Stories

Stories

Mister Rogers? Yes, he really was like that

TV critics are used to pomp and hype, to overstuffed praise for underdeveloped shows.
So it’s refreshing when we get the opposite: That was the day Fred Rogers showed up.
It springs to mind now – almost 22 years later – because of the odd (and oddly wonderful) movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Here is Tom Hanks playing a gentle man who happened to be an important TV producer-writer-composer-star; people might wonder: Was Rogers really like that?
Apparently. And that’s what we got that January day in 1998. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 25, 2019
Stories

Inside prison, it’s a second-chance education

In the hard-scrabble world of big-city teens, these two were the lucky ones.
Sebastian Yoon grew up in a middle-income home, with two siblings and a hard-working dad. Jule Hall was a bright kid who enjoyed homework; “I loved school,” he said.
Both had the potential to go far. Before 18, they were both in New York’s tough Rikers Island jail.
Now they’re featured in “College Behind Bars” (shown here), 9-11 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 25-26), after a different sort of luck. They were among the few people who landed spots in the Bard College prison program. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 22, 2019
Stories

It’s a story of war, love, death and birth

A decade ago, Waad Al-Kateab stepped into a new life.
She was 18 and idealistic (“headstrong,” her parents said), a freshman at the massive University of Aleppo, in Syria. Then war changed everything.
That’s part of the story of “For Sama,” which reaches PBS Tuesday (Nov. 19). The award-winning documentary focuses partly on her decision to stay, even after having baby Sama.
“We stayed with these people in Aleppo for five years …. We just felt we belong to this place, to these people as our family,” Al-Kateab (shown here, away from the war zone). “We can’t just … leave.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 15, 2019
Stories

Great advice: Find friends, ignore naked guys

A talented actress, we’re told, can ignore all distractions.
Still, that’s not easy when there’s a naked-guy table … and a naked-guy lamp … and more.
“We truly did mess a bunch of lines,” said Shay Mitchell, a “Dollface” co-star. “I’d be saying my line (and) a lamp-shade naked man was just walking by. I was like, ‘All right. Where was I?
”That’s part of the quirky approach of “Dollface,” which debuts Friday on Hulu.
Jules (Kat Dennings, shown here) has been casually dumped by her boyfriend of five years, propelling her fantasy scenes. “When Jules is going through a heightened emotion, the magical realism kind of comes in to guide her,” Dennings said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 10, 2019
Stories

“Green Eggs”: A few words hatch a series

There are plenty of great books out there, still waiting to be movies or TV series.
Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” seemed to be a long shot. Jared Stern recalled his first reaction:
“I was like, ‘Uh huh – there’s like 50 words in the book. How do we make it into a movie?’” Stern told the Television Critics Association in August.
Or into something bigger. Now it’s a 13-week series (shown here) that reaches Netflix on Friday (Nov. 8). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 6, 2019
Stories

Molly: A vibrant life and a great movie

Jim Ivins insisted that his daughter have a respectable name.
Ivins – an oil executive nicknamed “General Jim” – chose Mary Tyler Ivins. His wife disagreed; so, eventually, did their daughter (shown here).
This was no mere Mary; by 12, she was 6 feet tall and brash. She re-named herself Molly Ivins.
She would become a newspaper columnist, known for both her wit and her venom, and then a “60 Minutes” commentator. She had a great little life (dying of cancer at 62) and is the subject of a great movie. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 6, 2019
Stories

It’s typecasting … in a good way

For Auli’i Cravalho (shown here), this is a pleasant bit of type-casting. She’s in a water-y life – again.
She had the title role in “Moana,” as an adventurous islander; now it’s “Little Mermaid Live.”
In real life, Cravalho hasn’t, to our knowledge, taken a solo ocean trip in search of a legendary demigod, as Moana did. Or collected artifacts in an undersea kingdom, as Ariel the mermaid did.
But she is Hawaiian, which makes her close to both. “(I) grew up maybe 20 minutes from beach,” she said, “so I would say I was pretty water-active as a kid.”
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 1, 2019
Stories

Life after “Thrones”? HBO has epic scale … and Lin-Manuel

(For HBO, this is the post-“Thrones” era. “Game of Thrones” — shown here — is gone; one of its prequels has been nixed. The next epic fantasy? There’s “Watchmen” at 9 p.m. Sunday and now “His Dark Materials,” debuting at 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4. Here’s a look at Lin-Manuel Miranda — yes, the “Hamilton” guy — who is the show’s co-star and its superfan.)
By Mike Hughes
Lin-Manuel Miranda was talking to TV critics, which was familiar turf.
He had met the Television Critics Association back in 2013, when he was the co-star of … well, something or other
“The legendary ‘Do No Harm’ … The lowest-rated show in the history of NBC,” Miranda recalled.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 31, 2019
Stories

A musical surge begins

Every now and then, TV remembers one of its highest callings – to give us full-scale musicals.
Then it forgets again, sometimes for years. But now comes a spurt; there are three musicals in eight days, covering a rich range
On Friday (Nov. 1), PBS has the relentlessly giddy “42nd Street.” The songs are peppy, the dancing is zesty and the story … well, no one tried to improve on the 1933 movie this is based on.
A week later, it has the exact opposite with “The King and I” (shown here). Once you get past the lush music and costumes, you have the serious story of a 19th-century despot. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 29, 2019
Stories

At 75, Douglas keeps finding fresh options

Michael Douglas has had to rethink this whole notion of retirement.
He’s 75, an age when retiring might seem reasonable. But in “The Kominsky Method” (shown here), his co-star (Alan Arkin) is 85; also, his dad (Kirk Douglas) will turn 103 on Dec. 9.
“I’ve got a long ways to go,” said Douglas, whose second “Kominsky” season starts Friday on Netflix. “It’s very exciting. I never anticipated (these) options as I reach the three-quarter-century mark.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 22, 2019