57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/22/2017

Ray Donovan: Well fork, they actually did kill off Natalie James. And I really did not need to spend half the episode watching Micky inability to, um, calm down is I guess the best way to put that. Then Micky got even more screwed by his son who sold him out to the DA. Of course this is the same son that killed the head of the FBI, West Coast Division. Should be interesting to see how the writers get the Donovan boys out of that one.

Fear the Walking Dead: Wait; is anyone in the cast still alive besides Madison? I would not hate that because I do not particularly care about any of these people. Yet I have a feeling they will all survive. Even Nick despite blowing a dam he was standing on and even if he miraculously survives, there are dudes with guns beside him ready to kill him.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Supergirl: I am morally opposed to spoilers but I still check out casting notices so I know who the new mom is going to be. So why drag this out on a character we never met even the main characters only had a passing glance of until it was unveils as Lena’s successor at LexCorp at the end of the episode? People who do not know who that is have to be even more confused. Just comes off as sloppy writing. And it is becoming clear that the writers mostly care about couples than actual plot as it seems pretty obvious to me that Lena and James are going to bang soon. Ugg, I hate all that crap.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Challenge: Dirty 30: That was kind of a lame challenge, walk ten feet on a balance beam, I do not really care how far up you are. But hey, Johnny Bananas went in his rare elimination. It is amazing how lucky that guy is mixed with how he is able to keep his name out of everyone’s mouths. But goodness, Redemption House is stacked. At least for the guys, it seems like Cara Maria may be in a cakewalk.
You can download The Challenge: Dirty 30 on iTunes.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers: We got our second one week only advantage and for the second time it ultimately did not have any bearing on the outcome as Joe pulled out his Idol anyway. But why did Jessica give that advantage to Devon? Did she think the four would gang up on the one and he might have an Idol? Picking one of the Heroes seemed like a much smarter play because what if the Healers pulled him in? But again, none of it really mattered anyway.
You can download Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers on iTunesr.

The Blacklist: Really, we had to see a horse burned alive to start the episode? Could she give the horse poison too at least? But I watched this after the Trolley episode of The Good Place and a good version here with do you kill a bad person to save a child? I am with Lizzie and say yes.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Mr. Robot: I thought we were going to get an eighties musical theme with INXS and Roxette except when the FBI dude was trolling the other one with an audio recording he went with… Barenaked Ladies. Was Rick Astley too obvious? But speaking of listening to Roxette, they killed off Tyrell’s wife. She gets this weird storyline last season only to be murdered in her second scene of this season.
You can download Mr. Robot on iTunes.

The Good Place: Am I going to the Bad Place for laughing at the real life Trolley Problem?
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Gotham: Um, so Ra’s al Ghul is dead dead? That cannot possibly be it. And Solomon Grundy is really bad. Oh my goodness, they messed that up. Butch looks like seventies Incredible Hulk but with grey makeup and a bad wig.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Once Upon a Time: Not remembering where your kid and wife are buried should be a very big red flag. But come on Henry, at least do a blood test to find out if the kid is yours once and for all. And should I know who the weird chick at the end was?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/1/2017

Ray Donovan: Oh Darryl, you clearly are the dumbest Donovan. I take it Micky s going to put the body with the dead sensei in what may turn out to be Dexter situation. Those Donovan’s do like to take down west coast FBI heads. I wonder when they take on the overall head. Although I guess the current head is busy with the president doing illegal and crazy things. Then we got a big bombshell in the Abbie situation, she actually committed suicide because of the pain and for a brief second we were lead to believe Bridget provided the drugs, instead Terry admitted he was the one. And not surprisingly Ray punched him out.

The Challenge: Dirty 30: People falling from high heights is never not entertaining. But why were there so many shocked people at the end when we learn Nelson was not coming back. Dude punched Derek (and then bizarrely said check the tapes claiming Derrek approached him first which clearly did not happen). What I was shocked was TJ asking CT who he was picking to go into elimination. And then they ended the show before he answered. I hate when they do that. I do fear that they will go through the vote, maybe even the Double Cross before saying, “just kidding, no guy elimination because of Nelson.”
You can download The Challenge: Dirty 30 on iTunes.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers: The Idol Train last season was one of the worst moments in the history of the show. Just not according to Jeff Probst who spent the summer telling people how much he loved it. He was either lying or all the criticism got to him because, yeah, we got an advantage right out the gate, but it was not the silly Legacy Advantage, it was a first Tribal only Super Idol. And if the finder does not go to the first Tribal, they can pass it to someone who does. When turtleneck nerd was safe, puking chick seemed obvious.

What was also obvious was with an ad right before Tribal, something big was going to happen. Whenever that occurs, someone quits, gets medically removed, or last season, the Zeke outing Tribal. Except puking chick ended up voted with the majority to get rid of who looked to be her only real ally. Either a stupid move or the editors did some very fishy editing to completely throw the viewer off the scent, something that happened way too many times last season too. Kind of an ominous start to the season for me.
You can download Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers on iTunesr.

