Tonight at 8p on Freeform, Recovery Road picks up where it left off last week. Trish (Kyla Pratt) is in tears because her mother took her daughter and she doesn’t know where they went. Trish called the police and now they are asking her questions to assist with the search. She is inconsolable until Maddie (Jessica Sula) comes up with a solution. Now Trish is opening up to the police officers, but there is something very important she is leaving out. Something so shocking, you will be speechless. So much so, you will not want to wait a week to find out what happens next.
BTW that isn’t the only shocking moment in tonight’s episode that turns out to be a major game changer. So don’t miss a single second of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTgsikAMyh0
Also at 8p, but on the Smithsonian Channel the new series Major League Legends takes the bat. Each week, they will feature episodes dedicated to baseball greats that everyone knows. Tonight’s episode gives us the backstory of Hank Aaron. He is known as the first African-American to play professional baseball, but how much more do you know about him? With this show you will learn his story and what he went through from his mouth, archived news footage and his fans. It is a history our kids should know about and more importantly we should know about.
Next week, they will feature Babe Ruth, then Ted Williams and finally Lou Gehrig. We know their names, we know their stats, now let’s get to know them.
Major League Legends scores a home run whether you are a fan of the sport or not. If love the game, then this is a must watch and record. If not, you will still say this show came out swinging.
Also debuting tonight, but at 10p on Discovery is Rockin’ Roadsters. When you think of ZZ Top, you think of their music, their beards and their cars. This show is about the latter. Billy Gibbons loves his hot rods and he recruits Jimmy Shine to make his dream cars come true. What does he want to do with it? You will be surprised to find out what this Rocker’s desires are for it.
Together Gibbons and Shine will go looking for an automobile they can customize. Then when they find it, it is up to Shine to Shine. You will watch him convert a piece of junk into the hottest hot rod you’ve ever seen. This show has legs and they know how to use them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1sZqzY8G90
Also at 10p but on NBC, Blindspot is finally back. The episode picks up where it left off and we learn a little more about Jane (Jaimie Alexander) as she learns about herself. But there is only so much we will find out because life goes on and she has to go back to work. Together, they will investigate a case that you can tell was inspired by a story from two years ago that captivated the world. It is interesting take on it and you wonder if that could’ve happened. Got you curious right? Then watch it!
Superstore ended its first season on NBC yesterday and today the network picked up the sitcom for a second season. The news is not a surprise because it has done well even without The Voice as a lead in. Not many shows can say that.
The comedy revolves around the workers’ lives at the superstore Cloud 9 and I think we can all safely assume that the cast and crew are on Cloud 9 today over the renewal. Sorry, I had to say it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AFw2gwrjzQ
James Burrows is such a legendary television director that he has directed 1,000 episodes in his nearly 40 year career. If you are going to reach that milestone, then you deserve a tribute. That is exactly what NBC is doing for him tonight at 9p with Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows and they invited several of the actors who he worked with to honor him.
Why is it called Must See TV, here’s just a few of the shows he worked on: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Phyllis, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, The Ted Knight Show, Taxi, Cheers, The Hogan Family, Dear John, Night Court, Wings, Frasier, Friends, NewsRadio, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dharma & Greg, Caroline in the City, Will & Grace, George & Leo, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Gary Unmarried, Mike & Molly, $#*! My Dad Says, 2 Broke Girls, Sean Saves the World and Crowded. The last show is the one where he reached his reached his incredible milestone on.
How does a man get to that point that he can say he directed 1,000 episodes? I recently was on a conference call with him and he answered questions about his career that we all envy and we wish we had.
Where it all began:
Burrows: Well I’m a theater rat. I was born in the business. My father was Abe Burrows who wrote Guys and Dolls. Wrote and directed How to Succeed in Business, wrote and directed Cactus Flower.
He was – that’s how I was brought up. He used to trundle me along to rehearsals. And I would absorb not sitting there to learn, I just would – it would sink in while I would, you know, dream and run around the theater and stuff like that.
So I’m a theater rat. And I started as directing shows in Summer Stock and directing shows at dinner theaters and regional theaters.
What was his first show?:
Burrows: I did the Mary Tyler Moore Show, was my first show. And of course that story is really how I got started. You know it was not a very good script. Mary had brought me out from New York to do one show, Mary and Grant Tinker.
And I did everything I possibly could to make that show funny and to work. And I’ll never forget Mary coming to me before we shot the show and saying to me our investment in you has worked out.
So I was blown away by that even before the show was shot. You know and I think that’s my one episode story because that really kicked me off.
How did he meet Mary Tyler Moore, the woman who launched his career?:
Burrows: I was the assistant to the Assistant Stage Manager on the play. My father had written the play. And it was actually a musical of Holly Golight – of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
And the two stars, there were Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain. And I was literally in charge of them since they were Hollywood people of, making sure that they were okay and taken care of and coming to the Broadway stage.
And so I met Mary and under the circumstances the show was a big failure, never opened, played four previews on Broadway. Was a disaster and we were in this lifeboat together. And I became kind of friendly with Mary and Grant Tinker. But I had no idea back then that I would ever end up in television.
