1) “Great Migrations” opener, 9-10 p.m., PBS. For people facing cruelty in the South, this was alluring: The Chicago Defender and other Black newspapers urged them to move North. Millions did, finding jobs, freedom, hope … and fierce weather, crowded cities and new forms of bias. Over three Tuesdays, Henry Louis Gates (shown here) tells the massive story. Read more…
1) “The Bachelor” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. Grant Ellis (shown here), who finished fifth in the recent “Bachelorette,” now gets the focus. He’s a 6-foot-5 stock trader and former basketball player (college reserve and a few Dominican Republic games). Now he meets 25 women, including two lawyers, two nurses, two interior designers, a pediatrician and a luxury-travel host. Read more…
When Black History Month arrives, television will be ready.
Well … some of TV, anyway. PBS will have lots of documentaries and a Wynton Marsalis (shown here) concert. CBS has a special that celebrates Blacks on TV (mostly, on CBS). Streamers load up.
In the four-and-a-half years since the death of George Floyd, separate Black departments have been created at ABC, Hulu, Hallmark and more. Still, it’s uneven. Some focus on Black History Month (starting Saturday, Feb. 1), some don’t. Here’s a sampling: Read more…
1) Football, 3 p.m. ET Fox; 6:30, CBS. It’s the season’s third game between the Eagles (16-3) and Commanders (14-5). They’ve split two; this time, the winner goes to the Super Bowl. At night, the Chiefs (shown here, 16-2) host the Bills, 15-4. The Chiefs have two straight Super Bowl titles; the Bills lost four straight Super games in the early ‘90s and haven’t been back. Read more…
1) Grammys, 8 p.m. ET, CBS (5 p.m. PT, rerunning at 8:30). Trevor Noah hosts for the fifth straight year and Beyonce leads with 11 nominations. Her “Cowboy Carter” (shown here is up for best album, along with albums by Charli xcs (7 nominations), Billie Eilish (7), Taylor Swift (6), Sabrina Carpenter (6), Chappell Roan (6), Jacob Collier (3) and Andre 3000 (3). Read more…
1) “Asia” debut, 8 p.m., BBC America. Here is nature filmmaking at its best. This first hour (of seven) sticks to the water, from awesome manta ray (with 15-foot wingspan) to a two-inch mudskipper (shown here), a fish out of water (literally) that skims the surface. We see aome fish frantically trying to outrun sharks; others join with snakes for a two-tiered hunting party Read more…
1) Figure skating, 8-11 p.m., NBC and Peacock. The U.S. Championships front-load their biggest draw, the women’s finals. (Shown here is a glimpse of last year’s event.) Also, rhythm dance has its finals from 5:12 to 7:30 on Peacock and 6-7:30 on USA. Saturday and Sunday bring the men, pairs and free dance. Read more…
(This is the start of a book, “TV, and How It Got That Way.” It will emerge here, one chapter at a time.)
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…
1) “Only Murders in the Building” (shown here), 9-11 p.m., ABC. This wraps a great season that aired on Hulu. A clever finale assembles key suspects, played by Tina Fey (a rival podcaster), Michael Rapaport (Detective Kreps), Cara Delevingne (Alice, Mabel’s friend) and more. Also, Oliver (Martin Short) and Charles (Steve Martin) have emotional family moments. Read more…
1) “Nova,” 9 p.m., PBS. For almost 80 years, people have buzzed about UFO’s in silly movies (shown here) and serious forums. This hour traces that history and offers reasonable explanations for most sightings. But it doesn’t spoil the intrigue. It includes pilots and scientists who point to unexplained cases, insisting they be taken seriously. That starts a strong string of new “Nova” hours. Read more…
Best-bets for March 27: greats of dance & basketball 
Best-bets for March 26: sports surge, plus music 
Best-bets for March 25: End is here for “Fear,” near for “Singer” 
