Month: June 2020

Stories

ABC this fall: Three new, lotsa old

For TV viewers, this fall will seem a lot like last fall.
ABC today (June 17) announced a schedule that has only three new shows — which still puts it at the top of the list. CBS will have two new ones … NBC will havbe one (a “Law & Order” spin-off) … Fox and CW will have makeshift line-up in the fall, with the big shows returning later.
The network also does some shuffling, including moving “The Bachelorette” (shown here with Clare Crawley) to fall. Such moves were needed because the coronavirus shutdown came just as producers were getting ready to shoot pilot films. The networks could: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 17, 2020
Stories

CW adds more summer pick-ups

While other networks recede into reruns this summer, the CW is trying an alternate route.
It keeps buying shows that have aired somewhere else, but haven’t been on a U.S. broadcast network.
Now it has added four more – three British, one Canadian. It has also set the second half of its summer schedule.
The British newcomers included a horror mystery show (“Killer Camp,” shown here), a reality competition (“Taskmaster”) and a reality show (“Being Reuben”) about a 14-year-old Welsh boy who became a social-media star as a singer and make-up expert. The Canadian show (“Fridge Wars”) has people scouring unknown contents of a refrigerator to assemble a meal. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 17, 2020
News and Quick Comments

ABC sets Juneteenth special

Juneteenth – a holiday that some Americans were unaware of – will be noted in a news special.
At 8 p.m. Friday, ABC will have “Juneteenth: A celebration of Overcoming.” It will include reports from Galeveston (where the celebration began) and Tulsa (where interest was stirred this year).
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on Jan. 1, 1863 and the Civil War ended in April of 1865, but slavery persisted in Texas. It was on June 19, 1865, that Union troops reached Galveston with word that the slaves were free. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 16, 2020
Stories

Ann Richards: A supersized soul ruled Texas

Texas has always had its supersized souls. From Sam Houston to Lyndon Johnson, from Molly Ivins to the Bushes, it seems to savor larger-than-life people.
And Ann Richards fit in neatly. “She was a very positive person,” Holland Taylor said. “She believed the world rolls forward.”
Taylor wrote and starred in “Ann” (shown here), a one-woman show. Now it’s part of a two-Friday package – “Ann” at 9 p.m. June 19 (check local listings), Christine Lahti as Gloria Steinem on June 26 – in a PBS summer that leads to Aug. 26, the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.
Put those Friday shows together and you’ll see that the women’s movement has drawn opposite people. Verbally, Richards was easy, breezy and outgoing; Steinem is not. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 16, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 18: An OK show turns terrific

1) “In the Dark,” 9 p.m., CW. Occasionally – not often– an OK show turns terrific. That’s happened in the second season of this story. Previously (shown here) Murphy, who is blind, was almost caught slipping drugs to her ex-boyfriend Mas in . When her ex-boyfriend Max  in prison. Now forces converge – Max … a crooked cop … an almost-honest cop … Nia and Josiah, the competing drug lords … Jess, the ex-friend … Ben, the druggie employee. The first seven minutes and the final minute are sensational; the rest is very good. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 16, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Strong drama simmers in isolation

As Americans poked at the notion of social-distance drama, some Englishmen went full-throttle.
They created four separate tales. Now “Isolation Stories” (shown here with Darren Boyd) reaches the U.S. on June 23, via the Britbox streaming service.
Each story is only 15 minutes long, but stuffed with strong drama. Individually, most are terrific; combined … well, they need a bit more variety. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 15, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 16: Mae West and crisis overload

1) “One Day at a Time,” 6:30-10 p.m., Pop. Here’s the entire season – what there was, before the virus shutdown – plus a bonus, a new episode via animation. First, the reruns: They start with a very clever bit, with Ray Romano as a census-taker, explaining the characters to new viewers. Then “One Day” (shown here) settles into being a fairly good (albeit too broad) comedy, The new episode is at 9:30 p.m. (simulcast on TV Land) and reruns at 12:30 a.m. Guest stars include Lin-Manuel Miranda and Gloria Estefan. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 14, 2020
Stories

Animation helps fill the TV-shutdown void

(Yes, this does look suspiciously like a story I wrote a few weeks ago, about cartoon voice-master Billy West. Since then, there’s been a surge of animation, so I’ve updated it. Anyway, he’s an interesting guy and animation neatly fills some virus-shutdown time.)
As TV scrambles to find social-distance drama, a logical option appears: What about animation?
There’s been a flurry lately, sometinmes spurred by the virus, other times just a coincidence. Consider;
– STREAMING: Two new animated series – both planned long before the quarantine – have opened on streaming networks. “Central Park” (new episodes each Friday on Apple TV+) has drawn raves; “Crossing Swords” (which released all 10 episodes June 12 on Hulu) has drawn mixed reviews. They join “Disenchanted” (shown here) on Netflix and more, including Pixar on Disney+ and a ton of Japanese anime on HBO Max. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 14, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 15: Three shows wrap up

1) “Barkskins” finale (shown here), 9-11:03 p.m. ET, National Geographic, rerunning at 12:03 a.m. Brutal and bitter, this eight-hour mini-series will leave everyone with mixed emotions. Annie Proulx’s story of the 17th-century American frontier has a rich blend of characters, with little in common except intense cynicism. Now Cooke leads a mission to retrieve bodies … while claiming he doesn’t have the coveted pistols. Trepagny plans a wedding, while his housekeeper (and ex-lover) broods. Things explode powerfully. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 13, 2020