By Rick Gables
This is our annual alert to all loyal “hearties.” Hallmark Channel is premiering season nine of its popular series When Calls the Heart on Sunday, March 6, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Twelve all-new episodes promise more romance and drama, as Hope Valley is in a state of growth, with the foundry’s progress and the evolution of key relationships. The mayoral race has the town buzzing with a few members of the town running against one another. Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) and Lucas (Chris McNally) focus on their relationship beyond courtship, and as she gets to know Lucas better, she learns about his past which gives Elizabeth pause about their future.
HBO will debut the new season of My Brilliant Friend, titled My Brilliant Friend: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, on Monday, Feb. 28, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Based on the third book in Elena Ferrante’s quadrilogy and starring Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace, season three picks up with Elena and Lila, both now grown women, during the great open sea of the 1970s. Lila took her young son, left her husband and a comfortable life, to work as a factory worker in the toughest of conditions, while Elena left the neighborhood to study in Pisa, and is now an author of a successful novel that has paved the way to an affluent and cultivated world. They now navigate a scenario of hopes and uncertainties, still united by their strong and ambivalent bond.
The seventh season of the Emmy-nominated series The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth premieres on Sunday, March 6, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Hosted by John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon, Alex Wagner, and Jennifer Palmieri, the 16-episode season hits the ground running in March, covering the lead-up to the most consequential midterm elections in our lifetime. As President Joe Biden’s agenda stalls, his poll numbers slide, inflation spikes and the nation grows ever more divided over the COVID-19 pandemic, the November midterms will not only determine control of Congress but the future of the Biden presidency. The program will also pull back the curtain on this extraordinary and precarious moment, examining how former President Donald Trump continues to undermine the country’s electoral process, and as the Republican Party, under his sway, passes laws in state after state restricting voter access to the polls and changing how votes are counted.