Mike Hughes

News and Quick Comments

“Ackley” bridges gaps and stirs emotion

For two seasons, this has been an intriguing duo – two teens who have everything in common and somehow, nothing in common.
They are friends on “Ackley Bridge,” a series that – as its third season starts streaming Monday (Jan. 13) – is about to change profoundly.
Missy Booth and Nasreen Paracha (shown here) were born on the same day, in the same hospital. They’ve grown up together, in a town where jobs are scarce and expectations are low. We often see them on an abandoned couch, surveying a world they (and others) don’t really understand. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 8, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 10: Meet the new crime-solvers

1) “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For the Bone Collector” debut, 8 p.m. NBC. This started with Jeffrey Deaver’s novel: A paralyzed police detective hires a cop to do his on-scene work. That became a 1999 movie with two Oscar-winners – Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Now it’s a series with Russell Hornsby (shown here in an early scene, before Rhyme’s injury) and Arielle Kebbel. The opening and closing scenes are way too nasty; in between, however, this is a good start, with understated dialog and a solid story. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 8, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 9: “Good Place” and a good night

1) “The Good Place,” 9 p.m., NBC. One of TV’s best comedies is down to its final four episodes. At times tonight, it does feel like it’s stalled in neutral. Still, the stakes are high: The judge is ready to eliminate all of humanity – as soon as she finds “that clicky people-eliminator thing.” Our heroes (including Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, shown here) need to use brains, passion … and the judge’s obsession with “Justified” and its star, Timothy Olyphant. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 7, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Golden Globes: The fun returns

As the Golden Globes were wrapping up … as viewers were pondering why they’d never heard of the winners before, there was one redeeming thought.
In a way, we were all winners. This one was fun.
The Globes ceremony has always been looser than the others; hey, it serves alcohol.But there’s something more: It has stuck to the notion of having a host.
Lately, we’ve had hostless Oscars (twice) and Emmys. But the Globes had Rickey Gervais (shown here) for the fifth time. He didn’t eat up that much time, but he crackled some good lines that poked at Hollywood. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 6, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 8: The “Party” is back

1) “Party of Five” (shown here) debut, 9 and 10 p.m., Freeform, rerunning at midnight, then 9 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday. The original “Party” – smartly written, beautifully cast – had young siblings orphaned and on their own. Now, 25 years later, this reboot takes a modern twist: The parents, undocumented, are being sent back to Mexico; their kjds’ lives change instantly. A charismatic singer becomes a weary father figure; an A-student becomes an angry rebel. There’s depth and people we care about. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 6, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan. 7: Good old “Jeopardy,” good new “Zoey”

1) “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., NBC. Lab accidents used to give a guy spider strength or turn him into a hulk; one even turned him into a car. But this is different: Zoey is listening to music during a brain scan, when an earthquake hits; now she hears people do pop songs that express their emotions. Yes, it’s a silly notion; so were the spider/hulk/car ones. And yes, there’s contrived, too-cute dialog. But the show – which waits until Feb. 16, after tonight – is great fun and Jane Levy is a delight Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 5, 2020
News and Quick Comments

Here are Wisconsin’s best and worst

This will be a week that shows the best and the worst of my Wisconsin homeland.
The best, of course, are the Green Bay Packers (shown here with Aaron Rodgers). They host a game at 6:40 p.m. ET Jan. 12, just two steps from the Super Bowl.
And the worst was Joe McCarthy. He was my senator when I was growing up; he was also someone whose lies desroyed lives. A PBS profile (9-11 p.m. Jan. 6) gives full details. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 4, 2020
Stories

Austen’s tale is completed … 200 years later

Let’s credit Andrew Davies for consummate patience.
He’s the master adapter, an expert on turning British classics – especially ones by Jane Austen – into TV scripts. But he waited 80-plus years for the ultimate challenge.
That’s “Sanditon” (shown here with Rose Williams and Theo James), which Austen had barely started. “She didn’t really get any further than introducing the characters and the premise. (All of) Jane Austen’s material, I used up in the first half of the first episode,” Davies, 83, told the Television Critics Association in July. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 4, 2020
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Jan.6: Love, talent and McCarthyism

1) “The Bachelor” opener, 8-11 p.m., ABC. Following family tradition, Peter Weber is a Delta Airlines pilot: His dad and brother are pilots; his mother is a flight attendant. Now – after finishing third on “The Bachelorette” – Weber, 28, is in control. Among the 30 women (ages 22 to 31) to choose from are three flight attendants, a lawyer, a cattle rancher, a nurse, a radiographer. And, of course, there’s also an NBA dancer, a fashion blogger, Miss Texas USA and Kylie Ramos, an entertainment sales associate, shown here possibly suggesting some entertainment. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 4, 2020