Mike Hughes

Yes, it’s fun to be a village vicar’s crime-solving wife

Scattered through the English countryside, it seems, are villages suitable for rest, relaxation and murder mysteries.
Cara Horgan (shown here) can verify that. She grew up in one and now works in another, she’s one of the stars of “The Marlow Murder Club,” which starts its second season at 9 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 24) on PBS.
“These small towns exist all over the UK,” Horgan said by Zoom. “And Marlow is quintessentially British.”
It’s a real town of 14,000 that’s been around for about 10 centuries. T.S. Eliot and Percy Shelley wrote poems there; Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” there and (appropriately) Robert Thorogood is writing his “Marlow Murder Club” novels there. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 20; clever Elsbeth, raunchy Frank

1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. This was one of the best episodes in a smart season: A video installation lets people in Manhattan commune with a tiny town in seaside Scotland. Elsbeth is soon drawn to a handsome Scottish musician (Ioan Gruffudd, who has portrayed Horatio Hornblower, Lancelot and Mr. Fantastic) who — from 3,000 miles away — is a witness. She confers (shown here) by long-distance phone. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 19: epic action or flashy acts

1) “Alien: Earth,” 8 p.m., FX, rerunning at 9:17, 10:34, 11:52. Awesome visually and intense emotionally, this ratchets up the impact. The minds of dying kids were inserted into synthetic bodies; now one synth tries to save her brother, in a crashed ship with creatures. Adult synths loom, for bad (shown here) or good, plus a young genius obsessed with discovery. Read more…

This solemn cop is a funny guy (really)

Americans are used to seeing Sanjeev Bhaskar draped in angst and agony.
He plays an earnest cop in “Unforgotten” (shown here) which starts its sixth season at 10 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 24) on PBS. Dealing with years-ago murders, it’s a smart show that feels the pain of friends, family, suspects and cops.
So this is a surprise: Bhaskar is a fun and funny guy. He’s done lots of comedies, met lots of Beatles. He once had the No. 1 song in England … a fact that he apologized for. Also, he married his fictional grandmother.
And he’s definitely surprised to be in a dead-serious show. “I thought, ‘Who’s going to cast me as a detective?'” Bhaskar said by Zoom. “I wouldn’t cast me as a detective.” Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 18: Kids and other virgins star

1) “Lego Masters Jr.” debut, 8 p.m., Fox. Kids finally get to play with the toys. After five seasons with grown-ups, there’s a new age group (9-14) and host (Kelly Osbourne, right). For this four-week tournament, each kid duo gets a sorta-celebrity. The talent is huge; so is the hype. After a 10-minute intro, we see likable kids do great work. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 17: fantasy, films or football

1) “Nautilus” (shown here) season-finale, 9 p.m., AMC, rerunning at 11:07. Two large — and very different — episodes are back-to-back. First, Nemo and friends finally find the treasure land … and big trouble. Then, surprisingly, we get a corporate battle. Both hours strain credibility (especially the second). Still, this tends to be an oddly entertaining romp. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Aug. 18: “Talent” peaks; Sunday dramas return

1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. The quarter-finals will sprawl over four Tuesdays, with 11 acts each time. This opener has five music acts (including Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules” and Jessica Sanchez, shown here) and three dance acts — B Unique, LightWire and Loco Pop Familia — plus magic, a trapeze duo and comedian Shuler King. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 15: new show, new special, more

1) “The Rainmaker” debut, 10 p.m., USA Network. Adapting a 1995 John Grisham novel, this keeps only the basic notion — a young law-school grad (shown here) scrambles for work — and the names. It adds two upscale people — his girlfriend and a nemesis (John Slattery) — plus new cases and twists that are sort of fun and involving and Grisham-y. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 14: fun, fun … and a grim revival

1) “Revival” season-finale, 10 p.m., Syfy. At first, “Revival” was kind of fun — or as fun as something can be when the former dead are revived in small-town Wisconsin. Soon, alas, it turned grim and murky. Em (the sheriff’s daughter and deputy’s sister) was killed, revived and is about to be killed anew. There’s a nasty preacher (shown here), some jolts and one final twist. Read more…