Mike Hughes

News and Quick Comments

This show is making it fun

An amiable anomaly returns tonight (Dec. 2).
“Making It” is a low-cost, low-stress show about ordinary – well, semi-ordinary – people who make things. They use wood … or balloons or noodles or electrical wires or whatever.
This show could easily be ignored, tucked in the cable crevices where how-to shows belong. Instead, it gets a prime spot – 10 p.m. Dec. 2-5 and 8-9, then 9-11 p.m. Dec. 10 – on NBC
Yes.the network that has gave us “Seinfeld,” ““ER” an.d “West Wing” is giving eight primetime hours to a show that includes the artistic use of noodles. And somehow, that makes sense. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 2, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 4: The Moody-ness begins

1) “The Moodys,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., Fox, concluding Dec. 9-10. When the Fox people called this an “anti-holidays” mini-series, we expected a “Bad Santa” or “Kranks.” Instead, it’s something deeper. The Moody offspring, all adults, have troubles; one lives at home, the other two arrive for Christmas with secrets and messy lives. But they’re good-hearted people, in muddled lives. Dan (Francois Arnaud) and his new friend Cora (Maria Gabriela de Faria), shown here, are instantly likable. It’s a first-rate comedy-drama. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 2, 2019
News and Quick Comments

Surprise: Three excellent comedy-dramas arrive

Each December, our TV expectations become lower or looser.
We expect a few specks of greatness – Charlie Brown and the Grinch, mostly – and lots of pleasantly adequate shows. So this is a surprise: In a five-day stretch, three terrific shows will arrive.
One of those — the much-honored “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (shown here) — was expected; the others weren’t.
“The Moodys” is a comedy-drama mini-series, on a network (Fox) that’s been comedy-deprived lately. “Work in Progress” is a low-budget series with high-IQ scripts. Let’s view all three chronologically: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 2, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 3: Country and the Grinch

1) “CMA Country Christmas,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Here’s country crossover, with music from Nashville and beyond. Tricia Yearwood sings and hosts, introducing country people (Chris Janson, Brett Young, Chris Young) and groups (Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Runaway June). She also has stars from gospel (shown here, CeCe Winans and King & Country), pop (Tori Kelly) and Broadway (Kristin Chenoweth). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 1, 2019
Stories

New Scrooge (and more) joins Christmas flurry

The Christmas mega-list keeps getting more mega.
Last week, I had a long list of holiday movies and specials and such. Since then, more have been added.
FX has an ambitious — and very dark — “Christmas Carol,” with Guy Pearce and Andy Serkis (both shown here) as Scrooge and Christmas past. AMC has added a cartoon marathon Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, plus lots of showings of Will Ferrell’s “Elf.” And on Christmas Day, Britbox will have James Corden’s new “Gavin and Stacey” Christmas movie. Here’s the list, updated to Nov. 30: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 30, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 2: TV is making it bright

1) “Making It” opener, 10 p.m., NBC; continues through Thursday, then Dec. 9-11. There are plenty of TV competitions, but this one stands out. Give credit to Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman (shown here), the former “Parks and Recreation” colleagues. He’s a craft master, she’s not; as hosts, they bring quiet humor. They’re also producers, with likable contestants. They range from a teen drop-out to a scientist, from a calligrapher to a bomber engineer. Using noodles or clothes pins or whatever, they do great work. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 30, 2019
Stories

Have yourself a Moody Christmas

Each December, we know what to expect from TV movies and specials.
“It’s ‘Oh, we’re going to stand around a Christmas tree,’” Elizabeth Perkins said.
There are plenty of those shows …. but now there’s “The Moodys.” Charlie Collier, the Fox programming chief, calls it a “single-camera, dysfunctional family comedy.”
Perkins plays the mom … and an opening scene (a flashforward) has her firing a BB gun at the tree; Denis Leary (they’re shown here) is the dad. “He’s irreverent,” she said. “He’s always willing to go there.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 30, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Dec. 1: The 25-day marathon begins

1) “25 Days of Christmas” start, Freeform. It’s the 23rd year of this marathon, packing the month with holiday movies and more. That starts mildly – “Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish” at 7 a.m. – and soon gets better. There are “Simpsons” Christmas reruns (shown here) at 1:15, 1:45 and 2:15 p.m., followed by Tim Allen’s “Santa Clause” trilogy at 2:45, 4:50 and 6:55 and Jim Carrey’s “Grinch” at 9. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 29, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Nov. 30: Robbie leads a holiday flurry

1) “Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire” and its sequel, 8 and 8:30 p.m., CBS. We’re used to cartoons that are brash and frantic. Here’s the opposite, with droll, dry wit. It’s British, of course; the voices were re-cast for us, using one Brit (Hugh Grant as Blitzen) and lots of Americans. Ben Stiller voices Robbie (shown here), with Britney Spears as Donner, Leah Remini as Vixen and Jim Belushi as Santa. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 28, 2019
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Dec. 2: Farewell, Madam President

1) “Madam Secretary” series finale, 10 p.m. Sunday (Dec. 8), CBS. Back in 1974, Cicely Tyson won two Emmys for playing Jane Pittman. Tyson, then 49, portrayed the fictional Pittman, 110, recounting a life that went from slavery to civil rights. And now? Tyson, 94, plays someone who was born 99 years ago, when women got the right to vote; she watches a female president (Tea Leoni, shown here in the Dec. 1 episode) start a landmark initiative. The finale also has Tyne Daly, the U.S. women’s soccer team and music from Peter Frampton. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 28, 2019