More Cases for Dalgliesh, ‘Perry Mason’ Finale, Top 20 Becomes 12 on ‘Idol,’ A ‘Living Funeral’ and Actual Death on ‘9-1-1’
Bertie Carvel returns as P.D. James’ impeccable detective Adam Dalgliesh in three two-part mysteries on Acorn TV. HBO’s revisionist Perry Mason awaits a verdict in the season finale. America’s vote narrows the American Idol field from 20 to 10 (with the judges saving two more of their favorites). Fox’s 9-1-1 features a “living funeral” and, to Athena’s alarm, an actual death when a perp dies in her patrol car.
Dalgliesh
Season Premiere
I keep hearing from people upset that Three Pines, the Prime Video series derived from Louise Penny’s crime novels, wasn’t renewed for a second season. That’s understandable, but there’s still hope for those with a taste for literate murder mysteries. Acorn is releasing a second season of two-part whodunits (each airing complete in one night) based on the classic Adam Dalgleish mysteries of the late, great P.D. James. Tony winner Bertie Carvel returns as the pensive sleuth in Death of an Expert Witness, in which the DCI is dispatched to rural East Anglia when a senior forensic scientist is found murdered in his lab. (Followed the next two Mondays by adaptations of James favorites A Certain Justice and The Murder Room.)
Perry Mason
Season Finale
The stakes are high in the Season 2 finale of the revisionist courtroom drama, with a beleaguered Perry (Matthew Rhys) making his final argument in court about “the illusion of justice” in the trial of brothers Mateo and Rafael. Elsewhere, Team Mason is feverishly working around the system in a last-ditch effort to find a compromise with D.A. Berger (Justin Kirk). As befits the series’ gloomy 1930s film noir sensibility, don’t be surprised should Perry Mason find a way to simultaneously win and lose.
American Idol
The contestants’ jubilation to make the Top 20 cut is short-lived, because it’s already time to learn the results of the overnight vote that will narrow the field to 10. In a two-hour episode, the 20 singers perform before learning who stays and goes, with judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie selecting two more lucky souls to move forward in the Top 12.
9-1-1
When a car plows into a “living funeral,” the 118 crew rushes to the rescue to ensure that no one actually dies. Athena (Angela Bassett) isn’t so lucky, when a routine arrest turns tragic after the suspect dies in her patrol car minutes later. Sticking with the theme of the week, Buck’s (Oliver Stark) latest love interest is a death doula.
INSIDE MONDAY TV:
- All Paws on Deck (7/6c, Nickelodeon): It’s a doggone treat: a 10-year PAW Patrol anniversary special, rounding up every PAW Patrol pup in the show’s history. Their mission: stop a 10-year-old who wants to transform Adventure Bay into her own high-tech metropolis.
- All American (8/7c, The CW): Spring break isn’t all fun and games for Spencer (Daniel Ezra) when he and Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) are surprised by the return of an old friend.
- Fantasy Island (9/8c, Fox): Who are you calling a fantasy? A bride (Jessy Shram) dumped at the altar reconnects with her childhood imaginary friend (Call Me Kat’s Kyla Pratt), who guides her back to her inner child.
- The Good Doctor (10/9c, ABC): Can this professional relationship be saved? Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) has another falling out with his mentor Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) when they clash during surgery. Healers, heal thy egos.
- Free Chol Soo Lee (10/9c, PBS): Independent Lens unpacks the turbulent story of Korean-born Chol Soo Lee, an immigrant wrongly sentenced to life for a 1973 murder in San Francisco’s Chinatown. A grassroots movement, inspired by the reporting of journalist K.W. Lee, helped lead to a retrial and release in 1983, but not an end of Chol Soo Lee’s trevails.
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C
Great, another love interest for Buck I'm so excited...
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C
If even the people getting paid to write nice things about 911 are this tired, imagine how the audience and fans feel 🙄🙄🙄 Maybe instead of twisting characters and situations to fit the theme of the week, the showrunner could actually let the characters drive the plot? Maybe let Buck talk to his therapist about his near death experience or Chim who has also clinically died (twice) and had 2 other near death experiences. But nope! Buck and Eddie had a heart-to-heart conversation and went out on what amounted to a date so now she's gotta start throwing random women at them so people stop talking about how in love Buck and Eddie are and how they've made a family together with Chris. Better throw some Shannon redemption in there too for good measure 🙄 Get Kristen away from this show before she finally runs it into the ground.
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C
Wow, whoever wrote up about 9-1-1 sounds as tired as all the fans about Buck getting yet another woman thrown at him because the show runner hates Eddie and Buck's relationship with him. Please stop this nonsense and get a new showrunner so the show can get back to its former glory. What a waste of time this storyline is.
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B
Found Dalgleish a couple is weeks ago on Acorn (season 1). It is a well written, well acted and fantastic who dunnit. It’s too bad that it’s on a streaming channel that you have to pay for. I have to say that if you are a fan of British and other retro shows it’s well worth the extra money.
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G
The actual deaths happening in 9-1-1 are of creativity and excitement. Of course another love interest for Buck because Taylor and Lucy have worked SO WELL before.
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J
Repeats tonight, unless I go for Antiques Roadshow, which is new. Expedition Unknown is also being repeated on the Science Channel, and NatGeo has something called Lost Tapes of the Third Reich. (Somehow, I don't think it includes dance music.)
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O
Looking forward to the Perry Mason finale with dreadful anticipation. Different type of story this season, still top notch and the series plays like a long high quality movie. The acting is great and the production values are through the roof. Sincerely hope there’s a season 3. I know television this good is not inexpensive to produce.
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G
American Idol live on ABC.
Later FOX’s Fantasy Island via DVR or Hulu.