'Picard' and 'The Mandalorian' end, Betty Gilpin and Keri Russell rule 'Mrs. Davis' and 'The Diplomat,' plus 'Somebody Somewhere,' 'The Mandalorian,' 'Succession' & 'Barry'
I can't handle all of these shows. Besides must-see Succession, now we have Barry and Somebody, both which I have to see since I've seen all seasons. I'm also watching Lasso and Maisel and Dave. I love Keri but who has the time to watch everything?
Welcome to TV in Emmy-bait season, where networks and streamers drop all their best stuff just before the eligibility window closes (at the end of May) in hopes this stuff will be fresh in the minds of voters. It is *exhausting* to cover.
I don't know how you watch all of this stuff. It's overwhelming. Thankfully, we can record or stream and watch when it's convenient but I can't believe all the good programs that are coming out now. How does any show get noticed?
1. I don't watch all this stuff. Hell, I don't even watch most of it. There's a lot of triage that goes on.
2. Very few of these shows do get noticed. It was hilarious to see how many big prestige-y shows with major stars attached came and went last spring without making so much as a ripple. Starz had a Watergate miniseries starring Julia freaking Roberts and Sean freaking Penn, and I never heard one word about it from anyone. Meanwhile, the majority of the Emmy nominations went to usual suspects like Ted Lasso and Succession, while the big limited series winner was White Lotus, which aired back in the summer when it was much easier to get attention.
This season of Picard was something I didn't know I needed and probably mostly because it was just fun to see these characters back on screen again. ST:TNG got my through high school and college back when the only time shifted viewing was on VCR. Great bit of nostalgia.
• I kept expecting to see Agnes though. But I'm guessing all of season two was ignored or didn't happen.
• A changed Worf was a highlight for sure and a very real LOL when he said "swords are fun".
• A smiling Data - with a real human smile - was also something I didn't know I wanted to see.
But at curtain call, I was a bit sad with the certainty that this will probably be for-reals-this-time the last time I see these characters together. Fun ride though!
The beginning of Mrs. Davis is just so wild and still not even close to being the wildest intro to a Lindelof show. Only watched one but loving it so far, feels the perfect time for an AI show to debut as well.
I am loving Mrs. Davis. The show is about so many things that your head might explode (and some heads do explode!): the role of faith and belief in the world of A.I., about storytelling, about gender dynamics, about love. You can write, make movies or TV shows about any of those topics and it would be interesting. This show is trying to do all of it, and I mean ALL of it in 8 episodes. It is also a show about serious things that doesn't take itself seriously (at all!). I wrote my own review here:
You have convinced me to start Somebody Somewhere tonight instead of Daisy Jones, which I was feeling lukewarm about. My evening is looking up, thank you!
I love both series FWIW! Daisy Jones is just a fun biopic. I totally understand Alan's reservations, but if you like biopics at all (tbh they're hit or miss for me, but this one definitely hit), then I still think it's worth the watch. After the first 2-3 episodes, I couldn't stop watching. That said, definitely watch Somebody Somewhere! I only caught it a while after it debuted, but it's such a good "small" show.
I'm a half-dozen episodes (or more) behind. My family started watching the show together earlier in the year, going back to the beginning for those who hadn't seen it before, and we have not yet caught up.
Do you have any thoughts? I feel like it's definitely settled into a sitcom groove with all characters pretty well-established at this point. We even have the good ol' will-they-won't-they brewing! I haven't seen S2E22 yet, but I've seen the rest of the episodes.
Reading up thread about too many shows. Man, it’s like books. A. You can’t watch it all. B. You definitely shouldn’t juggle too many shows at the same time! I keep a list. I will watch *some* shows once a week, but many I watch out of time. That’s just the reality of TV today.
I liked The Mandalorian fine. It’s not a great show. But I like the world and characters. Having said that, I agree with you that getting back to an adventure per week is for the best.
Other shows winding down: Abbott Elementary (so damned good! With What We Do in the Shadows on hiatus, I will rank Abbott Elementary the best comedy on TV.), Rain Dogs is wrapping on Monday night. It took a dark turn. I am not sure how I feel about it. The acting is incredible but the last few episodes have been relentlessly bleak.
I am definitely planning to check out Mrs. Davis and The Diplomat but I am going to have to wait until a slot opens up.
