Mike Hughes

Best-bets for June 28: Crises in super-fiction and in real life

1) “Superman & Lois” season-finale, 8 p.m., CW. Remember when Superman seemed invincible? Not any more; Ally Alston has been draining his powers to feed her own, while also merging worlds. Now Chrissy Beppo, the Smallville Gazette editor, has been authorized by the Defense department to tell people the merging of planets is real and happening, Others – including Lois Lane and Lana Lang (the Smallville mayor, shown here) try to save the world. Read more…

A sweet soul triggers a surprise jailbreak

Somewhere inside us, Catherine Bell says, is a dormant delinquent.
“There’s always that idea of: ‘Ooh, what if I broke the rules and did something wild for a moment?!’”
No one would have expected that from Toby Young, the real-life person Bell (shown here) portrays (loosely) in “Jailbreak Lovers,” at 8 p.m. Saturday (July 2) on Lifetime, rerunning at midnight. Read more…

CBS remembers (sometimes) to make it special

In a pre-packaged, pre-processed world, television should be its best when it’s live and, well, special.
TV specials have offered music, humor and even bits of spontaneity. Then they seemed to disappear … except on CBS.
That comes to mind now, after a one-two punch: On June 12 was a terrific Tony Award ceremony, propelled by the immense talent of Ariana DeBose. On June 24 was a Daytime Emmy (shown here) ceremony that was really quite adequate … which makes it roughly 3,000-percent better than last year’s show. Read more…

Best-bets for June 27: teen trauma, celebrity silliness

1) “Celebrity Family Feud,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. With basketball and hockey dominating June, ABC is waiting until next month for its summer push. Game shows will start their seasons on July 7 and 10; “The Bachelorette” begins on Julty 11. That leaves lots of temporary spots for reruns.  We see Steve Harvety (shown here) host games involving musicians (Pentatonix, Wilson Phillips, Dee Snider, OneRepublic), plus Terry Bradshaw, Tisha Campbell, the “Mayans M.C.” cast and more. Read more…

Best-bets for June 26: Music soars, dramas return

1) BET Awards, 8-11:30 p.m., BET (with pre-show at 6) plus VH1, MTV, Comedy Central. Taraji Henson hosts and Sean “Diddy” Combs gets a lifetime award, in a show that’s big on music awards and performers. They include Lizzo, Latto, Chloe (shown here), Giveon and Babyface, plus Jack Harlow, Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin, Roddy Ricch and more. There are also awards for sports and films; nominated as best movie are “King Richard,” “Respect,” “Candyman,” “The Harder They Fall,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy” and “The Summer of Soul.” Read more…

Week’s top-10 for June 27: potent bits of fact and fiction

1) “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution,” 9-11 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, A&E. This sprawls across a century of humor. The first half (rerunning at 7 p.m. Thursday) glances at the bad old days, then focuses on Dick Gregory, a teen track star who learned that Blacks’ times didn’t go in the record books. He became an activist, then a comedian, then both. It then ranges from Richard Pryor to Jimmy “J.J.” Walker. The second half visits a genial era (Cosby, Murphy, etc.) and then the sharp commentary of Chris Rock (shown here), Dave Chappelle and more.

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Best-bets for June 25: Jerrod returns; De Niro never leaves

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Jerrod Carmichael (shown here) hosted this rerun (with Gunna as music guest), returning to the network where he first drew attention. He did three short seasons (partially in summers) as producer and star of “The Carmichael Show,” drawing praise for injecting topical humor into a situation comedy. In the five years since then, he’s mainly helped produce other people’s series (“Ramy,” “Rel”) and stand-up specials. Here’s a return to the spotlight. Read more…

Best-bets for June 24: winners in soaps, dance, more

1) Daytime Emmys, 9-11 p.m., CBS. In the previous two ceremonies, there was no studio audience and (almost) no fun; things plotted along drearily. Now we get new hosts (the “Entertainment Tonight” anchors) and an audience. All five soaps are nominated, including “Days of Our Lives” and its Peacock spin-off. Up for best talk host are Kelly Clarkson (shown here), Drew Barrymore and two duos — Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush-Hager. Barrymore will be a presenter; Michael Bolton will do two songs — a new one and one for the “I Memoriam” segment. Read more…

Film captures the bumpy history of Black comedy

For decades, Black comedy has kept changing.
It went from “chitlin’ circuit” obscurity to a cable spotlight, from minstrel-show clamor to Chappelle sophistication. It went from the triumphs of Bill Cosby to the tragedy of Bill Cosby; it also went from the rage of Dick Gregory to the joy of Eddie Murphy (shown here) … and then back to rage.
Now a documentary tries to sum it up in four crowded hours. “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution” debuts from 9-11 p.m. June 29 on A&E; that part repeats from 7-9 p.m. June 30, leading into the conclusion from 9-11 p.m. Read more…

Best-bets for June 23: mini-chefs, maxi-athletes

1) “MasterChef Junior” finale, 9 p.m., Fox. This has been in flux lately. The semi-finals and finals were originally set for Thursdays, then were moved to Tuesdays, June 14 and 21. But – barring another change – the final night will rerun now, just two days later. At 8 p.m., “Road to the Finale” looks at what’s happened so far. At 9, we see – or re-see — Liya Chu, 10, shown here, and Grayson Price, 11, go for the top prize — $100,000 plus appliances and a dinner with Gordon Ramsay. Read more…