Year: 2025

Stories

Penguins waddle wisely through hot/cold worlds

Not all animals are telegenic, you know.
We rarely see a good film about anteaters, moles or wild boars. But penguins are always ready for their close-ups.
“They’re so much like people … very relatable,” said filmmaker Bertie Gregory, whose charming “Secrets of the Penguins” debuts from 8-11 p.m. Sunday (April 20) on the National Geographic Channel, then repeats often, through Earth Day (April 22).
In a way, penguins have the qualities of an ideal date: They’re cute and available.
“Most filmmakers are hidden behind bushes, shooting with a Zoom lens,” Gregory said. But penguins don’t mind company; at times, they’ll visit the human and stare with curiosity. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 14, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 16: fun with Sherlock and “Abbott”

1) “Sherlock & Daughter” debut, 9 p.m., CW. A quick-witted American feels she’s Sherlock Holmes’ daughter. He disagrees, but needs her on a case. It’s a smart story that starts (shown here) when she has a quick friendship with a rich girl. Some things are settled next week; others continue for six more weeks. Blu Hunt (“The Originals,” “The New Mutants”), who has Lakota and Apache roots, is impressive alongside David Thewlis. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 14, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 15: Taut time for Thony and Will

1) “The Cleaning Lady,” 8 p.m., Fox. This show has killed two interesting FBI agents; now it has its best character yet. An assistant district attorney, he brims with false folksiness, Columbo-style. Perfectly played by Robert Cicchini (shown here), he squeezes Thony … who has much to hide, including a mercy killing. It’s a terrific episode, with a big twist near the end. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 13, 2025
Stories

Kay & Ted & such: The cable era began

(This is the latest chapter in a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To catch the full book, from the start, simply hit the category “The Book.”)

As a star student, Kay Smith could have picked almost anything for her Master’s Degree thesis. She chose satellite communication.
It was an odd choice, because … well, there was no satellite communication.
This was 1967, just a decade after Sputnik and just two years after the Early Bird became the first commercial satellite. But Smith felt bigger things were coming.
Ten years after that thesis, she created the Madison Square Garden Network. By then, she was Kay Koplovitz; soon, it would be the USA Network; she and Ted Turner (shown here) would pioneer a cable-TV era. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 12, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 14: ABC has music and mystery

1) “Paradise,” 10 p.m., ABC. Last week’s opener had some shell-shocks: The president was killed, his mistress leads the probe, his top secret-service agent is a suspect … and (viewers learned late) this is in a post-apocalyptic bunker city. “Paradise” is from the “This Is Us” duo of writer-producer Dan Fogelman and Sterling K. Brown (shown here) as the agent. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 12, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 13: a huge night for cable dramas

1) “The Last of Us” season-opener, 9 p.m., HBO. In its first season, this epic drew raves and 24 Emmy nominations, including best drama. It won eight Emmys … but waited two years for this second season, which only has seven episodes. The story jumps ahead five years, finding Ellie and Joel (shown here) in his brother’s fortified compound, surrounded by danger. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 11, 2025
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for April 14: Earth, Easter and more

1) “Secrets of the Penguins,” 8-11 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic. Each year, near Earth Day (April 22), we get a superb James Cameron production. Previous ones eyed elephants, whales and octopuses. Now (shown here) comes the best yet. It ranges from the Arctic to a desert, from 4-foot-tall to two-foot. Young filmmaker Bertie Gregory captures rich, intimate detail. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 10, 2025
Stories

Biblical stories in movies, music and more

(This is an expanded version of the story that was posted previously.)
TV is ready for its Easter splurge.
That starts April 12, with Moses on the mountain top; it concludes eight days later with an Easter Day surge of movies, music (including Handel’s “Messiah”) and more. In between, it has dramas (shown here is “The Chosen”) and even a stage musical.
Some of this is fueled by the era when audiences (and movie studios) savored Biblical epics. During the 1950s, four of the annual box-office champions were Biblical. All of them will be rerun this year — “Quo Vadis,” “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben-Hur” (each an Oscar-nominee for best picture) plus “The Robe.”) Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 10, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 11: Polish heart; Sydney killer

1) “Now Hear This” season-opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Tony Bennett didn’t really leave his heart in San Francisco, but Frederic Chopin literally left his in Warsaw. (After his death, his sister smuggled it back to a cathedral.) That’s one of many stories about a man who loved his homeland, but was away from it for half his lifetime. Host Scott Yee visits elegant settings in Poland and Paris (shown here), hearing great music. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 9, 2025