Remember when Halloween was exactly one day long?
Or maybe — if you added some mischief and/or Day of the Dead — two or three days, tops?
Not lately. In 1998, TV people decided it should run for 13 days; 20 years later, that was expanded to a month.
That’s where we are now: Beginning Oct. 1, the Freeform channel has “31 Nights of Halloween,” with lots of old movies and — starting on opening night — a new series (shown here) about teen witches. Read more…
(This story ran in May, when “Devil in Silver” debuted on Shudder and AMC+. Now the show gets a broader impact on AMC. Here’s the original story, slightly updated.)
We know that actors can stretch far beyond themselves. They can… well, act.
But they don’t usually stretch this far.
Judith Light (shown here) is one of the most involved and articulate people in show business. In the six-part “The Terror: Devil in Silver” — its second episode is 9 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 27) on AMC, rerunning at 10:03 — she’s Dorry, her life crumbling inside a mental hospital.
“She’s fragile and she’s heartbreaking,” Light told the Television Critics Association. Read more…
As a different “Different World” arrives, it’s time to return to college life.
It’s time for “the HBCU experience, the immersiveness of it,” said writer-producer Felicia Pride.
That vibe (for historically Black colleges and universities) ripples through the “A Different World” reboot, arriving Thursday (Sept. 24) on Netflix, starring Maleah Jai Moon (shown here). It ranges from music, dance and romance to discussions of authors and philosophy.
That could invoke envy from some viewers … and maybe one of the actors. For a while, Darryl M. Bell, now 63, was in an opposite world. Read more…
\es, birthday parties for 2-year-olds can seem a tad frivolous.
There’s too much noise, too little substance. But one such party led to “Line of Fire” (shown here), which debuts at 10 p.m. Monday (Sept. 21) on NBC, the first new, scripted show of the broadcast-network season.
That started three years ago, with a party for Barbara Bush’s daughter. Guests included Jenna Bush Hagar (Barbara’s twin sister) and writer-director Joshua Safran, a neighbor whose daughter was a friend of the birthday girl.
The conversation, Hager said, got around to the Secret Service people who protected their father (President George W. Bush) and his family. “We talked about this dynamic of people who are putting other people first, in many circumstances. What happens in their own family is complicated.” Read more…
(This is the lead story for a three-part season-preview. The others — also under “stories” — have round-up of the streaming shows and the broadcast-network shows.)
Right about now, shouldn’t we be celebrating a new TV season?
Perhaps, but two questions loom: When does it start? And is it worth celebrating?
For that second one, the answer is “sort of.” It’s a modest start — no new shows on ABC or Fox, three each on CBS and NBC — but with bright spots.
One new fall show is terrific (CBS’ “Cupertino,” shown here), some others are promising. One mid-season show is excellent (NBC’s “Rockford Files” reboot), others could be. And six of last year’s mid-season shows are on the fall schedule, one of them (Fox’s “Best Medicine”) outstanding.
But when does the season start? Take your pick: Read more…
(This is one of three stories previewing the fall season. The other two — also under “stories” — are a main piece and a round-up of streaming shows.)
Here are this fall’s new, broadcast-network TV shows — a meager list,
Lumping together six networks, there are still only eight new series. ABC and Fox each contribute zero.
Networks seem to be waiting for mid-season, when they’ll have “Baywatch” and “Rockford Files” reboots, a “Grey’s Anatomy” spin-off and more.
Some of the new fall shows — especially “Cupertino” (shown here) — are instantly likable, some not. The list is chronological, by category; three of the eight — “Newlyweds,” “NCIS: New York” and “Private Eyes West Coast” — still didn’t have episodes available for review, as of Sept. 16: Read more…
(This is one of three stories previewing the fall season. The others — also under “stories” — are a main piece and a round-up of the new broadcast-network shows.)
As TV networks celebrate their new season, streamers are ready to spoil their party. Again.
The networks try to be giddy about their new shows — which are scarce. This fall, CBS and NBC have three each, CW has one, ABC and Fox have zero.
By comparison? The list here (not exhaustive) has 40 shows arriving this fall on streamers or premium channels; 23 of them new. It has epic ones — adapting “Lord of the Rings” and “Percy Jackson” (shown here), re-adapting “Harry Potter — and basic ones, including new takes on Steinbeck and Ali. Read more…
In her early days as a free-lance journalist, Gloria Steinem said, one editor dismissed her abruptly.
That was at Life magazine. “We don’t want a pretty girl,” he said. “We want a writer.”
Steinem told the story in “Famous Last Words,” a fascinating Netflix show whose interviews aren’t released until after the person’s death. This one debuted Thursday (Sept. 3), the day after her death at 92.
What it shows is the Steinem (shown here) we’re accustomed to. She joked, laughed, recalled her decades of women’s-rights struggles fondly. “It doesn’t feel hard,” she said. “It feels like fun.” Read more…
Streaming networks have done some thing splendidly.
They’ve shown us action and adventure, love and lust, scares and thrills. What they haven’t done nearly as often is make us laugh.
But now we’re in a good stretch, stuffed with half-hour comedies. Some — “Adults” (shown here) on Hulu, “Colin From Accounts” on Paramount+ — are terrific; most are at least fun.
Granted, the streamers have given us lots of stand-up comics and hour-long comedy-dramas. But half-hour sitcoms? They’ve been scarce, but now we’re into a busy stretch, with: Read more…
For actors, there seem to be two states of existence.
One is unemployment. That’s most of the people, most of the time.
The other is overemployment. For a long stretch, that was Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer. “It was a very hectic 18 months,” he said.
Now comes the pay-off: While rushing between other roles, they wrote, produced and starred in the final season of “Colin From Accounts” (shown here); all eight episodes — funny, warm and engaging — arrive Sept. 10 on Paramount+. Read more…
