1) “American Idol” season-opener, 8 p.m., ABC. Last spring, “Idol” did an impressive job of adjusting to social-distancing, with talented people (including Nick Merico, shown here) and strong, at-home performances. Now auditions begin in three California cities. Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie are again the judges; Ryan Seacrest hosts … as he’s been doing since the opener, in the summer of 2002. Read more…
1) “The Black Church,” 9-11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, PBS. Here is non-fiction TV at its best – joyful, passionate, yet willing to point out faults. Henry Louis Gates ranges from tiny churches with lay pastors to a 14,000-seat arena (shown here) with video screens and a band. He tells of slaves bringing religions – Christian, Muslim, more – from Africa, joining White churches, then breaking off. He points to flaws – biases against women, gays and uneducated – and strengths, rippling with music and warm memories. Read more…
We’ve heard plenty about evil stepmothers, so let’s hear the flip side – the good stepmother who helped shape the man who preserved the Union.
That’s one of the stories in “Lincoln: Divided We Stand,” which is part of an excellent documentary duo Sundays on CNN, starting Feb. 14: “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” is 9 p.m. and midnightET, offering a warm survey of food and people; the Lincoln story is at 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET.
Abe Lincoln (shown here) had a hard-scrabble childhood in Kentucky and then Indiana, hitting bottom when he was 9. His mother died and his father decided he couldn’t raise the kids alone. Leaving Abe and his sister in their cold cabin, he rode back to Kentucky and asked a family friend to marry him.
Sarah Bush Johnson – whose husband, a jailer, had died – said yes. She arrived with three children, some cookware … and a collection of books, which Lincoln promptly gravitated to. Read more…
1) “A Wild Year on Earth,” 8 p.m., BBC America. In July and August, Greenland’s icebergs crumble, the great migrations begin and brown bears await their salmon feast. There are nasty creatures, from sidewinder snakes in the desert to mosquitoes on a rhino’s back – soon swooped up by birds. This series (shown here in a previous episode) has stunning footage; tonight, it ranges from nomadic Mongolians on horseback to a sly fox on an Alaskan island. He leaps out of hiding to snatch birds that were flying low to avoid sea gulls. Read more…
Watching the new “Clarice” series, you might think you accidentally switched channels.
Is this really a CBS show? Don’t worry; its producers were wondering the same thing.
“We had originally envisioned this as a streaming show,” Alex Kurtzman told the Television Critics Association. “And CBS said, really unequivocally, ‘Please put it on our network and we will let you make whatever show you want.’”
That opens the door for a lot. “Clarice” (10 p.m. Thursdays, starting Feb. 11) is a sequel to the “Silence of the Lambs” movie, following a young FBI agent (shown here) a year after she caught a serial killer. Read more…
1) “In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl” finale, 9 p.m., PBS. This starts with the perfect way to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 212th birthday: Gustavo Dudamel (shown here) conducting Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” with Vin Scully narrating. The rest of the night has vibrant Latino music with Carlos Vives, Cafe Tacvba and flamenco dancer Siudy Garrido. This series’ only weak spots have been the pleasant-but-empty video chats; this time, there are two of them … but the rest of the hour is superb. Read more…
1) “Clarice” debut, 10 p.m., CBS. Three decades ago, “Silence of the Lambs” won the best-picture Oscar, with Jodie Foster as Clarice, a young FBI agent who catches a serial killer. Now we nudge ahead a year; Clarice (Rebecca Breeds, shown here) wants to stay in her desk job, but she’s nudged into the field. The result is beautifully directed and acted, but a mixed blessing. It has unneeded flashbacks (brief, but gory) and the cop-show cliché of higher-ups who just keep getting in the way. Read more…
“Tough as Nails” is back, giving us toughness in all sizes.
For the supersize, there’s Scott Henry, 40, a lineman. “He’s this big, lovable teddy bear,” Phil Keoghan, the show’s host and co-creator, told the Television Critics Association. “But he’s also 6-foot-7 and he’s a very powerful guy.”
And for the mini-size, there’s Celi Garcia (shown here, foreground), 31, a traveling nurse. “I’m 5-2,” she said, “and we had some really big guys on our show. And a lot of strong women.”
That’s sort of what Keoghan had in mind when he created the show, which is back (8 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS) for its second season. It has people compete in blue-collar tasks. Read more…
If your goal is to be outdoors and away from people, then Big Bend National Park (shown here) is your spot.
It has a lot of outdoors – almost 800,000 acres, in the bend of the Rio Grande River, in Texas. And it has few people. “It is one of the least-visited national parks in the U.S.,” said Skip Hobbie, who filmed a gorgeous hour for “Nature,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 10) on PBS.
That’s relative, of course. Overall visitation (400,000 a year) is topped ten-fold by Yellowstone and Yosemite – and 30-fold by the Grand Smokey Mountains National Park. But some get fewer people – 26,000 at Isle Royale in Michigan, 10,000 at Gate of the Arctic in Alaska Read more…
1) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. The Big Bend National Park (shown here) sprawls over 800,000 acres of West Texas, including 118 miles alomg the Mexican border. Much of it is desert, which may explain why this is one of our least-visited parks. Filmmakers, however, got great footage – towering bluebonnet flowers … beavers cavorting in the Rio Grande … a bear climbing a tree to steal a woodpecker’s cache … and, especially, bighorn sheep: In 1973, seven of them were brought in; now more than 1,000 roam the park. Read more…
Best-bets for July 16: Red returns; games collide 
Best-bets for July 15: sports plus dumbest delight 
Best-bets for July 14: stars of space and sports 
