Month: April 2020

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 9: Top comedies collide

1) “Will & Grace,” 9 p.m., NBC. Two generations of broad comedy have a cheery mash-up. “Will & Grace” – with a skilled cast and a great director (Jim Burrows) – meets “I Love Lucy.” With Will (Eric McCormack) as Ricky, the others do Lucille Ball’s classic scenes. Megan Mullally’s grape-stomping bit is so-so, but Sean Hayes’ candy-assembly-line one is terrific (with Lucie Arnaz, Ball’s daughter, as the supervisor) … and Debra Messing is a delight when tackling the Vitameatavegamin commercial. Shown here, from left: McCormack, Mullally, Messing, Hayes. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 7, 2020
News and Quick Comments

All rise for a social-distance drama

While many TV shows have stopped filming, “All Rise” will take an alternate approach:
On May 4, it will have an episode about the shutdown … filmed shutdown-style.
One of the show’s producers is Gil Garcetti, the former Los Angeles County district attorney. He’s been talking to the others, CBS said, about how the legal system works amid social-distancing.
That led to a story in which Judge Lola Carmichael (Simone Missick) presides over a trial from her home. Other characters will be shown in their homes, using FaceTime, WebEx, Zoom and more. Director Michael Robin will use some special effects and will have a lone camera person, inside a vehicle, getting shots of a now-desolate Los Angeles Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2020
Stories

Easter TV: “Superstar,” gospel, epics and more

Our TV sets have a new function this weekend: They can be portals to a virtual Easter.
Other years have had plenty of Easter shows, but they didn’t seem as necessary. People went to church and to family gatherings and more.
This year, however, many churches are closed, sending their services online. TV has a bigger role.
The broadcast networks do a little. ABC has already had its annual “Ten Commandments”; NBC came up with a late addition: At 7 p.m. Sunday, it will rerun its “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” an ambitious production with John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Alice Cooper and lots of Broadway stars. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 8: Farewell to a comedy classic

1) “Modern Family” series finale, 9 and 9:30 p.m., ABC, with an overview at 8. For 11 seasons and 22 Emmys (five for best comedy), this has offered consistently clever comedy, built around a lovingly mismatched family. “Modern Family” (shown here in a previous episode) started with Mitchell and Cam adopting a baby; now they have their new baby and new house. Also, Phil and Claire decide that one of the kids must move out. And Gloria is successful at work, but frets that her husband and son don’t really need her. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 7: Wedding bliss on “Schitt’s Creek”?

1) “Schitt’s Creek” series finale, 8 p.m., Pop, rerunning at 10. This pleasant little Canadian show (shown here) ends just as we’d hoped it would, with a low-key mixture of warmth and craziness. The crazed one is David, played by Dan Levy, who created the show with his dad (Eugene) and wrote and co-directed the finale. David has been obsessing about the perfect wedding to Patrick. Naturally, things go very wrong … and quite right. There are some adult moments (including F-words) and then a sweet farewell. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2020
Stories

“Creek” ends and TV evolves

Two long-running comedies say farewell this week.
One is much-loved, one much-liked. Both will be greatly missed. And together, they show how life (especially TV life) has changed in a decade or so.
Planning “Modern Family” in 2009, producers decided to start with a gay couple adopting a baby. “I remember saying to Chris (Lloyd), ‘Well, there goes Middle America,’” Steve Levitan recalled.
Now jump ahead 11 years: When “Schitt’s Creek” closes its season Tuesday, the entire focus will be on the wedding of David (Dan Levy) and Patrick (Noah Reid), shown here. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2020
Stories

A former comedy giant ends its run

When the “Modern Family” cast first assembled, Jesse Tyler Ferguson was surrounded by strangers.
The auditions had been separate, he told the Television Critic Association in January. Now he was meeting his fictional family.
“I remember Sofia (Vergara) giving everyone hugs. I was like, ‘This is the nicest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. And she (plays) my stepmother.’”
They would continue for more than a decade. Ten-and-half years after the opening episode (shown here) debuted, “Modern Family” ends its run Wednesday on ABC Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 5, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for April 6: A time for classic comedies

1) “Modern Family” (shown here) series finale, 9 and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, ABC, with an overview at 8. One of TV’s great shows departs after 11 seasons and 22 Emmys, including five for best comedy. The finale finds Mitchell and Cam settling into their lives – a new house and a new baby they’ve adopted … just as they adopted Lily, 11 years earlier. Meanwhile, Phil and Claire decide that one of the kids must move out. Also, Gloria is successful at work, but frets that her husband and son don’t really need her. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 4, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best bets for April 6: “Manifest” faces its destiny

1) “Manifest” season-finale, 10:01 p.m , NBC. Michaela and Zeke rushed into their wedding, because he had a “death date,” signaled by a supernatural force. Then things went bad. Escapees kidnapped her young nephew – who, like his dad(Josh Dallas, shown here) and aunt, survived a plane flight that was suspended in time for five years. Tonight’s episode has some solid cops-and-crooks moments, spiced by other-worldly weirdness. But it’s hindered by soap-style writing, creating wildly overwrought reactions. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 4, 2020
News and Quick Comments

It was the season’s best sitcom episode

As TV shows race through our stay-at-home lives, we sometimes have to stop and marvel:
Wait, that one – the most recent “Mom” episode (shown here) – was really good. It was probably the best situation-comedy episode I’ve seen since “The Big Bang Theory” departed.
I shouldn’t be surprised, of course. “Mom” is from Chuck Lorre, the producer of “Big Bang” and the master of big-laugh sitcoms taped in front of a studio audience. It’s become TV’s best sitcom. And this episode renewed its best pairing. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 4, 2020