Jimmy Kimmel

Stories

Oscar night: This one could be fun

As Oscar night approaches, things seem promising. On a night with Barbie (shown here) and Oppenheimer and Kimmel, this could be fun.
The Academy Awards used to be great fun – clever monologs, big music numbers, sly presenters and (remember these?) movies people had seen in theaters.
Then things deteriorated. There were three dreary years, 2019-21, with no host (and, in one case, no primetime songs). There was little to watch except tedious speeches.
The result was harsh: In 1998 (Billy Crystal hosted, “Titanic” won), 55.3 mllion people watched in the U.S.; in 2021 (no host, “Nomadland” won), that was 10.4 millon. But now the fun returns. Here’s an overview of this Sunday, March 10: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 6, 2024
Stories

Late shows return … with a lot to talk about

The late-night TV world boomed back Monday and everyone seemed excited to be there.
How excited? “More excited than the guy who went to see ‘Beetlejuice’ with Lauren Boebert,” Jimmy Fallon said. “More excited than the Jets fans for the first three plays of the season.”
Yes, they had a lot to talk about.
Boebert (a congresswoman from Colorado) and her guy were ejected from a theater, after being accused of vaping, groping and yelling. Jets fans were giddy until their new quarterback was injured on the third play. There was much more.
At 6:17 a.m. Monday, Jimmy Kimmel (shown here) said, one of his writers received this text from his mother: “Please don’t make tonight’s monologue all about Trump.” Kimmel shared that text with the audience and then … well, had a long chunk of the monolog that was all about Trump. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 3, 2023
Stories

Emmys were fun — in a drearily monotonous way

The Emmy telecast had been on for 73 minutes Sunday, before an American won an award.
The entire first hour on ABC (yes, the American Broadcasting Company) was spent giving prizes to Canadians. “Schitt’s Creek” (shown here) swept all seven of the awards given on-air for comedies – best series, plus four acting awards and ones for directing and writing.
It was a remarkable – and monotonous – stretch for a pleasant little show that is usually ignored. Having finished its run on the obscure PopTV channel, “Schitt’s Creek” is now confined to the CW Seed streaming service. The Emmy voters had ignored it for years … then showered it with those seven on-air wins and two more (costumes and casting) before the telecast.
When all of that finally ended, it was time for the award for the best variety talk series … which went to John Oliver, an Englishman.
Eventually, the Emmys did find some Americans and revert to their traditional state … which involves HBO winning everything. That included Emmys for best: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 21, 2020
Stories

ABC decides “Black-ish” lives matter

This is a hectic time for ABC’s shows – especially the ones that try to make us laugh.
Suddenly, “Black-ish” (shown here) is back on the fall schedule … “Call Your Mother” is off it … Jimmy Kimmel is taking the summer off … And next month, something fairly rare – a new summer sitcom – will debut.
All of those came in separate announcements, during a time when forces – from COVID shutdowns to protest coverage – keep bringing change. They are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 19, 2020
News and Quick Comments

“Daily Show” revises; latenight adjusts

A fresh version of “The Daily Show” will debut Monday (March 23), with a catchy title.
“The Daily Social Distancing Show” will be 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays on Comedy Central. It’s the latest answer to latenight’s effort to stay topical, yet stay safe.
As the coronavirus shutdown set in, latenight shows retreated to reruns. ABC even nudged Jimmy Kimmel back an hour, at least temporarily, to 12:35 a.m. weekdays; “Nightline,” with its virus reports, moved up to 11:35 p.m. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 22, 2020