Mike Hughes on TV

This Sunday (April 7) is one of those overcrowded TV days. "Mad Men" starts its season, "Shameless" ends its season, "Game of Thrones" has the second show of its season. Also, the Academy of Country Music hands out awards. Here's the "Mad Men" story I sent to papers; an ACM story is coming:

By MIKE HUGHES

When “Mad Men” started, it could
have been an exercise in obscurity.

It was on “a channel that half the
world had never heard of,” recalled creator Matthew Weiner. It was
set in a year (1960) most viewers had never experienced, about people
(ad men) most didn't like.

And then it soared. In five seasons, it
has received 85 Emmy nominations and won 15 of times – including
four as the best drama series. “It's so overwhelming that it's hard
not to take it for granted,” said John Slattery, who plays Roger
Sterling.

Now the show is departing …
gradually. On Sunday, it starts its second-to-last season.

At the core is Don Draper. “He's a
cynical guy in a cynical business,” Slattery said.

Draper (Jon Hamm) creates ads that tap
emotion, yet rarely taps his own. He lost his marriage, found
romance, helped start an agency, saw former junior copywriter Peggy
Olson soar and leave.

This year's season-opener includes two
deaths, one near-death and some talk about the afterlife. It also has
humor, Weiner, 47, pointed out. “I don't find it any gloomier than
usual.”

Besides, he said, this is a series
“that starts with someone jumping out a window.” In the six years
since “Mad Men” used that opening graphic, it has juggled joy and
agony.

The Sterling character absorbs much of
the latter in the season-opener. Even before that, he had lost his
best ad account, his marriage and romances. “At least he's still
looking,” Slattery said.

Silver-haired and 50, Slattery is happy
to be playing romances in a business where “it's hard not to feel
marginalized (if you're not) 22 years old.”

In real life, he's been married to
Talia Balsam (George Clooney's ex-wife) for 13 years. And while
playing an ad man, he spent a couple years doing Lincoln commercials.
:”It was very little work and a lot of fun and I got a free car.”

In the fictional world, things rarely
turn out that well. “Mad Men” offers mixed emotions and
conflicted characters, something cable thrives on. “There's a lot
of great television now,” Slattery said.

The surge started in 1999 with HBO's
“The Sopranos.”. Weiner, a former comedy writer – “I was
out-of-work for years” – joined it in 2003 as a producer and
writer. When “Sopranos” ended in 2007, he was ready for his own
show.

That's “Mad Men,” on AMC, the
network that soon added “Breaking Bad,” “Walking Dead,” “Hell
on Wheels” and prestige. It's no longer the channel no one has
heard of.

– “Mad Men,” generally 10-11 p.m.
Sundays, AMC

– The season-opener, however, runs
two hours and eight minutes; it debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday, rerunning at
11:08 p.m. and 1:16 a.m., plus 10:30 p.m. on April12 and 8 a.m. on
April 14.

Bryan Fuller is a terrific writer whose "Pushing Daisies" was a gem. Now his new show -- the "Silence of the Lambs" prequel -- debuts Thursday on NBC. And Fuller has wisely decided that "Hannibal" will not really be about Hannibal; here's the story I sent to paper:

By MIKE HUGHES 

There's a type of TV character viewers
seem to savor.

He's great mentally, poor socially. He
can out-think everyone and out-charm no one.

He's Sherlock and Sheldon (in
“Elementary” and “Big Bang Theory”). He's the central
characters in “House” and “Bones” and “Perception.” And
he's Will Graham in NBC's new “Hannibal” series.

In a way, said “Hannibal” producer
Bryan Fuller, we envy these characters. We “would love to be more
abrupt than we are allowed.”

Will is an FBI profiler who tends to
blurt things out. He knows a lot; in this “Silence off the Lambs”
prequel, however, he doesn't know that Hannibal Lecter – the
psychiatrist he works with – is a villain.

“Hannibal is the most …
quick-witted man in the show, I suppose” said Hugh Dancy, who plays
Will. “He's always that one step ahead.”

