Mike Hughes

Best-bets for May 5: great new “Maisel”; great old “Oz”

1) “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amazon Prime. It’s been a big streaming week, with the season-finale of the delightful “Schmigadoon” (Apple TV+) and season-opener of “Bridgerton” (Netflix). Now it adds the futuristic “Silo” on Apple and a terrific “Maisel,” jumping ahead to a tribute/roast for Susie (shown here, left, in a previous episode — now powerful and alone. Also streaming today are shows that will reach cable Sunday — Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and AMC’s superb “Lucky Hank” finale. Read more…

The coronation: lots of choices, lots of channels

The last time TV covered the coronation of a British monarch, it did a sturdy job.
The pictures were black-and-white and kind of fuzzy, but we got the idea: A young woman we knew little about had become the royal head of a thriving empire.
Since then, TV has had a lot of time – 69 years, 11 months and five days – to improve its work. Now – with crisp, pretty pictures on endless networks – an old man (shown here) we know too much about is crowned as the royal head of a shrinking empire.
The coronation of King Charles III starts at 6 a.m. ET Saturday (May 7) and may last for two hours or so. (Even that is an hour less than the previous one.) Most networks are planning to cover it from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.; here’s a round-up: Read more…

Best-bets for May 4: Shonda’s shows span eras

1) “Bridgerton,” Netflix. Thursdays have become strong nights for Netflix mini-series. There was “Florida Man,” a sunny adventure spiced with great characters … followed a week later by Kerri Russell’s “The Diplomat” … and now, two weeks after that, this six-episode prequel to a lush series. We’ve known Queen Charlotte as a stone-faced ruler. Now we meet her as a brainy teen (shown here), falling for a young king who shares her love of science.
Read more…

“9-1-1” jumps from Fox to ABC

The Fox network will go into next season without two of its top dramas – “The Resident” and “9-1-1.”
For viewers, however, there’s a key difference: “Resident” is apparently finished, but “9-1-1” (shown here) will simply jump to ABC.
Both shows have filmed six seasons and faced the usual tug: Costs nudge up, while ratings stagnate.
Complicating that are two other factors for “9-1-1”; the show is: Read more…

“Sam Now”: a real-life, missing-mom adventure

A quarter-century ago, a cinematic duo was created.
Reed Harkness was then 18 and had just found his dad’s old super-8 camera. Sam Harkness, his half-brother, was 11 and ready for anything.
“He was this very resilient kid,” Reed told the Television Critics Association. “He was always taking falls and then getting right back up again.”
They made goofy films with Sam as The Blue Panther, forever crashing, smashing and surviving. Then they made a dead-serious one about surviving something in real life: When Sam and his older brother Jared were in their early teens, their mother simply vanished.
In a way, Reed “spent 25 years making ‘Sam Now,’” said producer Lois Vossen. Her “Independent Lens” series will show the documentary (shown here) at 10 p.m. next Monday (May 8) on most PBS stations. Read more…

Best-bets for May 3: lots of finales, two of them forever

1) “A Million Little Things” series-finale, 10 p.m., ABC. It isn’t easy building a drama out of regular lives – ones without cops, crooks or courts. “This Is Us” did it brilliantly; “Million” (shown here in an early epiode) has done it fairly well, at a frantic pace. It started with a suicide, then added new crises. One person became paraplegic, two had cancer. There was deceit, despair, Alzheimer’s, more … plus warmth and humor. Now the show ends – as it had planned, it says — after five seasons. Read more…

Best-bets for May 2: a brisk court and some big finales

1) “Accused,” 9 p.m., Fox. After some tough episodes lately, “Accused” offers a brisk ride at the edge of soap turf. A teen (Bebe Wood) is obsessed with learning the identity of the sperm-donor who is her biologic father; her mom (Betsy Brandt) promptly panics. A caper (shown here) follows, along with some large plot twists that actually add up, especially when handled by sharp dialog and a talented cast. Read more…

Best-bets for May 1: Anne’s ordeal begins; “Doctor” season ends

1) “A Small Light” opener, 9-11:29 p.m., National Geographic. People worldwide know Anne Frank, the teen whose diary described her life while hiding from the Nazis. Now we meet the heroic Miep Gies. A young woman who worked for Anne’s father Otto, she took huge risks for two years, bringing supplies. (She’s shown here, right, helping Anner’s older sister.) The story is told slowly (eight-plus hours on four Mondays) and well, with great work from Bel Powley and Liev Schreiber, as Miep and Otto.
Read more…

“Florida Man”: fun and peril in the sunshine

Let’s imagine that Elmore Leonard, Janet Evanovich and Dave Barry brainstormed.
We’ll assume that alcohol or chemical enhancements were provided, The result might be “Florida Man” (shown here), the surprisingly good, seven-part mini-series that arrived recently on Netflix.
Leonard was a Detroit novelist who occasionally moved his focus down to Florida, with a surplus of eccentric character; his “LaBrava” was an award-winner and“Maximum Bob” briefly became a TV series. Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels (set in New Jersey) are filled with odd characters; Barry is the Miami humorist whose first novel, “Big Trouble,” was big on Florida quirks.
Throw them together, mix thoroughly and you have “Florida Man.” Read more…

Best-bets for April 30: “Tom Jones” leads a drama cascade

1) “Masterpiece: Tom Jones” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Fresh from the celibacy of “Sanditon,” PBS goes in a different direction. The 1749 novel and the 1963 movie both celebrated a lad’s lusty adventures. There’s a lot of that here, including bedroom mix-ups and an older seductress. But this time Tom (the likable Solly McLeod, shown here) is a decent chap, looking for his true love. The resulting four-week story is light, loose, sometimes goofy and often fun. Read more…