The Blacklist: Wait, to rebuild his evil empire, Red has employed two carneys? And why not take down the racist drug cartel and take their money? Or are they saving that for later in the season. But I have to admit, I like the bare bones version of Red’s operation. I hope it takes a while for him to rebuild his empire.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

The Good Place: Please let us get a full episode of Real Eleanor’s version and not have it be just part of a montage like this week. If we are lucky, the rest of the season will be the foursome and Michael teaming up against the Real Eleanor. I was a little disappointed that the version with Eleanor’s soulmate being Tahani and a Golden Retriever were just part of the montage. Those could have been full episodes in themselves too.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Gotham: I thought they were holding Barbara back last week because there was going to be some big return. Nope, it turns out after being electrocuted all she has been doing is stockpiling weapons and the only lasting change was a new unflattering hairstyle. I thought for sure she would rise like a phoenix out of the electrocution as something else, like Harley Quinn whom they have been teasing ever since Barbara was kidnapped a few seasons ago. Even more disappointing the lady villains would not let Poison Ivy play in their reindeer games; she was the most entertaining part of the second part of last season. Hopefully they find her something to do.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Marvel’s Inhumans: Very few things live up to the hype these days, and on the flip side, things tend not to be as bad as people say because they tend to just be piling on. Inhumans is one of the rare exceptions. Boy, was that a flaming pile of dog shirt. First off, the Royal Family has to have some of the lamest superpowers ever. The king can kill with his voice so he just does not talk. Instead he does a moron’s version of ASL. Then his wife, Medusa, can kill you with her hair which is a way too on the nose name. I guess it could be worse, since she had her hair cut off, they could have named her Samson. She has a hot sister, but they ruin her hair with weird symbols in it. I am not entirely sure what is up with her powers other than it looks like she can shoot something out of her fingers. More confusing was the Asian dude. He can turn back time? Then the head of the Royal Guard, who did not know his subordinates were part of a coup, just has hooves for feet. Even worse is the little brother who has nothing and is basically just Loki in a story we have seen before, done better with a bigger budget. Marvel was doing really well with their shows, SHIELD was improving, Daredevil and Luke Cage were solid, Jessica Jones was great, but since then Iron Fist was bad and Inhumans looks to be worth, and next month’s Runaways does not have a strong start either. Hopefully Squirrel Girl can save Marvel television shows.
Marvel's Inhumans on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/21/2017

Once Upon a Time: I knew a soft reboot was coming because they announced a couple of weeks ago if there was a new season only Mr. Gold, Regina, and Captain Hook would return (Emma was also on that list but Jennifer Morrison later announced she was not returning). Which was weird because Henry was kind of a big part of the show. But as it turns out Henry is actually still going to be on the show, just not the same actor, as they aged him twenty years. I guess the other three will have not aged in the Enchanted Forrest. Oh course the big question going into the next season is who is his baby momma? The girl does look a lot more tan than Henry who is pale as a ghost, she did have a scene with Tigerlily. That seems like a good guess for now.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Into the Badlands: Wait, they they really just kill off another main character? Man, these Barons are ruthless. Quinn kills his son and the Widow kills her surrogate daughter in kind of similar scenes.
You can download Into the Badlands on iTunes.

Gotham: Okay, fine, I am actually starting to enjoy Ivy and her weird performance.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Supergirl: Welcome back Kat Grant, the show has been much less entertaining without you. But we finally learned a little more about the alien president. Though it was weird that she made Martian Manhunter not engage with the Daxumites and not orders Alex to blow them out of the sky.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Lucifer: Oh hey, the king from Galavant is God. Or I guess not. But what exactly went on there, was he actually possessed by God or was he just delusional while wearing that heavily belt?
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Harlots: So no one is going to end up punished for the death of a nobleman as they blackmailed and killed off the judge. Alrighty. But season two should be interesting as Charlotte going undercover in her mother’s enemy establishment.
You can stream Harlots on Hulu.

The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros: Poor Veronica, the most veteran of them all gets treated like a rookie. But just as I expected, the Pros are just going to dominate the Champs… unless they end up having to compete drunk in future challenges.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champs vs. Pros on iTunes.

The Americans: So Elizabeth wants to go back to Russia. But what does Philip want? I have to believe Paige and Henry would rather stay in America. Henry’s tour of the FBI. Nice shout out to the mail robot. And the Jennings learning about the safe room inside the FBI has to come up at some point. Will they try to bug it?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Wait, didn’t robot Daisy shoot Talbot right between the eyes? I know this is a comic book show but how could a human possibly survive that? Unless he is not human. Then we have a tease for next season except much more vague than the LMD from the finale last season. I believe the Royal Family of Inhumans have a secret base on the moon so maybe that is why he is in space. Or maybe it had to with the deal he made with the Ghost Rider. I assumed when the organization that grabbed them in the diner was Talbot’s guys but maybe they are part of the Ghost Rider deal and that is why Coulson was business as usual when he looked out his space window.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Handmaid’s Tale: The Commander’s wife just got interesting: a sex pot, writer who got arrested for civil disobedience before the war. It is also interesting that the religious zealots seem to be the environmentalist when those who claim to be the most religious in our society or okay with the destruction of the environment when you would think the most faithful would want to protect God’s creation. Then we had another big cliffhanger with the Mexican aide somehow knowing Offred’s real name and that of her husbands who he claims is alive. So who is this guy? Is he really part of the resistance in cahoots with Offred’s husband or is this a trap set by “The Eye”?

