Media Rays
The week ahead brings the return of CW favorites “The Flash” and “Riverdale.” Also on the CW agenda, the reboot of “Dynasty,” as trashy as ever and, yes, there will be catfights. Actor-director Mark Gatiss has curated a series of 15-minute films with actors such as Ben Whishaw, Russell Tovey and Gemma Whelan, called “Queers,” to mark National Coming Out Day in the U.S. and airing on BBC America.
SUNDAY, OCT. 8 The fourth episode of “Star Trek Discovery” is available for streaming today on CBS All Access. Joy Rovaris stars in the title role of “Bobbi Kristina,” a made-for-TV film airing on TV One at 7 p.m., based on the short, tragic life of
Bobbi Kristina Brown. It’s season 28 for groin injuries and cute pets as “America’s Funniest Home Videos” airs at 8 p.m. on ABC. The fifth season of “90-Day Fiancé” begins on TLC at 9 p.m. “Shark Tank” moves to its 9 p.m. time slot on ABC. Discovery returns to the “Edge of Alaska” for season four at 10 p.m. Time to say goodbye to “Episodes,” the terrific comedy only slightly removed from the reality of the TV industry, airing its final episode at 10 p.m. on Showtime. The current season of “The Last
Ship” ends at a special time of 10 p.m. on TNT. “Madam Secretary” returns for season four on CBS at 10 p.m. “My Bolivia: Remembering What I Never Knew,” is a documentary by Rick Tejada-Flores airing at 10 p.m. on the KQED
World Channel. Tejada-Flores, who has produced films for PBS for three decades, tells the story of Bolivia’s history over three centuries, and what he learned of his family’s involvement in the country’s history through traveling there himself. The film will air as part of the Doc Lands series and be available for streaming for 90 days on the World Channel. MONDAY, OCT. 9
Matt Barr, Christina Ochoa and Charlie Barnett star in“Valor,” a military drama premiering on the CW at9 p.m. Kyle Jarrow created the show focusing on Army helicopter pilots. Also airborne is the third season of “Supergirl,” taking flight on the CW at 8 p.m.
Starz airs the 2015 film “3 Hikers,” about Americans Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who were captured by the Iraqi government in 2009 and held for two years. The documentary airs at 9 p.m.
Take a look behind closed doors of Buckingham Palace and other places where Queen Elizabeth holes up, in the four episodes of “Penelope Keith’s At Her Majesty’s
Service,” added to Acorn.TV’s menu today. The series focuses on the queen’s official residences and the titles and jobs that make the households run royally. Series one and two of “Second Sight,” with Clive
Owen, are also added to Acorn’s offerings. Owen plays DCI Ross Tanner, a cop suffering from a disease that is robbing him of his sight. Claire Skinner co-stars. For information on Acorn.TV subscriptions and content, go to www.acorn.tv. TUESDAY, OCT. 10 A new episode of the final season of “The Mindy Project ”is available on Hulu today. Netflix offers the stand-up special, “Christina P: Mother Inferior.” Dan Rather returns for the fifth season fall cycle of “The Big Interview” at 6 p.m. on AXS TV with a sit-down interview with Sharon Osbourne. Next up on AXS TV is a look at the band Bad Company as part of the “Docs That Rock” series at 7 p.m. BET will air the “2017 BET Hip Hop Awards,” a two-hour special, at 8 p.m. As I’ve often said, BET does award shows better than anyone else.
“The Flash” flashes back for season four on the CW at 8 p.m. with Grant Gustin in the starring role and Team Flash having to make a lot of adjustments. It will be followed by the third season launch of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” at 9, in which the Legends team tries to figure out how to fix things after having broken time in the finale of last season.
The fourth season of “Masterchef Canada” launches at a special time of 8 p.m. on the Food Channel, followed by its time slot premiere at 9 p.m.
The second season of “Adventure Capitalists” arrives on CNBC at 10 p.m. This season, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson
East, former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones and former world-champion freestyle skier Jeremy Bloom tour extreme locations as they consider investing in products meant for use in the great outdoors.
A&E premieres “Undercover High” at 10 p.m., a series about what really happens at a high school as seen from the perspective of seven young adults posing as students.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11
Dr. Eldon Chance is back, in the form of Hugh Laurie, as the second season premiere of “Chance” is available for streaming today on Hulu. The show is set in San Francisco, but the producers have followed the “Monk” pattern of filming just exteriors in San Francisco. AXS TV ’s“Classic Albums” focuses on Jimi Hendrix’s last studio album, “Electric Ladyland,” with commentary from Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Steve Winwood and others at 6 p.m.
