https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7P2kmVtDss
Tonight at 10p on NBC, the main villain is back on Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. When Lincoln’s (Russell Hornsby) college professor is found dead with clues in his throat and the detective’s book in his hand, it is up to him, rookie Amelia (Arielle Kebbel) and his partner Rick (Michael Imperioli) to find out what it means.
They have to work fast because that was his first killing, and he is preparing to do more. Lincoln’s arrogance is getting in the way of everyone trying to solve the murders. When they confront him on it, he has a medical emergency that puts his life in danger. Did the Bone Collector finally take Lincoln out, years after turning him into a paraplegic?
Rick and Amelia don’t have time to stop because body #2 has been found and there is a third stranger’s life in peril. When the clues have three different answers, they have to figure a way to be at all three locations at once. Will they get to the right one at the right time or will it be too late.
I don’t normally like procedurals, but Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector feels more like a movie than a TV episode every week. The murders are gritty and the investigations feel real. Plus, you root for the leads. How many shows can you say that about these days? If you like crime-of-the-week shows, then this is your latest addiction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5RTxscE9OI
Tonight at 9:30p on NBC, Fran Drescher and Steven Weber play a married couple, who are forced to move in with their son and his family, in Indebted.
Dave (Adam Pally) and Rebecca (Abby Elliott) are looking forward to being done with parenting. However, that all changes when his amorous parents come for a visit. They blew through all of their money, and now they need a place to stay.
Debbie (Drescher) and Stew (Weber) are like two kids who never grew up. Their son, on the other hand, has. Now, he will be stuck raising them and getting them out of trouble. How much trouble can they get in? It is a sitcom, so the answer is a lot.
How much of their antics with Dave and Abby take? They have no choice, they are Dave’s parents, and you cannot throw your parents out. Even if you really want to do it.
That is why this comedy is so great. As we get older, our parents become our children. At least on this show, it is because they are irresponsible.
Something the show’s creator Dan Levy knows all about. He loosely based the show on his life. A few weeks ago, he and the cast talked about Indebted at the NBC Winter Press Day during the TCAs.
Here are seven things they talked about:
How did the Indebted come about?
DAN LEVY: My parents are funny, obviously funny, and ridiculous people. What happened about a year ago, we were sitting in my living room, and I was asking them sort of what is your plan, what is your retirement plan? Because I was reading/panicking that most baby boomers don’t actually have, like, a true plan, and a lot of them don’t have long term healthcare or whatever it is, and I was sort of asking them, “What are you guys going to do?”
And my mom was like, “Oh, we’ll come to California.” And I was like, “And live where?” “We’ll come live with you.” And I was like, “Oh, no. This is not a good idea. I realize that you guys have no plan.” And my dad’s like, “No. I’ll umpire.” And I was like, “That’s not something you pick up at 70.” He’s like “I’ll umpire in Topanga.” I was like, “No. We need to figure something out.” Then I started meeting with different people to help sort of organize their finances so they didn’t have to come be living with me, and then I went to Doug, and I said, “This is a really stressful situation I’m in. Should we go pitch it as a TV show?” Then we took it to Meyerson, who was at the podium, and here we are.
Dan Levy’s parents went to at least one taping of the sitcom, so what do they think of the show?
DAN LEVY: My parents are happy with whatever they see. They really are the #1 fans of the show. Even though that originally is based on loosely based on their situation,
Do Dan Levy’s parents have as much sex as Steven Weber and Fran Drescher characters do on the show?
DAN LEVY: That part is not based on my actual parents.
Weber and Drescher’s characters will get jobs, what will they be doing?
DOUG ROBINSON: They are also not afraid to work. There are parts where Steven’s character wants to make money, and he will drive Uber. He will do whatever he can to keep them afloat and get them out of this situation. So it’s not like they’ve accepted it and they are just going to live off of everyone else the entire time.
DAN LEVY: Yeah. In another episode, Fran decides to become a life coach to try to make some money for the family. So they are constantly trying. It’s just, they are not so great at it.
How is the character than Fran’s other ones?
FRAN DRESCHER: I think this is the first show I’ve not been called Fran for many, many years.
What type of roles does Drescher seek out?
FRAN DRESCHER: I like to play characters that are not mean spirited. I like to play people that are positive and loving. When I first started off my career, I was always kind of the hooker with the heart of gold. I don’t like to be mean. I like to be self deprecating, so that’s sort of my brand of comedy, and I think that my fans have embraced that. That’s what they’ve come to expect, and I like to give them what they anticipate and as much bang for their buck as possible.
What previous role are musicians starstruck over Fran Drescher for?
FRAN DRESCHER: With “Spinal Tap,” in particular, there are people in the music business I’ve had the privilege of really getting to know because they come to me wanting to introduce themselves because that movie is so meaningful to them when they’re on tour, and the role of Bobbi Flekman resonates so much to them with some of the executives that they come into action with.
