Mike Hughes

Best-bets for Oct. 31: Choose your Halloween mood

1) Halloween lite. There’s a long wait before trick-or-treating, so cable fills it. FX has all 31 “Simpsons Treehouse of Horror” (shown here) episodes — some family-friendly, some not — from 9 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Freeform has two each of “Twitches” (7 and 9 a.m.), “Halloweentown” (11 a.m. 1 p.m.) and “Addams Family” (5:10 and 7:15 p.m.) films, plus “Hocus Pocus” (3 and 9:20 p.m.) and the reboot of “Ghostbusters” (11:30 p.m.). Disney has “Zombies” movies at noon and 2 p.m. and a “Halloween House Party” at 5. Read more…

Restrained Brits seethe (a little) in “Roadkill”

As our political season winds down, we can settle back and watch a different one.
This one is fictional … and British … and sometimes rather subtle.
“We are a more restrained country, in many ways,” Hugh Laurie (shown here) said in a virtual session with the Television Critics Association. “I think the fun for an actor is to allow the audience an opportunity to decipher things, rather than simply present them in bold captions.”
He does that in “Roadkill,” a “Masterpiece” drama starting at 9 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 1) on PBS. Throughout the four episodes, we’re not sure what to think of Peter Laurence, the politician he plays. He’s a member of the Conservative Party, which has ruled England for 45 years – lately, with people from upscale backgrounds. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 30: Music, Muppets, monsters, more

1) “Jazz at the Lincoln Center: A Swingin’ Sesame Street Celebration,” 9 p.m., PBS. From the start, “Sesame Street” has had sharp humor, vibrant visuals and great music. “I grew up loving the show,” Wynton Marsalis says. He’s guested on it and his trumpeter (Kenny Rampton) is in the “Sesame” band. Now the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Marsalis, offers a zestful hour of music, from “Sing” to “Rubber Duckie.” The “Sesame” stars – Bert and Ernie (shown here) and such – add dabs of humor. Read more…

Film captures a passionate, election-time Chicago

“City So Real” is epic in size, scope and ambition.
Its debut – 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) Thursday on the National Geographic Channel, before moving to Hulu on Friday – runs six hours. And that’s without commercials.
During that time, it tries to portray the entire city of Chicago. Mostly, it succeeds.
Steve James has used segments of Chicago as the backdrop for many of his films – “Hoop Dreams,” “The Interrupters,” “Life Itself” and “America to Me.” But now he wants to portray an entire city. Naturally, it t centers on an election (shown here). Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 29: A night of protests and pandemic

1) “City So Real,” 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, National Geographic. Here is an epic documentary, tackling an entire city (Chicago), with all its passion and quirks. It starts on July 4, 2018, a half-year before the mayoral primary. Some 21 candidates announce, 17 file petitions, 14 make the ballot. But it also involves the flavor of the city, from bars to barbershops. “Real” originally ended with the election, but Geographic added a fifth part – showing the new mayor encased in protest (shown here) and pandemic. Read more…

Amid the inferno: animal-rescue heroics

Adrina Selles was getting used to this: Fires (shown here) raged through the Australian bush country, endangering her animal-rehab center.
“We were threatened on four different occasions, from four different directions,” Selles – featured in a “Nature” film at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 28) on PBS – recalled. “We had to evacuate each time.”
Then came the big one – a massive, New Year’s Eve blaze that would consume 46 million acres.
“We thought we were going to lose the whole property,” she told the Television Critics Association. She couldn’t protect the 15 joeys (young kangaroos) in her care. “We just had to open the gates and (hope they would) find shelter.” Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 28: Comedies, cons and koalas

1) “American Housewife,” 8:30 p.m., ABC. As the season gradually emerges, here’s a boost: Now ABC has all of its Wednesday comedies in place. They range from “Goldbergs” at 8 to “Black-ish” at 9:30; now “Housewife” arrives a week later than the others. It starts with what was supposed to be last season’s finale: Kate scrambles to make sure Taylor (Meg Donnelly, shown here) graduates from high school. Also, her husband finishes his ghostwriting project and their younger-daughter agrees to try sleep-away summer camp. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 27: Strong drama, top documentaries

1) “This Is Us” season-opener, 9-11 p.m., NBC. The best drama on broadcast TV is back – and sooner than originally announced. That has to be a good sign for viewers who want a dab of normalcy. When they last saw, Kevin was furious at Randall (Sterling K. Brown, shown here) for convincing their mother to leave town for an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment; he even blurted that he wishes his parents had never adopted Randall. Now we jump forward a few months, the the 40th birthday for both men and their sister Kate. Read more…

Yes, books — real, physical ones — are still an artform

Yes, this is an era of Twitter and Tik Tok and tiny treatises. Thoughts are expressed in 280 characters.
But there’s a flip side to that. “The physical book is alive and well, thank you very much,” Mark Dimunation says in “The Book Makers” (shownhere), which airs Tuesday (Oct. 27) on PBS World and then is at pbs.org.
He should know; he works at the Library of Congress (as head of the rare books division), a place that has 38 million books. There are plenty more coming, as the film finds at the CODEX Book Fair. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 26: Latino heroes, frantic soulmates

1) “Essential Heroes: A Momento Latino Event,” 9 p.m., CBS. While waiting for its shows to return, CBS is making good use of open spots on its schedule. Two shows – this Latino hour and Thursday’s “Every Vote Counts” –mix music and celebrities. Tonight, Gloria Estefan (shown here in an earlier photo) hosts (with Eva Longoria and Ricky Martin) and sings. Also performing are Pitbull, Juanes, Luis Fonsi and Kelsea Ballerini Read more…