Mike Hughes on TV

Basic-cable channels have been good at some things (drama hours), faitar at others (original movies) and awful at situation comedies.

Mostly, basic-cable sitcoms have been lame and limp. Now comes the happy exception: "Sullivan & Son" is a fairly sharp bar-room comedy, spiced by an ethnc contrast. It has just started its second seaso; here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

In a moment of pure logic, Vince Vaughn
re-directed Steve Byrne's life.

Byrne – half-Irish and half-Korean –
had triumphed at comedy clubs, but rarely got acting roles. As he
recalls: “Vince said, 'You should write something yourself. Unless
they're making a Riverdance/tae kwon do movie, they won't have
anything for you.”

So Byrne co-created “Sullivan &
Son,” in which he plays a half-Korean lawyer, taking over his dad's
Irish pub. That sort of fits his real-life background.

His dad, a salesman, is a “very
easygoing, go-with-the-flow” Irishman, Byrne said. His mom is not.
“My mother is a stereotypical Asian … a 'Tiger mom.'”

So in the show, he cast Dan Lauria as a
genial Irish dad and Jodi Long as an intense Korean mom. Yes, these
are stereotypes, Byrne and Long grant; they also sometimes fit real
life.

“Immigrants want their children to do
better than they did,” said Long, 59, whose roots are Japanese,
Chinese and Scottish. “That's why they put so much emphasis on
education.”

Even her mother – a vaudeville
singer-dancer, married to another vaudevillian – tried to push
schooling. “She wanted me to be an English teacher. And English was
my worst subject.”

Byrne's mom also insisted on a good
education. He graduated from Kent State (Ohio) University, then
became a comedian – albeit a diligent one who once did all 12
Manhattan comedy clubs in one night.

Long applied that same sort of
diligence. She graduated from State University of New York –
Purchase, then found a busy acting career … long before shows like
“Sullivan” created specific Asian roles.

Byrne took “Sullivan” to networks,
with Vaughn accompanying him as producer. “It definitely helps to
have an A-list movie star with you,” he said.

They decided to set the show in a bar,
in the “Cheers” tradition. “I absolutely love the community
aspect (of bars),” Byrne said. “That's the meeting place.”

This one mixes younger people –
played by Byrne's stand-up comedy colleagues – and older ones,
including Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole, Lauria and Long.

For Long, this is part of a comedy
trend.“I'm really a classically trained actress – Chekhov and
everything” she said. But the comedy passion was there, “ever
since the first time I got a laugh.:

She figures she had three great comedy
teachers – Kevin Kline and Bill Cosby (whom she worked with) and
Lucille Ball, whom she watched via reruns. “I would hurry to get my
homework done, so I could watch every night at 7.

Long's serious roles have continued. In
recent years, she's played a judge on five different TV shows.

Still, she's also had regular roles in
situation comedies – “Cafe Americain,” “All-American Girl,”
“Miss Match” and now “Sullivan and Son,” playing an odd
branch on Steve Byrne's family tree.

– “Sullivan & Sons”

– 10 p.m. Thursdays, TBS, repeating
at midnight.

– Also repeats at 11 p.m. Saturdays
and 9 a.m. Sundays (9:30 a.m. June 30).

– Second season began June 16

There's an epic quality to "Magic City," with its large look and larger emotions. Embodying that perfectly is Danny Huston, with his portrayal of evil Ben Diamond. The show returns Friday (June 14); here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

Sometimes an actor subtly immerses in a
role. He finds pieces of his own soul to share with a character.

Then there are the times when he just
has to settle for make-believe. Danny Huston knows the feeling, when
he plays Ben Diamond, the epic villain of cable's “Magic City.”

Diamond enjoys secretly watching his
wife and her young lover. “I can't connect with that emotion,”
Huston said with a grin.

Nor can he connect with hushing his
wife's dog by shooting it. Or hushing a labor strike by killing the
union leader. Or many of the other things this guy has done so far.

