Mike Hughes

Best-bets for June 16: Hope vanishes, “Old Man” arrives

1) “The Old Man” openers (shown here), 10 and 11:30 p.m., FX. For the first 15 minutes, you might be tempted to switch away. Don’t;; a strong drama – tough, intense, richly crafted – is waiting on the other side. In those early minutes, we see a solemn widower (Jeff Bridges), with his two dogs and memories of his wife’s descent into Alzheimer’s. He talks to his daughter on the phone, digs tin cans out of the garbage and seems a bit daft. Just stick with it; a compelling, seven-part adventure is coming, with great work from Bridges, John Lithgow and more. Read more…

Best-bets for June 15: new competitions, old “Price”

1) “So You Think You Can Dance,” 9 p.m., Fox. The 300th episode of this oft-excellent series (shown here in a previous episode) marks a changeover. The try-outs are finished and 12 contestants move to a TV studio – a big step for a show that missed two summers during the pandemic. And there’s a new judge: Matthew Morrison was ousted, reportedly for sending a note to one of the contestants. Taking over is Leah Remini, a popular actress (“The King of Queens”), also known for strident documentaries opposing scientology. She joins JoJo Siwa and Stephen (tWitch) Boss. Read more…

Resistance was futile; Bridges became “The Old Man”

When Jeff Bridges was offered a chance to be “The Old Man,” he took his usual stance: He said no.
“I resist everything, you know,” Bridges told the Television Critics Association. “Resist, resist.”
Especially this one (shown here). It’s a series (10 p.m. Thursdays on FX, starting June 16, for seven weeks), something he’d never done. And he’s seen, close-up, that this can be demanding.
“My father, Lloyd Bridges, did six series, and I saw what hard work” it was, Bridges said. “He (was) a very joyous cat, but also a really hard worker.” Read more…

Best-bets for June 14: brutal bikers, tasteful kids

1) “Mayans M.C.” season-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11:43 p.m. and 1:27 a.m. A passionate season concludes fiercely, Last week, Galindo returned, showed a warehouse filled with heroin and asked the bikers to be his dealers. Now EZ (shown here, left) faces that … and a murder attempt … and a former prison colleague who knows his secrets Galindo’s wife, on the run, learns her son has been kidnapped and her sister has been killed. There’s much more, in a great episode that starts with Coco’s funeral and ends with a jolt — and a mystery for next year. Read more…

It took a few decades, but Joe Leaphorn is back

Hollywood is clearly not a hurry-up world. Projects linger for a year or two … or for decades.
Now we finally have “Dark Winds,” a mini-series starring Zahn McClarnon (shown here), on AMC (9 p.m. Sundays) and on AMC+. “It’s been 35 years in the making,” producer-director Chris Eyre told the Television Critics Association.
And that’s with A-listers involved. George R.R. Martin, of “Game of Thrones” fame, is a producer … So is Robert Redford, of Robert Redford fame; he optioned the Tony Hillerman novels in 1988 … And so is Eyre, whose “Smoke Signals” drew raves and awards at the Sundance Film Festival (founded by Redford), setting a new standard Native American filmmakers. Read more…

Best-bets for June 12: It’s Tony time … plus Watergate and more

1) Tony Awards, 8-11 p.m. ET, CBS. For the first time in three years, here’s a full-scale Tonycast, with glimpses of Broadway’s best. There will be performances from all six nominated musicals and from two of the nominated revivals,. That includes the music of Stephen Sondheim (“Company,” shown here),, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and more, performed by Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, Billy Crystal and others. Ariana DeBose, the “West Side Story” Oscar-winner, hosts; other performers include Billy Porter, Bernadette Peters, the New York Gay Men’s Chorus and the original cast of “Spring Awakening.” Read more…

Week’s top-10 for June 13: Riviera elegance, biker rage

1) “Hotel Portofino” opener, 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS. Bella (Natascha McElhone) has spiffed up a gorgeous little hotel on the Italian Riviera (shown here), hoping to draw her fellow Englishmen; she may even find a match for her handsome son. On the surface, we get classic PBS – “Downton” elegance meets “Durrells” backdrop. But this is the 1920s and Fascism is rising; also, Bella’s husband is a jerk, some of the guests are iffy and romance rarely goes as planned. At times, this six-parter is too soapy, with cliché characters; at others, it’s a sweet summer pleasure Read more…

Best-bets for June 11: a night of despicable pleasures

1) Despicable Me 3” (2017), 8-10 p.m., NBC. This seems to be family-movie day, celebrating the end of the school year. Even NBC, which rarely has movies, offers this animated film (shown here), setting up “Despicable Me 4,” in theaters next month. There’s more animation on Freeform, with “Up” at 4:30 p.m., “Princess and the Frog” at 6:40 and “Wall-E” at 11:50; that’s broken up by a lesser film, “Aladdin” – the so-so, non-cartoon version from 2019 – at 8:45. Also, the ultimate all-ages masterpiece, “ET” (1982), is on Syfy, at 1, 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Read more…

Best-bets for June 10: “Charmed” ends; “Oz” never will

1) “The Wizard of Oz” (1939),” 8 p.m., ET Turner Classic Movies. On the 100th anniversary of her birth, we get some of Judy Garland’s best films. That peaks with “Oz” (shown here), which the American Film Institute puts at No. 10 on its all-time list. it’s followed at 10 ET by an “Oz” documentary by Jack Haley Jr. (Garland’s former son-in-law) and at 11 by “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), the radiant musical directed by her husband-to-be, Vincente Minnelli. There’s more in the daytime, leading to the popular “In the Good Old Summertime” (1949) at 6. Read more…