Year: 2024

Stories

A background player grabs the spotlight

At the core of “Interior Chinatown” (shown here), which arrived recently on Hulu, is a waiter named Willis.
He’s someone we know, maybe someone we are. He goes through life being semi-noticed. A fan of cop shows, he feels he’s like a background player, the guy whose only function is to find a body or witness a crime.
Soon, that changes; this series – all 10 parts arrived at once — is filled with wondrous flights of fantasy. But before that, Willis symbolizes many people:
— Maybe undernoticed Asian-Americans. “I grew up watching TV in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and I just never saw Asians,” Charles Yu, who wrote the series (and the book it’s based on), told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 24, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 26: finales for dancing and murder

1) Dancing With the Stars” finale, 8-10 p.m., ABC. No one was ousted last week, pushing all five “stars” to the finals. Olympians Ilona Maher (rugby) and Stephen Nedoroscik (gymnastics; he’s shown here with Rylee Arnold) face football’s Danny Amendola, actress Chandler Kinney and Joey Graziadei of “The Bachelor.” Last week’s scores carry over, with a new free-style dance to add in. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 24, 2024
News and Quick Comments

Scripted shows on CW? Yes, a few

Scripted shows will still be a part of the CW network this winter.
Well, a small part. “All American” will be on Mondays and two light crime shows – the returning “Wild Cards” (shown here) and the new “Good Cop/Bad Cop” – will pair on Wednesdays.
The mini-network has been scrambling for an identity, ever since new owners decided to go with lower-cost series.
Right now, its only new, scripted shows are “Superman & Lois” (which ends its four-year run on Dec. 2) and two Canadian series. “Children Ruin Everything” returns Nov. 29; “Sullivan’s Crossing” ends its season Dec. 11. But now comes the mid-season recharge: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 22, 2024
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Nov. 25: Santa parades into our TVs

1) Thanksgiving Day parade (shown here in a previous year), 8:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, NBC and Peacock. The holiday season begins. There are 22 floats, 11 bands,17 balloons and 10 performance groups. NBC adds Rockettes, more dancers, soloists (Jennifer Hudson, Billy Porter, Kylie Minogue) and the Broadway casts of “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders” and “Death Becomes Her.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 21, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 23: championship game (sort of)

1) Football, 7 p.m. ET, CW; pre-game at 6:30. Let’s call this the PAC-12 Conference championship game. That was a big deal in the days with UCLA, USC and Oregon. Alas, those teams and others departed, leaving a sort of PAC-2. (Six new ones will join in 2026.) Now those two collide, with Washington State (shown here, with a 8-2 record) at Oregon State (4-6). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 21, 2024
Stories

Fox mid-season: “Doc,” comedies, Super Bowl push

We can quit worrying about orphaned situation comedies, floating around without partners.
Fox finally has a sitcom to pair with “Animal Control.” Those shows arrive Jan. 2 … six days before ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” finally gets a pairing.
For Fox, that’s part of a busy mid-season shuffle. The network adds an exceptionally strong drama (“Doc,” shown here) and obsesses on its Feb. 9 telecast of the Super Bowl. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 19, 2024