For decades, Bruce Campbell has been the master of the weird.
He’s done standard stuff, including years on “Burn Notice,” but is best known for the “Evil Dead” movies, the wild “Ash vs. Evil Dead” series and the sort of oddities that film-festival fans love. So this seems logical: Campbell will produce and host the rebooted “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” series, which starts June 9 on the Travel Channel. Read more…
1) “Billboard Music Awards,” 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. In one packed night, we get Madonna and Mariah and Maluma and more. Halsey sings “Without Me” and also links with BTS. Other combos have Tori Kelly with Dan + Shay and(shown here) Madonna with Maluma. Also performing are Kelly Clarkson, who hosts; Mariah Carey, who gets the Icon Award; and Paula Abul, with a medley, 30 years after her debut album had four No. 1 hits. Also: Jonas Brothers, Ciara, Khalid, Lauren Daigle and Panic! At the Disco. Read more…
1) “The Son” season-opener, 9 p.m. , AMC, rerunning at 10:05. Sprawling and ambitious, this hour leaps between Texas and Mexico … and between 1852, 1915 and even 1988. A young Eli (with his American Indian captors) leads their raid … An old Eli (Pierce Brosnan, shown here) searched for his son Peter, who rescued a neighbor when Eli attacked her home … And Peter’s daughter is a matriarch. All reflect the slow pace of a western – and the deadly intensity that seems to infect anyone in Eli’s life. Read more…
If you’d like to have eternal life, try to become a TV series on CW.
The network has just announced that it’s bringing back “All American,” which seemed to have an iffy future. Also returning for next season are two mid-season arrivals — “In the Dark” and “Roswell, New Mexico” — plus “The 100,” which is finally starting its season. Read more…
1) “BarkFest,” 8 p.m. ET , NatGeo Wild. Sure, cats rule the Internet. Now, however, dogs get their due. “Puppy Pals” is at 8, followed by an all-canine hour of “Animals Doing Things With Howie Mandel” (shown here, from a previous episode) at 9 and “Tail of the Dog” at 10. They repeat at 11, 12 and 1 ET, with another doggy day starting at noon Saturday. Read more…
1) “Gotham” series finale, 8 p.m. Fox. “This has been a long time coming,” Penguin tells Jim Gordon, as he prepares to kill him. It has, indeed; for five years, bad guys kept coming close to victory … then kept talking until someone intervened. Now all trends continue. As usual, this hour is too gory and too repetitious … with cops incapable of holding prisoners. And as usual, it has stunning, movie-quality sights and sounds. We jump ahead 10 years, with just enough glimpses of Batman to stir our souls. Read more…
Chances are, we’ll never know what happened in the streets of Chicago or in the recesses of Jussie Smollett’s mind.
But we can say this: Smollett is terrific in his final “Empire” episode. Read more…
My website reboot is finally here
.For a decade, I had a site that was designed for someone with my techno-talent (just north of zero). But now, some nice people who have lots of skill – Pamela Weil, Matt Borghi, Ryan Hughes (my son) – have nudged me into the 21st-century.
This new version includes all the things I send to papers – stories, daily best-bets, a weekly top-10. It also adds brief news items and/or random comments, such as these: Read more…
1) “Empire,” 8 p.m, Fox. In a grim year for Jussie Smollett, here’s good news: He’s perfect in his final “Empire” episode. Smollet was fired amid suspicion that he faked a crime report; by then, however, this episode had been filmed, centering on the scheduled wedding of Jamal (Smollett) and Kai. We won’t say if the wedding happens – Jamal’s dad faces a federal probe and his own discomfort about a gay wedding – but we will say this: Smollett, an understated actor, is superb in a deeply moving hour. Read more…
1) “1969” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Last year, TV eyed the 50th anniversary of 1968, the year when heroes were killed and cities were burned. Now ABC starts a six-part look at ’69. It puts a strong focus on the July 20 moon landing, but includes the backdrop of tragedy and transformation – Manson murders, Chappaquiddick, Woodstock (shown here), Vietnam and the Stonewall Inn raid that sparked the drive for gay rights. Read more…
Best-bets for July 25: stars of “SNL,” WNBA 
Best-bets for July 24: moon, movies and murder 
Best-bets for July 23: adventures on Earth and beyond 