“Last season, Ben Diamond was
basically the great white shark of crime,” said Mitch Glazer, the
“Magic City” creator. As silent partner in an elegant hotel in
late-1950s Miami Beach – he spread fear.

The role requires a lot of acting …
which has, by accident, become Huston's prime skill. Growing up, he
said, “I had no interest in acting.”

He wanted to be a director like his
father (John Huston), not an actor like his grandfather (Walter). He
drew some praise directing “Mr.North” at 26, but other projects
keep being held up. At 33, in “Leaving Las Vegas,” he made what
was virtually his acting debut. “I was Bartender No. 2,” Huston
recalled.. “Not even Bartender No. 1.”

Better roles followed, sometimes using
his stature Six-foot-2 and broad-shouldered, Huston brings a
commanding presence. He's been in classy films (“The Aviator,”
“The Constant Gardener”); he's played powerful people, real
(King Richard the Lionheart, Samuel Adams, Emperor Joseph II) and not
(Stryker, Poseiden).

All of those could be perfect
preparation for playing the commanding Ben Diamond. Once big with
Havana casinos, his life shrank when Fidel Castro took over Cuba. Now
he hangs around the beach, intimidating people. “In a way,”
Huston said,“Ben Diamond is like a fallen emperor.”

And in the second season, he has new
problems. “ We meet Sy Berman, the Mob boss above him.

Sy is played by James Caan, long-ago
star of another film (“The Godfather”) that included the colorful
Miami Mob days.

That era invites elaborate attention to
the clothes, the hair and the fictional hotel. The “Magic City”
details ares “so real that I think when extras come onto our set,
they try to check into the hotel,” said Kelly Lynch, who plays an
investor.

To do the eight episodes, actors spend
four months in Miami. This is not what Huston considers a hardship.
“I live a very nomadic existence,” he said.

He mas born in Rome, grew up in
Ireland, went to boarding school in England, saw his father make
films around the world. He's seen Hollywood's giants; his
grandfather, father and half-sister (Anjelica) all have Academy
Awards.

Danny Huston doesn't have an Oscar so
far. He did, however, get a Golden Globe nomination for playing Ben
Diamond … a role that requires a LOT of acting.

– “Magic City,” 9 p.m. Fridays,
Starz

– Opener, June 14, reruns at 10 and
11 p.m.,; then at 9 and 11:40 p.m. Saturday; 8 and 11:20 p.m. Sunday;
9 and 11:45 p.m. Monday, June 17.

– The eight first-season hours rerun
in three chunk – 8-11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday (June 11-12) and
8-10 p.m. Thursday.

Being a TV viewer isn't easy, you know. Shows appear and vanish semi-instantly. Some pretty good ones -- "Happy Endings," "Body of Proof" -- die young.

So it's nice to see an exception, a show and an actor that keeps trudging along. On Monday (June 10), G.W. Bailey has his 120th episode of "The Closer" or "Major Crimes"; here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

For actors – and for viewers – TV
has lots of short runs and quick disappointments.

“History – and just a natural
pessimism – tells me what to expect,” G.W. Bailey said.

He expects imminent unemployment, but
occasionally, something sticks: Bailey did the last four “MASH”
seasons and six “Police Academy” films. Now “Major Crimes”
starts its ninth season ... sort of.

It's the second season, but extends
“The Closer,” which was one of the longest-lasting dramas in
cable history. After seven years, “Closer” star (Kyra Sedgwick)
decided to quit.

“We drank a toast to her and to the
end of the show,” Bailey said. “It turned out to be a beginning.”

To the surprise of most people –
including Bailey – “Closer” transformed into “Major Crimes.”
It had a new boss (Captain Raydor, played by Mary McDonnell), but
kept the old characters. Five actors have done most of the 119
“Closer/Crimes” hours; only Bailey, apparently, has done them
all.

That's slyly noted in the
season-opener, with Lt. Provenza (Bailey) winning the cops' survivor
pool. It fits an actor who keeps outlasting people and eras, ever
since hippie-dom.

