A party on your screen
Nothing says undemanding summer TV like shows with celebrities making goofs of themselves.
On ABC and City, Steve Harvey is the ringleader on Celebrity Family Feud. ABC also airs the word-guessing game $100,000 Pyramid, which also runs on CTV in Canada, and will unfurl a new version of Battle of the Network Stars on June 29.
Not to be outdone, on Tuesday NBC and CTV debut Season 5 of Hollywood Game Night. Jane Lynch is the dapperly dressed host who guides two teams of celebrities through pop culture-themed party games.
The premiere pits stars from Veep against The Walking Dead: Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh represent the HBO comedy, while Christian Serratos, Josh McDermitt and Lauren Cohan try to make the AMC zombie drama proud.
In an interview with NBC News, Lynch spoke about how hosting a live show differs from creating a character as an actor.
“It’s a role as well. You define your limitations and how you operate in it,” the former Glee star said.
“I love throwing parties, too. Nothing makes me happier — and I do this with Hollywood Game Night as well — than seeing two people who have just met and are hitting it off and enjoying themselves together. That fills me with, I don’t know if it’s pride, but it just makes me very happy to see someone make a connection with someone they didn’t know five minutes ago.”
MADE IN CHINA
PBS captures China’s 4,000-year history in 12 hours of TV programming with the six-part series The Story of China, debuting Tuesday. The show chronicles the people and events that have shaped the country.
“Our journey back in time is brought to life by the voices of today’s Chinese — local townspeople, farmers, shopkeepers, storytellers and historians,” host and historian Michael Wood said in a statement.
Among those profiled are Buddhist traveller Xuanzang, the poet Li Qingzhao and Su Song, known as China’s Leonardo da Vinci. The premiere begins at a festival dedicated to ancient gods, travels the Silk Road and focuses on China’s first emperor and the Tang dynasty.
LUCKY NUMBER EIGHT?
In the season finale of TLC’s 7 Little Johnstons, the family living with dwarfism vacations in Puerto Rico. Plus, Amber and Trent Johnston — parents to Jonah, Anna, Elizabeth, Alex and Emma — discuss expanding their clan.
“I grew up in an all-little-people family,” Trent told People. “(But), we didn’t have a ‘woe is me’ attitude. My parents raised us just like every other parent would raise their child.”