He remembers his first show, but what episodes stand out for him:
Burrows:
I have lots of children who are my favorite episodes. Just a couple of them I think. Sam and Diane kissing at the end of the first year of Cheers, Reverend Jim taking his driving test, Woody’s wedding, David Schwimmer and the cast in Friends, Will, Grace, Jack and Karen all in the shower together on Will and Grace, the first episode of Third Rock from the Sun when these characters were exposed to the – to Earth, I mean there’s so many. The pilot of Frasier is an extraordinary pilot.
So there are, you know, all these shows. I have many, many, many children of – who are my favorite episodes so I can’t choose. You love all your children equally.
Out of all of the shows he worked on, which one does he think was cancelled too soon?:
Burrows: There’s only one show that I did that I thought should not have been cancelled and extended because it was just a wonderful show. It was called The Class. It was David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, a group of people who reunited at a class reunion. I thought that was unjustifiably cast. And that’s the one show I’m sad about.
Even though he worked on some of the most popular shows ever, which ones does he wish he worked on?:
Burrows: James Burrows: Well I would’ve loved to have done the Dick Van Dyke Show.
It’s one of my favorite shows. I think I would’ve loved to have done Seinfeld, Raymond.
I respect those shows. I loved Curb Your Enthusiasm.
How does his explain his longevity in Hollywood?:
Burrows: I had no credibility in the beginning. But I was lucky enough to be on the Mary Show. So when Mary said our investment in you have worked out, she had three or four other shows on the air.
So that she said to people or Grant said to people here’s a kid who kind of knows what he’s doing. I think you should use him.
So I went to the Newhart Show. I went to the Phyllis Show. I went to the Rhoda Show. And you slowly built a reputation.
But for that to happen, you got to be good. You got to know what you’re doing. And, you know that’s something that again you have to be born with and you have to have confidence in yourself.
What advice does he have for people who want to follow in his footsteps?:
Burrows: Well you never know when you’re directing how long they’re going to last.
But, you know, I have young Directors always come to me and ask me questions. And sometimes if I have time I let them serve for a week and they always have the question what do I have to do.
And I said the hardest thing to do was not get your foot in the door. The hardest thing to do is capitalize on the opportunity or be ready for the opportunity when you get the shot at directing. It’s – you know it’s easier to get your foot in the door than it is to succeed at that moment when you’re given the opportunity. So that’s the advice I give to people. Be ready for when that opportunity happens.
As far as getting in the foot in the door, you got to knock on the door. I was lucky enough to have worked with Mary Tyler Moore. But you have to keep knocking on doors to try to get your foot in the door. And then if you can get your foot in the door as a PA or a gopher then you’re around the action and you express to people you want to direct.
But if they give you that opportunity you got to be ready for it.
Finally, what was it like to see all of those amazing casts together again, just for him?:
Burrows: To see those casts in the room starting with Taxi and ending with Crowded was like as I said a good acid trip. It was just amazing to see all those actors and in one room and at the same time and the comradely and the affection that they had not only for me but for the other actors in the other shows was extraordinary.
So tune in for his extraordinary tribute tonight at 9p on NBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k7T3S8VEKM
Tonight’s Chicago Fire on NBC at 10p is such a thriller, there is a moment that will leave you breathless.
There is a credible threat against the city of Chicago, but there are many different targets throughout the Windy City. Law enforcement asks all the first responders to help out with the threat. Unfortunately for our Chicago Fire team they are sent to ground zero. A man starts shooting inside and outside the building where some of our firefighters and the paramedics are located. The shooter is going room to room and shooting anyone he finds.
Will our team get out alive or will the murderer be taken out before he gets the chance. You don’t want to miss a single second of this suspenseful well-done episode.
The Muppets are back tonight at 8p on ABC. Not only are the reworking the show from behind the scenes, they are also reworking them from in front of the camera. There is a new executive at the network and she wants to make some changes to Miss Piggy’s talk show. She wants to make it more like Jimmy Fallon and James Corden’s shows, so Kermit decides to get the other Muppets to be a part of it with different type of bits. It has potential but falls flat.
Not as flat as next week’s show when Miss Piggy has a wardrobe malfunction. Her pig tail gets exposed and people are in a uproar over it.
Kristin Newman took over the ranks of the show; and I know from her past work on That ’70s Show, The Neighbors and Galvant, she is better than this. So I am just going to assume that is more of Bill Prady’s doing than her’s since the show hasn’t changed as Bob Kushell left.
Sadly the adult Muppets are missing the joy that we got from the original series. Until they bring it back this show won’t be.
Then at 8:30p on Fresh Off the Boat, it is time for a show with lot of heart.
It’s the Chinese New Year and the Huangs are all excited to go back home to spend it with their family and friends. Only problem is that Louis (Randall Park) screwed up the dates and they missed their flight. Now they have to find a place to celebrate it in Orlando which is harder than they thought.
Will they find a place to spend the New Year or will they spend it alone? I don’t care as long as we get to spend it with them.
Back in the fall, NBC renewed Chicago Fire and Chicago PD for another season and today they added Chicago Med and Law & Order: SVU to their 2016-2017 schedule. Not only that, Dick Wolf will be staying with them until at 2020.
Just think a few years ago, all hope seemed lost for his shows with Law & Order: The Mother Ship ending. Then, SVU has a resurgence and Chicago Fire blew us all away, and now it looks he might have 5 shows on their lineup next season if they pick up Chicago Law!
Gotta love television, just when you think something is dead, it makes like the Phoenix and comes back to life like Stefano DiMera.
