We’re playing catch-up today, highlighting a couple of series that should have been covered last week. The first is a returning show on CBS and the other a new one on AETN.
I forgot. You’ll have to forgive me for overlooking the return of CBS’ Unforgettable. The network hasn’t made it easy to keep up with the Poppy Montgomery police procedural.
Hard to remember? CBS canceled the series in May 2012 after one season, changed its mind in June 2012, then delayed Season 2 until the summer of 2013. Just last week the second season picked up again.
Unforgettable was averaging a healthy 12 million viewers when CBS first pulled the plug. It’ll be lucky to get those numbers again. The next episode airs at 7 p.m. Friday. You’ll be able to quickly get up to speed.
Montgomery stars as Carrie Wells, a New York Police Department detective blessed/cursed with total recall. Every memory she has ever experienced is embedded in her mind, ready to be accessed at a moment’s notice.
That ability (it seems like a superpower to me) helps her solve lots of murders. Wells unexpectedly ends up as the partner of her ex-boyfriend, Detective Al Burns (Dylan Walsh), and they transfer to the NYPD Major Crimes Section. She brings along Joanne Webster (Jane Curtin), a brilliant medical examiner known for her abrasive personality.
Still out there on the back burner is Wells’ personal demon: She witnessed, but can’t recall, her sister’s murder when they were children. In Season 2, the series no longer dwells overly much on that.
Happy painting. Longtime viewers of PBS can’t help but smile when they think of Bob Ross. The congenial, Afro-permed speed painter and TV host of The Joy of Painting (1983-94) could whip up a sweeping mountain landscape (complete with “happy trees”) in a single half-hour program.
Ross died at the age of 52 in 1995 from lymphoma, but his spirit lives on in young Kevin Hill.
The California-based Hill, who is 18, began painting when he was 15 by watching PBS programming and soon mastered Ross’ wet-on-wet technique. Hill now has his own show on AETN.
Paint With Kevin airs at 10 a.m. Saturday. The half-hour how-to series premiered last week and will continue for 13 weeks at the same time.
AETN director of production Carole Adornetto says, “I feel quite fortunate that he approached us all the way from California. He sent us a screener [and] as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it for AETN.”
Adornetto hopes the word will spread and Paint With Kevin will be picked up by other PBS stations to work into their own schedules.
Hill’s user-friendly, low key instruction style is similar to Ross’ and takes all the mystery and intimidation out of the process.
On his website, paintwithkevin.com, Hill notes, “There are definitely steps you need to follow to make it work, but once you have a grasp of those techniques, it will blow your mind how nice your paintings will look in such a short time.
“It’s a great way for someone new to oil painting to have success quickly.”
So, grab your brushes and easels and get busy. Whether you want to replace that $49.95 “Starving Artist Sale” sofa-size still life oleograph with your own sweeping mountain landscape, or create a quiet little seaside cove full of “happy trees,” Paint With Kevin is a swell place to start.
Together again. Tonight’s installment of The Crazy Ones reunites Robin Williams and Pam Dawber (Mork & Mindy) 32 years after their sitcom ended in 1982.
In the episode (8:30 p.m., CBS), Dawber guest stars as Lily, who goes on a date with Simon (Williams).
Trivia: Dawber, 62, starred in My Sister Sam (1986-88). She has been married to NCIS star Mark Harmon, also 62, since 1987.
Letterman leaving. David Letterman has announced he will step down from the Late Show With David Letterman next year when his CBS contract runs out.
Letterman, 67, is the longest-running host in the history of late-night television. He began with Late Night on NBC in 1982 and moved to CBS in 1993 when he was denied The Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retired.
Musical chairs. ABC News’ Nightline co-anchor Cynthia McFadden has jumped to NBC News, and Juju Chang has replaced her alongside Dan Harris and Dan Abrams.
And for those who missed the memo, the NBC poaching continues. After failed contract negotiations, news anchor Josh Elliott has left ABC’s Good Morning America for NBC Sports. ABC News reporter Amy Robach was named his replacement.
Good Morning America is the top-rated morning show, overtaking NBC’s Today a couple of years ago.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: [email protected]
Weekend, Pages 32 on 04/10/2014