Stories

Ralph: presidential power in a witchly world

When pre-med student Sheryl Lee Ralph reached college, she got a quick lesson in being “the other.”
That was 1972, the first year Rutgers admitted women. There were only 450 of them – about one-percent of the enrollment; it was good preparation for her acting career.
“There was no room for me,” Ralph (shown here) – who has a key guest role in the season’s final two episodes of “Motherland: Fort Salem” – said of early auditions. “People were not open to open-casting back then.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 13, 2021

Stories

After a looong pause, PBS ripples with music and dance

Right now, the arts world is ready to end one of the longest intermissions ever.
Broadway is rehearsing, orchestras are retooling, bands and ballerinas are reviving. They reflect “the resiliency of the performing arts,” PBS president Paula Kerger told the Television Critics Association.
Now her network will spotlight that. Even before its fall season starts, PBS has specials celebrating orchestra (Aug. 27), Broadway (Aug. 29), an opera conductor (Sept. 3) and ballet (Sept. 17).
There’s more in the fall, including a John Williams (shown here) premiere, a Martin Scorsese film and a triple-diva concert that reflects the resiliency Kerger was discussing. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 11, 2021

Stories

No reservation about it: Here’s a fun show

Growing up 8,000 miles apart, these two men emerged with similar tales and memories.
Sterlin Harjo is from small-town Oklahoma, with Seminole and Muscogee roots; Taika Waititi is from New Zealand, with Maori roots. They could easily swap boyhood adventures.
“The stories were never sad or depressing,” Harjo said, in a virtual session with the Television Critics Association. And these fun accounts “are not the stories that ever get told about native people.”
At least, not until now. “Reservation Dogs” (shown here), starting Monday on the FX hub of Hulu, offers a sly wit. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 6, 2021

Stories

Reluctant hero? Not in Courtney’s superworld

Science-fiction fans are used to the reluctant superhero, someone longing for an ordinary life.
Then there’s the opposite. Courtney Whitmore transforms into Stargirl – eagerly.
“She is so looking for villains, looking for trouble, even (when) there is none,” said Brec Bassinger (shown here), the star of “Stargirl,” which starts its second season Tuesday (Aug. 10) on CW. “She just loves being a superhero.”
To Geoff Johns, who created the character and produces the show, that’s logical. “If you’ve got superpowers, I would think that you’d really enjoy it and you’d leap into things,” he said. At least, that’s the way he might approach it … and, more importantly, the way his late sister would. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 5, 2021

Stories

TV’s mega-universe grows, fills a void

The zillion-channel TV universe is even larger than most people realize.
Yes, there are the broadcast networks … and cable … and streaming. But there’s also a labyrinth of digital channels. They deliver old shows, old movies and – occasionally – something new.
Meet “Johnson” (shown here), a new drama (with some comedy) on the Bounce digital channel. “I saw a void,” Deji LaRay, the creator and one of the stars, said in a video conference. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2021

Stories

Travel the world? Hide away? Choices abound

So maybe you’re thinking about a change in lifestyle, possibly something drastic.
Not to worry. In addition two a “Baby Jessica” story (shown here), a brief CNN series – 9-10 p.m. ET on the next two Saturdays – offers opposite choices:
1) Sell the house and get an RV. Go everywhere; do everything. Just remember to write online reviews.
2) Take the opposite approach; go nowhere, do nothing. Get a bunker, suitable for any catastrophe.
3) Or acquire a new skill; underwater archaeology would be fine. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2021

Stories

It’s a golden Schmiga-Lasso time

Television has already had a Golden Age of Drama – twice; and a Golden Age of Comedy – twice. And now? Maybe we’ll call this the Golden Week of Apple TV+.
That streaming service – often outspent and outshouted by Netflix and Disney and more – has two simultaneous successes. On Friday (July 23):
– “Ted Lasso” starts its second season, awash in nominations. It leads the Emmys with 20, including best comedy; it leads the Television Critics Association with five, including program of the year.
– “Schmigadoon” starts its second week. A giddy swirl of music, dance and comedy, it manages to celebrate musical-theater traditions at the same time that it mocks them. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 22, 2021

Stories

Rock photographers capture a quaking world

There was a time, in the 1960s, when it seemed like everyone wanted to run away and be a rock star.
This was, of course, poor thinking. Some of them should have run away and been rock photographers.
That job had it all, people say in a fascinating new series. Ir was “musical ecstasy” … it was “an hour and a half of sweaty madness” … it stirred “the adrenaline – there’s nothing like it.”
It was a fine job. “I was incredibly lucky,” Gered Mankowitz said via a Zoom interview from England.
He produced “Icon: Music Through the Lens,” the six-week series that starts at 9 p.m. Friday (July 16) on PBS. He’s also a participant, recalling shooting Jimi Hendrix (shown here) and touring with the Rolling Stones. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 13, 2021

Stories

“Schmigadoon” brings quirky musical joy

In the year that Broadway sleeps, musicals keep bubbling up inside our TV sets.
There’s been “The Prom” and “Jim Jam” and “In the Heights” and more. And now comes the biggest project yet – also the goofiest and most fun.
“Schmigadoon” (shown here) arrives Friday (July 16) on Apple TV+. “It is a love letter to the Golden Age of musicals,” Cinco Paul, who created it with Ken Daurio, told the Television Critics Association.
In many loving families, of course, people make fun of each other. So “Schmigadoon” is ready to mock all the old musical traditions … then break into another big-deal song and dance. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 12, 2021

Stories

Mega-Magnolia emerges from amiable Texans

It’s an imposing task, one that might suggest Oprah, God or Disney: Create an entire network, built around one force.
That’s what the Magnolia Network is trying. On July 15, it becomes a streaming network inside Discovery+, fashioned around the design and renovation sensibilities of Chip and Joanna Gaines; a half-year later, it will also be cable channel, replacing DIY.
Such mega-projects have been tried before – the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Disney Channel, the Christian Broadcast Network – but they demand a lot. “It feels like an unquenchable amount of content, that you have to provide that machine,” Chip told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 11, 2021