Worth Watching: CW’s ‘100’ Returns, Domestic Scrimmage on ‘black-ish,’ ‘Fosse/Verdon’
A selective critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:
The 100 (9/8c, The CW): Hello, Sanctum! Now entering its sixth season, the grueling YA apocalyptic sci-fi saga returns with Clarke (Eliza Taylor) and her fellow survivors jumping 125 years into the future‑though they still look like millennials — and arriving on a planet that has the feeling of a utopia. If you know The 100, you know that warm fuzzies usually hide harsher realities, so watch your step, kids.
black-ish (9/8c, ABC): Once again, the family sitcom tackles a relevant issue — not race this time, but the enduring all-American sport of football. When middle-schooler Jack (Miles Brown) makes the football team, Dre (Anthony Anderson) couldn’t be prouder. But mother Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross), being a doctor, couldn’t be more worried about the gridiron risks of the contact sport. Let the debate begin, and in the meantime, maybe Jack could sharpen his badminton skills?
Fosse/Verdon (10/9c, FX): Another audacious episode of the dazzling biographical show-biz drama finds Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) in a career and personal tailspin just as her estranged husband Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) hits a personal best, winning an Oscar, Tonys and Emmys in the same year. But is he happy? Not Fosse, driven by demons of self-doubt and more of a #MeToo train wreck than ever in his treatment of Gwen and the chorines in his latest musical. In a surreal climax, a Pippin medley performed by Fosse’s nearest and dearest haunts the troubled director/choreographer as he mentally spirals. What non-Broadway babies will make of this is anyone’s guess, but it definitely takes a swing.
The Real (Documentary) World: HBO’s six-part docu-series On Tour with Asperger’s Are Us (8/7c), airing with weekly back-to-back episodes, follows a troupe of sketch comics on the autism spectrum on their first cross-country tour in a rickety RV. First stops: Boston and New York City… ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 sports documentary series continues with The Dominican Dream (9/8c), profiling the rise, fall and redemption of Felipe Lopez, son of Dominican immigrants who as a high-school basketball star was touted as the next Michael Jordan… PBS’s Frontline presents The Last Survivors (10/9c, check local listings at pbs.org), featuring interviews with some of the last remaining survivors of the Holocaust, who were children at the time and reflect on growing up with psychological scars and crises of faith while reconciling their grief… A&E’s new eight-part docu-series Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole (10/9c) profiles eight men serving life without parole for crimes committed as teens and who are now seeking resentencing after Supreme Court rulings protecting juvenile offenders. Each episode explores a prisoner’s case, while interviewing victims’ families and friends, law enforcement, reporters and psychologists as well as the convicted offender… ABC’s 1969 series (10/9c) explores the infamous Charles Manson murders, interviewing “family” members and “Manson girls” Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Dianne Lake.
Inside Tuesday TV: Anthony Jeselnik, known for crushing societal taboos in his stand-up comedy, gets his second Netflix special, Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward… Also streaming: a fifth season of gritty mystery Shetland on BritBox, starring Douglas Henshall as Scottish detective Jimmy Perez, who follows the discovery of body parts into a case of human trafficking… There’s a crisis of conscience for Special Agent OA (Zeeko Zaki) on CBS’s FBI (9/8c), who must put personal opinions and politics aside when he’s assigned to provide security for a controversial Egyptian leader… More struggles for Dr. Max (Ryan Eggold) on NBC’s New Amsterdam (10/9c) when his cancer fails to respond to chemo or radiation. But that still doesn’t stop him from challenging Dr. Reynolds (Jocko Sims) in assessing what went wrong in a recent surgery.
Conversation20 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
R
DVR tonight...
The Bold Type...just started watching this season...haven\'t yet decided whether it\'s GREAT or STUPID...
The 100...Usually put in a Season Pass at the beginning of the season...usually backs-up => GONE
Bless This Mess...continue to be SURPRISED at how humorous it is...
New Amsterdam...watch as soon as it shows up on the ol\' DVR...
Fosse/Verdon...getting close to \"4 backed-up => GONE\"...
-
C
Tonight is the 4th episode of Fosse/Verdon. Are you saying you haven\'t watched any of them? I think the whole series is only 7 episodes.
-
R
Don...actually...we DID watch the 1st episode...and ENJOYED it...but...but...evidently (since it\'s backing-up) every time since then that we\'ve gone into the DVR we\'ve found something that we\'d rather watch first...
-
G
Yes, Bless This Mess is quite good. I love the supporting characters, very funny.
1
-
-
G
FBI looks especially good tonight. Also ABC has been plugging \"The Manson Girls\" not 1969. Probably because the real title is boring and wont entice viewers to watch. The ratings last week were abysmally low.
USA TODAY again mistakenly lists tonight\'s 1969 episode as featuring Mary Jo Kopechne Chappaquiddick Island incident with Ted Kennedy.
-
C
I don\'t want to watch either of them. I think it was the History Channel that had a whole miniseries about Manson, and I couldn\'t stand to watch it. And who wants to relive that Kennedy incident which has been covered ad nauseam?
-
G
On second thought , I may skip it.
-
R
If something is titled 1969, I\'d expect it to deal with Apollo 11 landing on the moon, and/or Woodstock. So yeah, probably a good thing the network is promoting it with a title relating to Manson. (Although \"The Manson Girls\" makes it sound like a young-adult movie.)
-
G
Lets see if the ratings tick up . I bet they will. 1969 was an awfully generic title.
And yeah Manson Girls does sound like an X-rated movie, lol.
-
G
FBI was very strong, couldn\'t get my eyes off the screen!
\"Manson Girls\" was virtually unwatchable. Lots of silly interviews with demented females that still love him. Oh dear.
-
G
Unfortunately I didn\'t listen to you and watched \"The Manson Girls\". Awful.
I know the Kennedy/Mary Jo crime all too well. I\'ve seen multiple news stories and movies about it. He let her die to cover his affair. Case closed.
-
R
Yes, FBI was pretty good.
-
-
R
Just everyday procedurals tonight: NCIS and FBI
-
C
It\'s crazy Tuesday again! No more Roswell, but new episodes of the Housewife and The Kids! Plus, MasterChef Jr., Flash, New Amsterdam, Fosse/Verdon, and Mexican Dynasties!
-
G
Enemy Within confuses me every week. Is Shephard playing both sides?
1
-
C
I think they want us to be confused about it. My best guess is that she\'s pretending to work with the bad guy in order to get close to him and take him down. I hope they resolve it this season in case it doesn\'t get renewed!
1
-
G
Ratings are dreadful. I doubt it will be renewed. Sad because it is one of the better new shows this season. At least we know Manifest and The Passage (my top new show) are returning.
-
C
But I just saw an article that says The Passage hasn\'t been renewed yet.
-
G
Just checked ratings again. It tied veteran Bull , they air in the same slot. If we are lucky enough, NBC likes the show and will allow it to find a larger audience. Nothing like a good FBI/CIA show. Every week is riveting.
-
G
I could have sworn I read it was renewed. Just don\'t remember where . I usually read USA TODAY and TV GUIDE magazine. USA TODAY makes tons of errors btw.
-
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services