This happened too late to put in the newsletter, but fascinating news out of Paramount Network: Yellowstone's ending this fall, but a new series has been greenlit that brings back everybody but Costner. Basically The Closer-->Major Crimes, Roseanne-->The Conners, Valerie-->The Hogan Family approach. And it has the benefit of the spinoff getting to stream on Paramount+, where Peacock has exclusive streaming rights to the original show.
Fully support the WGA strike, there are huge issues at play here and I feel like I'm already seeing the ill effects of "mini rooms" and all the other cost-cutting nonsense being employed by these studios. The news that both House of the Dragon and LOTR: Ring of Power will continue production without writers (or Ring of Power's showrunners) is not really surprising but also depressing. Both of these shows really suffered from weak writing and narrative choices their first seasons, neither one can afford to cut corners and take creative risks in their very important second seasons. But here both are plowing ahead without writers or showrunners.
If this sort of "damn the torpedos" executive hubris plays out across a wide swath of TV it could be a really ugly outcome for a lot of these studios' productions.
Really hoping Silo's first season ends with someone shining a bright light through their lone window and when they look outside its Henry Ian Cusick screaming at them that they need to push the button.
Speaking of catching up with a backlog - I watched Mae Martin’s “Feel Good” and WOW. Very smart, extremely funny, and a couple of scenes just absolutely wrecked me. One of the best “comedian plays themselves” I’ve scenes in years.
Thoughts on the current season of Ted Lasso? JoePos is really down on it and while I agree with his criticisms I still enjoy watching it. I’m hoping the current trajectory makes sense by the end.
Also Coach Beard belaboring the Hey Jude thing was like a sledgehammer to the face. We get it show - you don’t need to beat us over the head with your point
I am sure being high had something to do with it but I found WHP to be hilarious – it felt like a cross between The Nice Guys and ITYSL type of humor.
I do understand folks saying the episode felt disjointed (Woody’s teeth prosthetics annoyed me) but Theroux stole every scene and I look forward to watching more.
Theroux is very funny in the first episode, but that performance is a LOT to follow across five hours, especially since it's in conflict with so much else. (And gets even more so in the later episodes.)
Not to sound dumb, but I'm very curious if picketing still has any sort of impact today. I almost feel like, though of course I may be wrong, that the real battle is being done on social media. Do you think there's still a value and a need in going to picket in front of studio offices?
1. Picketers have forced several productions to shut down for the day so far. That's tangible impact. 2. Pictures and video of the picketers have been a core part of the social media battle. If everyone is home on their couches tweeting, it doesn't have nearly the tangible impact of seeing them out there marching and protesting every day.
We finished 'The Diplomat' and loved its level of craft despite some of the more problematic aspects. 'Mrs. Davis' has been a bat$#!%-crazy delight. I'm looking forward to finally taking on 'Barry'.
As for the strike, I just heard from someone who I have barely heard from since 2008. Mostly because I still have a Twitter account that I hardly ever use. I miss my old Twitter client. It doesn't work anymore and the real one is crap
Okay... Started typing the last time and it said that I should verify who I am. Or something like that. That was a novel approach since the page already had my name on it. But no problem, it appears that I am here. Which is great because I don't remember my password.
I know everyone will hate this but I'm just happy they manage to get this strike going late enough that they could get Grey's Anatomy in the can. Still loyal after all these years. I am much happier to have a strike in May than one in November or December or whatever it was.
I'm terribly behind on half of my shows anyway - and we are mostly talking about OTA networks - because I have spent so much of last year following people related to the war in Ukraine. Actually a lot of them were in Russia, but most of them are not there anymore, because I wouldn't have been following them in the first place, if they had been in favor of the war. I've learned about all sorts of interesting places like Georgia and Uzbekistan and the guy who moved to Poland from Ukraine fell off the map which made me sad, and I'm trying to think if there's any other places that people settled, from Russia Oh right, Turkey. I've never really been a fan of Russia but I was curious. And I have decided - still not a fan.
