57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 13, 2022

 

Killing Eve:  Well, did not take long for crazy assassin lady to start assassinate non-feline people again.  But killing the priest, and especially his daughter, seemed even extreme for her.

 

The Walking Dead:  This show has been a hard watch for a while but Eugene becoming a mix of Veronica Mars and Carrie Mathieson was the most entertaining thing I have seen on this show in a very long time.  But of course the show had to ruin it by a stupid reveal at the end.  So does everyone in the community know she was a spy?  Was wearing glasses enough to disguise like she was Superman?

 

Billions:  So they are really are going through with the New York City stealing the Olympics.  For a show that wants to live in reality so much that they routinely bring in celebrities to play themselves, they are really going to deviate from reality with such a huge change from real world events.  Though is there anything at this point that Chuck can stop it?  Even if can prove shenanigans, would the IOC really switch a games for a third time?  And can he use Wendy to bring Prince down?  Without Bobby, out of the way, maybe it is time for them to get back together.

 

Super Pumped: The Fight for Uber:   Wait, Jay-Z and Beyoncé were stockholders and investors in Uber?  A quick internet search shows that they, indeed, invested in the app fairly early (and there apparently other celebrities that did the same, I wonder if they show up).  While the show’s musical budget can get enough now four Pearl Jam songs, they could not get a Jay-Z and Beyoncé and I can see why they do not really want to be associated with the app or show considering the debauchery that was in the episode.  I was surprised Lyft showed up so soon on the show.  I guess you had to assume the rivalry would be addresses eventually, but this was really quick.  But I do guess that Lyft seemed to pop up real soon after Uber.

 

Snowpiercer:  I was expecting Melanie to pop up in the dream.  Really no one we have not seen in a while made an appearance.  Though once I realized we were not getting Melanie in the dream sequence, her name randomly pops up because someone thinks she is in France.  Huh?  Wasn’t the lab she was at in Colorado?  How did she get to France?

 

The Endgame:  Nothing I have more than cops that are supposed to be super smart but cannot figure out the easiest connections.  They see the bank robbers take money and the screen is hacked by the head chick telling everyone to come to the back followed by the cops claiming they have no clue why she was doing either.  Well, of course they were moving the money to give it to the people coming to the bank to cause a diversion.  So easy to guess that.

 

Pam & Tommy:  I am not well versed in late period Motley Crue so I wonder if the song they played was an actual bland rock song or did they create some bland rock song for them to play since they could not license an actual Motley Crue song?  Whatever it was, I am just so glad the show is over.

 

Survivor:  How exactly do you need three days to decide to kick somebody off for lying about the medical records?  That seems like an obvious boot now, bring in an alternate.  Kind of gross they decided to let Jackson on to milk the drama like that.  Speaking of people who need to be fired beside whomever though that was a good idea: the editor needs to be fired too.  In the opening montage, we see Tori find the dumb phrase advantage, except she did not find it in the episode.  So when the editors made it seem like it was going to be either her or Zach at Tribal, obviously we knew who was not going home.  So stupid.

 

The Dropout:  In this week’s installment of random cameos: Cameron Frye, Harry Crane, the brother from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and Sam Waterson.  I really hope we get a Walgreens spinoff with the first three guys.  Obvious get Katy Perry to do the theme song.

 

Single Drunk Female:  Wait, didn’t that chick have her bachelorette party during Sam’s last bender which would be a year ago if Sam is now one year sober? 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 6, 2022

 

Killing Eve:  So the crazy lady assassin is religious now?  Okay, I guess she is still not above feline murder.

 

The Walking Dead:  So who is left back in Alexandra?  We gained from last week, Maggie was still there.  One armed guy is the only other person that I could think of off the top of my head.  Eugene was also conspicuously absent this week, but he was in the “Next Week On” so he was in Alexandra somewhere, we just did not see him.  Then Princess was almost unrecognizable without that puffy jacket.  But how long do we hvve to get to see that confrontation between Daryl and Maggie?

 

Billions:  Episode 6:  If you are in the same room as an instructor, why do you need a screen of the instructor two feet in front of your face?  But anyway.  Almost confusing is a Chinese company having a plant in Wisconsin.  Couldn’t it be cheaper to produce the product in their homeland?  Do they do this solely to slap “American made” on their product?  I am also a little confused to how Chuck is going to use Prince’s alma mater.

 

Snowpiercer:  Well, that escalated quickly. Pike and Layton were fighting Wilford two episodes ago, Pike tries to kill Layton last episode and Layton kills Pike this week.  But Layton kind of had to since Pike had the information of the Horn of Africa being a scam.  But is he just going to kill everyone that lady tells because she really let that slip fairly quickly to Pike.  And of course, people may find out sometime.  Are there really going to find a habitable place in Africa?  It would be weird doing Snowpierer without people actually living on Snowpierer.

 

The Endgame:  I missed how people think the evil lady’s husband was dead in the first episode only to see him talking to the agent’s husband.  How does no one know that someone who is prison is not dead?  Did he fake his death and part of the plan was him to get himself incarcerated with the husband?  What is this plan?  Is she just doing this to expose corruption within the government?  Is she just going to bring don a new official every week?

 

Resident Alien: The only thing funnier than cat murder: octopus murder apparently.  They just drug out that scene until it was not funny anymore and then continued some more until it was funny again.

 

The Dropout:  There is nothing I appreciate more than when shows populate their cast with recognizable actors no matter how small the role.  Sure William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf and the lady from 24 are big enough for more than two scenes in three episodes, but I appreciate the character work.  Then you got Stephan Fry and the guy from Ghost as lab technicians who I am not sure we will see much of after the initial three episodes.  The dude from the Blacklist just pops in for a couple scenes to ask what fork is going on.  I also spotted Cameron Frye in the “This Season On.”  Having recognizable actors, especially in a large ensemble makes it easier to remember who is who.

