Day: December 10, 2025

News and Quick Comments

Kinsella’s tales captured youthful joy and optimism

You won’t often find me writing about a novel (or reading one).
But I have to comment on Sophie Kinsella, who died today (Dec. 10) at 55, of brain cancer.
Some people know her for writing two books that became the 2009 movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” (shown here) That’s a fairly pleasant comedy (streaming on Netflix and Disney+) that stars Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy.
But that was just the start. She wrote 10 books in the “shopaholic” series and 13 others, all under that “Sophie Kinsella” pen name. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 10, 2025
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Football clears the way for Fox’s new shows

This is the new reality for TV networks:
If you want a new (or returning) show to get noticed, you’d better have a football game to precede it. That’s what Fox will do for its two new shows (on Jan. 4 and 25) and its best returning one (“Animal Control,”shown here, Dec. 28).
In recent years, pro football games have thoroughly topped other shows in the Nielsen ratings. Fox has adjusted by introducing a scripted series just as the game ends, in all time zones — 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT, for instance.
This time, the network will focus on two bright shows and one darker one: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 10, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 12: time to celebrate two stars

1) “American Masters,” 9 p.m., PBS. Here’s a joyous journey through Dick Van Dyke’s life. He turns 100 Saturday, so there’s a lot to cover. We see his elastic face and body in a nightclub act. His TV shows floundered until the brilliant “Dick Van Dyke Show” (shown here). Then came “Mary Poppins” and some serious turns, reflecting his struggle with alcoholism. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 10, 2025
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Changes for Dec. 13 bring Swift and town hall

It’s rare these days for networks to make sudden switches in their schedule.
Lately, however, there have been two in the same slot, 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. One involves politics, the other Taylor Swift (shown here):
— CBS has scheduled a “town hall” interview with Erika Kirk. She became the CEO of Turning Point USA after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in September. It will be an invited-guest event with Turning Point members. The previously scheduled show — the Family Film and TV Awards –will be pushed back tlo Dec. 20.
— CW has inserted “Taylor,” a documentary biography of Taylor Swift. The film talks with long-time fans, music jopurnlists and music colleagues, tracing her rise from an 11-year-old knocking on Nashville doors to a global superstar. It arrives on her 36th birthday, the day after two tour-related films reach Disney+ and Hulu. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 10, 2025