Mike Hughes

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 9: law & order & family crises

1) “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” 9 p.m., NBC. For a dozen years, Chris Meloni was Stabler, a sturdy “SVU” cop. (He’s shown here with Mariska Hargitay as Benson.) He left in 2011, but returned a decade later – on this show and the one that follows – as Stabler probed his wife’s murder. Now Wheeler – a businessman/mobster – faces trial for ordering the killing. Benson fumes when her ex-colleague Barba (Raul Esparza) is the defense lawyer. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 7, 2021
Stories

Pandemic resilience: Mitchell and mega-concert return

Standing in a massive – and empty – concert hall, Brian Stokes Mitchell (shown here) had a bittersweet feeling.
He’d been there years earlier, when it was packed with sound, spectacle and people. There were 21,000 in front of him then, more than 500 more behind him in the chorus and orchestra.
And now? “The bitter part was that there weren’t any people there,” he said. “But the sweet part was that we were still able to make a show. We were still able to celebrate.”
The result is “20 Years of Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir,” airing twice on PBS (8 p.m. Dec. 13 and 24) and four more times on BYU TV. It offers epic moments in the past and adds a few new ones. We see Mitchell singing alone with a pianist – and, in an amazing number, backed by 300-plus choir members, each recorded separately at home. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 6, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 8: tense moments, from Vegas to a volcano

1) “CSI: Vegas” finale, 10 p.m., CBS. Since its debut (shown here) in October, this has focused on a key story: Evidence suggests Hodges faked his lab work. His old friends (Grissom and Sidle) have been trying to show he’s been framed; if they fail, he’ll go to prison and countless convictions will be thrown out. Now – in the 10th and final episode of the season (and maybe the end of the series) – Hodges is missing. His friends desperately search for him. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 6, 2021
Stories

Once a camcorder cheapie, “Sunny” makes TV history

In the 72-year history of TV’s situation comedies, one show now has a top spot.
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (10 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays on FXX, then on Hulu) has started its 15th season. That puts it above “Ozzie & Harriet,” as the longest-running sitcom (cartoons excluded). And yes, that surprises:
– Some of the show’s stars. Glenn Howerton and Caitlin Olson (second from left and center( have never seen “Ozzie & Harriet” – which ended a decade before they were born.
– John Landgraf, the boss of FX and FXX. This success, he said, would have seemed “impossible when we first watched the pilot shot on a home camcorder and made for $200.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 6, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 7: clever new comedy, silly old ones

1) “Abbott Elementary” debut, 9:30 p.m., ABC. A slow year for situation comedies is suddenly brightening. Too terrific ones get advance peeks – “Abbott” tonight and NBC’s “American Auto” next Monday – before getting weekly spots next month. Quinta Brunson (shown here) created this, produces it and stars as an earnest elementary-school teacher. Indeed, all the teachers here try hard, despite meager fundling and a clueless principal. The result manages to be both warm and funny. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 5, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 6: Blake, Buble, boy bands

1) “The Voice” semi-finals, 8-10 p.m., NBC. A week from the finale, “Voice” is down to eight acts – three on Blake Shelton’s team, two each with Kelly Clarkson and John Legend, only one with Ariana Grande. Now they perform and viewers vote; on Tuesday, five – tonight’s top four and one instant save – will advance. Tonight is all-music for NBC, with Michael Buble (shown here in a previous year) offering a special at 10, marking the 10th-anniversary of his best-selling Christmas album. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 4, 2021
News and Quick Comments

“Downton” movie heads to TV — twice

PBS has some good news for fans of dramas that are large, lush and (of course) British.
The movie version of “Downton Abbey” (shown here) will air twice – on Christmas Day and on Jan. 2. It will be alongside two other favorites (“Call the Midwife” and “All Creatures Great and Small”) and something new – David Tennant in an eight-part mini-series, “Around the World in 80 Days.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 3, 2021
Stories

She’s a downsized spark for TV comedy

Douglas Adams, the late “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” author, had a vertical theory of humor:
All truly funny people, he said, were 6-foot-5-inches tall.
That might have seemed true in his native England. But now, in the U.S., it’s off by a foot-and-a-half.
Meet Quinta Brunson (shown here, foreground) , who is about to rescue us from a slow year for network-TV comedy. She’s the producer, star and sole creator of “Abbott Elementary,” which has an advance showing at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 7) on ABC, then gets a regular spot next month. She’s listed at 5-foot, but some of that is wishful thinking. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 3, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 5: Music blends with drama, real and fictional

.1) “A Home for the Holidays,” 9:30 p.m., CBS (but 9 p.m. PT). There’s music starpower here, with Justin Bieber (shown here), Alessia Cara, Darren Criss and Kane Brown. And between songs, there are true stories of adoptions. We’ll meet a UCLA freshman who was in nine foster homes in her first 12 years. And a former adoptee who now has an adoptive son. And a family that had three biological siblings, then adopted a boy and his baby sister. We’ll also see a girl’s adoption being finalized. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 3, 2021
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Dec. 6: A sharp comedy begins; a stern drama ends

1) “Abbott Elementary” debut, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, ABC. Quinta Brunson is a tiny (4-foot-11) force, ready to save TV comedy. She went to school in Philadelphia, then became a star in streaming shows and on cable, in “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and (as a cowboy outlaw) in “Miracle Workers.” Now she’s written this clever show and stars as a Philly teacher (shown here, left) who has earnest (if overwhelmed) colleagues and a clueless principal. It gets a weekly spot Jan. 4, but for now, we can savor a sharp and funny opener. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 2, 2021