Stories

TV is ready for a big, busy Earth Day

Each year, a few TV networks remind us that Earth Day is still important.
There is, after all, still an Earth; there is a day (April 22) to celebrate it. And there are gifted filmmakers, with high-tech equipment.
So nature shows will abound that day on broadcast (PBS), cable (National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Animal Planet) and streaming (everyone).
Here are details. We’ll start with one advance marathon (April 18) and end with a few post-Earth Day shows, plus streamers that are available any time. Other than that, however, everything is on Wednesday, April 22: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 15, 2026

Stories

Schemes — odd or ominous — lurk amid old secrets

David Duchovny’s career had been littered with oddities.
He’s met monsters and mutants, ghosts and cryptids and schemes to create alien-human hybrids. Also, poison labs and poison guns and mind control and a plan to have bats carry incendiary devices.
We expected that from his “X-Files” series. But bizarrely, some of that is non-fiction: Everything that was listed above after “also” involves real-life schemes, detailed on “Secrets Declassified” (shown here), which he hosts at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on the History Channel.
“Some of it is laughable,” Duchovny said, in a Television Critics Association session. “But then you step back and you go, ‘Well, this could have really impacted a lot of people in a negative way.'” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 12, 2026

Stories

A wild ride with the master of micro-budget movies

Right now, Roger Corman’s legacy is filling our Fridays with micro-budget movies.
Corman died in 2024, at 96, but his films persist. They were huge in quantity, mixed in quality, tiny in cost. And they launched great careers.
On April 10, for instance, two films — “The Wild Angels” (shown here) at 8 p.m. ET and “The Trip” at 11:30 — will show us Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, before “Easy Rider.”
On April 17, we see early work of Peter Bogdanovich (Targets,” 8 p.m.) and Francis Coppola (“Dementia 13,” 1 a.m.). A week later, it’s Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha,” at 8. Those three men have gone on to get 15 best-director Oscar nominations, winning three times. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 8, 2026

Stories

It’s changeover time at NBC and Fox

For half of the big-four networks, this is changeover time.
NBC is shedding its Mondays, so it can go on a basketball binge; Fox is wrapping lots of shows, as it prepares a (mostly) scriptless spring.
Some of this is bad news long-range, but good for a while. We get an early flurry of finales, (including “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” shown here), when shows are usually at their best. Details include: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 6, 2026

Stories

For TV, it’s Earth Month-plus

In the TV world, Earth Day has become Earth Month.
Or, actually, Earth Month-plus-a-day-or-two.
That will be clear when James Cameron’s “Secrets of” series (shown here in a previous year) — usually the centerpiece of Earth Day — debuts Tuesday (March 31) on National Geographic. This time, it’s a fascinating look at bees … and it coincides with the conclusion of Ken Burns’ compelling portrait of Henry David Thoreau.
The next day, “Earth Month” begins. Highlights from the month-plus are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 27, 2026

Stories

A gentle pace: three seasons in 21 years

In TV’s olden days, situation comedies kept cranking out episodes — 39 a year, year after year.
And a modern-day contrast? Consider Lisa Kudrow’s “The Comeback” (shown here), which has just returned to HBO.
It had 13 episodes in 2005 … rested nine years, before doing eight episodes in 2014 … then rested a dozen years, before this eight-episode final season.
It needed a compelling reason to return, co-creator Michael Patrick King said at a press conference. That came with the rise of artificial intelligence. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 22, 2026

Stories

Easter season brings epics, documentaries, more

(This is an updated version of the story, now focusing strictly on April 1-5)
As Easter nears, TV networks are paying attention.
They have sprawling epics from Hollywood’s past, plus shows that are more recent.
A few of the shows are on the big networks. ABC has its annual “Ten Commandments” repeat Saturday (April 4); Fox has its third and final “The Faithful” movie on Easter Sunday.
But the real flurry is on smaller channels, ones that exist on cable or satellite or online or on digital sub-channels carried by local stations. Here are many of the choices, all times ET: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 21, 2026

Stories

For one night, at least, there will be A LOT on TV

Television can seem like an all-or-nothing, feast-or-famine world.
One moment, there’s little worth watching. The next, there’s an overload.
Fortunately, we’re heading into overload land. One night — Sunday, March 22 — has three debuts and two season-openers, plus the regular shows. There would be even more if ABC hadn’t made the late decision to pull “Bachelorette.”
It opens the 15th season of “Call the Midwife.” It has the third “Forsytes” series (shown here), the 40th-or-more “Count of Monte Cristo” and the zillionth (approximately) Biblical epic.
The shows vary drastically, from the glittery “Forsytes” to the dark “Monte Cristo.” But all are ambitious. Alongside the regular dramas — “Tracker,” “Marshals,” “Dark Winds” — they’re in an overstuffed night. They are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 15, 2026

Stories

Daytime talk is fading, but Drew’s been renewed

In the dwindling land of syndicated TV talk shows, Drew Barrymore (shown here) offers an exception.
Her show, already in its sixth season, has just been renewed for two years.
That’s a counterpoint to the current trend: Two shows — Kelly Clarkson and Sherri Shepherd — will stop at the end of this year, with others wobbling. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 10, 2026

Stories

Oscar night preview: “Sinners” song gets big boost

On Academy Award nights, many nominated songs have been sort of ignored.
Now, however, comes the opposite. At this year’s show (7 p.m. ET Sunday, March 15), the “Sinners” song will get a big-deal presentation, complete with blues stars, a dancer and special visuals.
That’s one of the belated announcements by ABC, which has also added some red-carpet details. Here’s an updated version of my previous story:

When the Oscar ceremony arrives Sunday, it might actually entertain us. It will have a clever host (Conan O’Brien), a few funny presenters and a couple of live songs. And it will have movies people have actually seen.
Gone are the days of hostless, songless, joyless Oscars. And gone, for now, is the domination of obscure films. This year has “Sinners” (shown here), “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme” and more. Here’s an overview: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 10, 2026