Mike Hughes

Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for May 3: big changes on Monday, Friday

1) “The Voice” (shown here), 8-10 p.m. today, NBC. In a sudden surprise, this ratings-leader has the night to itself. It had been competing with “American Idol,” and winning by 3-2 margins. (“Voice” ratings have dropped 10 percent this year, but “Idol” on Monday is down 27 percent; in the 18-49 age groups, the drops are steeper.) Now “Idol” has been pulled from Monday; it’s Sundays-only, concluding May 23. Tonight, with 16 of its final 17 chosen, “Voice” will pause to review the season and the 19 previous seasons. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 29, 2021
News and Quick Comments

ABC makes Monday switch: “Idol” out, cartoons in

There’s a quick change for Monday-night TV: Cartoons are in; “American Idol” is out.
“Idol” will remain on Sundays, picking a champion on May 23. The Monday editions, however, are gone; instead, ABC is reviving its old “Wonderful World of Disney” banner; that starts May 3 with “The Incredibles 2” (shown here).
Like most shows, “Idol” has seen ts ratings crumble this season. On Sundays, its total viewership is down 15 percent, which is about average; but in the key 18-49 age group, that’s down 27 percent.
And on Mondays – when the show goes eye-to-eye with NBC’s “The Voice” – the decline is huge: “Idol” is down 27 percent overall, and 46 percent in ages 18-49. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 29, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for May 1: A big-screen epic reaches TV

1) “Tenet” (2020), 8 p.m., HBO. Here’s the film that tried to revive moviegoing. Christoper Nolan (“Inception”) spent $200 million for a time-twisting science-fiction film starring John David Washington (shown here) aimed at big screens. Americans, however, weren’t ready to go back to theaters; it made only $58.5 million here and in Canada, doing better overseas. In the aftermath, other big-budget films were delayed or moved to streaming. “Tenet” did win an Oscar for its special effects and a nomination for its set design. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 29, 2021
Stories

Re-living a past nightmare, Porter finds hope

Surveying a life in shambles, the “Pose” protagonist sums it up:
“The world is cold and cruel and full of disease,” Pray Tell says.
That seems like a line about today, but “Pose” – starting its final season at 10 p.m. Sunday (May 2) on FX – is set in 1994, when the gay community was shredded by AIDS and police crackdowns. For Billy Porter (shown here in an earlier and cheerier season), who stars as Pray, the eras merge. “I think the parallels are quite profound,” he said.
Porter, now 51, reached Broadway just as the crisis was soaring. He was a “Five Guys Named Moe” understudy in 1992, then was Teen Angel in the “Grease” revival in ‘94 – a peak year for AIDS deaths. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 29, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 30: Mac, Magnum, music, more

1) “MacGyver” series finale (shown here), 8 p.m., CBS. This reboot lasted five seasons (two fewer than the original version), generally doing wel. But the Nielsen ratings dropped 22 percent this year, so Mac won’t be back. Tonight, he and Riley go missing. They wake up in a corn field, with no idea what happened; they must figure out who took them … and how to get nanotrackers out of their bodies. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 28, 2021
Stories

“Mosquito Coast” spans Theroux generations

You kind of expect Justin Theroux to be well-read.
His mom is a novelist. His dad is merely a lawyer, but four paternal uncles have written novels.
And his link to “The Mosquito Coast” – by Paul Theroux, one of those uncles – is especially strong. “I have a long history with the novel,” he told the Television Critics Association.
He was 10 when it was published, 15 when it became a movie, with Harrison Ford and River Phoenix. And now, at 50, he stars in a seven-hour mini-series (shown here) that starts Friday (April 30) on Apple TV+ Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 27, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 29: football stars, political puppets

1) Football draft, 8-11:30 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. As other shows stumble in the ratings, live events get extra attention. This year, ABC will be there for the full ride – the first round tonight (expected to start with Jacksonville choosing Trevor Lawrence, shown here) … the second and third, 7-11:30 p.m. ET Friday … and the final four, noon to 7 p.m. Saturday. Only 224 players will be drafted, but ABC says it has prepared packages on 450 possibilities, with vignettes on 35. It will have 50 cameras in the draft hall, plus others with 40 players and each of the 32 teams. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 27, 2021
Stories

“Handmaid’s Tale” returns (at last)

The annoying thing about high-quality television is that it takes so much time to make.
Other shows can churn out 100 episodes without a thought. (Literally.) But “The Handmaid’s Tale” (shown here) – which finally returns to Hulu on Wednesday (April 28) – takes almost forever.
The first three seasons totaled only 36 episodes, while getting heaps of praise and awards. The fourth arrives 20 months after the third ended; it has only 10 episodes, three of them on opening night.
Part of that involved a six-month COVID shut-down and the changes that followed, producer Bruce Miller told the Television Critics Association. “We were constantly making adjustments to the script.” Read more…

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

Oscar telecast: Lotsa talk, little fun

My favorite Academy Award winners this year were Anthony Hopkins and Ann Roth.
Not that I particularly thought they were best in their categories (actor and costumes) … but because they weren’t there. That meant two fewer speeches in this acceptance marathon.
Lots of jobs have been eliminated during this difficult year, but one task was absolutely vital to our happiness. That’s the bandleader who plays music when it’s time for someone to quit talking.
This year? No leader … and no band … and no end to the speeches. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 26, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 28: Biden or Maris or Nancy Drew

1) Presidential speech, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. There’s no official State of the Union speech in the first year, but most presidents do a variation. Two days shy of the 100-day mark, Joe Biden has his turn. Networks have set aside two hours for the speech plus the Republican response and news analysis; in western time zones, they’ll give two primetime hours to local stations. Either way, we’ll list some 9 p.m. alternatives (including “Nancy Drew,” shown here) at the end. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 26, 2021