57 Channels and Only This Is On: September 4, 2022

 

House of the Dragon:  I never really minded that Game of Thrones routinely went an hour because they usually juggled at least four storylines at a time, sometimes more.  With this show staying at King’s Landing most of the time and focusing solely on the Targarians, these episodes have dragged a bit.  They really need to get the Starks or Lannisters in there.  But the battle lines are starting to form.  The Sea Snake has thrown in with the Rouge Prince, the king has tied himself to the Hightowers (which I guess is less gross than marrying a twelve year old), and the current heir is kind of left out there on her own waiting for a half-brother to come along (which the promo spoils happens).

 

Tales of the Walking Dead:  I actually liked the idea of a swamp cruise to escape a zombie apocalypse; unfortunately they ruined it by making it an Alpha origin story, even though we already got her origin story.  I checked out after she left the boat.  This episode would have been much better had it been Death on the Zombie Nile, just keep have people disappearing, and then have the hijackers arrive in the final act.

 

The Chi:  Oh snap, they killed off the old kingpin.  Though he really felt insignificant this season.  It felt like he was just brought back so the former mayor could turn on him to make more nefarious.

 

City on a Hill:  Watching a lot of cop shows in my life, I have heard them talk about giving gun residue tests before, but in all my years, that was the first time I actually saw someone take that test.  That was a lot more complicated that I assumed.  I thought it was just a simple swab.  So Jackie actually lied to help Decoursey.  Then Jackie saw Decoursey’s boss at Sinclair’s house.  Everything is starting to tie together.  But why is Jenny having someone dive for her husband’s badge? If she wants her husband reinstated, could they not just issue a new one?

 

In the Dark:  Huh?  Did we not see Darnell get shot at the start of the season?  What bad editing bullshirt is this?  Mot that I am complaining Max died, I just wish that had happened a lot sooner.  But all this happened because Josh would rather the Blind Chick go to prison than bring down a drug organization that is killing people.  That has to be the dumbest plot mechanism in the history of television.  Then it looks like in the finale, the Blind Chick is going to torture and kill Josh.  I guess if you are going out, go out with a dumb bang.

 

The Challenge: USA:  Sigh, after all that big talk from Sarah last week, I was fully expecting her to get eliminated by Angela this week.  Unfortunately Danny turned out to be scared of Angela and sent in Cashey instead.  So the Fab 5 did not last very long, Desi turned on them and Cash is gone.  So is there just a Fab 3 or with the other two realize Sarah is too much of a loose cannon?

 

Stargirl:  As if Cindy did not look even guiltier, she had a literal smoking gun in her hand.  She really cannot talk her way out of that one, though she looks so guilty it probably is not her.  But which of the new friendamies could it be?  I suspect it was not anyone we saw.  Maybe someone in the Icicle family.  Are any of them still around?  I do wonder how, or if, the daughter plays into this.  But artimis coming though with a C+C Music Factory montage really made this episode.

 

Resident Alien: Well, that was confusing. It took me a second to realize that Harry is actually the artist.  So he is the baby alien’s actual father, just a six hundred year older version of him.  But why not go to Patience to warn Harry of the upcoming apocalypse?  Is this Back to the Future rules where he cannot see his younger self?  If so, why not send a note or something?

 

The Resort:  To quote the great philosopher Chidi Anagonye: What the fork?!?!  Really, that was it?  The kids were just hanging out in goo like nothing happened for the past 15 years?  I was expecting something a lot more interesting than that from the guys who did Palm Spring and Mr. Robot.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 28, 2022

 

House of the Dragon:  Way too many Targerians on the show.  What was great about the Game of Thrones was that each clan has different hair color so you could tell them apart.  But ninety percent of the cast has white hair.  At least one is a black dude.  But the king telling his daughter about the Long Night got me thinking, will these HBO shows ever try and retcon the final season to fit whatever George R.R. Martin ends up writing in the final two books.  Though that would have to depend on Martin actually finishing the last two books.

 

Tales of the Walking Dead:  Yet another somewhat funny episode, but like many Groundhog Day stories, this one got old fast.  And the CGI explosion was really bad.

 

In the Dark:  We finally get to Darnell getting shot and we still had to go back a couple days.  So stupid.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  I laughed so hard twice during this episode that I had to rewind it, when Charles started going into slo-mo (okay, I had to rewind a second time when everyone else joined in) and when Charles came back to life like The Undertaker. Very satisfying conclusion to the mystery, though I will nit-pick and say it was a little cheap that it was Poppy (who kind of looked like Aubrey Plaza back in Oklahoma) whom Kreps was hooking up with, not Cinda as the finale scene of the last episode suggested. One more nit-pick for the season as a whole: so Amy Schumer trying to buy the rights of the podcast was just completely dropped? I thought the trio fighting over if to sell the rights or not would end up being a storyline this season but was not even mentioned after the second episode.

Now we have a new murder which begs the question, will they have to change the name of the podcast? Or the television show? But the "she" Charles and Paul Rudd were fighting over has to be Mabel, right? Lucy is too young and there really is not anyone other females would care that deeply about unless he met another one in that year break. Mabel was the only one to stand up in concern over Rudd collapsing.

Hopefully the show follows its trend of premiering just 10 months after the previous season premiered and we get season three in April of next year. Though I am guessing for Emmy reasons it will not premiere until June again so it will not be competing with itself.

 

Motherland: Fort Salem:  So no Chekov’s witch bomb?  Kind of a confusing finale, I am still not entirely sure what was up with the daughter.

 

The Challenge: USA:  If they are only eliminating one person an episode from here on out, that means there will be a lot of people in the finals.  I just hope that Angela somehow comes in last next week with Sarah volunteering herself to go in and Angela just walks over her in the elimination.  All this bluster Sarah has had this season with no wins to back up her talk has to leading to something.

 

The Resort:  This is it, all the lead up has led to the whole in the ground.  Hopefully we are in for some profound twist next week because if we do not get some profound finale, this show likely will not be worth it.