Stories

Peacock struts its comedies

As streaming networks battle for viewers, Peacock’s special weapon is comedy.
It has lots of it – new and old, good and bad, silly and satirical. And it has just added more.
In Television Critics Association sessions Monday (Aug. 10), the network announced two topical shows (with Larry Wilmore and Amber Ruffin, who’s shown here during a regular gig with Seth Meyer), an action-comedy (with Will Forte) and a musical-comedy-drama (Tina Fey producing and Sara Bareilles starring). It also discussed three previously announced shows.
And it broke a tradition of sorts: Networks often base series on movies that were box-office hits; Peacock is going the opposite way, ordering eight episodes of Forte’s “MacGruber.” In 2010, it made only $9.3 million in the U.S. … putting it $400 million behind “Avatar” or “Toy Story 3.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 11, 2020

Stories

Tough task: Be the quickest-canceled show ever

Television has now tied one of its least-desired records: Quickest cancellation of a show.
Viewers watching the CW network at 9 p.m. Sunday suddenly saw a “Supernatural” episode. The scheduled show, “Taskmaster,” had been dropped after one episode.
It ties other shows that were dumped after one outing … or maybe less. “It wasn’t even a full episode,” George Schlatter, the “Turn-On” producer, has said. “One guy canceled us at the commercial break.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 10, 2020

Stories

Nature and zombies brighten (?) our future

What we all need now, perhaps, is a gorgeous portrait of nature, soothing and serene.
Then again, we might need vampires on the prowl. Either way, the AMC cable networks have it covered; on Friday, they announced plans for:
– “Planet Earth: A Celebration,” at 8 p.m. Aug. 31 on all four channels – BBC America, AMC, IFC and Sundance. It repackages some of the scenes from “Planet Earth II” (shown here) and “Blue Planet II,” adding new narration (by David Attenborough and new music by Hans Zimmer and colleagues; the string parts will be by the BBC Orchestras, with British rapper Dave on piano
– And the return of AMC’s zombie world. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 8, 2020

Stories

A de Havilland marathon captures decades of classics

For any Hollywood star, this may be a record: After making her most famous film, Olivia de Havilland lived another 81 years.
She was 23 when she co-starred in “Gone With the Wind” (1939) as sweet-spirited Melanie (shown here), getting an Academy Award nomination; she was 104 when she died July 26.
This month, highlights of her career will rerun on Turner Class Movies. It will be a 24-hour package, starting at 6 a.m. Aug. 23, but for many people it will be something to record and catch later. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 3, 2020

Stories

A national diary soars in the time of COVID

As the year began, PBS launched a sort of national diary.
People could simply send in their stories, via video (usually) … or photos … or prose … or whatever.
Eventually, some would be tied into a special – one of which (shown here) airs at 10:30 p.m. this Sunday (Aug. 2) on many stations. It would be kind of pleasant and PBS-y.
Then COVID came and everything changed. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 30, 2020

Stories

Even in a pandemic, PBS is busy

The world may be in a slow-down, shut-down mode, but you can’t prove it by PBS.
The network – now in a three-day stretch of press conferences with the Television Critics Association – somehow seems busier than ever.
There is Ken Burns (shown here), juggling films. “I am, like an idiot, working on eight projects,” he said.
And Henry Louis Gates, doing a four-hour, February film about Black churches … and glad that the church portions were filmed early. “This is not exactly the safest place to be at the time of a pandemic.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 29, 2020

Stories

Culture clash? Nigerian grit meets reality-show glitz

TV is fond of opposites and odd couples, so maybe this makes sense:
When “Real Housewives of Potomac” starts its season Sunday (Aug. 2), a hard-working Nigerian-American – with four college degrees, three children and many jobs – will join the flashy crowd.
It’s not a total mismatch, Wendy Osefo said. “I’m in the same social circles as some of the ladies.” (She’s shown here. socially circling with her husband Edward and, right, Candiace Dillard._
Still, we think of the various “Real Housewives” reality shows as being filled with glitz, with privileged people who are ready to throw a drink or at raise a fuss. By comparison, Osefo’s life has involved constant motion. “I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel,” she said, without really complaining. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 27, 2020

Stories

Conspiracy theories swirl through internet

Conspiracy theories have long been lurking out there, stirring our emotions.
We’ve seen the Kennedy-assassination ideas of Oliver Stone and others; we’ve had UFO tales, billed as fiction (“X-Files”) or fact. Earlier, Joe McCarthy insisted he held the names of 205 Communist conspirators in the U.S. government.
Often, those views are nudged aside. But now, some viewers will have seen two major documentaries in five days: On Friday (July 24), CNN’s Fareed Zakaria presented “Donald Trump’s Conspiracy Theories”; at 10 p.m. Tuesday (July 28), PBS’ “Frontline” has “United States of Conspiracy,” focusing on Alex Jones (shown here). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2020

Stories

John Lewis tributes fill the week

John Lewis, a towering figure in civil rights, will be memorialized often in the next week.
Some reruns were already planned. The documentary “John Lewis: Get In the Way” is at pbs.org and on stations’ websites; “Legends Who Paved the Way” – a gala with Lewis and others – reruns at 11 a.m. Sunday (July 26) on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
That’s the morning when a procession will see Lewis, for one final time, cross Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge – where he was beaten fiercely by police during a 1965 march. (He’s shown here at a reunion walk across the bridge.) Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 25, 2020

Stories

For “lost cause” rebel, the fight goes on

For Michel Warschawski, the impression was instant.
He was watching activists protest their Israeli government. Then he spotted “a short, little woman, beautiful” in mini-skirt and boots. She clanged keys and yelled curses – ”words I’d never heard before …. I was speechless.”
He promptly joined the group; a year-and-a-half later, he and Lea Tesemel started dating. Now, 50-some years later, they’re still together(shown here) — married, with two kids and seven grandkids. At 75, she’s a busy lawyer — profiled in “POV: Advocate,” at 10 p.m. Monday (July 27) on PBS (check local listings) – who keeps tackling impossible missions. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 24, 2020