Mike Hughes

News and Quick Comments

Field and Ronstadt: Together at last

Am I the only person who can’t tell the difference between Sally Field and Linda Ronstadt?
That will be tested in December, when both receive Kennedy Center Honors. It’s a great honor – we’re talking Bernstein and Basie and Bacall, Sinatra and Aretha and all the others – and (via CBS) one of the best shows on TV.
And this year, Field (shown here, from a while back) and Ronstadt will both be honored, alongside conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, the entire “Sesame Street” show and the vibrant group Earth, Wind & Fire. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 18, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 20: Moon, moon, moon (and “SNL”)

1) Moon documentaries, everywhere. On the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, cable is busy. Discovery has “Apollo: The Forgotten Films” at 8 p.m. and “Confessions From Space” at 10. BBC America uses CBS’ original reports as the core, from 9-11 p.m. ET, rerunning at 2 a.m. At 9 p.m. ET, CNN reruns its “Apollo 11” movie (repeating at 11). Also, at 9, Smihsonian has “The Day We Walked the Moon”; at 10:05, History has “Moon Landing: The Lost Tapes.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 18, 2019
Stories

Sharks gobble TV time, but we barely know them

There are some ways in which great white sharks are different from Victorian-era poets.
Well, there are probably a lot of ways, but we’ll settle on these:
— Poets, like other mammals, reach full size by early adulthood; sharks, like other fish, don’t. “They never stop growing,” said Chris Lowe, a marine biology professor featured in cable’s “Sharkfest.”
— We already know most of the details about old poets; great whites are another matter. “Biologists thought they were coastal,” Lowe said. “Boy were we wrong about that.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 17, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 18? It’s quite elementary

1) “Elementary,” 10 p.m., CBS. Jonny Lee Miller (shown here) has become the perpetual Sherlock Holmes. Others try. Approximately, Jeremy Britt was Sherlock 43 times; Benedict Cumberbatch, 15; Basil Rathbone, 14; Christopher Lee, 3; Robert Downey Jr., 2. Add them up, throw in lots of others, and you still don’t match this: It’s the 150h episode with Miller as a modern Sherlock, mostly in New York. Tonight, s sculptor has been killed, sparking fears that a serial killer is back. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 16, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 17: “Jane” has it all; PBS has the moon

1) “Jane the Virgin,” 9 p.m., CW. With only three episodes after tonight, this terrific show has one of its best hours. Jane’s grandmother (shown here, dancing with Jane’s mom) is alternately foul and triumphant … there’s a spectacular action scene … and there’s a truly bizarre plan assembled by Jane’s dad. That last one is part of a sub-plot that will satisfy all of us who feel it should be a felony to thank an agent during an awards ceremony. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 15, 2019
News and Quick Comments

Should they “go back where they came from”?

OK, this time Donald Trump may have a point.
Earlier today (July 14), he targeted four Democratic congresswomen. Those four, he tweeted, “came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe – the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world …. Why don’t they go back and help fix” them?
Without giving their names, he was referring to Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib (shown here being sworn in), Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez. And he may have a point. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 15, 2019
Stories

A guide to the July 20 lunar-overload

At times, the calendar can be our friend.T
hat’s the case with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It falls on a Saturday (July 20), meaning:
— More people will be available. Families can snuggle together … as families did a half-century ago.
— And this is a low point – a mid-summer Saturday – for viewers. There are fewer distractions. With that in mind, here’s a round-up of Saturday choices. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 14, 2019
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 16: CBS goes lunar and retro

1) CBS in space. A half-century ago, Walter Cronkite (shown here) and CBS grabbed a large chunk of viewers who obsessed on the moon mission. Now the network tries to recapture some of that. At 9:32 a.m. — exactly 50 years after the fact – its streaming site (www.cbsnews.com/live) reruns the original coverage of the lift-off. At 6:30 p.m., Norah O’Donnell anchors “CBS Evening News” from the Kennedy Space Center. And at 10, she anchors “Man on the Moon,” incorporating Cronkite’s coverage. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 14, 2019