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“SNL” adds four newcomers, plus a sorta-new guy

Now that it’s finished its 50th year, “Saturday Night Live” seems to be paying extra attention to its future.
The 51st season (starting Oct. 4) is adding five new people, one of biggest turnovers in decades. That includes Ben Marshall (shown here) — the towering redhead from “Please Don’t Destroy” videos — plus four lesser-knowns.
The show is also dropping some, but hasn’t said how many. In recent weeks, four people — Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Watkin and Michael Longfellow — have said they won’t be back, without mentioning whether that’s by choice. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 2, 2025

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Teeny, tiny conference enlarges its TV deal

A micro-mini sports conference is enlarging its national TV deal.
Right now, the Pac-12 has (despite its name) exactly two teams. But it will add seven more next season … as its deal with the CW network grows to annually include 66 games in three sports.
The Pac-12 has a steep sports tradition, including 51 Rose Bowl winners in football and 15 national championships in men’s basketball. But prior to last season, most of those winners — including UCLA, with 11 of the basketball titles — left. The Pac-12 had only Oregon State (shown here) and Washington State. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 27, 2025

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For one teen, life became a musical whirlwind

For a moment in the 1950s, real life was like someone’s daydream.
A small-town teenager visited Broadway. A few hours later, she was at the core of the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein empire.
This comes to mind now, as Turner Classic Movies has a spurt of classic musicals. The films (also on HBO Max) include:
— Shirley Jones films Monday (Aug. 25). “Oklahoma” (shown here, 1955) and “Carousel” (1956), both with Gordon MacRae, are at 5:30 and 8 p.m. ET; “The Music Man” (1962), with Robert Preston, is at 10:15 p.m.
— Donald O’Connor films Thursday. That peaks at 8 p.m. ET with “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), with Gene Kelly — who choreographed dazzling dance numbers and then performed then with O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 23, 2025

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Wyle’s “Pitt” sweeps TCA awards

Twenty years after leaving “ER,” Noah Wylie is back on top of the TV world.
His “The Pitt” (shown here) — an intense medical drama on HBO Max — has swept the Television Critics Association awards, announced today. It won for program of the year plus best drama and best new program; Wylie also won the award for individuals in a drama.
Other winners included “The Studio” on Apple TV+ (comedy), “Adolescence” on Netflix (movie or miniseries) and “Traitors” on Peacock (reality), plus HBO’s Pee-wee Herman documentary and the 50th-anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live.” The individual comedy award went to Bridget Everett in HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 20, 2025

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Cancer special brings some Nashville flair

The upcoming “Stand Up to Cancer” special — sprawling across much of the TV universe on Friday (Aug. 15) — will partly have a country-music feel.
The show will be from Nashville, with music by such local acts as Jon Pardi (shown here), Dan + Shay, Jelly Roll, Brothers Osborne and the Nashville Community Gospel Choir.
Also performing will be the Jonas Brothers, Gavin DeGraw, Marcus King, Noah Cyrus (Billy Ray’s daughter, Miley’s younger sister) and gospel great CeCe Winans. Sheryl Crow — who grew up in small-town Missouri and sometimes drifts between pop and country — will host and perform. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 10, 2025

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Fox plans an early (sorta) start for fall season

The Fox network will get off to an early start this fall — or, at least, early compared to the other guys.
ABC has aid that five of its six scripted shows will wait until October. (The lone exception is “”High Potential,” Sept. 16.) CBS is waiting even longer: All 14 of its scripted shows will start in the stretch from Oct. 12-19.
That gives Fox some time to seek new viewers. Its only two dramas — “Murder in a Small Town” (shown here) and “Doc” — will start Sept. 23; its four animated comedies arrive Sept. 28. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 29, 2025

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ABC fall line-up starts early (but scriptless)

It will be an early or late start for ABC’s shows this fall:
Early, if you like unscripted shows — people dancing or romancing, people buying companies or buying vowels or tackling one another. All of those arrive in September or sooner.
But late if you like scripted shows, the sort that networks used to thrive on. ABC only has six of them and only “High Potential” (shown here) starts soon; the other five will wait until Oct. 1 or 16. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 18, 2025

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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

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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

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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