I am committing myself to watching Rain Dogs weekly at least through the first season, but man, it's not really a show I look forward to watching, even though I think it's good. As you mentioned, I think it's just getting pretty bleak, especially since "Didion Hell" and the incredibly toxic aspects of Costello and Selby's relationship that it drudged up.
Yes. That’s exactly it. And sheesh this week’s episode started okay and then got very dark. It’s just tough to take. I feel better knowing I am not the only one sort of dreading watching it each week. I think I might be done with the show after this season regardless of its future. No regrets though. I loved seeing Jack Farthing in an entirely different role from Poldark.
Yeah, it seems like a theme in the series haha, if things even start to look up or seem OK for a bit, we have to drive these characters to even worse, darker places. Only one more episode for this season, at least! Yeah, I'm not entirely sure I can take another season, at least not with a long break in between. I can't say I've seen Jack Farthing in anything else before, but he's certainly doing a great job with the mercurial Selby.
Mrs. Davis absolutely rules. It occasionally dips into too broad (example from the beginning of the first episode: I laughed a lot at the “NOT PARIS” title card, but then the “OBVIOUSLY” felt like too much), but for the most part it’s funny, exciting and meaningful all at once. And Gilpin is just fantastic - although she’s shown her star power many times over in previous projects, this one feels utterly perfect for her. Her reaction to Wiley asking about driving through the donut destroyed me.
Without saying much, there’s a reveal at the end of one of the currently-released episodes that was fascinating, and I absolutely love the direction it’s taken the show. Definitely feels of a part with Lindelof’s other projects, despite being more overtly comedic and him not being the showrunner. But also four episodes the first week remains too many, and that’s especially noticeable with this one where episode 3 would have been a great cliffhanger.
Lindelof did an interview in The Watch podcast where he talked about the idea of the "high low," something that it's so pretentious is stupid, and I think that kind of defines the show. It goes for lofty and emotional themes but it does it in a fun, bonkers way. I am really enjoying it. And I agree, the show feels like it is part of Lindelof's work, thematically in particular, although maybe sillier than some of his other shows.
Was hoping The Diplomat would be a more cerebral drama. Everyone is good in it but not my sort of show. Mrs. Davis sounds like a lot to digest, I feel like I'm going to need to be well-rested for that.
It's too much. They could have cut the entire subplot about the team at the hotel, we would have missed nothing, and it still probably would have been too long.
As much as the length, the episode typified my other big problem with the season, which is that everyone is siloed off in their own subplot, with fairly minimal interaction. I don't really care about soccer, but the reason the show worked in Season One was because all of the characters were in some way connected via the team itself, whether they were working together or against one another. Now, it's a million storylines that are only vaguely related because they involve characters who are coworkers and/or friends.
I understand why Keeley left the team--growth, independence, and a reason for Roy and her to separate--but the show would have been better off keeping her as the team's PR Director and losing the "Keeley's World" spin-off.
It is such a bummer that, when Keeley told Rebecca she was going off to watch the Northern Lights with Jack, my first reaction was, "Oh, good. I hope we don't see her again for the rest of the episode." I love Keeley. I should not be feeling like that. But that's what the show has done.
It's funny because I saw the episode was 63 minutes and was like "dear lord..." then I watched the entire thing, and I was kind of like "I wish most of these storylines were given more time and were fleshed out even more in the context of this episode" haha.
I rarely find a misplaced idea or object in Succession, but I highly doubt there would have been fish tacos ever at any Roy event, let alone this semi-wake for Logan. But it was a funny Gerri line!
As you stated Picard season 3 was a little messy in the details but boy when it clicked the feels were real and powerful. The only thing that came close for me in recent memory was the Amazon Prime Kids in the Hall reboot. Hearing that theme song and seeing how they all aged was part Time Machine and part reality check. Just to be clear I do enjoy new and original content too but there’s no denying the power of the things that meant a lot to you in your adolescence.
My wife asked, “You would rather watch this silly show than spend time with me?”
Nuns, AI and suspected nihilists won the first round.
I have chosen….wisely
I can't handle all of these shows. Besides must-see Succession, now we have Barry and Somebody, both which I have to see since I've seen all seasons. I'm also watching Lasso and Maisel and Dave. I love Keri but who has the time to watch everything?
