Month: March 2021

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 22: Music giants collide

1) Music overload. For the first time this season, the new ratings giant (NBC’s “The Voice”) faces the original one (ABC’s “American Idol,” now on Sundays and Mondays). Both are 8-10 p.,m.; tonight, “Voice” closes its auditions and looks back at highlights; “Idol” is in Hollywood Week, with Ryan Seacrest (shown here) introducing duets. But for truly great singing, catch Cynthia Erivo as Aretha Franklin, in National Geographic’s “Genius.” Sunday’s openers reruns at 6:56 and 8:03, with new hours at 9 and 10; it continues through Wednesday. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 20, 2021
News and Quick Comments

PBS is back, filling TV’s gaps

Even in our overcrowded, overheated TV world, something has been missing lately.
That’s PBS. It provides things that are otherwise absent, even in a 500-channel universe.
For the first three weeks of March, the network mostly shut down during prime time, so individual stations could have their pledge drives. That’s fine if you happen to like music memories (we do) or self-improvement lectures (we don’t, but probably should), but it’s not what PBS does best.
Now comes a week ranging from Twyla Tharp’s choreography (shown here) to New Orleans funerals. For that, just look at its first week back (check local listings). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 19, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 21: Aretha soars, Q-Anon storms

1) “Genius: Aretha” opener, 9 and 10:08 p.m., National Geographic; rerunning at 11:05 p.m. and 12:12 a.m. Over the next four nights, an epic life will unfold, spiced by great music. Aretha Franklin was plagued by overbearing men, including her dad, a famous preacher (played by Courney Vance, shown here) and her first husband. Still, she soared. This opens with her one trip to record in Muscle Shoals, Ala.; then it flashes between her childhood and early career. Cynthia Erivo’s portrayal is quite stoic, but her singing is magnifcent and Aretha-esque. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 19, 2021
News and Quick Comments

It’s Christmas again, for the 700th “Simpsons”

“The Simpsons” is now coming full-circle: Its first episode (shown here) was a Christmas tale; so is it’s 700th.
That’s on Fox, at 8 p.m. Sunday (March 21) – not your usual Christmas moment. But it’s a flashback story, with the usual “Simpsons” qualities: It’s fairly funny (in spurts) and always fresh and quirky.
Besides, the important thing is that number – 700 episodes.
Some sources list “Dragnet” (762) and “The Magical World of Disney” (736) as higher, but that’s only if you cobble together lots of different versions. Ignore those and “Simpsons” seems to have more episodes than any scripted, primetime show in American TV history. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 18, 2021
News and Quick Comments

As death toll grew, funeral traditions ceased

New Orleans, it seems, is very good at good-byes.
Its funerals (shown here) are filled with music and color and passion. “This is what New Orleans does so beautifully,” someone says in “Frontline,” at 10 p.m. Tuesday (March 23) on PBS (check local listings).
But as the pandemic hit, everything changed. The death toll soared, but the traditions ceased.
Now “Frontline” looks at two Black-owned funeral homes. It’s an involving hour that happens to be at the same time as ABC’s excellent “Soul of a Nation,” which on that night views “Black joy.” Switching channels, we’ll pile joy upon sorrow upon rich human traditions. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 18, 2021
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for March 22: Aretha soars, “Superstore” ends

1) “Genius: Aretha,” 9 and 10 p.m., today through Wednesday, National Geographic. A strong story blends with powerhouse music, in this beautifully crafted, four-night, eight-hour mini-series. Sunday’s opening episodes (rerunning at 6:56 and 8:03 p.m. today), flashed between Aretha Franklin as a young girl, singing on the gospel circuit, and as a struggling jazz and pop singer. In both cases, type-A men (her dad and her husband) loomed. Cynthia Erivo (shown here) is stoic in acting, but magnificent when singing. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 18, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 20: bayou drama, basketball dreams

1) “Ruby” (shown here), 8 p.m., Lifetime, rerunning at midnight. Ever since a “Flowers in the Attic” remake drew a big audience, Lifetime has savored V.C. Andrews’ novels. Today, it reruns four of them, at noon and 2, 4, and 6 p.m. (They’re sequels to “Heaven,” which, oddly, reruns at 10:02 p.m. and 2:04 a.m.) Then it starts a new series about Ruby Landry, growing up in the Louisiana bayou with her grandmother (Naomi Judd). That will rerun at 6 p.m. Sunday, leading into its sequel, “Pearl in the Mist.” Two more Ruby movies will air next weekend. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 18, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 19: Basketball tourney hits full-speed

1) Basketball, CBS. The first full day of the NCAA tournament wipes out CBS’ soap operas and cop shows, plus various talk and game shows. The best games should be the ones with similar seeds: On CBS, that’s 12:15 p.m. ET (Florida, No. 7 seed in a 16-team region, and Virginia Tech, No. 10) and 7:10 (North Carolina, No. 8, and Wisconsin, shown here, No. 9). The others are at 3 p.m. ET (Ohio State, No. 2), and Oral Roberts, No. 15) and 9:40 (San Diego State, No. 6, and Syracuse, No. 11). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 17, 2021
Stories

“Aretha” soars along a vast and soulful life

Some lives are neat and fun-sized; they can easily be condensed into a movie or less.
Then there are the grand exceptions: Starting at 9 p.m. Sunday (March 21), the National Geographic Channe;’s four-night, eight-hour mini-series (shown here) will view the overflowing life of the late Aretha Franklin.
“Aretha had such … a long career,” writer-producer Suzan-Lori Parks told the Television Critics Association, She had “a beautiful life, full of peaks and valleys that we can only imagine living.”
Her music reflected that range. She went from gospel to jazz, then was dubbed “the queen of soul.” She rocked; she dabbled in disco. And when Luciano Pavarotti turned ill, she sang opera at the Grammys. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 17, 2021