Mike Hughes

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 16 (out of order): mysteries arrive, dragon departs

1) “Masterpiece: Magpie Murders” debut, 9 p.m., PBS. Two mysteries wind through this intriguing six-parter. One is in real life … or the reality of this show. The other is in a novel that is missing its final chapter. We bounce between the two – one set in the 1950s, the other now; at times, a probing editor even envisions cryptic talks with the fictional,’50s detective (shown here with is assistant). With few likable characters, “Magpie” is slow to engage viewers; still, it’s worth the wait. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 15, 2022
News and Quick Comments

Marathon will offer decades of Lansbury

Long before Angela Lansbury solved murders on TV, she had a vibrant movie career.
That started 40 years before “Murder, She Wrote,” when the teen-aged Lansbury drew an Academy Award nomination for “Gasligh.” (show here, behind Oscar-winner Ingrid Bergman. She would get another nomination the next year (for “The Picture of Dorian Gray”) and another 17 years later, for her chilling maternity in “The Manchurian Candidate.”
Now all three films are part of a 24-hour tribute to Lansbury that Turner Classic Movies has set for Nov. 21. She died Tuesday, five days shy of her 97th birthday; see separate commetary here. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 15, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 17: gentle worlds of Doc and Bob

1) “Doc Martin” season-opener, any time, www.acorn.tv. From “Northern Exposure” to “Ted Lasso,” TV shines when putting someone in a new world. “Doc” deftly put a cranky, big-city doctor in a sweet, seaside town. He eventually married (they’re shown here), had two children and continued to grump. Most recently, he quit medicine and alienated his receptionist, who was still needed for his wife’s child-therapy sessions. As usual, the new season is sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic and always likable. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 15, 2022
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Oct. 17: Simpsons, skaters, scares

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m. Sunday, Fox. “Treehouse of Horror,” an annual delight with three offbeat tales, will be Oct. 30. A week earlier, here’s a fresh twist: “Treehouse presents” a half-hour take-off on Stephen King’s “It.” We see Homer join other self-described “high school losers” (shown heere), battling a killer clown; 27 years later, they re-unite to try again. The Homer/Marge romance is flipped, in a tale that’s too gory for some viewers, but great fun for many. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 13, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 15: Megan Thee Stallion, Elizabeth thee queen

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. This wraps up the opening string of three new “SNL” shows. The opener (hosted by Miles Teller) was disappointing, the second (Brendan Gleeson) was better, with both at their best during “Weekend Update” and the films. Doubling as tonight’s host and music guest is Megan Thee Stallion (shown here), 27, the first woman to win Grammys for best rap performance and rap song; she also won best new artist. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 13, 2022
News and Quick Comments

Angela and Elizabeth: two grand, 96-year journeys

Two grand Englishwomen had almost parallel lives.
Angela Lansbury and Queen Elizabeth both died at 96. Lansbury was born a half-year earlier and died a month later – Tuesday (Oct. 11), five days shy of her 97th birthday.
They did meet, at Windsor Castle. That was in 2014 (shown here), when Lansbury – then doing a play in London – officially became a Dame.
Both women had a refreshing mixture of intelligence and diligence. And neither mastered the notion of retiring: Elizabeth held her job for 70 years; Lansbury was a working actress for 77. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 14: Jazz and country fill a musical night

1) Music, 9 p.m., PBS and CMT. PBS launches “Next at the Kennedy Center,” with classy concerts. Next (Nov. 18) is “A Joni Mitchell Songbook.” First, is a tribute to jazz great Charles Mingus; the Mingus Big Band soars, complete with a six-saxophone piece. Also, CMT has its “artists of the year” – Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Walker Hayes, Cody Johnson – plus a career award for Alan Jackson (shown here) and a breakthrough one for Lainey Wilson. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022
Stories

Cheerful author creates grumpy, grouchy author

Alan Conway grumbles and grumps his way through the start of a new mystery mini-series. He’s an angry author, ensnared by success.
Conway is fictional, at the core of “Magpie Murder” (shown here),. which debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 16) on PBS – surrounded by more-traditional mysteries: “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” (8 p.m.) is light and bright, “Annika” (10 p.m.) is darker, but both follow the usual pattern of solving a crime each week.
Not “Magpie.” It spends six episodes probing two murders – one of them nowadays, the other in Conway’s novel (set in the ‘50s), which is missing its final chapter. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 13: Is this the next great drama?

1) “Alaska Daily,” 10 p.m., ABC. In last week’s opener, “Daily” established itself as a good series; now we see it could be a great one. The central character (Hilary Swank, shown here) was a bit one-note at first, but now she’s showing depth. Moving to Anchorage to salvage her tarnished newspaper career, she probed the disappearance of Native women; she also told a young reporter to tell the full story of a corrupt official. Those stories build now, while a new one unfolds. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 11, 2022
Stories

Remember light dramas? They’re back (a little)

Let’s call this a micro-mini-trend, a course-adjustment in the TV world:
This fall, a few shows — including “The Rookie: Feds,” shown here — are trying to do it all. They want to be funny, be serious and solve a case each week.
And yes, that used to be commonplace. Writer-producer Scott Prendergast says his show (“So Help Me Todd”) is “a bit of a throwback. My main inspiration is ‘Moonlighting’ and shows like ‘Hart to Hart’ and ‘Remington Steele’ and ‘Simon & Simon.’”
Such shows used to fill TV. Now it’s a pleasant surprise to find three new ones: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 10, 2022