Mark Gatiss, known for his work in “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who,” is also a screenwriter, novelist and filmmaker. He has curated a series of short films about LGBT life and history in Great Britain called “Queers,” written by first-time TV writers such as Matthew Baldwin and Keith Jarrett, working alongside established screenwriters such as Jackie Clune and Brian Fillis. The eight films composing the package feature actors such as
Ben Whishaw, Russell Tovey, Alan Cumming
and Gemma Whelan. The first film airs on BBC America at 10 a.m., the second at 3 p.m. the third at 6 p.m. and the final five films air at 10, 10:25 and 10:50 p.m. and then in the wee small hours of Thursday at 2:15 and 2:37 a.m. The broadcast is keyed to National Coming Out Day.
It’s a big night for the CW, which premieres the second season of its hit “Riverdale,” based loosely on the Archie comic books, at 8 p.m., followed by the 9 p.m. premiere of “Dynasty ”at9 p.m. The original aired from 1981 to 1989, and is best remembered for Joan Collins’ and Linda
Evans’ characters, Alexis and Krystle, who wore dresses with Joan Crawford shoulders — actually, they looked more like Peyton Manning shoulders. Grant Show stars as Blake Carrington, the John Forsythe role, and Elizabeth Gillies as his daughter, Fallon, played in the original show by Pamela Sue Martin. There is a Cristal, played by Nathalie Kelley, but no Alexis. Then again, the first Alexis made her entrance at the start of the second season, so who knows?
The National Geographic Channel premieres “The Story of Us,” not to be confused with “This Is Us,” but then again, if you accidentally tune into the new show thinking you’ll see Milo Ventimiglia, Nat Geo wouldn’t complain. Anyway, Morgan Freeman hosts the new show looking at human behavior. The first season of Stephen King ’s“Mr. Mercedes” wraps on the Audience network at 8 p.m., and the third season of “Mr. Robot” launches at 10 p.m. on USA. “The Shannara Chronicles” has moved to Spike for its second season, and premieres at 10 p.m.
THURSDAY, OCT. 12
Sarah Silverman’s new variety show makes its bow today on Hulu .“I Love You, America” finds the outspoken comic trying to prove that people who don’t share the same beliefs and opinions have more in common with each other than they realize. Javier Camara and Miren Ibarguren star in the Spanishlanguage film comedy “Fe de Etarras,” available on Netflix today.
CW’s premiere week continues with the season 13 launch of “Supernatural” at 8 p.m., followed by the season six of “Arrow” at 9 p.m. BET launches its new late-night comedy show, “Comedy Get Down,” at 11:30 p.m., taking viewers behind the scenes of the tour of the same name with George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer, DL Hughley, Eddie Griffin and Charlie Murphy.
FRIDAY, OCT. 13
Amazon offers the first season of the horror anthology series “Lore” today, a perfect way to celebrate Friday the 13th. The series was created by Aaron Mahnke, who has a hit podcast of the same name. Also from Amazon, the first season of “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.” From Netflix: the first season of “Mindhunter,” the documentary “Kingdom of Us,” the special “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” the Spanish-language special “El Especial de Alex Fernandez,” the first season of “Super Monsters,” the special “The Babysitter” and the fourth season of “Voltron: Legendary Defender.”
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” returns with a new season at 8 p.m. on the CW. It’s a crazy good show. It will be followed by another crazy good show, “Jane the Virgin,” beginning its fourth season at 9 p.m. The Discovery Channel beats the drum for the two-hour, eighth season premiere of “Gold Rush” at 9 p.m., with a special at 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCT. 14
Kumail Nanjiani hosts “Saturday Night Live” today at 11:29 p.m. on NBC, with musical guest Pink. The Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar, turns 70 on Friday, Oct. 13, and AXS TV is marking the event with an all-day marathon of his show “Rock and Roll Road Trip,” starting at 10 a.m. and ending with a special presentation of Dan Rather’s interview with Hagar on “The Big Interview” at 5 p.m. The second season of “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” kicks off on BBC America at 9 p.m.
Stan Lee has produced a horror film for the SyFy channel called “The Sandman,” starring Haylie Duff and Tobin Bell, premiering at 9 p.m.
Newly minted Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss co-stars with Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Shu
Kakizawa in the short film “Tokyo Project,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and airs on HBO at 10 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCT. 15
The catch of the day is the premiere of “White Famous,” a comedy produced by Jamie Foxx for Showtime, about an African American comic (Jay Pharoah) balancing the task of remaining credible and true to his own heritage and ideals while becoming famous among white audiences. The show, premiering at 10 p.m. with back-to-back episodes, also features Michael Rapaport, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Cleopatra Coleman and Jacob Ming-Trent. Season eight of “Monsters Inside Me” takes off on Animal Planet at 9 p.m.
The second season of “Good Behavior,” starring Michelle Dockery, kicks off on TNT at 10 p.m. The first season of “Get Shorty” wraps on
Epix at 10 p.m., following the second season kickoff of “Berlin Station ”at9. The third season of “Fear the Walking
Dead” wraps at 9 p.m. on AMC with a twohour episode, followed by the second season wrap of “The Talking Dead: Fear Edition ”at11 p.m.