Neal Justin's TV picks for Oct. 19-20: 'The Simpsons,' 'Patsy & Loretta,' 'Modern Love'

October 18, 2019 at 4:49PM
Patsy & Loretta is based on the untold true story of the friendship between two of country music’s greatest icons, Patsy Cline (Megan Hilty) and Loretta Lynn (Jessie Mueller). When they first met, Patsy was already one of the biggest stars in country music while Loretta was just a coal miner’s daughter, starting off with little to her name but a $17 guitar. Instead of seeing Loretta as competition, Patsy took Loretta under her wings to help her make it in Nashville. Soon, they beca
Megan Hilty as Patsy Cline and Jessie Mueller as Loretta Lynn in “Patsy & Loretta.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Honky tonk girls

Loretta Lynn visiting her hero Patsy Cline in the hospital is considered a musical milestone. The biopic "Patsy & Loretta" takes that introduction one step further, delving deep into their offstage relationship. You won't learn nearly as much about their individual importance as you did from Ken Burns' "Country Music," but a fantasy sequence that has Megan Hilty's Cline and Jessie Mueller's Lynn duetting on a cha-cha version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is dreamy.

7 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime

Love is in the air

Rom-coms may be an endangered species in theaters, but the genre is alive and kicking in "Modern Love," a new anthology series based on the long-running New York Times column. Watching glamorous stars like Andy Garcia, Tina Fey and Dev Patel flirt and fight to coffeehouse music can get a little precious, but even curmudgeons will be forced to smile when Anne Hathaway leads a musical number in a grocery-store parking lot.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime

Horror can wait

"The Simpsons" latest "Treehouse of Horror" just happens to be the series' 666th episode. But this is one of the least ghoulish of the Halloween-themed outings with rather tame parodies of "Heaven Can Wait," "Stranger Things" and "The Shape of Water." The most devilish joke comes at the expense of Mickey Mouse, an obvious dig at the Walt Disney Co., which recently took over 20th Century Fox.

7 p.m. Sunday, KMSP, Ch. 9

Neal Justin


THE SIMPSONS: The 30th Treehouse of Horror features a demon Maggie, a mission to rescue Milhouse from another dimension, dead-HomerÕs spirit trying on some new bodies for size and Selma finally finding love in an unlikely place Ð the alien in the basement. DonÕt miss the ÒTreehouse of Horror XXXÓ episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Oct. 20 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. THE SIMPSONS ª and © 2019 TCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The 30th “Treehouse of Horror” features a demon Maggie. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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