Month: July 2020

News and Quick Comments

Sunday specials remember John Lewis

John Lewis, one of the towering figures in American history, will be remembered in two Sunday-morning reruns on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Lewis died Friday at 80, after a six-month struggle with cancer. The son of Alabama sharecroppers, he played a key role in the civil-rights movements, from Selma (he’s shown here revisiting the site) to the March on Washington, where he was a keynote speaker at 23. He was a congressman from Georgia for more than 30 years.
The specials will be at 11 a.m. on the next two Sundays (July 19 and 26); they are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 19, 2020
Stories

Broadway vanished? Not on Fridays

In a theater-less season – no Broadway, no summer-stock musicals, nothing — we need a break.
Fortunately, PBS is trying. In a five-Friday stretch, it will give us Broadway-style reruns.
That includes two musicals (“She Loves Me” (shown here) and “The King and I”), two plays (“Present Laughter” and “Much Ado About Nothing”) and a making-of film (“In the Heights”). It’s sort of a history of theater – from Shakespeare to Miranda. Here’s a rundown, with shows at 9 p.m. (check local listings): Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 19, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 20: Worst (?!?) seasons ever?

1) “The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever!” 8-11 p.m., ABC. Then again, maybe tonight should be re-titled “The Worst Seasons – Ever!!!” They focus, alas, on Brad Womack (shown here with Emily Maynard). In 2007, he dated 25 bright and beautiful women, including two nurses and four realtors … then rejected them all. In 2011 he returned, chagrined and ready to marry and settle down. He dated 30 beauties, from a Rockette to a funeral director, chose one … and had broken up with her before the episodes finished airing. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 18, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Films view Latino toll from COVID

From classrooms to farm fields, the pandemic is having a disproportionate effect on Latinos.
Now two documentaries – one streaming, the other on PBS – look at that. They are:
– “Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis,” at 9 p.m. ET Sunday (July 19) on CBSN, the digital news service run by CBS. It’s also available any time at www.cbsnews.com/pandemia.
– “Frontline: COVID’S Hidden Toll” (shown here) at 10 p.m. Tuesday (July 21) on PBS. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 17, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 19: Dramas end, sharks take over

1) “Masterpiece: Grantchester” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. Set in the late 1950s, this show has been rough on Will (the good-hearted, crimesolving vicar) and friends. His assistant remains in the closet … his housekeeper is appalled by her new husband’s past … his friend the cop (shown hyere with Will in the seas0n-opener) sent his mother-in-law to a mental institution. Will is despondent (his youth boxing program brought trouble) and is voluntarily celibate. Now much of that brightens, amid a smart case that involves murder and missing women. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 17, 2020
Stories

She’s achieved her shark-filled dreams

Other kids might pester Santa with trivial requests for ponies and unicorns and such.
Kori Garza, however, was more original. At 3, she plunked on his lap and asked for a great white shark.
She didn’t get it, which was probably for the best. It would be odd, she now grants, “to have a great white swimming in the bathtub.”
But it was a fine start for her current life: Garza (shown here) is a shark expert and the central figure in “World’s Biggest Tiger Shark?” That’s at 8 p.m. Sunday (July 19), launching National Geographic’s “Sharkfest.” (See overview under “stories” and schedule under “quick news and comments.) Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 16, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for July 20: Baseball begins, “Blindspot” ends

1) Baseball, Thursday and beyond, Fox and cable. In other years, we might grumble that baseball is too old and slow for TV; this year, we need the diversion – which comes in big bunches. ESPN starts things on Thursday (Yankees, shown here, and Nationals at 7 p.m. ET, Giants-Dodgers at 10) and Friday (Braves-Mets at 4, Brewers-Cubs at 7, Angels-A’s at 10). Then Fox takes over on Saturday – Brewers-Cubs at 1:05 p.m. ET, Giants-Dodgers at 4:10 p.m., Yankees-Nationals at 7:15. There’s much more coming up. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 16, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 18: A classic hero and a classic movie

1) “Harriet” (2019), 8 p.m., HBO. In this Black Lives Matter summer, it’s a perfect time to catch a great life. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who kept risking her freedom to go back and rescue others. Cynthia Erivo (shown here) received Academy Award nominations for best actress and for best song, for co-writing “Stand Up.” It’s part of a busy stretch for the British actress/singer. She’ll be Arehta Franklin in the “Genius” mini-series, which was scheduled for this summer, then delayed by the virus shutdown. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 16, 2020