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Strike quickly jolts broadcast TV

Life, you may have noticed, is rarely fair.
That’s become clear now, as the Writers Guild strike settles in, leaving an uneven impact:
— At one extreme are the movie studios, which pile up scripts and projects far in advance. For now, everything seems unchanged – same superheroes, supervillains, super collisions.
— In the middle are the streamers and a few cable networks. They try for the movie-studio approach.
— At the other end are the commercial broadcast networks. For them, the effects are instant and jolting; Pete Davidson (shown here) was one of the first to be smited. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 9, 2023

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CBS uncancels “SWAT” and adds games

Staring into a foggy future, CBS has made some quick shifts.
Today (May 8) it did something rare – uncanceling a show: “SWAT” (shown here) will be back next season, after all; however, another police drama, “East New York,” will not.
That came after recent moves to add two primetime game shows. Both will be produced and hosted by leading-man types – Josh Duhamel and Jaime Camil.
The games seem to be well-timed: The writers strike is expected to be long-term, leaving networks in need of unscripted shows. The cop-show switch, however, was unusual. The details: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 9, 2023

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“Bridgerton” prequel: some greatness, then very-goodness

In its first hour, the “Bridgerton” prequel seems ready to be a really great show.
It soon retreats into merely being a very good one; it insists on emphasizing – and even expanding — a crisis from history. But that opening hour is a gem.
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (shown here) is a six-parter that arrived recently on Netflix. It maintains the lush look and vivid characters, while jumping between two timelines.
There’s the one we know from the first two “Bridgerton” seasons: King George, descended into madness, is mostly invisible; his wife Charlotte is the unflinching, unsmiling ruler. And there’s this prequel time, when she was 17, heading to marry a king she’d never met. That’s the part that produced three amazing scenes in the first hour: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2023

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As strike begins, “Dancing” returns to ABC

Let’s think of this as another quick – and unsettling – reaction to the writers’ strike:
ABC announced today (Wednesday) that “Dancing With the Stars” (shown here) will return to the network.
In fact, it will sprawl across three entities: Episodes will air live on ABC and Disney+ , then show up the next day on Hulu.
As the strike began Tuesday, some quick consequences included: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023

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As the strike starts, Pete is gone and FBoys are back

On the first day of the writers’ strike, two bits of news seemed especially ominous:
— “Saturday Night Live” is dumping this week’s new episode … and, probably, the rest of the season. It would have been a big night, with Pete Davidson hosting.
— “FBoy Island” – previously a summertime distraction(shown here) – will be in the regular-season line-up for the CW network. So will its spin-off, “FGirl” Island.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 3, 2023

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The coronation: lots of choices, lots of channels

The last time TV covered the coronation of a British monarch, it did a sturdy job.
The pictures were black-and-white and kind of fuzzy, but we got the idea: A young woman we knew little about had become the royal head of a thriving empire.
Since then, TV has had a lot of time – 69 years, 11 months and five days – to improve its work. Now – with crisp, pretty pictures on endless networks – an old man (shown here) we know too much about is crowned as the royal head of a shrinking empire.
The coronation of King Charles III starts at 6 a.m. ET Saturday (May 7) and may last for two hours or so. (Even that is an hour less than the previous one.) Most networks are planning to cover it from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.; here’s a round-up: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2023

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“9-1-1” jumps from Fox to ABC

The Fox network will go into next season without two of its top dramas – “The Resident” and “9-1-1.”
For viewers, however, there’s a key difference: “Resident” is apparently finished, but “9-1-1” (shown here) will simply jump to ABC.
Both shows have filmed six seasons and faced the usual tug: Costs nudge up, while ratings stagnate.
Complicating that are two other factors for “9-1-1”; the show is: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2023

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“Florida Man”: fun and peril in the sunshine

Let’s imagine that Elmore Leonard, Janet Evanovich and Dave Barry brainstormed.
We’ll assume that alcohol or chemical enhancements were provided, The result might be “Florida Man” (shown here), the surprisingly good, seven-part mini-series that arrived recently on Netflix.
Leonard was a Detroit novelist who occasionally moved his focus down to Florida, with a surplus of eccentric character; his “LaBrava” was an award-winner and“Maximum Bob” briefly became a TV series. Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels (set in New Jersey) are filled with odd characters; Barry is the Miami humorist whose first novel, “Big Trouble,” was big on Florida quirks.
Throw them together, mix thoroughly and you have “Florida Man.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 28, 2023

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The new attraction is still hot, still fatal

“Fatal Attraction” is back – now longer and deeper, but still fatal.
It has eight parts now, with the first three arriving Sunday (April 30), taking its characters (shown here) on a wild ride. “We love a twisty-turny show that … gives use something new and fun to think about,” showrunner Alexandra Cunningham told the Television Critics Association.
That’s on Paramount+, which had a sort of treasure hunt. It scoured the massive library of Paramount films, looking for ones to reboot as series or miniseries. So far, that’s involved: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 26, 2023

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Dead women keep probing killers

A young woman will soon probe her own murder … again.
That happened in “School Spirits,” which has just finished its eight-week run on Paramount+. Now it happens again in “The Rising” (shown here), which debuts at May 29 on CW.
Actually, “Rising” was there first. Based on a 2017 Belgian series, it debuted a year ago on British TV; one of its co-stars is Solly McLeod, now starring in PBS’ lusty “Tom Jones” remake. (“School Spirits,” by comparison, is based on an upcoming graphic novel.)
Clara Rugaard, 25, stars in “The Rising” as Neve, who’s unhappy to learn she’s dead. She uses her new, supernatural powers to try to learn who killed her. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 24, 2023