 

I have not been following this story very closely, just knowing the headline, but I was not ready for just how weird everything is.  It is interesting to watch this at the same time as the Uber show.  Travis built his whole brand on false bravado, while Elisabeth is just this weirdo with zero confidence, and when she tries to exude confidence, I am not sure she can even convince herself, she certainly does not seem to be convincing anyone else, at least not yet.  But as long as Elisabeth does some white girl dancing in every episode, this show may end up being my favorite show of the year.

 

Big Sky:  Silly me thinking Drew Carey’s brother was dead… again.  He already survived a bullet between the eyes, why would I think having his skull bashed in would be any different?  But it is time to wrap up both storylines; I am getting tired of both of them at this point.

 

The Blacklist:  So they waited until Park left to arrest the Conglomerate because they did not want to put her in danger?  Arresting everyone right after an agent leaves seems like the best way to put a target on her back.  Nothing says set up quite like a raid after someone leaves.  That seemed as dumb as no one realizing that the bug could still be on Lizzy after not finding it on her clothing.  That was the first place I thought of.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: February 27, 2022

 

The Walking Dead:  So Daryl, the ultimate loner, is going to join the creepy futuristic soldiers?  I feel a twist coming a mile away.  He is going to turn out to be a plant to see what the soldiers are really up to.

 

Billions:  For a guy who wants to do everything by the book, bribe the governor with the naming rights to an Olympic Stadium seems very underhanded.  Then you have Bonnie storming out after Prince put the training wheels back on her bike.  Is it safe to assume she goes to her former flame’s firm?  How many more will be there by the end of the season?  Prince has started to stock his firm with his own people.  It was also interesting to see Chuck and Wendy play nice.  Could they mend fences to take down Prince together?

 

Snowpiercer:  So, Pike was one of the few people who sided with Layton against Wilfred and now that he is back, he is already plotting against him and possibly trying to kill him?  Alrighty.

 

The Endgame:  So one of the most notorious international fugitives allows themselves to get caught.  Where have I seen this before?  Though maybe not entirely The Blacklist but female, they really did not really tell up much about what this show is going to be about.

 

Big Sky:  They really put extensions on Drew Carey’s brother just to kill him again halfway through the season again?  But let me guess, there is a triplet out there somewhere that will pop up in season three.  Hopefully we do not find out.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: January 20, 2022

 

Billions:  Finally a cameo I recognize.  Though if this season is about the Olympics, why bring in a college basketball coach?  Where are the Olympics?  Michael Phelps?  Carl Lewis?  Simone Biles?     But that running total of expenses was extremely cheesy and I have to wonder why it took six seasons to do that?

Are they finally going to give Sacker a storyline?  I feel like everyone I feel like mentioning her, I have to look up her name, she has been that insignificant.  Everyone under Chuck always have except when the one guy went after him yet Bobby always had people under him who seemed integral to the plot.  I wonder if she has a play separate from Chuck and Prince.  Everyone always has their own play, this is Billions.  I guess we just have to wait to see what that is.

 

Snowpiercer:  We have not seen Melanie this season and she was absent for most of the second half of last season, and now she is just haunting everyone.  They never found her body, will we actually see her alive again?  She cannot possibly be at the Horn of Africa where they are traveling to, can she?    They seem to be going further and further from where she was last seen so it does not seem they will be back her way anytime soon.

 

Pam & Tommy:  There was a scene in Wayne’s World where the titular character went to a gas station and when interacting with the attendant there, broke the fourth wall and said he knew that this was a small part, but couldn’t they have gotten a better actor for the part.  The joke was, they swapped out that actor with Charlton Heston.  I thought of this scene when Tommy confronted Third Eye Blind.  I was expecting fireworks considering the lead singer is as big a douchebag as Tommy Lee, but they cast some bland actor who could not have been a more boring, non-descript white dude.    Meh.  But I will say, this episode sucked the least.  I had a big laugh at Nikki Sixx reading the newspaper.  Like that ever happened.

 

Single Drunk Female:  Why do so many employees at that grocery store wear tank tops under their work aprons?  Especially since I believe the most recent episode took place in April.  I am not sure I am returning to a store like that.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: February 13, 2022

  

Claws:  Well, that ended exactly how I thought it would end after they started the season with Desna shooting a pregnant Quiet Ann.  The writers probably thought they were being clever, butt by adding that scene they really telegraphed the turn big time. Plus I really hate shows about antiheroes where they do not get the comeuppance that they deserve.  Only Uncle Daddy, but he still got to go to gay heaven, so not even the worst ending he could have had.  Then that illusion was confusing, I still am not sure where that second boat came from and how Quiet Ann got on it.

 

Billions:  Last week I was wondering what happened to the Los Angeles Olympics that were already awarded in 2028.  While that city has yet to be mentioned, Chuck did say they were going to try to, “steal the Olympics.”  This show really tries to make it look like it takes place in the real world; it is surprising they would take on something this big especially since the Olympics are clearly not going to move, so it is very obvious Chuck is going to win this war.  But hey, we did get Scooter and Wags bonding over Cat in the Cradle… that was entertaining.

 

Snowpiercer:  Wow, I was not expecting Layton to take over Snowpiercer that quickly.  Though I am not entirely sure what happened.  How did Layton get on the train so fast?  And why did he try to break the window.  Seems like a really dumb thing to do.  But now what?  They go to the Horn of Africa and just hope it is habitable?

