Year: 2021

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 10: “Mom” leads flood of finales

1) “Mom” series finale, 9 p.m Thursday., CBS. At times, this has been TV’s best comedy, a dandy blend of quiet emotion (as recovering alcoholics cope with life) and loud humor. The latter part is propelled by by Bonnie’s unapologetic adventures. Allison Janney (shown here with William Fichtner) has mastered the role, winning two Emmys and three more nominations – to go with four Emmys and an Oscar elsewhere. Now some news gives Bonnie a new outlook on sobriety. And Jill and Andy, now re-connected, take a big step. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2021
Stories

“Sanditon” returns to life … again

“Sanditon” (shown here) will rise from the dead … again.
It’s a tale that vanished with Jane Austen’s death in 1817. It returned – more than two centuries later – with a lush PBS mini-series … then was abruptly canceled after its first season. Now, more than a year later, comes the surprising news that second and third seasons will eventually be produced. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2021
Stories

A layman as “SNL” host? Occasionally

When “Saturday Night Live” announced its final hosts of the season, it included one surprise.
Two of them – Keegan-Michael Key on May 15, Anya Taylor-Joy on May 22 – fit the usual mold. He’s an actor/comedian; she’s an actress.
But first, on May 8 (with Miley Cyrus as music guest) is Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame. And that breaks a long trend of using only singers, actors or comedians.
The last layman (as we’ll call him) hosting was football’s J.J. Watt; that was 15 months ago. Before that, the last ones were basketball’s Charles Barkley in 2018 … and, alas, Donald Trump in 2015. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 5, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 7: Season ends, season starts, “Plan 9” persists

1) “Magnum P.I.” season-finale, 9 p.m. CBS. The Friday-night finales are spread out – “MacGyver” last week … “Magnum” now … “Blue Bloods” next week. (“MacGyver,’ with an 8 p.m. rerun, won’t be back next year; the others will.) In this one, a woman who has no idea why she’s being stalked. Also, friends try to nudge Magnum and Higgins (shown here in a previous episode) together romantically, at a key time: Higgins’ boyfriend, Ethan Shah, wants her to join him on an extended Doctors Without Borders journey. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 5, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 6: Strong comedy … and a film festival

1) “United States of Al,” 8:31 p.m., CBS. In its first season, “Al” has offered few big laughs, but lots of pleasant, little ones … plus some immensely likable characters, Now it adds some solid emotion: A veterans’ group wants to honor the guys, but that requires a speech – which is an ordeal for Riley (shown here, right), but a breeze for Al (center), his former Afghan translator. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 4, 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
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 4: a night for intense drama

1) “Prodigal Son,” 9 p.m., Fox. Last week, a jailbreak set three people free – including Malcolm’s dad, who is both a charming surgeon and a serial killer. Now the search begins, as Malcolm works with a federal marshal (shown here, left), his sister, their mother and the prison doctor (Catherine Zeta-Jones). It’s an intense hour that delivers some surprises – then pushes things ahead to next week. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2021