A documentary about the race for the Covid-19 vaccine airs on HBO. And this year’s Grammy Awards are on CBS.
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, March 28-April 3. Details and times are subject to change.
Monday
WARRIOR WOMEN WITH LUPITA NYONG’O 8 p.m. on Smithsonian. In the Marvel movie “Black Panther,” Lupita Nyong’o starred as a skillful combatant fighting for the fictional nation of Wakanda. Her character was partly inspired by the Agoji warrior women of West Africa, known for fighting on behalf of the Kingdom of Dahomey, an empire that existed for more than 200 years beginning in the 17th century in present-day Benin. In this program, Nyong’o hosts an exploration into the history of these real-life women.
WRITING WITH FIRE 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature, “Writing With Fire” highlights the journalists of Khabar Lahariya, India’s only women-led news outlet. The reporters, who are in the Dalit caste, work to expose injustices, corruption and other social issues in the country amid a male-dominated media landscape. “At a time when the profession faces increasing dangers in India, the film’s faith in the powers of grassroots journalism is nothing short of galvanizing,” Devika Girish wrote in a review for The New York Times.
Tuesday
HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC (2022) 9 p.m. on HBO. This feature-length documentary looks at the journey to develop and distribute Covid-19 vaccines. It begins in early 2020 and follows the largest public health effort in history, following the work of scientists while exploring the way corporate greed and governmental failures may have affected their progress.
Wednesday
SUPERBAD (2007) 5 p.m. on E! Michael Cera and Jonah Hill play two awkward high school best friends in this comedy. a classic in the genre of boyish coming-of-age movies. Before graduating from high school, the two set out to score some liquor and head to a party — and the process is less than smooth. Make it a 2000s comedy double feature with Adam McKay’s STEP BROTHERS (2008), which airs right after at 7:30 p.m. on E! Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play another awkward pair, who engage in an escalating rivalry when they become stepbrothers in their 30s and must live in the same house.
Thursday
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) 8 p.m. on TCM. The film adaptation of Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel garnered critical success and three Academy Awards. Set in Alabama, it details Atticus Finch’s defense of Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a white woman. Narrated by Atticus’s daughter, the film is a powerful, delicately told story of the Jim Crow era.
HOW WE ROLL 9:30 p.m. on CBS. This new series is based on the professional bowler Tom Smallwood, played by the comedian Pete Holmes. Tom loses his job at an automotive plant in Michigan, but with the support of his wife and kids, he decides to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional bowler. In an interview with The Times, Holmes, who starred in the HBO show “Crashing” but is probably best known as a stand-up comic, said he was excited to have another TV role. “If it’s funny, I’ll do it,” he said. “I love acting — and this is almost blasphemy in my circle — as much as I love doing stand-up.”
Friday
JERROD CARMICHAEL: ROTHANIEL 9 p.m. on HBO Jerrod Carmichael is an open book in his third HBO stand-up special, which was taped in February 2022 at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. “I’ve been trying to be very honest because my whole life is shrouded in secrets, and I figured the only route I haven’t tried is the truth,” he says in a teaser for the show. The special airs in advance of his “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig on Saturday.
GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET: FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Terence Blanchard, the jazz trumpeter and composer best known for scoring a host of Spike Lee films, became the first Black composer to have a show put on by the Metropolitan Opera with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” which was also the company’s first in-person production after its Covid-19 shutdown. The opera is based on a 2014 memoir by the Times columnist Charles M. Blow about growing up in Louisiana. “In his score, Blanchard deftly blends elements of jazz, blues, hints of big band and gospel into a compositional voice dominated by lushly chromatic and modal harmonic writing, spiked with jagged rhythms and tart dissonance,” Anthony Tommasini wrote in his review for The Times.
Saturday
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968) 8 p.m. on TCM. John Singer (Alan Arkin) is a deaf and mute man who moves to a small Southern town to be closer to his friend Spiros Antonapoulos (Chuck McCann), also deaf and mute, who has been committed to a mental institution. The film follows John as he befriends people in the new town and makes an impact on their lives.
Sunday
THE 64TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS 8 p.m. on CBS. Originally scheduled for Jan. 31 in Los Angeles and postponed in response to a surge in Omicron cases nationwide, the Grammys are finally slated to take place in Las Vegas on Sunday. BTS, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish are among this year’s performers, and Trevor Noah will return as the host. With 11 nominations, the composer and bandleader Jon Batiste leads all artists. Doja Cat, Justin Bieber and H.E.R. follow with eight nominations each. In the lead-up to the event, organizers announced that Kanye West would not be allowed to perform, citing troubling online behavior, but he is still in the running for five awards.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
