Daily Best Bets
Best-bets for July 14: stars of space and sports Best-bets for July 14: stars of space and sports Best-bets for July 13: One show debuts, three return Best-bets for July 13: One show debuts, three return Best-bets for July 12: double-Joel, plus sharks Best-bets for July 12: double-Joel, plus sharks
Stories

“Little House”: A wandering family is back on TV

By Mike Hughes / July 5, 2026
Stories

This Skywalker is a prairie-dweller

By Mike Hughes / July 5, 2026
Stories

Want new shows? They’re all on July 9

By Mike Hughes / July 3, 2026
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Stories

Discovery+ is (sometimes) minus clothes

In the mega-billion-dollar world of streaming networks, people still have basic questions:
What is Discovery+, anyway? How did it become important? And what does it have that’s special?
One partial answer to that last question is … well, nudity.
At a virtual session with the Television Critics Association, programming executive Lisa Holme discussed “putting the + in Discovery+.” The session focused on six shows; by coincidence, perhaps, half of them had something to do with nudity: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 17, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 18: a surge of new shows

1) “House Calls With Dr. Phil” debut, 9 p.m., CBS. For five weeks, “Love Island” dominated the schedule. Now that it’s finished, CBS has lots of room to play with. It’s pulling reruns off the shelf and inserting three new hours – two tonight and one Friday. This one has Phil McGraw (shown here) visiting families, starting in Utah, where a teen hasn’t spoken to her father (living in the same house) in years. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 16, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Beat-bets for Aug. 17: Witches & wagon trains

1) “Motherland: Fort Salem,” 10 p.m., Freeform. Epic moments rippled through recent episodes. Raelle (shown here) was kidnapped; her long-missing mother died while saving her. Nicte – founder of the Spree terrorists – was captured, almost escaping by stealing Tally’s face. Now the young witches face bigger questions: Can Tally (shown here, background) successfully interrogate Nicte? Can she spur doubts about General Alder? Can Raelle commune with the enigma in the lab? It’s a strong hour, setting up next week’s season-finale. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 15, 2021
Stories

It’s a “Perfect” mini-series team

This is a blend that works neatly:
Start with two Australians – novelist Liane Moriarty and actress-producer Nicole Kidman …. Have David E. Kelley write a mini-series from a Moriarty novel … Then load up on other stars.
That worked for HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” In the first of its two seasons, “Lies” won the best-miniseries Emmy, plus seven others, including ones for Kidman and two of her co-stars.
And now the combination returns with Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” (shown here), starting Wednesday (Aug. 18). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 14, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 16: Romance (real and fictional) is tangled

1) “Bachelor in Paradise” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. A week after “The Bachelorette” ended, five of the guys show up in this spin-off. Tre Cooper (shown here on “Bachelorette”), Aaron Clancy, Connor Brennan, James Bonsall and Karl Smith are among the 10 men at a Mexican resort, alongside 13 women. Hosting is Wells Adams, a bartender who was eighth in the 2016 “Bachelorette” and is engaged to Sarah Hyland of “Modern Family.” He’ll have various co-hosts, starting with David Spade. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 14, 2021
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
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Sunday, Aug. 15: Farewell to love, Cassie and more

1) “Unforgotten” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. Battered by the emotional stress of cold-case murders, Cassie (Nicola Walker, shown here) tried to retire early. Officials said she had to stay three more months, to get a pension. She soon obsessed on a final case – a murder 30 years ago, linked to a car filled with police-academy grads. Short on sleep, she was close to solving it – then had a fierce car crash. Here’s the potent finish, putting an exclamation point on a great (if grim) season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 13, 2021
News and Quick Comments

PBS this fall: Serious subjects abound

Peeking ahead to PBS’ fall schedule, one thing is clear:
These people are serious. Other networks may have become a bit lighter and brighter and simpler, but you won’t find that here.
In a three-day stretch of virtual press sessions, PBS took the Television Critics Association through imposing subjects, from Muhammad Ali (shown here) to the aftershocks of Sept. 11.
Yes, the network can sometimes be fun – especially on Sundays, when it has dramas and (on Aug. 29) a concert version of “Wicked.” But often, it will be serious, including: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 13, 2021
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for Aug. 16: zombies, videos and Dr. Phil

1) “The Walking Dead,” 9 p.m. Sunday, AMC, rernning at 11:07p.m., 12:14 a.m., more. After a long delay, this ratings-leader starts its final season. It’s a long one – eight episodes now, then a break, with 16 more coming. The last new episode (16 months ago) will rerun at 7:52 p.m., with the final battle with the Whisperers. Now a food-gathering mission fails; Maggie proposes a dangerous plan that Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, shown here must lead. Then a fierce storm forces them into a subway tnnnel filled, of course, with zombies. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 12, 2021
News and Quick Comments

PBS dramas: “Grantchester” soon, “Sanditon” later

For fans of the lush “Sanditon” series (shown hee), PBS has semi-encouaging news:
It will be back … well, sometime. And probably in 2022.
“They are just about three weeks into filming now,” Susanne Simpson, the “Masterpiece” producer, told the Television Critics Association. “But you will see ‘Sanditon’ next year.”
Based on a novel that Jane Austen had barely started, the show created a seaside world filled with schemes, ambition and romance. It drew mildly favorable reviews from critics and strongly favorable comments from viewers … but the British company that created it decided against a second season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 12, 2021
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 14: stars of space and sports

By Mike Hughes / July 12, 2026
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 13: One show debuts, three return

By Mike Hughes / July 11, 2026
News and Quick Comments

Want an Emmy? Choose your show carefully

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for July 13: Cup concludes; shows debut

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 12: double-Joel, plus sharks

By Mike Hughes / July 10, 2026