Mike Jr., 42, is up for his fifth straight artist-of-the-year award. Read more…
1) College football. The first full Saturday of the season starts with a clash of titans. Texas (shown here, last season), ranked No. 1 in a pre-season poll, is at Ohio State, No. 3, at noon ET on Fox. The rest of the day has lots of mismatches, with a key exception: At 7:30 p.m., ABC has Louisiana State (No. 9) at Clemson (No. 4). Also at 7:30: New Mexico is at Michigan on NBC. Read more…
A micro-mini sports conference is enlarging its national TV deal.
Right now, the Pac-12 has (despite its name) exactly two teams. But it will add seven more next season … as its deal with the CW network grows to annually include 66 games in three sports.
The Pac-12 has a steep sports tradition, including 51 Rose Bowl winners in football and 15 national championships in men’s basketball. But prior to last season, most of those winners — including UCLA, with 11 of the basketball titles — left. The Pac-12 had only Oregon State (shown here) and Washington State. Read more…
1) Football, 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, NBC; pre-game at 7. The pro season . starts … and is likely to dominate viewership. The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (shown here), 14-3 in the regular season, host the Dallas Cowboys, 7-10. There’s a game Friday (Chiefs-Chargers, 8 p.m., YouTube) and a deluge Sunday, concluding with Ravens-Bills, 8:15 p.m. on NBC. Read more…
1) Vienna Philharmonic, 9 p.m., PBS. Filmed shortly after an Austrian school shooting, this starts with 12 solemn minutes. Then conductor Tugan Sokhiev packs a dozen vibrant pieces into the next 70 minutes, performed amid the beauty of a palace grounds (shown here). Four of them have Piotr Beczala singing powerfully of love for Carmen, for a Chinese princess, for life and (an audience favorite) for Vienna itself. Read more…
Best-bets for Feb. 7: First full day of Olympics 
Best-bets for Feb. 6: The games begin 
Best-bets for Feb. 5: fun chefs, serious sports 
