TV Guide Magazine March 28, 2022

DINNER’S SERVED Great photo of most of the immediate Reagan family on your Blue Bloods cover [March 14], but how could you leave out Gramps, the patriarch? Len Cariou should be on this cover with the rest of his family! Otherwise, I really enjoyed the issue. —Rhonda ABOUT TIME Living in the region where it all happened and following the local news stations that did in-depth investigations aided by the authorities, I’m glad that the rest of the country will learn how far someone will go for money in NBC’s The Thing About Pam. This series will show that you cannot always tell how bad someone can be. —Kenneth FAN FAVORITE Leslie Jordan makes Fox’s Call Me Kat worth watching. I’ve always loved him. —JoAnn HBO, YES! I have loved The Righteous Gemstones and Somebody Somewhere on…

@TVGMMattRoush [Spoiler alert.] It is one thing for an actor to want to leave a show, but why did FBI: Most Wanted have to kill off Julian McMahon’s character, Supervisory Special Agent Jess LaCroix? Why couldn’t he just retire and go “free birding” with his lady love, Sarah (Jen Landon)? I’m also not happy about Dylan McDermott taking over as leader of the team. —Phyllis MATT ROUSH: Let’s wait to judge Dylan McDermott until he actually joins the CBS series in April. They could do worse. But I’m not sure how the show could have chosen a way to write out McMahon from Most Wanted (it was his choice to leave) that would be more guaranteed to upset fans, at least judging from the outraged emails I received after Jess’ fatal shooting…

Smart Watch If you have a half hour, check out this series The concept of warm new period comedy Our Flag Means Death—a “gentleman pirate” kills ’em with kindness as he roams the high seas—is rich humor gold, especially with Taika Waititi as Blackbeard. HBO Max If you have an hour, watch this fan favorite A top exec at Coco’s Bakery Restaurants hits the shop floor in disguise in the season finale of Undercover Boss. We bet he’ll learn the right mix for success—and also eat some humble pie. Friday, April 8, 8/7c, CBS If you have a free evening, watch this documentary The mix of inspiration and music in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Oscar-recognized Summer of Soul hits high notes with Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone and, gloriously, Mahalia Jackson and Mavis…

Hard to believe there was a time Hollywood saw The Godfather as a film it could refuse to make. But as the joyride limited series The Offer (premiering April 28 on Paramount+) suggests, novice producer Albert Ruddy (Miles Teller) and his colorful boss Robert Evans (Matthew Goode) faced pushback from both corporate and the Cosa Nostra. One of many issues: Ruddy’s insistence on hiring untested director Francis Ford Coppola (a terrific Dan Fogler, near left, with Teller). And how did Ruddy sell the picture to Paramount? By saying, “I’m going to make an ice-blue terrifying film about people you love.” Badda-Bing! —Robert Edelstein The Show We’re Talking About in the Office The Good Doctor is prescription-grade viewing this season, thanks to Shaun Murphy’s (Freddie Highmore) continuing growth in the face of adversity…

@TVGMMattRoush Pachinko A multigenerational saga tells a story of sacrifice and cultural identity SERIES PREMIERE Friday, March 25, Apple TV+ A MOTHER PACKS her teenage daughter’s few belongings, sending her off to a new life in a strange land in 1931. This wrenching moment is intercut with a scene nearly 60 years later, when the daughter is now a wizened grandmother, packing to return to visit her native country. Such echoes are common in creator-producer Soo Hugh’s shimmeringly gorgeous and emotionally engrossing adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s acclaimed 2017 novel about Koreans displaced by the Japanese occupation of the early 20th century. The central character, played by three remarkable actresses over a roughly 70-year span, is Sunja, the only surviving child of peasant parents who operate a boarding house in a Korean fishing village. A carefree…

black-ish Tuesdays, 9:30/8:30c, ABC “IT JUST FEELS like a lifetime ago,” says Anthony Anderson when looking back on eight seasons and 175 episodes of his ABC comedy black-ish. Since 2014, the sitcom set the TV bar to Norman Lear heights, bringing laughs plus social commentary via the tight-knit Johnsons, led by Anderson as high-strung father Andre and Tracee Ellis Ross as his grounded M.D. wife, Rainbow. Viewers related to Dre and Bow as they raised their five kids—trendy eldest Zoey (Yara Shahidi), clueless Junior (Marcus Scribner), curious twins Jack (Miles Brown) and Diane (Marsai Martin) and joyful baby Devante (August and Berlin Gross). Adding a third-generation perspective were Dre’s parents, stoic Pops (Laurence Fishburne) and free spirit Ruby (Jenifer Lewis). As the Johnsons pack up (the series wraps April 19), we spoke…