Year: 2023

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Sept. 11: games, cowboys and some serious history

1) “Yellowstone opener,” 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday, CBS. Five years ago, a wobbly cable channel, formerly The Nashville Network and Spike, became the Paramount Network. Most of its shows failed, with a splendid exception. Written and produced by Taylor Sheridan and starring Kevin Costner (shown here), it’s a modern western, with taut dialog and strong characters. Ratings soared; now CBS (also owned by Paramount) will rerun the entire series, from the start. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 7, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 9: Football fills five broadcast networks

1) College football. For the first time ever, there are primetime games on all five of the top commercial, broadcast networks. We expect that from ABC (which has Wisconsin,shown here, and Washington State at 7:30 p.m. ET), CBS (UCLA-San Diego State, 7:30) and Fox (Oregon-Texas Tech, 7). But now NBC, no longer confined to Notre Dame, has Charlotte-Maryland at 7:30. And CW carries Atlantic Coast Conference games; at 6:30, it has Cincinnati-Pittsburgh. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 7, 2023
Stories

Season preview: Against the odds, dramas debut

.(This has been updated.)
Each new TV season seems to stir optimism.
It’s sort of like each first date or job interview, only without the breath-freshener.
We expect the best; each season could bring the next “Seinfeld or “ER” or “West Wing.” Even when we get the next “Dweebs” or “Hello, Larry” or “My Mother the Car,” we’re hopeful.
But what about the season that starts this month, amid writers’ and actors’ strikes? The streaming and premium-cable networks, working far in advance, are still OK, but what does regular TV have to offer?
A little. There are shows (including “The Irrational,” shown here) that started filming before the strikes …. And ones that have already aired overseas …. And reality and game shows – lots of them.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 8: great women in fact and fiction

1) “American Masters,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Bella Abzug (shown here) reached Congress at full-speed. She “came there with a sledge hammer,” says former Rep. Charles Rangel. By her own account, she “always had a decent sense of outrage”; by a friend’s account, she “had an ego the size of Montana.” Alternately screaming at and charming her aides, she pushed key legislation involving equal opportunity. Here’s an excellent profile of a bigger-than-life personality. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 7: Football starts, “Runway” ends

1) Pro football season-opener, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC. With most scripted shows sidelined by the strikes, NFL games should soar. The season starts now, with a preview at 7 p.m. and then the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (shown here) hosting the Detroit Lions, who had a 9-8 record last year. The rest of the teams start Sunday afternoon (CBS and Fox), Sunday night (NBC) and Monday (ABC and ESPN). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2023
Stories

Season preview: comedies survive, via cartoons and Canada

(This has been updated.)
Long before the strikes began, situation comedies were already wobbling.
Ratings were down; networks were doubtful. At times, NBC – former home of all those “must-see” sitcoms – had zero comedies in prime time.
Still, there will be some laughs this fall, for two reasons: Animated shows (including Fox’s new “Krapopolis,” shown here) are written and voiced far in advance; also, other countries – Canada and England, mostly – had shows available.
Here’s a round-up of sitcoms this fall on the broadcast networks and on some basic-cable channels. It’s chronological and “new” means new to most U.S. viewers: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Season preview: relentless reality

(This has been updated.)
Ready or not, TV viewers are entering an autumn of relentless reality.
In past seasons, the big broadcast networks tossed in occasional reality shows. They were big ones – “The Voice,” “The Bachelor,” “Survivor” – adding variety to a sea of dramas and comedies.
But this season, amid the writers’ and actors’ strikes, it’s almost non-stop reality,
CBS is launching three new games (including “Buddy Games,” shown here) and giving two classics (“Survivor” and “The Amazing Race”) an extra half-hour apiece …. Fox will be non-stop reality, from Mondays through Thursdays .… ABC has retrieved “Dancing With the Stars” from Disney+ and will even have generations of romance – an hour of a 71-year-old “Golden Bachelor,” followed by two hours of frisky folks in bikinis and such. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 6: life in the kitchen or on the river

1) “MasterChef,” 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. Americans (well, some Americans) really like big walls. Here’s one that’s eight feet high, 55 feet long and forbidding. On each side is half of a chef duo; partners try to create dishes that look and taste the same. It’s a fun concept, bringing surprising success and occasional flubs. That’s at 9 p.m., after a fairly uneventful hour involving barbecues (shown here). By the end of the night, the field has been trimmed from nine to six. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 4, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 5: A new Long talks football

1) “Inside the NFL” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. It was 30 years ago that Fox created a fresh, fun football studio show, with .Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw at the core. Those two are still there, but now Long’s son gets a turn. Chris Long (shown here) had an 11-year pro career as defensive end, including two Super Bowl wins and a Walter Peyton award (the year he gave his entire pay to charity). He joins Ryan Clark, Chad Johnson, Jay Cutler and Channing Crowder. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 3, 2023