 

Pam & Tommy:  Okay, Tommy listing off his list of enemies was pretty funny.  But was that supposed to be Motley Crue that Tommy was recording with?  I thought they were broken up when this whole thing was going on, or at least Vince Neil was no longer there.  But the most interesting Motley Crue event of this week was not on this show but the Nikki Sixx/Eddie Vedder fued.  But really sad Sixx thinks this is a competition, Pearl Jam is one of the greatest bands of all time that still puts out decent albums and the Crue are a joke hair metal band that everyone stopped paying attention before Pearl Jam even put out their first album.  I was shocked to see that Motley Crue has actually put out two albums this century.

 

The Book of Boba Fett:  That really felt like a fast food version of television: sure it tvstes good, but the more I think about it, the more I regret it.  It looked great, Mando was great, The Grogu return was great.  Fennic going ninja on the evil doers was great.  The Freetown citizens coming through like the Knights of the Vale was great.  The Wookie refusing to die was great.  Yet, the episode was not great.  It suffered from the superhero syndrome of having to unnecessarily having to destroy a city in the final fight.  I forgot the Rancor was still around.  I do not understand how Raylan got so injured that he was presumed dead, but will be kept alive by Boba’s tank and the mod guy.  It looked like he got shot in the shoulder and only was shot once unlike the deputy who was shot multiple times.  And it was disappointing that Cad Bane made a great entrance only to die in his second appearance.  For a second, I thought that was going to be him in the tank\.  But hey, Darth Maul was cut in half and still survived.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: January 6, 2022

  

Claws:  Really, we are supposed to believe Uncle Daddy went to gay heaven?  Dude is definitely going south of the border.  But what a horrible set up job.  Desna just puts all her fingerprints over the gun before even planting it, and then shoots Uncle Daddy with the gun.  It is going to be really hard to set him up now.  I would not be disappointed if Desna joins Uncle Daddy, but she is probably going to get away.

 

Billions:  So Mike Prince wants the 2028 Olympics for New York City?  Umm, who is going to break it to him that those games were already awarded to Los Angeles?  That is about as bizarre as Wags saying Frey would never do that to Henley.  Huh?  They had such a contentious relationship that they named their reunion tour “Hell Freezes Over.”  I do not know, seems like there was a time Frey would have outted Henley for performing a private concert for Kim Jung Un.

 

Snowpiercer:  So Wilford was going to freeze off Melanie’s arm and just decides against it just because Layton went by him (I am I the only one who just now realized that Layton was his last name?).  It will be interesting if Layton’s discovery will be able to win over any of Wilford’s faithful when the trains join back up.

 

Pam & Tommy:  Well this is turning out to be the longest Funny or Die sketch ever.  As of now, I am leaning towards “Die.”

 

The Book of Boba Fett:  I never thought I would see the day when Raylan Givens got outdueled.  But he is not dead, right?  Cad Bane did shoot him once, but riddled the deputy multiple times.  We got to hear what Raylan was going to tell the town and maybe get some insight of what was with the box of sand the Pykes took out to a desert.  Not that Boba will be lacking soldiers; he got the Wookie, the cyber punks, Fennic, Mando is coming back, possibly with Grogu and his tiny armor with him (obviously he is choosing the armor over the lightsaber, but why not let him have both, Luke).  Maybe Ahsoka who was just randomly at Luke’s academy for no apparent reason other than maybe make us remember she has a spinoff coming.  We may also see some surviving Tuscan Raiders join the fight.  While the Pykes just have Cad Bane.  Although Emilia Clarke has been the Mephisto of the Star Wars universe, so maybe she and Crimson Dawn comes by to even the odds.

 

Single Drunk Female:  How do you do an episode entitled “Shamrocks and Shenanigans” that takes place on St. Patrick’s Day and not feature any House of Pain songs?

Previewing Billions Season Six

 

I do not know what it is, but Damien Lewis always stays a season or four too long on a Showtime show.  Maybe he is just a great hang.  But he spent three seasons on Homeland even though had he blown himself up on the season finale of the first season, it may have made that one of greatest season in the history of television.  But he stuck around; the second season was fine but had some diminishing returns, though season three was one of the worst seasons in the history of television.

 

Shortly after being written of off Homeland, Lewis then showed up on Billions and once again, the show would have been much better in the long time had it written him off after a season or two.  The cat and mouse routine between his hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod and Paul Giamatti’s District Attorney was fine for the first two season but, once again, diminishing returns for subsequent seasons.  The show would have been much better off had Chuck had a new antagonist each season (or even better, had it been a limited season where they both ended up in prison cells next to each other at the end of it).

 

Though this time it feels like it was not a creative reason as to why Lewis was written off the show because nothing really has changed for the new season except for the person sitting in Bobby’s chair and the name on the side of the building.  Dollar Bill and McPhee took off at the end of last season, but everyone else returns whether they like it or not. 

 

Sure, the show wants you to think there are big changes, the season starts with Chuck on a tractor, Wendy looks like she is working as an ice cream maker, Sacker is doing combat training, Taylor is watching The Bachelor (or maybe random engagement videos), Wags is actually exercising, and Bobby’s replacement Mike Prince is, well, that is hard to explain.

 

Okay, there is a slight difference between Bobby and Mike Prince; Bobby would cut every corner to win.  Mike Prince on the other hand is a Boy Scout (or wants you to think that) who wants to do things with honor and want you to know just how on the straight and narrow he is.  Basically the worst kind of foe for Chuck, a guy who is not going to slip up because he cannot be tempted in doing something illegal.  Or so we are led to believe, he did double cross Chuck to get Bobby out of the way.

