Daily Best Bets
Best-bets for June 29: The July 4th build-up begins Best-bets for June 29: The July 4th build-up begins Best-bets for June 28: music, young comic, old Mel Best-bets for June 28: music, young comic, old Mel Best-bets for June 27: Swayze, spies, soccer Best-bets for June 27: Swayze, spies, soccer
Stories

Great comedies? Burrows molded most of them

By Mike Hughes / June 21, 2026
Stories

Music, masses and fireworks: TV’s set for the 4th

By Mike Hughes / June 19, 2026
Stories

No build-up needed: “Dragon” is in battle mode

By Mike Hughes / June 17, 2026
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Stories

Cable has “Dark Winds” and dark prospects

As AMC moves out of the witches’ den and back to the reservation (shown here), it’s time for a nagging question:
What’s ahead for scripted shows on basic-cable? Will they all go away?
Cable “is in a state of steady decline,” Variety (the show-business trade paper) wrote recently. “Some would call it a state of decay.”
Others wouldn’t. The collapse “is irreversible,” one expert (Naveen Sarma) told Variety, “but there is no immediate cliff. We expect the decline will be a steady one that will take years.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 4, 2025
News and Quick Comments

It was a great half-hour, anyway

This year’s Academy Award show gave us 31 great minutes.
It also gave us 194 not-great (and, sometimes, not good at all) minutes. But at least we got something.
The great ones were at the very start. There was a musical burst from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo that took an 85-year leap from “Over the Rainbow” to “Defying Gravity.”
Then came Conan O’Brien’s sharp monolog. (We’ll forgive his nasty mini-film that preceded it; O’Brien made up for that later with a terrific little film introducing younger generations to movie theaters.) Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 3, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 4: Trent, Trump and Tom

1) Presidential address, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. Technically, it’s not a “State of the Union” speech until a year into the term. But the last seven presidents also delivered a talk their first year, so here it is. The follow-up (including Democratic response by new Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan) continues to at least 11 ET. Alternatives, listed next, include “Will Trent” (shown here), Tom Hanks and more. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 2, 2025
Stories

She made news and politics a joyful world

Here’s a handy tip for fans of documentaries:
Whenever possible, watch profiles of Texas women. Those films – like their subjects – offer rare blends of strength and joy.
There have been terrific ones about Ann Richards (the former governor) and Mollie Ivins (the former newspaper writer and “60 Minutes” commentator). And now we have, “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter.”
That’s available on PBS’ World Channel (9 p.m. ET March 7, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. March 8), on PBS apps and on some stations during the current pledge drive. It’s worth finding. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 28, 2025
Stories

Two forces, MTM and Lear, crafted golden comedies

(This is the seventh chapter of a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” For the previous chapters, scroll down in “Stories.”)
In a logical world, “I Love Lucy” would have launched a revolution in clever comedies.
TV, of course, lacks logic. It would be a couple decades before Mary Tyler Moore (shown here), Archie Bunker and others propelled the first golden age of comedy.
During the “Lucy” years, networks mostly had minor comedies, often bearing characters’ names. There was “Stanley” and “Sally,” “Willy” and “Meet Millie.” There was “Hey Jeannie” and “It’s Always Jan,” “Dear Phoebe” and “Honestly Celeste,” “Leave It to Larry” and “Meet Mr. McNutley.” And that’s not to mention “Colonel Humphrey Flack” and “Adventures of Hiram Hoke.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 28, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 2: Oscars lead a busy night

1) Academy Awards, 7-10:30 p.m. ET, ABC. The movies are obscure (except “Wicked,” shown here) and two Timothee Chalamet films), but the show will try to hold our attention. It has Conan O’Brien as host, Nick Offerman as announcer and top singers — Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Queen Latifah, Doja Cat, Raye, Lisa (of Blackpink) and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Excerpts are optional hand-crafted summaries of your content that can be used in your theme. Learn more about manual excerpts. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 28, 2025
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for March 3: “Grey’s” night returns

1) “Grey’s Anatomy” return (shown here), 10 p.m. Thursday, ABC. Jo and Lucas were at a convenience story, where there was a gunman, a fight and a shot. Now – 15 weeks later – we learn what happened. There’s chaos in the hospital and Ben’s emergency plan faces challenges. Also, Amelia and Winston disagree about a patient and Owen feels romantic tension. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 27, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for March 1: new ‘SNL,’ old Luke memories

1) “I Am Luke Perry,” 8-10 p.m., CW. Perry’s roles ranged from bull-rider to vampire-hunter, but his biggest stretch (shown here) was as a rich kid in “Beverly Hills, 90210.” He was the opposite, a steelworker’s son who grew up in an Ohio town of 2,600. Before his death at 52, following strokes, he neatly fit into “Riverdale,” playing a decent dad who did construction. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 27, 2025
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 29: The July 4th build-up begins

By Mike Hughes / June 27, 2026
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 28: music, young comic, old Mel

By Mike Hughes / June 26, 2026
News and Quick Comments

Good (if belated) news: “Americas” will be back

By Mike Hughes / June 25, 2026
Weekly Previews

Week’s top-10 for June 29: 250th-birthday party time

By Mike Hughes / June 25, 2026
Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for June 27: Swayze, spies, soccer

By Mike Hughes / June 25, 2026