Mike Hughes

Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for April 12: The strangely funny “Strangelove”

1) “Dr. Strangelove” (1964), 8 p.m ET., Turner Classic Movies. A black-and-white tale of nuclear war? It might not sound like fun, but the American Film Institute calls it (quite reasonably) the third funniest film ever, trailing only “Some Like It Hot” and “Tootsie.” Peter Sellers — whose “Being There” (1979) follows at 9:45 — got an Oscar nomination for his great multiple-role performance; Stanley Kubrick got three — for best picture, for directing and for co-wriing the darkly satiric script. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 9, 2019
News and Quick Comments

Good news for June: “Tales” and Times

Is it too early for good news about June? Maybe not; announced today are:
— A new series from the New York Times. Starting June 2, “The Weekly” will be at 10 p.m. each Sunday on FX; it’s a half-hour show digging into a news story … which is something the Times does very well.
— And a new edition of “Tales of the City,” arriving June 7 on Netflix. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 9, 2019
Stories

In case we forgot to read it, here’s an epic “Les Miserables”

It’s time for a new version of “Les Miserables,” the epic novel we all read in school, and …Or wait … have we all read it? “My teachers would love to hear me say ‘yes,’” said Lily Collins, one of the stars of the sprawling, six-part PBS mini-series.The teachers of Andrew Davies, the screenwriter, would also be disappointed. “It was one of those great classics that I neglected to read,” he said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 9, 2019
Daily Best Bets

April 11 best-bets: Our last two-Adlon night

1) “Fam,” 9:30 p.m., CBS; and “Better Things,” 10 p.m., FX. For one more week, daughter and mother are back-to-back. First is the season-finale (and, probably, forever finale) of “Fam,” a fairly good show with fine work from Odessa Adlon (show here in last week’s episode); it’s time for her sister’s wedding. Then Pamela Adlon has another odd-but-great episode. This one starts with Frankie (the fictional version of Odessa) behaving badly. And it may be the first TV show to ask: “Frankie, why are you flushing towels down the toilet?” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 9, 2019