 

While the show wants you to think there are big changes  by the opening montage, it is still the very same Billions at its course and even pull off their way overused “One week earlier” trope and even doubles down on that trope by dropping a “Two weeks ago” title card while we were already a week in the past.  And really, nothing says Billions more than starting the episode with a classic rock song and then ending it with a rap song that samples the exact same classic rock song that opened the season.

 

Billions airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 10, 2021

 

 Billions:  Like Damian Lewis’s last Showtime show, he extended his usefulness to the show one to three seasons too long.  But if you are going to write him off the show, you are really going to write him off like that?  So basically the two main characters in their death feud somehow both seem to come out as losers?  Chuck was unable to get his white whale and Bobby was exiled, unable to do what he loves either.  I always thought the only way for the show to end after they spent so much time going after each other was for them both to lose, but I thought that should be they they end up in a cell next to each other this seems so hollow.

 

Making things worse is it looks like they are plugging in Mike Prince into the Bobby roll with very little change.  Prince literally is now sitting in Bobby’s office owning everything that Bobby once own.  The only difference is that Dollar Bill and McFee are gone and the logo on the wall will change.  I guess the only thing of interest going forward is which side exactly in the new Chuck vs. Prince feud will Wendy fall.  Who does she hate more?

 

The Walking Dead:  Watching the spin-off got me wondering, is the group that Eugene and company have gone to going to turn into the evil group in the spin-off?  Timeline is fuzzy and they do not have the three circle symbol (not that I was looking for it).  But the governor’s son was just an over the top douchebag.  No one is going to be that angry that someone saved their life. 

 

American Rust:  So we actually get to see what went down in episode four.  It is good they did not wait much longer because it played out exactly how I assumed it did.  But are just bringing in Billy for questioning or id this an arrest?  Bruised knuckles and an anonymous tip from someone fleeing the state seems pretty flimsy for an arrest

 

The Walking Dead: World Beyond:  I did not remember much going on last season, just the two girls looking for their dad, one of their companions turned out to be evil, but maybe I should have done some catching up because I was lost for most of the episode.  It did not help that some of it was dream sequences (or maybe not, that helped with the lostness).  I am not sure who that one sister killed.  Was that one of the evil people?  Is so, why were they there?  If not, was it someone guarding their community?

 

Y: The Last Man:  Oh wow, I was not expecting that bath scene on something that was supposed to be on FX.  But what I did expect was Y going off on his own only for Agent 355 to track him down, tell him not to do it again, only for him to do the exact same thing next episode.  But back to the bathing ladies, are they going to start cutting off breasts?  I felt like that was coming during that weird ceremony after the creepy leader talked about Amazonians doing that, but it never came.  Maybe that is coming later.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  Last week was a nice change of pace, but I am glad the new three amigos are back together and talking again.  It was funny how Amy Ryan quickly became the Yoko Ono of the group and once Oscar showed up, Martin Short felt so left out, he went down to get the superfans to keep him from being the fifth wheel. 

But poor Yoko, gets stabbed after one podcast session.  I guess it is time take her off my suspect list.  I am also taking Sting off because the note said “I’m watching you” not “I’ll be watching you.”  But that is Steve Martin’s girlfriend, Martin Short’s dog, is Oscar next?  We do see Selena Gomez covered in blood hovering over someone in a tye-dye sweatshirt in the first episode.  Granted the superfans were wearing the same thing.

 

La Brea:  Wait, did they really CGI the daughter’s leg?  And not very well since she walked with a limp?  If that flashback happened before she lost her leg, why not put her in pants?  Or do some creative editing like when the flashed back to Barbra before her accident on Titans?  The show is about a group of people who fell in a sink hole and were transported 10,000 year in the past where people try to outrun a sabretooth tiger instead of getting into an ambulance there are standing right next to, yet this was the most confusing thing. 

 

Stargirl:  They really retconned some things this week.  So the original JSA broke up after killing a dude, but got back together years later just to get defeated by the Injustice Society?   I am really over Eclipso at this point.  Can we get Shiv back?

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Another good episode, this week we get to see Ghostface and Raekwon John Wu themselves through a radio station just to get their song played.  Awesome.  But I also like the ODB and the gang going to college.  That could have been the whole episode right there.

 

Survivor:  Oh joy, another week, another way to lose your vote.  But I have no idea what the rules of the boat ride were.  When they show up for the stuff, I was just like, okay, that happened.  But Shan made a second mistake at Tribal Council in two trips.  She should have gotten out Brad the first week, but this week, she should have gotten out JD who lied to her.  If he goes, she has her Steal a Vote in her pocket.

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: Good riddance Bamber.  Only two more annoying Big Brother players to go.  I was hoping with Josh teamed up with house pariah Pricilla he would follow shortly, but it seems like we are done with pairs.  The winners did not get to pick new partners and the promo make it looks like everyone is working by themselves next week.  But are they still going to boot two people at a time?  Alternate genders?

 

In the Dark:  Well that was a horrible ending to one of the worst seasons of television ever.  Really, the cop was able to see the dude with a gun but somehow did not spot Jess and her new hideous bangs?  So now the blind chick is in prison with the person she helped bury’s girlfriend.  That should be a fun fourth season.

 

Doom Patrol:  The show regained some of that season magic after the Chief’s daughter storyline wrapped up but I found this episode to be pretty meh.  I kind of which the Brotherhood of Evil was the big bad of the season because after one episode I am out on the Sisterhood of Dada.  But with Rita heading back in time, maybe the Brotherhood will come back in place.  Mmm, I wonder if the Brotherhood of Evil and Sisterhood of Evil working together… or maybe they are enemies of each other.

