Month: March 2022

Stories

From podcast to ‘Pam’: a true-crime obsession

For Renee Zellweger, this began as a mercy mission for her dog. Then it led to a dream role.
Now she stars in NBC’s “The Thing About Pam” (shown here). It airs at 10:01 p.m. on six Tuesdays, starting March 8), eyeing murder cases that center on Pam Hupp.
“I binged the podcast, actually, when I was driving up and down the freeway, going to take my dog to get his hip replaced in San Francisco,” Zellweger told the Television Critics Association. “I couldn’t believe it …. It was like these escalating absurdities.”
Soon, she wanted to portray Hupp; producer Chris McCumber said that got his attention. “When a two-time Oscar-winner calls and says, ‘I’m obsessed with this story and I want to play Pam and I want to produce, ‘you say ‘Yes.’” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 5, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 7: high stakes for Thony and Shaun

1) ”The Cleaning Lady,” 9 p.m., Fox. A week from the season-finale, this tangled tale gains speed. Thony (shown here) is a doctor in the Philippines, but can’t get a transplant for her son there. In Las Vegas, she worked as a cleaner … then met some mobsters. One got her to Mexico for the transplant … but was nearly killed and can’t get her back to the U.S.. Then there’s the FBI guy who considers her an informant. It’s a good episode, setting up a better one next week. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 5, 2022
News and Quick Comments

Solitary, solemn Brits keep solving mysteries

As our TV sets fill up with British crime-solvers, some traditions persist.
At home, these people are solemn and solitary. That has continued – with occasional exceptions – from Sherlock Holmes to Hercule Poirot, Inspector Morse and more.
And it’s true of Max Arnold in “The Chelsea Detective” series (shown here), on the Acorn streaming service. “I think he’s a born-again melancholic,” Adrian Scarborough, who plays him, told the Television Critics Association. “Putting him … in the middle of the Thames, on his little houseboat, was very deliberate.”
That’s part of an overload of crime tales from England and its former colonies: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 4, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 6: a magic night, despite killers and zombies

1) “Winning Time: The Rise of the Los Angeles Lakers” debut, 9 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 10 and 11:30. In 1979, pro basketball was sagging; even with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Norm Nixon and a winning team, Los Angeles fans shrugged. Then Jerry Buss – who didn’t have the money – bought the team; he added flair, fun and Laker Girls. He also overruled his crabby coach and drafted Magic Johnson. (Shown here are John C. Reilly and Quincy Isaiah as Buss and Johnson.) It’s a fun story, jauntily told in this scripted mini-series. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 4, 2022
Weekly Previews

Week’s top 10 for March 7: Reality shows start and end

1) “Survivor” opener (shown here), 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. The 42nd edition has 18 contestants, ranging from a 19-year-old Ivy League student to a 58-year-old retired firefighter. As usual, there are people with light-hearted jobs – waitress, pageant coach, fitness consultant. But there’s also a data scientist, a therapist, a veterinarian and a Yale Law School grad. One person is listed as a stay-at-home dad, another (who’s also a Black Studies teacher) as a stay-at-home mom. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 3, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 5: A “Star Wars” guy hosts “SNL”

.1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. After its Olympic break, “SNL” was in top form last week. It started with an emotional Ukraine chorus, followed with a sharp John Mullaly monolog, then had neatly offbeat sketches. Now Oscar Isaac – the Guatemalan native who plays Poe Damera (show here) in “Star Wars” films – has his first turn as host. Charli XCX has her second (and first in eight years) as music guest. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 3, 2022
News and Quick Comments

PBS plans a Broadway-style surge

PBS continues its solo mission of putting Broadway-type shows on TV.
There’s a small sign of that now, when stations air “An Evening with Lerner and Lehrer” during their pledge drive. (See a separate piece here, under “stories.” A bigger package comes in May, with specials on three Fridays.
Two of those shows were done last year, during a slowdown in the pandemic – a Sutton Foster musical in London (shown here) and an outdoor comedy in New York. The other is a documentary. The shows, under the “Great Performances” banner, are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2022
News and Quick Comments

“Joe vs. Carole” has half of a great feud tale

For a great feud story, you need two sides that are deep, detailed and interesting.
You need Yankees and Red Sox, Hatfields and McCoys, Lincoln and Douglas, maybe Edison and Tesla. By that standard, “Joe vs. Carole,” which starts Thursday (March 3) on Peacock, falls one short.
For a pretty good story, however, you need only one rich character, in the hands of a gifted actor. That’s what this delivers instantly.
Kate McKinnon (shown here with Kyle MacLachlan) is a delight as Carole Baskin, the animal activist; John Cameron Mitchell survives some overwrought material as Joe Exotic, owner of a touring animal show. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 4: brains and rage

1) “Brain Games: On the Road,” 8-10 p.m., National Geographic. The original series ran for eight seasons and three hosts, showing how our sub-conscious can help or trick us. It was a fun show, worth trying; all the episodes are on Disney+ and three of them rerun here, at 5, 6 and 7 p.m. They’re followed by four half-hours of this spin-off (shown here), which debuted last week. Chuck Nice takes the games into neighborhoods. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2022
Stories

Respect MSU and save your team and/or planet

Adam McKay’s work sprawls across vast turf, from the goofiness of Will Ferrell films to the rage and humor entwined in “Vice” or “The Big Short.”
Now a sub-theme has accidentally surfaced: Take people from Michigan State University seriously. It might save your basketball team and/or your planet.
“Michigan is a major state with great learning institutions,” McKay said with a grin. Key characters in his latest films don’t seem to realize that; consider:
–“Don’t Look Up,” which has Oscar nominations for best picture, McKay’s script and more. MSU people say a meteor is heading toward Earth; there’s a fatal pause, as officials wait for Ivy Leaguers to agree.
— “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” debuting at 9 p.m. Sunday (March 6) on HBO. We see some people doubt that Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a wide-eyed teenager, can make the jump to Los Angeles from MSU and his Lansing hometown. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2022