Tootsie (1982, March

MOVIES FOR GROWNUPS!

PBS And AARP Partner Again To Honor Movies And TV Shows That The Older Demo

Actually Like. By Jeff Pfeiffer

Youngsters may have specially targeted awards ceremonies honoring films that they like, such as the MTV Movie Awards, but, for the fifth year now, PBS will broadcast, under its Great Performances banner, “Movies for Grownups Awards 2022 With AARP the Magazine.”

The event celebrates and encourages productions and artists from the past year’s theatrical films, and TV/streaming movies/ limited series, that have unique appeal to movie lovers with a more mature sensibility.

Notable nominees featured at this year’s Movies for Grownups ceremony, which will be hosted by actor Alan Cumming, include: Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups: Being the Ricardos,

Belfast, King Richard, The Power of the Dog and West Side Story Best Actress (TV/Streaming): Gillian Anderson (The Crown),

Andie MacDowell (Maid), Sandra Oh (The Chair), Jean Smart (Hacks) and Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie) Best Actor (TV/Streaming): Kevin Costner (Yellowstone),

Michael Keaton (Dopesick), Ewan McGregor (Halston), Billy

Porter (Pose) and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building) Best TV Series: The Chair, The Crown, Hacks, Succession and

Ted Lasso Best TV Movie/Limited Series: Halston, Maid, Mare of

Easttown, Nine Perfect Strangers and The Underground Railroad Additionally, Tomlin will be honored with this year’s Career Achievement Award. The awards air on PBS Friday, March 18.

FRIDAYS:

1970s Oscar Winners

Network (1976, March 4) Julia (1977, March 11) The Sting (1973, March 18) Fiddler on the Roof (1971, March 25)

The Sting SATURDAYS (DAYTIME):

Oscar Winners in Specific Categories March 5 (Best Cinematography):

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

March 12 (Best Supporting Actor):

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Spartacus (1960)

March 19 (Best Actor):

Sergeant York (1941)

Gandhi (1982)

March 26 (Best Director):

Casablanca (1942)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

SATURDAYS (PRIMETIME INTO

EARLY NEXT MORNING):

1980s Oscar Winners

Tootsie (1982, March 5) Arthur (1981, March 12) On Golden Pond (1981, March 19) Dangerous Liaisons (1988, March 26; network premiere)

Tootsie SUNDAYS (DAYTIME):

Oscar Winners in Specific Categories March 6 (Best Screenplay):

Citizen Kane (1941)

Little Women (1933)

March 13 (Best Supporting Actress):

Elmer Gantry (1960)

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

March 20 (Best Actress):

Jezebel (1938)

The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

March 27 (Best Picture):

It Happened One Night (1934)

Gone With the Wind (1939)

SUNDAYS (PRIMETIME

INTO EARLY NEXT MORNING):

1990s & 2000s Oscar Winners

The Iron Lady (2011, March 6; network premiere) Good Will Hunting (1997, March 13) A River Runs Through It (1992, March 20) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the

Desert (1994, March 27; network premiere)

Good Will Hunting

THE TOP 16

A QUICK RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S NEW, WHAT’S RETURNING AND JUST WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH

SHINING VALE

NEW SERIES!

Women are roughly twice as likely as men to suffer from depression. Symptoms include: sense of helplessness, insomnia, change in sex drive, hallucinations and feeling completely out of control.

Women are also roughly twice as likely to be possessed by a demon.

The symptoms are the same …

So begins this brilliantly crafted comedy-kind-of-psychological-horror story about a dysfunctional family who escapes city life in favor of saving their family by moving to a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere. While their house is definitely an upgrade — and it should be, as they liquidated just about everything to afford the sprawling old mansion — no one clued them in on the terrible atrocities that actually took place there.

The series features an all-star cast that includes Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino, Judith Light, Sherilyn Fenn and Merrin Dungey. Cox stars as Patricia “Pat” Phelps, who’s convinced she’s either possessed or depressed (or maybe even both). “I love to be scared and I love to laugh, and this is such a unique combination of these two things,” Cox says. “This genre I’ve never seen before. It deals with real-life issues — family, infidelity, mental illness, fill in the blanks. It was just so rich, and funny, and great.”

