Stories

Elephants, friendly and feisty, get an epic profile

By now, we might figure we know elephants – big guys, big noses, pleasantly ponderous lives.
But that’s just the start. “Secrets of the Elephants” — 9-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday (April 21-22) on the National Geographic Channel, then on Disney+ – shows that they, like us, vary by location.
“Forest elephants are particularly interesting,” Paula Kahumbu told the Television Critics Association, “because they’ve only recently been discovered as a different species.”
She searches for them in the third hour (9 p.m. Saturday), which falls on Earth Day, part of a cascade of nature shows during the weekend. But finding them isn’t easy. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 17, 2023

Stories

Busy Earth Day(s): Here’s a round-up

On rare occasions, the calendar co-operates with our needs.
That’s true this year: Earth Day, always on April 22, falls neatly on a Saturday. That’s a good day for people to get out and enjoy (and even help) nature … and to watch nature shows on TV, from “Big Beasts” (shown here) to kids’ cartoons.
There will be a lot available, because this has is a key subject for many filmmakers. “We need to fall back in love with nature, the way we (did) as kids,” director-producer James Cameron (“Titanic,” “Avatar”) said to the Television Critics Association.
By now, there’s more urgency involved. Climate change “is perhaps the biggest and most awesome challenge human civilization has ever faced,” said Julia Cort, of PBS’ “Nova.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 17, 2023

Stories

Want a good story? View the sideline players

When most folks watch the news, they focus on the key players.
Some writers, however, eye the people on the side. That’s what led to “The Good Wife” and now to “The Last Thing He Told Me” (shown here), a sometimes-compelling Jennifer Garner mini-series that starts Friday (April 14) on Apple TV+. Consider:
— Michelle and Robert King were intrigued by all the women who manage to seem stoic as their husbands are charged with evil deeds. That led to “The Good Wife,” which had a seven-year run.
— Laura Dave was watching a TV interview, with Linda Lay defending her husband, Enron chief Kenneth Lay. She envisioned a story about a woman “who believes that the world is telling her one thing and yet she knows, in her soul, who she has married,” she told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 11, 2023

Stories

A neighborly world turns 100

In the past – or maybe it was in fiction, or in Canada – neighbors’ interlocked.
Lives were spent on the front porch and the front lawn, Everyone knew everyone.
That’s the world that exists in “The Neighborhood” (shown here) which has its 100th episode at 8 p.m. Monday (April 10) on CBS. Some of the stars recall it from their childhoods.
For Max Greenfield, 43, that was in Dobbs Ferry, population 11,000, in New York’s upscale Westchester County. “We definitely knew our neighbors,” told the Television Critics Association. “You were able to walk around town. It felt like I had a lot more freedom back then.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 7, 2023

Stories

She strayed into a wild, beautiful life

By now, some readers know the dizzying extremes of Cheryl Strayed’s life.
She was a star student who crumbled after her mother’s death … and a heroin addict, her life adrift … and a solo hiker on the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail … and an author whose work keeps being filmed.
There was “Wild,” with Reese Witherspoon as Strayed, hiking the trail. And now there’s “Tiny Beautiful Things”(shown here with Kathryn Hahn) – debuting Friday (April 7) on Hulu, with a unique concept.
As Liz Tigelaar, the series creator, told the Television Critics Association: “I started to think: What would it look like if Cheryl had never hiked the Pacific Crest Trail? ’” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2023

Stories

“Grease” is the word; so is “Schmigadoon”

For decades, musicals have had a mixed existence.
They’ve thrived on stage – everywhere from high schools to Broadway – but were rare on TV … until now. Suddenly, the streaming networks have jumped in big-time.
The second season of “Schmigadoon” starts Wednesday (April 5) on Apple TV+; “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” (shown heere) debuts the next day on Paramount+. Two weeks earlier, “Up Here” debuted on Hulu.
Each is a full-scale musical series, with original songs and demanding choreography. “We were in rehearsals from the beginning to the very end …. We’d start the day with Scene 9 of Episode 2 and then end the day with Scene 6 from Episode 3,” said Marisa Davila, a “Pink Ladies” star. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 3, 2023

Stories

Joni’s artful, musical world gets tribute

In her first 79 years, Joni Mitchell has done approximately everything.
She survived polio when she was young and an aneurysm when she was old. She lived in tiny towns in Canada and big cities in the U.S. She smoked, drank, partied. And she became the 13th winner of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Music; the show – 9 p.m. Friday (March 31) on PBS – highlights her as:
— A painter. “The visual side of Joni Mitchell is incredible,” said Ken Ehrlich, the show’s producer. As a backdrop to the performances (James Taylor, Lennox, Ledisi, Herbie Hancock, Brandi Carlile, more), he’s using Mitchell’s paintings; a self-portrait is shown here. “She’s a world-class artist.”
— A songwriter. This is music that “came into my soul …. It’s poetry that is embodied with music,” Lennox told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 28, 2023

Stories

“Great Expectations” returns … yet again

For more than a century, people have been making “Great Expectations” movies and miniseries.
The first was in 1917, starring Jack Pickford (Mary’s little brother). There have been at least 16 more, including one that had Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow AND Robert De Niro.
Now a new six-parter (shown here) starts with two episodes March 26 on Hulu, then continues for four more Sundays. It gives us a fresh version of a story everyone has read.
Well … not everyone. Olivia Colman – who plays the cold-hearted Miss Havisham – hasn’t read the book and doesn’t try to pass herself off as a scholar. “I don’t really think about things terribly deeply,” she told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 24, 2023

Stories

Up here in their heads, a musical gem emerges

Early in the pandemic, a phone call linked three strong forces in musical storytelling.
“Tommy (Kail) gave us a call,” recalled Kristen Anderson-Lopez, “and said, ‘Hey, we’re not sure when we’re going to get back into the theater. Do you guys have anything you want to do for TV?’”
They did; her husband, Robert Lopez, started nurturing the idea 17 years ago. Now “Up Here”(shown here) arrives Friday (March 24) on Hulu, with all eight half-hours available at once
”Imagine this as eight mini-musicals that would add up to one season-long musical,” said Steven Levenson, who co-wrote the scripts and previously did “Tick, Tick … Boom” and “Fosse/Verdon.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 21, 2023

Stories

Soaps have transformed; just ask Francis

Soap operas keep transforming. There are no more tinkling teacups, no prolonged parlor chats, fewer empty moments.
But to look at the bigger changes, ponder Laura of “General Hospital,” as the show nears its 60th anniversary (April 1) and launches a multi-day celebration (April 3) — a week after “The Young and the Restless: (see separate story) has its 50th anniversary.
As a teen-ager, she was a date-rape victim … who then fell in love with her rapist. They married – drawing record ratings – and became the top couple in the soap world.
And now? “I love who she is,” Genie Francis (shown here in a previous anniversary), who plays her, told the Television Critics Association. “She was such a victim as a young woman. To see it flip around and have her be … this powerful woman who is the mayor. She doesn’t take crap from anyone.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 20, 2023