Welcome to TV in Emmy-bait season, where networks and streamers drop all their best stuff just before the eligibility window closes (at the end of May) in hopes this stuff will be fresh in the minds of voters. It is *exhausting* to cover.
I don't know how you watch all of this stuff. It's overwhelming. Thankfully, we can record or stream and watch when it's convenient but I can't believe all the good programs that are coming out now. How does any show get noticed?
1. I don't watch all this stuff. Hell, I don't even watch most of it. There's a lot of triage that goes on.
2. Very few of these shows do get noticed. It was hilarious to see how many big prestige-y shows with major stars attached came and went last spring without making so much as a ripple. Starz had a Watergate miniseries starring Julia freaking Roberts and Sean freaking Penn, and I never heard one word about it from anyone. Meanwhile, the majority of the Emmy nominations went to usual suspects like Ted Lasso and Succession, while the big limited series winner was White Lotus, which aired back in the summer when it was much easier to get attention.
True. In fact, I never heard about that Watergate series or most of the new shows on Netflix or any of the other streaming services.
Same... I need the TV Time app to keep my shows straight.
I'll put in a word for the TV Calendar site (https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/), which I've been using for probably about 15 years now.
This season of Picard was something I didn't know I needed and probably mostly because it was just fun to see these characters back on screen again. ST:TNG got my through high school and college back when the only time shifted viewing was on VCR. Great bit of nostalgia.
• I kept expecting to see Agnes though. But I'm guessing all of season two was ignored or didn't happen.
• A changed Worf was a highlight for sure and a very real LOL when he said "swords are fun".
• A smiling Data - with a real human smile - was also something I didn't know I wanted to see.
But at curtain call, I was a bit sad with the certainty that this will probably be for-reals-this-time the last time I see these characters together. Fun ride though!
Worf was the MVP. All you need to do to make my mom laugh at least for the time being is say "I have made some chamomile tea, do you take sugar?"
The beginning of Mrs. Davis is just so wild and still not even close to being the wildest intro to a Lindelof show. Only watched one but loving it so far, feels the perfect time for an AI show to debut as well.
I am loving Mrs. Davis. The show is about so many things that your head might explode (and some heads do explode!): the role of faith and belief in the world of A.I., about storytelling, about gender dynamics, about love. You can write, make movies or TV shows about any of those topics and it would be interesting. This show is trying to do all of it, and I mean ALL of it in 8 episodes. It is also a show about serious things that doesn't take itself seriously (at all!). I wrote my own review here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/manulopez/p/mrs-davis-ai-and-the-place-of-religion?r=2buies&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
You have convinced me to start Somebody Somewhere tonight instead of Daisy Jones, which I was feeling lukewarm about. My evening is looking up, thank you!
I love both series FWIW! Daisy Jones is just a fun biopic. I totally understand Alan's reservations, but if you like biopics at all (tbh they're hit or miss for me, but this one definitely hit), then I still think it's worth the watch. After the first 2-3 episodes, I couldn't stop watching. That said, definitely watch Somebody Somewhere! I only caught it a while after it debuted, but it's such a good "small" show.
What’s “Dad TV?” Have you written about this anywhere? Want to read!
I wrote about it in that review of The Diplomat that I linked to in this here newsletter!
Alan, any thoughts about the recently completed 2nd season of Abbott Elementary?
I'm a half-dozen episodes (or more) behind. My family started watching the show together earlier in the year, going back to the beginning for those who hadn't seen it before, and we have not yet caught up.
Do you have any thoughts? I feel like it's definitely settled into a sitcom groove with all characters pretty well-established at this point. We even have the good ol' will-they-won't-they brewing! I haven't seen S2E22 yet, but I've seen the rest of the episodes.
Reading up thread about too many shows. Man, it’s like books. A. You can’t watch it all. B. You definitely shouldn’t juggle too many shows at the same time! I keep a list. I will watch *some* shows once a week, but many I watch out of time. That’s just the reality of TV today.
I liked The Mandalorian fine. It’s not a great show. But I like the world and characters. Having said that, I agree with you that getting back to an adventure per week is for the best.
Other shows winding down: Abbott Elementary (so damned good! With What We Do in the Shadows on hiatus, I will rank Abbott Elementary the best comedy on TV.), Rain Dogs is wrapping on Monday night. It took a dark turn. I am not sure how I feel about it. The acting is incredible but the last few episodes have been relentlessly bleak.
