Matt Buckler: Billy Crystal making a return to television

Jun. 16—It's always big news when Billy Crystal, one of the funniest comics of his generation, returns to television.

It won't be broadcast television, but streaming TV. If you're a Netflix customer, you have the right setup. Crystal will be one of the stars of "Before," a Netflix limited series.

Crystal will play a child psychologist who has just lost his wife.

The series will be directed by Barry Levinson, who worked with Crystal and Robert De Niro on the memorable film, "Analyze That."

Not many other details have been announced, however, such as how many episodes will be produced and who his co-stars will be. When Crystal is hitting his peak, however, he doesn't need any co-stars.

At the age of 74, Crystal is still busy. He is working on Broadway starring in "Mr. Saturday Night."

The first time many of us saw Crystal, he was starring in "Soap," playing one of the first gay characters on television.

He also became well-known for his work on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and FX's "The Comedians."

Most of his notoriety, however, has been on the big screen, not on television or a laptop.

It's just good to have Crystal back in any form.

Seinfeld showcase

Crystal isn't the only famous comic showing up on Netflix. Jerrry Seinfeld is about to star in his own movie, "Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story," which is a story about the 1963 breakfast battle between two cereal giants, Kellogg's and Post, who were trying to create a pastry that would change breakfast habits. The Pop-Tart certainly did.

The big news, however, is the all-star cast Seinfeld has recruited for his movie, including Amy Shumer, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Christian Slater, and Bobby Moynihan.

It's not known what roles those stars will play — probably anyone that they want.

With Seinfeld and his pals in action, however, Netflix subscriptions are bound to rise.

NBA scores again

Usually in a best-of-seven sports playoff series, the ratings get stronger as the series gets longer. This year's NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors is no exception.

The ABC telecast of Game 5 Monday topped the Nielsen chart with an audience of 13.025 million. Finishing in second was the pre-game show with 3.8 million, about what it usually racks up. Apparently there are just so many pre-game show fans to go around.

The most-watched non-basketball program was CBS' "NCIS" with 3.38 million, one of the lowest-rated episodes of "NCIS" of all-time.

There is an asterisk — the episode was a repeat. But that shows you how powerful this year's NBA ratings are — CBS didn't want to waste any first-run programming against it.

Expect even higher ratings tonight when the Celtics and Warriors square off in Game 6. This series has been all about momentum and the Celtics need some tonight or their season will be over.

Sterling slows down

New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling created some attention this month when he announced he is cutting back on his schedule to eliminate some road trips. The 80-plus-year-old announcer says he's tired of traveling.

After hearing him struggle with the final innings of Wednesday's Tampa-New York game, Sterling needs to do more than cut back on road trips — he needs to cut back on his innings. Just like Michael Kay used to do. Sterling needs help. His days as a nine-inning play-by-play guy should be over.

Matt Buckler is television and radio editor of the Journal Inquirer.

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