Entertainment, TV, Television - Navy Times

PBS, smaller networks gear up for fall TV season

As the big, commercial networks make lots of new-season noise, some others are nearby.

There’s PBS, plus two smaller, over-the-air networks. Here are a few fall highlights:

PBS:

The public-TV people are at their best with nonfiction.

That’s particularly true in an election year. Fresh from convention coverage, Jim Lehrer, who has his nightly “Newshour,” will anchor one of the presidential debates and has an overview, “Debating Our Destiny II,” at 9 p.m. Sept. 9.

There will be other current-issues specials, from Judy Woodruff’s “Where We Stand: America’s Schools in the 21st Century” (10 p.m. Sept. 15) to “The Choice,” with biographies of John McCain and Barack Obama (9-11 p.m. Oct. 14).

And presidential documentaries will rerun on “American Experience.” That includes Ronald Reagan on Sept. 22, Jimmy Carter on Oct. 6, Richard Nixon on Oct. 13, and Lyndon Johnson on Oct. 20 and 27.

Still, PBS does remember entertainment. That includes:

• A three-night, five-hour “American Masters” profile of a movie studio: “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story” is Sept. 23-25.

• The debut of “Masterpiece Contemporary,” with the old “Masterpiece Theatre” temporarily trying grittier turf. That starts with “The Last Enemy,” a sleek spy tale set in a paranoid society (Oct. 5 to Nov. 2). It will be followed Nov. 16 by the powerful “God on Trial,” with some of the top British actors in a fictional debate inside a death camp.

• Music: A Los Lonely Boys profile is Sept. 17, the same night that has James Galway with the New York Philharmonic. A Luciano Pavarotti profile is Sept. 10; an all-Bernstein night at Carnegie Hall (Oct. 29) includes Dawn Upshaw, Yo-Yo Ma and Thomas Hampson, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.

Ion:

The former Pax Network will strip reruns of current dramas.

Beginning Sept. 8, it has “Boston Legal” at 8 p.m., “NCIS” at 9 p.m. and “ER” at 10 p.m. That’s on Mondays through Thursdays; on weekends, producer Robert Halmi has been scheduling movies and miniseries, including occasional new ones.

MyNetwork:

When WB and UPN merged (becoming CW), many stations were abandoned. That led to this mini-network, run by Fox. Beginning Oct. 3, its third season has:

• “WWE Friday Night Smackdown,” 8-10 p.m. Fridays. That’s moving from CW, with Jeff Hardy, Edge and such.

• Movies on Thursdays and Saturdays.

• Returning reality shows on Tuesdays. “Street Patrol” (8 p.m.) and “Jail” (9 p.m.) are from the “Cops” producers.

• A Monday lineup with a returning show (“Celebrity Expose” at 8 p.m.) and one that’s spun from previous specials (“Magic’s Biggest Secrets Revealed,” at 9 p.m.).

• And a mostly new Wednesday line-up, aimed at laughs.

At 8 p.m. is “World’s Funniest Moments.” Arsenio Hall hosts with the sort of offbeat clips that have shown up on You Tube and other online sites.

At 9 p.m. is “The Tony Rock Project.” Rock (Chris’ younger brother) is a stand-up comedian; he plans to use lots of man-on-the-street bits.

And at 9:30 p.m. is the second season of “Under One Roof,” with Flavor Flav as an ex-con living with his rich brother.