The idea for the show started with
Fuller, who likes perverse drama. On a plane ride, he talked with a
producer whose company had just obtained rights to the Lecter
stories. “My first question was, 'Do you have the rights to the
Will Graham character?'”

Yes, Fuller was interested. He was10
when he started reading Fangoria magazine, a teen when he read “Red
Dragon,” which introduced Lecter. He also read book by make-up whiz
Tom Savini “and staged my own very violent re-creations as a child,
to the horror of the photo-processing store.”

As a young TV writer, Fuller “pitched
many a horror series and was told horror does not work on television.
What that basically means is that it doesn't work until somebody
proves that it does work.”

Cable's “Walking Dead” proved it
works. By then, Fuller's “Pushing Daisies” had drawn great
reviews and so-so ratings on ABC. He wrote some “Heroes” episodes
and was working on a “Munsters” update for NBC, when the
“Hannibal” idea emerged.

He cast Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen in
the title role, but the real focus would be on Will. The FBI profiler
had been played – by William Petersen in the1986 “Manhunter”
and Edward Norton in the 2002 “Red Dragon” – as “a stoic
leading man,” Fuller said.

Fuller takes a different view: “In
'Red Dragon,' Hannibal said, (paraphrasing), 'You caught me
essentially because you're crazy too.'”

So this new version of Will would seem
fragile. He could step inside killers' minds, but had trouble with
regular people. “He's probably not great company,” Dancy said,
“He's fairly shut off.”

Viewers would dislike Will, Fuller
said, unless the actor is likable. Dancy, 37, is ideal, he said; he
“has the philosopher's soul and a wonderful vocabulary and
incredible wit.”

The “philosopher's soul” might come
from Dancy's dad, a philosophy professor. The vocabulary might come
from his prep-school and Oxford education. And the love of acting is
helpful, because he's married to two-time Emmy-winner Claire Danes.

So far, Dancy has only one Emmy
nomination – as Helen Mirren's young lover in HBO's “Elizabeth I”
– but there could be more ahead. After all, he's playing the one
man smart enough – and maybe crazy enough – to some day catch
Hannibal Lecter.

– “Hannibal,” 10:01 p.m.
Thursdays, NBC

– Debuts April 4

Some good things happened on "American Idol" Thursday:

1) Someone finally remembered that the phrase "Detroit music" covers more than Motown Records. I had grumbled about that (see previous blog); then "Idol" opened he show with a Bob Seger song.

2) Everyone remembered how much better the women are this year. All five were safe and all three of the guys made up the bottom three, jut as Jimmy Iovine had predicted. Devin Velez was terrific in his last-chance song -- wisely choosing one in which he moved nimbly between English and Spanish -- but before that, he'd been too bland for too long. We're heading toward the first female winner in six years ... and one of the best winners.

3) All of the extra music acts were excellent. Keith Urban and Colton Dixon rocked hard. So did One Republic, joined by Katharine McPhee, whose talent made up for her bad outfit.

How bad? Well, I'm psychically inclined to like all bare-belly outfits, and I still hated this one. Still, we're reminded of how good McPhee is ... just in time. Her underrated "Smash" airs twice next week on NBC -- first at 10 p.m. Tuesday, then exiled on April 6 to a bad spot at 9 p.m. Saturdays.

Hey, Detroit is a very big place you know. And it's had a VERY big music scene ... even if you couldn't tell it tonight on "American Idol."

Unlike previous years, focusing strictly on Motown Records, tonight was open to songs from any Detroiter. The result? Of 11 songs, nine were from Motown Records. The only exceptions were Aretha Franklin (a friend and neighbor or the Motown folks) and Madonna (who was a dancer, not a singer, before leaving Michigan). There was no Seger or Nugent or Winan or White or Rock (Kid) or Pop (Iggy) or others.

Oh well, it was still a fine night. A few comments:

1) Things started and ended with vibrant rock songs by great singers -- Candice Glover and Kree Harrison. They should be around to the finish, preferably with Amber Holcomb or Angie Miller.

2) I still don't care for Lazaro Arbos or Devin Velez. Either can go now, thanks.

