Stories

She lives (and portrays) a complicated life

TV people seem to be realizing something that others – novelists, therapists, biographers – always knew:
One person can be many things, some of them opposites. “That dichotomy is really in all of us,” Christina Ochoa said.
That’s true of her character in “Promised Land” – a good woman who makes a bad choice in a crisis. It’s true of other characters in the show, at 10 p.m. Mondays on ABC. (The opener reruns at 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27; also, every episode is available on Hulu after airing.)
And it’s especially true of Ochoa (shown here), who often gets roles that match her look. Tall (5-8 ½) and fit, with raven hair and appealing face, she’s starred in “Valor” as a war-veteran helicopter pilot and in “Blood Drive” as a femme fatale race driver; she’s co-starred in “Animal Kingdom” as a cocaine dealer and in “A Million Little Things” as a secretive secretary. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 26, 2022

Stories

PBS keeps filling the music gaps

For decades, PBS has had an extra duty: It’s the main link many people have to what’s happening on Broadway and in concert halls, opera houses and more.
But lately, there’s been an added role: It’s been giving us what’s NOT happening there.
As the pandemic shut most things down, PBS kept going. It had music on rooftops, on porches, in vacant rooms and now – quite carefully – in standard concert settings.
That’s led by Luke Frazier and his American Pops Orchestra, who has rushed a dozen concerts, ranging from slim half-hours to an ambitious “Wicked” concert (shown here with Ariana Grande). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 23, 2022

Stories

It’s an alien world of wit, weirdness and a talking octopus

It’s probably safe to assume the people of Ladysmith are sane souls, living normal lives. They are, after all, Canadian.
So they may not get many sights like this: “Running down the streets of Ladysmith with an octopus was fun to do,” Alan Tudyk told the Television Critics Association. “I think it was popular with the local residents as well.”
We should probably explain that this was a talking octopus in “Resident Alien” (9 p.m. Wednesdays on Syfy, with the second season starting Jan. 26). We should also explain that Tudyk (shown here) plays an alien who came to Earth, killed a doctor and took his human form. He’s supposed to kill all Earthlings, but …
Well, the show requires a lot of explaining. Suffice it to say that it made sense for Tudyk to run through downtown Ladysmith (a Vancouver Island town of 8,500) with a talking octopus, Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 22, 2022

Stories

Single, drunk life sparked new series

For years, Simone Finch was at the edge of great TV, hoping to be part of it.
Then her own life became a starting point. The result is “Single Drunk Female,” a comedy-drama that debuts at 10 and 10:30 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 20) on Freeform.
“I started writing this in 2012 – before I got sober, actually,” Finch said. “And then I got sober – and then I realized it was about a girl getting sober.”
Now she’s further along – almost eight years without a drink – and can look back at a precarious time. Her story finds Sam (Sofia Black-D’Elia, 30, shown here) back from rehab, living with a mother (Ally Sheedy, 59), who thinks, as Sheedy puts it: “She’s not going to come change my life and my habits.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 16, 2022

Stories

Lizzie (or Sophie or someone) is grown up now

So Lizzie McGuire gets to be a grown-up after all – sort of.
The new show is “How I Met Your Father,” Tuesdays on Hulu, starting Jan. 18. It’s a different character (now named Sophie), with different producers; but it’s still Hilary Duff (shown here), with Lizzie-like zest.
And it reflects another show (a sequel to Duff’s “Lizzie McGuire”) that started and then stopped. “Comparing it to the ‘Lizzie’ that never was,” Duff said, “I think she’s a totally different character and we … have a lot more fun with what people are doing in their 30s.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 15, 2022

Stories

“Black-ish” savors its season-long finale

TV shows, even the popular ones, used to end without warning.
Tracee Ellis Ross remembers that from “Girlfriends.” After a cozy, eight-season run, it simply vanished.
“We didn’t know the show was ending,” Ross recalled in a Television Critics Association virtual press conference. “We didn’t get a wrap party; we didn’t get a finale – none of that.”
Now she has the opposite experience on “Black-ish” (shown here). Before work began on this eighth season (9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, ABC), everyone knew this would be the last. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 15, 2022

Stories

“Naomi” transforms young lives

Imagine a teen girl whose world suddenly flips upside-down.
That’s what happens in “Naomi,” the new teen-superhero series (9 p.m. Tuesdays) on the CW network. It’s also what happened to Kaci Walfall (shown here), who stars. At 16, she was suddenly flying from New York to Los Angeles and Atlanta for a new life ,,, and new eats.
That was courtesy of Mary-Charles Jones, who plays her best friend and lives in Atlanta, where “Naomi” is filmed. “She sent me a great list of food when we first came here,” Walfall said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 10, 2022

Stories

She found stardom in both Manhattans

Like many show-business stars, Bridget Everett (shown here) is from Manhattan.
But this is the other Manhattan, the one in Kansas. “They actually call it the Little Apple,” she said.
Now that’s the setting for “Somebody Somewhere,” which debuts at 10:35 p.m. Sunday (Jan. 16) on HBO, rerunning at 12:40 a.m. It’s a comedy-drama that faces a key fact:
Growing up in America’s mid-section, kids might see life divided into two phases: There are the school years, when they can do it all – arts, academics, sports, more. Then there’s … well, the rest of life. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 9, 2022

Stories

He has it all, from hard body to goofy helmet

Chris Smith has had a tough time lately.
He was shot in the chest and a building fell on him. He was in prison for years and in the hospital for months. Also, his dad failed to cancel his phone service and now he’s broke.
Not to worry. He still has a hard body, sturdy skills (mostly lethal), a pet eagle and, as writer-producer James Gunn puts it, “a really goofy helmet.”
The result is “Peacemaker,” starring John Cena (shown hee). It’s a brisk and witty series that debuts Jan. 13 on HBO Max. Two days later (10:15 p.m. Jan. 15) , the opener airs an HBO — right after an 8 p.m. showing of “The Suicide Squad,” the 2021 film that spawned it. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 5, 2022

Stories

“All Creatures”: a small, sweet pleasure

Nicholas Ralph, it seems, is a lot like the rest of us.
Yes, he’s a TV star. In “All Creatures Great and Small” – the gentle pleasure that starts its second season at 9 p.m. Sunday (Jan. 9) on PBS – he has the lead role of James. But as a viewer, he keeps wishing James would express his feelings to Helen. (They’re shown here.)
“I was screaming at the telly, ‘Say something’ …. I hope that’s how an audience feels when they watch it,” Ralph said, in a virtual press conference with the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 30, 2021