TV Diary
Justin Spitzer's previous NBC sitcoms "Superstore" and "American Auto" were single camera shows, and his new hospital-based series goes all the way mockumentary with people addressing the camera and doing those "The Office"-style reaction shots. Not my favorite thing for a show to do, but it has a great cast, I adore Allison Tolman and this is the first time she's starred in a sitcom since the short-lived "Downward Dog."
I'm really enjoying Michael Schur's latest Ted Danson vehicle for Netflix. Danson plays a widowed and retired professor who answers a personal ad to be a private detective's mole investigating a theft in a retirement home, which is apparently something that really happened in Chile and this is based on a documentary. There's a little of the madcap energy of "Only Murders in the Building" here but there's also some really thoughtful and melancholy notes too, really funny and entertaining show.
"Interior Chinatown" basically takes off from the premise that the main character is one of those minor characters who witnesses a crime in the cold open of an episode of a "Law & Order"-type procedural. Jimmy O. Yang and Ronny Chieng are great in this, they both really have deserved a vehicle like this for a while. Like "A Man on the Inside," a lot of the humor is derived from an unusually mundane character being thrust into an exciting mystery plot, but there's also a lot more going on here that makes it really work. I haven't watched past the Taika Waititi-directed first episode yet, but I really enjoyed that one.
I read half of the first Dune novel as a teenager and am not really all that into understanding all of the lore and subtext, but I liked the Villeneuve movies a lot, and this HBO spinoff seems like a good way to jump backwards into the mythology. Going back 10 thousand years almost seems like too much, but OK, whatever, I'm along for the ride, it's got a great cast.
e) "Landman"
I wish this had a better lead than Billy Bob Thornton, I'm just kind of tired of that smug old weirdo, and Jon Hamm is right there all underused in a supporting role. But the first episode was pretty strong, I'm not a huge Taylor Sheridan fan but he definitely knows what he's doing with these shows.
I'm not gonna say Eddie Redmayne is untalented, but I feel like none of the flashy roles meant to showcase his versatility have aged well, and yet they put him in this show where he's a master of disguise, it just has a terrible vibe right from the jump.
g) "Matlock"
Casting Kathy Bates as the lead in a new "Matlock" series qualifies, I suppose as a twist. The first episode opens with the additional twist that Madeline "Matty" Matlock practices law in a world where the Andy Griffith series exists. And then by the end of the episode, there's a whole other twist. It's a lot for a CBS legal drama rebooting a beloved old show, but it's pretty good, carrying a show like this is light work for someone like Bates.
Nobody needs a sorority-centered series reboot of "Cruel Intentions," but I dunno, the first episode was not terrible like I expected. And Adam Arkin directed it and had a supporting role, I always liked him.
i) "Joan"
The CW picked up this British miniseries where Sophie Turner plays a British crime boss from the '80s. Very stylish direction and good use of music, it starts kinda slow but keeps escalating and gradually getting to the darker parts of the story.
I think I would've started watching "Murder In A Small Town" sooner if I knew it was about a small Canadian town. Now we're talking! The murder part isn't that intriguing to me and it goes heavy on the romance subplot, but I like the atmosphere and the British Columbia setting.
I like Oliver Sacks, it bums me out that NBC took one of his books and turned it into a really bland boilerplate medical drama, Zachary Quinto is so offputting as one of those noble genius doctors.
I know so little about Irish history and The Troubles that I don't really know how this show's depiction of it fares in terms of accuracy or whatever. Really gripping story with a great cast, though.
Reba McEntire can carry a generic sitcom as well as anyone, but this one is really generic and feels a little beneath her.
