Spring Arts - Television:
Luck (HBO, Sundays at 9 p.m., starting Jan. 29). Fittingly, this luminous series about a California horse-racing track has an impressive pedigree - executive producers Michael Mann (Miami Vice) and David Milch (Deadwood). It's a look at the often-seedy sport of kings, from the owners' boxes to the $2 betting window. The thoroughbred cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Farina, Nick Nolte, Jill Hennessy, Jason Gedrick, and many more. And they're off.
Smash (NBC10, Mondays at 9 p.m., starting Feb. 6). Ready for some razzmatazz? NBC is betting its season that you are, with this big-budget series from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Neil Meron, and Craig Zadan about the mounting of a big-budget Broadway musical. Art, beauty, talent, ego, nerves, commerce, duplicity all come into play as two actresses (Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty) compete to be the Great White Way's next big star. Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, and Anjelica Huston are also featured in this song-and-dance extravaganza.
The River (6ABC, Tuesdays at 9 p.m., starting Feb. 7). The titular body of water is the Amazon. Somewhere along its length, popular TV nature host Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) went missing with his crew. Now his wife (Leslie Hope) and estranged son (Joe Anderson) have mounted a rescue mission. But their boat and its documentary filmmakers encounter a force that grows more malevolent the deeper they go into the jungle.
