SoCal TV highlights, Nov. 12-18: JFK, Shakespeare, Tyler Perry and more
The assassination of President Kennedy is revisited, there's a "Party of Five" reunion — minus three — and everybody knows that the Bard is the word
Welcome to an all-new TV or Not TV roundup of new and noteworthy programming on broadcast, cable and streaming this week. I’m Matt Cooper, former listings coordinator for the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section.
Lead on, Macduff…
SUNDAY — Nov. 12
This ain’t your grandma’s “patty-cake, patty-cake” or “Miss Mary Mack” in the new short doc “Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games.” 5:30 p.m. ESPN
The docuspecial “Candace Parker: Unapologetic” gets up close and personal with one of the WNBA’s all-time greatest players. 6 p.m. ESPN
“Ted Lasso’s” Hannah Waddingham and “This is Us” co-star Sterling K. Brown co-host this year’s “Earthshot Prize” awards ceremony spotlighting innovative and sustainable solutions for combating climate change. 7 p.m. KCET
It won’t be politics as usual anymore once the D.C.-centric docuseries “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth” signs off after eight seasons. 7 p.m. Showtime
Ja, das ist gut! An American artistan hooks up with her hunky German counterpart in the new TV movie “A Heidelberg Holiday.” With Ginna Claire Mason. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
She’s always late with her half of the rent — and that’s just for starters — in the new TV movie “A Roommate to Die For.” With Angela Cole. 8 p.m. Lifetime
“Game of Throne’s” Lena Headey trades King’s Landing for a space-based outpost on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy in the new sci-fi/mystery drama “Beacon 23.” 9 and 10 p.m. MGM+
The plan? Co-host an HGTV show while trying keep your marriage and your sanity intact in the darkly comic new series “The Curse.” Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone star. 9 p.m. Showtime
Who polices the police? Detectives tell true-crime tales of investigating their own in the new docuseries “Good Cop, Bad Cop.” 10 p.m. Investigation Discovery
MONDAY — Nov. 13
“The Chase” is on — again! — in new episodes of this veddy British drama about a family-run veterinary clinic in Yorkshire. With Keith Barron. Anytime, Acorn TV
Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady and LBJ’s better half, is seen and heard in rare archival footage and audio recordings in the ABC News special “The Lady Bird Diaries.” Anytime, Hulu
The three-part docuspecial “A Town Called Victoria” recalls an arsonist’s fiery attack on a mosque in Texas and the reckoning that came in the aftermath. 9 and 10 p.m. KOCE; concludes 9 p.m. Tuesday
Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and Aphrodite: The bizarre story of a New Age guru who claimed to have been reincarnated innumerable times is retold in the new documentary “Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God.” 9 p.m. HBO
Can you hear me now? The fact-based 2023 satire “BlackBerry,” about the rise and fall of the pioneering smartphone company, is expanded into a three-part series. With Cary Elwes. 10 p.m. AMC
She may not be ready for prime time, but “SNL’s” Leslie Jones is back in late night as this week’s guest host on “The Daily Show.” 11 p.m. Comedy Central; also Tuesday-Thursday
TUESDAY — Nov. 14
Here’s an offer you can’t refuse: The darkly comic new docuseries “How to Become a Mob Boss.” “GoT’s” Peter Dinklage narrates. Anytime, Netflix
Medical professionals who ministered to the fallen president in his final moments recall that dark day in Dallas, November ’63 in the new special “JFK: What the Doctors Saw.” Anytime, Paramount+
“The Crown’s” Emma Corrin plays a thoroughly modern Miss Marple-style amateur sleuth in the new mystery drama “A Murder at the End of the World.” With Clive Owen. Anytime, FX on Hulu
Now watch this drive… Pro golfers and Formula One’s finest join forces in the all-new competition “The Netflix Cup” presented live from Las Vegas. 3 p.m. Netflix
An Internet comedy sensation takes it to the stage in his first-ever standup special, “Trevor Wallace: Pterodactyl.” Anytime, Prime Video
Crikey! A long-running procedural franchise gets a spin-off set in the Land Down Under with the debut of “NCIS: Sydney.” With Olivia Swann. 8 p.m. CBS
Efforts to study, translate, promote and preserve Indigenous languages for future generations are illuminated in “Language Is Life” on the Season 2 finale of “Native America.” 9 p.m. KOCE
The short documentary “How We Get Free” charts one Colorado activist’s crusade to end the cash bail system in the Centennial State. 9 p.m. HBO
WEDNESDAY — Nov. 15
“The Matrices’” Keanu Reeves tells how an upstart F1 racing team took on the Goliaths of the sport and won in the new four-part series “Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story.” Anytime, Hulu
A different Internet comedy sensation takes it to a different stage in his third-ever standup special, “Matt Rife: Natural Selection.” Anytime, Netflix
Our finned and flippered friends are in trouble — “Deep Trouble” — in this fourth and final installment of the miniseries “Spy in the Ocean” on “Nature.” 8 p.m. KOCE
The efforts of scientists and researchers to put an end one of the world’s deadliest diseases once and for all are heralded in “The Battle to Beat Malaria” on a new “Nova.” 9 p.m. KOCE
“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe salutes his friend and longtime stunt double, who was paralyzed in an onset accident in 2009, in the new documentary “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived.” 9 p.m. HBO
Their casa es su casa in new episodes of the rebooted reality series “Cribs” featuring Taye Diggs, supermodel Martha Hunt and pro wrestling’s Nikki Bella. 9:30 and 10 p.m. MTV
Superstar cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his similarly gifted siblings are profiled in the new special “7 Lives of Music — The Kanneh-Mason Family.” 10 p.m. KCET
