Mike Hughes

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 25: A fine night for crabs and villains

1) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. Underwater life is filled with communal efforts; now we see some examples, beautifully filmed. A carrier crab (show here while carrying) gives rides to a fire urchin – which provides protection with its venom … Shrimps keep eels tidy; surgeonfish remove algae fron turtles … Golden jacks hang around dugongs, grabbing any shrimps they stir up … Some creatures even go in the mouths of others, for clean-up work. It’s a fascinating world. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 23, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Here’s the opposite of the dim/hairy news

Back in 1975, newsman Charles Kuralt chastised TV stations for “hiring hair, not brains.”
A typical anchorman, he said, has great hair and an empty mind. He “wouldn’t know a news story if it jumped up and mussed his coiffure.”
And now – a mere 48 years later – we have the exact opposite. Geoff Bennett – half of the new “PBS NewsHour” anchor team with Amna
Nawaz (they’re shown here) – has no hair and a sharp, journalistic brain. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 22, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 24: comedies, courtroom and Flack

1) “American Auto” season-opener, 8:30 p.m., NBC. Once again, there’s a defect in one of the Payne cars; this one has disastrous consequences – including a forest fire. Katherine (Ana Gasteyer, shown here in a previous episode), the boss, worries about her job … Wesley, the heir, worries about having to sell his boat … and Sadie flubs a press conference. It’s a funny episode, with a surprising conclusion. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 22, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Back from sunny (?!?) Hollywood

“The sun will come out tomorrow.”
— Annie, a delusional optimist

“It never rains in California?
But girl, don’t they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours”
— Albert Hammond; also, Sonny and Cher, Mamas and Papas and others, all realists

A dandy TV tradition finally returned, after a three-year absence.
Twice a year, the Television Critics Association used to gather in Hollywood. For two weeks, critics talked to stars and others. They filled their notebooks with quotes and their bodies with food and drink. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 21, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 23: “Bachelor” is back; so are others

1) “The Bachelor” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. After a third-place “Bachelorette” finish, Zach Shallcross (shown here) is in control. He’s a former tech executive, 6-foot-4 and 26 years old; now he meets 30 women, including a child therapist named Charity and an Oklahoma rodeo racer named Brooklyn. There are sales people and marketers, of course; there are also serious sorts, including four nurses and a nursing student. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 21, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 22: strong night for PBS dramas

1) “All Creatures Great and Small,” 9 p.m., PBS. For three seasons, we thought we knew Siegfried, a stern veterinarian who makes steep demands on everyone, including himself. Now a beautifully crafted hour offers a fresh perspective. It flashes back to World War I, when he debated the fate of Army horses; then we see him in the ‘40s (shown here), trying to save one horse. The result is subtle and deeply moving, Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 20, 2023
News and Quick Comments

Apple’s less-is-more approach brings quality

As Apple TV+ sets its line-up, one thing is clear: The less-is-more approach sort of works.
Other streamers are into more-is-more, the scheme that propelled Netflix. They spend billions and run up huge deficitts, to assemble lots of subscribers worldwide. Various reports put Netflix at 223 million subscribers, Amazon Prime at 200 million, Disney+ at 164 million and HBO Max at 77 million.
By comparison, Apple has fewer viewers (34 million last year) and fewer shows. But many of those shows have made an impact; they’re led by the Emmy-winning “Ted Lasso” and the much-praised “Schmigadoon” (shown here), “Severance” and “The Morning Show.”
Now Apple has announced that “Schmigadoon” will return April 7 and “Lasso” will be back sometime this spring. Meeting with the Television Critics Association, it set these dates: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 20, 2023
Stories

It’s handy to have a superstar neighbor

Being nice to your neighbors is always important, we’re told.
But it’s especially important if your neighbor is Hollywood’s all-time box-office champion. That sort of explains why Harrison Ford has a supporting role (ahown here)n in “Shrinking,” the witty new Apple TV+ show.
“Harrison’s my neighbor and so I knew him a little bit …. He’s a good dude,” Bill Lawrence told the Television Critics Association, sounding fairly casual about living near Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 19, 2023
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 21: “SNL” is new; so is football

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. A dozen years ago, Aubrey Plaza and Michael B. Jordan were supporting players in NBC-produced shows (“Parks and Recreation” and “Friday Night Lights”). Now they’re movie stars, wth their first turns as “SNL” hosts. Next week, is Jordan, with Lil Baby as music guest; this week (with Sam Smith as music guest) is Plaza, who has soared with “Emily the Criminal” (shown here), “White Lotus” and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 19, 2023
Stories

An old/new idea: a TV anthology

In the olden days, primetime TV wasn’t into binges or serials or tangled story lines.
Often, it had anthology series. Some had hosts – Ronald Reagan, Rod Sterling, Loretta Young, Alfred Hitchcock, Old Ranger – and some didn’t; most had stories that were quick and self-contained.
Now comes a nod to the past. “Accused” (shown here) debuts after football Sunday on Fox, then settles into its spot at 9 p.m. Tuesdays. Each hour offers a separate courtroom trial, with ample flashbacks.
“An anthology, to me, is the perfect antidote to … ‘bingeing,’” producer Howard Gordon said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 18, 2023