Year: 2020

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 26: Eddie Murphy’s triumphant return

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. A week before launching its new season, “SNL” reruns one of its best episodes. Eddie Murphy (shown here) had stayed away from the show (not counting an anniversary special) for 35 years. Once he returned, however, he did all of his best characters – including a brilliant “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood” bit in which he swiped Amazon packages in his gentrified neighborhood. He won an Emmy (his first) for best comedy guest; Lizzo is the music guest Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 24, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Documentary masters tackle the MacDonald mystery

Like many teen-ager, Marc Smerling wanted to see a horror film.
But the movie – it may have been a “Halloween” re-release, he said – was sold out. Instead, he saw “The Thin Blue Line,” Errol Morris’ distinctive documentary about a murder case.
“It blew me away,” Smerling recently told the Television Critics Association. He savored “the visual storytelling, the soft of courage it took to make something that incredible.”
Now, decades later, he’s working with that filmmaker. “A Wilderness of Error” (shown here with Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald and his wife) — debuting at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, on FX — is directed by Smerling; Morris wrote it, adapting his own book. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 24, 2020
Stories

“Gone Girl” author finds a writer’s utopia

Gillian Flynn is now at a blessed stage of her career.
“I can make up anything right now,” she told the Television Critics Association recently. Proof is “Utopia” (shown here) the wildly distinctive series that arrives Friday (Sept. 25) on Amazon Prime.
Earlier, Flynn was confined to non-fiction, including a decade at Entertainment Weekly. Her novels – including the mega-seller “Gone Girl” – were steeped in the hard choices of almost-normal lives.
But underneith those gritty tales was a fantasy writer, waiting to emerge. “My dad raised me on EC Comics and we’d talk about Ray Bradbury,” said Flynn, 49. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 25: Heavy stuff or light videos

1) “Greatest #AtHome Videos” return, 8 p.m., CBS. Alongside lots of dead-serious shows today, we get an amiable trifle. This began as a one-shot special in May, showing how some people used their pandemic time to create videos – funny (including the “Les Miserables” take-off shown here), quirky, sometimes even emotional. That came back for four summer Fridays and now is a temporary series. Tonight, we see a high school principal’s version of M.C. Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” … followed by a suprise virtual visit from Hammer. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 24: Re-visit the “Discovery” and “Filthy” debuts

1) “Star Trek: Discovery” opener, 10 p.m. CBS. For six previous series – scattered over 54 years – “Trek” focused on the captains. This one – which previously aired on CBS All Access – centers on the science officer (Sonequa Martin-Green, shown here). A human raised in the Vulcan culture, she has Spock-ian logic and Kirk-ian passion … nudging her near mutiny tonight. The hour feels a bit cold and militaristic, but has an epic look. This is big-screen stuff, spectacular in its visuals and in its villains. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 22, 2020
Stories

Emmys were fun — in a drearily monotonous way

The Emmy telecast had been on for 73 minutes Sunday, before an American won an award.
The entire first hour on ABC (yes, the American Broadcasting Company) was spent giving prizes to Canadians. “Schitt’s Creek” (shown here) swept all seven of the awards given on-air for comedies – best series, plus four acting awards and ones for directing and writing.
It was a remarkable – and monotonous – stretch for a pleasant little show that is usually ignored. Having finished its run on the obscure PopTV channel, “Schitt’s Creek” is now confined to the CW Seed streaming service. The Emmy voters had ignored it for years … then showered it with those seven on-air wins and two more (costumes and casting) before the telecast.
When all of that finally ended, it was time for the award for the best variety talk series … which went to John Oliver, an Englishman.
Eventually, the Emmys did find some Americans and revert to their traditional state … which involves HBO winning everything. That included Emmys for best: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 21, 2020
News and Quick Comments

The new TV season has started … sort of

(This is an updated version of a story from the previous week.)
We finally have an answer to TV’s peskiest question: When will the season start?
It started (sort of) on Sept. 21, with Fox’s “L.A.’s Finest” (shown here) and “Filthy Rich” and CBS’ “Manhunt.” It will be smaller than past years, but there will be lots of new shows on the five commercial broadcast networks.
Fox is the most thorough. With one exception – it has to wait a couple weeks for Thursday-night football – it will be rerun-free. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 21, 2020
Stories

“The Choice”: This time, it’s a chasm

For the ninth time, Michael Kirk faced an imposing task:
Create simultaneous profiles of both presidential candidates. Interview everyone (except the candidates); ask everything. Hope there are differences between them.
The result – “Frontline: The Choice” – debuts Tuesday (Sept. 22) on PBS and reruns twice. Compared to Kirk’s eight previous “Choice” films, it was:
– Harder, with the interviews – usually two-hours-plus – done long-distance. “I shoot it remotely, with high-quality cameras,” he told the Televisions Critics Assosciation – in a remote press-conference with a high-quality camera. Interviewees “know we are in it for the long haul.”
– Easier. These two candidates have ample contrasts. “Their lives have been sort of weirdly contradictory,” Kirk said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 22: Finalists for “Talent” and presidency

1) “Frontline: The Choice,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Even “America’s Got Talent” finalists (shown here)  can’t match the impact of the America’s-got-politics finalists. This is biography at its best, bouncing between the lives of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and finding huge contrasts. Biden faced immense troubles, from boyhood stuttering to the death of his wife and two of his children; Trump was sent to military school, where he savored being in command. Biden made big mistakes, including plagiarism; he apologized and adjusted. Donald Trump had bankruptcies, divorces, rants and more; he admits no mistakes. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2020