 

Titans:  Not one, but two Titans got shot this week.  And yet Starfire somehow got powers after getting shot in the chest while I doubt Nightwing will die despite being shot in the neck and we last see him getting ganged up on by an angry mob.  Maybe Wonder Girl will show up and save him.

 

Big Sky:  Okay, the show is still trash, Drew Carey’s brother having a twin brother is one of the dumbest twists in the history of television, but I kind of like the new psychopath in town.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 3, 2021

Billions:  Wait, did the guys at Billions actually buy the Wu-Tang album so they could have Bobby use I as a gift or was that just a fake version?  The last we knew, the US Government seized it from the Pharma Bro and sold it at a secret action to an undisclosed buyer.  Did Billions in real life buy it so they could make it seem like Bobby bought it?  Do they know who bought it and borrowed it for the scene?  This is the most interesting part of the show in multiple seasons.  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

But a lot of family feuding this week.  I did not think Chuck Sr. would put his kidney over his kid, but there he was doing just that and Chuck Jr. used it against him.  Then Sacker sets up her father.  Finally there was Mike prince using his daughters as pawn.  All to bring down Bobby.  Though we have seen this before.  Chuck nails Bobby to the wall in the penultimate episode, but then Bobby somehow wiggles out in the finale.  Let me predict that the Prince daughters are the reason why Bobby manages to avoid jail this time around.  The show would be much better if Bobby just goes away and just have Chuck battle Mike Prince and/or Taylor.  Or just have the three do a Mexican standoff and target each other now that Bobby is out of the way.

 

The Walking Dead:  So the secret room in the floor also had an escape route?  How paranoid were the people who originally lived in that house?  I also have a lot of questions about the creepy Halloween house.  Number one, how did those people survived?  What did they eat?

 

American Rust:  So are we supposed to believe shady drug dealer guy?  His story lines up with what we know.  Though he never does say that he saw Billy land the fatal punch, just that he say him fleeing.  For now I will take shady drug dealer at his word but I think that it was Isaac that hit him.  But then why didn’t shady drug dealer ID him?  Was he hiding somewhere?  And why were Billy and Isaac there in the first place with the stolen money?  Were they there to buy drugs and were hoping to resell it for a profit?  All I know is I could do without Isaacs travels out west.

 

Y: The Last Man:  Oh, finally assumes Y is just a chick who transitioned.  And I do like the weird, and kind of evil, scientist.  But I still do not understand this escape plan.  So they stole two planes, put the two pilots in the same plane and crashed it.  But is no one missing the second plane?  Did they make the second plane look like it crashed?  But wouldn’t there being two people in the one plane and no bodies in the second place cause suspicion too?

 

La Brea:  So does show take place in the Godzilla vs. Kong extended universe?  There seems to be the same portal to a place where time forgot in the show.  Though it does not seem to be some inner Earth realm but time travel since the husband found the necklace.  But how exactly did a concussion make him see in the past.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  Oh hey, a very special episode of the show.  But is it special or more of a gimmick now?   It seems like everything that attempts to be prestige television tries one of these types of episode once a season.  I wish the show only went quite when it was in the deaf guy’s point of view.  I made no storyline sense that Steve Martin had a silent date.  It certainly was not plausible that Steve Martin could keep his mouth shut, even during a funeral he was crashing. 

 

Still, there were a lot of revelations this week.  The other Hardy Boy’s death was more of an accident, though Nathan Lane still blackmailed Tim Kono.  Then the Lane family business is stealing from the dead which presumably Tim Kono was getting his jewelry from.  Despite Nathan Lane explaining why he is funding the podcast with the keep your enemies closer, I still do not buy him, or his kid, as Tim Kono’s killer.  Since a lot of my theories went out the window this week, here is my new one:  Nathan Lane is not the ringleader who is blackmailing Lane and then blackmailed Tim through Lane’s blackmail, but then killed Tim after the ringleader found out Tim was skimming off the top.

 

Stargirl:  The was an SNL sketch a while ago where a bunch of evil scientists were at a convention and one of them just crossed a preverbal line and the rest were like, we are evil, but we are not that evil.  That was what went through my mind while watching this episode.  Sure, Thanos wanted to wipe out half of all living creatures, Darkseid wanted to wipe out all of humanity, but at least neither was just outwardly racist the way Eciplso was this week.  There have been some evil comic book supervillains, but I do not remember any of them being just outwardly racist.  C’mon, Eclipso, maybe turn it down a notch.  I have a feeling all the other comic book supervillains would be saying they may be evil, but they are not that evil.  Dude made Hour Man go to prison, yet what he did to Dr. Mid-Nite seemed much worse.  So now Hour Man is in prison, S.T.R.I.P.E. is destroyed, Wild Cat turned in her costume, Is Star Girl next?

 

Supergirl:  So what was Supergirl’s trial?  Does she need the courage to let people die and not save everyone?  Does she have to keep trying with every totum?  Is just going to continually fail until the very last totem?  I hope that is not the rest of this season.  But I completely forgot about Miss. Teschmacher.  So she shot the reporter?  I had to look her up to remember what exactly happened to her.  So Lena turned her into A.I. after being Lex’s spy at Catco.  But Crisis wiped all that out and she instead turned into an assassin that killed Supergirl’s dad.  What?!?

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Okay, this was easily the best episode of the whole series.  Why wasn’t the show this from the beginning showing how each song was constructed with everyone in a room and the weird vinaigrettes?  Instead we spent too much time in the first season following RZA around, with Ghostface Killah as a sidekick.  The group is much better together.  Hopefully the show can now kick into high gear.

