Today, Tuesday, October 13
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TV Insider
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The mystery-comedy Ludwig returns to BritBox. Dancing With the Stars tackles Super Bowl halftime hits. A four-part docuseries explores the life and career of controversial pro boxer Mike Tyson. Beau Bridges continues his new role on R.J. Decker as the Florida private eye’s rascally dad.
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Season Premiere |
The delightful British mystery-comedy, recommended to those who still pine for Monk, returns for a second season, starring the decidedly droll David Mitchell as John Taylor, known as “Ludwig” or “the puzzle guy” for his prowess at creating puzzles. He’s just as good at solving them, including at crime scenes, where the socially awkward gent spent the first season impersonating his missing brother James, a celebrated detective who’s gone into hiding for reasons that remain a mystery. Now an official police consultant, John fumbles his way through baffling whodunits while working covertly with his sister-in-law, Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), who fancies herself a journalist, to unravel the conspiracy that sent James into exile. In the opener, John is thrust into uncomfortable proximity to shady Chief Constable Ziegler (Ralph Ineson) while investigating the stabbing death of a dowager killed while sitting in an opera box seat in plain sight of the audience — including a member of Parliament (Fleabag‘s Sian Clifford) who’d rather not get involved.
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8/7c |
Never shy about corporate synergy — Disney Night is just a few weeks away — the dancing competition goes for a Hail Mary in anticipating ABC‘s Super Bowl broadcast (in league with ESPN) next February for the first time in two decades. The remaining couples tackle songs that were part of memorable Super Bowl performances by the likes of Bad Bunny, Usher, Shakira, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, and Jennifer Lopez. Monday Night Football‘s Joe Buck, not heretofore known for his terpsichorean expertise, joins the panel as a guest judge, with appearances by NFL greats and Dancing alums Emmitt Smith (Season 3 winner), Donald Driver (Season 14 winner), DeMarcus Ware (from Season 27), and Danny Amendola (from Season 33).
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Series Premiere |
Former pro boxer Mike Tyson, who once appeared on the Argentinian version of DWTS but reportedly turned down being on the ABC show because it didn’t pay enough, is the subject of a revealing four-part docuseries exploring his life and controversial career. “Can you imagine being a high-school dropout, 20 years old, and you’re the champ of the world?” Tyson, now 60, reflects as he revisits a past during which he admits to being “addicted to chaos.” This profile of a polarizing figure is a classic American tale of rise and fall and rise.
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10/9c |
Many moons ago, in 1998, Beau Bridges played a Florida rascal in the blink-and-you-missed-it ABC summer caper Maximum Bob, based on an Elmore Leonard character. He’s back in fine form in this offbeat adaptation of a Carl Hiaasen property as another Sunshine State ne’er-do-well, Reggie Decker Sr., who reunited last week with his scruffy namesake son (Scott Speedman), an ex-con turned private eye. The relationship presumably deepens this week when the double Deckers team up to find out who’s gaslighting the caretaker at a senior living community, making the poor soul think he’s reliving the same day repeatedly. Now that Bridges’ villainous Matlock character has been carted off to jail, let’s hope Bridges finds a happier new home here.
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8/7c |
Well, that didn’t take long. Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) pretty quickly ascended to the directorship of the NCIS team upon his arrival in last week’s Season 24 premiere. After that happy homecoming, they now turn to a case involving a murder after a neighborhood dinner party, where no one or nothing is what it seems. Followed by the second episode of NCIS: New York (9/8c), where the partnership of new transplant Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and Nick Schaeffer (Scott Caan) is tested while tracking jewel thieves using military-grade explosives. On NCIS: Origins (10/9c), the elder Gibbs (Mark Harmon) looks up his old buddy Woody (Bobby Moynihan), which stirs up memories from 1992, when the forensics whiz was accused of murdering a bowling rival.
INSIDE TUESDAY TV:
- The Voice (8/7c, NBC): More tough calls, and maybe a steal or two, as the Battle Rounds continue.
- Best Medicine (8/7c, Fox): While duty keeps getting in the way of Martin (Josh Charles) escaping to Boston for a romantic weekend, his Aunt Sarah (Annie Potts) inadvertently rents her spare room to an ex, Eddie (Broadway’s Terrence Mann). Followed by Doc (9/8c), where Amy (Molly Parker) and Ben (Blair Underwood) clash over treatment of a demanding cancer patient.
- The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (9/8c, FX, streaming on Hulu): Music prodigy Lamar (Asante Blackk) feels pressure from all sides to complete the album for rap star Artillery (Simmie “Buddy” Sims III) before they bring on more experienced producers.
- Dark Side of the Cage (9/8c, Vice TV): The docuseries profiles UFC star and short-lived politician Tito Ortiz.
- Frontline (10/9c, PBS): The documentary series listens again to “American Voices,” returning to hear from voters first filmed six years ago from across the political and geographic spectrum to learn if and how their views have changed in this polarized climate.
ON THE STREAM:
- Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota (streaming on Netflix): No topic is sacred, including his Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost‘s celebrity marriage, in the Saturday Night Live comedian’s third Netflix stand-up special.
- Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence (streaming on BritBox): In the mystery series’ season finale, the amateur-detective duo (Josh Dylan and Antonia Thomas) gets to the bottom of a truly twisted and tragic case, with a lingering will-they-or-won’t-they situation complicated by Tuppence’s muddled marital status and DS Draper’s (Callie Cooke) obvious attraction to Tommy.
- Time After Time (streaming on MHz Choice): An eight-part Italian drama focuses on a successful lawyer whose past haunts him when the body of his girlfriend, who vanished 30 years ago during a summer vacation, is discovered.