Back in Port Arthur, Texas, Bailey's
best friend's sister had a best friend who sang. “They were very
much into the beat culture,” he recalled of the girls. “We were
sort of Ivy League little boys.”

That friend's-friend, Janis Joplin,
soon soared; Bailey took much longer to be famous. “I went to Texas
Tech for 10 years, off and on, just so I could keep doing theater.”

In 1994 – more than 30 years after
first trying college – he got a degree from a Texas school (in San
Marcos) where he'd taught for a year. His grandmother, who had raised
him, beamed.

By then, Bailey had already reached
high places – fictional ones – without a degree. He'd portrayed
several doctors, a lawyer, a sheriff, a mayor and President U.S.
Grant, plus lots of soldiers and cops.

Many were crusty or crabby, as typified
by a line in the first “Closer” episode. Provenza was told he
might be sent to sensitivity training. “Again?!” he exclaimed.

“I had never, ever seen a one-word
reply that did so much,” Bailey said.

Provenza and his colleagues soon got
along with their boss (Sedgwick), who shared their interest in
bending the rules. Then “Major Crimes” changed that, putting a
former bureaucrat in charge.

Raydor “wrote a lot of the rule,”
James Duff, the creator of both shows, said. “These guys are used
to working sort of fast and loose with policy. And you have someone
saying, 'Policy can be our friend.'”

These are cops who care about each
other and about the victims. Their Los Angeles police department is
high-tech, but they go door-to-door. “It's still 90 per cent shoe
leather,” Bailey said.

That's Provenza's job, nudging his
colleagues to do old-school work. He's the ultimate survivor, in a
show that keeps staying alive while others quickly vanish.

– “Major Crimes,” 9 p.m. Mondays,
TNT

– Season-opener, June 10, repeats at
11:05 p.m., after the debut of “King & Maxwell” at 9.

– Prior to that, the entire first
season reruns from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In one scene from the new "Family Addition" reality show, Collins Tuohy chuckles at her mom chatting with a couple athletes. They are skateboarders, thoroughly laidback; her mom is the opposite, an eternal cheerleader.

That cheery view has served Leigh Anne Tuohy well. She was portrayed by Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" and now has her own feel-good reality show. Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

Don't expect Leigh Anne Tuohy to do
everything well.

Some skills elude her. “I don't know
the difference between a refrigerator and a stove,” she said.

Then there are her real talents – all
key to “Family Addition,” her new cable show. They include:

– Adoption advocacy. Sandra Bullock
portrayed her in “The Blind Side,” the story of Michael Oher's
transition from homeless teen to pro-football star.

– Home-decoration. She spent two
seasons on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

– And, most of all, cheerleading.
That's sort of been her life.

Flash back 30-some years. She was Leigh
Anne Roberts then, a U.S. marshal's daughter who grew up in Memphis,
where she went to a Christian school. Now she was a sorority girl
(Kappa Delta) and cheerleader at Mississippi University, where Sean
Tuohy was the point guard.

“They beat Alabama in a close game,”
she recalled. “I went over and kissed him on the cheek.”

It may have been a natural instinct
for a bubbly cheerleader … but not for a quiet basketball guy. “He
was born and raised in New Orleans and he'd never had something like
that happen to him.”

So he hesitantly asked her out. It led
to a marriage that's been prosperous (they own about 85 fast-food
franchises) and sports-obsessed; he's a radio sportscaster nationally
and for the Memphis Grizzlies.

This isn't some sports lunkhead; he set
the Southeastern Conference record for assists. “He still has the
record,” Tuohy said. “He gives the ball to people; this man is a
giver by nature.”

So they gave Oher a home; she became
his personal cheerleader in life. The movie brought an Oscar for
Bullock and reality-show offers to Tuohy. “I kept saying 'no, no,
no, that's not what I do.'”

She did do “Extreme Home Makeover,”
with its feel-good emphasis. And when producers pitched “Family
Addition” to her, she jumped at it.

