Year: 2020

News and Quick Comments

A COVID bonus: CBS gets primetime football

As COVID decimates the TV networks, it occasionally gives them a break.
Now comes a big one: Tonight (Monday, Oct. 5), CBS gets some primetime football.
That’s 7:05 p.m., with the Patrick Mahomes (shown here) and the current Super Bowl champions (Kansas City Chiefs) hosting the previous champs (New England Patriots). It partly collides with ESPN’s regular “Monday Night Football” – now pushed back to 8:50 p.m. – with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Atlanta Falcons. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 5, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 7: V-P debate … and lots of alternatives

1) Vice-presidential debate, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. There’s a fine chance this debate will be better than the presidential one last week. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris have worked within the rules of order in courtrooms and in Congress; neither one, we expect, will interrupt 100-plus times. And yes, there are plenty of alternatives, including a key CW night that includes “Devils” (shown here); see No. 3. Read more…

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

Latino voters flash political power

A new math ripples through this year’s political campaign.
Yes, the ethnic groups are key. But now, by a smidgen, Latinos are the largest of the groups.
At times, said Bernardo Ruiz (whose PBS documentary airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday), that’s a hard group for anyone to dominated. “The Latino vote has never been a monolith.”
But at times. it seems like one. “Latino Vote: Dispatches From the Battleground” starts with a Latino surge, helping Bernie Sanders more than double anyone else in the Nevada primary. That was sparked, Ruiz told the Television Critics Association recently, by “the work that Chuck Rocha (shown here) … and others did, including a number of local organizers ancommunity activists.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 5, 2020
Stories

Anthology TV makes a soulful return

In TV’s early years, anthologies thrived.
They were inconsistent, but we forgot the bad moments and savored the good ones – “Twilight Zone” or “Hitchcock” or tales that became movies, from “12 Angry Men” to “Requiem For a Heavyweight.”
And now – thanks to streaming or cable – they’ve made a mild comeback. AMC’s “Soulmates” (10 p.m. on six Mondays), shown here with Charlie Heaton and Malin Akerman, joins a mini-trend that has included “Modern Love,” “The Romanoffs” and “Black Mirror” … from a “Soulmates” writer-producer. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 4, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct.6: Sci-fi/monster tales start sharply

1) “NeXt” debut, 9 p.m., Fox. Science-fiction has long fretted about the day the robots – or cyborgs or computers – take over. Ken Jennings even borrowed a sci-fi line after losing “Jeopardy” to a machine: “I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords.” And in the start of this sharp, 10-week mini-series, that seems to be happening: A driverless car refuses to follow orders; an Alexa-type device whispers schemes to a little boy. The guy who created this chaos (John Slattery, shown here) scrambles to stop it. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 4, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 5: Tech turns into Cupid

1) “Soulmates” debut, 10 p.m., AMC. In the near future, it seems, computer-match dating will be obsolete. Instead, a machine simply look into our soul and then finds the perfect match. Now this anthology starts with a tough question: What about people who are already married and sort of happy? Sarah Snook (shown here), who was Shiv in “Succession,” stars in an hour that’s subtle and bittersweet. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 3, 2020
Stories

Comedy Store has launched generations of stars

For a generation of comedians, the challenge was the same:
Do an open-mike set at the Comedy Store. Do your best; hope club-owner Mitzi Shore (shown here with Jay Leno and Garry Shandling) like you.
For Bill Burr, that went one way: “She (said), ‘He’s not ready,’” he told the Television Critics Association last month. “I heard her say it in the m the middle of my set.” Burr soon moved to New York. Years later, he returned while building a vibrant comedy career.
For Mike Bender – who has made a documentary series about the club – it went the other way. He was just 18, a boyish-looking redhead from near Detroit, when he tried the Comedy Store. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 2, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct.4: A fleshy start, a Dead end

1) “Masterpiece: Flesh and Blood” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. As her 70th birthday nears, a wealthy widow (Francesca Annis) has a new love (Stephen Rea; they’re sown here). Her three children are skeptical; then again, their own lives are riddled with problems. There are so many troubles that this four-week series keeps teetering toward soap-opera … then is saved (barely) by the classy British cast (especially Imelda Staunton as an enigmatic neighbor) and writing. There’s a mystery here, plus some harsh blows to every character. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 2, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10: The machines take control

1) “NeXt” debut, 9 p.m. Tuesday, Fox. For decades, science-fiction has fretted about robots taking over. In this solidly made series, that’s imminent. A driverless car refuses to take suggestions; an Alexa-type device whispers schemes to a little boy. What’s happening? A genius (John Slattery, shown here) knows: He wrote a code that lets computers educate themselves; it was too much, he realized – but he’s been fired and the program is unfettered. It’s a strong start to a 10-week tale that was set for spring/summer, then delayed. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 2, 2020
News and Quick Comments

PBS walks thin line between classy and soapy

There’s a thin line between quality drama and brash, soap-style excess.
“Flesh and Blood,” the new four-part “Masterpiece” tale, keeps skidding near the line. It stays on the good side, thanks to first-rate directing, dialog and … especially, acting.
This is a mini-series filled with skilled actors – led by Francesca Annis and Imelda Staunton (shown here, center and right, with Stephen Rea) – who are PBS favorites. They bring some gravity to a story that wants to spin wildly out of control.
The opener (9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4) sets up the basics: There’s been a tragedy – maybe an accident, maybe not – that left someone dead or critically injured. Police do interviews, spurring flashbacks. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 1, 2020