Stories

Penguins waddle wisely through hot/cold worlds

Not all animals are telegenic, you know.
We rarely see a good film about anteaters, moles or wild boars. But penguins (shown here) are always ready for their close-ups.
“They’re so much like people … very relatable,” said filmmaker Bertie Gregory, whose charming “Secrets of the Penguins” debuts from 8-11 p.m. Sunday (April 20) on the National Geographic Channel, then repeats on Earth Day (April 22).
In a way, penguins have the qualities of an ideal date: They’re cute and available.
“Most filmmakers are hidden behind bushes, shooting with a Zoom lens,” Gregory, 31, said. But penguins don’t mind company; at times, they’ll visit the human and stare with curiosity. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 14, 2025

Stories

Kay & Ted & such: The cable era began

(This is the latest chapter in a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To catch the full book, from the start, simply hit the category “The Book.”)

As a star student, Kay Smith could have picked almost anything for her Master’s Degree thesis. She chose satellite communication.
It was an odd choice, because … well, there was no satellite communication.
This was 1967, just a decade after Sputnik and just two years after the Early Bird became the first commercial satellite. But Smith felt bigger things were coming.
Ten years after that thesis, she created the Madison Square Garden Network. By then, she was Kay Koplovitz; soon, it would be the USA Network; she and Ted Turner (shown here) would pioneer a cable-TV era. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 12, 2025

Stories

A decade later, she’s finally a “Last of Us” star

Wise souls knew Kaitlyn Dever would be in “The Last of Us.”
They just didn’t know when it would be or whom she would play.
As a teen, Dever did a script-reading for a “Last of Us” movie. She would star as Ellie, the young survivor of a global apocalypse.
That project faded, then returned as one of the most expensive shows in TV history. And its second season (starting 9 p.m. Sunday, April 13, on HBO) has Dever, now 28, as Abby, a skilled and vengeful soldier.
“To have it come back around, like 10-plus years later, felt surreal,” she said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 8, 2025

Stories

Out of the gloom came a comedy golden age

(This is the 14th chapter of the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To read at all (so far) in order, click “News and Quick Comments” and scroll to the headline that starts, “The Book.”)

At times, TV people decide that situation comedies are doomed. One such time came seven years before “Seinfeld” (shown here) would start a comedy comeback.
In the 1984-85 season, “Dallas” and “Dynasty” were at the top; two more soaps (“Knots Landing” and “Falcon Crest”) were in the top 10. Viewers watched light action (“A-Team,” “Magnum,” “Riptide”), but not comedies: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 7, 2025

Stories

A smart Smart shows finds new crises

Amid the swirling complications of “Hacks,” there’s a familiar theme.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jean Smart said.
In the fourth season (starting Thursday, April 10, on Max), Deborah Vance (Smart) has her wish – a latenight talk show. It’s he dream of many comedians, except ….
Joan Rivers – the real-life person sometimes compared to the fictional Deborah – did get her own talk show. It failed and her life sagged.
That might not happen on “Hacks,” but things won’t be easy. “It’s the pressure,” Smart said. It “gets to her.”
Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 3, 2025

Stories

Pax made a grand, failed bid to be No. 7

(This is the latest chapter in the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” The full book, so far, is in “News and Quick Comments”; this is Chapter 11, concluding a section on the search for a fourth network and beyond.)

Imagine that someone had held a gathering of TV moguls in the late ’90s. (Not a good idea, incidentally.) If so, everyone would have noticed Bud Paxson instantly.
He stood 6-foot-7. He had a downhome manner and was fond of carnival barkers. And he skipped any of the TV-executive notions — no surveys or screenings or such.
He simply leaped ahead. Taking the zillions he’d made from home-shopping, he bought TV stations, bought reruns, had some new shows (include “Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye,” shown here) and created an entire network in his name.
Well, half his name. This was “Pax Net”; it persisted for seven years. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 2, 2025

Stories

Time for love, laughs, friendship and orgasms

.At an acting class, two opposites collided.
Molly Kochan “was kind of a wallflower,” said Nikki Boyer, who wasn’t.
“She had long, brown hair. We were in an acting class and she couldn’t stand me…. She was very quiet and to herself and she didn’t like my energy.”
Naturally, one of the great friendships was forming. It survived through Molly’s stage-four cancer diagnosis, through her end-of-life sexual odyssey and through their podcast, “Dying For Sex.”
Now that’s been turned into a mini-series (shown here) that arrives in one lump (eight half-hours) on Friday, April 4. Many people will find it compelling, especially with the riveting work of Michelle Williams as the late Molly and Jenny Slate as Nikki. Some will find it off-putting, because of its sexual kinkiness. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 2, 2025

Stories

PBS music? It’s funky, country, classical and beyond

It’s time to catch PBS’ favorite kind of music. Which, of course, is classical.
Or maybe it’s funk (shown here with James Brown) Or country or Latin. Or blues or ballads or bluegrass or Broadway.
All of that shows up soon on PBS, which is also the birthplace of “Rubber Ducky” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
There are times (usually federal-budget times) when people peg PBS into one category. In truth, it strains to be everything – from kids to antique, from dramas to nature. And it’s music tastes reflect those extremes.
There have been two film biographies — on radiant cellist Jacqueline du Pre (March 28) and Broadway’s Liza Minnelli (April 1). Coming up: A wide-ranging “Austin City Limits” special (April 4), “We Want the Funk” (April 8), Chopin (April 11) and more, including jazz and Broadway musicals. Let’s look at some upcoming ones: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 1, 2025

Stories

WB and UPN: It was a race to be No. 5

(This is the latest chapter of the book-in-progress, “TV, and How It Got That Way.” To read the overall book, in order, scroll down under “News and Quick Comments.” There, this is the 10th chapter of 12, so far.)

For decades, few people tried to create a fourth network. Then, oddly, everyone wanted to be No. 5.
There was WB and UPN and Pax – each grasping for a small slice of the audience. It was a race to the bottom that, oddly, everyone lost.
Well, not everyone. Viewers won. These mini-networks gave us Buffy (shown here) and Felicity and Dawson and the Gilmore girls, plus two “Star Trek” series, “Everybody Hates Chris” and Jane the pregnant virgin.
They brought variety to a sometimes-bland TV world. Then they crumbled. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 30, 2025

Stories

They’re back: Bart, Georgie, Elsbeth and more

When TV shows take a break, our reactions vary.
Some shows are gone for a couple years and we barely shrug; others are gone for a couple weeks and we feel cheated.
Now things are getting better: Fox’s “The Simpsons” returns Sunday (March 30), after a six-week break; CBS’ Thursday and Friday shows return April 3-4 (starting with “Georgie & Mandy,” shown here), after a two-week break that seemed approximately forever. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 29, 2025