Survivor: Game Changers: Boooooooooo. Ever since Zeke threw out her name, you kind of had to know Andrea was not making the finals. Weird thing is, she kept on being brought up as a big threat (weirdly Sierra had this problem too) but both Aubrey and Cirie have been to the finals before, Sarah hs been playing very hard which recent jury members appreciate, and Not Dante Culpeper is a former NFL play who could go on an Idol run (and lo and behold, won the very next Immunity Challenge). Oh yeah, and speaking of Idols, Tai has proven to be very good at finding them.

But you could see that vote coming as soon as Andrea lost Immunity. The next Tribal was not as clear. And still is not very clear. Andrea was a treat, not someone you want to sit at Final Tribal with. But do you know who I want to sit next to: Michaela (or Tai or Troyzan). So why vote her out. I wonder what exactly the plan was going in. Sarah seemly changed her mind and went with the boys to get out Cirie, but what went down to keep Tai from playing his Idol? Isn’t six the last time he can play it? Why not play one at that Tribal, especially after Sarah steals his vote, and he still has one for six. Speaking of six, we could have all but one person safe with an Idol. Tai, Troyzan, and Sarah all have one. If someone else wins Immunity and Tai gives one away, that just leaves one person who is not safe.

But in retrospect, really horrible episode for Cirie. First she turns on her biggest ally, and then does not read the fine print resulting in her next biggest ally going home. She could have been sitting pretty had she just stuck with Andrea in the first vote and went for Brad or turning on Sarah instead. She could have had four strong with Aubrey also with her, and now she is kind of on an island and probably next out. Crap, we are going to get a Final Tribal of Sarah, Not-Dante, and Troyzan aren’t we. This is why you do not turn on Andrea.
You can download Survivor: Game Changers on iTunes.

Blindplot: So what happened in those two years? And Roman had to be the one who kidnapped the team, right?
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Well that was an anticlimactic end to the Mr. Kaplan saga. Then we get the big bombshell that everyone assumed for episode one yet they spent four seasons pretending it was not the case, Red is really Lizzy father. At least we do not have to see them tease and then prtetend it is a red herring again.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/22/2017

Once Upon a Time: Was this our first look at Tigerlily on the show? They ruined Peter Pan so much it is hard to remember. But Emma being able to bring Hook back to Storybrooke seemed silly. He had some curse that preventing him from getting back there so what was so different about the door Emma created?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Billions: Does a billionaire really a VR experience with a doomsday bunker when he can build one that is real and probably better? How about a bunker on the moon or Mars? But what exactly do you get a man who can buy anything?

The Voice: Someone mentioned their team on The Voice App and I thought, oh yeah, I have one of those but I have not even looked at it since the Battle Rounds. I was shocked to see my team was still in tack (Lauren, TSoul Chris, Lilli, and Jesse). Usually I am lucky to have two people make it to the Top 12. Aliyah was the big shock getting voted through over Casi (though I think Blake would have saved her anyway). Vanessa was another big shock that night, she was singing a crappy EDM song and still made it in over the overhyped Stephanie and Partridge legacy Jack. The big shocks Tuesday came with the coaches saves, I figured Gwen would save either Quizz because of her creepy obsession with teenagers or the much hyped JChosen. Instead she went with the easily forgettable Troy who has to be most likely to get booted first next week. Then I thought Adam would save one of his rockers but instead boring teen singer Mark who is most likely to be in the bottom two every week yet inexplicably saved by Twitter up until the Semi-Finals. Ugg. But anyway, here is my top 12 Power Rankings:

1. Lilli Passero
2. Lauren Duski
3. Chris Blue
4. Aliyah Moulden
5. TSoul
6. Vanessa Ferguson
7. Brennley Brown
8. Troy Ramey
9. Stephanie Rice
10. Jesse Larson
11. Hunter Plake
12. Mark Isaiah

Harlots: You know what they say, a party never truly starts until someone brings a goat. And poor Lucy, again stuck the war between her sister and her fiancé. That final song was so sad.

Pretty Little Liars: Should I remember who Holden is. Wasn’t the murdered cop named Detective Holden? And please more Ali and Paige mean women scenes.
You can download Pretty Little Liars on iTuness.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: Do you believe in highly unlikely’s!!! Camilla over Laurel. Wow. And Camillia is the only Champion girl left. Double wow.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So The Patriot is dead dead right? Dead in the framework is dead in real life. That is not to say they cannot bring him back somehow I guess.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Survivor: Game Changers: Oh my, two hours is just too much. And it was turning out to be a horrible two hours: Debbie grinding on Cirie, Tai streaking, Hali getting booted, and then Andrea almost went home. Instead Ozzy got the boot so it was not all bad. A lot of bad game play this week. When Cirie was debating bringing in Michayla to her alliance and get rid of Hali instead, I had to wonder, why not bring in both and then vote out someone like Brad or Sierra? And did these people really think Hali was smart enough to find an Idol? Really, she could have had come in handy for Cirie’s alliance at the second Tribal. But before that Zeke made a horrible move breaking from what looked like a very tight alliance with Andrea. So Andrea tells Zeke not to tell Debbie her plan, Zeke tells Debbie and they should target Andrea, Debbie than says forget than and then conspires to get rid of Ozzy and does not even let Zeke in on the plan as he is the only one who votes for Aubrey for no apparent reason (did we miss a scene where they told them they were splitting votes just in case Andrea had an Idol and that is why Zeke voted for Aubrey?). So now Debbie does not trust Zeke, Sierra does not trust Zeke, Andrea is still in the game and gunning for Zeke (on the flip side, Andrea will have to go back to camp after saying, “see you never” in her vote). So note to future players, if Andrea tells you to not do something do not do it.

