The Marvelous Mel Brooks, Shirtless Bert Kriescher, Tempers Rise at ‘The Pitt,’ Skating on the ‘Edge’

Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

If laughter truly is the best medicine, it’s also the tonic that has kept the great Mel Brooks kicking and spouting jokes in his 99th year. In a delightful and moving two-part biographical profile (concluding Friday) from Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, Brooks chats candidly with lifelong admirer Apatow, his stories interwoven with uproarious vintage-TV appearances alongside such legendary hosts as Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett. From the Catskills to TV’s early days (Your Show of Shows with mentor Sid Caesar), achieving stardom with best friend Carl Reiner as “The 2,000-Year-Old Man” before becoming a cinema legend with classics including The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein, the man once described as “a living interruption” reflects on family, career and the life-affirming joy from making people laugh. Among the many testimonials: the late Rob Reiner, speaking fondly of the bond between his father Carl and the maestro of mirth.

Free Bert

Keep your shirt on? Surely that doesn’t apply to stand-up comedian Bert Kriescher, famous (or infamous) for his “party guy” shirtless shtick. In a raucous comedy inspired by his trademark persona, Bert begins to wonder if he’s more than just an exposed barrel chest. When his snarky and potty-mouthed daughters — they get it honestly — are accepted into a ritzy Beverly Hills private school, Bert and wife LeeAnn (Arden Myrin) are about as out of place as the Beverly Hillbillies as they attempt to fit in with their posh peers. Rob Lowe makes an inspired cameo in the premiere of the meta sitcom as a famous superfan who leaves Bert feeling like a piece of meat.

The Pitt

“There is no clock on how long it takes,” says Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle), acting as counselor as well as healer in a moving encounter with a woman still suffering the emotional aftereffects of witnessing the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in 2018. As a busy 4th of July shift moves into its third hour (9-10 am), things get heated when an angry dad wonders why he’s being interrogated by a social worker after his daughter’s injury. And a case involving an injured motorcyclist who’s not wearing a helmet should give Robby pause about his own upcoming road-trip sabbatical. “I should have left last night,” he mutters. He’s not wrong.

Finding Her Edge

Well-timed as a curtain-raiser for next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy, this tepid YA romance set in the world of competitive ice skating is the opposite of edgy. (In other words, don’t expect this to be another Heated Rivalry fog-up-your-glasses sensation.) Madelyn Keys stars as 17-year-old Adriana Russo, the most responsible member of a skating family dynasty whose parents once won Olympic gold. Now helping keep her widowed dad’s struggling training rink afloat, Adriana rethinks hanging up her skates when she’s invited to partner with hotshot “bad boy of figure skating” Brayden (Cale Ambrozic). While they pretend to be a couple off the ice in hopes of earning a lucrative sponsorship, Adiana is drawn to her former skating partner, Freddie (Olly Atkins), who’s also carrying a torch. Awkward!

9-1-1

Health concerns are paramount on each of ABC’s Thursday night dramas, starting with the first-responder hit, where Hen (Aisha Hinds) continues to struggle with her mysterious symptoms, while Athena’s (Angela Bassett) son Harry (Elijah M. Cooper) lands in the hospital during his academy firefighter training. Followed by 9-1-1: Nashville (9/8c), with Dixie’s (LeAnn Rimes) polyps causing a major crisis, testing her ex Don’s (Chris O’Donnell) marriage to Blythe (Jessica Capshaw). And on Grey’s Anatomy (10/9c), Richard (James Pickens Jr.) faces surgery for prostate cancer.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Oscar Nominations (8:30 am/ET): Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman announce the nominations from L.A. and can be watched live on presenting network ABC’s Good Morning America and streamed on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, Disney+, and Hulu.
• Law & Order (8/7c, NBC): A suspect in a woman’s mysterious death uses high-tech surveillance against the detectives. Followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9/8c), where a “Career Psychopath” returns to threaten Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and Carisi (Peter Scanavino).
• Hell’s Kitchen (8/7c, Fox): In the season finale, the final two chefs lead teams in the final challenge, with one group planning a steakhouse menu while the other hopes to impress Gordon Ramsay with a Cuban-Asian fusion menu.
• Heartland (8/7c, UPtv): A serious drought compels the ranching family to search for a spot to build a new well.
• The Hunting Party (10/9c, NBC): The team’s latest target: escapee Zack Lang (Michael Stahl-David), who has a bloody history of bludgeoning rich New Yorkers.
• The Graham Norton Show (11/10c, BBC America): Guests include potential Oscar nominee Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) and Adolescence Emmy winner Erin Doherty, alongside Hijack‘s Idris Elba, Martin Freeman, and Olivia Dean.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (streaming on Paramount+): Things get out of hand when the Starfleet cadets engage in a prank war against the arrogant recruits of the adjoining War College.
• Canada Shore (streaming on Paramount+): Snooki’s back and she’s heading across the border. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi will make several appearances in the first Canadian spinoff from the franchise that began with Jersey Shore, gathering 10 singles to frolic on the coast of Kelowna, B.C.
• Disneyland Handcrafted (streaming on Disney+): A documentary borrows newly discovered footage from the Walt Disney Archives to tell the story of how the magic kingdom of Disneyland came to be more than 70 years ago.
• London’s Gangsters (streaming on Sundance Now): A two-part documentary features never-before-released prison tapes to depict the rise and fall of the notorious Kray brothers, Reggie and Ronnie, who ruled over East London’s criminal underworld in the 1960s.