This NBC ‘Village’ will make you cry
Be prepared to be overwhelmed by the new melodrama “The Village” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14). Not necessarily in a good way.
The title does not refer to some enchanted town inhabited by elves — but the show is just as preposterous. It has all the realism of a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.
The Village is an apartment building in a magical place called Brooklyn, where every resident has some deep, emotional connection. It’s a place where paying the rent seems secondary, and a celebration of human fellowship remains paramount.
Yes, it’s that kind of show.
And if that’s not enough to give you the feels, there’s something deeply moving happening every freakin’ second.
A recovering war veteran Nick (Warren Christie) is warmly welcomed and discovers his sublet’s rent is covered by the tenants who “honor his service.” Landlord Ron (Frankie Faison) moonlights as a barkeep at a place called Smalls, a relic of a golden era when sax great Sonny Rollins and Martin Luther King Jr. hobnobbed over bebop.
Another tenant, Sarah (Michaela McManus), is a pretty nurse and single mother whose artist/ activist daughter (Grace Van Dien) throws up in her handbag, because — you guessed it — she’s in the family way!
An astoundingly gorgeous woman, Ava (Moran Atias), gets caught up in ICE’s clutches because of some sketchy paperwork. Ron’s activist friend Patricia (Lorraine Toussaint) believes that fledgling law student Gabe (Daren Kagasoff) is the only one who can save Ava.
But Gabe’s too busy helping out his ailing grandfather, Enzo (Dominic Chianese, “The Sopranos”), who still has too much twinkle in his mischievous eyes to be confined to an adult home. So, he moves in with Gabe in the Village, a building held together by good intentions and hugs.
I’m sure I forgot something! Oh yeah, there’s also a cop with a heart of gold who takes care of Ava’s son while she’s held by ICE.
The steady, cloying onslaught of “The Village” reminds me of something I hadn’t thought of in years, something so dreadful I fear to mention it, lest it infect my dear readers’ inner thoughts.
I’m thinking of the mid-70s pop ballad, “Feelings”: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings.”
Like “The Village,” its obvious emotional excesses quickly turned “Feelings” from a lounge standard to a comedy punch line. It soon disappeared. But not soon enough.
› Much like Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Lowe has maintained his celebrity by playing off his audience’s ironic reaction to his fame. A very glib and ridiculously handsome Lowe hosts “Mental Samurai” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
It features an elaborate set and theme park contraptions, but still sports a color palette very similar to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” a prime-time quiz show that debuted in 1999.
› Netflix streams “Growing,” a comedy special starring Amy Schumer.