But anyway it's been getting in the way of watching actual television series. And yeah I'm watching the Americans again, and oddly, eight is enough (because it's much easier streaming and maybe they will put back in that little jab they took at all the reality TV shows back in the late '70s early '80s. But probably not. I think they took it out for syndication) and also Third Watch because I never got to it, my brother pointed out it's connection to 9/11 And I want to see what Kim Raver was doing at the time (going back to Grey's Anatomy at this convenient point, I did the math on Amelia Shepherd and it seems she had a child at the age of 51. I wonder how Caterina actually is But I'm too lazy to look. Kim's character also had a baby the previous season. Yes it was a convenient point)
I miss Meredith but I made it to the end of ER even when I didn't want to, and the new interns are interesting and probably a lot less stupid. Times have changed a great deal since the show began. Perhaps women don't end up begging for toxic relationships with guys called McDreamy, and guys don't punch each out on a regular basis anymore. We can only hope. Plus we have decided to be socially conscious. I'm not sure whether it's blatantly obvious or whether I just notice it more now than when I was watching ER, which was always that way. Also we lost two medical dramas last year after New Amsterdam committed suicide in season 4, improved in season 5 and then obviously got canceled. And I really miss the Canadian series Transplant. Come on, NBC, you don't have anything else to show anyway!
I have been busily not watching a whole bunch of first responder dramas, plus the rookie, this season, so I need to catch up on those, But I made it to the end of A Million Little Things before anybody spoiled me. I probably won't make it to the end of Not Dead Yet before ABC cancels it. That would be sad because it's the only sitcom I'm watching. Although I really mean to get back to the wonder years if they ever put it on. Plus I have to finish season 1. It's odd that I can't seem to watch sitcoms anymore and the last thing I held onto tightly was when Tubi reran The Grinder. I loved that show dearly. (Meanwhile I still can't make it through Better Off Ted. I wonder what the difference is)
About the Americans, by the time I found out it was on there was no way to start at the beginning. Then I watched three seasons and forgot, and when I went back I had to watch all three seasons again. So I finally made it to the end and now I've just had a craving to watch it again. I finally googled for your reviews of the episodes, But I haven't found the season enders yet. And I just got to the end of season 3, for the third time. I should try harder.
But I do think it gets more enjoyable as it goes along, both as it leans more into its own ridiculousness, and as viewers adjust to its wavelength. So I'm not surprised if IMDb users liked the last two more than the ones that dropped in week one.
I'm gonna check WHP, not really my style, but will give the 1st episode a chance. Silo sounds interesting to me and I'll definitely check it out.
I'm curious to know if you watched "Rabbit Hole" (not sure you wrote about it) I guess everyone was expecting a 'Jack Bauer revival' type of show, but its bad, really bad, the type of show that looks like it was written by an AI, to put in this week's context.
Also, there is a new show doing headlines: "From" mystery with horror elements, featuring Harold Perrineau. I've read good things/reviews about it and I'm excited to watch it.
Don't think I can give Bupkis any of my time. I just can't watch another show about a self-absorbed man child stumbling his way through life. Ramy, Dave and the like are just too hard to watch without yelling at the screen about them once again making the worst choice, seemingly realizing their error and then repeating it over and over.
I was hoping you'd us know when Lucky Hank (the new Bob Odenkirk vehicle) finally debuted. But it looks like it's been out for a while now. Is it just something you haven't had a chance to get to?
I mentioned it in the newsletter that published the week it debuted, and I'll probably have more to say in next week's newsletter, since the finale premieres this Sunday. I had mixed feelings on it at the start, but have grown to really like it, especially as it's moved away from the source material (a book I love, but that the show didn't seem to know what to do with).
This happened too late to put in the newsletter, but fascinating news out of Paramount Network: Yellowstone's ending this fall, but a new series has been greenlit that brings back everybody but Costner. Basically The Closer-->Major Crimes, Roseanne-->The Conners, Valerie-->The Hogan Family approach. And it has the benefit of the spinoff getting to stream on Paramount+, where Peacock has exclusive streaming rights to the original show.
Literally the only letter I've ever written to a network about a show was to express some crankiness when ABC canceled CUPID.
In retrospect it was a deeply silly thing to do.
