So here’s the deal: Even if you’re not going to exercise the option, you should know there is at least one show on television Sunday evening that is not the Super Bowl...

2018

Feb

PUPPY BOWL XIV By David Bianculli

By now, most people should know the rules of Puppy Bowl. There are puppies, and they wear colored kerchiefs denoting which “team” they’re on, and there are human referees, and a miniature stadium, and… okay, so I just realized I don’t know any of the rules. But there are cute puppies running around all over the place, so what else do you need? A scorecard, perhaps? Or a scouting report, so you can tell the dogs from… the underdogs?

2018

Feb

SUPER BOWL LII By David Bianculli

Speaking of underdogs, the statistics in the accompanying photo refer to the respective 53-man rosters of the returning Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots and the significantly less favored Philadelphia Eagles. I’m rooting for the Eagles anyway, and not only because I’ve lived in or outside Philly for the past 35 years. I’ve also been a Miami Dolphins fan all my life – and if you love the Dolphins, as I do, you have to hate the Patriots. At least coach Bill Belichic

2018

Feb

COUNTERPART By David Bianculli

Not many TV networks are programming original material against the Super Bowl – why bother? But Starz is, by presenting the premiere of Episode 3 of this new alternate-universe drama series starring J.K. Simmons. Because, in some alternate universe, someone may be watching…

2018

Feb

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY By David Bianculli

Another first-run option against Super Bowl LII tonight is the latest new episode of Star Trek: Discovery, which is rolling out exclusively on the CBS All Access streaming service. But on that service, though the new episode premieres at 9:30 p.m. ET tonight, it’s available any time thereafter for All Access subscribers. Because, after that, they all have access.

2018

Feb

VICTORIA ON MASTERPIECE By David Bianculli

Of all the counter-programming moves against the Super Bowl tonight, this is the one that makes the most sense. It’s the latest new episode of Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman – and tonight’s episode concerns a parson from Ireland, who visits the castle, and the Queen, to give her details of some horrible news from his part of her kingdom: the widespread Irish potato famine. Check local listings.

2018

Feb

THIS IS US By David Bianculli

Every year after the Super Bowl, whichever network broadcasts that biggest of all big games also gets to use the time slot immediately after the post-game show as a launching pad, either unveiling a new series or rewarding an existing one. This year, NBC does the latter, by following Super Bowl LII with a new episode of its most popular current drama series, This is Us. There’s a tie-in, because the episode is titled “Super Bowl Sunday,” and features flashback sequences in whic

2018

Feb

THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON By David Bianculli

This is a special outing for Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, and not only because it’s on a Sunday. It’s also on Super Bowl Sunday, trying to attract and please what’s left of that large and rowdy audience. And it’s broadcast live. Oh, and it features other people associated with NBC’s coverage of the Super Bowl tonight, including the stars of NBC’s post-game TV treat, This Is Us, and the star of the Super Bowl halftime show, frequent Jimmy Fallon cohort, a

2018

Feb

PSYCHO By David Bianculli

For four years, from 2013 to 2017, A&E presented the series Bates Motel, which was called a “contemporary prequel” to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 movie classic, Psycho. It starred Freddie Highmore, now starring on ABC’s The Good Doctor, as a young Norman Bates, a boy tiptoeing tentatively into both adulthood and serial-killer tendencies while being both protected and tormented by his clingy mother, Norma (played to unhinged perfection by Vera Farmiga). It was a prequel be

2018

Feb

PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II By David Bianculli

I’m continually astounded by this new Blue Planet II series: Quite often, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. And afterward, with the little how-they-filmed-it bonuses at the end of each episode, I can’t believe how they captured what I can’t believe I’m seeing. Tonight, for example, in the vibrantly colored installment called “Coral Reefs,” you can watch an octopus that’s so ingenious that he hides himself from a predatory shark by curling into

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