Month: September 2019

News and Quick Comments

With death and dismay, ‘Snowfall’ nears season-finale

From the start, “Snowfall” had delivered sharp jabs.
Lucia had most of her family killed … then vanished. Franklin, the brainy teen, became a drug boss; his friends became killers.
Still, nothing matched the latest jolt: Franklin casually killed Andre, the honest neighborhood cop. On the day of the funeral, Melody – Andre’s daughter, Franklin’s ex-girlfriend– shot him three times and left him to die.
What’s going on? As the season-finale arrives, viewers might incorrectly expect the worst: Maybe Franklin’s being killed and the show – whose co-creator, John Singleton (shown here), died in April at 51, after a stroke – is being cancelled. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 9, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 11: Jolts from fiction and from fact

1) “Snowfall” season-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11. The last two weeks have delivered fierce jolts. First, Franklin killed Andre, the honest neighborhood cop. Then Melody – Andre’s daughter, Franklin’s former girlfriend – shot Franklin three times, leaving him for dead. Will he survive? Where does the show go from here? Viewers will have to wait until the final minutes to find out. Much of this hour – frustrating, yet fascinating – is a “what if” detour. Then key questions are answered. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 9, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 10: Who’s the funniest?

1) “Bring the Funny” finale, 10:01 p.m., NBC. This started with 40 acts – stand-up comedians, sketch groups, even offbeat “variety acts.” Now it has a final five going for $250,000. One, announced tonight, is the “save” by viewers’ vote; the others are two stand-ups (Taccara Williams, shown here, and Ali Siddiq), plus a sketch act (The Chris & Paul Show) and a musical singing trio called Lewberger. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2019
Stories

Tamron: Texan tackles talk turf

Tamron Hall had just blitzed through a rich range of subjects.
She’d invoked the talk-show masters – Oprah and Donahue – plus Mike Douglas and more. She’d ranged from the nobility of her sharecropper grandfather to the day she hung up on her friend Prince.
But she also surprised us cinematically: Her favorite movie now is “Shrek”; her “favorite growing up was ‘Rocky,’ because he got up.”
That’s what she’s done: She got up from her low point – NBC gave her morning hour to Megyn Kelley – and now has a syndicated show, starting Sept. 9 (see www.tamronhallshow.com). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 7, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 8: Country at its best

1) “Country Music: Live at the Ryman,” 8-10 p.m., PBS. Next Sunday, Ken Burns’ brilliant “Country Music” begins. First, here’s a great concert — country’s best songs, done superbly. Many are jet-paced: Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill and other gifted instrumentalists go high-octane. But there are also ballads, sung with heartbreaking passion – a Johnny Cash one by his daughter Roseanne … a Hank Williams one by his granddaughter Holly (shown here in a previous concert) … “Crazy,” sung with stunning power by Rhiannon Giddens. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2019
Stories

Bradys make retro a pop-artform

Let’s designate this as the ultimate tourist experience:
One day in 2011, Susan Olsen says, a bus had stopped outside the house that used to be shown as the exterior of the “Brady Bunch” home. Tourists looked around at … well, not much. And then …
“The ‘Wienermobile’ pulled up and Cindy Brady got out.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2019
Weekly Previews

Week’s best-bets for Sept. 9: A grand music tour

1) “Country Music,” 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS, rerunning at 10. Here is Ken Burns at his best – the start of an eight-night documentary that has depth, detail, great music and rich waves of humanity. Dayton Duncan wrote superb narration, supplemented by smart talking-head commentary – especially from Marty Stuart, Dolly Parton and the late Merle Haggard. The opener starts with the 1927 recording sessions that discovered Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter family (shown here), then sees the Grand Ole Opry begin. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 7: A Halsey triumph

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. As a first-time host, Halsey reflected on when she was a Jersey girl named Ashley Frangipane, watching “SNL” every week. Now, at 24, she’s a mono-named star – and an impressive one. As music guest(shown here) in this rerun, Halsey had some Gaga-esque moments, offering visual and vocal splendor. And as host, she blended into sketches well. It was a night that had a so-so start, then soared, including some clever satires of politicians with blackface pasts. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2019
Stories

Valerie Harper: Some fun memories coming

Memories of Valerie Harper – fun ones, funny ones – will reach digital TV over the next few days.
The reruns are from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Rhoda,” Both shows seemed to share the upbeat approach of Harper, who died Friday (Aug. 30) at 80.
“I had a very positive mom,” she said in 2014, adding: “I’ve always thought that life is here to have fun and to meet people …. But this really brings you up short, when you hear that you have limited time.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 4, 2019