Year: 2020

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for July 6: Tough guys, angry women

1) “POV: The Vote,” 9-11 p.m. today and Tuesday, PBS. Sure, there are plenty of protests this summer; a century ago, however, was another matter. “No one had ever picketed outside the White House,” historian Tina Cassidy says here. Then women did in 1917, demanding the vote. There were arrests, sentences, hunger strikes … and (on Aug. 26, 1920) victory. It was a slow path, for a movement (shown here) that was organized in 1848. This film gets lost in the in-fighting, but then returns to a passionate story. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 3, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 5; premium channels rule with fact and fiction

1) “Outcry” or “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” 10 p.m., Showtime or HBO. Two crime documentaries collide. Last Sunday, HBO launched the six-week “Dark,” researching the “Golden State Killer” and his victims. Now Showtime starts the five-week “Outcry”: Greg Kelley (shown here) was a high school football player in Texas whose world crumbled. His father had a stroke, his mother had a brain tumor, he stayed in a home that had a day care – then was accused of molestation. The film follows efforts to free him. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 3, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 4: Flash, flair and lots of music

1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m., PBS, rerunning at 9:30. Even without a live concert, the Memorial Day special was surprisingly good. It mixed brief reruns with gorgeous music numbers, taped in Washington and beyond. Now some of the same people – Renee Fleming, Trace Adkins (shown here at a previous concert) and Kelli O’Hara – perform again. Others include Patty LaBelle, John Fogerty, Vanessa Williams, Andy Grammer, Brantley Gilbert, Yolanda Adams, the Temptations and more. They’re on tape, but the closing fireworks are live. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 2, 2020
Stories

For ghostbuster/crimebuster, some new twists

In a long career, Ernie Hudson (shown here) has ranged from crimebusting to ghostbusting.

He’s been steady, solid, dependable; the world around him, however, keeps quaking.

Part of that involves national tumult, but other parts are strictly show-business. “I’m in awe,” said Hudson, 74. “We’re reaching people in different ways now.” Consider his current shows: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 1, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 3: Music and miltary for Independence Day eve

1) “Hamilton,” any time, Disney+. Gradually, more people will get to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece onstage, when Broadway resumes and tours return. It’s an amazing show, stuffed with epic scenes that would be the centerpiece of other musicals. Now, however, comes a chance to see the original cast – Miranda (shown here, left), Leslie Odom, Daveed Diggs, Chris Jackson, more. Director Thomas Kail (who also directed the Broadway show) intended it for movie theaters, but it’s now diverted to streaming. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 1, 2020
Stories

Reiner mastered the modern sitcom

Carl Reiner packed a lot of lives into 98 years.
He was the perfect straight man for Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks, the ideal mentor for Steve Martin. He wrote seven movies, directed 15 of them (including “Oh, God” and four of Martin’s films), acted in tons more. He wrote a novel and memoirs.
But TV viewers will mainly remember Reiner, who died Monday, for one thing: He created the predecessor for sharp situation comedies rooted in real life.
That was “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (shown here in a colorized episode). It “was one of the few smart sitcoms of the 1960s,” David Bianculli wrote in “The Platinum Age of Television” (Doubleday, 2016), “a decade in which the genre was awash with flying nuns, talking cars and subservient witches and genies.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Here’s a guide to at-home 4th

So now we face the prospect of a stay-at-home 4th of July.
In many places, that means no fireworks, no parades, no music. In others … well, it still seems safer to stay away this year.
Not to worry, television is ready to fill in … just as it did for Easter and Memorial Day. It has two big-deal shows, with music and fireworks – PBS (see separate story, alongside this one) in Washington, D.C. (shown here), NBC in New York. It also has shows aimed at the day’s emphasis on history or music; here’s a guide: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 2: ‘Dads,’ ‘Dark’ dramas

1) “Council of Dads” season-finale, 8 p.m, NBC. Last week ended with a fierce hurricane ripping through town. People huddled in Oliver’s home, where he delivered the baby he and Peter hope to adopt. Robin left to save her son Theo and was trapped … until Anthony arrived. Now this strong finale surveys the damage (shown here) and answers questions: How is the baby? Will Peter accept him? Did the restaurant survive? Can Anthony be forgiven for lying and leaving? Will Robin imagine one more chat with her late husband? Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Supervise my bath, please

Sometimes, you pass by a sign that jolts you.
That happbned to me today. It was an election sign that simply said: “Curtis For Bath Supervisor.”
What? We elect people to supervise our bathing? The mind jumps to — well, Ernie (shown here) singing “Rubber Ducky.” Or Marilyn Monroe in a bubble-bath secne or some such.
It sort of needs context, I guess. Like the time I saw a sign that said “Rich Girls Track Team.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2020
News and Quick Comments

NBC on the 4th: country, rock & fireworks

Now we have two large-scale choices for the 4th of July. And neither involves wedging into a noisy crowd of COVID-deniers.
NBC has just announced its plan for the night. It includes some country, some rock, a tad of poetry and a lot of fireworks. That’s at the same time that PBS (see separate story) has country, pop, Broadway …. and a lot of fireworks.
The annual NBC event has been linked to Macy’s fireworks (shown here in a previous year), which were on hold for a while, while New York worked out a way to avoid people congregating: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 29, 2020