Andrea 💀💀 #survivor pic.twitter.com/uPmX2JZFkO

— lemon ღ (@prejuryflop) April 20, 2017

You can download Survivor: Game Changers on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Wait, Red’s cleaner used to be Lizzy’s babysitter? Huh? But really, I am not sure we really needed an entire episode devoted to her.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 4/15/17

Once Upon a Time: Plot twist! So Gideon was controlled by the Black Fairy this whole time. And apparently the Buffy rules apply here and dying temporary is good enough.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: So Dar is evil enough to discredit the President Elect (and use enhanced interrogation on a sitting Senator) but not enough to actually kill her. After time jump, the first question I had was what happened to Dar. Sure he orchestrated much of this up to the assassination attempt, but he did save the president’s life by calling Carrie. But if the president is arresting Saul, of course Dar would get tapped too. But of all the people arrested, they did not grab the talk radio guy? The guy had a huge role in all of this. And just what did he do to Max. He gets detained, almost escapes, next we see is three months later and he shows up drunk at Carrie’s. Clearly he could point out radio guy was more involved than Saul. And for the second time in the show’s history, they killed off a male lead probably a season too late. The story of this season was really good, but watching Quinn being barely human was just unbearable at times.

Billions: It happens so few times but when Axe and Chuck get in the same room it is going to be epic. There was a point in the episode where I thought the two were going to team up to take down “The Kingmaker” but Chuck decided instead to kiss his ring. I take it this season ends with Axe ruining Chuck’s gubernatorial run? But Chuck still has the former Axe worker in his back pocket for emergencies now.

Into the Badlands: Oh hey, dude killed his son. I guess the Badland in turmoil should be entertaining… I hope.
You can download Into the Badlands on iTunes.

Harlots: There is the case for commercials. When Lucy shoots her gun and cuts to commercial, if you have the ad version of Hulu, you actually have to sit there and stew about who she just shot, but without the ads, it comes back and it is just a deer. Yet apparently she ended up being punished for something else, granted off screen (for a premium show where presumably anything goes, a lot of the more graphic things happen off screen).
You can stream Harlots on Hulu.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: So we got our Underdog Bloodbath but apparently that is not it looks like they are going to eliminate two more people on each team before the final leaving just one dude and one chick per team. Meh. I am kind of ready for this season to end all ready.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

The Americans: So Elizabeth learned yoga this week. Interesting. But I guess the bigger news was that Paige met Gabriel before he goes home. Can she just go on a mission already?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So Ward is a secret agent in the Framework too. He better not come back with them whenever they escape. The Framework is just inside their heads right? There would be no physical form for him, right?
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Man, Hawk is the only one with actual conviction on a show about faith. Seriously, how do you trade Sarah’s freedom, someone who clearly deserves to be punished, for someone who is making whole comminutes sick? Sarah was even splattered with black cow’s blood and will let that continue to happen to avoid jail time. Just kind of a letdown of an episode. I spent most of the first season wanting more especially coming from the guy who created Friday Night Light. And this season actually seemed to be building to something, I started to care about some of the characters, and then in the end no one is punished for their bad deeds. At least we got that final scene of Eddie brining in his Denyers which clearly sets up a fight between him and Cal next season.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Game Changers: When they did not cut to commercial after the Immunity Challenge I knew something was up. When they went to Tribal Council about ten minute earlier in the episode than they usually do, I thought, oh no, they are going to rocks. But when they sat down and there were seven, that would be odd for a split vote (though I guess the Varner voting for Ozzie, the other guys voting for Varner, and the girls voting for Zeke would be plausible).

Then Varner turned to Zeke and asked why he has not told anyone he was transgendered. Oh, that is why we are getting an extended Tribal. Pretty cheap Probst canceled voting, it could have been a very cathartic exercise to write Varner’s name down after that. Of course my big question now is does Zeke just get the pity win now? If not, who is the first person to broach the subject of targeting Zeke? These are all returning players so they have to know Zeke is now the biggest threat in the game, and in a game where they are continually talking about getting rid of the big threats, they all have to be thinking of it, who will be the first to mention it? And the first who does get axed like Cierra who was the first voted out because she was the first person to being up someone else’s name.
You can download Survivor: Game Changers on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Redemption: So Tom’s dad turned out to be the bad guy all along. Alrighty. But why did Scotty’s hot assistant walk all the way to Tom’s to give him the hard drive? Get to a hospital. Now the question, does he stay there and get his mother out of prison or go home for the birthday party? (Looking at the ratings, that may be resolved off screen and he will be back next season on the main show. So the real quiention is will he mention it, only mention it in passing, or will they devote an episode to resolve his family’s storyline.)
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 3/12/17

