Mike Hughes

Best-bets for Oct. 19: “Voice” begins, football doubles, Derek dances

1) “The Voice” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., NBC. Yes, there is a real TV season trickling in. And now we have one of the ratings leaders, starting with two nights and four hours of auditions. Blake Shelton will be there, as usual; he’s already had seven winners in 18 seasons. But Kelly Clarkson (shown here) has had three winners just five seasons. The others are John Legend (one win in three seasons) and Gwen Stefani, Shelton’s life partner, with no wins in four seasons. Read more…

Fun-loving Pepe a symbol of hate? Not on purpose

Pepe the Frog (shown here) is a friendly sort – big-eyed and green (as are many frogs) and casual.
He’s also been co-opted by alt-right and white supremacist groups. The Anti-Defamation League included him in its hate-symbol database.
That combination confounds Pepe’s creator. “It is hard to control anything on the internet,” Matt Furie recently told the Television Critics Association in a virtual session.
Now his story is told in a fascinating documentary. “Feels Good Man,” a Sundance Film Festival award-winner, will be 10 p.m. Monday (Oct. 19) on most PBS stations (check local listings), under the “Independent Lens” banner Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 18: Bueller, baseball, but no Bart

1) “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986), 8 p.m., CBS. Maybe this is the time to settle back with a fun film. CBS — which has temporarily revived its Sunday-night movies — has this popular tale, with Matthew Broderick (shown here) giving himself a personal vacation. Freeform has its usual lighe Halloween films and TNT has two 2018 films — “Oceean’s 8” at 5:30 p.m. and “Crazy Rich Asians” at 8; both have so-so stories, redeemed by a bright, breezy look and feel.  Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Oct. 19: “Voice” and comedies return

1) “The Voice” season-opener, 8-10 p.m. today and Tuesday, NBC. A perennial ratings-leader returns, with its star and his loved-interest. The star is Blake Shelton; in 18 editions, he’s had seven winners and 11 runners-up – sometimes both at the same time. His life partner is Gwen Stefani (they’re shown here), with no winners in four previous seasons. The other two judges have started strong: Kelly Clarkson has had three wins in five seasons; John Legend has had one in three. The auditions begin, with Carson Daly as the host. Read more…

Jones finds sweeping success via offbeat route

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go, you know.
The break-out talents from “Saturday Night Live” are supposed to become movie stars. They’re not supposed to host a game show where people racie frantically down grocery-store aisles.
But there is Leslie Jones (shown here), hosting and producing “Supermarket Sweep,” which debuts at 8 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 18) on ABC. That’s not the usual post-”SNL” route. “They have a formula for how everybody is supposed to make it,” Jone said in a recent Television Critics virtual session. But “I had to make everyone realize the formula doesn’t work for me.”
Nothing does. She was 47 before she ever reached “SNL,” 49 before she got her one big movie role (the “Ghostbusters” reboot), 51 when she left the show, did a stand-up comedy special … and then grabbed a show she had watched long ago. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 17: “SNL” laughter or holiday screams

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. For the third straight week, the show has a skilled comedy pro as host. The season opened with comics who sometimes act (Chris Rock and Bill Burr) and great results. Now comes Issa Rae, who received Emmy nominations this year for both a comedy series (“Insecure”) and a sketch show (“The Black Lady Sketch Show”). It’s her first time at “SNL”; Justin Bieber (shown here) has his fourth time as music guest; in one, he doubled as host Read more…

“Last Man Standing” still stands … but only for one more year

After standing for a decade, “Last Man Standing” (shown here) is near the end.
Fox announced that the upcoming season – a full, 22-episode one, starting in January – will be its last.
The show will have run nine seasons, spread over 10 years and two networks. That makes Tim Allen one of TV’s most eternal stars; adding “Home Improvement,” he’ll have 17 seasons and 398 episodes Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 16: Great music, un-great show

1) “Great Performances: Grammy Salute to Legends,” 9 p.m., PBS. Most music shows have beautifully adjusted to the pandemic … but not this one. It does have a few good moments – from Sam Moore, Yola and Brandi Carlile – and one great one – a Roberta Flack tribute, gorgeously sung by Cynthia Erivo (shown here in a previous performance) and Leslie Odom, Jr. Then things fall apart — badly written film tributes, so-so introductions and endless acceptance speeches … including separate ones from every member of Chicago. Read more…

Yola inhabits the soulful Sister Rosetta

It was a time before Elvis or Aretha, a time when “rock” and “soul” were mostly just nouns.
That was when Sister Rosetta Tharpe brought a rocking, soulful feel to gospel music. Now she’s getting fresh attention, via PBS and, eventually, a Baz Luhrmann movie.
“Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s contribution to music – specifically to the creation of rock-and-roll – (was) very central to my music taste,” said Yola (shown here), the singer who gets two chances to inhabit Tharpe.
The first is on “Grammy Salute to Music Legends,” at 9 p.m. Friday (Oct. 16) on PBS. Yola sings Tharpe’s powerhouse, “Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air.” And the second will be in a movie … well, sometime. Read more…

CBS finally sets its season-openers

A major chunk of the new TV season has finally been scheduled.
CBS announced November starts for 10 of its series. That includes all three “NCIS” shows and five of its six comedies — including one new show, “B Positive” (shown here) — plus “SWAT” and “All Rise.”
That still leaves 10 others waiting to be scheduled. Most are hourlong dramas, including the two “FBI” shows and the three Friday ones.
The move matches others made by big-three networks. NBC will launch several of its shows around the Nov. 10 season-opener of “This Is Us”; two days later, ABC starts its big moves with a crossover of “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Read more…