I am definitely planning to check out Mrs. Davis and The Diplomat but I am going to have to wait until a slot opens up.
I am committing myself to watching Rain Dogs weekly at least through the first season, but man, it's not really a show I look forward to watching, even though I think it's good. As you mentioned, I think it's just getting pretty bleak, especially since "Didion Hell" and the incredibly toxic aspects of Costello and Selby's relationship that it drudged up.
Yes. That’s exactly it. And sheesh this week’s episode started okay and then got very dark. It’s just tough to take. I feel better knowing I am not the only one sort of dreading watching it each week. I think I might be done with the show after this season regardless of its future. No regrets though. I loved seeing Jack Farthing in an entirely different role from Poldark.
Yeah, it seems like a theme in the series haha, if things even start to look up or seem OK for a bit, we have to drive these characters to even worse, darker places. Only one more episode for this season, at least! Yeah, I'm not entirely sure I can take another season, at least not with a long break in between. I can't say I've seen Jack Farthing in anything else before, but he's certainly doing a great job with the mercurial Selby.
Mrs. Davis absolutely rules. It occasionally dips into too broad (example from the beginning of the first episode: I laughed a lot at the “NOT PARIS” title card, but then the “OBVIOUSLY” felt like too much), but for the most part it’s funny, exciting and meaningful all at once. And Gilpin is just fantastic - although she’s shown her star power many times over in previous projects, this one feels utterly perfect for her. Her reaction to Wiley asking about driving through the donut destroyed me.
Without saying much, there’s a reveal at the end of one of the currently-released episodes that was fascinating, and I absolutely love the direction it’s taken the show. Definitely feels of a part with Lindelof’s other projects, despite being more overtly comedic and him not being the showrunner. But also four episodes the first week remains too many, and that’s especially noticeable with this one where episode 3 would have been a great cliffhanger.
Lindelof did an interview in The Watch podcast where he talked about the idea of the "high low," something that it's so pretentious is stupid, and I think that kind of defines the show. It goes for lofty and emotional themes but it does it in a fun, bonkers way. I am really enjoying it. And I agree, the show feels like it is part of Lindelof's work, thematically in particular, although maybe sillier than some of his other shows.
Was hoping The Diplomat would be a more cerebral drama. Everyone is good in it but not my sort of show. Mrs. Davis sounds like a lot to digest, I feel like I'm going to need to be well-rested for that.
63 minutes of Ted Lasso is mostly 63 good minutes but I wish that the episodes were cut in half and the season was twice as long.
It's too much. They could have cut the entire subplot about the team at the hotel, we would have missed nothing, and it still probably would have been too long.
As much as the length, the episode typified my other big problem with the season, which is that everyone is siloed off in their own subplot, with fairly minimal interaction. I don't really care about soccer, but the reason the show worked in Season One was because all of the characters were in some way connected via the team itself, whether they were working together or against one another. Now, it's a million storylines that are only vaguely related because they involve characters who are coworkers and/or friends.
I understand why Keeley left the team--growth, independence, and a reason for Roy and her to separate--but the show would have been better off keeping her as the team's PR Director and losing the "Keeley's World" spin-off.
It is such a bummer that, when Keeley told Rebecca she was going off to watch the Northern Lights with Jack, my first reaction was, "Oh, good. I hope we don't see her again for the rest of the episode." I love Keeley. I should not be feeling like that. But that's what the show has done.
It's funny because I saw the episode was 63 minutes and was like "dear lord..." then I watched the entire thing, and I was kind of like "I wish most of these storylines were given more time and were fleshed out even more in the context of this episode" haha.
I rarely find a misplaced idea or object in Succession, but I highly doubt there would have been fish tacos ever at any Roy event, let alone this semi-wake for Logan. But it was a funny Gerri line!
Alan - I watched the series finale with you (DS9), how do you think this compared?
As you stated Picard season 3 was a little messy in the details but boy when it clicked the feels were real and powerful. The only thing that came close for me in recent memory was the Amazon Prime Kids in the Hall reboot. Hearing that theme song and seeing how they all aged was part Time Machine and part reality check. Just to be clear I do enjoy new and original content too but there’s no denying the power of the things that meant a lot to you in your adolescence.
Looking forward to watching all of Picard S3 now that it’s all out. That feels more entertaining to me than whatever Mando had going on this season.