Month: September 2025

News and Quick Comments

It’s a fresh trove for “Bachelorette” and “Stars”

Grasping for more (and younger) viewers, ABC has found a fresh treasure trove: “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
That show’s central character — Taylor Frankie Paul (shown here), 31 and a mother of three — has been announced as the new “Bachelorette” star.
The news comes shortly after two of the show’s other regulars were chosen for ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
Both Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt will be dancing on the show, which starts its season from 8-10 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 16). “Secret Lives” returns Nov. 13 on Hulu (which, like ABC, is owned by Disney). “Bachelorette,” is merely listed for some time in 2026. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 10, 2025
Stories

Season preview: Scripted shows are scrambling

A new TV season is almost here. But be warned: It will look an awful lot like the old one.
With shrinking ratings and fading profits, the networks tend to stick with what’s already there. This fall, the five big broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW — combine for only four new dramas. Each one (including “Boston Blue, shown here) isa spin-off.
That’s part of a general cutback that began with the pandemic and strikes, then stuck as streamers grabbed bigger chunks of the audience.
In response, the big networks leaned toward game shows and reality shows (lower costs) and sports (the best shot at younger viewers). ABC took back Monday foorball from ESPN and “Dancing With the Stars” from Disney+, also filling Sundays with Disney movies. Fox inserted football on Fridays; beginning Oct. 21, NBC will have pro basketball on Tuesdays. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 10, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 12: dramas plus reality reruns

1) “The Rainmaker,” 10 p.m., USA. By the end of this hour — the mid-point in a 10-week story — there’s a key change. First, Rudy (shown here with his hard-edged boss) and his girlfriend face each other in court. What Rudy really needs is to find two witnesses, both nurses; right now, one holds the other captive. Despite flaws — including a stereotypically close-minded cop — it’s a strong hour. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 10, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 11: fun shows and grim history

1) 9/ll films. There have been some bracing documentaries about the Sept. 11 attacks (shown here). Now, 24 years later, those films rerun on History (7 a.m. to 4 a.m.) and National Geographic (8 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.) Especially powerful are History’s “102 Minutes That Changed America” (10:04 p.m.) and Geographic’s “9/11: One Day in America” (8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2025
Stories

Season preview, cable & streaming: big, busy line-up

(Here’s the second of three season-preview stories. This one focuses on cable and streamers.)
As the big TV networks keep trimming down, others — streamers and a few cable networks — are bulking up.
It all evens out … except that viewers have to juggle and pay for lots of separate things.
Right now, there’s a flurry of returning cable-or-streaming shows, starting with the brilliant “Only Murders in the Building” (shown here), Tuesdays on Hulu. This time, the sorta-sleuths try to see who killed the doorman.
Other key returners include “Reasonable Doubt” (Hulu, Sept. 18), “The Morning Show” (Apple TV+, Sept. 19), “Tulsa King” (Paramount+, Sept. 21), “Slow Horses” (Apple TV+, Sept. 24), “Billy the Kid” (MGM+. Sept. 28), “Loot” (Apple, Oct. 15), “The Diplomat” (Netflix, Oct. 18), “Palm Royale” (Apple, Nov. 12) and more.
But this list involves new shows. Here’s a sampling of scripted series and mini-series on this cable or streaming this fall: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2025
Stories

Season preview, broadcast: a lively little bunch

(This starts a three-story preview of the new season. For this story, we survey new shows on the broadcast networks; next is a cable/streaming round-up.)

It’s almost time for the fall TV season to arrive.
And don’t worry: There aren’t many new shows to keep track of.
If you add up all the new ones on the four big networks, you have three dramas (each of them a spin-off), three game or competition shows and one comedy.
Yes, one comedy (“DMV,” shown here). Let’s hope you don’t need a lot of laughs. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 10: Seasons end; seasons start

1) “MasterChef,” 8 p.m., Fox. After choosing its three finalists last week, the show now pauses. This episode (which reruns on Friday) offers season highlights, plus profiles of the remaining duos. Two are married — Zach and Michelle Lamb and (shown here) Rachel Sanchez and Julio Figuerdo; Jessica Bosworth and Jesse Rosenwald have been together for eight years Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 9: funk, murder and aliens

1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. The final eleven acts vie for the last four spots in the semi-finals. Ages range from 10 (in the Birmingham Youth Choir) to 66 (in the Funkateers dancers, shown here). There are four more music acts and another dance one, plus a magician, a bodybuilder, acrobats and a laser act. We’ll get the results Wednesday. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 7, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 8: Monday football returns

1) Football, 8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2. “Monday Night Football” was an ABC bedrock for 35 years. It slid over to ESPN for 14 years, then returned to help ABC during the pandemic, the strikes and general hard times. Now it’s on both networks, starting with the Minnesota Vikings (shown here in a previous season), 14-3 during the regular season last year, at the Chicago Bears, 5-12. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sept. 7: MTV music — Mariah & more

1) “MTV Video Music Awards,” 8 p.m. ET, CBS, MTV and Paramount+. After 40 years on MTV, this adds CBS, with LL Cool J hosting. There are special awards for Mariah Carey (shown here) and Ricky Martin. They’ll perform, as will Post Malone, Jelly Roll, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Tate McRae and more, including an Ozzy Osbourne tribute with Steve Tyler and Joe Perry. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 5, 2025