Your favorite shows start new seasons this week
New seasons are beginning this week for favorite television shows while premieres for some new series are set.
Chief among the returners are ABC’s (Channel 6) “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder,” the first enjoying long popularity, the second featuring strong writing and gppd work from Kerry Washington, the last boasting a consistently great lead performance from the consistently great Viola Davis, a powerhouse in anything she does.
The CW (Channel 57) is just about introducing a second season with a slew of returnees.
“Supergirl” comes back to the schedule tonight at 8, “The Flash” tomorrow at 9.
They are followed later in the week by “Dynasty” at 9 p.m. Wednesday and “Riversdale” at 10 the same evening.
“Arrow” brings us back to the DC Comics superhero genre. “Supernatural,” Thursday at 8, takes us to murkier realms.
Meanwhile, the CW fields another DC-inspired offering when “Black Lightning,” the first black superhero, takes to the screen tomorrow at 9 p.m. The series stars Cress Williams as a vigilante who comes out of retirement to keep his daughters safe.
Fox also has a new show, “The Resident,” debuting next Sunday at 10 p.m. The title tells you it’s set in a hospital where goingson are told through the point of view of a resident, played by Manish Dayal, who starts reporting his impressions on his first day on the job. “Revenge’s” Emily VanCamp and “The Good Wife’s” Matt Czuchry. Don’t you miss “The Good Wife?”
If the 10 p.m. time slot seems odd for Fox, whose stations usually carry local news at that hour, it’s because “The Resident” follows the NFC football championship game, the winner of which proceeds to the Super Bowl. “The Resident’s” regular time is 9 p.m. Monday., and it will begin appearing there Jan. 22.
Two wonderful actors, J.K. Simmons, perfect whether he’s playing a character part or doing Farmers Insurance commercials, and Olivia Williams, star in a new Starz program, “Counterpart,” that debuts 8 p.m. Sunday. Simmons plays a dual role, two sides of the same character who battle good and evil with each other.
Locally bred director Charles Stone II, whose father, Chuck, wrote a highly-regarded Philadelphia Daily News column for decades, comes to Netflix with a movie, Step Sisters, on Friday.
Friday is also the day the Jane Fonda-Lily Tomlin series, “Grace and Frankie” begins a new skein on Netflix. “Friends” alumna Lisa Kudrow joins the cast this season.
IFC’s “Portlandia” begins its final season at 10 p.m. Thursday.
The new series that interests me most is FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” and “American Crime Story” entry about the 1997 Miami murder of the iconic fashion designer. Edgar Ramirez plays Versace, Penelope Cruz his sister, Donatella, Ricky Martin a hanger-on, and Darren Criss (yes, gentle Darren Criss from “Glee”) as the killer.
Back with the Globes
The Golden Globes has passed, and I am happy to say I was correct in 7 of 9 of my predictions about television.
The only time I slapped my palm against my forehead in rebuke is when Aziz Anzari, whose work and whose show, “Master of None,” I love, received the Best Actor in a Comedy award over my predicted William H. Macy for “Shameless.”
Of course, the highlight of the Globes was Cecil B, DeMille award recipient, Oprah Winfrey’s stirring “Time is up” speech that galvanized the theme of so many, the treatment of women in the entertainment and other industries.
Oprah was her rhetorical best, to the point she is now being touted as a 2020 rival to President Donald Trump.
The award season, at least for movies, continues this week with The Screen Actors Guild accolades, seet for 8 p.m. Sunday on TBS/TNT with Kristen Bell as the host.