Mercy Street: So Ramona Flowers finally got some screen time but I am still unclear what is going on there. Is she actually going o recover and be back if there is a next season or was that her deathbed, which it kind of seemed like.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Once Upon a Time: So Robin is back. Hopefully this version is evil because that will be the only way to make it interesting.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: “Greetings from Sargent Brody.” This show really likes trolling us. Oh wait, Dar and Quinn. What!??!!!!?! Although I vaguely remember that being brought up before. Less shocking was Dar reporting Carrie. Talk about a troll move. But you know what, it was the right move. Carrie has shown for seasons she is unfit to be a mother. She talks about worrying about Franny thinking her mother abandoned her. She did already. She was out in Pakistan for the first couple years of her life.

Billions: They are far and few in between, but the Chuck vs. Axe showdowns are always epic and the first this season did not disappoint. Although Chuck’s lawyer got the best line trying to get Axe to admit he had hurt feelings. And much like Axe, I did not want to see Wags new tattoo, but I need to see it, how could the show not show this? Unacceptable. That was like Chekov’s gun not going off.

Supergirl: Wait, so Kara no longer works at CatCo? So much for a secret identity. Could The CW just not able to afford to keep that set up? Does Wynn even still have a job there or does he just work at the DEO full time now? Sure James is still the Editor in Chief but he is too busy being a superhero himself. Oh yeah, can’t Kara just go over Snapper’s head to James? If not, is she just going to be a blogger/citizen journalist from now on? Maybe the Daily Planet has a National City. And what is going on with Lois Lane and Hercules? I had no idea they were going to be on the show. They have to be involved with Mon-El right? Now that they hooked him up with Kara, something interesting has to go on there.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Americans: At first I thought they finally replaced the kid who played Henry. Does that make me extremely racist or extremely colorblind that I did not even notice he was Asian until someone pointed it out? And that was a lot of digging at the end of the episode. I wonder just how many bodies the Russians have buried about ten feet underground in America?

The Path: Wait, that was Melanie Griffins? I never understand why people do that to themselves. I would much rather look old than like some alien cat person. But anyway. So Steve liked little kids. So he now is an official cult leader. Except what exactly did he knew because clearly something is happening to Eddie.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Game Changers: Bittersweet first night of Survivor. Ciera has always been quality entertainment (and one of the greatest reaction shot jury member ever). Granted it is was shocking she was never voted out first in her previous two seasons being maybe the least physical contestant ever and she always seems to lose at puzzles too. But on the flip side, Tony was one of the most annoying. It is amazing he actually won. How did anyone spend thirty-one days on an island with him? I am shocked it took them day days before deciding to boot him.

Then you had the twists. Poor Andrea, my personal favorite, picking up a box with an advantage under it then stepping over it multiple times before Sierra grabbed it. Sure I turned out to be the Legacy Advantage which is still lame. Then Probst announced there are no re-votes on ties, straight to deliberate a consensus or draw rock. I initially hated it but after they discussed it on the after-show (even more Andrea this season!) and talked about how ties are sometimes used to flush out Idols I decided maybe it may be interesting. Hopefully this is used to get Malcolm or Ozzy out early.

And even more twist coming as they teased two in the promo for next week. And by teased I mean completely revealed. Not only are we getting an early swap, I think there was even a shot with one of the new tribes. JT, Malcolm, Varner, Sandra, and Aubrey are definitely on one tribe, the only tribe in the promo, so a good bet they lose the Immunity Challenge. The other twist is the for only the second time (the first being the last all-star season) they are hiding the Immunity Idols at the Immunity Challenges. And it really looked like Varner holding the clue to me. Crap, I predicted he would be the first person not to make the jury three times (at least I think, I am too lazy to fact check that; bu hey, we now live in a fact free country so who cares anyway).

Legion: So David has a parasite, I guess the big question now is who is it? Is it the yellow eyed blob that has been haunting him? Or could it be Lenny/Benny?
You can download Legion on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Redemption: Good for you Tom for not acting in the show, but do not think I did not notice you looking down multiple times.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/26/17

Mercy Street: When the show opened without dialogue, I thought it was some artist thing, well if the soldier cannot hear, we the audience will not hear what is being said to him. A scene later I realized nope, there was some glitch where I can hear the background sound and music but not the actors. Then after five minutes watching with the closed captioning on I realized, oh yeah, I get two PBS channel and flipped of and lo and behold, sound. Geez. And is Ramona Flowers gone? There is only one episode left this season (bizarrely they are taking a week off next week, I guess for the Oscars yet why skip that week and not the Super Bowl) so I wonder if we will see her then.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Homeland: Well that escalated quickly. Poor Quinn, maybe should have let him die, instead he pushes a reporter and shoots a protester. Of course that was just a destraction to the bigger reveal of the episode that some mysterious source got that tape to Carrie. But who? My first thought was Dar. But it does seem like an inside job to discredit the president-elect, even purposely exploding the bomb to minimize casualties just minutes from her location.

