Month: June 2025

News and Quick Comments

“SharkFest” looms; here’s an overview

“SharkFest” starts Saturday (July 5) on National Geographic, 15 days ahead of Discovery’s “Shark Week.”
We’ll see lots of scary-looking creatures, plus experts telling us not to be so scared. Here’s an overview; most shows will also be on Disney+ and Hulu:

RERUNS
— They start at 9 a.m. daily and continue overnight until 6 a.m.

SERIES:
— “Investigation Shark Attack,” 9 p.m. daily (except July 10), rerunning at midnight. In a central control room, four people see tapes of an attack and talk by Zoom to other experts. That starts July 5 with four great white shark encounters in California. Next is Hawaii on July 6, the Bahamas on the 7th, the Gulf on the 8th, Florida on the 9th and Maui on the 11th. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 2: ups and downs of “biocontrol”

1) “Human Footprint,” 9 p.m., PBS. The notion of “biocontrol” — one part of nature controls another — can work well: In Thailand, 10,000 ducks are released to gobble up farm pests. And it can fail: In 1935, Australia brought cane toads (shown here) to stop beetles; they soon swarmed everywhere … just as rabbits did earlier. Like last week’s opener, this is a terrific hour. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 1: second chance to see dramas

1) “High Potential,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. Here are the first episodes of what became the season’s most-watched new show. Kaitlin Olson (shown here) plays a high-IQ single mom; working as a cleaning lady at a police station, she cracks a case. At 9 p.m., she probes the attempted murder of a tap dancer. At 10, she uses her cleaning knowledge to solve a hotel-room mystery. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 29, 2025
Stories

Bottom-feeding babies stir our fears

Babies can be quirky sometimes. They make odd choices, bite strange things.
And if the baby is eight feet long, with sharp teeth, there’s a problem. We learn that on the first night (July 5) of the National Geographic Channel’s annual “SharkFest.”
“At eight or nine feet, a shark is pretty darn young,” Mike Heithaus said by Zoom. That shark is still learning. “When he sees a surfboard, he’ll think, ‘That might be something I should bite.'”
He soon learns otherwise. Surfboards offer no nourishment; surfers — too much muscle, too little fat — aren’t much better. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 29, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Here’s a sofa round-up of the Fourth of July

If you prefer your Fourth of July to be indoors and uncrowded, don’t fret. TV has plenty of alternatives.
Here are several of them. All are Friday and include music; most (except for AXS) also have fireworks:

PBS
— When: 8 p.m.; rerunning at 9:30.
— Where: Washington, D.C.
— Music: Beach Boys, Temptations, Yolanda Adams (shown here), Josh Turner (see separate story), LoCash,
Lauren Daigle, Abi Carter, National Symphony, Army band and trumpets.
— Also: Tributes, including the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy and Marines. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 28, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 30: light reality, rough past

1) “Yes, Chef” finale, 10 p.m., NBC. We’re down to three chefs. Zain Ismail, only 28, has links to Mauritius, India, Texas and Los Angeles. Lee Frank, 46, is descended from Holocaust survivors. Emily Brubaker (shown here), 44, once vowed not to work with her husband (right) again. Now they do link; each finalist has two aides, for a high-stress, three-course dinner. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 28, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 29: lots of drama, on land and sea

1) “Nautilus” opener, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 11:23. This starts well — a richly crafted series, loosely based on Jules’ Verne’s fantasy classic. There’s a rogue captain (shown here), a clever damsel, an invincible enemy and a great ship. By the second hour, however, we see the show’s limits. We’re stuck in a big ship in a (really) big ocean, with endless crises ahead. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 27, 2025
Stories

Amid firecracker fun, singing of an unsung hero

For 70 years, the military life of Josh Turner’s grandfather was tucked away in a drawer, unseen.
For 10 more, it was in a songbook, unrecorded. “Everything happens for a reason,” Turner said, and there’s a right time for things.
Now is the time. At “A Capitol Fourth” (8 p.m. July 4 on PBS, rerunning at 9:30), he’ll sing “Unsung Hero,” a tribute to one guy — or to millions.
Turner (shown here) will also do “Firecracker,” which amuses him. “That song has nothing to do with fireworks,” he said, but people like to hear it on the holiday.
“A Capitol Fourth” is like that, mixing some serious moments with lots of festive ones. This year, it will have the Beach Boys and Temptations, plus gospel great Yolanda Adams, contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle, jazz’s Trombone Shorty, and two country acts, LoCash and Turner. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 27, 2025
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for June 30: It’s a fiery Fourth week

1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, PBS. Blending vibrant music, stories and fireworks (shown here in a previous year), this is an annual delight from Washington, D.C. This year has the Beach Boys and the Temptations, plus “American Idol” winner Abi Carter and stars from country (Josh Turner, LoCash), Christian music (Yolanda Adams, Lauren Daigle) and jazz (Trombone Shorty). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 26, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 28: a Looney, sporty night

1) Cartoons, cable. There are lots of them — even on HBO. It has “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” (2024), shown here, at 8. The Disney Channel has “Encanto” (2021) at 6:15 and “Phineas and Ferb” episodes, new (10 p.m.) and old (5:25, 5:50, 10:30). Freeform goes all day, from the “Cars” trilogy at 7 a.m. to the “Monsters” films at 6:55 and 9 p.m. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 26, 2025