Year: 2021

Stories

This park has lots of nature, few people

If your goal is to be outdoors and away from people, then Big Bend National Park (shown here) is your spot.
It has a lot of outdoors – almost 800,000 acres, in the bend of the Rio Grande River, in Texas. And it has few people. “It is one of the least-visited national parks in the U.S.,” said Skip Hobbie, who filmed a gorgeous hour for “Nature,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 10) on PBS.
That’s relative, of course. Overall visitation (400,000 a year) is topped ten-fold by Yellowstone and Yosemite – and 30-fold by the Grand Smokey Mountains National Park. But some get fewer people – 26,000 at Isle Royale in Michigan, 10,000 at Gate of the Arctic in Alaska Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 10: “Nature,” “Nails,” “Nova,” more

1) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. The Big Bend National Park (shown here) sprawls over 800,000 acres of West Texas, including 118 miles alomg the Mexican border. Much of it is desert, which may explain why this is one of our least-visited parks. Filmmakers, however, got great footage – towering bluebonnet flowers … beavers cavorting in the Rio Grande … a bear climbing a tree to steal a woodpecker’s cache … and, especially, bighorn sheep: In 1973, seven of them were brought in; now more than 1,000 roam the park. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021
News and Quick Comments

Pandemic sent PBS in fresh directions

For PBS, the pandemic created a global dilemma.
This is a network that sprawls across continents and genres. COVID has had endless effects, from delayed dramas to masked puppeteers, solo concerts by Renee Fleming (shown here) and others, and an “Antiques Roadshow” without the roadshow.
Still, PBS has an ambitious schedule, partly because documentaries have been less affected. Coming up are two masterful ones – Henry Louis Gates’ “The Black Church” (Feb. 16-17) and Ken Burns’ “Hemingway” (April 5-7), plus some ongoing series.
“I think the most important series that we have on our air is ‘Frontline,’” Paula Kerger, the network president, told the Television Critics Association. “When you look at what’s happening to investigative journalism in this country, ‘Frontline’ (10 p.m. Tuesdays) is one of the last standing.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021
News and Quick Comments

Zucker soared with CNN … after crashing with NBC

Jeff Zucker is following a plan embraced by politicians and poker players: Quit while you’re ahead.
Zucker announced Thursday that this will be his final year as president of CNN. Earlier, he soared as producer of “Today” … crashed as president of NBC … then bounced back. CNN has had strong ratings, forceful reporting … and lots of weekend programming — including two on Sunday (Feb. 14): “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” (shown here) and “Lincoln: Divided We Stand.”
Both extremes – the CNN highs, the NBC lows –revolved around Donald Trump. Many things do. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 9: NBC has back-to-back drama

1) “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” 8 p.m., NBC. Some weeks, this show is is bright, bouncy and fun. Its color palette is cheery; so are the pop songs that Zoey imagines people singing. But it also takes serious detours; last week, Simon (John Clarence Stewart, shown here) pointed to the systemic racism in his company. Now come the aftershocks. It’s a great hour, with all the songs by Black writers, performed superbly by Black (Stewart, Alex Newell as Mo) and brown (Kapil Talwalkar as Tobin) actors. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 7, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 8: Try “9-1-1”? Yes and no

1) “9-1-1: Lone Star,” 9:01 p.m., Fox. Romance, it seems, can be tricky. We see that right away, when a wedding reception takes some nasty (and kind of funny) twists. Then we see it in three relationships – Owen and his ex-wife (Rob Lowe and Lisa Edelstein, shown here) … their son and his boyfriend … and Marjan and a surprise visitor (Mena Massoud, who had the title role in the 2019 “Aladdin” movie). One of the stories has an ending that perplexes the characters and the viewers, but this is still a worthy Valentine Week episode. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 6, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 7: Super Bowl, super Latifah

1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m., CBS. On one side is Tom Brady, 43, standing in the pocket and firing passes. After nine Super Bowls with the New England Patriots (winning six of them), he’s with the Tampa Bay Bucs. On the other is Patrick Mahomes (shown here), 25, maybe scrambling. His offensive line, splintered by injuries, faces a great Buc defense; still, he’s a master of throwing quickly and on the run. Now he tries for his second straight Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. At halftime, The Weeknd performs. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 5, 2021
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Feb. 8: “Idol” and Clarice are back

1) “American Idol” season-opener, 8 p.m. Sunday, ABC. One of the reality-show giants is back for its 19th season – and its fourth on ABC. Last spring, “Idol” did an impressive job of adjusting to COVID, getting some strong at-home performances from winner (called Just Sam), shown here, and others. This year starts with auditions confined to three California locations – Los Angeles, San Diego and Ojai. Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie are again the judges, with Ryan Seacrest hosting … as he’s been doing since the opener, in the summer of 2002. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 5, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 6: A wild night on Super Bowl eve

1) “A Wild Year on Earth,” 8 p.m., BBC America. This third episode begins in May, amid fierce changes. North America is in its tornado season, Indonesia starts four months of monsoon rain (up to 30 inches in a day) and South Africa goes dry. We get awesome wildlife footage, from tree frogs in Sri Lanka to mustangs (shown here, but not in a scene from the film) in the U.S., plus cuttlefish, with their grabby, eight-armed lust. There are stunning scenes, including humans celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge and beyond. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 4, 2021
News and Quick Comments

Super Bowl preview aims at fans … and all the others

TV has abandoned the notion of grabbing all the viewers at once … except on Super Bowl Sunday.
Nowadays, a show is a hit if it gets five million people to watch it live. The Super Bowl? At a typical moment during the game, more than 100 million people are watching.
That means the sprawling pre-game show faces a challenge: It must range “from people who like football to people who aren’t that much football fans,” said Drew Kaliski, who produces the show.
Yes, there will be talk about the game itself (Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Bucs), which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS. We’ll have more about that at the end of this story. But the pre-game shows, starting at 11:30 a.m. ET, will also have Joe Biden, James Corden, Jay Pharoah, The Weeknd, Roy Wood and Desus & Mero (shown here , with lots of packaged features. “They’re informative, they’re emotional, they’re entertaining,” Kaliski said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 4, 2021