Mike Hughes

Stories

A REALLY bad parent? Try the animal world

Lots of folks might think they have (or are) bad parents. They might be right.
But anything they do pales compared to the animal world. “Underdogs” — a quirky delight Sundays on the National Geographic Channel (with one hour on ABC and everything on Disney+ and Hulu) — offers:
— A goose that hatches its four eggs on an 800-foot cliff, (shown here), then has no plan for how its offspring will get down.
— A koala whose idea of good baby food is … well, poop.
— Lemurs, who overdo the notion of “it takes a village.” A baby is passed through a dizzying succession of aunts, uncles and, maybe, strangers. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 9, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 10: Fox’s Tuesdays are fun now

1) “The 1% Club” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. One of TV’s best games is back, in some ways better than ever. Patton Oswalt was an excellent host the first year; Joel McHale (shown here) is even better, bantering with the sometimes-quirky contestants. This opener’s answers can be devilish; at times, it’s even hard to understand the question. Still, this is great fun. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 8, 2025
Stories

It’s Wausau’s moment in TV (and zombie) history

There are many splendid things about Wausau, Wisconsin.
It’s had baseball teams, football stars (including the only Crazylegs and the only double-zero) and a 150-year-old insurance company. But it has not, to my knowledge, had zombies.
Until now.
“Revival” (shown here) — debuting at 10 p.m. Thursday (June 12) on Syfy and USA — offers a fresh take on the living dead. Other shows have great hordes of unpleasant ones, sweeping (well, shuffling) across the land. This one has a modest number of mostly benign ones, confined to the greater Wausau area. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 7, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 9: BET gathers some starpower

1) BET Awards, 8 p.m., BET, CMT, VH1. Kevin Hart hosts, with “ultimate icon” awards for Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey (shown here), Kirk Franklin and Snoop Dogg. The latter three will perform, as will Lil Wayne, Teyana Taylor, GloRilla, Playboi Carti and Leon Thomas. There are awards for music (Kendrick Lamar has 10 nominations), movies and sports. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 7, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 8: A live-TV night — Tonys, sports

1) Tony Awards, 8 p.m. ET, CBS. “Hamilton” (shown here) reached Broadway in August of 2015, scoring instantly. Ten months later, it won 11 Tonys and the Tonycast ratings jumped 35 percent. Now the original cast returns for a 10th-year performance. There will also be numbers from music from the nominated musicals (including ones with Audra McDonald and Nicole Scherzinger) and, presumably, host Cynthia Erivo. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 6, 2025
Weekly Previews

Week’s top 10 for June 9: lowly creatures and soaring singers

1) “Underdogs,” 9 and 9:54 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic. Here is a gentle gem — a three-Sunday, five-hour look at lowly creatures (shown here). The first hour (also on ABC at 9:03) shows superpowers, from invisibility to superglue slime. The second has terrible parents, including one that simply drops her eggs into other nests. Ryan Reynolds has fun with the narration. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 4, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 6: TV’s best alien returns

1) “Resident Alien” season-opener, 11 p.m., USA and Syfy. One of TV’s best shows finally returns. Last season ended 14 months ago, as aliens schemed to steal a baby and destroy Earth. (Those hours repeat at 12:02 and 1:03 a.m. on USA.) Now Harry, an alien himself, is helpless while a rude shapeshifter (shown here) takes his place. Alan Tudyk is great (as usual) in a double role. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 4, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 5: Basketball leads a busy night

1) Basketball, 8:30 p.m., ABC. In their combined 107 NBA seasons, the Oklahoma City Thunder (shown here) and Indiana Pacers have had one championship. The Thunder won in 1979 (when they were in Seattle) and have lost three times. This time, they had the top regular-season record, plus 12-4 in the playoffs. Now they host the Pacers, who are in their second finals. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 3, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 4: new hours from CW and Apple

1) “Sherlock & Daughter,” 9 p.m., CW. Throughout this first season (a good one), Holmes (David Thewlis, shown here) has been limited: The Red Thread group kidnapped his friend Watson and threatens to kill him. Now Holmes has cracked the group’s code; a week from the season-finale, he follows clues all the way to the vaults of the Bank of England. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 2, 2025