1) Basketball, 6:09 and about 8:39 p.m. ET, CBS. It’s a no-underdog year. For only the second time in NCAA tournament history, the No. 1 seed in each region reached the final four. Now it’s Florida (shown here) and Auburn first, then Houston and Duke. The winners collide Monday. Read more…
(This is the latest chapter in the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” The full book, so far, is in “News and Quick Comments”; this is Chapter 11, concluding a section on the search for a fourth network and beyond.)
Imagine that someone had held a gathering of TV moguls in the late ’90s. (Not a good idea, incidentally.) If so, everyone would have noticed Bud Paxson instantly.
He stood 6-foot-7. He had a downhome manner and was fond of carnival barkers. And he skipped any of the TV-executive notions — no surveys or screenings or such.
He simply leaped ahead. Taking the zillions he’d made from home-shopping, he bought TV stations, bought reruns, had some new shows (include “Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye,” shown here) and created an entire network in his name.
Well, half his name. This was “Pax Net”; it persisted for seven years. Read more…
1) “Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Willie Nelson did the first show on Oct. 17, 1974, then returned (at 91) 50 years later. We get clips of both, plus new music, ranging from country (Chris Stapleton) to bluegrass (Billy Strings), blues (Gary Clark Jr., shown here in a previous concert, with a rousing finale) and more, including Rufus Wainwright’s soaring “Hallelujah.” Read more…
.At an acting class, two opposites collided.
Molly Kochan “was kind of a wallflower,” said Nikki Boyer, who wasn’t.
“She had long, brown hair. We were in an acting class and she couldn’t stand me…. She was very quiet and to herself and she didn’t like my energy.”
Naturally, one of the great friendships was forming. It survived through Molly’s stage-four cancer diagnosis, through her end-of-life sexual odyssey and through their podcast, “Dying For Sex.”
Now that’s been turned into a mini-series (shown here) that arrives in one lump (eight half-hours) on Friday, April 4. Many people will find it compelling, especially with the riveting work of Michelle Williams as the late Molly and Jenny Slate as Nikki. Some will find it off-putting, because of its sexual kinkiness. Read more…
It’s time to catch PBS’ favorite kind of music. Which, of course, is classical.
Or maybe it’s funk (shown here with James Brown) Or country or Latin. Or blues or ballads or bluegrass or Broadway.
All of that shows up soon on PBS, which is also the birthplace of “Rubber Ducky” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
There are times (usually federal-budget times) when people peg PBS into one category. In truth, it strains to be everything – from kids to antique, from dramas to nature. And it’s music tastes reflect those extremes.
There have been two film biographies — on radiant cellist Jacqueline du Pre (March 28) and Broadway’s Liza Minnelli (April 1). Coming up: A wide-ranging “Austin City Limits” special (April 4), “We Want the Funk” (April 8), Chopin (April 11) and more, including jazz and Broadway musicals. Let’s look at some upcoming ones: Read more…
1) “Elsbeth” return, 10 p.m., CBS. After a two-week basketball break, one of TV’s most entertaining shows is back. Mary-Louise Parker (right, with Elsbeth) plays a de-cluttering guru with a three-way romance. She unclutters it via some robotic murder. It’s a good episode … with an even better one next week. Read more…
1) “Oklahoma City Bombing,” 8-11 p.m., National Geographic. As the 30th anniversary (April 19) nears, here’s a compelling look at the bombing (shown here) that took 168 lives. We meet a woman who was pinned for six hours, another who lost two young sons, a man who fought his way out. We see the coverage, the capture, the quietly taut emotions of Oklahoma people. Read more…
(This is the latest chapter of the book-in-progress, “TV, and How It Got That Way.” To read the overall book, in order, scroll down under “News and Quick Comments.” There, this is the 10th chapter of 12, so far.)
For decades, few people tried to create a fourth network. Then, oddly, everyone wanted to be No. 5.
There was WB and UPN and Pax – each grasping for a small slice of the audience. It was a race to the bottom that, oddly, everyone lost.
Well, not everyone. Viewers won. These mini-networks gave us Buffy (shown here) and Felicity and Dawson and the Gilmore girls, plus two “Star Trek” series, “Everybody Hates Chris” and Jane the pregnant virgin.
They brought variety to a sometimes-bland TV world. Then they crumbled. Read more…
1) “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” (2024), 9-11 p.m., PBS. A fascinating life is recounted in this film, which was a hit in New York movie theaters. Liza Minnelli (shown here), 78, has soared (an Oscar, an Emmy, three Tonys an honorary Grammy) and crashed (four divorces, alcoholism, drugs). She recounts it all with optimism, amid a flurry of clips Read more…
When TV shows take a break, our reactions vary.
Some shows are gone for a couple years and we barely shrug; others are gone for a couple weeks and we feel cheated.
Now things are getting better: Fox’s “The Simpsons” returns Sunday (March 30), after a six-week break; CBS’ Thursday and Friday shows return April 3-4 (starting with “Georgie & Mandy,” shown here), after a two-week break that seemed approximately forever. Read more…
Best-bets for Feb. 8: Super Bowl … and much more 
Best-bets for Feb. 7: First full day of Olympics 
Best-bets for Feb. 6: The games begin 
