Mike Hughes

News and Quick Comments

Disney+ is ready to dance … and to hulk up

“Dancing With the Stars” will be back soon … albeit a bit harder to find.
The show has set Sept. 19 as its debut date on the Disney+ streaming service. That follows 30 seasons on ABC.
It arrives alongside other Disney+ shows, some scripted (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” shown here in its previous comic-book form, and the second “Mighty Ducks” season) and some with star explorers, young (Bertie Gregory) and not (James Cameron). The schedule, announced today, includes: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 5: Good deeds and killer campers

1) “Killer Camp” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. It’s been an odd ride for this goofy (but fun) reality show, which uses tropes of old horror films. CW aired the British original (shown here) in the summer of 2020, then made its own season. It aired two episodes last October, finding few viewers; now it tries again: This second-season opener sees 15 campers arrive. A “counselor” explains that one will be “killed” each week … and one camper is a ringer, helping the killer. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2022
Stories

FX conquers our inner demon

As the summer slows down, people start looking for TV shows – preferably ones with scripts and plots and characters and such.
Not to worry; a surge of FX productions is coming, ranging from  a demonic animate show (shown here) to a therapist held  hostage. “We’re just about doubling the output,” John Landgraf told the Television Critics Association.
Landgraf used to oversee shows for one channel, FX. Some of them – “Fargo,” “Pose,” “Justified,” “Sons of Anarchy”– became classics. Now he pushes shows in three directions; the surge includes: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 4: lots of comedy plus (?!?) football

1) Football, 8:05 p.m. ET, NBC, pre-game at 7. Wait — it’s fall football time already? The winter sports (basketball, hockey) only ended six weeks ago … baseball is barely at its mid-point … but here we are with football’s pre-season opener, the Hall of Fame game. The Las Vegas Raiders (10-7 last year) face the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-14), who have had two straight No. 1 draft choices – quarterback Trevor Lawrence (shown here) and defensive end Travon Walker. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 2, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 3: music, dance, rescued plants

1) “CMA Fest,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. For the first time in three years, Nashville had its four-day mega-fest; here are highlights. One host (Dierks Bentley) performs with Billy Ray Cyrus (shown here), the other (Elle King) with Ashley McBryde. Other match-ups have Wynonna Judd and Carly Pearce, Lady A and Breland, Zac Brown Band and Darius Rucker. Also performing: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 1, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 2: a vampiric sort of farce

1) “What We Do in the Shadows,” 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 10:34 and 11:08. The plot is familiar: An important visitor is coming; an odd family tries to seem normal. But this family has three vampires, a wise aide (shown here) and a lad who emerged from the chest cavity of a late colleague and keeps growing rapidly. Now a private-school official visits. “Shadows” ditches its usual droll style and offers a vampire version of a wild (and funny) drawing-room farce. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 31, 2022
News and Quick Comments

“Dogs” is back, with lives scrambled

For most of its first season (a good one), “Reservation Dogs” (shown here) was an us-vs.-the-world tale.
Then the “us” imploded. That sets up the two intriguing episodes that arrive Wednesday (Aug. 3) on Hulu, to open the second season.
This is a modest show that has drawn a surge of praise. It already has Peabody and American Film Institute awards; in the upcoming Television Critics Association awards, it’s nominated for best comedy and best new show. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 1: lots of Elvis films, some of them OK

1) “Viva Las Vegas” (1964), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. A 24-hour Elvis Presley marathon starts at 6 a.m., It offers a couple zestful concert films – “Elvis on Tour” (1972), 2 p.m.; “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” (1970), 10 p.m. — and lots of scripted ones. Some are awful, but “Viva” (shown here) has glitter, Ann-Margret and lots of vibrant music, led by the title song. There’s even a rare nod to Presley’s R&B roots, when he sings “What’d I Say?” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2022
Stories

He’s no MD, but he’s doing fine

In a tiny town in West Virginia, Pauline Gates was clear about this: Her two sons would be doctors.
One, Dr. Paul Gates, is, indeed, an oral surgeon. But the other descended into academia and fame.
That’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. (shown here), who is now one of PBS’ biggest stars. “It was a fantasy of mine,” Gates said. “I didn’t even realize that it was; I didn’t tell anybody.”
But here he is, filling our TV sets. PBS has been re-running his “Finding Your Roots” at 8 p.m. Tuesdays; it will have a fresh batch in January. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2022
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 31: Archie, Rev. Will and raging Jackie Rohr

1) “City on a Hill” season-opener, 10 p.m., Showtime. Jackie Rohr is one of TV’s great characters, an FBI agent rippling with intelligence and rage. As last season ended (14 months ago), corruption probes grew and he turned in his badge. Now he’s near-bottom — to the delight of an honest prosecutor. Perfectly played by Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge (shown here), these two are great opposites. This opener also has strong moments for Corben Bernsen and Ernie Hudson. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 29, 2022