Pat is a former “wild child” who rose to fame by writing a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel (aka lady porn). Now, 17 years later, she is under the gun by her publisher to deliver a follow-up novel or face paying back the

Courteney Cox, Merrin Dungey, Dylan Gage, Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino and Gus Birney

advance she’s long since spent. She’s also trying to save her marriage to her wood-chopping-obsessed husband Terry (Kinnear) — he’s got reasons for the chopping — and offer some normalcy for her oddball children Gaynor (Gus Birney) and Jake (Dylan Gage). Oh, and now that she’s clean and sober, she’s got a severe case of writer’s block. But that’s not her real problem.

Enter Rosemary (Sorvino). A glamorous ghost of sorts who’s equal parts creepy and naughty, who is either Pat’s alter ego, a split personality, her muse or a demon trying to possess her. Who knows, but she’s fabulous.

Being careful not to share too much, Sorvino explained her sharp-dressed character as someone only visible to Pat. “I may or may not have existed in the ’50s in the form of an unhappy housewife who dreams of the stage or the screen,” Sorvino laughs, during a Television Critics Association press panel on the series. “And I may be good or I may be naughty. And I try and enlist Courteney’s character on a series of somewhat self-oriented adventures so that I can live through her a little bit. … She’s kind of funny, can be sort of scary, but ultimately I also try and find the vulnerability in her, even though she might be doing some things that some might consider questionable.”

The eight-episode series is cocreated and executive produced by Jeff Astrof (who got his break as a writer on Friends and went on to write/develop countless comedies) and Sharon Horgan (writer of HBO’s Divorce and star of Catastrophe).

Can Rosemary help Pat get her groove back, or will she take her to the brink of insanity? Only time will tell, but we’re in for the ride — and all those jump scares and laughs along the way. — Barb Oates

Premieres on Starz Sundays beginning March 6

2OUTLANDER

SEASON PREMIERE!

Our beloved century-hopping doc Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe), her husband Jamie (Sam Heughan) and their clan finally return for the adventure romance’s sixth installment, adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s A Breath of Snow and Ashes. It’s been nearly two years — the longest “Droughtlander” ever — since the gutting May 2020 Season 5 finale that left Claire recovering from a brutal assault. “Claire wants to continue as if nothing had happened, but this is the first time she can’t suppress something,” Balfe says. “She’s a bit destabilized. That bleeds into every aspect of her life, including as a healer.” A Season 6 scene released on Christmas Day made us even more impatient. In it, Jamie and Claire, now at least physically healed, discuss his hesitancy to welcome a new settler — devout Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones), whom he knows from his terrible days at Ardsmuir Prison — to Fraser’s Ridge. Next, Jamie explains why he considers Claire his “angel,” to which she coos, “Would an angel do this?” before kissing him. Swoon. Jamie is right to be cautious about Christie. “Their different religious viewpoints cause conflict,” hints exec producer Maril Davis, adding that the safety of home starts to crack in these eight “jam-packed” episodes (the season opener is 90 minutes). Claire struggles with lingering psychological trauma, daughter Bree and her husband Roger (Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin) try for another baby, and the American Caitriona Balfe Revolution begins! — Kate Hahn and Sam Premieres on Starz Sundays Heughan beginning March 6

BRIDGERTON

SEASON PREMIERE! Like Lady Whistledown’s gossip sheet about Regency England’s high society, Bridgerton had everyone talking when the romantic dramedy debuted on Christmas Day in 2020. And oh, dear reader, the wait for fancy balls, boudoir action, buff bods and bon mots is nearly over.

With Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) now wed to the Duke of Hastings (former series star Regé-Jean Page), the focus shifts to her eldest brother, stubborn bachelor Anthony Bridgerton (the dashing Jonathan Bailey), who has decided he should settle down. The would-be bridegroom first sets his sights on endearing young Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), but instead finds a possible match in her strong-willed older sister Kate (Simone Ashley). “This romance will be just as sweeping and beautiful as viewers have come to expect [from the show],” promises exec producer Chris Van Dusen. Ashley agrees, saying, “They’re very passionate!”

