Month: September 2024

News and Quick Comments

Yes, even Hallmark can change

TV has a few things that seem permanent and unyielding.
There’s “NCIS” and “Law & Order,” Judge Judy and Charles Barkley and the Hallmark Channel. Except, now even Hallmark is changing.
The basics will stay the same. This season, the cable channels (Hallmark and Hallmark Mysteries) will combine for about 100 new movies, 40 of them with Christmas themes. Attractive young men and women will still bicker briefly, before deciding they kind of like each other.
But beyond that are the changes, including:
— Streaming. Hallmark Movies Now expands to become Hallmark+, with lots of old shows and some new ones. It starts Tuesday (Sept. 10) with a series (“The Chicken Sisters”), a movie trilogy (“Love on the Danube,” shown here) and a reality show (“Celebrations with Lacey Chabert”); there will be more soon. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 7: a ghastly-good movie night

1) “Ghost” (1990), 6 p.m., CMT; 6:45, Showtime. The world seems to really want us to see Demi Moore (shown here) and Patrick Swayze film, airing it on two networks. It is a good one, richly romantic. More romance is available all day on Hallmark (including Lacey Chabert’s new “His & Hers” at 8) and on Great American Family. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2024
News and Quick Comments

CBS tries (carefully) a third morning-show hour

CBS is taking its first, hesitant steps toward having a longer morning show.
On Sept. 30, “CBS Mornings Plus” will debut at 9 a.m. ET. Tony Dokoupil, one of the “CBS Mornings” hosts, will stick around for the third hour, joined by Adriana Diaz. (They’re shown here.)
But the network says the show will only be on a few stations it owns – in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Miami and San Francisco – plus the streaming service, CBS News 24/7. Presumably, it could expand to others. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 4, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 5: Cruise, Kidman, kick-off

1) Football, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC, with pre-game at 7. The pro season opens with a classic rematch. The Baltimore Ravens sailed through last season with a 13-4 record, won the divisional playoffs 34-10, then sputtered; the Kansas City Chiefs (shown here), 11-6, won 17-10 and then won the Super Bowl. Now it’s Ravens-Chiefs time again. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 3, 2024
Stories

A friend spurred Lithgow’s thundering heroics

If you move into a new place, a good friend will give you a floral arrangement or a fruit plate.
A great one will give you a horse.
The latter describes Rex Linn. “I bought some land in Montana,” John Lithgow said. “He told me, ‘You can’t own that land and not have a horse.”
The result is reflected 30 years later, when “The Old Man” starts its second season, at 10 p.m. Sept. 12 on FX. There is Lithgow (shown here, left, with Jeff Bridges) – not usually an action hero – riding a horse and wielding a rifle. “It’s perfect heaven,” he said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 3, 2024
News and Quick Comments

The first new shows: 1 out of 2 works fine

The first two new shows of the TV season are coming, bearing responsibility.
After a slow spring and a slack summer, viewers need something good. Now the fall season begins with:
— “English Teacher” (shown here), at 10 p.m. Mondays on FX, starting Sept. 2. It’s quite good; once it sheds its early monotone, it leans toward terrific.
— “Universal Basic Guys,” at 8 p.m. for three Sundays (starting Sept. 8) on Fox, before sliding to 8:30 when “The Simpsons” returns on Sept. 29. The opener is mainly for people who are amused when a mistreated chimp rips off the protagonist’s face. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 2, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 4: killer clown and strong streamers

1) “The Real CSI Miami” season-finale, 9 p.m., CBS. A young mom was killed by someone in a clown costume, in front of her son. Almost 30 years later, DNA cracked the case; Lou Sessa (shown here) and other agents discuss the case. That hour (originally set for last week) is the season’s last new episode. But at 10, a rerun relates the murder of heiress/patron Jill Halliburton Su. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 2, 2024