Stories

Here’s another frontier (a big one) to conquer

Hollywood has always liked frontiers, old and new.
Those are great places for a hero — Davy Crockett or Roy Rogers or Captain Kirk — to be on his own, without back-up or 9-1-1.
And now we have “The Last Frontier.” It’s a 10-parter, Fridays on Apple TV+, starting with two episodes on Oct. 10.
This time, the frontier involves distant parts of Alaska. It has some of the same things Davy and Roy faced, plus one more:
“Everyone had to do a fight sequence,” Jason Clarke (shown here), who stars, said in a Zoom press session. And “everyone had to take physical training with horses … And then to shoot in minus-25.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 9, 2025

Stories

At last: CBS arrives; new season is here

TV viewers can be forgiven for having a few basic questions:
When will the TV season start? Will it ever start? Wait, did it start already?
The answers finally become clear when CBS has its “premiere week,” Oct. 12-19, three weeks later than usual. It includes:
— One situation comedy, a fun one. “DMV” has its sprightly start at 8:30 p.m. Monday (Oct. 13).
— Two cop shows, both spin-offs that are high-octane, slickly produced and a bit overstuffed. “Sheriff Country” and “Boston Blue”(shown here) start at 9 and 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17.
— A promising reality competition, “The Road,” at 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 7, 2025

Stories

“DMV”: scared souls, loud jerk, great fun

In our minds, we might cast our spouses as heroes, angels, knights in shining armor.
And in TV, Dana Klein cast her husband as a complete and total jerk. “He’s such a nice guy,” she insists.
She’s creator and producer of “DMV,” at 8:30 p.m. Mondays on CBS. In the opener (Oct. 13), a rich businessman keeps badgering for special treatment from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Ah yes, Klein figured — a perfect role for her husband, Mark Feuerstein (shown here). “We’re from New York, so we know some people who are a little, you know, entitled when they go into a room.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 6, 2025

Stories

She dreamed of Africa … then triumphed there

At 10, Jane Goodall loved the “Tarzan of the Apes” book, with one exception:
“He married the wrong Jane,” she said recently. “His Jane was a wimp.”
Most fictional women were, when Goodall read the book (1944) and when Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote it (1912). But this Jane (Goodall) didn’t fit any such stereotypes.
Mostly, Goodall (shown here) was known for her perpetual calmness. “I think it’s because of all the months and months I spent in the Rain Forest,” she said.
Now — after her death Wednesday (Oct. 1) at 91 — we can look back at an amazing life of working face-to-face with jungle primates. We can catch her new “Famous Last Words” on Netflix … And National Geographic documentaries, led by the 2017 “Jane” and the 2020 “Jane Goodall: The Hope,” both on Disney+ … And PBS documentaries … And her books. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 4, 2025

Stories

A time of tumult in 1970 … and in 2025

When “The Hard Hat Riot” arrives — 9 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 30) on PBS — it will deliver everything we expect from a great documentary.
It has two strong sides, dozens of passionate voices, plenty of conflicting values. In big and small ways, it shows the world transforming.
But the film (shown here) has one other distinction: For now, at least, it’s the second-to-last one aired by the award-winning “American Experience.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 28, 2025

Stories

Tough ones or fun ones: TV turns to mysteries

For TV people, the problem is clear: Their audiences are smaller and older and less-engaged.
And one solution? Try more mysteries.
Americans are pretty good at making mysteries; the British and their colonists are great at it. Such shows — less action, more thinking — can be done on TV’s tightening budgets.
So now there’s an abundance, including two streamers (Acorn and Britbox), the Sunday stronghold on PBS and scattered shows elsewhere.
On Sunday (Sept. 28), PBS wraps up three of its mysteries, including the richly layered “Unforgotten.” The next day, Acorn starts an engrossing six-parter, “Murder Before Evensong” (shown here). The following Sunday (Oct. 5), PBS introduces one of its best shows, “Maigret.” And in between, there’s more, led by Fox’s “Murder in a Small Town” and CBS’ “Elsbeth.” Let’s take a chronological look: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 25, 2025

Stories

It’s a lowdown saga of pain, persistence and Tulsa

In old movies and TV shows, we saw journalists like Woodward and Bernstein, Lou Grant and Murphy Brown, Edward R. Murrow and maybe Clark Kent.
Some were fictional, some weren’t. Most were unscarred; they had thriving news organizations backing them.
And now? Meet Lee Raybon (the central figure in the poster here), the jey character in “The Lowdown,” which debuts at 9 and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 23) on FX. He’s battered, bruised and broke; he works free-lance, with no employer to shield him.
“I think that’s all we have left, you know?” writer-director-producer Sterlin Harjo said in a Zoom press conference. “We have citizen journalists.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2025

Stories

“Downton”: from rejection to soaring success

The “Downton Abbey” era began with two rejections. Then came the flip side, with soaring success.
That has included six PBS seasons, 69 Emmy nominations (with 15 wins) and three movies.
The third — “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” (shown here) — is in theaters now; “Downton” fans will love it, others will find it kind of interesting. It wraps up a splendid stretch that began with rejection. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 17, 2025

Stories

Season preview: Scripted shows are scrambling

A new TV season is almost here. But be warned: It will look an awful lot like the old one.
With shrinking ratings and fading profits, the networks tend to stick with what’s already there. This fall, the five big broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW — combine for only four new dramas. Each one (including “Boston Blue, shown here) isa spin-off.
That’s part of a general cutback that began with the pandemic and strikes, then stuck as streamers grabbed bigger chunks of the audience.
In response, the big networks leaned toward game shows and reality shows (lower costs) and sports (the best shot at younger viewers). ABC took back Monday foorball from ESPN and “Dancing With the Stars” from Disney+, also filling Sundays with Disney movies. Fox inserted football on Fridays; beginning Oct. 21, NBC will have pro basketball on Tuesdays. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 10, 2025

Stories

Season preview, cable & streaming: big, busy line-up

(Here’s the second of three season-preview stories. This one focuses on cable and streamers.)
As the big TV networks keep trimming down, others — streamers and a few cable networks — are bulking up.
It all evens out … except that viewers have to juggle and pay for lots of separate things.
Right now, there’s a flurry of returning cable-or-streaming shows, starting with the brilliant “Only Murders in the Building” (shown here), Tuesdays on Hulu. This time, the sorta-sleuths try to see who killed the doorman.
Other key returners include “Reasonable Doubt” (Hulu, Sept. 18), “The Morning Show” (Apple TV+, Sept. 19), “Tulsa King” (Paramount+, Sept. 21), “Slow Horses” (Apple TV+, Sept. 24), “Billy the Kid” (MGM+. Sept. 28), “Loot” (Apple, Oct. 15), “The Diplomat” (Netflix, Oct. 18), “Palm Royale” (Apple, Nov. 12) and more.
But this list involves new shows. Here’s a sampling of scripted series and mini-series on this cable or streaming this fall: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2025