Reelz returns with curdled ‘Camelot’
Matthew Perry has made the leap from “Friends” to family. As in the Kennedy family, the brood that launched a generation of miniseries ranging from the reverent to the scandalous. Reelz gained much attention in 2011 when it broadcast “The Kennedys” miniseries, which had been pulled from the History Channel’s schedule after complaints from historians and Kennedy family defenders.
Reelz follows up with the four-hour, two-part saga “The Kennedys: After Camelot” (8 p.m. Sunday, TV-14). Katie Holmes returns as Jackie Kennedy, and Matthew Perry stars as Ted Kennedy and serves as executive producer. Part one basically begins with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy (Barry Pepper) on the night of his California primary triumph, and concludes with Ted’s fatal drive off a bridge in a Massachusetts town called Chappaquiddick. Along the way, we explore the rather transactional marriage between the president’s widow and Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis (Alexander Siddig).
Part two, airing next Sunday, charts Ted’s efforts to transcend scandal and his failed run for president in 1980; his subsequent efforts to become a liberal torchbearer while fighting several tabloid skirmishes; Jackie’s death from cancer in 1994; and even a hint of tragedies to come as we see young John F. Kennedy Jr. (Brett Donahue) and his blond bride fly off into the sunset in a small private plane.
History refracted through the prism of tabloid tittle-tattle, “The Kennedys: After Camelot” is dogged by wooden dialogue and re-creations of scenes and stories most people have seen and heard too many times before.
– The Final Four meets April Fools’. The road to the championship nears its conclusion with two NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games: South Carolina vs. Gonzaga (5 p.m. Saturday, CBS), and Oregon vs. North Carolina (7:30 p.m.).
– Too often, paranoia can be a selffulfilling prophecy. The 2017 shocker “Fatal Defense” (7 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime) stars Ashley Scott as a single mother who enrolls in self-defense classes. But when she’s cool to her obsessive martial arts teacher (David Cade), he concocts a series of deadly “tests” to put her education to good use.
– The U.K. series “Home Fires” enters a second season on “Masterpiece” (8 p.m. Sunday, PBS, TV-PG, check local listings). Set against the background of World War II, the season opens in the aftermath of Dunkirk and fears of the Nazi invasion of the British Isles.
Saturday’s highlights
– The owner of a frisky German shepherd yearns for the day she will honor and obey the dog’s handsome new trainer in the 2017 romance “Love at First Bark” (8 p.m., Hallmark).
– A rescued snow leopard needs delicate dental work on “The Zoo” (9 p.m., Animal Planet).
Sunday’s highlights
– Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): A Tulsa policewoman stands accused of shooting an unarmed black man.
– Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley host the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards (7 p.m., CBS).
– Burns founds a for-profit university on “The Simpsons” (7 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
– The period drama “Call the Midwife” (7 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) enters its sixth season.
– The group decides on a plan on the season finale of “The Walking Dead” (8 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
– Carrie and Quinn find something new on “Homeland” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).