Stories

Summer TV: sun and games, music and more

There was a time when TV networks seemed to take long summer snoozes.
Viewers could just watch reruns. After all, there weren’t many alternatives.
Not any more. With streamers and pay-cable channels pouring out new shows year-around, the broadcast networks struggle to remain relevant. This summer, they’ll have scripted dramas (a few), sports (A LOT), specials and the usual collection of reality and game shows, including “Bachelor in Paradise” (shown here in a previous year). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 18, 2025

Stories

“Cards” and “Crown” and such: Netflix takeover began

(This is a re-written version of the latest chapter of a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” For the full book, so far, click “The Book,” under “categories.)

People thought television would kill the movies. It didn’t.
They thought cable would kill television. It didn’t.
Then streaming came along and killed (or seriously wounded) all of them.
That started in 2013, when Netflix suddenly had “House of Cards” and a Marvel surge. It broadened two years later, with “The Crown” (shown here) and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 16, 2025

Stories

ABC joins the creep away from scripted shows

ABC is joining a TV trend — gradually creeping away from scripted series.
Still, it’s doing it in moderation. On the scripted side, the fall schedule — announced today (May 13)– does include:
— One new show, “9-1-1: Nashville.”
— Only one major cancellation, “Doctor Odyssey.”
— And good slots for two successful rookies from this season, “High Potential”(shwon here) and Tim Allen’s “Shifting Gears.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 13, 2025

Stories

Fox’s fall line-up: lots of games, few scripted shows

Maybe it’s a sign of the times … or maybe just a weird year.
But this fall, scripted shows (except for cartoons) will virtually vanish from the Fox network.
Fox has unveiled a line-up with only two such shows — “Murder in a Small Town” (shown here with star Rossif Sutherland) and “Doc.” They’ll be huddled together on Tuesdays; the rest of the week will be awash in games, reality shows, sports and Sunday cartoons. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 12, 2025

Stories

Fantasy role for a “poor boy”: fast car, furious life

“Luckily,” Josh Holloway said, “I grew up poor.”
Well … maybe that’s just semi-lucky. And maybe he was just semi-poor. But it did help prepare him for “Duster” (shown here), the show — from “Lost” producer J.J. Abrams — that starts Thursday (May 15) on Max.
Hollywood has plenty of actors who can sort of fake being small-town, Southern and blue-collar. For Holloway, it should come naturally. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 11, 2025

Stories

Tony Soprano and the White House: A golden age began

(This is a revised version o the latest chapter of the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To read the full book, so far, from the beginning, click “The Book,” under “categories.”)

All in all, the 20th century was quite interesting.
It sort of started (in January of 1901) with the death of Queen Victoria. It ended (in 1999) with the birth of both “The Sopranos” and “The West Wing.”
In short, the century began with the end of the Victorian era and ended with the start of a TV golden age. In between, other stuff happened.
For TV, the new era has gone by different names. John Landgraf, the FX networks chief, calls it “Peak TV.” David Bianculli, a TV critic, calls it “The Platinum Age.” I’ll go with the second golden age of drama. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 7, 2025

Stories

Slay the monsters; then start high school

So let’s say you’ve been busy.
You’ve battled monsters and searched for Zeus’ lightning bolt. You’ve met centaurs and satyrs and lots of gods –Hades and Hermes and Medusa and Kronos and Poseidon and such.
OK, now it’s time to go start high school.
That’s what happened to Walker Scobell (shown here), star of “Percy Jackson & The Olympians.” The first season (now rerunning Fridays on the Disney Channel) debuted on Disney+ in December of 2023, when he was 14. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 6, 2025

Stories

Charlie is back … and as sharp and quirky as ever

Like most good things in life, good TV shows make us wait.
They have shorter seasons, further apart. And they’re worth it.
Which is to say that “Poker Face,” one of TV’s best shows, is finally back.
The first, brilliant season ended in March of 2023. The second returns to Peacock with three terrific episodes on May 8, then has one a week for seven more Thursdays. It again ripples with sharp wit and quick twists, reflecting the two people in charge: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2025

Stories

Once sorta-logical, cable’s world got jumbled

(This is the latest chapter in the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” For the full book (so far) in order, click “The Book” under “categories.”)

For a brief, pleasant time, the cable universe seemed logical.
A few networks tried to do everything. Those were the early arrivals — TBS in 1976, USA in ’77 — plus TNT in 1988.
The others settled for handy niches. Cable was like a magazine rack or a radio dial, filled with specialized choices.
You could find channels for rock music (shown here) and country music and classical arts; for young kids and old movies; for religion and Playboy; for news and weather and sports; for food and travel and learning and more.
And then? Well, everything got jumbled. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 1, 2025

Stories

Acorn stuffs May with new, old mysteries

May will now be “Murder Mystery Month,” the Acorn streamer has proclaimed.
Then again, every month is murder-mystery time at Acorn. May provides handy alliteration (March would have also worked) and good timing:
Some mystery shows are wrapping up their seasons now. On CBS, “Matlock” has already finished and “Elsbeth” will do so on May 8.
So Acorn takes that time to load up. Some of its shows have weekly episodes on Mondays — “Murdoch Mysteries” (yes, more alliteration), “The Brokenwood Mysteries” and the new “The One That Got Away” have already started their seasons; “Harry Wild” (shown here) joins them on May 5. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 28, 2025