Month: August 2020

Stories

Conventions: One party begins; the other has its afterglow

Now we’re at the mid-point of the political-convention season.
That’s when one party starts its event and the other celebrates what it considers a triumph. That’s always the case, Rick Santorum (shown here) said.
“You always come out of the convention thinking it was great,” he said. “You always leave on a high” … especially if you were one of the speakers. “Everyone loves to hear their voice.”
He’s seen that from several sides, as a two-term senator from Pennsylvania, as runner-up (to Mitt Romney) for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and now as a CNN commentator. At a press session, several CNN people pondered what had happened in the Democratic convention and what’s ahead (Aug. 24-27) for the Republicans. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 21, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 23: Finales for five shows

1) “NOS4A2” season-finale, 10 p.m., AMC and BBC America. Here’s the confrontation we’ve waited two years for. Vic (the terrific Ashleigh Cummings) hops on her motorcycle and heads off to rescue her son, shatter the twisted Christmasland (shown here) and confront Charlie Manx. All of that is tough, high-octane … and over fairly quickly. Then Vic must cope with real life, in what may well be the show’s final hour. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 21, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Aug. 24: Time for politics and/or sexy swimwear

1) Republican convention, 8-11 p.m. ET, PBS; 10 p.m., ABC, CBS and NBC; all night, news channels. For the second straight week, the fate of the nation should get our attention. Now it’s the Republicans’ turn. Donald Trump is expected to give his acceptance speech Thursday from the White House; Mike Pence is expected to talk Wednesday from Fort McHenry (shown here), where the National Anthem was born,. Other speakers this week will include Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Jodi Ernst, Kevin McCarthy and Kristi Noem. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 20, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Social-distance drama? This one feels hopeful

It’s the kind of challenge writers and actors should savor: Create stories about isolation … filmed under isolated conditions.
There have already been some interesting ones, crafted during the COVID slowdown – episodes of “All Rise” and “Mythic Quest,” a reunion of “Parks and Recreation,” a British hour called “Isolation Stories.” Coming (Sept. 12 on HBO) is “Coastal Elites,” with playwright Paul Rudnick giving monologs to Sarah Paulson, Bette Midler, Dan Levy, Issa Rae and Kaitlyn Dever.
But before that, Freeform gets a chance. “Love in the Time of Corona” (shown here) is Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22-23, then rerunning Monday, juggling four slightly related stories. It’s a tad predictable, but skillfully written and acted. It’s also optimistic; you could say it’s very American … or maybe very Californian. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 20, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 22: Drama in the time of corona

1) “Love in the Time of Corona,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., Freeform; concludes Sunday. Here are dramas of human isolation – filmed in isolated conditions. Some stories cast families – Leslie Odom Jr. and his wife Nicolette Robinson, Gil Bellows and his wife and daughter – or friends (Tommy Dorfman and Rainey Qualey, shown here). Others use videochats or clever balcony scenes. We see the subtle effects of proximity – friends who could be more, a secret break-up, a forced separation, etc. The results are predictable, but skillfully written and acted. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 20, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 21: Shall we dance and/or catch crooks?

1) “The King and I,” 9 p.m., PBS. After four days of convention coverage, PBS can relax and rerun a classic musical revival. “King” is too long (two hours, 40 minutes) and too stiff, offering a fictional version of the real Englishwoman who, in the 1860s, taught the children of the King of Siam. But Kelli O’Hara (shown here with Ken Watanabe) is superb and this is stuffed with Rodgers-and-Hammerstein hits – “Getting to Know You,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” “Something Wonderful,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune” and “Shall We Dance?” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 19, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 20: One convention ends; another is near

1) Democratic convention, 8-11 p.m. ET, PBS; 10 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC; all night, news channels. The next two Thursdays should be required viewing – Joe Biden tonight, Donald Trump next week, the future at stake. In a late addition, Democrats are adding music by the Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks). Subject to change, from 9-11 p.m., the spealers will be Cory Booker (shown here), Pete Buttigieg, the Chicks, Gavin Newsom, Kesha Lance Bottoms, Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth, Chris Coons, Andrew Yang and Biden. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 18, 2020
Stories

TV this fall? Fox, CW, cable, PBS set line-ups

For TV viewers swamped by reruns, there are a few signs of hope.
Two networks have set specifics for this fall: Fox will launch a makeshift line-up on Sept. 21 with “Filthy Rich” (shown here) and “L.A.’s Finest”; the CW begins its own makeshift line-up two weeks later.
That still leaves the big ones in limbo. When the coronavirus struck, ABC, CBS and NBC simply renewed most of their shows for this fall; so far, they haven’t set start dates.
But the pay-extra networks – from Netflix to HBO – remain busy. So does PBS and some of the basic-cable networks. “Fargo,” one of TV’s most-praised series, starts its season Sept. 27 on FX; a week later, AMC’s “The Walking Dead” has an abrupt season-finale and launches a spin-off. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2020
News and Quick Comments

“Supernatural” returns in CW’s new fall line-up

(Note: Information in this story was subsequently folded into a longer overview. See the “stories” category.)
For impatient TV viewers, there’s a smidgen more of good news: Another network has announced specific dates to start its fall season.
This is a tiny network (CW), with a makeshift schedule (plus the final burst of the long-running “Supernatural,” shown here). Still, it joins Fox, which launches its own makeshift line-up on Sept. 21; ABC, CBS and NBC haven’t said when they’ll start.
(A previously written story rounds up Fox and other networks. It’s under “stories” and at the top of the main page.) Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 19: Tough workers, busy politicians

1) “Tough as Nails,” 9 p.m., CBS. Half of the 12 people have already been ousted from the individual contest, including a farmer, a welder and an ironworker. (They stick around, as part of the team competition.) That leaves a sheriff’s deputy, a Marine veteran, a drywaller, a fisherman, a forester and Young An (shown here), a firefighter. An should be in his element, as the teams head to a fire training facility. There, they must save a victim, extinguish a fire …. then rappel from the top of a four-story building. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2020