The Walking Dead: So those trash people are… interesting. But hey, they are well chorography which definitely needed when trying to take down evil.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Supergirl: Put aside the offensiveness of Mister Mxyzptlk being played by a full sized male model, who did not even wear a bowler hat, I actually kind of enjoyed the little imp. Or really, I just enjoyed him annoying Mon-El who is really ready for a heel turn.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Timeless: Wait, we go through the whole season and Lucy does not even get her sister back? What the fork? And what was going on with Jiya, why is she the only one now with powers? How did the Lifeboat know she was the fourth member? I think I might be fine with this show not coming back.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: Walking upstairs has to be up there with lamest Elimination Round challenges. Hopefully the Champions spice things up next week.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: A room full of Daisy Fem-Bots? Yes please. I really hope fake May did not blow all of them up, wait a waste. Of course the joy of all thoe Daisy’s was ruined by the return of Ward. What the fork?!? They killed him off…twice. Why do they keep bringing him back? And if Simmons is dead in the framework, what happens to real Simmons when she tries to enter it?
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, gay marriages still has ugly bridesmaids dresses, who knew? But at least Hawk is finally cutting off his hair, unfortunately it turned into a weird Ghost moment with a chick too old for him. But Richard finally learned Eddie was in Peru and assumes that he pushed the leader over the cliff. But what exactly happened? Did he actually do it? Did the leader jump? Was Cal secretly there and did it?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Legion: Okay, so far the show has distracted me with a random dance sequence and gratuitous nudity, but I am beginning to realize nothing is actually happening. I know it is a superhero cliché, but I could even go for a destroyed city right about now.
You can download Legion on iTunes.

The Blacklist (Redemption): When they hyped a two hour Blacklist event I thought they would set of the latter I the first hour. Except Tom was not even in the first hour. Actually has he even been in any recent episode. I vaguely remember his father dying which I was correct in him not actually being dead. But that second half was a bit of a bore, I was more interesting in Red’s man servant seemingly turning on him.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Emerald City: So that is why the princess wore a mask, because she was a robot and wants to hide her not aging? Alrighty. But if she was a robot, why did she “die” when getting hit by a bullet?
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 2/12/17

Mercy Street: Right before halftime of the Super Bowl (ad winner has to be Mexican Avocados for trolling the President during the first commercial break of the most watched American show of the year) I actually posted on social media that I might as well just watch Mercy Street. The game was a blowout, the Lady Gaga halftime show was coming up (congratulations Black Eyed Peas, you are no longer the worst halftime show of all time). For some reason I did not turn over and ended up seeing another bunch of corrupt individuals win and ruin an American institution. Due to PBS’s lack of On Demand channel I had to stream it on their website. Despite PBS being commercial free, there were actually ads on streaming. Except where five commercial breaks were marked, only one actually stopped the play. Weird. As for the actual episode, are they actually going to transport a typhoid patient by boat? No wonder so many people died back then.
You can download Mercy Street on iTunes.

Supergirl: Alex’s favorite band is Barenaked Ladies? C’mon writers, we get it, she is a lesbian now, let’s move on.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Timeless: Couldn’t they bring back Ernest Hemmingway Bill and Ted style to the present and add him to the team, he can be the new “muscle.” He would instantly be the most interesting character.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions: No wonder they did back to back episodes because those first fourty minutes were extremely boring. But I did like that first challenge, individual but you needed a lot of help to complete. But after two hours, we still do not know how the “Champions” are coming back or what is going on with The Oasis. Or even what if someone who has punched their ticket to The Oasis goes home first.
You can download The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Oh hey, real Ada. It never really crossed my mind that there was an actual human that looked like that.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Wait, the new hot blonde was involved with Eddie’s brother? I completely missed that. But her kid is not Eddie’s nephew, right? But hopefully things get interesting now that Cal knows there is a mole in the mix.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Legion: Um, alrighty, so that was… interesting. And I kind of hope we get a random dance sequence every week.
You can download Legion on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Wait, was that John Locke as Tom’s father? Sure looked like it to me and pretty much would confirm that he father is not really dead..
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Emerald City: Wait, Scarecrow has been a secret spy for Glenda the Good Witch this whole time?!? Huh?!? Sure I did not think Dorothy was going to kill her, but I did not see that coming.
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 1/22/17

The Affair: Allison’s acts have been kind of a bore this season and it looked like that was going to be more of the same… and then Helen plopped down next to her at a bar. That was kind of interesting especially when Helen said, “I think people see what they want to see in people” when you put that in context of how this story is told. Unfortunately no such surprise meeting during Cole’s act (unless you count Allison visiting him in jail which did not happen in her act). I was really hoping he was going to run into Gunter in jail, even though Gunter works at an upstate prison. Hopefully they actually reveal Cole stabbed Noah because something interesting has to happen in his storyline. Him confessing his love to Allison does not cut it.