 

Survivor:  It is almost as is Probst went to his team and said, come up with the most convoluted advantage as you can possibly come up with and this three way Idol was it.  So does dude have to talk about butterflies at every challenge or does he just have to do it once?  And what is their obsession with making people lose their votes this season?  Since no one else said the special phrase, dude lost his vote this week.  You can lose your vote if you roll the dice at Tribal Council.  You can lose your vote with the stupid wheel is you risk your vote, though that one is now moot because everyone now knows to discuss what to do prior to splitting up.

 

The girl’s alliance was also pretty dumb this week.  Now we are seeing why women have not won in so long.  The nerdy chick saw the advantage, knew what else had to be said at the challenge, but still strong-armed everyone else to vote for the doctor because she was scared.  But guess what, dude still has his Extra Vote, may get his vote back with an Idol next week and guess who he is targeting then?  If the other girls were smart, they still vote for the guy with all the advantages and it would have been 2-1-1.  Or just get rid of the old chick because she is too unpredictable an hope dude does not get the Idol next week.

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: There is an old saying in sports that a playoff series does not really start until a road team wins.  If feels like this season is not going to start until a veteran is sent down into the Lair.  Sure, Bamber already went down, but that someone how did not start a free for all and the veterans’ alliance still somehow stayed intact and there was not even retribution against Fessy.   So a veteran will definitely be going down to the Lair next week.  Though even then, the Agency could still send down two rookies so maybe the season will not really start until two or more veterans go down to the Lair and one goes home.

 

But I feel bad for Pricilla.  Finally a rookie catches on to what the veterans are doing, except she let her blind hatred of Smashley get to her and took Smashley’s partner Josh.  Who just so happens to be the most annoying and most incompliant person she could have picked.  She could have had Kyle, or even Devin would have been a better pick.  But it is amazing, that Cory, who seemingly got a new partner every week last season, 

 

 

In the Dark:  Really, all this for the lesbian roommate to be working at a pet store and it was the real girl being trapped in the basement?  What a waste of a season.  And why is creepy kidnapper just letting them live?  This whole season has been really stupid.

 

Doom Patrol:  So Larry does not eat and Robot Man cannot eat, so just how exactly can they turn back from zombies by eating Niles’s brain?  That is some comic book logic right there.  But is that it for Niles?  It is hard to come back after someone eats your brain.  But this is a comic book and people have come back from worse and there is a time travel machine right out there.

 

But time traveling lady is just going to break her promise to Niles?  And Rita found the flight suit that was won by the other her that kept her from escaping.  Time travel lady does kind of look like an older Rita, though rarely does someone gain an accent as they get older.  And Rita does not age.  Could time travel lady morph into Rita?  She was able to morph into furniture, maybe another version of herself without memory loss has better control of that morphing abilty.

 

Titans:  So Wonder Girl comes back to life and somehow in the vicinity of Batman who seemingly was trying to kill himself and now she hopped on a plane back to Gotham without any mention of that?  And are there no direct flights into Gotham?  Then where did Raven come from?  Did she come back at the same time as the other chick who was testing Wonder Girl?  This show is just yadda-yaddaing a lot here.

 

Big Sky:  Just when I thought the show could not get any more dumb, apparently the sheriff who somehow got shot right in between the eyes and somehow survived only to be murdered by his wife has an evil twin brother who seeming is keeping the creepy dude as a farm animal.  Why?  Who knows.

57 Channels and Only This Is on: September 19, 2021

 

Billions:  Saving Chuck’s dad when Chuck could not?  That may be the most underhanded thing anyone has done on this show.  But Chuck failed to bring down Axe own his own.  Still was not able to do it when he teamed up with Taylor (granted Taylor was trying to take Axe and Chuck down at the same time), can the trio of Chuck, Taylor, and Mike Prince finally be able to do it?  If the history of the show is indication, those three will turn on each other first; one will probably join up with Axe to do it.

 

The Walking Dead:  Big reveal at the beginning of the episode, but honestly I had no clue who that was until seeing the name listed as a guest star and that sort of jogged my memory.  But that is the problem with the show; I do not care about any new character because I just assume they are going to die before I get to know them.  But having Daryl escape from a burning building is a pretty warped initiation.

 

Y: The Last Man:  I came to the revelation watching the first couple episodes that I may be at my dystopian breaking point.  Just how many times do I really need to see the world end?  That first episode was particularly wasteful considering just by knowing the premise of the show we knew half the characters were going to die.  Plus I do not understand how it was so hard to get out of the Pentagon.  They got Y in, is getting out that much harder?  And is the crazy lady in Israel that much of a threat?  To be sworn in as president, don’t you need to be, you know, in America?  I cannot image it is going to be very easy to travel half way around the globe at this time.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  Tye-Dye Guy turned out to be exactly who I thought it was.  But are we buying his story?  Ignoring a fire alarm just to “talk” to Tim Kono still seems suspicious.  But now we know how all that jewelry ties into everything.

 

Stargirl:  The set up to the season seemed like a cool idea, Shiv creating her own Legion of Doom.  Except of of the people she tried to recruit rejected her and Stargirl’s brother just turned out to be bait, leaving her with just Artimis and Violin Boy who has barely gotten any screen time to the point I had no clue who he was when he was at the diner.  What a waste of a good idea which turned into a sad team.  Though I have no idea how Atimis could go punch for punch with Hour Man.  How can a girl who can throw a football last so long in a fight against a dude with superpowers?  One punch and she should be done.  They should have had her fight Wildcat which would have been a better match.  I could actual see Violin Boy neutralize Hour Man.  But now Shiv is dead… or least that is what Stargirl thinks, I am not convinced.  Maybe she is in the same place as the original Dr. Mid-Nite. 

