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A little bit country: ABC delivers the best of the CMA Music Festival

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Author: 
Jacqueline Spendlove / TV Media
Dierks Bentley will perform at this year’s "CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock"

Dierks Bentley will perform at this year’s "CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock"

A little bit country: We’re right in the thick of festival season.

It’s a wonderful time of year, but few people have the energy, the funds or the precious vacation time to make it to each and every one of the fantastic music festivals out there.

The CMA Music Festival took place in Nashville back in June, but country lovers who couldn’t make it: fear not. “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” is a three-hour special taped over the four days of the festival, airing Tuesday, Aug. 5, on ABC. Now viewers can catch all the highlights of the festival, plus some behind-the-scenes footage, without standing in a sea of sweaty cowboy hats.

CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town returns to host the television event celebrating today's biggest names in country music. It’s the band’s second consecutive year in the role, but the foursome has been on the music scene for more than 14 years.

Their fifth album, 2012’s “Tornado,” shot to the top of the Billboard Country Chart, where it remained for five consecutive weeks. With multiple CMA Awards to their name, not to mention more than 25 nominations, the group has definitely made a name for itself in the genre.

The hosts will be joined by a slew of performers from the hundreds of artists who graced the festival’s 11 stages. Viewers will get an eyeful – and an earful – of The Band Perry, Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels Band, Sara Evans and Travis Tritt, just to name a few.

So, if you weren’t one of the 71,000 rabid fans that made it to Nashville for the CMA Music Festival, you’ve still got three solid hours of its choicest cuts coming your way. Be sure to check out “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” Tuesday, Aug. 5, on ABC.

 

Pregnant pause: Move over, “Ugly Betty.”

Like the America Ferrera-starring ABC series, “Jane the Virgin” is an upcoming comedy-drama based on a tele-novella about a young American Latina woman. CW picked up the series in May for the 2014-15 season and plans to air it as part of its Monday night lineup this fall.

Set in Miami and adapted from the Venezuelan tele-novella “Juana la Virgen,” the CW series follows aspiring writer Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez, “Filly Brown,” 2012), a religious young Latina woman who has vowed to remain a virgin until she and her detective boyfriend (Brett Dier, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” 2010) are married.

You’d think celibacy would be a sure way to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, but fate has other things in store for Jane. She discovers she’s pregnant after a doctor accidentally artificially inseminates her during a checkup. As if that’s not awkward enough, she knows the biological father. Rafael (Justin Baldoni, “The Forgotten Ones,” 2009) was Jane’s long-ago teenage crush-turned-playboy-turned-married man who is also the new owner of the hotel where Jane works. Like I said – awkward.

The story looks at Jane’s struggle to deal with the pregnancy itself, all the while juggling her relationships with Rafael, her boyfriend and her mother (Andrea Navedo, “One Life to Live”).

The show’s origin and Latina lead are not all it has in common with “Ugly Betty.” Emmy and Golden Globe-winning executive producer Ben Silverman is behind both series. "Ugly Betty" enjoyed fair success for its first three seasons and was canceled after its fourth. We’ll have to wait to see what direction he and writer Jennie Snyder Urman take with “Jane the Virgin.”

In any case, the idea of a pregnant virgin is a compelling one, to say the least. Look for “Jane the Virgin” Monday nights on CW this fall.

 

Lest ye be judged: Prime time is about to get a little more disorderly.

There’s always a big laugh potential when you stick an ill-behaved individual into a prestigious position. “Law & Order” and its multiple offspring are all well and good, but NBC’s picked up a comedy that promises to give a very different look at the person on the bench. “Bad Judge” is expected to premiere Thursday, Oct. 2, on the peacock network.

When Kate Walsh’s name is mentioned, many picture the exceptionally skilled, brilliant and flawlessly stilettoed redhead from “Grey’s Anatomy” and its spinoff, “Private Practice.” While the actress is once again portraying a talented woman in a highly respected career, the character’s personal life is a different story.

Rebecca Wright is a well-regarded L.A. criminal court judge known for her unconventional courtroom behavior and tough-as-nails attitude. Off the bench, however, she’s a bit of a train wreck. OK, a big train wreck. The unapologetic, uncompromising Rebecca parties hard, drums in a band and wakes up with her fair share of hangovers.

So far, she’s seen no reason to tone down her wild life, but that may change when an eight-year-old boy comes into her life needing her help. Robby Shoemaker (Theodore Barnes, “Back in the Game”) has had his parents slapped behind bars, and by none other than Rebecca herself. Suddenly she finds herself with a responsibility that goes beyond her time on the bench, and it may just be that Robby is the key to bringing some responsibility to the judge’s personal life.

The humor potential is huge, so here’s hoping that “Bad Judge” makes for good TV. Look for the comedy scheduled to premiere Thursday, Oct. 2, on NBC.