Fully support the WGA strike, there are huge issues at play here and I feel like I'm already seeing the ill effects of "mini rooms" and all the other cost-cutting nonsense being employed by these studios. The news that both House of the Dragon and LOTR: Ring of Power will continue production without writers (or Ring of Power's showrunners) is not really surprising but also depressing. Both of these shows really suffered from weak writing and narrative choices their first seasons, neither one can afford to cut corners and take creative risks in their very important second seasons. But here both are plowing ahead without writers or showrunners.
If this sort of "damn the torpedos" executive hubris plays out across a wide swath of TV it could be a really ugly outcome for a lot of these studios' productions.
Really hoping Silo's first season ends with someone shining a bright light through their lone window and when they look outside its Henry Ian Cusick screaming at them that they need to push the button.
Not Penny's boat!
Speaking of catching up with a backlog - I watched Mae Martin’s “Feel Good” and WOW. Very smart, extremely funny, and a couple of scenes just absolutely wrecked me. One of the best “comedian plays themselves” I’ve scenes in years.
Loved it. Wrote about it here: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/feel-good-netflix-review-966236/
and here: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/feel-good-season-2-review-1174794/
Well, somehow autocorrect made a mess of that last sentence and I guess I can’t edit and fix it? Oh well!
Thoughts on the current season of Ted Lasso? JoePos is really down on it and while I agree with his criticisms I still enjoy watching it. I’m hoping the current trajectory makes sense by the end.
Wrote about it in last week's newsletter, and I imagine I will again at season's end. I am not happy with any of it other than Jamie and Coach Beard.
Also Coach Beard belaboring the Hey Jude thing was like a sledgehammer to the face. We get it show - you don’t need to beat us over the head with your point
Would have liked more Jamie/Roy interactions this episode - those have been the highlight of the season for me
Alan wrote about them in last week’s newsletter.
I'm with you, personally - I still enjoy watching the show, but I also agree with the criticisms I've read of it.
I am sure being high had something to do with it but I found WHP to be hilarious – it felt like a cross between The Nice Guys and ITYSL type of humor.
I do understand folks saying the episode felt disjointed (Woody’s teeth prosthetics annoyed me) but Theroux stole every scene and I look forward to watching more.
Theroux is very funny in the first episode, but that performance is a LOT to follow across five hours, especially since it's in conflict with so much else. (And gets even more so in the later episodes.)
got it - thanks for the insight, Alan!
Try watching one more episode of Silo: ep 3. It’s insanely exciting.
Not to sound dumb, but I'm very curious if picketing still has any sort of impact today. I almost feel like, though of course I may be wrong, that the real battle is being done on social media. Do you think there's still a value and a need in going to picket in front of studio offices?
1. Picketers have forced several productions to shut down for the day so far. That's tangible impact. 2. Pictures and video of the picketers have been a core part of the social media battle. If everyone is home on their couches tweeting, it doesn't have nearly the tangible impact of seeing them out there marching and protesting every day.
Interesting! And makes a lot of sense.
How does the picketing helped shutting down productions? Is it because crews skipped work to join in, or did they actively interrupt sets?
The latter, I think. Making too much noise to film.
We finished 'The Diplomat' and loved its level of craft despite some of the more problematic aspects. 'Mrs. Davis' has been a bat$#!%-crazy delight. I'm looking forward to finally taking on 'Barry'.
As for the strike, I just heard from someone who I have barely heard from since 2008. Mostly because I still have a Twitter account that I hardly ever use. I miss my old Twitter client. It doesn't work anymore and the real one is crap
Am I here yet?
Okay... Started typing the last time and it said that I should verify who I am. Or something like that. That was a novel approach since the page already had my name on it. But no problem, it appears that I am here. Which is great because I don't remember my password.
I know everyone will hate this but I'm just happy they manage to get this strike going late enough that they could get Grey's Anatomy in the can. Still loyal after all these years. I am much happier to have a strike in May than one in November or December or whatever it was.
I'm terribly behind on half of my shows anyway - and we are mostly talking about OTA networks - because I have spent so much of last year following people related to the war in Ukraine. Actually a lot of them were in Russia, but most of them are not there anymore, because I wouldn't have been following them in the first place, if they had been in favor of the war. I've learned about all sorts of interesting places like Georgia and Uzbekistan and the guy who moved to Poland from Ukraine fell off the map which made me sad, and I'm trying to think if there's any other places that people settled, from Russia Oh right, Turkey. I've never really been a fan of Russia but I was curious. And I have decided - still not a fan.
