Stories

Love is elusive when you leap through time

Fictional romances are rarely convenient.
Lovers are separated by geography or war or politics or society. Still, they have it easy compared to Ben (shown here) and Addison in the “Quantum Leap” reboot.
“It’s like the long-distance relationship from Hell,” said Martin Gero, the series creator. “They’re separated by time and space …. They can’t touch.” At first, Ben doesn’t even recognize his fiancee Addison … and doesn’t recognize himself.
That unfolded in the series opener, which reruns at 8 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 24) on NBC (and any time on Peacock), before the second episode at 10 p.m. Monday. Ben adapted a high-tech program that randomly flings him into the bodies of other people in other times. The first fling involved a decent chap who was, alas, a getaway driver.
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 21, 2022

Stories

Burns’ film eyes a hesitant world during Holocaust

One of Ken Burns’ first films celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
Immigrants described their joy at seeing the statue and feeling the impact of its words: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free,”
Now, 37 years later, the statue sometimes appears in Burns latest film – the richly emotional, six-hour-plus “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” at 8 p.m. Sept. 18-20 on PBS. We’re soon reminded that most of those masses were blocked from the U.S. and other countries; for many, that was a death sentence.
“We’ve always had the idea of welcoming immigrants,” Burns told the Television Critics Association. “But we’ve also always had the idea that we didn’t want to let anyone else in.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 12, 2022

Stories

The new season: Here’s a preview

(As the new season nears, I wanted to put my three season-preview stories in one easy-to-find spot. Here they are; I’ve updated them slightly and will continue to. First, an overview of the broadcast networks, which used to dominate each fall.)
A new TV season is ready to go..
It has a starting date (Sept. 19), a few shows and a lot of promos. What it lacks is the old blend of Hollywood hope, hype and a sense of something big.
There have been big things lately, but not on the broadcast nrtworks, the ones that send out shows for free (with commercials) over the air.
A “Game of Thrones” prequel on HBO collided with a “Lord of the Rings” prequel on Amazon Prime, both spending mega-money – reportedly $200 million for 10 HBO episodes, $465 million for eight Amazon ones. What’s a mere broadcast network to do? Not much; consider: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 12, 2022

Stories

Bard’s Black lover? It’s a dance-song-poetry blend

This show sounds like an implosion of borders and genres.
Here is Will Shakespeare in Olde England and a lover (maybe) with African roots. The show links ballet, poetry and two musicians, one Italian, the other African-American; it was created in Nashville.
That’s “Black Lucy and the Bard” (shown here), at 9 p.m. Friday on PBS, under the “Great Performances” banner. It makes sense when you meet Caroline Randall Williams, a true genre-buster.
“I really get to merge these things fully and try to tell the story of my Black American body, but also engage with the Anglophilic part of my brain,” she told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 12, 2022

Stories

Here’s a potent (and personal) look at hazing

As he talks about hazing, Byron Hurt (shown here) is left with tough questions:
Why did he hit people? Why did he let people hit him?
“There was a real strong connection between the culture of masculinity and the … violence we see in hazing culture,” he said.
Now he’s directed “Hazing,” which airs at 10 p.m. Monday (Sept. 12) on PBS. The documentary includes two men who were deeply impressed by football and by family heroes: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 8, 2022

Stories

What’s new this fall? Here’s the line-up

Here’s a round-up of new fall TV shows.
In each category, we start with broadcast, which used to dominate each fall. (A separate story offers an overview of the broadcas5 networks; also, their schedules are listed under “Quick News and Comments.”) We list basic cable next, then pay-cable and finally streaming. In those sub-categories, they’re chronological.
DRAMA (with music)
— “Monarch,” Fox. Trace Adkins and Susan Sarandon play country-music stars, with their own label run by their son. One daughter has the looks and ambition for stardom; the other has the talent. Then big events change everything. The music is great, the drama is soapy and Nashville stars drop in; shown here is Shania Twain’s brief visit in the second episode. (Debuts about 8 p.m. ET Sept. 11, after football; then 9 p.m. Tuesdays, starting Sept. 20). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2022

Stories

New-season preview: a tough ride for networks

A new TV season is ready to go..
It has a starting date (Sept. 19), a few shows and a lot of promos. What it lacks is the old blend of Hollywood hope, hype and a sense of something big.
There have been big things lately, but not on the broadcast nertworks, the ones.that send out shows for free (with commercials), over the air
A “Game of Thrones” prequel on HBO collided with a “Lord of the Rings” prequel on Amazon Prime, both spending mega-money. Disney+ launched a pile of new shows on one day (Sept. 8). Mere broadcast networks — with pleasant new shows like “So Help Me Todd” (shown here) — can only make a so-so counter-attack; consider: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 6, 2022

Stories

“Disney+ Day” goes global

The others had their time to show off. We got elves on Amazon, dragons on HBO, spectacle on both.
Now it’s Disney’s turn. “Disney+ Day” (Thursday, Sept. 8) has the streaming service introduce a flurry of shows in one big batch.
There’s a movie that could have been in theaters (a non-cartoon “Pinocchio,” with Tom Hanks) and one that was (“Thor: Love and Thunder”). There’s animation, via “Cars on the Road” and some shorts. There’s a mini-series (“Wedding Season”), two making-of specials and more.
And there are documentary series from young filmmakers Bertie Gregory (shown here) and Brie Larson. Those two shows feel like opposites; they are: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 4, 2022

Stories

At 16, she’s a star, a scriptwriter … and a really bad seed

As the pandemic dragged on, teens found themselves with empty time.
Some played videogames, did charity work or robbed liquor stores. One sat down with an orthopedic surgeon and wrote “The Bad Seed Returns,” which debuts at 8 p.m. Monday (Sept. 5) on Lifetime.
It helped, perhaps, that the teen (McKenna Grace, 16, shown here) had already starred in “Bad Seed.” And that the surgeon is her father. Still, producer Mark Wolper said, this all came as a surprise:
“A script appears … and I’m like, ‘Oh no, a script from them. It’s gonna be terrible! What am I gonna say to them? … And then I just started reading this script and I couldn’t put it down. I sent it to Lifetime within 10 minutes of finishing reading it.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 31, 2022

Stories

“Rings” prequel arrives, spanning worlds

The impact of “The Lord of the Rings” seems to span generations and continents.
Just ask Ismael Cruz Cordova, one of the stars of “The Rings of Power,” the mega-prequel that starts Thursday (Sept. 1) on Amazon Prime.
“I grew up in Puerto Rico, in houses with mud floors,” he told the Television Critics Association, “and experienced so many hardships in my life …. I saved all my money to buy my first DVD, ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ I felt myself in there. I felt the spiritual and emotional connection.”
His own background is far removed from that of the “Rings” creator: J.R.R. Tolkien was mostly home-schooled in rural England by his mother, until her death when he was 12. He went to prep schools, graduated from Oxford and later taught there. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 29, 2022