Worth Watching: ‘Stumptown’ Finale, CMT Crossroads, ‘Eating History’
A selective critical checklist of notable Wednesday TV:
Stumptown (10/9c, ABC): One of the season’s most entertaining newcomers wraps its first (let’s hope not only) season with Dex (the fabulous Cobie Smulders) in the sort of jam so many TV private eyes have found themselves: framed for murder, forcing her to save herself. Detective Hoffman (Michael Ealy) wants to help, but to preserve his job must force himself to stay neutral. Expect some daddy issues throughout, as Steven Williams and Matt Craven return as the estranged fathers of Hoffman and Grey (Jake Johnson), respectively. And no doubt a few surprises — but please, no cliffhanger. Should ABC drop the ball on this one, I’d love the show to go out on a satisfying note.
CMT Crossroads (10/9c, CMT): What better distraction during these troubling times than some good music. For the 70th episode of the popular crossover concert series, pairing country-music stars with musicians from other disciplines, Nashville chart-topper Kelsea Ballerini teams with pop star Halsey. They perform in the outdoor setting of downtown Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheatre (filmed before the virus outbreak, naturally), with highlights including Halsey’s 2019 single “Graveyard” and the Fleetwood Mac classic “Dreams.”
Eating History (10/9c, History): Nothing stale about this new series — or is there? We’ll find out as vintage food expert Old Smokey and collector Josh Macuga embark on a quest to find food products thought to be lost in time, sealed in their original packaging and just waiting for foodhardy palates like theirs to give it a taste-test. Among the treats in back-to-back episodes: a 1979 bag of Fritos, hardtack dating back to 1913 and Vietnam-era rations. We could all use some TV comfort food these days, and maybe this is what we didn’t know we needed.
Little Fires Everywhere (streaming on Hulu): The fault lines in suburbia shift dramatically in the fourth episode, in which battle lines are drawn between Elena (Reese Witherspoon) and Mia (Kerry Washington) over the conflict involving Bebe (Huang Lu) and her baby now in the custody of Elena’s good friend, Linda (Rosemarie DeWitt). While the women put to rest any notion of friendship, where does that leave their kids, who have become increasingly attached to each other, and to a degree, the polar-opposite moms they each wish they had?
Inside Wednesday TV: The inspiring Netflix documentary film Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution visits a summer camp near Woodstock, N.Y. that transforms the lives of teens with disabilities. President Barack and Michelle Obama are among the executive producers… Young Adam Goldberg (Sean Giambrone) gets his Pee-wee on in ABC’s The Goldbergs (8/7c) when Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) buys him a bike just like the one in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure… TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (10:30/9:30c) returns from coronavirus-related hiatus, during which she filmed digital shorts titled Beeing at Home with Samantha Bee. New episodes of her topical comedy series will be broadcast from her home in the woods of New York, with her husband and executive producer Jason Jones (The Detour) filming her — from a safe social distance.
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