February’s TV you many have missed
If January seems to last forever, February, the shortest month, recedes in the blink of an eye. Before it does, let’s glance at the month’s TV highlights and catch up with series you may have missed.
The month began with SyFy’s “The Ark,” an ambitious space opera about the surviving crew of a wounded craft on a mission to colonize new worlds. Episodes of this weekly series air on Wednesdays and stream the next day on Peacock.
Showtime devoted Sunday nights to the docuseries “Murder in Big Horn,” exploring the scandalous indifference to the murder of Indigenous women and girls. “Murder” can be streamed on Showtime’s streaming app, soon to be folded into the Paramount+ platform.
On Feb. 7, HBO aired the Oscar-nominated documentary “All That Breathes,” a moving tale of two brothers who care for wild birds and raptors succumbing to New Delhi’s gruesome air pollution. A favorite at both Cannes and Sundance film festivals, it should be a favorite to win the Best Documentary Academy Award. It streams on HBO Max.
“Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriquez has returned in the ABC sitcom “Not Dead Yet,” as a floundering 30-something who writes obituaries for a daily newspaper. She’s aided on her beat by the fact that her deceased subjects appear to her and tell her their secrets. One of several recent series to return to the habit of weekly guest spots — in this case, the ghost of the week. “Dead” can be streamed on Hulu the day after its Wednesday-night ABC broadcast.
In another sign of broadcast television’s return to old habits, NBC has picked up “Magnum P.I.,” a series canceled by CBS.
Picking up other networks’ castoffs can seem desperate — or turn into gold. Way back in 1996, NBC canceled a military legal procedural named “JAG.” That series later inspired “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14), which airs its 450th episode on CBS tonight.
Fox introduced its Thursday-night sitcom “Animal Control,” a vehicle for Joel McHale that blends elements of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” with “Parks & Recreation” and, of course, animals.
Apple TV+ took a flyer on the high-concept streaming series “Hello Tomorrow!,” a retro-future fantasy about high pressure salesmen pitching timeshares on the moon. Billy Crudup stars.
The streaming service Viaplay debuted in the United States on Feb. 22, bringing a full catalog of Scandinavian series.
And the cult comedy “Party Down” returned to Starz. A tale of caterwaiters (Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, Megan Mullally, Martin Starr and Ryan Hansen) has seen its legend grow since its 2010 cancellation. Will it find the audience that evaded it back then?
› A bride vanishes on her way to the altar on the two-hour season finale of “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14). There’s no word if this series has been canceled or renewed. A nine-episode season is short for an American series.
› In another horrific tale involving weddings, a bride marries into a rich family with a posh estate only to spend her wedding night hiding from her in-laws intent on hunting her down in the 2019 low-budget horror comedy “Ready or Not” (6:50 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., FXM, TV-MA). This modern fairy tale was made for a mere $6 million and grossed nearly five times that sum. The makings of a surefire franchise.