Lucifer: Wait, only two episodes until the winter finale? I thought it just returned from its winter finale. If you are going away for three month, why even come back for three episodes?
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Timeless: So Lucy gets kidnapped foe one whole episode? Meh, they could have stretched that out a little longer.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So the Inhuman boss turned out to be a regular human with some Captain America Super Soldier rip off that only works for a limited time. Alrighty. And they did that to make American trust Inhymans but could not find any actual Inhumans they actually trusted to do the actual job. Sounds like our government.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Good Place: Is it possible to hate and love a finale at the same time? But before that, the Medium Place was great. Although after what we learned in the finale, is the Medium Place a real place or was she just another actor in Michael’s plan? Is there a real Good Place at all? I am going to assume the answer is yes until we learn definitely either way. As for the final episode, I kind of hated the reveal. When the show started it was hard not to think that this may have been The Bad Place or some sort of Purgatory (which I guess is The Medium Place) but I thought the concept of a horrible person accidentally making it into The Good Place was a strong enough concept it did not need a twist. But on the other hand I did like how the concept set up a potential second season (there has to be a secnd season right, what else does NBC actually have in the comedy department; I do not see Powerless setting the ratings on fire).
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

The Blacklist: I was really hoping the creepy kid actually had some special ability, that would have made the episode much more interesting.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Emerald City: So we now know who the Tin Man is. But does that make the boy turned girl the cowardly lion? They are spending so much time on him/her you would think (s)he would be part of the original story. But wouldn’t it be a little sexist to say a girl who spent her whole life as a boy needs courage.
You can download Emerald City on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 11/13/16

Shameless: Interesting that Fiona and Frank have the same everyone has to contribute philosophy. Okay, so Frank just used it so further line his pockets.

The Walking Dead: What happened to the tiger guy? This week was back to the excruciating torture porn type show.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: Poor Art, finally realizing just how poor his marriage is, I wonder if there is a scenario where Art stays in St. Louis and Nancy goes to New York. Then you had Virginia sitting through the most icky intake session ever. Hard pass on that.

Gotham: Sucks to be the actress who played Kristin Kringle, she gets killed off, brought back only to be killed off a couple weeks later.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Supergirl: Why was Supergirl so stressed that Lena asked both her and Kara to her party, couldn’t that have been easily resolved by having Martian Manhunter stand in for one of them like when she convinced Kat that Kara was not a superhero? And everyone had to know when Lena took that dramatic pause, she was going to follow it up with …mom. I got that feeling right when he mom walked into the room. But the real question is that Mrs Luther (who I do not recall ever was on Smallville or her birth mother.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X: Just when I thought the Legacy Advantage as one of the dumbest twists in the history of the show, now Adam can steal someone else’s reward, or the Guaranteed Way to Get Voted Out Next Advantage. And, um, can none of these people count, I had to recount myself to make sure I am right, but if they wanted Jay out, they could have split the vote just in case he had an Idol. Okay, I have never been much of a fan of vote splitting unless you have an overwhelming majority or you definitely know someone has an Idol and you want to flush it out, so many things can go wrong (ask Tyson who’s failure to properly execute a split led to him being voted out) so I do not have much of problem with no vote splitting. I do have a problem with them targeting Michelle for no reason other than no one with an Idol would see it coming. Seriously, just target Jay if you want him out, the guy is clearly not bright enough to find an Idol or to use even if he had one. But how apropos that in Trump’s America, this season of the show saw all the minorities go first and now the guys are voting out the women for no good reason.
Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X on iTunes.

Blindplot: I have been hoping for a Rich Dotcom spinoff and now I think I found his supporting cast as the weapons expert can join Rich’s team. His point of view scenes were great, especially sheepish Curt.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So after three and a half season, Red finally admitted what everyone has assumed since the first episode, he was Lizzie’s father. Now the big question, what did Red tell Kirk that made him let Red go.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/30/16

Shameless: Really, you are inviting real cops to your speakeasy? Not the brightest idea, surprisingly that did not turn out bad. Really things are looking up for most of the Gallagher’s, except Frank whose homeless shelter is about to b destroyed. I wonder when things are going to turn around or are could the family finally be succeeding for the first time?

The Walking Dead: So having to wait months to learn who Negan exacted his revenge, we have to wait until the third segment. I was leaning towards thinking it would be the gay dude whose name I have yet to bother to learn yet. Instead it was my second pick who spent most of last season kind of moping around waiting to die and from a tactical perspective was the smart person to take out as he was the biggest. The shocker though was thanks to Daryl getting out of time, there was a second causality and it was Glenn who they went out of their way to make us think he was dead, going so far to take the actor’s name out of the credits. So really a drag of an episode and when Negan forced to cut off Carl’s arm, I was starting to realize this show is just turning into torture porn. It may be time for me to just dump the entire Walking Dead franchise; it is just getting too depressing.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: Mmmm, a same sex team at Masters and Johnson, this should be interesting, mostly the female team. Also clever of Betty to the biological father to gain control of the baby. I still think this may not work out for her.

The Strain: Wait, the bomb the Nazi vampire set off last week was supposed to be nuclear? Shouldn’t that have done a bit more damage? And is Quinlin really that fast to outrun a nuclear blast? Alrighty. Unfortunately the Silver Angel cannot outrun the vampires. Le sigh. At least we will not have any of those weird scenes with Gus speaking English and Angel speaking Spanish.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Gotham: I joked last week I joked the moment between Riddler and Penguin was more believable than Batman and Catwoman. It turns out that Penguin actually has feelings for the Riddler… Alrighty.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Supergirl: Holy Miss Martian sighting! I take it this version is not Hank’s niece like in Young Justice; instead she may end up being Hank’s love interest.

