Friday TV: The Story of Little Richard

Good golly Miss Molly, there’s finally a documentary on the flamboyant architect of rock ’n’ roll, who for these purposes is instead called “Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll” (PBS, 9 p.m.,), on a biographical documentary making its debut on “American Masters” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).

The early days of NBA star LeBron James is depicted in the new film “Shooting Stars” (Peacock, streaming), based on the book by LeBron and Buzz Bissinger, author of “Friday Night Lights.” Mookie Cook plays the young baller; Dermot Mulroney plays his coach.

From Australia comes the new mystery series “Deadloch” (Prime Video, streaming), about a death on the Tasmanian beach

The French action comedy “Medellin” (Prime Video, streaming) concerns the notorious drug cartel, and smalltime plans to take it down.

After moving from NBC to Netflix, the plane-disappearance mystery series “Manifest” (Netflix, streaming) ends for good with its final ten episodes.

The international drag singing competition “Queen of the Universe” (Paramount+, streaming) returns for its second episode, hosted by Graham Norton. 

“With Love” (Prime Video, streaming) returns for a second season of romance and self-dought.

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Movie: Kiernan Shipka Stars in ‘Wildflower’

Just as it was a pleasure watching Kiernan Shipka grow up before our eyes on “Mad Men,” portraying a seven to 15-year-old Sally Draper, it’s an equal pleasure to see her in a starring role of a charming but distinct coming-of-age film.

“Wildflower” (available on various streaming sites) tells the birth-to-present day story of a young woman originally named Bambi (who insists on being called only the second half of that name, Bea), who finds that her jolly, easygoing parents are actually on the neurodivergent scale — one due to a teen head injury, the other from birth. So much so that even sterilization between them had been brought up.

A large extended family is rooting for Bea, who in many ways has had to raise her own parents as well as navigate adolescence over the years after she begins the film in a sudden mysterious coma. It’s assumed something must have happened to her while she was out running, since track is a passion.

The coma allows Bea to narrate her own story, back to when her parents met one day, against the wishes of their own parents. 

Dash Mihok and Samantha Brooke Hyde put in nice nuanced performances as the big-hearted, yet mentally challenged parents whose well-meaning enthusiasm means an unusual upbringing for Bea. That Hyde is of that community herself brings some degree of authenticity — and quite a bit of joy — to the performances. Still, life can be tough.

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Thursday TV: The NBA Finals Begin at Last

The NBA Finals begin with Miami at Denver (ABC, 7:30 p.m.) in a prime time Game 1. 

From Denmark comes the romantic drama “A Beautiful Life” (Netflix, streaming), starring the singer Christopher, who also composed new music for the series, as a fisherman who is discovered by a music manager and her daughter, a producer. 

From Japan comes the series “The Days” (Netflix, streaming), dramatizing the cataclysmic week following the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster from the point of view of the government, corporations and first responders. 

The new computer-animated series “LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising” (Netflix, streaming) makes its story from the toys of the same name.

The rebooted “iCarly” (Paramount+, streaming) returns for a third season, starring Miranda Cosgrove, now age 30.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee (ION, 8 p.m.) reaches its finals. 

James Spader’s Red and company move the show up a day to Thursdays beginning tonight, when there are two episodes to “The Blacklist” (NBC, 8 and 9 p.m.).

“The Dead Files” (Travel, 9 p.m.) returns for a 15th season with medium Amy Allan.

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Wednesday TV: Ted Lasso Maybe Says Bye

The third season finale of “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+, streaming) today may well also be the series finale, it has been hinted. If so, tears will be shed, and lessons will certainly be learned.

Kennedy McMann returns as the time-honored teenage detective in the premiere of the fourth and final season of “Nancy Drew” (The CW, 8 p.m.). The case involves missing bodies from a cemetery. 

“FDR” (History, 8 p.m.) concludes with the president’s efforts to put the nation back to work and fight World War II. Part one repeats at 3 p.m.; part two at 5 p.m.

At a time when such events are being outlawed (ignoring the fact that everyone from Milton Berle to Bugs Bunny has dawned women’s clothing at some point), Murray Hill and Neil Patrick Harris host the new “Drag Me to Dinner” (Hulu, streaming). A blend of dress-up performance shows and cooking mean that drag queens compete on throwing the most fabulous dinner parties. 

