Day: May 3, 2021

News and Quick Comments

Spin-offs swarm through the crime-show universe

Network televiison, it seems, will soon be plugged up with franchise spin-offs.
NBC has just ordered “Law & Order: For the Defense.” That comes after the debut of “Law & Order: Organized Crime” (shown here) on NBC … and after CBS ordered spin-offs of “FBI,” “CSI” and “NCIS.”
The play-it-safe approach reflects a new reality, when networks simply can’t get their shows sampled. CBS has tried some non-franchise dramas, with “Tommy” and “Clarice” stumbling in the ratings and “All Rise” remaining on the fence. So spin-offs – most of them not yet cast – are set for next season: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2021
Stories

Festival stuffs our TV’s with classic films

For movie buffs – deprived of the cinema experience for a year – there’s a tad of good news:
Now we can all catch the Classic Film Festival. It will start with the 1961 “West Side Story” (shown here) at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) Thursday and will sprawl across four days (May 6-9), two networks (Turner Classic Movies and HBO Max) and 95 years.
For a decade, the festival was just for people who could get to Los Angeles. In classic theaters, it showed great movies, interviewing some of the stars and filmmakers. Then came the COVID impact: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 5: Chicago — good, OK and awful

1) “Chicago P.D.,” 10 p.m., NBC. For Kim (Marina Squerciati, shown here, front, in a previous episode), here’s a potent hour on two fronts. At home, she’s working on adopting a sweet and troubled girl whose mother was murdered. At work, she and other cops start with a body that landed on a car, then get into something much bigger. It’s a solid story and “P.D.” – the best of NBC’s three Chicago shows – does it well. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2021