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On the Fourth, a world emerges festively

(This is an updated version of the previous 4th-of-July story, now including NBC and more of the performers.)
Sure, you could consider this year’s 4th-of-July mega-concert to be same-old, same-old.
After all, this is the 41st year for “A Capitol Fourth” on PBS …. and the 83rd year since July 4 became a paid federal holiday … and the 245th since the Declaration of Independence was signed.
But Ali Stroker, one of the performers, feels this time is different. “In the re-emerging, we have the option to make the world we’d like to have.”
She’s emerging from a year on pause. A Tony-winner (shown here on her winning night), she suddenly had no Broadway to audition for, fewer places to perform. “Singing in my bathroom, to my laptop, wasn’t necessarily prime conditions.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 28, 2021

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“The Ice Road”: A bumpy ride through a frozen Hell

For fans of “Highway to Hell” and “Ice Road Truckers” and more reality, this all seems familiar.
Trucks get stuck in the snow, their wheels spinning … They teeter into a ditch … The ice buckles under them, preparing to dump them into the lake … Bikers zoom alongside, attacking the driver … And …
OK, maybe some of those don’t happen much in real life. That’s why we have fiction and Liam Neeson, whose movie characters keep having some very bad days.
His latest film is “The Ice Road” (shown here), which has just arrived on Netflix. It’s the worst nightmare of any driver’s ed instructor, times (approximately) a thousand. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 26, 2021

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“Highway” gets a movie reboot

“Highway to Heaven” will return to TV, three decades after the death of the man who molded it.
Michael Landon (shown here with Victor French, his co-star) created the show, produced it, directed most of the episodes and starred as a probationary angel, helping people on Earth.
The new version will be on cable’s Lifetime, with key differences: It will be a movie (not a series), planned as the first of several. And this time, the angel will be a Black woman, played by Jill Scott. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 21, 2021

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Miley sets Pride Month concert on Peacock

For the second straight Friday, viewers can catch a major special keyed to Pride Month.
On June 18, it was a “Pose” marathon. And on June 25, Peacock will add a concert, “Miley Cyrus Presents Stand B You.”
Cyrus (shown here), who identifies as pansexual, has been a long-time supporter of LGBT issues. She’ll sing her own hits, including “The Climb” and “Party in the U.S.A.,” plus such slongs as “True Colors,” “Believe,” “We Belong,” “Dancing Queen” and a medley of “Music,” “Express Yourself” and “Like a Prayer.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 17, 2021

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TV stacks the Juneteenth weekend

It took more than 150 years for the Juneteenth celebration to wedge deeply into pop culture.
Now it’s there, filling our TV sets with related shows.
That starts Friday, when TBS has a double-feature and ABC has a two-hour special, complete with music, features and Barack Obama. It wraps up Sunday, with CBS showing “Selma” … which will already have aired three times Saturday (the actual holiday) on cable.
That Saturday has a flood of specials, including a new one (the History’s Channel’s “Fight the Power”) and lots of reruns. Viewers can watch Tracee Ellis Ross in nine-hours of “Black-ish” reruns … or skip the final half-hour and see a profile of her mother, Diana Ross. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 15, 2021

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“Heights” swoops us to HBO Max … or to a theater

If you still need a reason to get HBO Max, it’s “In the Heights.”
Better yet, if you need a reason to go back to a theater – big screen, booming speakers, abundant popcorn – that’s also “In the Heights.”
The movie (shown here) landed on both sites Friday (June 11), helping us bust loose from our 15-month doldrums.
It’s all the things we expected – a festive treat, filled with spectacular sights and sounds. But the surprise is that it also packs deep emotion … and that this musical – which began try-outs 16 years ago – seems to perfectly fit right now, as Americans emerge from an anti-immigrant phase. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 14, 2021

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“Loki”: fantasy fun from an odd god

In the sprawling Marvel universe, Loki (shown here) has always been an anomaly.
This is a world of good intentions and great physiques. It’s a place where superpowers (plus super suits and shields and hammers and such) can save us from fierce villains.
Then there’s Loki, the “God of Mischief.” He’s a trickster who uses his tricks mainly to help himself. He’s sly and selfish and scheming; he’s perfect for a TV series.
So now “Loki” has its quick run on the Disney+ streaming service. Two episodes arrive Wednesday (June 9), with weekly ones for four more Wednesdays. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2021

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NBC’s ready to dominate summer (again)

NBC has finally announced its plans for summer – a season that has already started.
That’s a time the network has dominated in the ratings for 10 straight years, with strong prospects to do it again. It has “America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior” and more now, pauses for the Olympics in July, then adds some goofier shows in August.
Unlike other networks, NBC waited until Wednesday (May 26) – the last day of the official TV seasons – to announce its full summer plans. “Making It” (shown here), for instance, has been listed by some sources as starting June 3; instead, it will wait until June 24. Plans include: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 27, 2021

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Cruella: epic sympathy for the de Vil

It isn’t easy, we’re told, to stir sympathy for the Devil.
Or, in this case, for de Vil. But a new mega-movie, arriving Friday (May 28), manages to do it.
“Cruella” (shown here) – the story of Cruella de Vil, the “101 Dalmatians” villain – opens in movie theaters and is simultaneously available to Disney+ customers who pay an extra Premier Access fee. My advice is the same as someone said (about another film) during the Oscars: “See it on the biggest screen you can.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 26, 2021

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CW this fall: same shows in new places

When the fall season starts, the CW network will have a new night, new line-ups and new ambitions … but not, at first, many new scripted shows.
Those will come at mid-season, when things are quieter. For fall, CW will mostly re-shuffle. It will go from six nights to seven, but will mainly re-arrange current shows (even “Riverdale,” shown here, gets a new night) and offer new versions of two games – “Killer Camp” and “Legends of the Hidden Temple.”
The lone new drama, “4400,” is a reboot of an idea that had four cable seasons: In one burst, 4,400 missing people re-appear (this time, in Detroit), without having aged and with no idea what happened.
Two other dramas will debut later: In “Naomi,” a teen comic-book fan senses she has a supernatural destiny. In “All American: Homecoming,” young athletes navigate life at a historically black college. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 25, 2021