Stories

For NBC and Fox, the season starts (partly) in January

The long-delayed TV season will begin right after the holidays.
Or, at least, parts of it will. For some parts, viewers must wait until March.
This week, NBC and Fox set plans that are relatively speedy. Both will have several non-reruns arriving in early and mid-January, getting a one-month jump on CBS and ABC; NBC will even have two advance episodes — “Night Court” (shown here) and Jon Cryer’s new “Extended Family” — on Dec. 23. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 22, 2023

Stories

This “Fargo” role feels like home

Jumping into the compelling “Fargo” characters, actors have tried different methods.
Some have tried speech coaches or studied tapes; David Rysdahl (shown here) had a quicker method.
“I called up my dad and listened to him,” he said. “I ended up calling my aunts and uncles, too.”
The result works wonderfully. In the newest “Fargo” mini-series – debuting at 10 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 21) on FX – he’s Wayne Lyon, sweet-spirited and optimistic and not sure why people near his wife keep being killed or maimed. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 17, 2023

Stories

She’s led a revolution in women’s sports

Billie Jean King (shown here) announced her intentions, 70-plus years ago.
At 7, she says, she told her mother she was going to do something great. At 10, she “told my mom, ‘Mommy, I want to be the No. 1tennis player in the world.” At 12, she “promised myself that I would fight for equality the rest of my life.”
And then, remarkably, she did all of that.
Some of the result is clear in PBS’ “Groundbreakers,” from 8-10 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 21), the eve of her 80th birthday. The documentary partly looks at King’s story – “I’ve had an amazing life, because of being in sports,” she said in a virtual press conference – and mostly looks at changes in life. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 16, 2023

Stories

Double Dianas and more — a huge streaming week

The streaming universe seems to keep topping itself.
We’ll look around and decide this is the biggest week ever … and then a bigger one arrives. Now this current one, in mid-November, feels like the biggest yet.
It peaks Thursday (Nov. 16), with the start of the final season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” one of the shows that propelled the streaming surge. That’s preceded by a couple of compelling shows — the start of “A Murder at the Top of the World,” Tuesday on Hulu, and the continuing “Buccaneers,” Wednesday on Apple. Then there’s a Friday flurry, ranging from a civil rights hero to assorted types of silliness.
The week even includes double Dianas: Emma Corrin, who received an Emmy nomination in the fourth “Crown” season, gives a richly layered performance (show here) in Hulu’s “A Murder”; Elizabeth Debicki, who has an Emmy nomination for the fifth season, is back for the sixth. Here’s a round-up: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 14, 2023

Stories

CBS sets post-strike surge for Feb. 11

One TV network now has an answer to viewers’ biggest question: When will the real season start?
For CBS, it starts Feb. 11. Over the next eight days, 17 shows will open their seasons, with a few more following soon.
Some people might have hoped for something quicker, now that the actors’ strike has been tentatively settled. But for CBS, this is all timed to the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
That game will be followed by the debut of the Justin Hartley show “Tracker”; it’s one of only two new CBS shows this season, alongside “Elsbeth” (shown here). A week later, “Tracker” settles into a cozy Sunday slot between “Equalizer” (which drew a huge audience for its own post-Super-Bowl debut) and a transplanted “CSI: Vegas.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 13, 2023

Stories

Imports help fill CBS’ strike void

At first, this seemed like desperation.
Faced with strike-time voids, CBS imported shows from other countries. Not just from Canada (which is really just America with more outer-wear), but from Australia and England.
“NCIS: Sydney” arrives at 8 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 14), with eight episodes; “Ghosts UK” (shown here) is at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday with 34. Both deals were set before the tentative settlement of the actors’ strike; now the shows fill gaps until the regular ones return.
But the good news is that both of these temporary stand-ins are worth watching. One is adequate; we could dub it “Ghosts OK.” The other is surprisingly good, in its own copycat way. Let’s take a look: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 11, 2023

Stories

For Apple, it’s a double-triumph day

In baseball terms, this is like having Ruth and Gehrig together in the batting order. Or Mantle and Martis. Or Matthews and Aaron.
It’s going from strength to strength. Today (Wednesday, Nov. 8), Apple TV+ has:
— The season-finale of “The Morning Show,” filled with schemes and obstacles.
— The debut of “Buccaneers” (shown here) filled with giddy possibilities. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / November 8, 2023

Stories

At times, Perry had a Chandler-esque life

After the “Friends” pilot was finished, the producers took the six stars out for separate lunches. For Matthew Perry (shown here, middle), that turned out to be prescient.
“I remember telling them I had just been on a date the previous night,” Perry recalled in “Friends ,,, ‘Til the End” (TimeInc, 2004). “I got home, I called my friend and he said, ‘How did the date go?’
“And I said, ‘I’m going to die alone.’”
That was a funny line at the time … one that his character (Chandler Bing) soon said. Later, it became too true: Perry did apparently died alone, in his hot tub Oct. 28, at 54. He had never married. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 31, 2023

Stories

She went from village hall to Sting/hip hop impact

Like many small-town kids, Kate Prince dabbled in dance and music.
In a village hall in England, she tried ballet and tap and modern dance. In her family’s garage, she played an electric keyboard, mastering a Sting song at 11.
“‘Every Breath You Take’ is the first song I learned to play fairly well,” she said, in a Zoom press conference with Sting.
Lots of kids might try such things, but Prince never let up. Now, 38 years later, PBS has “Message in a Bottle” (shownhere) her dance piece done to the music of Sting. That’s 9 p.m. Nov. 3 on “Great Performances,” which a week earlier (Oct. 27) has a more-traditional dance concert by the New York City Ballet. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 27, 2023

Stories

A gilded age adds glitter and anger

When you call a show “The Gilded Age,” you sort of set expectations.
The first season (shown here) was lush; as the second one starts (9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, on HBO), those expectations are raised. “It’s ‘How do you get bigger?’” Bob Shaw, the production designer, said in a virtual press forum.
Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator and producer, had an answer: You start the story on Easter Sunday.
After a quiky opening – lots of bonnets coming out of boxes and onto carefully coiffed heads – we see masses stroll down two avenues to the church. Kasia Walicka Maimone, the costume designer, recalls her reaction: “‘Oh my God, Julian is putting us through this incredible exercise.’” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 21, 2023