But anyway it's been getting in the way of watching actual television series. And yeah I'm watching the Americans again, and oddly, eight is enough (because it's much easier streaming and maybe they will put back in that little jab they took at all the reality TV shows back in the late '70s early '80s. But probably not. I think they took it out for syndication) and also Third Watch because I never got to it, my brother pointed out it's connection to 9/11 And I want to see what Kim Raver was doing at the time (going back to Grey's Anatomy at this convenient point, I did the math on Amelia Shepherd and it seems she had a child at the age of 51. I wonder how Caterina actually is But I'm too lazy to look. Kim's character also had a baby the previous season. Yes it was a convenient point)
I miss Meredith but I made it to the end of ER even when I didn't want to, and the new interns are interesting and probably a lot less stupid. Times have changed a great deal since the show began. Perhaps women don't end up begging for toxic relationships with guys called McDreamy, and guys don't punch each out on a regular basis anymore. We can only hope. Plus we have decided to be socially conscious. I'm not sure whether it's blatantly obvious or whether I just notice it more now than when I was watching ER, which was always that way. Also we lost two medical dramas last year after New Amsterdam committed suicide in season 4, improved in season 5 and then obviously got canceled. And I really miss the Canadian series Transplant. Come on, NBC, you don't have anything else to show anyway!
I have been busily not watching a whole bunch of first responder dramas, plus the rookie, this season, so I need to catch up on those, But I made it to the end of A Million Little Things before anybody spoiled me. I probably won't make it to the end of Not Dead Yet before ABC cancels it. That would be sad because it's the only sitcom I'm watching. Although I really mean to get back to the wonder years if they ever put it on. Plus I have to finish season 1. It's odd that I can't seem to watch sitcoms anymore and the last thing I held onto tightly was when Tubi reran The Grinder. I loved that show dearly. (Meanwhile I still can't make it through Better Off Ted. I wonder what the difference is)
About the Americans, by the time I found out it was on there was no way to start at the beginning. Then I watched three seasons and forgot, and when I went back I had to watch all three seasons again. So I finally made it to the end and now I've just had a craving to watch it again. I finally googled for your reviews of the episodes, But I haven't found the season enders yet. And I just got to the end of season 3, for the third time. I should try harder.
Does anyone know what the title of this week’s Mrs. Davis is in reference too? Allison Treasures: A Southern California Story
I believe they have said they used chatGPT or some other AI program to generate the episode titles
Speaking of Mrs. Davis, IMDb ratings indicate that episodes five and six were a massive improvement over the first four episodes shown to critics.
Thank you! They all make so much more sense now! 😂
Jimmbo, critics saw the whole season.
But I do think it gets more enjoyable as it goes along, both as it leans more into its own ridiculousness, and as viewers adjust to its wavelength. So I'm not surprised if IMDb users liked the last two more than the ones that dropped in week one.
I'm gonna check WHP, not really my style, but will give the 1st episode a chance. Silo sounds interesting to me and I'll definitely check it out.
I'm curious to know if you watched "Rabbit Hole" (not sure you wrote about it) I guess everyone was expecting a 'Jack Bauer revival' type of show, but its bad, really bad, the type of show that looks like it was written by an AI, to put in this week's context.
Also, there is a new show doing headlines: "From" mystery with horror elements, featuring Harold Perrineau. I've read good things/reviews about it and I'm excited to watch it.
Cheers from Czech Republic!
Don't think I can give Bupkis any of my time. I just can't watch another show about a self-absorbed man child stumbling his way through life. Ramy, Dave and the like are just too hard to watch without yelling at the screen about them once again making the worst choice, seemingly realizing their error and then repeating it over and over.
I was hoping you'd us know when Lucky Hank (the new Bob Odenkirk vehicle) finally debuted. But it looks like it's been out for a while now. Is it just something you haven't had a chance to get to?
I mentioned it in the newsletter that published the week it debuted, and I'll probably have more to say in next week's newsletter, since the finale premieres this Sunday. I had mixed feelings on it at the start, but have grown to really like it, especially as it's moved away from the source material (a book I love, but that the show didn't seem to know what to do with).