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“Voice of Freedom” launches big PBS week

The world seemed to agree that Marian Anderson (shown here) was a great singer.
Audiences cheered; critics raved. Conductor Arturo Toscanani said this was a voice “one is privileged to hear only once in 100 years.”
What people didn’t agree on, in a segregated time, was where she could perform. That’s at the core of “American Experience: Voice of Freedom” (9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15), a documentary that launches an exceptionally strong week on PBS.
It’s followed on Tuesday and Wednesday by Henry Louis Gates’ resounding “The Black Church: This Is My Story, This Is My Song.” The week ends Sunday with an emotional, Christmastime season-finale of “All Creatures Great and Small.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 12, 2021

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Lincoln: saved by a non-evil stepmother

We’ve heard plenty about evil stepmothers, so let’s hear the flip side – the good stepmother who helped shape the man who preserved the Union.
That’s one of the stories in “Lincoln: Divided We Stand,” which is part of an excellent documentary duo Sundays on CNN, starting Feb. 14: “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” is 9 p.m. and midnightET, offering a warm survey of food and people; the Lincoln story is at 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET.
Abe Lincoln (shown here) had a hard-scrabble childhood in Kentucky and then Indiana, hitting bottom when he was 9. His mother died and his father decided he couldn’t raise the kids alone. Leaving Abe and his sister in their cold cabin, he rode back to Kentucky and asked a family friend to marry him.
Sarah Bush Johnson – whose husband, a jailer, had died – said yes. She arrived with three children, some cookware … and a collection of books, which Lincoln promptly gravitated to. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 11, 2021

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Tough talent comes in mixed sizes

“Tough as Nails” is back, giving us toughness in all sizes.
For the supersize, there’s Scott Henry, 40, a lineman. “He’s this big, lovable teddy bear,” Phil Keoghan, the show’s host and co-creator, told the Television Critics Association. “But he’s also 6-foot-7 and he’s a very powerful guy.”
And for the mini-size, there’s Celi Garcia (shown here, foreground), 31, a traveling nurse. “I’m 5-2,” she said, “and we had some really big guys on our show. And a lot of strong women.”
That’s sort of what Keoghan had in mind when he created the show, which is back (8 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS) for its second season. It has people compete in blue-collar tasks. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 9, 2021

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Pandemic sent PBS in fresh directions

For PBS, the pandemic created a global dilemma.
This is a network that sprawls across continents and genres. COVID has had endless effects, from delayed dramas to masked puppeteers, solo concerts by Renee Fleming (shown here) and others, and an “Antiques Roadshow” without the roadshow.
Still, PBS has an ambitious schedule, partly because documentaries have been less affected. Coming up are two masterful ones – Henry Louis Gates’ “The Black Church” (Feb. 16-17) and Ken Burns’ “Hemingway” (April 5-7), plus some ongoing series.
“I think the most important series that we have on our air is ‘Frontline,’” Paula Kerger, the network president, told the Television Critics Association. “When you look at what’s happening to investigative journalism in this country, ‘Frontline’ (10 p.m. Tuesdays) is one of the last standing.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021

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Zucker soared with CNN … after crashing with NBC

Jeff Zucker is following a plan embraced by politicians and poker players: Quit while you’re ahead.
Zucker announced Thursday that this will be his final year as president of CNN. Earlier, he soared as producer of “Today” … crashed as president of NBC … then bounced back. CNN has had strong ratings, forceful reporting … and lots of weekend programming — including two on Sunday (Feb. 14): “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” (shown here) and “Lincoln: Divided We Stand.”
Both extremes – the CNN highs, the NBC lows –revolved around Donald Trump. Many things do. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 8, 2021

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Super Bowl preview aims at fans … and all the others

TV has abandoned the notion of grabbing all the viewers at once … except on Super Bowl Sunday.
Nowadays, a show is a hit if it gets five million people to watch it live. The Super Bowl? At a typical moment during the game, more than 100 million people are watching.
That means the sprawling pre-game show faces a challenge: It must range “from people who like football to people who aren’t that much football fans,” said Drew Kaliski, who produces the show.
Yes, there will be talk about the game itself (Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Bucs), which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS. We’ll have more about that at the end of this story. But the pre-game shows, starting at 11:30 a.m. ET, will also have Joe Biden, James Corden, Jay Pharoah, The Weeknd, Roy Wood and Desus & Mero (shown here , with lots of packaged features. “They’re informative, they’re emotional, they’re entertaining,” Kaliski said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 4, 2021

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This game will be super … or not

This year’s Super Bowl will be the greatest game ever, we’re told.
Or maybe not.
Those views – both quite reasonable – emerged in the same hour, as CBS sportscasters talked to reporters about the game, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 7).
Tony Romo takes the best-ever view, based on the quarterback confrontation of Tom Brady (shown here) and Patrick Mahomes. Jim Nantz points to the last time hopes were this high: “It may (have been) one of the least memorable games ever.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 1, 2021

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Here’s the Super Sunday schedule

We’re in Super Bowl Week now, so it’s time to peek ahead at Sunday. It will have lots of talk, some music from The Weeknd (shown here), some football … and then the surprisingly good debut of an “Equalizer” reboot.
Under “stories” — top of the main page, on the left — I’ll have three things: A look at the game itself, an overview of the day and a story about “The Equalizer.”
First, however, here’s the schdeule for CBS on Sunday (Feb. 7); sll times are ET: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 1, 2021

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Let’s celebrate the very worst

We spend a lot of time talking about good shows, so it’s time for the opposite.
Let’s consider a show that is really, truly awful – but in a fun way that’s worth watching: “Plan 9 From Out Space” (shown here) has its primetime moment, at 8 p.m. ET Monday (Feb. 1) on Turner Classic Movies.
“Plan 9” is a 1959 film that jumped to fame in 1980, when the book “Golden Turkey Awards” proclaimed it the worst movie ever. Since then, it has shown up at bad-film festivals and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 29, 2021

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“Long Song” mingles classy drama and soapy bits

As “The Long Song” begins Sunday (Jan. 31), we’re clearly in a distant time and place.
This is Jamaica, early in the 1800s. It has blue sky, sprawling vistas … and deep, wrenching pain. Caroline Mortimer (Hayley Atwell, shown here with Tamara Lawrance)– who owns the plantation with her brother – mostly stays in the mansion while her sadistic overseer drives the slaves.
Then come all the events – love, lust, rape, revolt, betrayal – that we might find in a Harlequin novel or in a quality production. By the end of the three-week mini-series (9 p.m. Sundays on PBS), we’re left with the same question raised by Netflix’s recent “Bridgerton”mini-series: Where is the line that somehow separates tawdry soap opera from classy, period-piece drama? Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 28, 2021