 

Supergirl:  So Lena’s mom was a witch.  Huh?  But I guess that is very convenient for the Superfriends who currently are fighting an imp with magical powers that they do not have an answer for.

 

Nine Perfect Strangers:  Oh my, Regina Hall tried to kill Nicole Kidman.  And maybe not for the first time?  Are we to believe she was the one who shot Nicole Kidman?  Nicole Kidman just took a big dose of drugs with the family prior to that scene so was it a flashback or hallucination.

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Is it still a bottle episode if the whole episode takes part on a boat?  But why was Ghostface asking tourist how long the ferry was?  Is this his first time going to Manhattan?  At least it seems like the beef was swashed and they can finally get down to making some music.  I kind of forgot why Divine and Power were beefing in the first place,

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: Uh oh, TJ is making a house call next week.  This week ended with Fessy laying hands on Josh.  Then there was also Esther throwing a drink on Bamber which could be seen as assault.  Granted was either offence as egregious as Josh and his two handed shove of Devin last season?  Granted that slap could be the start of something more.  But if this all leads to Fessy, and possibly Josh, getting the boot, then good riddance.  But if they do get rid of two guys, are they going to do two girl team eliminations to even things out?  Granted, Esther could be following her partner out the door.  Ugg, instead of a special one hour episode, they should have done a special to hour episode instead.

 

Titans:  Why was no one that concerned with the leak above Barbara’s desk?  That should be a big red flag.  But I have to go with Starfire in regards to not taking Jason back.  Where Beast Boy was being forced to do those things, Jason took the drugs; Scarecrow did not force it on him.  Get that boy in Arkham.  And where is Bruce in all this?  He has to come back now after the water supply gets tainted, right?

Previewing the Second Half of Billions Season Five

There were plenty of shows that were negatively impacted by COVID, but aside for shows like G.L.O.W. that were renewed but later canceled because of it, there is an argument that Billions was the show most negatively affected.  Of the shows that were shut down while still filming, Billions is one of the last that were not canceled to finally put out there next episode.  The last episode of Billions aired June 14, 2020 and now fifteen months later, we are finally getting the final five episodes of the fifth season.  But it will not be much break until season six which is expected to debut early 2022.

 

Since it has been so long, we do get a ninety second recap that touches on a few bullet points like Taylors new outfit, Wendy kissing Frank Grillo, Chuck’s father needs a kidney, Chuck going after the Treasury Secretary, Chuck becoming a professor and using his students for his needs, and Bobby’s new feud with Corey Stoll.  Hopefully that reminds everyone what is going on. 

 

One person who is barely mentioned in the previously on montage is Julianna Margulies who seemingly was unable to return to the show and only gets a couple passing messages from Chuck.  But that may have been for the best because that whole professor storyline was not the strongest on the show.  But in true Billions style does get a live performance on the show and features a great Tom Petty song near the end of the first episode back.  Then another guest, this time an unwanted one, seemingly will be making an appearance this season when one of the character mentions a Chinese bug that is going to fill the hospital in the near future.

 

Billions airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.

The Five Most (and Least) Anticipated Question of the 2021-22 Television Season

Usually I do my fall television preview in early September to coincide with some cable show that gets a jump before the networks premiere their fall state in the finale week of the month. Except this year, I already have seven shows that already started this month that will extend into the fall with one more starting today. August used to be the quietest month on the television calendar so I am not sure if this was COVID related or maybe the new normal in the streaming era where you cannot take the month off if you want to keep people subscribed. 

 After COVID slowed Hollywood to a halt, it seems like we have finally returned to Peak TV with a steady stream of shows coming this way this fall. Here are some of my burning questions for the next television season. 

 1. Is Disney Really Going to Make Nerds Have a Sophie’s Choice? Last December, Disney+ announced nine Marvel shows (four have already premiered and four have been announced since then) and nine Star Wars shows in addition to The Mandalorian and the previously announced Book of Boba Fett (one has already premiered). Thanks to COVID, it has taken some time for many of them to hit the small screen, but it seems as early as this fall, when both Hawkeye and The Book of Boba Fett are set to air, there will be Marvel and Star Wars airing concurrently setting up a Sophie Choice for us nerds as to what to watch first. Disney+ seemed like there were going to solve this problem when they moved Loki from their usual Friday premiere day to Wednesday but shortly announced all their television shows would premiere on Wednesday too and thus back to the Sophie’s choice. 

 So are they going to stick to this and have the conversations on Wednesday split or will they end up moving to more of a traditional network of model of premiering shows throughout the week? Most streamers have a stick release day they stick to though Hulu, which has traditions put out weekly releases on Wednesdays and binge releases on Fridays, will be releasing Only Murders in the Building on a Tuesday (FX on Hulu shows are also releasing on different days of the week). Hopefully Disney+ learns from their sister streamer and start experimenting with different release days so we do not have to decide between Marvel and Star Wars Tuesdays Nights / Wednesday mornings. 

 2. Who Will Win the Uncivil War Between Catherine and Peter? Okay, anyone who paid attention in history class knows who win, so maybe the better question is how it was won. While history class seemingly can also answer that, The Great took some pretty huge poetic licenses in the first season, so the second could take just as many. Though I think it is safe to say, there will be plenty of “Huzzah’s” in the process. 

 3. Can Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Be Saved Beyond a Movie? While there has been no official announcement that Roku will be airing a movie around Christmas, Pitch Mr. Perfect, Skylar Austin recently said in an interview that the movie is being written right now and filming will start in September so it sure seems like a done deal. Initial reports said that if the movie is successful, it can lead to another full season. Up until now, Roku has only acquired programs but have not made anything new. Zoey would be the first the original made specifically for the Roku Channel along with some recently renewed Quibi castoffs. Speaking of Quibi, those shows matched the viewership in days what those shows did over the life of Quibi, so can Zoey have that sort of success? Hopefully so because I would really like a third season even though the Roku ads can be a bit much. 