Another show to upset right wing book burners? The network debut of “The 1619 Project” (ABC, 8 p.m.).

Greg Davies’ comedy about a crime scene cleaner returns for a second season, “The Cleaner” (BritBox, streaming).

“Dave” (FXX, 10 p.m.) ends its third season with Dave’s quest for love reaching its conclusion. 

Quarterfinals begin for the Scripps National Spelling Bee (ION+, 8 a.m.). Evening events air on the ION network at 8 p.m. 

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Tuesday TV: Uvalde, Texas One Year Later

A year after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 21, “Frontline” (PBS, 10 p.m., check local listings) looks at the trauma in the community, its healing, the failed police response and the continuing fight over assault rifles. 

Maybe TV’s best current sketch comedy show “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” (Netflix, streaming) returns for an anticipated third season. It’s one of the quickest binges you’ll have.

Perhaps you’re interested in the day-to-day life of professional bull riders. Here’s the eight-episode documentary series “The Ride” (Prime Video, streaming). 

The new “Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge” (NBC, 10 p.m.) is a competition series in which fans create vehicles that will get them prize money and chance for the designs to be made into new Hot Wheels die-cast cars. 

Preliminary coverage begins of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Preliminaries (ION Plus, 9 a.m.) begins on a streaming service. It’s on ION channel tomorrow.

“America’s Got Talent” (NBC, 8 p.m.) returns for its 18th season with judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofie Vergara. Terry Crews returns as host.

The documentary series on the history of game shows “The Game Show Show” (ABC, 10 p.m.), closes with a look at dating shows. 

“Doubling Down with the Derricos” (TLC, 10 p.m.) returns for a new season, following the family with 14 kids. 

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Capital Radio, Memorial Day and Tina

How to encapsulate all that was Tina Turner? Her death last week at 83 left us with a wealth of music over a number of decades, rising in the abusive collaboration that was the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, becoming a clarion for Phil Spector and after conquering R&B and blues, conquering rock with a crucial opening tour for The Rolling Stones.

The entirety of one of her sets, billed as Tina Turner and the Ikettes was included in our 90 minute salute, which had some later highlights working with the Who, Rod Stewart, David Bowie and Herbie Hancock; winning her final Grammy singing Joni Mitchell. 

Memorial Day brought another meditation about soldiering and war from music’s best minds, with Springsteen followed by John Price, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and the Pogues, the latter singing Eric Bogle’s classic. 

The death of Smiths bassist Andy Rourke earlier this month at 64 brought a short set of Smiths songs where his inventive playing was prominent. And we closed by marking the birthday of Sylvia Robinson, born this day in 1935, who had a hit as a duo in the ’50s, landed a naughty solo novelty in the 70s, and helped launch a whole musical genre a few years later. And she put together an early Tina Turner hit, too, as well. 

Alas, I can only give you a setlist this week; recording failed. A reminder to both live in the moment and to try and listen live. 

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Monday TV: Reality Winner’s Interrogation

Reality winners may be common on TV, but this Reality Winner is the 25-year-old former Air Force intelligence specialist who leaked a report showing Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The action led to a five year prison term. Sydney Sweeney, of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” fame, takes the title role in “Reality” (HBO, 9 p.m.), based on writer-director Tina Satter’s 2019 play “Is This a Room,” whose dialogue was taken directly from the initial FBI interrogation at Winter’s home in Augusta, Ga. 

A lot of other actors have played more convincing Franklin Delano Roosevelts over the years than Christian McKay, but at least the new series “FDR” (History, 9 p.m.) has Doris Kearns Goodwin and Bradley Cooper as executive producers. The six-hour miniseries runs three nights. Alice Bounsail portrays Eleanor Roosevelt.

Based on a Belgian series, the new “The Rising” (CW, 8 p.m.), imported from the UK, concerns a teen who wakes up in a nearby lake and slowly realizes she’s dead. Now her spirit has to find out who murdered her.

It accompanies a show picked up from Australia, “Barons” (CW, 9 p.m.) a surfer drama set in the 1970s. 

“White House Plumbers” (HBO, 9 p.m.) ends its run, maybe with long jail sentences. 

The 14th season starts with a two-hour “Hoarders” (A&E, 9 p.m.). But too much is what this show is all about. 

