Stories

Away from slick stardom: another wrestling world

For many TV viewers, pro wrestling is slick and sleek and corporate.
In shiny arenas, sweaty millionaires (current or future) collide for the cameras. It’s all quite impressive – but there’s another world out there.
That’s “when you’re on these independent circuits and you’re not on broadcast television,’ said actor Stephen Amell (shown here). It’s the world of “Heels,” his show at 9 p.m. Sundays (rerunning almost daily) on Starz.
Such wrestling circuits fill the South and beyond, offering temporary stardom to people who also have day jobs. Michael Waldron, the series creator, recalls talking to a guy who used to wrestle for one. “He said for 15 minutes a week, they got to be a superhero.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 20, 2021

Stories

Discovery+ is (sometimes) minus clothes

In the mega-billion-dollar world of streaming networks, people still have basic questions:
What is Discovery+, anyway? How did it become important? And what does it have that’s special?
One partial answer to that last question is … well, nudity.
At a virtual session with the Television Critics Association, programming executive Lisa Holme discussed “putting the + in Discovery+.” The session focused on six shows; by coincidence, perhaps, half of them had something to do with nudity: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2021

Stories

It’s a “Perfect” mini-series team

This is a blend that works neatly:
Start with two Australians – novelist Liane Moriarty and actress-producer Nicole Kidman …. Have David E. Kelley write a mini-series from a Moriarty novel … Then load up on other stars.
That worked for HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” In the first of its two seasons, “Lies” won the best-miniseries Emmy, plus seven others, including ones for Kidman and two of her co-stars.
And now the combination returns with Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” (shown here), starting Wednesday (Aug. 18). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 14, 2021

Stories

Ralph: presidential power in a witchly world

When pre-med student Sheryl Lee Ralph reached college, she got a quick lesson in being “the other.”
That was 1972, the first year Rutgers admitted women. There were only 450 of them – about one-percent of the enrollment; it was good preparation for her acting career.
“There was no room for me,” Ralph (shown here) – who has a key guest role in the season’s final two episodes of “Motherland: Fort Salem” – said of early auditions. “People were not open to open-casting back then.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 13, 2021

Stories

After a looong pause, PBS ripples with music and dance

Right now, the arts world is ready to end one of the longest intermissions ever.
Broadway is rehearsing, orchestras are retooling, bands and ballerinas are reviving. They reflect “the resiliency of the performing arts,” PBS president Paula Kerger told the Television Critics Association.
Now her network will spotlight that. Even before its fall season starts, PBS has specials celebrating orchestra (Aug. 27), Broadway (Aug. 29), an opera conductor (Sept. 3) and ballet (Sept. 17).
There’s more in the fall, including a John Williams (shown here) premiere, a Martin Scorsese film and a triple-diva concert that reflects the resiliency Kerger was discussing. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 11, 2021

Stories

No reservation about it: Here’s a fun show

Growing up 8,000 miles apart, these two men emerged with similar tales and memories.
Sterlin Harjo is from small-town Oklahoma, with Seminole and Muscogee roots; Taika Waititi is from New Zealand, with Maori roots. They could easily swap boyhood adventures.
“The stories were never sad or depressing,” Harjo said, in a virtual session with the Television Critics Association. And these fun accounts “are not the stories that ever get told about native people.”
At least, not until now. “Reservation Dogs” (shown here), starting Monday on the FX hub of Hulu, offers a sly wit. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 6, 2021

Stories

Reluctant hero? Not in Courtney’s superworld

Science-fiction fans are used to the reluctant superhero, someone longing for an ordinary life.
Then there’s the opposite. Courtney Whitmore transforms into Stargirl – eagerly.
“She is so looking for villains, looking for trouble, even (when) there is none,” said Brec Bassinger (shown here), the star of “Stargirl,” which starts its second season Tuesday (Aug. 10) on CW. “She just loves being a superhero.”
To Geoff Johns, who created the character and produces the show, that’s logical. “If you’ve got superpowers, I would think that you’d really enjoy it and you’d leap into things,” he said. At least, that’s the way he might approach it … and, more importantly, the way his late sister would. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 5, 2021

Stories

TV’s mega-universe grows, fills a void

The zillion-channel TV universe is even larger than most people realize.
Yes, there are the broadcast networks … and cable … and streaming. But there’s also a labyrinth of digital channels. They deliver old shows, old movies and – occasionally – something new.
Meet “Johnson” (shown here), a new drama (with some comedy) on the Bounce digital channel. “I saw a void,” Deji LaRay, the creator and one of the stars, said in a video conference. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2021

Stories

Travel the world? Hide away? Choices abound

So maybe you’re thinking about a change in lifestyle, possibly something drastic.
Not to worry. In addition two a “Baby Jessica” story (shown here), a brief CNN series – 9-10 p.m. ET on the next two Saturdays – offers opposite choices:
1) Sell the house and get an RV. Go everywhere; do everything. Just remember to write online reviews.
2) Take the opposite approach; go nowhere, do nothing. Get a bunker, suitable for any catastrophe.
3) Or acquire a new skill; underwater archaeology would be fine. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2021

Stories

It’s a golden Schmiga-Lasso time

Television has already had a Golden Age of Drama – twice; and a Golden Age of Comedy – twice. And now? Maybe we’ll call this the Golden Week of Apple TV+.
That streaming service – often outspent and outshouted by Netflix and Disney and more – has two simultaneous successes. On Friday (July 23):
– “Ted Lasso” starts its second season, awash in nominations. It leads the Emmys with 20, including best comedy; it leads the Television Critics Association with five, including program of the year.
– “Schmigadoon” starts its second week. A giddy swirl of music, dance and comedy, it manages to celebrate musical-theater traditions at the same time that it mocks them. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 22, 2021