Year: 2019

Daily Best Bets

Best bets for May 12: The end for “Veep” and (almost) “Thrones”

1) All night, HB0. It’s a time of departing greatness at HBO. “Game of Thrones” has its finale next week; tonight, we get a new episode at 9 p.m. and a rerun of the previous one at 7:30. Then (after a 10:20 “Barry”), “Veep” has is finale at 10:50. “Veep” has won the best-comedy-series Emmy for three straight years … and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (shown here) has won the comedy-actress Emmy in each of the show’s six seasons. Tonight, we see if Selina (Louis-Dreyfus) gets her party’s nomination for president. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 10, 2019
News and Quick Comments

CBS renews … almost everything

Next week, the networks unveil their new fall line-ups. CBS fans, however, don’t have a lot of worries.
Today, the network renewed six drama hours and two news shows. That follows previous renewals of three comedies and eight dramas. Add them together and you already have 17 1/2 hours of a 22-hour season. Here’s a recap:
— Dramas renewed today: “SWAT” (shown here), “SEAL Team,” “Bull,” “Madam Secretary” and two Friday shows, “MacGyver” and “Hawaii 5-0.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 10, 2019
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 13: Farewell to “Thrones” and “Big Bang”

1) “Game of Thrones” finale, 9-10:20 p.m. Sunday, HBO, rerunning at 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. In a week filled with big-deal finales, this is the biggest. Over eight seasons and 73 episodes, “Game of Thrones” has told a massive story. It’s had dragons, armies, nudity, incest and more. Rulers have been toppled; key people – some good, some not – have been killed. To prepare us, HBO reruns the previous episode often, including 7:35 p.m. today, 11:05 p.m. Thursday,11:50 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 9, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best bets for May 11: Yes, Emma can be funny

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Americans have this prim image of Emma Thompson. She’s played doctors, queens, a professor, a prime minister and more. She adapted and starred in “Sense and Sensibility”; we think of her as being … well, sensible. But Thompson was the first woman in Cambridge’s Footlights comedy troupe; she did lots of comedy on British TV, even hosting her own sketch show. Now she has her first time hosting “SNL”; the Jonas Brothers are music guests. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 9, 2019
News and Quick Comments

It’s a redhead conspiracy

OK, there’s a moral here for royalty-watchers:
Never let an actress marry a redhead. They’re likely to come up with a surprising name for the baby.
That’s what happened with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Their son has just been named Archie, after (one assumes) the world’s most famous redhead, Archie Andrews, of comic-book fame. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 8, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best bets for May 10: “SHIELD” returns amid chaos in the universe

1) “Agents of SHIELD” season-opener, 8 p.m., ABC. Now that Marvel rules the movies, shouldn’t it be big on TV? It keeps trying, with shows ranging from pretty good (“Cloak & Dagger) to quite awful (“Inhumans”). This ambitious effort has drawn so-so ratings; ABC originally said it wouldn’t return until summer. Now the good news: Summer starts early and another season has already been ordered. As the team re-assembles (including Elizabeth Henstridge and Chloe Bennetm shown here), Coulson is dead, but Clark Gregg returns as a new character, Sarge. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 8, 2019
Stories

Once-woeful Stuart is going out with a big bang

It was another celebration – one of many in the final “Big Bang Theory” season – and Kevin Sussman seemed apologetic.
“I have to go,” he said quietly. “I’ve got an audition.”
Auditions used to bring futility and frustration. “As a struggling actor, I couldn’t get any work,” he said.
But now things should be different: He’s Stuart on “Big Bang.” The show is – as Warner Brothers TV chief Peter Roth said in the celebration — “the longest-running multi-camera comedy in television history.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 7, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best bets for May 9: A season-end for “Mom,” a series-end (almost) for “Big Bang”

1) “Mom” season finale (9 p.m.) and “The Big Bang Theory” (8 p.m.), CBS. Most of the attention goes to next week’s series finale for “Big Bang,” TV’s best comedy. (Tonight, Leonard’s mom arrives with deceptive sweetness and Stuart and his girlfriend overstay their welcome.) But let’s not overlook “Mom,” another terrific comedy. CBS hints that Bonnie and Adam might elope. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 7, 2019
News and Quick Comments

CBS News makes its big moves

The CBS News shake-up is now official. This morning, the network announced that:
— Norah O’Donnell (shown here in the old days, with Charlie Rose and Gayle King) will lead the evening newscast, replacing Jeff Glor. She starts this summer as anchor and managing editor, moving the operation from New York to Washington, D.C.
— King is now clearly the senior figure in the morning, with both of her co-hosts leaving. One was John Dickson, who becomes a “60 Minutes” correspondent; the other was O’Donnell. The new look – with Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil taking their spots – starts May 20. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2019