“America’s Hidden Stories” (Smithsonian, 8 p.m.) returns for a new season with a story of the Osage Nation. 

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Sunday TV: The Big ‘Succession’ Finale

One of the great current series, “Succession” (HBO, 9 p.m.) ends tonight in a highly anticipated 90-minute series finale that will once and for all answer the question posed in the show’s first episode: Who exactly will takeover the huge media company following the big man who built it? They’ve flirted with every possibility over four luxurious seasons, but my money’s on Cousin Greg. 

It’s a night of big finales, though, with “Barry” (HBO, 10:30 p.m.), the Bill Hader series with Henry Winkler also comes to a conclusion after four seasons.

Also ending its season is “Somebody Somewhere” (HBO, 11:05 p.m.), but unlike the other shows, may well be back.

“Yellowjackets” (Showtime, 9 p.m.) also ends its second season, tying up some loose ends while forging a new path forward.

“Ghosts of Beirut” (Showtime, 10:05 p.m.) is a new four-part miniseries about Middle East intrigue and the pursuit for an elusive Lebanese terrorist, with Dermot Mulroney and Dina Shihabi. 

From the Capitol’s west lawn, The National Memorial Day Concert 2023 (PBS, 8 p.m.), hosted by Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise, features Trace Adkins, Yolanda Adams, Megan Hilty, Joe Dee Messina, the duo War and Treaty, Phillip Phillips and the National Symphony Orchestra as well as appearances by actors John Slattery S. Epatha Merkerson, Mary McCormack, Chosen Jacobs and Dule Hill. It will rerun at 9:30 p.m.

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Saturday TV: Sarah Silverman Stand-Up

The sharp comedian returns with her first standup special for the network in a decade, “Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love” (HBO, 10:15 p.m.), filmed at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston.

It follows the premium cable debut of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (HBO, 8 p.m.), which debuted on Max earlier this week. 

Otherwise, it’s one of those nights when next to nothing new is on.

A track star turned food blogger wants to get back with her ex, despite the advice from her friends in the made-for-TV romance “Sydney’s Journey” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.). 

A woman seeking her biological father finds instead murder in the made-for-TV thriller “Who Killed Our Father?” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.).

“To Catch a Smuggler: South Pacific” (National Geographic, 9 p.m.) talks show goats, in one of a night of smuggler programs. 

The Whitlows have an ultrasound on “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” (OWN, 8 p.m.).

The Memorial Day Marathon marches on all day at Turner Classic Movies with “Don’t Go Near the Water” (6 a.m.), “Up Periscope” (8 a.m.), “No Time for Sergeants” (10 a.m.), “Hollywood Canteen” (noon), “Pride of the Marines” (2:30 p.m.), “Ace of Aces” (4:45 p.m.), “Back to Bataan” (6:15 p.m.), “The Steel Helmet” (8 p.m.), “Pork Chop Hill” (9:45 p.m.), “The Tanks Are Coming” (11:30 p.m.), “The Fallen Sparrow” (midnight), “Operation Pacific” (2 a.m.) and “Captains of the Clouds” (4 a.m.).

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Friday TV: HBO’s ‘Being Mary Tyler Moore’

The life and work of the iconic TV actress who was a key component to two classic shows is explored on the documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore” (HBO, 8 p.m.). 

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Prime Video, streaming), the fast-talking, wise-cracking series about a fictional female standup comedy, ends its run after five seasons. If you’re like me, you have a lot of catching up to do. 

A second season begins for “The American Barbecue Showdown” (Netflix, streaming), with Michelle Buteau joining the judges panel. 

The new action film “Blood & Gold” (Netflix, streaming) is set in the last days of World War II in Germany. 

When a ton of cocaine washes up on the shore of a small Azorean village, it changes everything in the new Portuguese action series “Turn of the Tide” (Netflix, streaming).

The new film “Where the Tracks End” (Netflix, streaming) is about a teacher trying to keep things together in a rural Mexican school. 

“The New Face of Hollywood: A Soul of the Nation Presentation” (ABC, 8 p.m.) looks at the rise of Asians in film. 

The comedy series “Run the World” (Starz, 9:35 p.m.) returns for its second season 

“The Secrets of Hillsong” (FX, 10 p.m.), the documentary series about the wayward church, ends its run with a pair of episodes. 

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