New or Newish on Your Favorite Viewing Platform

The 8^th season of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” hosted by JERRY SEINFELD, 62, begins on Thursday, June 16, on the website Crackle (which can also be streamed to your TV by devices like Roku). A new episode is released each Thursday and can be streamed when you want for months thereafter. Guests scheduled to appear this season include “SNL” creator and producer LORNE MICHAELS, 71, and producer/director JUDD APATOW, 48. The weeks they will appear has not yet been disclosed. The premiere episodes features comedian Margaret Cho.

Traditional TV new fare includes the third season of “Murder in the First” (TNT, Sunday June 19, 10PM). This show’s “gimmick” is that each ten-episode season covers one distinct murder investigation. Taye Diggs, who was long married to IDINA MENZEL, 45 (they split-up in 2014), stars as a San Francisco detective who leads the investigation with his female partner (Kathleen Robertson). This season begins with the murder of a star pro football player. In season one, STEVEN WEBER, 55, had a big recurring role as Wilkerson, the driver and confidant of a rich guy suspected of murder.  Weber returns this season as Wilkerson. Exactly why Wilkerson is involved in this new case is not yet clear. Weber works constantly, but I suspect most veteran TV watchers know him best as the younger pilot on the hit TV series, “Wings”. 

“Murder,” a moderate hit, is a comeback show for producer STEVEN BOCHCO, 72. He had a string of hits in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, including “Hill Street Blues”, “NYPD Blue,” and “L.A. Law”.  However, his stock sunk with string of TV show flops that began in the early ‘90s and continued for more than a decade (like “Cop Rock” and “Murder One”).

The second season of the NBC series “Aquarius” begins on Thursday, June 23, at 10PM. DAVID DUCHOVNY, 55, returns as Hodiak, a 1960s Los Angeles police detective. The opening episode takes place on the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated (April 4, 1968).  Detective Hodiak must go into the black community that day to investigate another murder that may set off a riot in the charged atmosphere following Dr. King’s death.

Finally, I play catch-up on two other new series. The first is “O.J: Made in America.” The following “East Bay Times” review is typical of the critical acclaim its garnered: “So you feel like you've had your fill of O.J. after watching the [dramatized] miniseries, "The People v. O.J. Simpson," on FX. I can't blame you. But listen up.…Hang in there a while longer, because you absolutely need to see ESPN Films' fantastic five-part documentary Yes, it clocks in at a Ken Burns-like 7½ hours, but don't let that bum you out. This is virtuoso filmmaking that serves as both a provocative cultural examination and illuminating portrait of a fallen superstar. You won't be able to take your eyes off it.” (Unfortunately, most of this series will air on ABC and ESPN before you read this. However, the whole series can be viewed on ESPN on-line and on-demand. Also check the ABC entertainment on-line app for the two hour premiere). The film’s director is EZRA EDELMAN, 41, who previously won an Emmy for “Ghosts of Flatbush,” about the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’s the son of Georgetown Univ. law professor PETER EDELMAN, 78. Peter served as president of the New Israel Fund (2005-2008). Ezra’s mother is Marian Wright Edelman, a famous African American lawyer who founded the Children’s Defense Fund. In her 1992 autobiography, Marian said her three sons (who are now very accomplished adults) were being raised with exposure to both Judaism and her own Christian faith.

ELLEN BARKIN, 62, stars as the matriarch of the Codys, a crime family, in the new TNT 10-episode series, “Animal Kingdom.” It began on Tuesday, June 14 (10PM). Barkin’s character’s first name is “Janine”, but everybody calls her “Smurf”.

Celebrity Tweets for Hillary

Many celebs tweeted nice things about Hillary Clinton following the June 7 primary victories that secured her the Democratic nomination. Here are a few by tribe members---actress DEBRA MESSING, 47: “Sharing HISTORY with my son. So so meaningful; producer and talk show host ANDY COHEN, 48: “Historic, exciting, strong speech; actress/director ELIZABETH BANKS, 42: “Very emotional about Hillary Clinton securing nomination - historic moment for American Women.”; comedian BILLY EICHNER, 37: “I'm ok with a female President AS LONG as she doesn't start busting ghosts.”