Mike Hughes

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 7: Reality shows are near their finales

1) “The Bachelorette,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. It’s “fantasy suite” night, when Charity Lawson (shown here) invites the final three guys to separately each spend a night with her. (Historically, guys tend to accept these invitations.) Last week, she visited four home towns, then ousted Aaron Bryant. That leaves Joey Graziadel, a tennis pro from Hawaii; Xavier Bonner, a biomedical scientist from Ohio; and Dutan Olubeko, a medical specialist from Fresno. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 5, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 6: strong dramas, arriving and departing

1) “Grantchester” season-finale, 9-11 p.m., PBS. The eighth season has been the best one yet, solving smart mysteries while dealing with deep personal problems. Will has wallowed in guilt, since killing a man who ran in front of his motorcycle. Geordie has an arrogant new boss; also, Bonnie (Will’s pregnant wife) and Leonard (his former assistant, shown here with Will, center, and Will’s housekeeper) despair. Now some of that is resolved, while two more mysteries are solved. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 4, 2023
Stories

CBS sets dates for makeshift fall line-up

CBS viewers now have some certainty about the upcoming season.
Yes, it will be a makeshift line-up, cobbled together because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes. But now, at least, there are definite dates for the shows.
The season will start Sept. 2 for college football (shown here) … and Sept. 14 for reality-show Thursdays … and Sept. 17 for Sundays anchored by “Yellowstone” reruns … and Sept. 27 for more, starting with the supersized “Survivor” and “Amazing Race.”
Even if the strikes do get settled, scripted shows won’t be ready for their usual fall starts. In its patched-up line-up, CBS has: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2023
Weekly Previews

Week’s top 10: Opening week for scripted gems and CBS reality

1) “The Challenge: USA” opener, 10 p.m., Thursday and 9 p.m. Sunday, CBS. Here’s the final piece in CBS’ August surge. “Big Brother” leads into this show on Thursdays and for three Sundays, and into “Superfan” on Wednesdays; also, “Secret Celebrity Renovations” is 8 p.m. Fridays. “Challenge” (shown here in a previous season) takes 24 reality-show alumni to Croatia. Nine started on “Big Brother” and seven on “Survivor,” including winners Michele Fitzgerald and Chris Underwood. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 5: Steve Martin, Harrison Ford and a young marvel

1) “Ms. Marvel” opener, 8-11 p.m., ABC. Here’s a surprise bonus – a Disney+ mini-series, jumping to ABC. Iman Vellani, a Pakistan native who grew up in Canada, plays Kamala Khan, who plays videogames and writes fan fiction, especially about Captain Marvel. Then she gets a bangle from her grandmother and (shown here) her life transforms. This six-part tale concludes next Saturday, setting up a movie (“The Marvels”), tentatively set for Nov. 10. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 4: CBS renovates its line-up

1) “Secret Celebrity Renovation” season-opener, 8 and 9 p.m., CBS.. Fresh from hosting and producing “Tough as Nails,” Phil Koeghan has a personal task. He’s a New Zealand native, but spent part of his childhood in the island nation of Antigua. He returns there to help a former neighbor renovate a hospice center (shown here). Then Max Thieriot borrows his “Fire Country” timeslot (9 p.m.) to help with a home renovation for his boyhood best friend, who is a firefighter. Read more…

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

CBS has a clever August/autumn plan, but …

So now CBS’ late-summer surge has begun.
It’s a clever strategy, an attempt to make do as the writers’ and actors’ strikes crush any hopes for a normal fall season. The network delayed four reality shows until August; that lets them sprawl into the fall, to be joined by … well, more reality.
It can work … IF those shows are well-liked. For one of them (the awful “Superfan,” shown here), that’s a big if.
First, let’s look at the overall plan: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 2, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 3: Football is back; so is “FBoy”

1) Pro football, 8 p.m. ET, NBC. In a strike-shattered year, football will be crucial for NBC. There’s the season-opener Sept. 7 and the Sunday-night games, starting Sept. 10. First is this pre-season opener, pitting teams that last year had 7-10 records and quarterback issues. The New York Jets (shown here) solved theirs by getting Aaron Rodgers. The Cleveland Browns had traded for Dashaun Watson; he missed a season and a half amid, sexual accusations, then had a rough return. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 1, 2023
News and Quick Comments

“Dogs” drifts through quietly compelling tales

There’s a type of show that ripples through the history of the FX network.
It goes from “Louie” to “Better Things” to “Atlanta” and now to “Reservation Dogs” (shown here), which starts its final season Wednesday (Aug. 2).
Yes, this show is different in some key ways: The others were on FX; “Reservation Dogs” is produced by the FX people, but is strictly on Hulu. The others each focused on one star – Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon, Donald Glover; “Dogs” centers of four teens, drifting through life.
But the spirit is the same. These are shows that feel no compulsion to extract consistent laughs or huge plot twists; it is enough to see interesting people go through life’s odd twists. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 31, 2023