Staying Fit
Somehow, they did it: TV shows managed to deal with the incredible demands of the pandemic and social distancing, and the spring gift for us is this batch of sharp and enjoyable shows (and one special) that are premiering/returning in April and May. Mark your calendars for these small screen pleasures on arrival — both to networks and your favorite streaming platforms.
DON'T MISS THIS: The 20 Best Things Coming to (and Leaving) Netflix in May
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Home Economics (ABC, April 7)
Sixteen years after That '70s Show, Topher Grace returns to network TV in the only series about income inequality. He's a middle-class novelist richer than his therapist sister (Caitlin McGee), but poorer than their baby brother (Jimmy Tatro), who's in the 1 percent. SNL's brilliant Sasheer Zamata plays the therapist's relentlessly upbeat but underpaid schoolteacher wife.
Watch it: Home Economics, on ABC
Rebel (ABC, April 8)
Katey Sagal, 67 (Married…with Children, The Conners) plays a sexy, messy legal advocate with no law degree but plenty of moxy in a show inspired by Erin Brockovich (who's producing the show) and created by Grey's Anatomy's Krista Vernoff. More than 27 million people watched the trailer, so it may be a hit.
Watch it: Rebel, on ABC
Big Shot (Disney+, April 16)
Full House's John Stamos, 57, plays a high-strung basketball coach sacked by the NCAA who gets a job as a high-school girls’ coach in a series by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies).
Watch it: Big Shot, on Disney+
Roll Up Your Sleeves (NBC, April 18)
In this get-your-shot special, Michelle Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda and other celebs urge you to get vaccinated and end COVID-19, while Matthew McConaughey interviews Anthony Fauci, M.D.
Watch it: Roll Up Your Sleeves, on NBC
Godfather of Harlem, Season 2 (Epix, April 18)
Forest Whitaker, 59, returns for his second season as Bumpy Johnson, the real-life 1960s mobster who dated Lena Horne, played chess with Lucky Luciano and befriended Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. Joining the cast: Method Man as the Philly Black Mafia chief Sam Christian and Annabella Sciorra as mob wife Fay Bonanno.
Watch it: Godfather of Harlem, on Epix
DON'T MISS THIS: Forest Whitaker talks with AARP about playing Bumpy Johnson and looks back on his life and shares what he knows now.
Mare of Easttown (HBO, April 18)
In this limited series, detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) hunts a killer of young women in her tumultuously troubled small Pennsylvania town, with Designing Women's Jean Smart, 69, as her tart-tongued mother, and Winslet's Mildred Pierce costar Guy Pearce as her college writing-prof sweetie.
Watch it: Mare of Easttown, on HBO
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