Stories

Up here in their heads, a musical gem emerges

Early in the pandemic, a phone call linked three strong forces in musical storytelling.
“Tommy (Kail) gave us a call,” recalled Kristen Anderson-Lopez, “and said, ‘Hey, we’re not sure when we’re going to get back into the theater. Do you guys have anything you want to do for TV?’”
They did; her husband, Robert Lopez, started nurturing the idea 17 years ago. Now “Up Here”(shown here) arrives Friday (March 24) on Hulu, with all eight half-hours available at once
”Imagine this as eight mini-musicals that would add up to one season-long musical,” said Steven Levenson, who co-wrote the scripts and previously did “Tick, Tick … Boom” and “Fosse/Verdon.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 21, 2023

Stories

Soaps have transformed; just ask Francis

Soap operas keep transforming. There are no more tinkling teacups, no prolonged parlor chats, fewer empty moments.
But to look at the bigger changes, ponder Laura of “General Hospital,” as the show nears its 60th anniversary (April 1) and launches a multi-day celebration (April 3) — a week after “The Young and the Restless: (see separate story) has its 50th anniversary.
As a teen-ager, she was a date-rape victim … who then fell in love with her rapist. They married – drawing record ratings – and became the top couple in the soap world.
And now? “I love who she is,” Genie Francis (shown here in a previous anniversary), who plays her, told the Television Critics Association. “She was such a victim as a young woman. To see it flip around and have her be … this powerful woman who is the mayor. She doesn’t take crap from anyone.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 20, 2023

Stories

Surviving soaps turn 50 … and 60

In the TV world, nothing lasts forever – not even soap operas.
A half-century ago, there were 15 of them; now there are three on the networks and one on Peacock. Still, two of those survivors have key milestones:
— CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” (shown here) turns 50 on March 26. That’s a Sunday (a no-soap day), so the multi-day celebration starts Thursday, March 23; there’s also a special at 8 p.m. March 27.
— ABC’s “General Hospital” (see separate story) turns 60 on April 1, a Saturday. It starts celebrating two days later.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 19, 2023

Stories

She detoured into “scary movie girl” turf

Chances are, you won’t be seeing Keshia Knight Pulliam in many “Scream” films. Or in anything that’s very fast or furious.
“I’m not a thriller girl,” she said in a Zoom press conference. “I am not a scary movie girl.”
She’s been a Cosby kid, a Christmas-movie heroine, a Tyler Perry drama queen. But now comes “The Hillsdale Adoption Scam” (its promotional art iks shown here) at 8 p.m. Saturday (March 18) on Lifetime, rerunning at midnight and then at 6 p.m. March 25. It had her running and ducking and eluding bad guys – all filmed carefully.
“I was very pregnant when I was doing this,” Pulliam said. But her character wasn’t, so camera angles were key. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 15, 2023

Stories

Marie Antoinette: A ditz? A rebel? A well-dressed enigma

More than two centuries after Marie Antoinette’s death, there are opposite views. She was:
— A ditz and a spendthrift who ignored her countrymen’s poverty. She didn’t really say “let them eat cake,” but she might have thought it.
— Something much more. “She was totally a rebel,” said Emilia Schule (shown here), who stars in the eight-part “Marie Antoinette,” debuting at 10 p.m. Sunday (March 19) on PBS.
In the glittery Versailles palace, Marie was a rule-breaker — something Schule sort of understands. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 13, 2023

Stories

In or out of prison, he was a warm dad

Tracy McMillan is an expert on life’s extremes.
She’s known the highs and the lows. The middle part – the comfy, cozy part – has been elusive.
Well, she did grow up in Minneapolis, in mid-America. And she spent several years with a warm foster family, led by a Lutheran minister.
But then she was back with her charismatic dad, whom she’s described as “a Billy Dee Williams type who committed crimes for a living.” That led to “UnPrisoned,” debuting Friday (March 10) on Hulu. Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo (shown here) play people a lot like McMillan and her dad. The difference is that in this fictional version, he lives with her after prison. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 9, 2023

Stories

Oscar night on TV: Here’s a guide

The Academy Awards, which used to be a big deal, arrive Sunday on ABC.
And this time, they might draw some interest. They have a host, some songs, a studio audience … and some movies (including “Elvis,” shown here) people have seen.
We used to take that for granted, until things crumbled. There were two no-audience pandemic years … three no-host years … and a year with no songs during the main show. Also, nominees were obscure.
Now all of that seems to be behind us. Here’s an overview of the night; also, alongside this are two Oscar features — on front-runner Ke Huy Quan and on the oft-overlooked documentary categories: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 6, 2023

Stories

Award shows are fun — as long as Quan wins

There are actors who accept awards casually. They smile slightly, read lethargic lists, then depart.
Then there’s Ke Huy Quan (shown here), who makes the award season worthwhile.
At previous ceremonies (Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, etc.), Quan jumped and hugged and beamed. Now he’s a front-runner at this year’s Academy Awards, at 8 p.m. ET Sunday (March 12) on ABC; so is his movie, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and its star, Michelle Yeoh.
All of this follows a big gap. The pause in his acting career “has been for a long time,” Quan said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 5, 2023

Stories

History — Mel Brooks style — finally returns

For almost 40 years, Mel Brooks has inhabited Nick Kroll’s comic mind.
Kroll was about 5, he says, when he munched a fish stick and proclaimed, “It’s good to be the king.” It was a start.
“Some of my very first laughs ever (were) from me parroting Mel Brooks,” Kroll told the Television Critics Association. “And many, many years later, nothing has changed.”
Now he’s assembled an all-star project: “History of the World, Part II”(shown here), an eight-part sequel to Brooks’ film, airs (two per day) on Hulu, Monday through Thursday (March 6-9). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 3, 2023

Stories

Reese’s pieces fill the media landscape

Movie moguls used to have a consistent image.
As portrayed (in films and stories and such), they were big and blunt. They drank a lot, smoked as lot, didn’t read much. They definitely weren’t cherubic-faced book nerds.
That’s what makes this surprising: Reese Witherspoon has become one of Hollywood’s top producers.
Yes, that Reese – the one who convinced us she was a ditz in “Legally Blonde” movies. After lots of success in the past – from “Gone Girl” to “Bright Little Lies” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” – her company, Hello Sunshine, has four series streaming this spring:
— “Daisy Jones & the Six” (shown here) starts Friday (March 3) on Amazon Prime. A richly crafted series about a fictional rock band, it’s filled with characters who are deeply flawed, yet deeply fascinating. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 1, 2023