Stories

FX prepares its big Hulu push

PASADENA, Cal. – John Landgraf will quickly admit there are too many TV shows.
As head of the FX cable networks, he has his staff count them. “There were 532 scripted (series and mini-series) last year,” he told the Television Critics Association. “That’s a 7 percent gain vs. 2018. And given that the streaming wars are now at hand, we expect (it) will increase.”
So what FX is doing now is … well, adding several new shows and a new streaming service.
Or, actually, a new hub on an existing streamer. “FX on Hulu” debuts March 2; it will soon have two mini-series (“Mrs. America,” shown here, and “Devs”) that are only on Hulu, plus shows on both FX and Hulu. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 11, 2020

Stories

“Jeopardy” giants: smart and silly

PASADENA, Cal. – These are the “Jeopardy” giants, the guys bringing new life to an old game.
They are the three all-time top winners, locked in a primetime competition, plus host Alex Trebek. They bring smarts, strategy … and silliness. “I love silliness,” Trebek insists.
Brad Rutter (shown at right) – battling Ken Jennings (center) and James Holzhauer (left) in the ABC tournament – recalls the time he and two other contestants whimsically decided to stand behind the podium without their pants.
“We all had a good laugh,” Rutter said. “And then (announcer) Johnny Gilbert said, ‘And now the host of “Jeopardy,” Alex Trebek.’ And Alex came out with no pants on.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 9, 2020

Stories

ABC turns “Thirtysomething” again

(This is an expanded version of a story I posted earlier today)
PASADENA, Cal. – “Thirtysomething” is heading back to ABC, at the age of … well, thirtysomething.
The show started 32 years ago and ended four years later, with a pile of awards and a niche in society. It was “so embedded in popular culture that its title was entered into the dictionary,” said Karey Burke, who is president of ABC Entertainment.
So now she may be bringing it back. The deal finances a pilot film and setting up a writers’ room for a possible Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 8, 2020

Stories

Austen’s tale is completed … 200 years later

Let’s credit Andrew Davies for consummate patience.
He’s the master adapter, an expert on turning British classics – especially ones by Jane Austen – into TV scripts. But he waited 80-plus years for the ultimate challenge.
That’s “Sanditon” (shown here with Rose Williams and Theo James), which Austen had barely started. “She didn’t really get any further than introducing the characters and the premise. (All of) Jane Austen’s material, I used up in the first half of the first episode,” Davies, 83, told the Television Critics Association in July. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 4, 2020

Stories

McCarthy: A brash bully demanded attention

It was six decades ago … but in some ways, it seems like now.
There was name-calling, finger-pointing, fact-checking, a televised congressional hearing. There was talk of State Department evil. This was the Sen. Joseph McCarthy era; a PBS documentary takes a fresh look … and dispels some assumptions.
The wrong notion, historian David Oshinsky told the Television Critics Association in July, is that McCarthy was a “slightly moronic, animalistic person. (Instead,) this was one very shrewd politician.
”That comes across in the film. McCarthy is described as affable, talkative, easy to like. “In some ways, he was quite a charming guy,” says Leon Kamin, one of the people McCarthy attacked. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 2, 2020

Stories

Film savors Ronstadt, who “could sing anything”

At first, the music world wasn’t sure what to do with Linda Ronstadt.
Was she folk? … Or country? … Or rock?
Then people realized she was all of that and more – from 1940s pop to Spanish-language ballads to operettas. “Linda could literally sing anything,” Dolly Parton says in a documentary.
Now that film – fascinating and well-crafted – reaches CNN … which is where it started. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 28, 2019

Stories

Cheerleading isn’t cheery in intense “Dare Me”

Humans have a knack for turning fun into competition and one-upsmanship.
Dancers compete. So do singers and cooks and more. Even cheerleaders can’t simply be cheery.
That emerges in “Dare Me,” an intense novel that’s now a drama series (shown here), starting Sunday (Dec. 29) on the USA Network. Teen cheerleaders struggle to be at the top of the pyramid, literally and figuratively.
Alison Thornton, 20, one of the co-stars, sees it that as logical. “I think I understand the competition, because of all the dancing I did,” she said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 27, 2019

Stories

She thrives (and weds) amid New Year chaos

Maria Menounos (shown here) will be back on Times Square this year, amid crowds, chaos and commotion.
Whatever happens, it’s bound to be easier than 2017, her first time with Fox’s New Year’s Eve.“It was the coldest (Eve) in New York ever,” she recalled. “And it was after I had brain surgery.”
One thing more: She was getting married – live, on the air – surprising everyone, including her parents. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 22, 2019

Stories

Here’s a guide to Christmas-week TV

Sure, it feels like the Christmas-TV season has already gone on forever.
The holiday movies started in November – or was it October? – and are unrelenting.
Still, coming up is when we need shows the most.By Friday, most kids – and many adults – will be on vacation. They need to be distracted, before they find all the presents and eat all the cookies.
So here’s a guide to TV, from Dec. 20 through Christmas morning (shown here with Ally Brooke at the Disney parade, taped in advance) and the final Grinchy moments. We’ll start with the kids: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 16, 2019

Stories

This new Scrooge is deeper, darker and Scroogier

For 176 years, Ebenezer Scrooge has been grumping, grumbling and bah-humbugging.
Dead-serious actors — Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott, Alastair Sim, Reginald Owen – have played him. Albert Finney and Kelsey Grammer have sung him. His story has been done by the Muppets. the Smurfs, Jim Carrey and more.
Now a new “Christmas Carol” (shown here with Andy Serkis and Guy Pearce) arrives Thursday (Dec. 19) on FX, rerunning often. “It is slightly darker and more twisted than previous versions,” said Joe Alwyn, who plays Bob Cratchit.
Or maybe much darker and MUCH longer. Consider Read more…

By Mike Hughes / December 15, 2019