Month: September 2022

News and Quick Comments

Two terrific shows wrap their seasons

In the midst of TV’s fall-season fuss, two of the best summer shows have season-finales.
Each show wraps up its second season Wednesday (Sept. 28) and has been renewed for a third. Each is worth catching … and worth finding previous episodes, via streamers. They are:
— “Resident Alien,” at 10 p.m. on Syfy, and then on Peacock. Now that he’s rescued the alien baby, Harry must decide whether to destroy all Earthlings. He kind of likes some of them.
— “Reservation Dogs” (shown here) on Hulu. The friends are finally ready for their pilgrimage to California. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 25, 2022
Stories

Life transforms, among the wooly mammoths

(Interesting little story about the amputee actress from Michigan who co-stars in “La Brea,” which starts its second season Tuesday, Sept. 27, on NBC. This works any time, print or Web. As with any of my stories, feel free to share it with other Gannett papers in Michigan.)

By Mike Hughes
As the second “La Brea” season begins, Zyra Gorecki’s world transforms.
She’s the Michigan actress who plays Izzy, a teen who spent the first season simply being a victim. Izzy had lost her leg in an accident … lost connection with her dad because of his emotional turmoil … then lost her mom, who was swallowed by a giant sinkhole, ending up in 10,000 BC.
As the second season starts (9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, on NBC and then on Peacock), some of that has changed. Izzy and her dad plunged into an alternate sinkhole, ending up in prehistoric Seattle.
“It was really weird just thinking about, like being in 10,000 BC and having a fake leg and all of the garbage that goes with it,” Gorecki said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 25, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 27: a bright start for “Feds”

1) “The Rookie: Feds” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. A former guidance counselor, Simone (Niecy Nash, shown here) became the oldest grad at Quantico, the FBI school. After helping Nolan (who shows up briefly here) in two “Rookie” episodes, she’s ready something big. Instead, she’s pointed to a desk job. Naturally, she ducks it. This is a brisk, bright-eyed episode that lets Nash have fun, while catching some bad guys. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 25, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 26: Lee leaps between shows

1) “Kevin Can F Himself,” 9 p.m., AMC, and “Quantum Leap,” 10 p.m., NBC. For tonight and two more weeks, Raymond Lee is the king of Mondays. On NBC, he’s the star, leaping into strangers’ bodies; tonight, he’s aboard a space shuttle. On AMC (shown here), his marriage crumbles during his affair with Allison — who plans to fake her death to escape her husband. “Kevin” juggles deliberately bad sitcom and solid drama; it has some pivotal scenes late in this hour. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 24, 2022
News and Quick Comments

“Bridgerton” flashes back to a young queen

So there will be a new Queen Charlotte, after all.
This one isn’t in England (where the real Princess Charlotte is further back in the heir-apparent list). It’s in the fictional world of “Bridgerton.”
The first two seasons (still available on Netflix) had Golda Rosheuvel (shown here) as the old — and rather grumpy — queen. Now, however, news comes of the prequel. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2022
News and Quick Comments

The new season: Here’s an updated overview

(The new season is half-way here now. It officially began Sept. 19, but several shows will wait until early October; one new one arrives Nov. 4. With that in mind, I’m keeping the new-season overview here at the top and updating it. Here are three stories that I posted earlier; the first two have been rewritten throughout.)
A new TV season is here now. It has a few shows and a lot of promos. What it lacks is the old blend of Hollywood hope, hype and a sense of something big.
There have been big things lately, but not on the broadcast networks, the ones that send out shows for free (with commercials) over the air.
A “Game of Thrones” prequel on HBO collided with a “Lord of the Rings” prequel (shown here) on Amazon Prime, both spending mega-money – reportedly $200 million for 10 HBO episodes, $465 million for eight Amazon ones. What’s a mere broadcast network to do? Not much; consider: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2022
Stories

“Monarch”: a regal mix of soap, stars & songs

Dottie Roman and Elizabeth II had a lot in common, you know.
Both were queens – one of country music, the other of the British empire. Both will remain visible – one via flashbacks, the other via stamps and money and such. And both planned their own funerals.
The differences are also important, of course:
— Dottie is fictional, portrayed by Susan Sarandon(shown here, center) in “Monarch,” at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on Fox. Elizabeth, we’re told, was real.
— At her funeral, Dottie suddenly soared above the stage – a giant, holographic image, singing powerfully. Elizabeth didn’t … but it would have been really cool if she did. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 25: “Simpsons” starts, “Big Brother” ends

1) “The Simpsons” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. Homeris forlorn (shown here) after being mocked at a town hall. Then he finds a cause – a group with conspiracy theories about the zoo’s missing tortoise. It gives him, Marge says, “a chance to be a big fish in a small, weird pond.” It’s a funny episode, launching a string of openers: “The Great North” at 8:30, “Bob’s Burgers” at 9 and “Family Guy” at 9:30, with its versions of “Silence of the Lambs,” “American Beauty” and “Forrest Gump.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2022
Stories

He rescued his sad mom … and his sagging life

Like many young actors, Scott Prendergast was drowning in debts and doubts.
He twas 35, with no money, no insurance and $27,000 in credit-card debt. “My mother was constantly having to step in and save me and fix my life,” he told the Television Critics Association.
Then a crisis turned everything around. Parts of that – 17 years later – are being re-created in “So Help Me Todd,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 29) on CBS.
Skylar Astin plays Todd, an unemployed detective who is hired by his mom, a big-time lawyer. Prendergast wrote the script and is a producer, which makes things complicated. “You’re basically casting a proxy of yourself,” he said. “And then someone is playing sort of a version of your mother.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 23, 2022
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Sept. 26: a light-drama revival

1) “So Help Me Todd” debut, 9 p.m. Thursday, CBS. There’s a sweet spot, where fun and crimesolving co-exist. TV lost it for a while, but “Todd” hits it perfectly in its opener … before getting a tad goofy in the next couple weeks. Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden) is a lawyer; Todd (Skylar Astin) is a private eye, with tech skills and no work. (They’re shown here.) He’s also her son; when he works for her, his freeform style collides with her diligence. Good mysteries are peppered with fun. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 22, 2022