Anthony isn’t the only Bridgerton stirring up intrigue on the so-called marriage market. This season (based on the second book in Julia Quinn’s bestselling novel series) another sister, Eloise (Claudia Jessie), is forced to make herself available to suitors, despite her disdain for the process. “She’s never been one who enjoys being told what to do,” hints Van Dusen.

Sounds like a lot of grist for the Whistledown scandal sheet! Speaking of which, now that viewers know the pseudonymous column’s author is Featherington family daughter Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), Van Dusen says we’ll get a peek at her methods: “Lady Whistledown always manages to get the good gossip and viewers get to see exactly … how the sausage gets made.”

But living a double life as a society woman and a secret gossip writer causes complications for Penelope. “She’s caught between two worlds,” adds Van Dusen. “It’s fascinating to see her navigate that.” Especially when it comes to her crush, Anthony’s younger brother Colin (Luke Newton).

Bridgerton is also adding new faces sure to have bosoms heaving, including Rupert Young as new-intown Jack, who shakes up several people’s lives, and Rupert Evans as the Bridgertons’ late father, Edmund (seen in flashbacks). Get the fainting couches ready! — Ileane Rudolph

Premieres on Netflix Friday, March 25

Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey

SANDITON

SEASON PREMIERE! Jane Austen was chronically ill with a mysterious disease in early 1817 when she turned her thoughts to a happier subject and started working on a witty novel set in a seaside town. While she never finished it, screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Les Misérables) took Austen’s plot and turned it into the glorious Sanditon, now starting its second season. When we last left off, Austen’s heroine Charlotte (Rose Williams) exited Sanditon sadder but wiser. Her love, Sidney (Theo James), revealed he was engaged to another, not out of passion, but duty. The new season finds things nine months later, when Charlotte returns to the nowbustling seaside resort with spirited younger sister Alison (Rosie Graham) and reunites with pal Georgiana (Crystal Clarke). Suitors abound! They include rich, reclusive Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) and bohemian artist Charles Lockhart (Alexander Vlahos). Plus, an army regiment is in town. The series has already been renewed for a third season.

Premieres on PBS Sundays beginning March 20

5

HOW WE ROLL

NEW SERIES!

In 2008, Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Michigan, lost his job at an auto assembly plant. Unable to find steady work, he decided to go all in on making his dream of becoming a professional bowler a reality. After two major championships and more than $600,000 in PBA Tour career earnings, Smallwood appears to have come out ahead on that gamble.

Actor/writer/comedian/podcaster Pete Holmes steps into Smallwood’s bowling shoes for How We Roll, a new sitcom inspired by Smallwood’s leap of faith from the factory floor to the pinnacle of tenpins.

“You have a job that maybe isn’t your dream job, but you need to support your family,” Holmes says. “And when the going gets really tough, you make a play at your dream because really you don’t know what else to do. Even if you don’t know bowling or relate to bowling, I think everybody can relate to what it feels like to take a chance when so much is on the line, when your family is on the line and your livelihood is on the line.”

Tom gets encouragement from his wife, Jen (Katie Lowes), a hairdresser who’s willing to go the extra mile to make this work. Their son, Sam (Mason Wells), a schoolkid with a talent for tap dancing, inspires his dad to go for it. And Tom’s buddy, mentor and sponsor, Archie (Chi McBride), owner of Archie’s Lanes: Home of the Curly Fry, is going to cash in when Tom makes it big.

How We Roll has that comforting, familiar feel of a classic multicamera family sitcom, something that’s becoming increasingly rare on TV. “There aren’t that many family shows happening right now — not just shows for families, but shows that are for families and about those dynamics,” Holmes says. “I want to see a family that’s supporting each other, not just for the warmth of it, but also for the humor in that.” — Ryan A. Berenz

Premieres on CBS Thursdays beginning March 31