Day: June 9, 2022

Week’s top-10 for June 13: Riviera elegance, biker rage

1) “Hotel Portofino” opener, 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS. Bella (Natascha McElhone) has spiffed up a gorgeous little hotel on the Italian Riviera (shown here), hoping to draw her fellow Englishmen; she may even find a match for her handsome son. On the surface, we get classic PBS – “Downton” elegance meets “Durrells” backdrop. But this is the 1920s and Fascism is rising; also, Bella’s husband is a jerk, some of the guests are iffy and romance rarely goes as planned. At times, this six-parter is too soapy, with cliché characters; at others, it’s a sweet summer pleasure Read more…

Best-bets for June 11: a night of despicable pleasures

1) Despicable Me 3” (2017), 8-10 p.m., NBC. This seems to be family-movie day, celebrating the end of the school year. Even NBC, which rarely has movies, offers this animated film (shown here), setting up “Despicable Me 4,” in theaters next month. There’s more animation on Freeform, with “Up” at 4:30 p.m., “Princess and the Frog” at 6:40 and “Wall-E” at 11:50; that’s broken up by a lesser film, “Aladdin” – the so-so, non-cartoon version from 2019 – at 8:45. Also, the ultimate all-ages masterpiece, “ET” (1982), is on Syfy, at 1, 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Read more…