Kevin McDonough

New York

Columnist at Tune In Tonight (Remote Patrol)

Columnist at Kankakee Daily Journal

Articles

How free are classroom teachers? Understanding teacher academic freedom in the United States and Canada

Nov 15, 2024 | tandfonline.com | David I. Waddington |Bruce Maxwell |Kevin McDonough |Tessa MacLean

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the results of an international survey of teachers’ perspectives on academic freedom. We surveyed 173 social studies and science teachers from the United States and Canada about the importance of academic freedom, their comfort level broaching controversial topics in four broad areas (politics, economics, health and safety, and science), and the factors that influence their decision-making around discussing controversial topics.
'Only Murders' goes Hollywood

Aug 27, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

The Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building” enters its fourth season with a fun trick — one that’s nearly impossible to pull off, but that can seem brilliant when it works. We all know that every show and movie we watch is make-believe, a matter of scripts, acting and professionally produced illusion. But when the show becomes a beloved favorite, viewers can take it for “real.” So, there’s no better way to subvert that notion than to create a “show” about the show you’re already watching.
Prime inports Korean rom-com

Aug 26, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

Proof that the Hallmark formula knows no boundaries or language barriers, the South Korean romantic comedy series “No Gain No Love” streams on Prime Video. As in most Hallmark movies, Son Hae-yeoung (Shin Min-a) is a driven businesswoman and executive who believes that she has the world figured out. Fearing that her single status will cost her a promotion and scuttle her carefully made career plans, she arranges a fake marriage to Kim Ji-wook (Kim Young-dae).
'Milk Carton' explores a family's pain

Aug 24, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

While I’m not a fan of the true-crime craze, I can understand its morbid appeal. Most of the many docuseries have a beginning, middle and an end, and some contain details that are stranger and more lurid than fiction. The new two-part series “The Girl on the Milk Carton” (6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oxygen, TV-14) ticks off all the boxes. Part one focuses on shock and disbelief, and the second covers long-delayed “closure” that arrives in the strangest fashion.
Sports viewing shifts reflect broadcast milestone

Aug 20, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

As it has several times this summer, Fox’s New York affiliate will depart from what’s left of the Fox network schedule to air a WNBA game (6 p.m.) between the New York Liberty and the Dallas Wings. At a time when the term “difficult media landscape” is used to describe the state, or decline, of what used to be called television, the audience for women’s sports has surged. This spring’s women’s NCAA Finals (or March Madness) was watched by a larger audience than the men’s finals.
USA launches 'The Anonymous'

Aug 19, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

Art imitates life on “The Anonymous” (10 p.m., USA, TV-14), a new game show and “social experiment.” Participating players interact in two realms. In one, they speak to each other face-to-face and in the other, they share gossip, snark and “shade” behind a secretive handle. Players try to evade eviction without revealing their secret identities.
HBO swings for the branches with 'Chimp Crazy'

Aug 17, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

Television continues to change, but constants endure. A hit show always will change the trajectory of programming and spawn imitators good and bad, sometimes for years on end. The arrival of “Batman” on ABC in 1966 inspired a glut of similar shows that quickly followed, including “Captain Nice,” “Mr. Terrific” and “The Green Hornet.”The best kinds of hits are cheap to make and easy to imitate.
'Bel-Air' and 'Emily' return

Aug 15, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

“Bel-Air,” a reboot of the 1990s favorite and the series that helped launch Will Smith’s career, returns for a third season on Peacock. The original was very much a network sitcom of its time and showcased Smith as a breezy troublemaker. Peacock’s version is decidedly darker, embroiling viewers in stories steeped in the class struggles within the Black community that the original pretty much played for laughs.
Vince Vaughn stars in Apple's 'Bad Monkey'

Aug 14, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

Tolstoy told us all happy families are alike in their own way. I’d suggest all Carl Hiaasen novels are enjoyable in their own fashion. Apple TV+ streams “Bad Monkey,” a 10-episode adaptation of Hiaasen’s 2013 novel of the same name. The novelist’s protagonists are nearly always ex-cops of a certain age or washed-up professionals of the law enforcement-adjacent variety. They live a beachcomber’s existence and despise the developers, outsiders and greedy interlopers paving over Florida’s paradise.
PBS airs 'A Boston (R)evolution'

Aug 13, 2024 | daily-journal.com | Kevin McDonough

“A Boston (R)evolution” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) examines a city coming to terms with its history after the election of Michelle Wu, the first woman of color to become Boston mayor, after centuries of white men holding the office. Historians look at the city’s contradictions. It had been a cradle of revolution that resulted in a constitution that enshrined slavery.