I’ve been in an elevator with Bruce Springsteen, and I’ve been in a restaurant, and Chris [Martin] from Coldplay came over to me, and it’s a lot of fun. I love live music, so it’s a lot of fun that these people are a little starstruck.
https://youtu.be/6nw2cyL4hVM
Thursdays have been Must See TV on NBC for decades, and several of those comedies have theme songs. The newest addition to the lineup decided to sing them a capella style. They perfect harmonized the opening numbers to The Office, Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Superstore, 30 Rock and Perfect Harmony. Even those tunes don’t have lyrics. Which makes you wonder why they did not go back to the last century when they did?
I hope that this video is not Perfect Harmony’s swan song. Last night was the show’s season finale, and I hope it does not become a series one. I enjoyed every episode of it, especially the one when we saw Bradley Whitford strip. You can watch it on Hulu or the NBC app now. I am just not going to tell you which one it is so you will watch them all.
Manifest is back for season 2 on NBC, Monday nights at 10p, and it is not the same show it was last season. The show is about a plane landing five and a half years after it took off, and everyone looks the same. What happened during that time when they were in wherever they were? Where were they?
Last year, it was about acting on the callings that the passengers get, which tells them to help people. This season, it is about why the callings make a difference and figuring out how to beat the death date. That is the day, as many days in the future as the days they were missing, which will be when they are going to die. The passengers on Flight 828 have to figure out a way to beat it before it is too late. Once it is too late, there will be no going back for them.
Over the weekend at the NBC Winter TCA Press Day, Show Creator Jeff Rake, and the show’s stars Josh Dallas (Ben) and Matt Long (Zeke) talked about what we can expect over the next five seasons. That is when they hit the death date in 2024.
Five things you should know about Manifest: Why is there a death date?
Jeff Rake: From a thematic place, why does it exist? A lot of our episodes center around the theme of redemption and second chances, and I thought it would be interesting if we had a literal ticking clock, because it would just kind of amp the stakes for our heroes as they figure out the price of redemption, what it means to have a second bite at the apple, what the consequences are when you only have a limited amount of time to try to reinvent yourself. And so that’s kind of the thematic reason. And then, just from a basic storytelling point of view, I thought our stories would just become increasingly exciting if, as the characters are trying to puzzle their way through the mystery of the show, they’re running out of time.
How are the callings different for season 2?
Josh Dallas: I mean, the callings are presenting themselves a little bit differently this season. We’re having shared callings now and callings that are leading us to certain places. So they’re presenting themselves in a different way. So they have to look at that as characters.
Was Zeke, who returned but was not on the plane, always part of the show from the beginning?
Jeff Rake: That’s been there from the very beginning. Anybody who’s in the room from Warner Bros. or at NBC could tell you that when I went and pitched the show, that character was part of the architecture from the beginning. For some reason, his name was Reed in development, and we changed his name in the writers’ room to Zeke when we got to series. There’s a story behind that that I won’t bore you with. But, yes, that story, that triangle was always part of the infrastructure of the story. Melissa’s [Roxburgh] character Michaela was always intended to be challenged and perplexed by the idea of our meeting an individual who did not come off of the airplane with everyone and yet somehow seemed to be on a parallel journey with them and the universe bringing these two characters together. That obviously also set up a romantic triangle that we’re playing from the relationship drama side of the story, and that came to an apex at the end of Season 1.
What happens to Zeke now that he turned himself in for shooting Michaela?
Matt Long: For the next few episodes, that storyline continues to play out, but some really big things happen with regard to Michaela and Jared and Zeke. And I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, it’s really interesting things happen with regard to that. And then that story sort of concludes in a way, but the way that that concludes opens up all kinds of other issues with the sort of three of us, and it’s really interesting and exciting to watch.
Is Jeff Rake prepared for the show not to go until the death date aka six seasons?
Jeff Rake: Absolutely not.
So buckle up, as you do on a plane, because this is going to be a long ride. One we are not going to want to miss every Monday at 10p on NBC.
The Good Place is back tonight at 8:30p on NBC, but will it be the end of all humanity? When we last off the Judge (Maya Rudolph) decided that she wants to erase all that has happened on Earth and start over again. That is right, she wants to wipe us out. Will Michael (Ted Danson), Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Jason (Manny Jacinto), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and the Janets (D’Arcy Carden) be able to stop her before she hits the button?
They will do everything they can to come up with a plan that will also convince the Bad Place that our World needs to be saved. Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson), the latter’s Michael, will be harder to convince than the Judge because Janet has a secret weapon that might change her mind. A weapon that would be enough for me to say we need to live on. What is it? You will have to tune into the fourth last episode of the show’s run to find out. Now I am sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838-eGXjniE
Then at 9p, Will & Grace gives birth to a new character. Well, not quite yet. Will (Eric McCormack) finds Jenny (Demi Lovato), a woman who is willing to be his surrogate. That is if he can convince her to do it and not screw it up while trying to win her over.
Will needed a lift and he got one from Karen (Megan Mullally). She stays at Jenny’s place and meets her brother. The two will exchange some jokes that will make you feel guilty for laughing at them.
Finally, Grace (Debra Messing) and Jack (Sean Hayes) go to a Little Orphan AnnieCon. Need I say more?
I love NBC, but why are the shows I watch ending? Actually, I watch most of their shows, but my two favorites are the ones that are saying goodbye. Maybe they can reboot them next season?
