Mike Hughes

News and Quick Comments

Teeny, tiny conference enlarges its TV deal

A micro-mini sports conference is enlarging its national TV deal.
Right now, the Pac-12 has (despite its name) exactly two teams. But it will add seven more next season … as its deal with the CW network grows to annually include 66 games in three sports.
The Pac-12 has a steep sports tradition, including 51 Rose Bowl winners in football and 15 national championships in men’s basketball. But prior to last season, most of those winners — including UCLA, with 11 of the basketball titles — left. The Pac-12 had only Oregon State (shown here) and Washington State. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 27, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 29: orchestral beauty, legal dismay

1) Vienna Philharmonic, 9 p.m., PBS. Filmed shortly after an Austrian school shooting, this starts with 12 solemn minutes. Then conductor Tugan Sokhiev packs a dozen vibrant pieces into the next 70 minutes, performed amid the beauty of a palace grounds (shown here). Four of them have Piotr Beczala singing powerfully of love for Carmen, for a Chinese princess, for life and (an audience favorite) for Vienna itself. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 27, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 27: new talent, old Toby hits

1) “Toby Keith: American Icon,” 9-11 p.m., NBC. Keith (shown here) was a powerful singer-songwriter with 20 No. 1 country singles. After his death last year (of cancer, at 62), friends created this concert. It includes Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Trace Adkins, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Eric Church, Jelly Roll, Ashley McBryde, Hardy and many more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 24, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 26: smog, creatures, jugglers, more

1) “American Experience,” 9 p.m., PBS. There was a time (really) when politicians from both parties linked to solve problems. This hour starts when Los Angeles — with a geography that traps gas (shown here) — was crippled by smog. Republicans (Reagan, Nixon) and Democrats combined. They created the Environmental Protection Agency and vastly cleaner lives. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 24, 2025
News and Quick Comments

For one teen, life became a musical whirlwind

For a moment in the 1950s, real life was like someone’s daydream.
A small-town teenager visited Broadway. A few hours later, she was at the core of the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein empire.
This comes to mind now, as Turner Classic Movies has a spurt of classic musicals. The films (also on HBO Max) include:
— Shirley Jones films Monday (Aug. 25). “Oklahoma” (shown here, 1955) and “Carousel” (1956), both with Gordon MacRae, are at 5:30 and 8 p.m. ET; “The Music Man” (1962), with Robert Preston, is at 10:15 p.m.
— Donald O’Connor films Thursday. That peaks at 8 p.m. ET with “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), with Gene Kelly — who choreographed dazzling dance numbers and then performed then with O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 23, 2025
Stories

The August lull? PBS fills TV’s black hole

Each August, TV has a black hole. And each time, PBS helps fill it.
That’s happening now. There are three new Sunday dramas (“Marlow Murder Club” is shown here), some Friday specials and the best smog show you’ll ever see. All arrive just as the other networks are taking a late-summer snooze.
Broadcast networks keep airing promos for shows that are “coming soon” … or not-so-soon. CBS boasts of a “premiere week” in mid-October. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 22, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 24: a full night of smart dramas

1) “Unforgotten” season-opener, 10 p.m., PBS. Each year, this has a deep and demanding story. Now solemn cops — one divorced, the other fuming at her cheating husband and sister — tackle a tough one. There’s a widow, her daughter and a right-wing commentator (shown here), plus Afghan refugees, an Albanian loan shark and more. The result is compelling. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 22, 2025