News and Quick Comments

News and Quick Comments

Emmy nominations: It’s a Seth-and-Jason kind of year

For those of us still trying to discern the difference between Seth Rogen and Jason Segel, this will be a tough Emmy season.
Both are nominated for best actor in a comedy series. Their shows — both on Apple TV+ — are both are up for best comedy.
Rogen’s “The Studio” (shown here) is one of the year’s hot newcomers, with 23 nominations. It trails only “Severance” (also Apple), with 27, and another newcomer, Netflix’s “The Penguin,” with 24. HBO Max’s “White Lotus also has 23; its “The Last of Us” has 16. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 15, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Emmy nominations? Here’s a sampling

We now know this year’s Emmy nominations … or, at least, a micro-smidgen of them.
Most of the nominations will arrive in one surge, at 11:30 a.m. ET today (July 15). We’ll have another story then.
But almost four hours early, CBS was allowed to reveal few. That involved only two categories and a total of zero surprises:
— REALITY COMPETION SHOW: “Survivor” (shown here), “Amazing Race,” “Top Chef,” “The Traitors,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
— TALK SHOW: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, “The Daily Show.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 15, 2025
News and Quick Comments

CBS’ fall shows? Wait until mid-October

If you’re already tired of summer TV, CBS has bad and good news.
The bad: The fall season won’t start (with “Matlock,” shown here)until Oct. 12; that’s two or three weeks later than usual for many networks.
The good: In the interim, there will be three straight Sundays of specials, plus an earlier start for reality and news shows. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 11, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Hey, the kids want their turn with the Legos

Don’t you hate it when kids want to play with toys while adults are still using them?
Now they’re even taking over the Legos. “Lego Masters Jr.” will have a four-Monday, end-of-summer run.
“Lego Masters” (shown here in its episode tonight, July 7) is at 8 p.m. Mondays on Fox and also has Christmastime tournaments. When its current season ends, the new show will take over the spot for four weeks. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 7, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Mini-networks plan cops and romance

At a sleepy time for the big networks, two mini-nets offer some variety.
For UPtv, there will be cop shows this month: Reruns of “The Rookie” (shown here)now and a new season of “Hudson & Rex,” starting July 17,
And for the CW, it will be this fall. There will be a series (the Canadian version of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) and six movies, based on Harlequin romance novels. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 5, 2025
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“SharkFest” looms; here’s an overview

“SharkFest” starts Saturday (July 5) on National Geographic, 15 days ahead of Discovery’s “Shark Week.”
We’ll see lots of scary-looking creatures, plus experts telling us not to be so scared. Here’s an overview; most shows will also be on Disney+ and Hulu:

RERUNS
— They start at 9 a.m. daily and continue overnight until 6 a.m.

SERIES:
— “Investigation Shark Attack,” 9 p.m. daily (except July 10), rerunning at midnight. In a central control room, four people see tapes of an attack and talk by Zoom to other experts. That starts July 5 with four great white shark encounters in California. Next is Hawaii on July 6, the Bahamas on the 7th, the Gulf on the 8th, Florida on the 9th and Maui on the 11th. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Here’s a sofa round-up of the Fourth of July

If you prefer your Fourth of July to be indoors and uncrowded, don’t fret. TV has plenty of alternatives.
Here are several of them. All are Friday and include music; most (except for AXS) also have fireworks:

PBS
— When: 8 p.m.; rerunning at 9:30.
— Where: Washington, D.C.
— Music: Beach Boys, Temptations, Yolanda Adams (shown here), Josh Turner (see separate story), LoCash,
Lauren Daigle, Abi Carter, National Symphony, Army band and trumpets.
— Also: Tributes, including the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy and Marines. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 28, 2025
News and Quick Comments

Luna launches Kimmel’s guest-host summer

A TV tradition — guest hosts of late-night shows — returns this summer.
Jimmy Kimmel has announced a full line-up of people to take his spot, at 11:35 p.m. weekdays on ABC.That starts the week of June 23 with Diego Luna (shown here), then includes such varied souls as Fortune Feimster and Jelly Roll.
Johnny Carson used to have a busy roster of guest hosts, including Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, David Brenner and more. That idea fell out of favor until 2020, when Kimmel — after working year-round for 18 years — decided to spend summers with his family. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 20, 2025
News and Quick Comments

ABC plans a country cascade

For one long, busy evening, TV will break out of its summer slumber.
That’s when ABC has its annual “CMA Fest” concert. Over three hours (8-11 p.m. June 26), it will have 30 songs from country stars, from Adkins and Aldean to Zach Top and Zimmerman.
There will be serious moments (Scotty McCreery singing “Five More Minutes,” for instance), but there will also be Trace Adkins (shown here) singing “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” Country music is like that. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 17, 2025