As someone who tends to defend network sitcoms against snobbier viewers, it brings me no joy to report that there are two new shows this fall called "Happy's Place" and "Poppa's House." The latter, starring Damon Wayans and his equally funny song Damon Wayans, Jr., is worth a watch, though. The writing is a little formulaic, but those guys just bounce off each other really well and sometimes really elevate the material.
o) "Shrinking"
Damon Wayans Jr. also has a recurring role in the second season of one of my favorite new shows of 2023. And he seems to be serving the purpose of getting in the way of Jason Segel and Jessica Williams's characters permanently being a couple, which is a good idea, they probably shouldn't stay together, realistically and in terms of what's best for the show. Brett Goldstein from "Ted Lasso" co-created "Shrinking" and now also has a small but significant role in the show, which he probably loves because it's nothing like Roy Kent, but it's an odd choice, I'm kind of waiting to see how it all pans out.
The first season of "Bad Sisters" was an Irish adaptation of a Flemish series which ran for one season, and now it's back for a second season without source material to follow. And that can spell trouble for a lot of shows, but I think this is very promising because I love the cast and the characters and the setting, but the way the first season constantly jumped between timelines and awkwardly withheld information to build up suspense about the murder was kind of exhausting. So I'm happy to just return to this group of characters in what is so far a season with less strained storytelling.
q) "Silo"
Another show that built up so much suspense towards the season one finale that there's a vague "now what?" feeling hanging over the second season, which they haven't dispelled as well so far. It's Rebecca "Fergie" Ferguson, though, I am sticking with the show.
I liked "Based On A True Story"'s first season, but ended on kind of a cliffhanger that didn't really leaving me dying to know what happens next. So I'm pleasantly surprised that they've changed the dynamic between the characters in an entertaining way that's put some new life into the already risky comedic premise of a normal married couple befriending a serial killer.
Good show, I'm glad it's finally back, although it's bittersweet knowing that Renee Rapp's going to have a much smaller role from here on out, Leighton is by far one of the best characters on the show, it could really lose something without her in the ensemble. The beautiful British girl, Mia Rodgers, though, I'm willing to be convinced that she's a good addition to the show.
A cult show returning for a third and final season is good, I think, it would feel like unfinished business with just one or two seasons, but three is enough to kind of complete a satisfying arc. "Somebody Somewhere" has always been in a good-but-not-necessarily-great zone for me, but the characters are so likable that I'm not really asking for anything different. I feel like too many episodes build up to Bridget Everett singing, though, I know it's part of what she does but I'm gonna be a dick and say it feels indulgent after a certain point.
I'm very happy that "What We Do In The Shadows" got all the way to six seasons, it's been a near flawless run and I love that they're possibly getting more outlandish at the end here with Laszlo's Frankenstein plot and his father's ghost and all. I met Harvey Guillen at work a few weeks ago, didn't have a memorable conversation or anything, I think I was like the fourth person in a row to tell him they're a big fan of the show, but it was still pretty cool.
I haven't read the novel or seen the film version, but I like this series adaptation so far, excellent cast.
A docuseries about modern country music seems like a good idea regardless of execution, but this one, which features Luke Bryan interviewing contemporaries like the other big Luke, Luke Combs, really is not terribly interesting stuff, very surface level and light on history or real music talk.
x) "Our Oceans"
I will watch any documentary about marine life. And this new Netflix one is narrated by Barack Obama, which, regardless of how you feel about the guy or his participation in the entertainment industry, he really does have a good voice and cadence for this kind of thing.
I grew up watching LeVar Burton, I'm a big fan (also, he stole my phone for 5 minutes one time when I worked with him -- he just thought it was his phone and walked off with it after we talked, which is a story I always love to tell). I didn't really get too involved in the campaign for him to host "Jeopardy" but I certainly thought it was a good idea, and probably would've been better than who they wound up with. But he's hosting the new game show version of Trivial Pursuit and he really is an incredibly good host, just has that warm, calming but authoritative vibe you want. And Trivial Pursuit was always one of my favorite board games, so this is almost as good as watching him host "Jeopardy," at least for me.
z) "Scrabble"
I've never been quite as big on Scrabble as a board game, and Raven-Symone is a less natural game show host, but this works pretty well as a pair of game shows, good semi-mindless entertainment.
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 25, 2024 at 3:08 PM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment