Year: 2024

News and Quick Comments

A good try, but a bit too Austen-ish

When adapting a Jane Austen novel, the trick is to not be too … well, Jane Austen-ish.
Keep her plot and her sharp sense of character, but relax her stiff, centuries-old dialog.
Lately, several projects have done this quite well. The newest one, however, is a decent attempt that’s sometimes buried in Austen excess.
That’s “Sense and Sensibility” (shown heere), at 8 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 24) and 5 p.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. It’s of special interest because it: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 24, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 25: “Dead” starts strong; “Woman in the Wall” ends big

1) “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” opener, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 10:21 and 11:42. For nine years, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) dominated “Walking Dead.” He fought zombies, led survivors, married Michonne … then was hauled away. Now we finally see him again (shown here). In the compelling start of this six-parter, he makes extreme (and gory) attempts to escape and find his wife. Stick with this episode to the potent end. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 23, 2024
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Feb.26: new Deal, new Elsbeth

1) “Elsbeth” debut, 10 p.m. Thursday, CBS. Elsbeth Tascioni has been an occasional delight. A lawyer with a sharp mind and a quirky soul, she did 19 episodes of “The Good Wife” and its spin-off, spread over 12 years, bringing an Emmy for Carrie Preston. Now she moves to New York and gets a weekly mystery; in this fun opener, she probes a theater program led by Stephen Moyer (shown here) of “True Blood.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 22, 2024
Stories

Zombies? Shakespeare? She masters it all

There are different kinds of actors out there – some verbal, some physical. You could call them Streepians and Stallonians.
Then there’s Danai Gurira, now returning to the zombie world. She masters it all.
Nine months ago, TV viewers saw her in the title role of Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” An English king was played by a Black American woman, catching fresh nuance.
And now she’s back to her alternate life. When “Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” debuts (9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, on AMC), Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his wife Michonne (Gurira, they’re shown here) are desperate to re-unite, despite the hordes of zombies. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 21, 2024
News and Quick Comments

The genial side of an imposing icon

As an ambitious mini-series ends, a question lingers: What was Malcolm X (shown here) really like?
“So many people, all they know about Malcolm X is the one picture of him holding a gun, looking out the window,” Gina Prince-Bythewood told the Television Critics Association. “Or some of his words, taken out of context.”
She’s one of the producers of “Genius: MLK/X,” an eight-parter that has its final two episodes at 9 and 10:08 p.m. Thursday (Feb.22) on the National Geographic Channel,” but then remains available on Disney+.
This is a joint biography of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. “Way too often, these two men are pitted agaist each other,” she said. But “they were coming closer and closer together. They had the same goal. They just had two different ways of going about it.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 21, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 23: country stars and Oscar films

1) “George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. Leaping from song to song, this is like a turbo-charged history of country music. Some of Jones’ hits zip zestfully (Justin Moore’s “White Lightning,” Tim Watson’s “One Woman Man”), some dig pits of pain, closing with Brad Paisley’s “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (shown here). Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans, Trace Adkins, Wynonna and more perform vibrantly. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 21, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 22: Comedies surge, “MLK/X” ends

1) “Genius: MLK/X” conclusion, 9 and 10:08 p.m., National Geographic Channel. A well-crafted miniseries peaks in tonight’s first hour (shown here), with the passage of the Civil Rights Act … and the only time that Martin Luther King and Malcolm X met. The second hour sees them in transition– Malcolm to a global view, King to fresh issues, including Vietnam, before each was killed (three years apart) at 39. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 20, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 21: laughs, vampires and pups

1) “Abbott Elementary,” 9 p.m., ABC. “Abbott” is off to a strong start this season, with Janine working in a school-district job. Now she tries – reluctantly – to train a substitute for her classroom work; also at Abbott (shown here), the staff tries to update the drug policy, after a student is caught smoking. That’s in a mostly comedy night, from “Conners” (Bev and Jackie in Chicago) to “Judge Steve Harvey (a clown goes rogue). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 19, 2024