There really is good news (occasionally) in the TV world.
Now we have fresh examples: “Ted Lasso” is returning … “Dark Winds” is prospering … And natural-world documentaries keep getting better. Details: Read more…
(Here, from the start, is the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” I’ll continue to post new chapters separately under “Stories.” After that, however, I’ll move each to its spot here.
This is Section One – “The Good Old Days (sometimes)” – and Chapter One.
To see how far TV has come, let’s step back a bit.
We’ll go to 1952 in Clintonville, a Wisconsin town of 4,600, known for big, tough trucks and (back then) big, tough football players.
I’m in the living room with my sister, our parents, a grandmother and a grandfather. Stationed a reasonable distance from the TV set, we are watching … well, a man playing records.
The man says what record he’s playing and starts it. Sometimes, the camera shows the record going around; sometimes it shows the man watching the record go around. Read more…
(This is the latest chapter of a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” If you scroll up one, you’ll see all of the chapters so far, including this one, in their places in the book.)
For 30 years, a fourth TV network seemed like mere myth.
That was after the death of DuMont and before the birth of Fox. There were several tries, all imploding quickly.
One such fizzle (a 1967 latenight show led by Bill Dana, shown here) was declared by Jack Gould, the New York Times TV critic, to seal things. It was “further evidence that expansion of commercial TV is little more than a pipe dream.” Read more…
1) “Doc” season-finale, 9 p.m., Fox. A great first season ends powerfully. After a crash, Dr. Amy Larsen (shown here) lost eight years of memories. Now she’s learned of her son’s death, her divorce and her mistreatment of colleagues (including TJ, shown here) in the dark times that followed. Also, a colleague saddled her with guilt over his fatal error Now that peaks, amid a mass casualty. Read more…
We’re about to meet (or re-meet) two vibrant women – one famous, the other oddly obscure.
The first is the title character in “Marie Antoinette,” which starts its second season at 10 p.m. Sunday (March 23) on PBS. Marie (shown here) has a surplus of sweetness and a shortage of frugality.
And the other? Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Remy is another story entirely.
“I had never heard of her” before being cast to play her, Freya Mavor said. Then “I was obsessed. I read everything about her. She was just wild – a wild, wild woman.” Read more…
1) “iHeartRadio Music Awards,” 8-10 p.m., Fox. LL Cool J hosts and Billie Eilish, one of the artist-of-the-year nominees, performs. (She’s shown here in a previous concert.) So do Bad Bunny, Gracie Abrams, Kenny Chesney, GloRilla, Muni Long and more – including Nelly, who gets a special award. Also honored will be Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey and the Los Angeles firefighters. Read more…
1) Basketball, CBS. It’s a triplehader: First are conference-tournament championship games – the Atlantic 10 at 1 p.m. ET and the Big Ten at 3:30. That jumps straight to the 6 p.m. show, announcing the NCAA tourney brackets. (Shown here is Bradley, which qualified by winning the Missouri Valley tourney.) Also today: title games are on ESPN2 (Ivy League, noon) and ESPN (SEC, 1 p.m., and American, 3:15). Read more…
1) “Opry 100,” 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, NBC and Peacock. The Grand Ole Opry will turn 100 on Nov. 28. Now (eight months early), Blake Shelton hosts a live mega-concert. Performers include Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks (shown here), Trisha Yearwood, Clint Black, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Kelsea Ballerini, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Jelly Roll and more. Read more…
1) “Dolly Parton: Here I Am” (2019), 8-10 p.m., CW. One of 12 children in a rural family, Parton (shown here) sang at the Grand Ole Opry at 13 and moved to Nashville the day after graduating from high school. She’s had 110 songs on the country charts (25 at No. 1) and had a 59-year marriage to Carl Dean, who died this month. Here’s a profile, with performance clips. Read more…
For the Fox network, this is changeover time.
Ending their seasons are three scripted shows – one good, one not and one surprisingly excellent. Their spring replacements are coming, but two of them will be back next season.
If you ignore animated ones (please don’t), Fox only has four scripted shows. Now come season-finales for “Animal Control” (shown here) and “Going Dutch” (9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13) and “Doc” (9 p.m. Tuesday, March 18).
Here’s a glimpse at the three finales, plus a note on what’s next. Read more…
Best-bets for March 26: sports surge, plus music 
Best-bets for March 25: End is here for “Fear,” near for “Singer” 
Best-bets fo March 24: Doc, Daredevil & 500th “NCIS” 
