I prefer to think of Amazon's Dad TV shows (Bosch, Jack Ryan, Reacher, etc.) as Cromulent TV. It's well-made, entertaining, keeps my interest, and then a week later I don't remember what a single episode was about.
As a dad of a high school senior (MTHS), I feel your "out of the key demographic" pain - I guess letters to Paramount about all the things wrong with Star Trek will now fall on deaf ears. Definitely keep on the ginger tea and, of course, a comfortable chair pillow.
"Bosch: A policeman who is bad at putting his hands in his pockets" remains one of the funniest gags I've ever heard. I don't know if credit is owed to Alan or to Brian Grubb, but it's beautiful.
Burt Young's death (RIP) was a great excuse to watch a bunch of clips of his fantastic one episode arc on Sopranos. Was trying to think of great one episode characters in TV history and Bill Camp as "God" was the one that stood out the most (he played 3 characters over 4 episodes so damn well).
What are some other favorite one episode characters?
Bosch fans may enjoy Michael Connelly's recent appearance on legendary sitcom writer Ken Levine's podcast. Shawn Ryan was also a recent guest - Ken's on a great run.
As someone who used to teach 3-hour online classes in which I had to talk for most of that time, I highly recommend Lemon-Ginger tea from Stash. It's a miracle worker for soothing/healing your voice. If you prefer some caffeine, their Peach Ginger with Matcha is also helpful.
Speaking of spin-offs, I wish revival more shows would’ve either subtitles (like the recent ‘Justified: City Primeval’) or add ‘New’ to the title (like ‘The New WKRP’) so it’s separate from the original main series instead of being lumped in. I think the non-distinction has really hurt the legacy of Arrested Development.
I’m glad you & Matt separated the revival seasons of the shows when it came to scoring.
Had Bill Lawrence won the fight to call the final Scrubs season "Scrubs Med," or whatever, and treat it as a spinoff with Turk and Dr. Cox returning, people would look on that show very differently, yes.
Hey, you're entitled to your opinion, but I respectfully disagree. The 9th season had an entirely different feel to it. It felt like a cheap, schlocky mediocre sitcom. I'm not saying the first 8 seasons were perfect, but they were more heartfelt, lived-in, and had a much stronger emotional core. The 9th season felt like a cheap rip-off or like the network saving as much $$ as possible for a shoddier project that pretended to have the same aspirations, when it didn't.
Meanwhile, I'm surprised to be suddenly swimming in a sea of new scripted content, with The Fall of the House of Usher, Bodies (intriguing but as yet unsampled), and the last batch of Doom Patrol all dropped on the heels of the recently fired up Loki and Quantum Leap, while my Phils are marching through the playoffs. So that's what I'm watching -- or trying to keep up with, at least, but surely the strike-prompted content vacuum will reassert itself before things get moving again. (The news looms large as well; sigh.)
Enjoyed your comments about audiobooks. Enjoyed your work on "TV(The Book)" (as I have lately the audio work of your sometimes arch-nemesis Joe Poznanski on his recent baseball book). In keeping with the Dad-TV theme, I also belong to the Dad Audiobook cohort. Assuming you ever have time, I'd recommend the abridged John le Carre narrated versions of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People as peak Dad Audiobook. In the fiction realm I think they are the best author-narrated audiobooks available even though abridged. Best.
Dad TV is real? I nominate Blue Bloods and NCIs (but only the Gibbs years). One of my favorite aspects is that the leads only date women their age and treat younger female characters respectfully, like daughters.
Off-topic for this week but did the company that made the opening credits for "The Morning Show" have the same responsibility for "Lessons In Chemistry" (both Apple+)? As with "Morning", after the mandatory first episode view of the "Chemistry" credits the next time I couldn't hit the "skip" button fast enough.
You missed a golden crossover-headline opportunity: "Welcome to the O.C., Bosch"
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS WRITING THE HEADLINES, ARBEN?!?!?!
I prefer to think of Amazon's Dad TV shows (Bosch, Jack Ryan, Reacher, etc.) as Cromulent TV. It's well-made, entertaining, keeps my interest, and then a week later I don't remember what a single episode was about.
