There are more streaming options now than ever. More, it seems, than there were shows back in the days of broadcast television. To add to the confusion, they keep changing their names.
CBS All Access becomes Paramount Plus beginning today. This allows subscribers to watch CBS live and access content from CBS and networks from the Viacom universe (MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Smithsonian), as well as original programming, most notably "Star Trek: Discovery," "Star Trek: Picard" and "The Good Fight." As with most streaming services, there will also be a wealth of content from the Paramount vault.
Curiously, the proliferation of services arrives at the exact time that COVID has put a crimp on the production of new series and movies, or what they call "content." Sorry, but referring to "Nomadland" or "The Sopranos" as "content" is like confusing food and feed. It’s corporate jargon at its most corrosive.
"Content" is loosely related to the notion of "bingeing," the unconscious consumption of hours of programming at a time. In hopes of finding more bingers, Paramount+ offers "For Heaven’s Sake," a send-up of sorts of the true-crime series, following family members investigating the disappearance of Harold Heaven in 1934.
Among the programs debuting on Paramount+ today are reboots of Nickelodeon favorites. Look for "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run" and "Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years."
There’s also a deep dive into MTV nostalgia, "The Real World Homecoming: New York." Now that’s what I call "content."
— TCM will devote Thursday nights in March to "Reframed: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror." The thematic series will screen and then discuss popular movies that many find troublesome given their depiction of history, racially distorted attitudes and dated characterizations of gender roles and gay characters.
The month kicks off with the 1939 epic "Gone With the Wind" (8 p.m., TV-PG), a film long derided for its depiction of slaves and masters before, during and after the Civil War. Unlike some movies criticized in retrospect, "Gone With the Wind" was the subject of nationwide protests and boycotts in its own time.
Other popular films to be discussed are "The Jazz Singer" (March 11), "The Searchers" (March 18) and "The Children’s Hour" (March 25).
All in all, this is a good idea. It’s far better to try to understand a work of art in the context of its own time than simply disown and dismiss it out of hand. To think historically is also to think of how the popular entertainment of our own period will be considered some 80 years from now — if it is considered at all.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Role-playing turns deadly on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Chamber of Commerce politics comes between friends on "Call Me Kat" (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— A meatless challenge may be too much for Mike on "Last Man Standing" (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— The team faces an agency investigation on "Clarice" (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A vain African prince (Eddie Murphy) and his sidekick (Arsenio Hall) travel to New York in search of love, or at least a wife, in the 1988 comedy "Coming to America" (8:25 p.m., Paramount Network). A generation later, a sequel "Coming 2 America" debuts tomorrow on Amazon Prime.
SERIES NOTES
A budding lab assistant on "Young Sheldon" (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … A surprise party on "Superstore" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14) … "Hell’s Kitchen" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) …
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Walker reaches out to his kids on "Walker" (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Drew gets the blues on "B Positive" (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … A breakthrough in the ring on "Young Rock" (8:30 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
A sour Valentine’s Day on "Mom" (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Two helpings of "The Chase" (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … The academy celebrates its origins with a musical on "Legacies" (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Long-distance romance on "The Unicorn" (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … "Dateline" (10 p.m., NBC).
LATE NIGHT
Paul Bettany is booked on "Conan" (11 p.m., TBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Tracy Morgan, Sam Heughan and Pete Lee on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Sacha Baron Cohen, Wesley Snipes and Charlotte Lawrence appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (11:35 p.m., ABC).
Ike Barinholtz and Lilly Singh visit "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Daisy Ridley and Caroline Polachek appear on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" (12:35 a.m., CBS).
