Daily Best Bets
Best-bets for Nov. 15: Reruns are worth re-seeing Best-bets for Nov. 15: Reruns are worth re-seeing Best-bets for Nov. 14: a warm Thanksgiving and a big streaming day Best-bets for Nov. 14: a warm Thanksgiving and a big streaming day Best-bets for Nov. 13: “Golden” finale, golden treasures Best-bets for Nov. 13: “Golden” finale, golden treasures
Stories

A massacre’s impact resonates through history

By Mike Hughes / November 10, 2024
Stories

Grier took a funny route to the hospital

By Mike Hughes / November 8, 2024
Stories

It’s a wild world — even in our cities

By Mike Hughes / November 1, 2024
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News and Quick Comments

TV’s favorite twist: Start with a life crumbling

There’s a plot twist that ripples through many scripts:
Sure, it’s fun for someone to plunge into a new life. But first, why not show her old life crumbling?
That happens in “Sullivan’s Crossing” (shown here), which debuts at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 4) on CW; Dr. Maggie Sullivan soon retreats home. And it happens in “The Spencer Sisters,” which debuts at 9 p.m. that night; Darby Spencer soon retreats home.
Both shows have redheads who flee to cozier Canadian settings. Darby goes to a small college town, where her showy mom lives; Maggie goes to a Nova Scotia campground, where her grumpy dad lives. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 1, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 3: A great season ends, a bad one begins

1) “Only Murders in the Building” finale, Hulu. A great season concludes with Oliver (Martin Short, tighty) frantically trying to stop Loretta (Meryl Streep) from confessing. She’s just trying to protect the son she gave up at birth, but Oliver is convinced that neither is the killer. Also, he loves her AND needs her to co-star in his musical, alongside Charles (Steve Martin, center, alongside Selena Gomez) and others. Now we should learn who the real killer is … and, maybe, how the musical does. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 1, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Disney saves its best for Sundays

For four months, TV’s biggest night had a giant question-mark.
Sundays are when ratings peak. But in its makeshift, strike-time schedule, ABC simply listed “Wonderful World of Disney” movies at 8 p.m., without saying which ones.
Disney movies, after all, can be as magical as “Mary Poppins,” as blah as this year’s “Haunted Mansion,” as forgettable as several I’ve forgotten. So which ones would be shown?
Now we finally know. This starts with “Jungle Cruise,” Oct. 1; “Cruella,” Oct. 8; and “Encanto” (shown here), Oct. 15. That covers a broad range — ordinary adventure, salvaged by likable stars … extraordinary adventure with awesome visuals … and an animated musical with some “Poppins-style” splendor. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 1, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 2: new game, old game and latenighters’ return

1) “Loteria Loca” debut, 9 p.m., CBS. As Jaime Camil tells it, every home in Mexico has a loteria set. It’s sort of like bingo, but with bright pictures. The game has been in Mexico for 250 years and now reaches TV, with Camil (the “Jane the Virgin” co-star) hosting and producing. This version (shown here) starts with the cards, then moves on to interactive challenges. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 30, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 1: The eternal Homer leads cartoon surge

1) “The Simpsons” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. At a time when most scripted shows were detoured by strikes, this is an exception: Animated shows are done far in advance; starting tonight, Fox has four new ones on Sundays. It’s the 35th season for “The Simpsons,” which seems as sharp as ever. Homer gets a wisp of crossing-guard glory (shown here); then, of course, he takes it to excess. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 29, 2023
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Oct. 2: Leap into new dramas and more

1) “Quantum Leap” season-opener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. After a good first season, “Leap” started filming this second one before the strikes. It also changed tone: Now Ben (shown here in first season) is stranded, without his fiancee’s hologram to help him. And now there’s humor; he has just crash-landed with a chaotic crew. It’s a sharp hour with excellent guest stars, including the stars of “Manifest” (Melissa Roxburgh) and “Midnight, Texas” (Francois Arnaud). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 28, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Latenight shows return Monday (Oct. 2)

The latenight shows are finally returning, with new episodes.
Most of them — ABC’s Jimmy Kimnmel, CBS’ Stephen Colbert, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (shown here) and Seth Meyers – plan to start Monday (Oct. 2). Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” arrives two weeks later, leaving only “Saturday Night Live” undecided.
Those changes follow the return of HBO’s weekly shows, with Bill Maher on Friday (Sept. 29) and John Oliver on Sunday (Oct. 1). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 28, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 30: This was Kelce, pre-Swift

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m, NBC. Before he became a pop-culture figure (by dating Taylor Swift), Travis Kelce (shown here0 was merely a football star. Three weeks after his Kansas City Chiefs beat his brother Jason’s Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, he hosted the episode that reruns today. It also includes Jason and the music guest, Kelsea Ballerini. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 28, 2023
Stories

She found a fictional world of crime, a real world of horses

For a young actress in her first big role, this was a new world.
Emma Naomi (shown here with Ben Miller) was in Belgium to co-star in “Professor T,” the mystery series that airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on PBS. What struck her about the place?
“The horses,” she said. “There are horses everywhere.”
She’s a city kid who grew up in London, the daughter of two nurses. For “T,” she was often living in Antwerp, which seemed familiar enough; “it’s a fashion capital, lots of coffee shops.” Still, many of the locations took her into the horse-filled countryside. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 27, 2023
News and Quick Comments

CBS shuffle: “Sydney,” “Squares,” “Watson,” more

By Mike Hughes / November 13, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 15: Reruns are worth re-seeing

By Mike Hughes / November 13, 2024
News and Quick Comments

ABC patches some holes in mid-season shift

By Mike Hughes / November 12, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 14: a warm Thanksgiving and a big streaming day

By Mike Hughes / November 12, 2024
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 13: “Golden” finale, golden treasures

By Mike Hughes / November 11, 2024