 4. Is Y: The Last Man Really Going to Happen? I have been joking for a while that Y: The Last Man is the Chinese Democracy of television. In development at FX since 2015 (there were attempts at a movie going back to 2007), it seems like we will finally get to see it after the titular last man, female lead and showrunners have all been replaced at some point. There is a trailer and everything, though I am not exactly convinced it was a real trailer and not one of those fan made trailers. Guess we will have to wait until September 13 when we open up Hulu to know for sure. 

 5. How Will These COVID Delay Shows Pick Back Up? Did the last season of Doom Patrol seem like it ended abruptly? It felt that way because they were starting to film the season finale when COVID shut everything down and they just decided to end the season there instead of coming back months later just for one episode. This will be one of the last shows to finally get around finishing telling the story that was shut down by COVID. The final episode ended with the Candlemaker encasing our heroes to wax. However this cliffhanger is resolved, hopefully it is resolved in a way that the chief’s daughter is no longer on the show. But the third season will see the addition of The Flight Attendant’s Michelle Gomez as Madame Rouge who sounds like an evil version of Elasta-Girl. The other cut off while filming was Billion which finished filming seven of twelve episodes. After fifteen months they will finally get to finish their fifth season. What happened in those first seven episodes? Who know? I vaguely remember Frank Grillo playing a painter. But on the bright side, there will not be a long wait until season six which they started filming after concluding season five and is expected to premiere in early 2022. 

 As the great philosopher Butt-Head once pondered, how would we know if something was cool if there weren't things that sucked; here are the five least anticipated questions: 

 1. Who Thought Ordinary Joe Would Do Better Than Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and/or Good Girls? Neither Zoey nor Good Girls were a ratings goldmine, but do the people at NBC actually think Ordinary Joe is going to do any better? 

 2. Why Did Netflix Revive Manifest? NBC made some questionable decision for the 2021-22 season, but the smartest thing they did was finally put Manifest out of its mystery after a particularly bad season where everyone became extremely unlikable. It was easily one of the worst shows I have watched in my life. But then Netflix inexplicably saved it forcing me with my inability to stop anything I started to watch 20 more episodes of that crap. 

 3. Just How Bad Was the Powerpuff Girls Pilot? There is nothing The CW loves more than IP, I believe they are just down to two non IP shows on their channel, one if they opt not to renew the currently airing Republic of Sarah which is currently getting ratings in the just friends and family are watching range. So it came as a shock when they chose not to pick up their biggest IP Pilot of last Pilot season The Powerpuff Girls. Makes me wonder just how bad it could possibly be that The CW will not air it. The show is being retooled and may make it to air later this season but without Chloe Bennett who seemingly was wise not to get her contract renewed. 

 4. Just How Much Dick Wolf Is Too Much Dick Wolf? When the networks schedules were announced, Dick Wolf controlled the entire night for a network on three different nights: FBI Tuesdays on CBS, Chicago Wednesdays on NBC, and Law and Order Thursdays also on NBC. Now NBC did pull the plug on the latest Law and Order and replaced it with The Blacklist, but still remains a lot of Dick Wolf. Who exactly watches all those crime shows? 

 5. Is Anyone Really Going to Watch Tik-Tokers on a Television? Hulu has a very impressive fall line-up, the have seven of maybe the fifteen shows I am most looking to this fall. Then there is The D’Amato Show. Sigh. It seems like they are trying to recreate their version of the Kardasians, except they already poached the Kardasians from E! so why do they need The D’Amato’s too? Plus has anyone actually successfully transitioned their social media fame to the small screen? This seems to have disaster written all over it. 

 Here is everything I plan on watching this fall and when they premiere:

Mondays

Reservation Dogs (already started, FX on Hulu)

Y: The Last Man (September 13, FX on Hulu)

8:00 – The Neighborhood (September 20, CBS)

 

 Tuesdays

Only Murders in the Building (Today, Hulu)

8:00 – DC’s Stargirl (already started, The CW)

9:00 – Supergirl (already started, The CW)

9:00 – La Brea (September 28, NBC)

 

 Wednesdays

Nine Perfect Strangers (already started, Hulu)

Wu-Tang: An American Saga (September 8, Hulu)

Dopesick (October 13, Hulu)

Hawkeye (November 24, Disney+)

8:00 – The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies (already started, MTV)

8:00 – Survivor (September 22, CBS)

8:00 – The Goldbergs (September 22, ABC)

8:30 – The Wonder Years (September 22, ABC)

 

 Thursdays

Titans (already started, HBO Max)

Doom Patrol (September 23, HBO Max)

8:00 – Brooklyn Nine-Nine (already started, NBC)

8:00 – The Blacklist (October 21, NBC)

8:00 – Annie Live! (December 2, NBC)

9:00 – Ghosts (October 7, CBS)

9:30 – B Positive (October 7, CBS)

10:00 – What We Do in the Shadows (September 2, FX)

10:00 – Big Sky (September 30, ABC)

 

Fridays

The Great (November 19, Hulu)

 

 Sundays

9:00 – The Walking Dead (already started, AMC)

9:00 – Billions (September 5, Showtime)

9:00 - Fear the Walking Dead (October 17, AMC)

9:00 – Dexter: New Blood (November 7, Showtime)

10:00 – American Rust (September 12, Showtime)

10:00 – The Walking Dead: World’s Beyond (October 3, AMC)

10:00 – Yellowjackets (November 14, Showtime)