3) I also had mixed feelings about Lazaro's clothes. The leather jacket was fine; the leather pants weren't.

4) Still, I thought Angie Miller's leather hot pants were quite splendid. Is it possible I have a double standard?

5) I think Angie's "Shop Around" was sharp and fun, no matter what the judges said. Last week, her "Yesterday" was sensational; this week, she delivered an opposite mood buoyantly.

6) The notion of a slowed-down, coffeehouse version of "Keep Me Hanging On" seemed iffy, but Janelle Arthur pulled it off.

7) The first two group numbers were pretty good. Then we saw the Four Tops done as theThree Tops, which -- if Nicki Minaj is right -- became the Three Stooges.

8) Burnell Taylor's white suit was rather elegant. This is what Billy Dee Williams would wear, if he had a day job selling ice cream.

9) I think Burnell will be ousted on Thursday, but I'd like to see Devin or Lazaro go. Maybe soon.

10) We'll find out Thursday, alongside music by Katharine McPhee, Colton Dixon and Keith Urban. We're wrapping up the Michigan week with people from California, Texas and Australia.

After a zillion or so March pledge breaks, PBS is suddenly on top of its game. On Friday (see previous blog), it has a superb profile of Philip Roth. On Sunday, it follows the "Call the Midwife" season-opener with a large and lush "Masterpiece Classic" miniseries, "Mr. Selfridge." Here's the "Selfridge" story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

“Masterpiece” has lingered in
life's finest settings.

It's been in mansions and manor houses,
palaces and cathedrals and Downton Abbey. Now it visits the grand
glamor of … well, a department store.

“Mr. Selfridge” starts Sunday
(after the “Call theMidwife”season-opener), making it PBS' first
new “Masterpiece” since “Downton” drew record ratings. The
idea began when a producer handed writer Andrew Davies a book about
the man who brought American zest to London's department stores.

Davies' reaction? “I said, 'It's all
about shopping. I'm a guy. I don't do shopping.'”

But he does like characters and Harry
Selfridge was a dilly.

“He didn't know the English rules,”
said Frances O'Connor, who plays his wife Rose.

“He was like a whirlwind,” said Zoe
Tapper, who plays his lover, Ellen Love.

Henry and Rose were real people; Ellen
was not.

“He was an exceptionally active man
with the ladies,” Davies said. “He ... loved his wife, but he
couldn't resist pretty women. (Ellen) is a kind of amalgam of one or
two.”

Adds O'Connor: “Or three or four.”

For the British, sex – from Henry
VIII to Lady Chatterly – is an old story, but department stores
are not. At least, not the fun stores Selfridge savored. “He
actually transformed shopping,” said Jeremy Piven, who plays him.

Piven grew up near Chicago, where the
Marshall Field department store – partly molded by Selfridge –
dominated. His mother told him the impact it had on her and her own
mother. “There wold be a person in the elevator who would greet you
and be so kind to you, and they had places for kids to play and
restaurants. She said it was kind of just this cathedral.”

Selfridge made good money there, Piven
said, but wanted his name on the store.”He grew up without a father
and he desperately wanted” recognition. When the owners refused, he
tried London.

Even today, O'Connor said, the British
admire and abhor American enthusiasm. Back in 1906, “I think the
English were sort of fascinated with Harry Selfridge.”

He brought in celebrities, made sure
his windows were artful. “He was the first person to (put)
cosmetics in the front of the store,” Piven said.

He like to be big and bold; now
“Masterpiece” tries to be the same.

Inside a London warehouse, Selfridge's
store was re-constructed precisely. Lives were re-constructed more
loosely, adding the drama of fictional employees.

At 76, Davies might be expected to be
writing in a cottage in his native Wales. Instad, he has his first
job running a series. After this season, he hopes “Selfridge”
will have three more years of big romance and big shopping.

– “Masterpiece Classic: Mr.
Selfridge”

– Debuts 9 p.m. Sunday (March 31), most PBS
stations (check local listing), after the 8 p.m. season-opener of
“Call the Midwife”

– Two-hour opener, then one hour on
Sundays, through May 19