Mike Hughes on TV

Stories

Doris and Bogie? It’s a wide-ranging journey

As summer TV winds down, Turner Classic Movies adds some starpower.
That’s its annual “Summer Under the Stars.” Each day in August focuses on the films — usually the best ones — from one actor.
Some of these stars still have strong followings. This opens with Doris Day (shown here) and Humphrey Bogart. One stretch (Aug. 14-16) has Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Cary Grant; two days later, it’s Robert Redford. John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn are back-to-back on Aug. 22-23, James Stewart and Bette Davis on Aug. 26-27. Scattered around are Steve McQueen (Aug. 8), Groucho Marx (Aug. 12) and Marlon Brando (Aug. 20).
And others? Well, when was the last time you had a spirited discussion about Marie Windsor, Dana Andrews, Bonita Granville or Basil Rathbone? Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 24, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 26: sharks, zombies & rich guys

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. Now that the soccer fuss has ended, Fox gets back to its regular line-up. That includes Sunday reruns of its two funniest shows. In this one, Bart’s lab work (shown here) links him with tech billionaires who are intent on living forever. At 8:30, “Animal Control” has Frank on a late-night mission to retrieve his new dog. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 23, 2026

Stories

Week’s top-10 for July 27: 3 shows leave, 3 arrive

1) “Grantchester” series finale, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. For 11 seasons and three vicars, this has given us warm people and smart crime stories. The finale fumbles the latter; the search for the man who shot Geordie is so-so, at best. It also overdoses the drama at times, amid a crisis in faith for Alphy (right, with Geordie). But its final, moving minutes remind us that this has been a terrific series. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 23, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 25: stars of “SNL,” WNBA

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. This reruns the season-finale, with two of the show’s favorites. Hosting is Will Ferrell, who was a regular (shown here) for seven years, left to become a movie star, and has returned five times as host. Paul McCartney is the music guest. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 23, 2026

News and Quick Comments

TV is obsessing on outer space (again)

The TV world is again obsessing on outer space.
On the non-fiction side, PBS has two series viewing the space race, from the early competition to the International Space Station (shown here) co-operation. There’s a new one at 9 p.m. Tuesdays and a splendid rerun at 9 p.m. Fridays.
And the fiction side? New seasons are starting for Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Thursdays, starting July 23) and Syfy’s “The Ark” (Wednesdays, starting July 29).
Then there are all the past shows — roughly 3.2 zillion of them — stockpiled on the streamers. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 23, 2026

Stories

Strange old challenges on “Strange New Worlds”

It’s not easy to inhabit the strange old world of “Star Trek.”
Consider Rebecca Romijn, who plays First Officer Una Chin-Riley in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Thursdays on Paramount+). For this fourth season (shown here, with Uhura at the controls), she was busy learning to speak Klingon.
It was “a challenge I never knew I wanted,” she told the Television Critics Association. “But I really embraced it, because there are at least 20 people in the world who speak Klingon perfectly.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 22, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 24: moon, movies and murder

1) “Chasing the Moon” opener, 9-11 p.m., PBS. On Tuesdays, PBS has a terrific new documentary tracing the later years of the U.S.-Soviet space race. But now we go back to the beginning: This terrific, three-week film (from 2019) includes astronauts (Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, Frank Borman) and others, includinng Poppy Northcutt (shown here), a pioneering computer expert whom photographers kept focusing on. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 22, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 23: adventures on Earth and beyond

1) “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season-opener, Paramount+. Sure, some shows might have episodes where nothing much happens. Not here: After a slow start, this story (shown here) leaps across time and space, leaving … well, everyone everywhere in limbo. It’s definitely a big way to start the season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 21, 2026

Stories

From Pompeii to Poseidon: surviving disasters

Staring at movies and TV shows, we’re used to this:
A disaster has started; people promptly shift into another gear. They panic, push, shout, scream and generally misbehave.
Is this realistic? “We do see panic in some emergencies,” Sarita Robinson said. “But not as often as portrayed.”
She’s studied such things for 30 years and has the academic credentials to prove it. She’s ponders disasters, new and old — in one case, very old: She’s in Tom Hiddleston’s “Pompeii: Out of Time,” a fascinating documentary (shown here), from 8-11 p.m. Wednesday (July 22) on the National Geographic Channel. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 20, 2026

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 22: Davids, “Dumbest,” Pompeii

1) “Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” season-opener, 8 p.m., ABC. The season starts with two interesting duos. First, Larry David is paired with his daughter Cazzie, a writer and actress. (They’re shown here.) Then Ben Affleck teams with Jamie Ding, who won 31 straight nights of “Jeopardy.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 20, 2026