Is ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ returning?
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: I just heard that “Riverdale” will be back with a new season. What about “Roswell, NewMexico”?
A: That will be a midseasonofferingontheCW, which in this case means around March or April 2021, or possibly later. Because of the pandemic’s effect on production, the networkdelayed launching what would have beenits fall lineupmostyears until early 2021. For example, among returning shows: “Batwoman,” with newstar Javicia Leslie, will be on Jan. 17; “All American” on Jan. 18, “Riverdale” and “Nancy Drew” onJan. 20, “Legacies” onJan. 21, “Charmed” onJan. 24, “BlackLightning” onFeb. 8, and “The Flash” on Feb. 23. Besides “Roswell,” shows held for midseason include “Supergirl,” “In the Dark” and“DC’sLegends ofTomorrow.” And the network will have some new offerings, among them “Superman &
Lois” (Feb. 23) and“Walker” ( Jan. 21), a reboot of “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Q: CBS preempted the last two episodes of “Manhunt” (about the Atlanta Olympicsbombingin1996) recentlyforanelectionspecial. Are they going to finish showing these last two episodes in the miniseries?
A: Nov. 7 election coverage on TV came as news organizations declared Joe Biden had enough electoral votes to be the next president. (If youwanttoargueaboutthose votes, this is not the place.) But the coverage pre-empted CBS’s prime-time programming in just part of the country, with “Manhunt” still airing on the West Coast. As a result, the network has not so far announced plans to reshow the episodes. It has made them available online at CBS.comand streaming at the CBS All Access site.
Q: I have read scathing, over-the-top reviews of really good movies such as“LesMiz” andwas really puzzled. Is any movie with Hugh Jackman less than very good? And that broughtmetowonder, did “West Side Story” get bad reviews at the time, too?
A: The1961versionof“West Side Story” hadmostly positive reactions at the time of its release — but one notable exception was the formidable critic Pauline Kael. She called it “frenzied hokum” and a “hyped-up, slam-bang production” with dialogue that could be “painfully oldfashioned and mawkish.” She didn’tmuch care for the music or the dancing, either.
Ihave long argued that just about any production can expecttogetatleastonegood reviewand one bad one. The Jackman“LesMiserables,” for example, is at69% onRotten Tomatoes, nottheworstscore and one that indicates some critics liked it. (Some other Jackman movies score far worse.) Students in my film appreciationclasses oftendisagree about thequalityofvariousmovies, including some acknowledged classics. But the real test is in how they back up their opinions; it is never enough to say something is good or bad if you cannot explainwhy you feel that way.
Q: OneMemorialDay in the ’80s, a programabout the building of the Vietnam War Memorial was shownonone of the major networks. It began with someone’s idea that something should be done to honor the Vietnam War dead and then followed with the contest to pick the type of memorial, on to the actual building of it. I was so moved by the whole story and I would love to see that film again. Can you identify thename and let me know where I might be able to see it or buy a copy?
A: After we talked about this some more, the movie proved to be “To Heal a Nation,” a 1988 TV film starring Eric Roberts as Jan Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran whoseefforts led tothe building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Itwas released on VHS, and you can find it on YouTube and on DVD. But, unfortunately, theDVDI saw on Amazon appears to be an import that will not work in many U.S. players.