Stories

Stories

Animation helps fill the TV-shutdown void

(Yes, this does look suspiciously like a story I wrote a few weeks ago, about cartoon voice-master Billy West. Since then, there’s been a surge of animation, so I’ve updated it. Anyway, he’s an interesting guy and animation neatly fills some virus-shutdown time.)
As TV scrambles to find social-distance drama, a logical option appears: What about animation?
There’s been a flurry lately, sometinmes spurred by the virus, other times just a coincidence. Consider;
– STREAMING: Two new animated series – both planned long before the quarantine – have opened on streaming networks. “Central Park” (new episodes each Friday on Apple TV+) has drawn raves; “Crossing Swords” (which released all 10 episodes June 12 on Hulu) has drawn mixed reviews. They join “Disenchanted” (shown here) on Netflix and more, including Pixar on Disney+ and a ton of Japanese anime on HBO Max. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 14, 2020
Stories

Mae West: A brassy burst of women’s history

Mae West strolled into a Hollywood that wasn’t ready for her.
This was a place that preferred women to be young, thin and quiet. She was none of those.
West (shown here) was 39, buxom and brassy. “I don’t allow myself any negative thinking,” she would explain later.
Now a documentary – “Mae West: Dirty Blonde” – debuts at 8 p.m. Tuesday (June 16), launching what Paula Kerger, the PBS president, calls an “effort to highlight trailblazing women this summer.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 12, 2020
Stories

Summer TV blahs? The British are coming

As TV’s summer takes hold, we covet the few places that have plenty of new shows.
There are the streamers and the premium cable channels of course. There are games on ABC, reality competitions on NBC, quirks on CW, news everywhere. And, especially, there’s PBS.
PBS had already planned a cascade of women’s-rights shows, leading to Aug. 26, the 100th anniversary of the right to vote. It has quickly injected coverage of COVID-19 and of race relations. And it also has what it does best – elegantly crafted British shows each Sunday.
That starts this week (June 14, check local listings), with a 1-2-3 touch: At 8 p.m., a portrait of Prince Albert; at 9, the season-opener of “Grantchester” (shown here); at 10, the debut of “Beecham House.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 10, 2020
Stories

Film visits a transforming South

Mary Jane Kennedy could fit most stereotypes of white, Southern privilege.
“I just had this blessed life,” she says in “Prideland,” a documentary by Dyllon Burnside (shown here) that will air at 9 p.m. Friday (June 12) on most PBS stations.
She’s been religious, Republican and conservative. She taught church school for decades and lives in a huge house in Brandon, which calls itself “the second safest city in Mississippi.”
And she has become, in her 60s, a gay-rights spokeswoman. That story provides some extraordinary “Prideland” moments. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2020
Stories

CW adds “Pixels” now, “Devils” later

The CW network has added a summer show, indirectly. It has also solidified its makeshift fall line-up.
The network bought “Devils,” a 10-part Italian-French mini-series (involving murder and high-finance) that includes Patrick Dempsey. That will air in the fall, sliding the quirky “Dead Pixels” (show here) to a spot sometime this summer.
Any summer addition is important, at a time when COVID shutdowns have left networks with short supplies. Several summer shows – CBS’ “Amazing Race,” Fox’s “Filthy Rich” and “NeXt,” CW’s “Pandora” and “The Outpost” – were diverted to the fall; others (ABC’s “Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”) are on hold. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 5, 2020
Stories

Sunday TV: No Tonys, less fun

(This was the original Tony-night story, complicated by a late change: FX dumped “Greatest Showman” — it’s now set for June 19 — and replaced it with “Selma.”)
Once a year, TV viewers get a window into Broadway.
Usually, it’s fresh and fun and frothy; this year, the window is closed. Instead, we’re supposed to watch Hugh Jackma being Barnum (shown here) or John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John being cute.  Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 3, 2020
Stories

Cartoon stars: Social distance and/or close-up fun

Many people are still figuring out this notion of social-distance entertainment.
Then there’s Billy West. As a voice actor (including “Futurama,” show here), he’s worked both ways – alone or, preferably, with a crowd.
“It’s always better to have an ensemble,” West said. “There’s an energy that gets generated through all the people. It’s in the air.”
He was talking by phone … which is what he’s been doing lately. A voice actor can work without leaving home. “The equipment is so terrific now,” he said. “They’re doing television shows off Zoom.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 1, 2020
Stories

“Quiz” captures a TV obsession

Back in 1998, all of England seemed obsessed with “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?”
Old people watched it; they always seem to like quiz shows. But so, surprisingly, did others.
“I was 18 years when it launched,” writer James Graham, whose delightful “Quiz”(shown here) starts Sunday on AMC, told the Television Critics Association in January.
He first saw it on a Saturday, he said. “I was a hugely geeky child. I should have been out with my friends, but I was at home with my grandparents watching.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 28, 2020
Stories

From Bugs and Elmo to Tony Soprano, new streamer goes max

So here people are, emerging from two months of socially responsible tele-viewing.
They’ve spent the pandemic with Netflix or Disney+, with Apple or Acorn or Amazon or whatever. Now they’re ready to do something else, maybe mow the lawn or play with a child or …
Or not. A new streaming service, HBO Max, debuts Wednesday (May 27) at $15 a month. With everyone from Bugs Bunny (shown here) to Tony Soprano, it’s capable of gobbling up many more months of quarantine time. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 25, 2020