Year: 2025

News and Quick Comments

Farewell to a good show … and a once-great show

“The Conners” (shown here) says farewell Wednesday (April 23), ending a journey that’s been long, bumpy and sometimes wonderful.
A good show in its final years, a great one in its early years, it’s a key piece of TV history.
When this started (as “Roseanne”) in 1988, TV comedies had seemed unaware of blue-collar America. Sure, there was Jackie Gleason in “Honeymooners” and (briefly) “Life of Riley,” but not much else.
Then Roseanne Barr’s show rippled with blue-collar life. The fictional Roseanne and Dan (John Goodman) were getting by, through changes in jobs and in life. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 21, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 22: some Earth Day splendor

1) Earth Day, streaming networks. This is the day for streamers to debut nature films. There’s “Sea Lions of the Galapagos” on Disney+ and “Kiss the Ground” on Amazon Prime, each with a companion film. Also, Netflix has “Pangolin,” Apple TV+ has the new “Jane” season and Peacock and Hulu have the “Americas” series (shown here), a gem that just finished its NBC run. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 20, 2025
Stories

After shaky starts, MTV and ESPN soared

(This is the latest chapter of the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” For the full thing, so far, click the category, “The Book.”)

In the halls of history, Michael Nesmith actually gets three spots.
He was a Monkee … he was a white-out heir … and he was a music-video pioneer. That last one is important here, but let’s admire the others first.
The world knew Nesmith as a star of “The Monkees” (shown here, with Nesmith at left), a bright, Beatle-ish show that had two fun seasons (1966-68) on NBC. It was about a make-believe pop band … which, in real life, then had three No. 1 hits.
Before that? As Nesmith told it, his parents divorced and he grew up with his mom, who was a good artist and a not-so-good secretary. To cover her typing mistakes, she used her art skills to create a white-out. She called it “Liquid Paper,” built up her company … and sold it to Gillette for $47.5 million.
This was the ideal combination for a music-video pioneer: Nesmith was a musical guy who had inventive roots and the financial freedom to dabble Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 19, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 20: Easter joy, natural and Biblical

1) “Secrets of the Penguins” (shown here), 8-11 p.m., National Geographic. Here’s wildlife filmmaking at its finest – brimming with information and emotion. We see adult penguins from 4-foot-tall to 18 inches, from the Namib desert to the Antarctic ice. We see patience, anger and clever strategies, from herding anchovies to stealing fish out of the bill of a pelican. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 18, 2025
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for April 21: Earth, “Winds” and fire

1) Earth Day, Tuesday. Alongside splendid films in their libraries, streamers have new ones – “Sea Lions of the Galapagos” (shown here), Disney+; “Kiss the Ground,” Amazon Prime; “Pangolin,” Netflix; “Jane,” Apple TV+; “The Americas,” Peacock and Hulu. Also, the delightful “Secrets of the Penguins” is on Disney+ and reruns 8-11 p.m. Tuesday on National Geographic. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 17, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 19: Elsbeth and Easter eve

1) “Elsbeth,” 8 p.m., CBS. The world isn’t quite ready for Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) on a jury (shown here). A lawyer herself, she’s smarter than the prosecutor, way smarter than the rumpled defense attorney … and way more honest that the judge. He’s played by Michael Emerson (Preston’s husband), in a terrific rerun that sets up next Thursday’s so-so episode. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 17, 2025
Stories

Earth Day TV? There are plenty of choices

After 55 years, Earth Day is still going strong.
And after 4.5 billion years (give or take a couple), the Earth itself is going semi-strong.
As the day arrives (April 22), people still plant trees, clean rivers, visit parks … and watch TV. There are plenty of choices there.
The streaming services store Earth-ly films from the past, especially on Disney+, Apple TV+ (shown here is “Jane”) and Netflix. In addition, new ones keep arriving. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 15, 2025