Month: June 2020

News and Quick Comments

PBS adds Black Panthers and James Baldwin films

PBS will rerun two acclaimed documentaries Wednesday, as part of a crowded line-up of race-related films.
“Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” (shown here, 2015) and “I Am Not Your Negro” (2016) will run back-to-back, at 8 and 9:44 p.m. (Check local listings.)
They join a line-up of films PBS is airing, amid national discussions triggered by the George Floyd death. They range from a rerun of “Twilight: Los Angeles” tonight (Monday, June 8) to “She Could Be Next” on June 29-30. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2020
Stories

Film visits a transforming South

Mary Jane Kennedy could fit most stereotypes of white, Southern privilege.
“I just had this blessed life,” she says in “Prideland,” a documentary by Dyllon Burnside (shown here) that will air at 9 p.m. Friday (June 12) on most PBS stations.
She’s been religious, Republican and conservative. She taught church school for decades and lives in a huge house in Brandon, which calls itself “the second safest city in Mississippi.”
And she has become, in her 60s, a gay-rights spokeswoman. That story provides some extraordinary “Prideland” moments. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 10: A no-rerun evening

1) “What We Do in the Shadows” season-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11. Guillermo (wonderfully played by Harvey Guillen, shown here) has become one of TV’s best characters. He’s the long-suffering assistant (called a “familiar”) for four lazy vampires in Staten Island, protecting them (without their knowledge) by slaying other dragons. After a decade of being ignored, he’s left. The others realize they don’t know his phone nmber … or his last name … or how to wash clothes. Some oddly hilarious moments follow. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2020
News and Quick Comments

We’re back up; sorry about that

OK, we’re back up.
Technical problems shut down the system Sunday, just as TV was changing.
In a late move, the FX network made a change for Sunday night. It said it would show “Selma” (shown here) — the terrific film about Martin Luther King — at 8 p.m. that night, delaying “The Greatest Showman” until 11 p.m. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 9: A mythical heroine (Stargirl) and a real one (Oprah)

1) “Stargirl,” 8 p.m., CW. This is the sort of episode – sober, serious, unnerving – a show might have in its fourth season; here, remarkably, it’s the fourth episode of the first season. As part of a five-minute prologue, wordless and compelling, we learn why a classmate is despondent. Then Courtney (Brec Bassinger, shown here in the first episode), an upbeat type, tries to recruit her as a fellow superhero. The result is well-made and involving. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 7, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 8: Tough times in modern and frontier eras

1) “Twilight: Los Angeles,” 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Back in 1992, another crisis raised sharp questions about police and race. The verdict in the Rodney King case brought protests and violence; in the aftermath, Anna Deveare Smith(shown here) created a one-woman play in which she portrayed the people – black and white, male and female – on both sides. Director Marc Levin added news footage and interviews. That’s one of many new and old specials that PBS has quickly added. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 6, 2020
Stories

CW adds “Pixels” now, “Devils” later

The CW network has added a summer show, indirectly. It has also solidified its makeshift fall line-up.
The network bought “Devils,” a 10-part Italian-French mini-series (involving murder and high-finance) that includes Patrick Dempsey. That will air in the fall, sliding the quirky “Dead Pixels” (show here) to a spot sometime this summer.
Any summer addition is important, at a time when COVID shutdowns have left networks with short supplies. Several summer shows – CBS’ “Amazing Race,” Fox’s “Filthy Rich” and “NeXt,” CW’s “Pandora” and “The Outpost” – were diverted to the fall; others (ABC’s “Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”) are on hold. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 5, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Oprah sets two-night special on racial crisis

Oprah Winfrey (shown here) is entering the national discussion of racial issues, just when she’s needed the most.
Winfrey’s special – “Where Do We Go From Here?” – will sprawl over two nights and 19 cable networks. It will be 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday (June 9-10) on her own Oprah Winfrey Network and others (including Discovery, HGTV, TLC, ID and Food) in the Discovery system. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 5, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 7: A Tonyless (but fun) night

1) No Tonys, CBS. This was supposed to be the night CBS had the Tony awards, filled with song and dance and fun. Alas, COVID put Broadway (and the Tonys) on hold. If you still want a musical, there are choices: CBS has John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in “Grease” (1978, shown here) at 8:30 p.m., complete with singalong lyrics onscreen; FX has Hugh Jackman as “The Greatest Showman” (2017) at 8 and 10 p.m. Both have so-so stories, salvaged by vibrant music. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 5, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for June 8: Two shows leave, five arrive

1) “Man With a Plan” series finale, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. When Matt LeBlanc’s “Friends” ended its 10-year run, it was a big deal. When his “Plan” ends a four-year run … well, it’s worth noting. This is a consistently adequate comedy, with LeBlanc in the cliched TV role of a semi-bumbling husband and dad. In the finale, he and his wife (played by Liza Snyder; they’re shown here) near their 20th anniversary. That’s in a week that mostly has debuts, season-openers and a mid-season return. We’ll look at those shows next. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 5, 2020