TV Guide Magazine March 14, 2022

LISTEN UP! In regard to the letter about Abbott Elementary on ABC [“Your Feedback,” February 28 issue]: As a lifelong educator, I have found this series to be fresh, funny and surprisingly accurate in its portrayal of students, staff and administrators. Yes, the principal is outlandish, but the February 22 episode explained at least some of her subtext. I truly hope this show succeeds. —Suzanne Is Principal Ava on Abbott Elementary absurd?! Yes, and the show is only better for her energy. Not since The Office’s Michael Scott has there been a more cluelessly hilarious TV boss. —Ellys POSITIVE CASTING Just watched B Positive and saw that Rondi Reed was added to the guest cast. I loved her as Peggy on Mike & Molly. That sassy attitude really gets to the spot. Congrats to…

@TVGMMattRoush How much do you think its lack of a laugh track has to do with the popularity of Ghosts on CBS? It’s certainly my main reason for watching it. —Hal MATT ROUSH: This is no doubt a contributing factor for those who shun the sitcoms that are traditionally filmed in front of a live audience, often with sweetened laughter on the soundtrack. With its special effects and production design, Ghosts would never work in that format, and thankfully we’ve moved on from the days when a show as clever and timeless as Bewitched (to which I’ve favorably compared Ghosts) used canned laughter. But here’s where I push back on the blanket condemnation of shows filmed with live laughter, which have often been the most popular comedies of their times, from I…

Smart Watch If you have a half hour, check out this series The everyday things—such as Sam (writer, director and star Pamela Adlon) learning about finances—are always fodder for edgy laughs as the brilliant Better Things continues its final season. Monday, March 14, 10/9c, FX If you have an hour, watch this fan favorite After a season of washing away sins in Sin City, Thony (Élodie Yung) gets to The Cleaning Lady finale caught between the FBI and the mob, and dealing with deportation and her ill son. Monday, March 14, 9/8c, Fox If you have a free evening, watch this documentary Women’s History Month is a darn tootin’ good excuse to see American Experience: Annie Oakley, about the Wild West sharpshooter who won worldwide fame. Tuesday, March 15, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org) If…

“Of course I’m not leaving,” Sophie Whitehouse (Sienna Miller) declares in the chilling Netflix anthology series Anatomy of a Scandal (premiering Friday, April 15). “We’ve been married 12 years. We share two children. Why would I throw all that away over a stupid mistake?” But that error in judgment—a tawdry tryst with a junior colleague by her government official husband, James (Rupert Friend, right, with Miller)—gets more complicated when an accusation invites a deeper dive into James’ past (and a trial prosecuted by dogged litigant Michelle Dockery). Suddenly, in creep shadows of doubt in this tale of political power and regret. —Robert Edelstein The Show We’re Talking About in the Office If you thought The Walking Dead might be slipping near the end of its run—the AMC zombie drama closes out later this…

@TVGMMattRoush Lies, fraud & murder: TV can’t get enough of these wayward women YOU MAY HAVE met Pam Hupp before, on Dateline NBC, where she has been featured several times. And Elizabeth Holmes will be familiar to viewers of 20/20 and HBO (the excellent 2019 documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley), among other media sources. Where would the truecrime genre be without notorious women gone wrong? Their stories are very different, and so are the limited series dramatizing their walk on the dark side of infamy. NBC’s The Thing About Pam wallows in the lurid, adopting Dateline’s cheesy approach of milking melodrama from tragedy, down to using front man Keith Morrison as narrator. He drips buckets of smarm with every leering observation. (When Missouri hausfrau Pam drops by to help…

Blue Bloods Fridays, 10/9c, CBS Two hundred and fifty episodes is hard to fathom,” says Tom Selleck, aka Blue Bloods’ NYPD police commissioner and paterfamilias Frank Reagan, about the CBS series’ achievement. “I never envisioned that number, but I’m still just as interested in the stories and finding out new stuff about Frank.” So are millions of others, which has kept the cop/family drama’s total viewership atop Friday night for a dozen years. As the March 11 milestone hour neared, we asked fans for questions for the actors and executive producer, and the requests poured in. Take a look. LOVE AND MARRIAGE • Frank’s wife has been gone long enough. He needs to have love in his life. Will he? —Merida SELLECK: I don’t know. If you’re doing four stories per show, it’s difficult,…