The show has her meet adoptive
families, helping with problems and bringing cheerleader enthusiasm.
As a bonus, she also leads some re-design at their homes.

This is on an obscure channel once
called Gospel Music Channel and then GMC, a name Tuohy hated. It had
planned to take its new name – simply UP – in September, but
switched early for her debut.

“They have exciting, uplifting
entertainment,” Tuohy said. It has reruns – the lead-ins for her
Friday opener are “7^th Heaven” at 5 and 6 p.m. and
“Touched By an Angel” at 7 and 8 – plus weekend movies, gospel
videos and now two reality shows.

The second, “Bulloch Family Ranch,”
debuts July 19. First is “Addition,” with Tuohy joined by:

– Sue Mitchell, a retired teacher,
originally hired to tudor Oher. His high school grade-point went from
0.7 to 3.6, Touhy said; Mitchell followed him to Mississippi and
tutored him on campus.

– Collins Touhy. Like her dad, she's
an athlete; she was the state pole-vault champion. Unlike her mother,
she's a cook who has her own bakery.

And what of Collins' brother, Sean Jr.
or SJ? He's a guard at Loyola College in Maryland; when his mom
suggested he might top his dad's assist record, she says he
responded: “Who's stupid enough now to pass the ball that much?”

– “Family Addition,” 9 p.m.
Fridays, UP (formerly Gospel Music Channel and GMC)

– Debuts June 7; reruns at 10 p.m.
and 1 a.m., then at 2 p.m. Sunday.

A funny thing happens to something when it goes across the Atlantic and across the continent. It turns sunnier, cheerier; even deep personal turmoil seems kind of fun.

At least, that's what happened to "Mistresses" when it leaped from London to Los Angeles. The American version debuts Monday (June 3) on ABC; here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

Leaping out of a 100-channel universe,
some ABC titles seize attention.

There was “Desperate Housewives”
and “Dirty Sexy Money”; now “Mistresses” arrives.

“At first blush, it sounds
salacious,” said producer K.J. Steinberg. “If you scratch the
surface, there's much more.”

There are characters who are often
sexy, often foolish … yet sometimes pensive and talkative. This
was, after all, a British idea.

The original series had four
Englishwomen – smart and attractive and in wayward relationships.

And the American version? Things are
just as messy, but they feel brighter. “There's a lightness and a
(sense of) fun,” said Alyssa Milano, who stars.

Part of that is visual: Los Angeles
simply looks cheerier than London. “It glosses everything up and
brightens it up,” sad producer Rina Minoun.

In that blue-sky setting, Steinberg
said,.even foolish lives seem promising. There's “an optimism to
the show …. The friendships binding these women are uplifting.
They're relatable.”

The women are:

– Savannah (or Savi), who
simultaneously hopes for a partnership at her law office and a
pregnancy via her husband. Amid her fertility frustrations, she falls
for a handsome co-worker (Jason George). “I like playing women who
are flawed,” said Milano, who plays her.

– Josslyn, her younger sister. She's
a real-estate agent, with an uncomplicated life of serial dating.

– April, their mutual friend.
Widowed, she used her husband's life-insurance money to start a
home-decorating shop. Now anonymous phone calls make her suspect her
husband is still alive.

– Karen, a therapist. After a secret
relationship with Savannah's handsome-and-dying boss, she now has
emotional contacts with his widow and son.

She's a smart woman, doing foolish
things. “Every time I read a new episode,” said Yunjin Kim, who
plays her, “it's like: 'Oh no, she didn't' …. We all make
mistakes. I think we go on making mistakes.”

A least, these women look splendid
making those mistakes. After six stark seasons on “Lost,” Kim can
play dress-up. “Wardrobe and makeup-wise, this show is more fun,”
she said

Maybe an affair is fun, but Steinberg
said these women have doubts. “They're never glib about what they
do and who they hurt.” They're finding that life can be tough when
you are or know a mistress.

– “Mistresses,” 10:01 p.m.
Mondays, ABC

– Debuts June 3