Mike Hughes

Stories

CBS’ fall line-up: prequels and familiar crimesolvers

CBS has set a fall schedule filled with the familiar.
It will have two prequels (one of which is also a sequel), two familiar crimesolving names (Matlock and Dr. Watson) and few surprises.
The biggest surprise may be the omission of two shows (“NCIS: Hawaii” and “So Help Me Todd”) … and the name of the show that takes over the Sheldon space. It’s “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.”
That one (shown here) is a sequel to “Young Sheldon,” but still a prequel to “The Big Bang Theory” … and will occupy the same timeslot (8 p.m. Thursdays) both of those shows had. “Ghosts” will remain at 8:30, with “Elsbeth” at 10. Now “Matlock” – with Kathy Bates taking the Andy Griffith role as a folksy old lawyer – replaces “So Help Me Todd” at 9. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2024
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 6: Finales are here or near

1) “NCIS” season-finale, 9 p.m. today, CBS. The 21st season ends, for a show that seems eternal. “NCIS” has already spawned four spin-offs and more than 1,000 episodes. It will be back next sason, alongside “NCIS: Hawaii” (which wraps its season at 10 p.m.) and a prequel. Tonight, Parker and Knight (Gary Cole and Katrina Law, shown here, left and center) are trapped in a ship that’s about to be sunk. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 4: the music of Johnny and Dua

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC, In a 32-episode stretch, only Bad Bunny has doubled as host and music guest. Now Dua Lipa (shown here) does. Also, “Weekend Update” could be interesting. We’ll see if Colin Jost or Michael Che have comments about Jost’s uneven (but often funny) turn at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2024
News and Quick Comments

After loooong pause, tough drama returns

The second season of “61st Street” (shown here) will arrive this summer – finally.
The opener – 9 p.m., July 22, on the CW network – comes more than two years after the first season ended on AMC. And 14 months after the CW bought the rights. It’s even a year after the second season streamed in Australia.
Now it’s part of CW’s summer plans: “All American” (now airing at 9 p.m. Mondays) is adding two more episodes, to continue through July 15. “All American Homecoming,” its spin-off, will air two episodes alongside it, then will be the lead-in to “61st Street.” Both will be anomalies, in a summer when scripted shows are rare on broadcast TV. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 3: Seinfeld leads a streaming surge

1) “Unfrosted,” Netflix. In the 26 years since his show ended, Jerry Seinfeld has avoided long-form projects. One exception was “The Bee Movie,” an animated film he co-wrote and voiced. Now he co-wrote and directed this film, about (really) the race to be create Pop-Tarts. He stars, alongside Melissa McCarthy (they’re shown here), Jim Gaffigan Amy Schumer, Jack McBrayer, Dan Levy, Hugh Grant and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2024
News and Quick Comments

Broadway time is coming, on PBS and CBS

For TV viewers, the Broadway season is coming up.
Well, maybe it’s a mini-season – five busy weeks, when Broadway-type shows get the focus. That starts May 10 with “Hamlet” on PBS … continues with three Friday concerts … then wraps up June 16, with the Tony Awards, which have just announced their nominations. And it includes some interesting crossovers:
— “Purlie Victorious” will be on PBS on May 24, three weeks before its shot at a Tony for best play revival.
— Audra McDonald (shown here), the all-time Tony champ, will be in two of the PBS specials. She has a solo concert May 17, then joins others May 31 for “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary.” McDonald is the only person to win six Tonys in competetive acting categories; Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris each won five plus an honorary one. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2024
Stories

A smaller Billy wraps a big success

During the five-year run of “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” (shown here), lives have transformed.
Folake Olowofoyeku became a star, Gina Yashere became an American, Chuck Lorre became rich (well, richer). And Billy Gardell became barely more than half his size.
“I was in a place with my health that I needed to make a severe change,” Gardell told the Television Critics Association. He did, with bariatric surgery and careful living.
The Gardell we’ll see on the series finale (8:30 p.m., May 6, on CBS) is about 5-foot-11, 207 pounds. There were times when he apparently topped 370. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 2: “Ghosts” wraps, “Wrexham” returns

1) “Ghosts” season-finale, 8:30 p.m., CBS. This s something Isaac wouldn’t have believed during his lifetime, 250 years ago: He’s marrying another man … who was a British officer … whom he killed during the Revolutionary War. (They’re shown here, in a previous episode.) Now the wedding is complicated by an unexpected guest, wrapping up a 10-episode, post-strike season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 1: ABC has “Jeopardy,” Griner

1) “Jeopardy Masters” opener, 8-9 p.m., ABC. In nine hours, spread over four weeks, top players will compete. James Holzhauer (shown here with host Ken Jennings), Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Victoria Groce and Yogesh Raut are involved. That takes the next four Wednesdays (nudging “The Conners” to 9:30), plus three Mondays and two Fridays. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 28, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 30: taut dramas on Hulu, Fox, more

1) “The Veil” opener, Hulu. This starts with a bleak, barren stretch of snow. In a refugee camp in Turkey, a woman is suspected of being a lethal ISIS leader. Now a spy has arrived. We don’t know her real name or her mission; she doesn’t know what to think of the suspect. What emerges are tautly written moments for two gifted people, Elisabeth Moss (shown here) and Lebanese actress Yumna Marwan. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 28, 2024