Year: 2023

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 6: lots of Charles, no Pete

1) Coronation. The actual ceremony for King Charles III (shown here) starts at 6 a.m. ET and is expected to last a couple hours. Most networks, however, are planning all-out coverage, from 5-10 a.m., bringing some of their stars. Anchors include Anderson Cooper at CNN, Savannah Guthrie at NBC, Martha McCallum at Fox News, Alex Witt at MSNBC, Michael Strahan at ABC and the Saturday-morning trio at CBS. Each will be joined by reporters and royalty experts. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 4, 2023
News and Quick Comments

As strike begins, “Dancing” returns to ABC

Let’s think of this as another quick – and unsettling – reaction to the writers’ strike:
ABC announced today (Wednesday) that “Dancing With the Stars” (shown here) will return to the network.
In fact, it will sprawl across three entities: Episodes will air live on ABC and Disney+ , then show up the next day on Hulu.
As the strike began Tuesday, some quick consequences included: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023
News and Quick Comments

As the strike starts, Pete is gone and FBoys are back

On the first day of the writers’ strike, two bits of news seemed especially ominous:
— “Saturday Night Live” is dumping this week’s new episode … and, probably, the rest of the season. It would have been a big night, with Pete Davidson hosting.
— “FBoy Island” – previously a summertime distraction(shown here) – will be in the regular-season line-up for the CW network. So will its spin-off, “FGirl” Island.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 5: great new “Maisel”; great old “Oz”

1) “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amazon Prime. It’s been a big streaming week, with the season-finale of the delightful “Schmigadoon” (Apple TV+) and season-opener of “Bridgerton” (Netflix). Now it adds the futuristic “Silo” on Apple and a terrific “Maisel,” jumping ahead to a tribute/roast for Susie (shown here, left, in a previous episode — now powerful and alone. Also streaming today are shows that will reach cable Sunday — Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and AMC’s superb “Lucky Hank” finale. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023
News and Quick Comments

The coronation: lots of choices, lots of channels

The last time TV covered the coronation of a British monarch, it did a sturdy job.
The pictures were black-and-white and kind of fuzzy, but we got the idea: A young woman we knew little about had become the royal head of a thriving empire.
Since then, TV has had a lot of time – 69 years, 11 months and five days – to improve its work. Now – with crisp, pretty pictures on endless networks – an old man (shown here) we know too much about is crowned as the royal head of a shrinking empire.
The coronation of King Charles III starts at 6 a.m. ET Saturday (May 7) and may last for two hours or so. (Even that is an hour less than the previous one.) Most networks are planning to cover it from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.; here’s a round-up: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 4: Shonda’s shows span eras

1) “Bridgerton,” Netflix. Thursdays have become strong nights for Netflix mini-series. There was “Florida Man,” a sunny adventure spiced with great characters … followed a week later by Kerri Russell’s “The Diplomat” … and now, two weeks after that, this six-episode prequel to a lush series. We’ve known Queen Charlotte as a stone-faced ruler. Now we meet her as a brainy teen (shown here), falling for a young king who shares her love of science.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2023
News and Quick Comments

“9-1-1” jumps from Fox to ABC

The Fox network will go into next season without two of its top dramas – “The Resident” and “9-1-1.”
For viewers, however, there’s a key difference: “Resident” is apparently finished, but “9-1-1” (shown here) will simply jump to ABC.
Both shows have filmed six seasons and faced the usual tug: Costs nudge up, while ratings stagnate.
Complicating that are two other factors for “9-1-1”; the show is: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2023
Stories

“Sam Now”: a real-life, missing-mom adventure

A quarter-century ago, a cinematic duo was created.
Reed Harkness was then 18 and had just found his dad’s old super-8 camera. Sam Harkness, his half-brother, was 11 and ready for anything.
“He was this very resilient kid,” Reed told the Television Critics Association. “He was always taking falls and then getting right back up again.”
They made goofy films with Sam as The Blue Panther, forever crashing, smashing and surviving. Then they made a dead-serious one about surviving something in real life: When Sam and his older brother Jared were in their early teens, their mother simply vanished.
In a way, Reed “spent 25 years making ‘Sam Now,’” said producer Lois Vossen. Her “Independent Lens” series will show the documentary (shown here) at 10 p.m. next Monday (May 8) on most PBS stations. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 3: lots of finales, two of them forever

1) “A Million Little Things” series-finale, 10 p.m., ABC. It isn’t easy building a drama out of regular lives – ones without cops, crooks or courts. “This Is Us” did it brilliantly; “Million” (shown here in an early epiode) has done it fairly well, at a frantic pace. It started with a suicide, then added new crises. One person became paraplegic, two had cancer. There was deceit, despair, Alzheimer’s, more … plus warmth and humor. Now the show ends – as it had planned, it says — after five seasons. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 2: a brisk court and some big finales

1) “Accused,” 9 p.m., Fox. After some tough episodes lately, “Accused” offers a brisk ride at the edge of soap turf. A teen (Bebe Wood) is obsessed with learning the identity of the sperm-donor who is her biologic father; her mom (Betsy Brandt) promptly panics. A caper (shown here) follows, along with some large plot twists that actually add up, especially when handled by sharp dialog and a talented cast. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2023