1) “The Golden Bachelor” finale, 8-10 p.m., ABC. In pro football, Mel Owens was a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker. He was a starter for six of his nine seasons and an honorable-mention All-Pro. Now he’s a lawyer, 66, choosing between two retirees: Cindy Cullers (shown here, center), 60, was a biomedical engineer; Peg Munson (ri8ght), 62, was a firefighter and a bomb tech. Read more…
Most of us have learned the grand stories of the American revolution — Valley Forge and Bunker Hill and crossing the Delaware and more.
Many of them were epic; most were true. “What I learned in school was not wrong,” David Schmidt said. “It was just incomplete.”
Now the story gets filled out, in depth. PBS’ “The American Revolution” — a sprawling saga, produced by Ken Burns (see previous story),, Sara Botstein and Schmidt — is at 8 p.m. (repeating at 10) for six nights, starting Sunday, Nov. 16. Read more…
Back in 1990, Ken Burns showed TV critics an extraordinary film.
He was 37 then, but looked much younger. He was a cherubic-looking guy with the enthusiasm of a kid and the vocabulary of an ancient scholar.
Burns (shown here, nowadays) had already made seven films on subjects — from Huey Long to the Statue of Liberty — that could be grasped in one night. But this was something else — the Civil War, spread over nine nights and 18 hours.
Members of the Television Critics Association praised it; still, he recalls, many wanted to “warn me that no one was gonna watch it, because there are these things called MTV videos that (have) eroded people’s attention span.”
The result? The film, he said, “remains the highest-rated program in the history of public programming.” Read more…
1) “NCIS: Origins” and “NCIS,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. Put these together and you have a compelling, movie-length tale. The first hour (starting with Mark Harmon as the old Gibbs) takes the team to a small town (shown here) for quick twists, fierce action and a so-so finish. The second makes up for that, brilliantly bridging past and present, with a smart story, dabs of humor and deep pools of emotion Read more…
1) “The Paper,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. Twelve years after “The “Office” ended, the fun resumes. The company was sold to a Toledo firm, which has an awful newspaper (shown here). With much idealism and no experience, Ned takes over the paper. Some episodes (already on Peacock) paint him as too foolish, in the Michael Scott mold. This opener, however, is a delight. Read more…
1) “Maigret” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. In fiction, crimesolvers tend to live alone; Maigret is a pleasant exceptioon. His wife (played with subtle perfection by Stefanie Martini, shown here) is a psychiatric nurse and a positive force. Now she plays a key role in the compelling end to this two-week story. Read more…
In a world that keeps changing, here’s some reassuring news:
This year, we can again see the original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (shown here) … often. It will be on cable nine times, as soon as Nov. 10 (7:30 p.m.) and as late as Dec. 21 (7:30 and 10:30).
“Grinch” debuted in 1966, with a confluence of genius — a clever Dr. Seuss book, brilliant Chuck Jones animation and a booming song. It could stand at the top of TV’s holiday history, alongside “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
The difference is that Charlie is now confined to steaming (Apple TV+) “Grinch” will be on both TNT and TBS. Read more…
Maybe we should quit grumbling about all those airline delays.
We should use that down time to create hit TV shows. That happened once.
The latest “TV We Love” episode (9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, on CW) looks at “Happy Days” (shown here), First, let’s catch an account of the show’s birth: Read more…
1) “The American Revolution” opener, 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS; repeats at 10. Here is Ken Burns at his best — epic in scope (shown here), yet intimately human. Beautifully written by Geoffrey Ward, it sprawls over six nights, catching the complexities of giants (from George Washington to Benedict Arnold) and of regular people, their everyday lives surrounded by warfare. Read more…
1) “I Am Chris Farley” (2015), 8-10 p.m., CW. Farley was compared to one of his comedy idols, John Belushi. They were large men and gifted comedy actors, creating memorable characters. Both starred on “Saturday Night Live” for five years; both died of a drug overdose at 33. Farley created memorable characters, including his overwrought life coach, shown here. Fired from “SNL,” he was building a movie career; here’s a profile. Read more…
Best-bets for Dec. 7: near the end of “The Road” 
Best-bets for Dec. 6: big games and big laughs 
Best-bets for Dec. 5: Battles begin, Rudolph returns 
