Year: 2022

News and Quick Comments

Jordan brought an impish charm to TV

(Finding Leslie Jordan’s final TV work on Fox has been a bit tricky. His “Call Me Kat” episode, on Nov. 3, was bumped by the World Series; so was his visit to “The Masked Singer” on Nov. 2. The latter was rescheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 … but will be bumped again, if the Series goes to seven games. Meanwhile, here’s the story I wrote after Jordan died in a car accident.)  
When Leslie Jordan first got there, Hollywood knew what a star should look like.
That was 40 years ago, when TV was dominated by Tom Selleck and Selleck types. A star would be 6-foot-4, handsome, a lades man, with a Midwestern-type voice.
And Jordan (shown here), who died Monday (Oct. 24) at 67, was the exact opposite. He was 4-foot-11, gay, with an impish charm and a pronounced Tennessee accent. “I realized that my job was the funny guy that comes in with the zingers,” he told the Television Critics Association in 2018. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 4, 2022
Stories

A tenacious writer-singer-actress breaks through

Sasha Clayton and Nicole Lecky have a lot in common, actually.
Both are blessed with beauty and musical talent. But both grew up in London’s hard-scrabble East End, with no easy way to get into show business.
From there, they diverge wildly. Sasha is fictional, the central character in “Mood,” a six-part mini-series (with music) on AMC+ and BBC America. In the opener (10 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6), she lashes out fiercely at … well, everyone; her world implodes.
And Lecky (shown here) is real. She stars, sings, wrote the scripts, overcame the things that shattered Sasha. “It was a mixture of, I guess, talent and tenacity,” she told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 4, 2022
Stories

Successful TV co-star? It’s a mixed pleasure

Here are some moments in the life of a successful TV actor. Jim Hoffmaster (shown here) was:
1) Visiting his high school alma mater in Durand, Mich., when a young woman rushed in, grinning. She was meeting the guy who played Kermit on “Shameless” – “my favorite character on my favorite show.” Later, he was cheered at a street fair in Lansing, Mich.; it was, he said, “the closest I’ve ever been to being mobbed.”
2) Back home in Los Angeles, in his crowded studio apartment. No, he doesn’t have elegant dinner parties there. In fact, he never has guests … and he sometimes eats soup straight from the can.
Those scenes are in “Acting Like Nothing is Wrong,” a documentary now reaching film festivals (including the East Lansing Film Festival on Nov. 10). The contrasts — a vivid view of the life of a supporting actor — will surprise viewers … as they surprised the filmmaker. “He warned me what his apartment was like,” Jane Rosemont said, “but it was still a bit of a shock.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 4, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 6: moody music visit to stars and wannabes

1) “Spector” opener, 9 p.m., Showtime. Phil Spector was the master of early-’60s pop music, churning out vibrant “wall of sound” hits for the Ronettes (shown here) and others. Then he sort of disappeared … until Feb. 3, 2003. That’s when a British magazine published a long, candid interview; it’s also when a blonde beauty was found dead in his mansion. This compelling, four-week film starts that day, then uses the interview as the spine; the opeer focuses on a great (but brief) career. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 4, 2022
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Nov. 7: country stars, cowboy governor

1) CMA Awards, 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, ABC. Generations and genres merge. There are tributes to Alan Jackson (shown here) and (opening the night) the late Loretta Lynn. Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless will perform; so will crossover artists (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Pillbox Patti, the Black Keys) and current country elite — Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson, Jimmy Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 3, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 5: Schumer returns, “Yellowstone” recaps

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Amy Schumer, quickly becoming an all-media star, hosts, with Steve Lacy as music guest. Schumer has been terrific hosting “SNL” twice previously – and in most other things. She has a sketch show, “Inside Amy Schumer,” on Paramount+ … has the comedy-drama “Life & Beth” (shown here) renewed for a second Hulu season … and, as co-host, was the best part of the chaotic Academy Awards. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 3, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 4: opening night for comedies and concert hall

1) “Young Rock” season-opener, 8:30 p.m., NBC. It’s an odd sort of brew – bits of comedy, scattered alongside a dramatization of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s real past and a fictional version of his future. Tonight’s comedy parts come early (with Randall Park in an awful talk show), then retreat. We see rough moments in the wrestling careers of Johnson as a young man (shown here) and his dad. And in the final minute, we jump ahead to a time after his failed 2032 run for president. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 2, 2022
Stories

Lopez rift was patched via TikTok and TV

Here’s a fresh approach to daddy-daughter problems:
He had too much alcohol and too many absences. She avoided him. “The only way these two were going to heal their relationship was on the set of their own NBC sitcom,” Debby Wolfe said.
Now that show is here. “Lopez vs. Lopez” (shown here) debuts at 8 p.m. Friday (Nov. 4) on NBC; Wolfe created it, with George and Mayan Lopez playing versions of themselves that are exaggerated – a little.
“There was a time when we didn’t speak and were estranged for about three years,” Mayan told the Television Critics Association. That split, George said, “was so painful and so much my fault.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 1, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Updated best-bets for Nov. 3: Baseball bumps some of the comedies

1) “Welcome to Flatch” and “Call Me Kat,” 9:02 and 9:30 p.m., Fox. We’ll be watching “Kat” on the next four Thursdays, for the final bits from Leslie Jordan (shown here in an upcoming episode), the tiny actor who died Oct. 24, at 67. Alongside it, the inconsistent “Flatch” has a fairly good story: Last week, Barb (Jaime Pressly, 45) started a torrid affair with young Shrub. Now his cousin Kelly tries to break them up by transforming drab, dull Beth into a flashy mini-Barb. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 1, 2022
News and Quick Comments

It was another great Tuesday for TV doctors

There was a brief time when Thursdays were overloaded with great medical dramas. “ER” and “Chicago Hope” collided.
And now? Tuesdays are the time for very good – and, at times, great – ones.
Last week (Oct. 25), it was “The Resident” with one of its best episodes, complete with a wedding and a crisis. This week (Nov. 1), “New Amsterdam” (shown here) soars.
The two don’t directly compete anyway; “Resident” is usually 8 p.m. on Fox, “New Amsterdam” is 10 p.m. on NBC. That’s especially true this week, because the World Series has taken over Fox; “Resident” fans might seek out “New Amsterdam” to fill their no-doctors-tonight void. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 31, 2022