Mike Hughes

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 31: Busy start to summer season

1) “America’s Got Talent” opener, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. We’re in the summer season now – a time when “AGT” dominates the ratings. It slipped a bit last year, with remote performances; now it returns to onstage auditions … and Simon Cowell (shown here) returns after an injury. At first, traditional acts kept winning; five of the first six champions were singers, alongside one ventriloquist. Since then, however, the winners have included only two singers, plus two more ventriloquists, a magician, a dancer, a dog act and, last year, a spoken-word poet. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 27, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 29: tigers, Grizzlies & Wizards

1) “China: Nature’s Ancient Kingdom” (shown here) finale, 8 p.m., BBC America. A beautifully filmed, three-week series concludes in four parks in China’s heavily populated East. One exists not far from the 25 million people in Shanghai; another is along the border, where tigers casually stroll between Russia and China. Footage ranges from a thieving chipmunk raiding a cache, to a rare gibbon swinging along treetops. That’s surrounded by other gorgeous nature scenes: “Frozen Planet” reruns are from 1 p.m. to 6 a.m. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 27, 2021
News and Quick Comments

Cruella: epic sympathy for the de Vil

It isn’t easy, we’re told, to stir sympathy for the Devil.
Or, in this case, for de Vil. But a new mega-movie, arriving Friday (May 28), manages to do it.
“Cruella” (shown here) – the story of Cruella de Vil, the “101 Dalmatians” villain – opens in movie theaters and is simultaneously available to Disney+ customers who pay an extra Premier Access fee. My advice is the same as someone said (about another film) during the Oscars: “See it on the biggest screen you can.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 26, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 28: The births of Cruella and Richie

1) “The Dick Van Dyke Show – Now in Living Color,” 8 p.m., CBS. For the second straight Friday, CBS has two episodes of this great series, with color added by computer. This pair – which also aired in 2018 – has one of the show’s flashback delights (shown here): Richie asks his parents where he came from; he soon gets a long account of the misadventures leading up to his birth. Then there’s a vacation that goes bizarrely wrong: Among other things, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) has her toe stuck in the bathtub. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 26, 2021
Stories

At last: We spy our pets’ secret lives

Many of us may wonder what our pets do when we’re gone.
Do they scheme and plot? … Or grumble and grouse? … Or just hit the hyper-relaxation mode?
Now a new series, “Housebroken” (shown here) has the answer: Pets conduct their own group-therapy sessions.
Yes, the show (9 p.m. Mondays on Fox, starting May 31) is a cartoon. “There’s just so much freedom in animation,” said actress-turned-producer Clea DuVall. Cats can talk, turtles can dash; she can envision big stunts that “would be half of your budget (without) animation.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 26, 2021
News and Quick Comments

CW this fall: same shows in new places

When the fall season starts, the CW network will have a new night, new line-ups and new ambitions … but not, at first, many new scripted shows.
Those will come at mid-season, when things are quieter. For fall, CW will mostly re-shuffle. It will go from six nights to seven, but will mainly re-arrange current shows  (even “Riverdale,” shown here, gets a new night) and offer new versions of two games – “Killer Camp” and “Legends of the Hidden Temple.”
The lone new drama, “4400,” is a reboot of an idea that had four cable seasons: In one burst, 4,400 missing people re-appear (this time, in Detroit), without having aged and with no idea what happened.
Two other dramas will debut later: In “Naomi,” a teen comic-book fan senses she has a supernatural destiny. In “All American: Homecoming,” young athletes navigate life at a historically black college. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 25, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 27: Young pop, new dramas and Sir Elton

1) “iHeartRadio Music Awards,” 8-10 p.m., Fox. This week has overflowed with pop music – Billboard awards, plus the finales for “Idol,” “Voice” and “Masked Dancer.” Now comes one more surge: Usher hosts and Elton John (shown here) gets the Icon Award. Performers include Taylor Swift, Roddy Ricch, Dua Lipa, Twenty One Pilots and Megan Thee stallion, plus The Weeknd with Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars with Anderson.Paak, Dan + Shay with Doja Cat and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 25, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 26: The masks end; the games begin

1) “The Masked Singer” finale, 8 p.m., Fox. Three people remain, disguised as Piglet (shown here), Black Swan and Chameleon. And chances are, all of them are skilled music pros. The ringers were unmasked quickly – Danny Trejo, Caitlyn Jenner, Logan Paul, even Kermit the Frog; lately, we’ve had skilled singers – Bobby Brown, the Hanson trio, Tyrese Gibson and, last week, Omarion. Last week, we also learned that the clue-spewing chicken was Donnie Wahlberg, the husband of startled judge Jenny McCarthy. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 24, 2021
Stories

“Crime Scene” starts summer surge of games

These days, viewers’ TV tastes are clear.
We like cooking and crime-solving and – in the summer – game shows. So why not combine them?
Welcome to “Crime Scene Kitchen” (shown here), arriving Wednesday (May 26), to whisk us from one season to the next. At 8 p.m., “The Masked Singer” – Fox’s top-rated regular-season show – has its finale; at 9, “Kitchen” arrives, as part of a summer stuffed with games and food. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 23, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 25: Finales for “Voice,” “NCIS,” more

1) “The Voice” finale, 8-10 p.m., NBC. At the end of the night, the show will have its 20th champion. First, however, come lots of guest performances. That includes Blake Shelton’s fiancee (Gwen Stefani, with Saweetie) and his former “Voice” colleague (Adam Levine, shown here). Also performing: Justin Bieber, Thomas Rhett, OneRepublic, Kelsea Ballerini, Snoop Dogg, Ben Platt, Lauren Daigle. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 23, 2021