Month: June 2024

Best-bets for June 22: much ado about Ayo

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. On Thursday, the entire third season of the Emmy-winning “The Bear” will debut on Hulu. Now “SNL” reruns the hour hosted by Ayo Edebiri, who has already won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for “Bear.” Jennifer Lopez (left, with Edebiri and Heidi Gardner) is the music guest.

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It’s a sunny tale with Spanish flavor

At times, the streaming world seems full of sad souls and crumbling kingdoms. Eva Longoria decided to go another way.
“We’ve had a wave of dystopian shows and I’m always, ‘Ugh, I’m so depressed,” she told the Television Critics Associatdion.
So she stars in “Land of Women,” a six-parter (the poster is shown here) that starts Wednesday (June 26) on Apple TV+. “This show is so blue-skies, it’s so escapism,” she said, inspiring viewers to think: “I want to go to Spain and drink wine.”
Which is what she did. She went to Peralada, a winemaking village of 1,860 people, in Spain’s Catelonia region. There, the film crew dictated the pace. Read more…

Best-bets for June 21: cooks, comics and Olympians

1) Olympic track-and-field trials begin, 6:30 p.m., USA Network, 9 p.m., NBC, both also on Peacock. This is what used to dominate the Olympics, filled with running and leaping (shown here). It continues through Monday, pauses, then returns June 27, Also today: swimming at 5:30 p.m. on USA and 8 on NBC, swimming and diving in the daytime on Peacock. Read more…

All the Brat-Pack films? Well, here’s a start

In other lands, film fans might argue about auteurs or noir or such.
But in the U.S., we have a bigger issue – defining which ones are the “Brat Pack” movies. That came up now, as Hulu:
— Released the “Brats” documentary. Andrew McCarthy visited colleagues who – almost 40 years ago – were tarnished by that “Brat Pack” tag.
— Then sent an announcement that: “All nine Brat Pack films are now streaming on Hulu.”
There are only nine? For a while, it seemed like there were 900.
Apparently, Hulu meant all nine that it has. It’s a decent enough collection, led by “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Taps” (shown here with Tim Hutton) and “Ferris Bueller,” but it’s just a start. And three of the nine don’t include any of the original Brat-Packers Read more…

Best-bets for June 20: magic, mystery and baseball

1) “Masters of Illusion” return, 9 p.m., CW. Two reality shows have ended and CW lightens up on Thursdays. At 8 and 8:30 p.m., it has “Conners” reruns from 2021. At 9, this show is back from a five-month pause. In a brisk half-hour, Dean Cain (shown here) introduces magicians Chipper Lowell, Reza, Eric Eaton. Joel Meyers, Adam Wylie and Trigg Watson. Read more…

Best-bets for June 19: hopeful film, elementary comedy

1) “Hope in the Water” opener, 9 p.m.,, PBS. Around the world, people find ways to make oceans more productive. In Puerto Rico, they turn squid into a treat. In Hawaii, the idea of a natural fish reservoir is revived. And on an island, population 4,600, two long-time divers (shown here) won a long struggle with the Scottish government to create a “no-take” zone; aquatic life revived. Read more…