‘Little Mermaid’ bursts from the screen
An ambitious undertaking, “The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live!” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-G) reimagines the beloved animated musical for a new generation.
Unlike the live presentations of classic Broadway musicals that have been part of network sweeps and holiday programming since NBC had a hit with “The Sound of Music” in 2013, this “Mermaid” will blend cinema and live performance.
Viewers will watch the cartoon as they have since its debut in 1989, but the musical numbers will explode into staged performances, featuring Aulii Cravalho (“Moana”) as Princess Ariel. Look and listen to numbers by Queen Latifah, Shaggy, John Stamos and Graham Phillips, among others.
Viewers enchanted by “Princess” 30 years back who now have families of their own may be ready to experience the musical in a whole new way.
It’s interesting to note that back in the late 1990s, movie theaters arranged sing-along showings of “The Sound of Music” not long after its 30th anniversary, allowing old fans and new enthusiasts to enjoy it in an interactive fashion.
› “Frontline” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) offers a two-hour thought-provoking look at the future with “In the Age of AI.” The film begins in 2017, when Google’s DeepMind computer beat the best player in the world at the Asian game of Go, long considered the most complex strategy game.
A passing news story in the United States, this was seen as a Sputnik moment in Asia, particularly in China. Soon after, its government vowed to invest heavily in artificial intelligence. “Age” looks at the subject from the development of rival and separate AI systems in the United States and China, mirroring, and perhaps increasing, the nations’ geostrategic rivalry.
It also explores the rise of driverless cars and robot-driven factories and warehouses, and contemplates the technology’s threat to human employment.
According to “Age,” AI is already part of an effort to create a super-surveillance state in China. The
Chinese government has undertaken an official “ranking” system based on citizens’ social media activity, a development that combines old-fashioned Orwellian fears with a brave new world envisioned in a “Black Mirror” episode some years back.
› Now streaming on Netflix, “Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby” gives the NBC late-night host a stand-up showcase. As he jokes, this may be the only time some viewers have ever seen his legs. As in a lot of stand-up acts, Meyers mines his personal life for material, speaking at length about his wife, their
long courtship and her parents, who like everyone else, just assumed that a guy named Seth Meyers had to be Jewish. Apparently, he’s not! But to his in-laws, he’s “Jewish enough.”
Netflix has long offered viewers a “Skip Intro” button to better facilitate bingeing multiple episodes. “Lobby Baby” gives viewers the option of a “Skip Politics” button that advances you to the portion of the show after all of the Trump jokes have been delivered. Clever!
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.