Category Archives: What’s On TV

Leave the rancor of the current political season for the one created at the 2018 Texas high school confab “Boys State” (Apple TV+, streaming), where the conservative-leaning delegates are surprisingly cynical in their mock runs for governor, but the filmmakers wisely choose to follow one humble kid who quietly forges a path forward and almost […]

The pop star and actress may have skills in those areas but Selena Gomez doesn’t know much about being in the kitchen. So here’s “Selena + Chef” (HBO Max, streaming), in which she’s joined by famous (and socially distanced) chefs each episode, including Ludo Lefebvre, Nancy Silverton and Toy Choi. In Rebecca Zlotowski’s breezy imported […]

The 1989 murder of a black teen by a white mob in Bensonhurst is recounted in the new documentary “Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn” (HBO, 9 p.m.) that strikes a lot of parallels with today’s uprisings.  You’ll be very hard pressed to find good people on both sides of the Unite the Right rally in […]

While the return of NFL is iffy at the moment, the “Hard Knocks” franchise is still here chronicling teams readying for a season anyway. Perhaps signaling a short season (that’s already seen preseason games cancelled), “Hard Knocks: Los Angeles” (HBO, 10 p.m.) will concentrate on two teams for the first time instead of one — […]

After bingeing “Indian Matchmaking” (Netflix, streaming) I’ve gained some understanding about how marriage plays a central role in Indian culture. It also explains why the family of filmmaker Archana Phadke keeps insisting she put down the camera and get married over the three years she chronicled their lives. She was intent on capturing the various characters […]

For more than three decades, Shark Week has been serious and ridiculous. It begins more on the latter side this year with its oddball kickoff “Tyson vs. Jaws: Rumble on the Reef” (Discovery, 9 p.m.), in which former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson against a tiger shark, supposedly in an underwater bout. Also on tonight: “Air […]

Here’s one good full-day antidote from crummy times: Charlie Chaplin all day on Turner Classic Movies. The 19 movies for today’s Summer Under the Stars start with the 106 year old “The Rounders” (6 a.m.) and with “The Knockout” (6:15 a.m.), “The Pilgrim” (7 a.m.), “A Dog’s Life” (7:45 a.m.), “The Kid” (8:30 a.m.), “The […]

The actor Diego Luna of “Narcos: Mexico” and “Rogue One: Star Wars” assembles carefully chosen dinner parties to discuss issues of the day on his new seven-episode series “Pan y Circo” (Amazon Prime, streaming) or “Bread and Circus.” Guests include singers, government officials and activists and the food is by an array of lauded Mexican […]

The first big movie on the streaming service is “An American Pickle” (HBO Max, streaming) in which Seth Rogen plays an immigrant who falls into a pickle vat in 1920, only to be brined for a century and revived in 2020 Brooklyn, where he meets his great-grandson (also played by Rogen). It’s based on a […]