Day: October 12, 2022

News and Quick Comments

Angela and Elizabeth: two grand, 96-year journeys

Two grand Englishwomen had almost parallel lives.
Angela Lansbury and Queen Elizabeth both died at 96. Lansbury was born a half-year earlier and died a month later – Tuesday (Oct. 11), five days shy of her 97th birthday.
They did meet, at Windsor Castle. That was in 2014 (shown here), when Lansbury – then doing a play in London – officially became a Dame.
Both women had a refreshing mixture of intelligence and diligence. And neither mastered the notion of retiring: Elizabeth held her job for 70 years; Lansbury was a working actress for 77. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 14: Jazz and country fill a musical night

1) Music, 9 p.m., PBS and CMT. PBS launches “Next at the Kennedy Center,” with classy concerts. Next (Nov. 18) is “A Joni Mitchell Songbook.” First, is a tribute to jazz great Charles Mingus; the Mingus Big Band soars, complete with a six-saxophone piece. Also, CMT has its “artists of the year” – Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Walker Hayes, Cody Johnson – plus a career award for Alan Jackson (shown here) and a breakthrough one for Lainey Wilson. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022
Stories

Cheerful author creates grumpy, grouchy author

Alan Conway grumbles and grumps his way through the start of a new mystery mini-series. He’s an angry author, ensnared by success.
Conway is fictional, at the core of “Magpie Murder” (shown here),. which debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 16) on PBS – surrounded by more-traditional mysteries: “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” (8 p.m.) is light and bright, “Annika” (10 p.m.) is darker, but both follow the usual pattern of solving a crime each week.
Not “Magpie.” It spends six episodes probing two murders – one of them nowadays, the other in Conway’s novel (set in the ‘50s), which is missing its final chapter. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022