Year: 2022

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 4: centuries of intense history

1) “Making Black America: Through the Grapevine” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. During slavery, we learn, Black society was already forming. About 10 percent of African-Americans were free; they had clubs and literary societies … attended by some people who couldn’t read. After the war, Black towns sprang up. Henry Louis Gates (shown here) — whose “Finding Your Roots” has Tony Danza and Terry Crews at 8 p.m. — hosts this low-key, four-week series. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 2, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 3: love, lust and lockdown

1) “The Good Doctor” season-opener, 10 p.m., ABC. Last season was supposed to end joyously: Shaun, the autistic surgeon, married Lea, his good-hearted, techie neighbor.(They’re shown here in a previous episode.) But while the reception continued on the hotel roof, two people were stabbed on a lower floor. Now that escalates; there’s a lockdown, while tempers flare during emergency surgery. Shaun’s reactions feel forced, but it’s still a strong start to the season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 1, 2022
Stories

Tubman and Douglass: Opposites sparked freedom

As Blacks fought for freedom, two people took opposite approaches.
Harriet Tubman was almost invisible. A tiny person, rarely photographed, she slipped in and out of the South as a spy, a scout and, especially, a master of the underground railroad.
Frederick Douglass (shown here) was the opposite, a man of many words and images. “He wrote so much and he spoke so much and there were so many great speeches,” filmmaker Stanley Nelson said.
Now Nelson – an Oscar-nominee and two-time Emmy-winner – has made films about both people. “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom” and “Becoming Frederick Douglass” will be at 10 p.m. Tuesdays (Oct. 4 and 11, respectively) on PBS and then online. They follow 9 p.m. episodes of Henry Louis Gates’ “Making Black America” — an amiable look at clubs, institutions and traditions, continuing through Oct. 25. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 30, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 2: “Vampire” leads a three-debut night

1) “Interview With the Vampire” debut, 10:06 to 11:25 p.m., AMC. In a huge plunge, AMC bought rights to 18 Anne Rice novels. “Mayfair Witches” is next, but first is this nine-parter. “Interview” is lushly filmed, sharply written and beautifully acted. (Shown here are Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid, as Louis and Lestat, the blond vampire who turned him.) For more than half the opener, it feels like top-grade “Masterpiece Theatre”; then it explodes into sex and violence, which will repel some viewers and fascinate others. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 30, 2022
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Oct. 3: Swank leads surge of debuts

1) “Alaska Daily” debut, 10 p.m. Thursday, ABC. Two Academy Award-winners link for a promising drama. Hilary Swank (shown here) won Oscars for “Girls Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby”; Tom McCarthy won for his “Spotlight” script. Now he’s writer-producer and she plays a newspaper reporter, moving to Anchorage to repair her tarnished career. That gets ABC’s best timeslot, behind the season-openers of “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 29, 2022
News and Quick Comments

“Blonde” stirs anger and agony

I don’t believe I’ve ever hated a movie – or anything else – quite as much as I hate “Blonde.”
This isn’t your ordinary kind of hatred, something I might direct toward, say, assembly instructions or “Care Bear Movie II.” It’s a deep hatred, the kind that should be reserved for Vladimir Putin or the neighbor lady who – when my softball landed in her yard – picked it up and walked away.
It reflects a sort of abject agony. “Blonde” (shown here) has cruelly taken things from me – my time (two hours and 46 minutes, although it seemed like 46 hours and two minutes) and, temporarily, my joy. It would have been worse if it had also taken my money, at a movie theater. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 29, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 1: Star-shorn “SNL” starts season

1) “Saturday Night Live” season-opener, 11:29 p.m., NBC. “SNL” has seen big transitions, but this is a dilly. Gone are its biggest star (Kate McKinnon) and its pop-culture phenom (Pete Davidson), plus Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villasenor, Christopher Redd, Kyle Mooney and Aristotle Athari. Returning are the “Update” duo, Kenan Thompson and more, joined by four newcomers. Miles Teller (shown here in “Top Gun: Maverick”) hosts, with Kendrick Lamar as music guest. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 29, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 30: “Hocus,” Hulu, Hispanic Heritage

1) “Hispanic Heritage Awards,” 9 p.m., PBS. Ariana DuBose (shown here in hosting “Saturday Night Live”) – who won an Emmy and more for her great “West Side Story” work – will be honored again, this time with Los Lobos, Daddy Yankee and more. Stephanie Beatriz (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) hosts and has music from Carlos Vives, Julieta Venegas, Aymee Nuviola, Bozi, Robi and Hector Tellez Jr. There’s more music at 10, with a rerun of Sheila E’s “Roots of Latin Jazz.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 28, 2022
Stories

October brings fresh take on vampire saga

As October begins, TV re-discovers its interest in all things creepy.
It’s time for more “Chucky,” more “Halloween,” more vampires and zombies and such. For most networks, this is a seasonal blip; for AMC, it’s a way of life.
On Halloween of 2010, the network introduced the zombies of “The Walking Dead.” That’s continued for 11 seasons and several spin-offs. It returns now, to air its final eight episodes at 9 p.m. Sundays – each one followed by an “Interview With the Vampire” (shown here) episode.
This is “the largest and most significant effort we’ve ever embarked on,” network chief Dan McDermott told the Television Critics Association. “We’re building around the iconic works of Anne Rice. We purchased 18 books.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 27, 2022