Mike Hughes

Stories

“Katy” is keen on new lives in New York

Winding through the “Katy Keene” TV series (shown here) – beneath its zest and glitz and giddy optimism – is a story that keeps being repeated in real life:
Young people keep trying for a new life in the big city. They often fail and occasionally succeed.
Lucy Hale remembers that feeling. She was 15, a Memphis kid who’d been taking singing and dancing lessons forever; after she finished fifth on “American Juniors,” she moved with her mom.
“We packed up her Prius,” Hale recalled. “We moved to LA, only planning to stay the pilot season. (It was) a complete culture shock.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 4, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Super Bowl halftime: Craving in the closet

This is always a dilemma on Super Bowl Sunday: Should we stay and watch the game or go out to a “gentleman’s club” instead?
This time, fortunately, we could sort of do both.
At halftime of the Super Bowl, two nice ladies came out and performed. There was some pole dancing and some bellydancing; the cameras had a lot of well-planned booty shots. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 3, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 5: Serious cops, frisky Fox

1) “Chicago P.D.,” 10 p.m., NBC. A tough hour starts quietly. Earlier this season, we learned that Kim Burgess (Marina Squercian, shown here in a previous episode) is pregnant via Adam Ruzek, a fellow cop who is her ex-fiance. Assigned to light duty, she’s working the 9-1-1 calls. That’s when a plaintive call grabs her emotionally. What follows is a terrific hour – sharply and subtly written and played – that takes Burgess (and viewers) on an emotional roller-coaster. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 3, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 4: Trump, time-travel, killer crows

1) State of the Union address and response, 9-11 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. This is a unique time in history – a president preparing his speech while he’s been facing impeachment and planning a re-election push. People will probably be interested in Donald Trump’s comments and in the Democratic response by Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmer. If not? We’ll list some 9 p.m. alternatives, including (shown here) some CW time-travel. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 2, 2020
Stories

Fred Silverman: From Archie to Angels and beyond

Fred Silverman molded a generation of television.
It was the last three-network generation, the final one totally dominated by CBS, ABC and NBC. And Silverman – who died of cancer Thursday at 82 — ran all three.
Ranging from chimps and “Charlie’s Angels” (shown here) to Archie Bunker and “Hill Street Blues,” he was the master of big-tent TV. “Fred was one of the few people I’ve ever known who laughed where the laugh track laughed and got misty watching a daytime soap opera,” former NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff wrote in “The Last Great Ride” (1982). “He truly loved television.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 2, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 3: Here’s the Oscars build-up

1) “Some Like It Hot” (1959), 9:45 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. We’re in Oscar Week, leading into Sunday’s Academy Award ceremony. And TCM’s “31 Days of Oscar” has barely started. “Hot” (shown here in a color poster for the black-and-white film) won one Oscar (for costumes), but was nominated for five more, including Jack Lemmon in support; the American Film Institute named it the funniest American movie of all time. Lemmon stars with Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe … whose “Bus Stop” (1956) is at 8. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 1, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Ronstadt film is back and fascinating

Please pardon a brief detour: This item is mostly for people in the Lansing, Mich., area.
Then again, it’s also for anyone who likes Linda Ronstadt (shown here) … which is a lot of people.
Last month, I had a story about the terrific Ronstadt documentary, when it aired on CNN. Now it’s showing at the Studio C in Okemos, as part of the indie film series. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 31, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Feb. 2: Super Bowl, super fuss

1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. ET, Fox. After three straight years of rooting for or against the New England Patriots, we now have new teams. The Pats have been in five of the past eight Super Bowls, winning three of them, but here are two others: The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been to the game in 50 years; the San Francisco 49ers were there in 2013, their only Super Bowl loss after five wins. To get here, Jimmy Garoppolo (shown here) and the 49ers bounced back from a 4-14 season … and the Chiefs overcome a 24-0 deficit in a play-off game. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 31, 2020
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Feb. 3: Oscar week begins

1) Academy Awards, 8 p.m. Sunday, ABC. The bad news is that there will again be no host; at times (including this year’s Emmys), the result can be drab and dreary. And the good? It’s a wide-open field, with no sure winners … and the music should be great. We’ll hear some powerhouse voices – Cynthia Erivo(shown here) will do a song she co-wrote for “Harriet,” Idina Menzel will do a song from “Frozen II.” We’ll also hear Elton John (“Rocketman”), Randy Newman (“Toy Story 4”) and Chrissy Metz (“Breakthrough”). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 30, 2020