As a dad of a high school senior (MTHS), I feel your "out of the key demographic" pain - I guess letters to Paramount about all the things wrong with Star Trek will now fall on deaf ears. Definitely keep on the ginger tea and, of course, a comfortable chair pillow.
"Bosch: A policeman who is bad at putting his hands in his pockets" remains one of the funniest gags I've ever heard. I don't know if credit is owed to Alan or to Brian Grubb, but it's beautiful.
That’s all Brian.
Burt Young's death (RIP) was a great excuse to watch a bunch of clips of his fantastic one episode arc on Sopranos. Was trying to think of great one episode characters in TV history and Bill Camp as "God" was the one that stood out the most (he played 3 characters over 4 episodes so damn well).
What are some other favorite one episode characters?
Bosch fans may enjoy Michael Connelly's recent appearance on legendary sitcom writer Ken Levine's podcast. Shawn Ryan was also a recent guest - Ken's on a great run.
https://art19.com/shows/hollywood-and-levine
As someone who used to teach 3-hour online classes in which I had to talk for most of that time, I highly recommend Lemon-Ginger tea from Stash. It's a miracle worker for soothing/healing your voice. If you prefer some caffeine, their Peach Ginger with Matcha is also helpful.
Speaking of spin-offs, I wish revival more shows would’ve either subtitles (like the recent ‘Justified: City Primeval’) or add ‘New’ to the title (like ‘The New WKRP’) so it’s separate from the original main series instead of being lumped in. I think the non-distinction has really hurt the legacy of Arrested Development.
I’m glad you & Matt separated the revival seasons of the shows when it came to scoring.
Had Bill Lawrence won the fight to call the final Scrubs season "Scrubs Med," or whatever, and treat it as a spinoff with Turk and Dr. Cox returning, people would look on that show very differently, yes.
I don’t why that season bothers fans so much...it wasn’t any more inconsistent than any other Scrubs seasons.
Hey, you're entitled to your opinion, but I respectfully disagree. The 9th season had an entirely different feel to it. It felt like a cheap, schlocky mediocre sitcom. I'm not saying the first 8 seasons were perfect, but they were more heartfelt, lived-in, and had a much stronger emotional core. The 9th season felt like a cheap rip-off or like the network saving as much $$ as possible for a shoddier project that pretended to have the same aspirations, when it didn't.
AfterM*A*S*H
Meanwhile, I'm surprised to be suddenly swimming in a sea of new scripted content, with The Fall of the House of Usher, Bodies (intriguing but as yet unsampled), and the last batch of Doom Patrol all dropped on the heels of the recently fired up Loki and Quantum Leap, while my Phils are marching through the playoffs. So that's what I'm watching -- or trying to keep up with, at least, but surely the strike-prompted content vacuum will reassert itself before things get moving again. (The news looms large as well; sigh.)
Quantum Leap is decidedly not great but one of those shows I like having in the mix of my TV diet.
Enjoyed your comments about audiobooks. Enjoyed your work on "TV(The Book)" (as I have lately the audio work of your sometimes arch-nemesis Joe Poznanski on his recent baseball book). In keeping with the Dad-TV theme, I also belong to the Dad Audiobook cohort. Assuming you ever have time, I'd recommend the abridged John le Carre narrated versions of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People as peak Dad Audiobook. In the fiction realm I think they are the best author-narrated audiobooks available even though abridged. Best.
Dad TV is real? I nominate Blue Bloods and NCIs (but only the Gibbs years). One of my favorite aspects is that the leads only date women their age and treat younger female characters respectfully, like daughters.
Off-topic for this week but did the company that made the opening credits for "The Morning Show" have the same responsibility for "Lessons In Chemistry" (both Apple+)? As with "Morning", after the mandatory first episode view of the "Chemistry" credits the next time I couldn't hit the "skip" button fast enough.
I had no idea Big Mouth was still around. I liked it and thought it was absurdly funny but just flat out forgot about it.
*sigh*
There is just too much TV to watch.