Month: February 2020

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 11: Jailhouse grit, Valentine fun

1) “For Life” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Isaac Wright has a real comeback story: Convicted via New Jersey’s drug-kingpin law, he faced life imprisonment. As a paralegal, he helped 20 fellow inmates win freedom or reduced sentences … then won freedom for himself. Now he’s a defense lawyer and he’s the consultant for this solid series, which adjusts the story slightly: The protagonist (Nicholas Pinnock, shown here) becomes a lawyer, but remains in prison; with a progressive warden, he leaves with a guard and tether to argue cases. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 9, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 10: Elusive romance

1) “Bob (Hearts) Abishola,” 8:30 p.m., CBS. As Valentine week begins, this terrific show makes a quick detour. Last Monday, Bob was bitter when his mom resumed control of the company, with Abishola (her nurse, his loved one) as her assistant. He quit the job and the romance and had a drunken spree with a forklift. Now, cleaned up, he takes Abishola to dinner (shown here) … and is ready to say he loves her. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2020
Stories

“Agatha” brightens quaint, quiet village

English villages, we’ve learned on TV, are pleasant places designed for murder mysteries
.They have quaint buildings and quiet people, stone walls and stoic constables. So imagine the fictional village of Carsley, when the very-fictional Agatha Raisin swooped in.
“It was quite a sleepy village before she came in,” said Matt McCooey, who plays local cop Bill Wong in the “Agatha Raisin” tales. “And then this whirl of color and energy and beauty.”
That’s Agatha, played by Ashley Jensen (shown here with McCooey). “The color palette is just so glorious and such fun to pick out when we go to costume fittings,” Jensen said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 7, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 9; Oscars … and much more

1) Academy Awards, 8 p.m. ET, ABC. For the second straight year, here’s no host. Last year was salvaged by music from Queen and Lady Gaga, but it was still dull and humorless. This year? The music is promising again, with nominated songs done by Elton John, Randy Newman, Chrissy Metz and the immensely talented Idina Menzel and Cynthia Erivo. Viewers will recognize some of the nominated films (“Joker,” “Ford v. Ferrari,: “Once Upon a Time in America,” shown here with Brad Pitt) and actors (Pitt, Tom Hanks, Renee Zellweger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 7, 2020
Stories

Carrie (and Claire) plunge into turmoil, one more time

As the final “Homeland” season begins, one scene seems to define the fictional Carrie Mathison and the very real Claire Danes (shown here), who plays her.
Carrie, a CIA agent, is back from months of isolation and torture. With her mind and memory shattered, she’s in slow recovery; then there’s a question: Does she want to go back in the field right now?Her answer is an instant yes.
That’s also Danes’ answer to returning to a draining role.
“It’s taxing,” she told the Television Critics Association last month. “It’s kind of pummeling.” But she came back for an eighth season, even after her original commitment had finished. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 7, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Feb. 10: “Survivor” and “Idol” return

1) “Survivor” opener, 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. The 40th edition is full of winners. All 20 contestants(show here with host Jeff Probst) have been champions before; one (Sandra Diaz-Twine) has done it twice. They go back as far as Ethan Zohn, who won the third edition, in 2001 … and are as recent as the 2018 winners, Nick Wilson and Wendell Holland. Rob and Amber Mariano are also back. She won in 2004, right after accepting his proposal; he won in 2011. Leaving their four daughters (ages 5 to 10) behind, they both headed to Fiji. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 7, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 8: From here to Oscardom

1) Oscar eve shows, On the night before the Academy Awards, cable offers past gems. Turner Classic Movies’ Oscar marathon is topped by “From Here to Eternity” (1953, shown here with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr) – winner of eight Oscars, including best picture and (in support) Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed – at 5:45 p.m. ET.. FX has back-to-back best-picture nominees – the great “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) at 5:30, had seven nominations, winning for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell; “Hidden Figures” (2016), at 8 p.m., had three nominations. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 6, 2020
Stories

After the shootings: pain, panic, heroics and survival

The Baca sisters (shown here) seemed to be having sunny lives. They were cheerleaders, twin teens in Las Vegas. Fans of country music in general and Jason Aldean in particular, they went to a high-energy, outdoor concert on Valentine’s Day in 2018.
Then came the rifle fire. “My boyfriend … picked me up and we ran for safety,” Gianna said.
Her sister Natalia gradually realized she’d been shot in the back. She headed to a medical tent, where an off-duty firefighter stepped in. “Dean (McAuley) said, ‘Don’t let your eyes come off me.’” He wanted to make sure she didn’t drift off, as they looked for a ride to the hospital.
The sisters recalled that day in an interview (alongside survivor-helpers Lonnie and Sandy Phillips) and at a Television Critics Association session. They’re featured in “In Memoriam,” a powerful documentary that debuts at 9 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 8) on Investigation Discovery. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 5, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 7: Mac is back

1) “MacGyver” season-opener, 8 p.m., CBS. There’s an action surplus on CBS; “MacGyver” finally returns, nine months after its last new episode. Now the team can again tackle an impossible mission: At an elegant party (shown here), it team must slip off, find crucial information and transmit a copy without being noticed. There’s no Phoenix Foundation to help; our heroes are working with a quirky British ex-spy, played, by Henry Ian Cusick of “Lost.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 5, 2020