Mike Hughes

Week’s top-10 for Aug. 18: “Talent” peaks; Sunday dramas return

1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. The quarter-finals will sprawl over four Tuesdays, with 11 acts each time. This opener has five music acts (including Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules” and Jessica Sanchez, shown here) and three dance acts — B Unique, LightWire and Loco Pop Familia — plus magic, a trapeze duo and comedian Shuler King. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 15: new show, new special, more

1) “The Rainmaker” debut, 10 p.m., USA Network. Adapting a 1995 John Grisham novel, this keeps only the basic notion — a young law-school grad (shown here) scrambles for work — and the names. It adds two upscale people — his girlfriend and a nemesis (John Slattery) — plus new cases and twists that are sort of fun and involving and Grisham-y. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 14: fun, fun … and a grim revival

1) “Revival” season-finale, 10 p.m., Syfy. At first, “Revival” was kind of fun — or as fun as something can be when the former dead are revived in small-town Wisconsin. Soon, alas, it turned grim and murky. Em (the sheriff’s daughter and deputy’s sister) was killed, revived and is about to be killed anew. There’s a nasty preacher (shown here), some jolts and one final twist. Read more…

Cancer special brings some Nashville flair

The upcoming “Stand Up to Cancer” special — sprawling across much of the TV universe on Friday (Aug. 15) — will partly have a country-music feel.
The show will be from Nashville, with music by such local acts as Jon Pardi (shown here), Dan + Shay, Jelly Roll, Brothers Osborne and the Nashville Community Gospel Choir.
Also performing will be the Jonas Brothers, Gavin DeGraw, Marcus King, Noah Cyrus (Billy Ray’s daughter, Miley’s younger sister) and gospel great CeCe Winans. Sheryl Crow — who grew up in small-town Missouri and sometimes drifts between pop and country — will host and perform. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 12: Aliens loom; “AGT” celebrates

1) “Alien: Earth” debut, 8 p.m , FX. A big monsters-and-machines tale links neatly with a deeply personal story. In one, a ship with captured creatures has crashed on Earth. In the other, a dying tween girl’s mind and memories are injected into a synthetic body (shown here). In this two-episode debut, she and other synths try to rescue the brother of her human self. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 11: games, blood and disaster

1) “Match Game,” 10 p.m., ABC. The network is heavily pushing this reboot, hosted by Martin Short (shown here in a previous episode). Tonight’s episode debuted Wednesday and will have a third run at 9 p.m. Saturday. Ego Nwodim of “Saturday Night Live,” is a panelist, along with Andrea Martin, Thomas Lennon, Pete Holmes, Jackie Tohn and Triumph the Insult Comedy Dog. Read more…

Yes, America (and beyond) has some odd talent

As it prepares to go live, “America’s Got Talent” (shown here) has a wild variety of acts.
There are robots and roller skaters, acrobats and aerialists, magicians and musicians — lots of musicians. There’s also a lady with a crossbow, dubbing herself Anna Danger.
And yes, there are some Americans. We’re told that America’s got talent. Read more…