Detectives have ways of making you talk, and you might pick up a few tricks of the trade in the new docuseries “Interrogation Cam.” 10 & 10:30 p.m. A&E
Even a blind frog would have better luck than the treasure seekers in a third season of the unscripted series “Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch.” 10 p.m. Discovery Channel
The controversial Russia-based mercenary army known as the Wagner Group is investigated in an all-new “Vice Special Report.” 10 p.m. Vice
THURSDAY — Nov. 16
Former college friends (Heather Graham, Brandy) are reunited under false pretenses only to end up sharing the “Best. Christmas. Ever!” in this 2023 comedy. With Jason Biggs. Anytime, Netflix
Uneasy lies the head that wears “The Crown.” This historical-ish drama about the reigning British royal family returns with the first half of its sixth and final season. Anytime, Netflix
A hip-hop star and his rapper-model son put pedal to the metal in the new auto-centric travelog “Drive with Swizz Beatz.” Anytime, Hulu
Palm trees … fall into the sea … Kimberly and kompany get a smidge more exposure in the new docuseries “House of Kardashian.” Anytime, Peacock
Save the liver! TV chef Julia Child (Sarah Lancashire) leaves it all on the kitchen floor in new episodes of the biographical series “Julia.” Anytime, Max
The imported series “The Long Shadow” dramatizes the manhunt for the notorious 1970s-80s serial killer dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper. With David Morrissey and Toby Jones. Anytime, Sundance Now
It’s anything but happy holidays for a detective and her district attorney boyfriend in the 2023 thriller “Sworn Justice: Taken Before Christmas.” With Mishael Morgan. Anytime, BET+
Keanu not included: The new special “Inside Track: The Business of Formula 1” also takes you behind the scenes of the world’s most elite motorsports league. 5 and 8 p.m. CNBC
FRIDAY — Nov. 17
A former U.S. president and his scientist BFF (Mark Duplass, the aforementioned Sterling K. Brown) wind up being the last two people on Earth in the whimsical 2022 sci-fi fable “Biosphere.” Anytime, AMC+
Rapper-turned-actor Ludacris has a Ludacrisis ’round about Ludachristmastime in the family friendly 2023 comedy “Dashing Through the Snow.” With Lil Rel Howrey. Anytime, Disney+
It’s anything but happy holidays for a jilted suitor and his former fiancée in the 2023 rom-com “EXmas.” With “Upload’s” Robbie Amell and “Gossip Girl’s” Leighton Meester. Anytime, Amazon Freevee
Say “hellur!” to the Black media mogul who made a name for himself starring in the “Madea” franchise in the new bio-doc “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.” Anytime, Prime Video
Two old dinosaurs — Kurt Russell and Godzilla — share some screen time in the new sci-fi series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” based on the movie franchise. Anytime, Apple TV+
There’s gold in them thar hills and three lifelong friends are a-fixin’ to find it in the 2023 comedy “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain.” With Conan O Brien. Anytime, Peacock
“Euphoria’s” Colman Domingo portrays the late, great civil-rights activist Bayard Rustin in George C. Wolfe’s star-studded 2023 bio-drama “Rustin.” With Chris Rock, Jeffrey Wright and CCH Pounder. Anytime, Netflix
“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” in this new animated series that reunites Michael Cera and pretty much the whole dang cast of Edgar Wright’s action-packed 2010 rom-com “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” Anytime, Netflix
Canines caper and cavort with their human handlers at a prestigious competition in the U.K. in the six-part series “The Secret Life of Dancing Dogs.” Anytime, Hulu
The new special “Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the Dream” profiles the Japanese baseball phenom seen most recently manning the pitcher’s mound for your Los Angeles Angels. Anytime, ESPN+
It’s double your pleasure, double your fun when 10 sets of identical twins split up and then shack up in separate houses in the new reality series “Twin Love.” Anytime, Prime Video
This ain’t their first rodeo — nor their second, nor their third — in a fourth season of the Taylor Sheridan-created competition “The Last Cowboy.” 8 p.m. CMT
A single mom hooks up with a hunky lighthouse keeper in the new TV movie “Navigating Christmas.” With Chelsea Hobbs. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
The plays are the thing in “Making Shakespeare: The First Folio” on a new “Great Performances.” Tony winner Audra McDonald narrates and “Succession’s” Brian Cox is featured. 10 p.m. KOCE
SATURDAY — Nov. 18
The Peanuts gang gathers ’round the kids’ table in the classic 1973 animated special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” based on the Charles M. Schulz cartoons. Anytime, Apple TV+
Live from El Salvador, it’s the “72nd Miss Universe Competition.” A bevy of beauties from around the globe converge in that Central American nation for this year’s contest. 5 p.m. Roku
Former “Party of Five” cast mates Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf reunite to play estranged siblings in the new TV movie “A Merry Scottish Christmas.” 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
Airing over three consecutive nights, the exhaustive eight-part docuseries “Kennedy” recalls the life and times of the 35th U.S. president. Peter Coyote narrates. 8, 9 and 10 p.m. History Channel; concludes next Sunday and Monday, Nov. 19-20
A single gal decides she can go it alone no longer and seeks a hunky guy to call her own in the new TV movie “Christmas Plus One.” With Emily Alatalo. 8 p.m. Lifetime
“Aquaman’s” Jason Momoa hosts and Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae performs on a new “Saturday Night Live.” 8:29 and 11:29 p.m. NBC
(All times Pacific; programming subject to change without notice)
