Month: July 2024

Stories

Faith-based films begin a Saturday surge

In the midst of TV’s late-summer blahs, the Great American Family cable channel has a new-movie spree.
It will have a new, faith-based film at 8 p.m. ET for six straight Saturdays. That starts Aug. 3, with one starring Carlos and Alexa PenaVega (shown here), a married duo that has made several Hallmark and GAF films..
GAF began after the Hallmark Channel decided to diversify its films. Former Hallmark executives bought and retooled Great American Country. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 31, 2024

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 2: Olympics finally get to track-and-field

1) Olympics: track-and-field, NBC. This used to be the Olympics core. It gave us the stars – Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Jim Thorpe, Flo-Jo, Bruce Jenner, Rev. Bob Richards, Carl Lewis, Dick Fosbury, more. Now Americans prefer swimming, gymnastics and such, but it’s time for track (shown here in a previous Olympics) to begin That’s 10-10:40 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. ET, then in the 8-11 p.m. recap Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 31, 2024

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 1: Football, Olympics share the night

1) Football, 8 p.m. ET, ABC and ESPN. A week before other pre-season games, here’s the Hall of Fame game. The Houston Texans, 11-8 last season, face the Chicago Bears, 7-10. Many teams avoid playing top quarterbacks pre-season, but the Bears have said Caleb Williams (shown here), the No. 1 draft pick, will get some action. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2024

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 31: “Big Brother” moves, Olympians soar

1) Olympics. There are medals today in swimming (2:15 p.m. ET, NBC) and individual gymnastics. Team events for the U.S. include women’s beach volleyball, 9 a.m., NBC; and men’s basketball (shown here in the opening win over Serbia), 1 p.m., USA. Also, triathlon on NBC; archery, women’s BMX, more on USA. Then it’s all repackaged, from 8-11 p.m. on NBC. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 29, 2024

News and Quick Comments

“Volpe” is back, with strong mystery movies

Right now, good scripted shows are hard to find.
Sure, it’s fun to have Olympics and game shows and such, but we still need good stories to slip into. “Signora Volpe” (shown here) has returned, just in time.
For its second season, the show has three movie-length tales. They debut on Mondays (starting July 29) at 6 p.m. on BBC America and on the Acorn streaming service … providing a clear upgrade. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 28, 2024

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 30: gods of tennis and gymnastics

1) Olympics: women’s gymnastics (shown here) team finals, NBC. One of the peak points in the Olympics comes early. The team title always brings a stir. (Remember 1996, with a hobbled Kerri Strug sticking her landing in a narrow U.S. win?) You can catch it live at 12:15 p.m. ET or as part of the nightly wrap-up, from 8-11. Then things re-start, with all the individual events.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 28, 2024

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 29: Let’s visit Paris, Italy or New Zealand

1) Olympics: men’s team gymnastics, NBC. Unlike other events, gymnastics starts fast, hands out team medals, then starts all over.. The team finals are today for men (shown here) and Tuesday for women; individuals medals start Wednesday, You can catch this live – 11:30 a.m. ET today, 12:15 p.m. Tuesday – or wait for the evening wrap-ups, from 8-11 p.m. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 27, 2024

News and Quick Comments

Good news: “Fall Guy” will stream soon

One of the summer’s underappreciated gems will begin streaming soon.
“The Fall Guy” (shown here) is one of the rare movies that has it all – action, humor, a clever plot and the sort of romance that crackles with sharp dialog. It’s drew moderately favorable reviews and made $177 million worldwide … not nearly enough for a film that reportedly cost close to $150 million.
Now it gets a second chance to draw attention, reaching Peacock on Aug. 30. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2024

News and Quick Comments

Olympic opening: flash, fluff and Gaga

(One final note to this story, which was written after the first hour: The opening ceremony ran four hours, with moments of magnificence. Two of the greatest came late, involving solo singers: Juliette Armanet gave a softly moving performance of “Imagine,” emphasizing John Lennon’s eternal lyrics. And, for the finale, Celine Dion — long sidelined by illness — with a powerhouse French anthem. Don’t miss those. Now the original story.)
Yes, you’ll want to see the Olympic opening ceremony tonight.
You’ll quickly see Gaga, dancers on scaffolding, ladies on sway poles and young lovers trashing a gorgeous library. And that’s in the first hour.
The telecast is from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 or so today (Friday, July 26) on NBC and Peacock. And it’s actually the second time through.
It started live at 1:30 p.m. ET (which was 7:30 in Paris) and will rerun – with an “enhanced” edition – in prime time. By watching the afternoon version, I can promise you’ll see: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2024

Stories

August is TV’s Julie-and-Blake month

It seemed like one of those weird Hollywood mismatches.
Blake Edwards was a writer-director, fresh from movies with big, goofy sight gags. Julie Andrews was a singer-actress, fresh from mega-musicals.
He was Hollywood; she was London and Broadway. They were miles apart … and then, after their marriage in 1969, constantly together, sometimes making fluff and other times creating serious comedy/dramas like “Victor/Victoria” (shown here), which is the centerpiece of an Aug. 4 cable marathon..
“Seeing the shift in her career, when Blake … urged her to take on very different roles, I found was fascinating,” said producer Michael Kantor. And now, by coincidence, each gets a separate focus in August: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2024