Mike Hughes on TV

Want an Emmy? Choose your show carefully

Let’s say you want to get an Emmy nomination for acting.
Talent and training help, I suppose. Still, choose your show carefully.
The Emmy nominations, announced this week, include 26 names for supporting and guest roles in a drama. Twelve of them were for “The Pitt” on HBO Max.
Supporting roles? “Pitt” has half of them — four of the seven actresses, that includes last year’s winner, Katherine LaNasa (shown here with Noah Wyle, plus Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif and Sepideh Moafi. It also includes hree of the seven actors — Shawn Hatosy, who won last year in a guest role, plus Patrick Ball and Gerran Howell. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for July 13: Cup concludes; shows debut

1) “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” debut, 8 p.m. today, ABC. Here are all the elements of a ratings-leader: a dozen dancers … two sweet-faced guys, Robert Irwin as host and Derek Hough (shown here with the female contestants) as the first mentor … and a notable prize — a spot as one of the pros paired with celebrities on “Dancing With the Stars.” Tonight, the dancers work on jive and samba. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 12: double-Joel, plus sharks

1) “The 1% Club” and “Animal Control,” 7 and 8:30 p.m., Fox. Joel McHale is a big plus for Fox, with both of these shows — a game (which resumes new episodes Monday) and a situation comedy. The latter rerun is uneven, but has great moments at the start (with Rob Gronkowski) and the end: As union rep, Frank (McHale, shown here) must defend his enemy, Templeton. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 11: a Messi moment for Cup

1) World Cup, 5 and 9 p.m. ET, Fox. By the end of the day, the Cup will have its final four. It’s Norway-England at 5 and Argentina-Switzerland at 9. Those match-up include Cup scoring leaders: After five games, Argentina’s Lionel Messi (shown here) and Norway’s Erling Haaland have 8 and 7 goals. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 9, 2026

News and Quick Comments

Emmy nominations? It’s Quinta and streamers

TV, we’re told, is a world where stars can come from anywhere.
Or — as Jeff Hiller put it today while announcing the Emmy nominations: “In Hollywood, talent can come in every height.”
As proof, Hiller (6-foot-5) was standing next to “Bear” co-star Liza Colon-Zayas (5-foot).
The nominations list did show that nominees can come from every size, shape and ethnicity … but not, alas, from every medium. Broadcast networks are virtually shut out from the award show they’ll air (Sept. 14 on NBC).
The exception, as usual, is ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and its star, Quinta Brunson, again nominated for best comedy series and comedy actress, other than that, streamers or cable networks have all the nominees for: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 8, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 10: perspectives on “BB,” JFK

1) “Big Brother: Unlocked” season-opener, 8 p.m., CBS. For its second season, this show — airing on alternate Fridays — is expanding. It adds a studio audience and Jerry O”Connell, who is a “Big Brother” fan. He’ll join Taylor Hale and Derrick Levasseur (shown here last season) for behind-the-scenes perspectives. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 8, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 9: It’s the summer’s busiest night

1) “Big Brother” opener, 8-9:30 p.m., CBS. It’s the 28th year for this ratings leader, which gobbles up lots of time. There’s 90 minutes today (the “time trip” decor, shown here, and the housemates) and Sunday, then 90 on Wednesdays and 60 on Thursdays and Sundays. All are at 8 p.m., as is “Big Brother: Unlocked,” which is on alternate Fridays, including this week. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 7, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 8: a mighty river, a Cup-less day

1) “The American Southwest,” 10 p.m., PBS. The Colorado River (shown here) flows for 1,450 miles, from the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. It carved the Grand Canyon and is partly diverted to California farms. This portrait juggles gorgeous vistas, clumsy narration, strong ecological comments and views of critters, from beavers to snakes and salmon flies Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 6, 2026

Stories

“Little House”: A wandering family is back on TV

Now that we’re finished with July 4 and all thise 250th-birthday stuff, it’s time to leap ahead almost a century.
Yes, the founding fathers were interesting … but so were the frontier folk. A new “Little House on the Prairie” reaches Netflix on Thursday (July 9).
That moves us to the late 1860s, with Americans recovering from the Civil War. Some were pushing to new land — especially the Ingalls family.
“They moved around a lot,” writer-producer Rebecca Sonnenshine told the Television Critics Association. “The Ingalls were always on the move.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 5, 2026

Stories

This Skywalker is a prairie-dweller

Her name reflects a galaxy far away, but her passion involves the frontier long ago.
Meet Skywalker Hughes (shown here, right) — no relation to Luke or to Howard or to this writer. She’s 14 and plays the older sister in the “Little House on the Prairie” reboot, arriving Thursday (July 9) on Netflix.
First, that name:
Her grandfather, she told the Television Critics Association, had the surname Walker and wanted to have a son named Jay. “It’s apparently really funny to name your son after jaywalking.”
Instead, he had daughters and asked one of them to name her daughter Skywalker. “My mom was a little like, ‘OK, We’ll see what happens.’ But I really do love my name …. I am a very, very big ‘Star Wars’ fan.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 5, 2026