Mike Hughes

Stories

It’s a great celebration, Broadway-style

If you call yourself “great” every week, what do you do for a special occasion?
Well, it had better be something good or maybe almost great. Fortunately, it is. “Great Performances” is wrapping its 50th season with a Broadway blitz. At 9 p.m. on PBS, it has:
— May 12: An anniversary celebration filled with potent voices and frisky dancers. Sutton Foster hosts a romp through musicals, from Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Carole King and Sara Bareilles.
— May 19: “Richard III,” filmed in Central Park, with Danai Gurira portraying Shakespeare’s villainous hero. “Is there anybody else like this in contemporary drama?” Stephen Segaller, who supervises the show via the WNET station, asked the Television Critics Association. “Maybe Tony Soprano.”
— May 26: The opposite of Richard’s ferocity. It’s a rerun of Foster singing and tapping in “Anything Goes” (shown here), with a flimsy story connecting vibrant Cole Porter songs. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 7, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 9: fun, games and a tough finale

1) “Accused” season-finale, 9 p.m., Fox. This has been one of the year’s most engaging new shows – and, at times, one of its most painful. For the fourth time in 16 episodes, a story involves a troubled son. This one is back from his latest drug-rehab and working with his father. The dad (Keith Carradine, shown here) is a music star, overwhelmed by this dilemma. Like every “Accused,” this is written and acted with subtle skill; like many, it’s tough to watch. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 7, 2023
News and Quick Comments

“Bridgerton” prequel: some greatness, then very-goodness

In its first hour, the “Bridgerton” prequel seems ready to be a really great show.
It soon retreats into merely being a very good one; it insists on emphasizing – and even expanding — a crisis from history. But that opening hour is a gem.
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (shown here) is a six-parter that arrived recently on Netflix. It maintains the lush look and vivid characters, while jumping between two timelines.
There’s the one we know from the first two “Bridgerton” seasons: King George, descended into madness, is mostly invisible; his wife Charlotte is the unflinching, unsmiling ruler. And there’s this prequel time, when she was 17, heading to marry a king she’d never met. That’s the part that produced three amazing scenes in the first hour: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2023
Stories

Golden glimpses can be fun

Having now seen the past two British coronations on TV, I can assure you: The one today (Charles III) was way better than the previous one (his mom). That might be because:
— I was way too young to appreciate the previous one. Once I realized that none of those swords were going to be put to productive use, my interest waned.
— The telecast was better this time. In particular, it was in color.
At various points, Charles was on a golden carpet (ahown here) … was wearing a golden robe … and was being taken away in a golden carriage. Watching all of that gold, one thought persisted: Donald Trump must be quivering with jealousy. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 8: a new “Jeopardy” and a 25-year movie

1) “Independent Lens: Sam Now,” 10 p.m., PBS. Reed Harkness used to make goofy movies, with his half-brother Sam as a superhero. Then he suggested something bigger – trying to find the mother who had vanished when Sam was in his early teens. The resulting film – sort of 25 years in the making – tells a remarkable story, with a deep empathy for Sam (shown here) and mom.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 7: Hank leads a finale-filled night

1) “Lucky Hank” finale, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 11:02. This superb mini-series finds Hank (Bob Odenkirk, shown here) flailing. The school president wants him to fire three faculty people … his wife (Mireille Enos) is in New York, with a big, new job and a tiny, new apartment … and their daughter’s marriage is crumbling. It’s a busy hour that, as usual, offers deep characters and witty dialog. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 5, 2023
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 8: Amid finales, a peek at summer games

1) “Jeopardy Masters” debut, 8 and 8:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, ABC. After lots of season-finales, ABC gets an early start on summer fun-and-games. This show will go on for two more weeks (Mondays through Wednesdays), with Ken Jennings (shown here) hosting current “Jeopardy” leaders — from James Holzhauer (almost $3 million) to Sam Buttrey (around $150,000). Others are Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and Andrew He. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 4, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 6: lots of Charles, no Pete

1) Coronation. The actual ceremony for King Charles III (shown here) starts at 6 a.m. ET and is expected to last a couple hours. Most networks, however, are planning all-out coverage, from 5-10 a.m., bringing some of their stars. Anchors include Anderson Cooper at CNN, Savannah Guthrie at NBC, Martha McCallum at Fox News, Alex Witt at MSNBC, Michael Strahan at ABC and the Saturday-morning trio at CBS. Each will be joined by reporters and royalty experts. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 4, 2023
News and Quick Comments

As strike begins, “Dancing” returns to ABC

Let’s think of this as another quick – and unsettling – reaction to the writers’ strike:
ABC announced today (Wednesday) that “Dancing With the Stars” (shown here) will return to the network.
In fact, it will sprawl across three entities: Episodes will air live on ABC and Disney+ , then show up the next day on Hulu.
As the strike began Tuesday, some quick consequences included: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023
News and Quick Comments

As the strike starts, Pete is gone and FBoys are back

On the first day of the writers’ strike, two bits of news seemed especially ominous:
— “Saturday Night Live” is dumping this week’s new episode … and, probably, the rest of the season. It would have been a big night, with Pete Davidson hosting.
— “FBoy Island” – previously a summertime distraction(shown here) – will be in the regular-season line-up for the CW network. So will its spin-off, “FGirl” Island.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023