Timeless: I figured that Lucy and the gang would show up in a James Bond novel, but for another week, no major changes in her modern day life. Meh.
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X: Two weeks after the tribe swap and second time where the majority tribe going in loses a member. But unlike last week, this seems like the right move. Adam was on the bottom rung of the Millennial tribe and last week’s vote saw there were cracks in the Gen Xers so that makes it worth the gamble. Teaming up with Zeke and his new allies may actually work if they all make the merge.
Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X on iTunes.

Blindplot: Please give Rich Dotcom his own spin-off, or just add him to the team.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

The Good Place: Oh snap, the Bad Place guy has the real Eleanor. I wonder if the real monk is also on the train. And the more she name drops, the more I think Tahani does not really belong in the Good Place either.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Poor Aram, he lands a hot chick only for to be evil, but of course that always seems to be the case in shows like these. He may not have, but I should have known better.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 10/9/16

Once Upon a Time: Am I really going to dust off my high school reading list for this season? The Count of Monte Cisco? If they gang runs into the animals of Animal Farm, I may finally have to quit this show.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Fear the Walking Dead: Oh snap, Travis just totally went HAM on those people that killed his son. But Christopher should have known if they were so quick to kill their friend, they would do the same to him.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: C’mon Lester, how do you not know they you have to re-fog the window by breathing on it to get the phone number? But a weird “coat” party. Betty goes home with a gay do they stares at him lingering when he answers the phone. Is she going to use him to make her girlfriend jealous, or is she looking for an assistant of her own? Then it was a shame Libby and Bill did not stick around to take coats that could have had fireworks. Then pour Virginia’s assistant, almost a sad sack as Lester, but at least the latter got some.

The Strain: What exactly was Fet doing all day? He went into the tunnels at dawn but did not get to the nest until dusk while Ephraim was quickly able to get to the lair fairly quickly. And when he ran into Gus, they all seemed comfortable letting the hot chick and the crippled old man get to the surface alone.
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

Gotham: When Hugo Strange was creating new personas for the Indian Hills residents, I thought the Alice in Wonderland book was a Mad Hatter Easter egg. Turns out it was his sister. Who knew Mad Hatter had a sister? And for someone experimented on, she seems relatively even keel: she was able to get a job, was compassionate enough to torch the bar where she spilled her blood because she knows her blood is poison, and even saved James from her brother.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Timeless: I figured that when Lucy came back, her mother would be better, but oh my, they made her sister not exist because the Hindenburg did not crash when it was supposed to. I did find the Pilot entertaining, but the more I think about their time travel laws, the more it kind of bugs me. Okay, I get they cannot go back and try to get the Hindenburg to crash on schedule to avoid seeing themselves but why is that stopping three other people from going back in time? Or go back a day before leave a message for them and travel back?
You can download Timeless on iTunes.

Conviction: It is depressing that there was actually a person who watched this Pilot and thought, “yeah, I would rather have Haley Atwell star in this on my network instead of Agent Carter.” And then make her do an American accent… c’mon, she couldn’t be the Prime Minister’s rebellious daughter who emigrated to leave the watchful eye of her parents?
You can download Conviction on iTunes.

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X: Survivor has become so predictable that even when something shocking happens, it is actually predictable. When Gen X lost, I thought, obviously CeCe is going home, then in th testimonial, one of the guys said, CeCe was the obvious vote, which then made me think, wait, that means CeCe is not going home. So of course when the old dude who, c’mon, is really Baby Boomer, got targeted, I knew it was going to be him. Meh.
Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X on iTunes

Blindplot: I never understand all the people who put their guns down to try to talk down a crazy person with a firearm. C’mon, stay put and let the fifteen year old empty her clip and then talk her down.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

The Blacklist: As a pretentious armchair television critic, I like to complain about procedurals, but I actually liked this show a lot better when they were taking down a new bad guy every episode instead spending all this time on Liz’s baby.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/22/16

Once Upon a Time: The best part (and really, increasingly the only good part) of the show is the pre-tease break. Except this season they defeated Hades in the anti-penultimate episode and we got a two hour tease of what is to come next. Color me uninterested already. So we meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who split themselves into two different entities which was just introduced to have the Evil Queen and Regina at the same time. I am guess they are going to explain the Evil Queen did not die from her heart being crushed because she is so evil she does not even have a heart. And how good is purely good Regina if she is willing crush someone’s heart? I was more in in the quick page flip in the books in the library where we saw Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I would rather take a trip through American folklore than a severely watered down version of Penny Dreadful.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: It was pretty clear that movie producers in the eighties were doing copious amounts of cocaine by the types of movies they greenlit: a mannequin romantic comedy, one with a dead guy as the main character, both inexplicably got sequels. But the most shocking movie that got made with 20/20 hindsight was the feel good racist comedy Soul Man where noted white dude C. Thomas Howell takes tanning pills to get a scholarship for African-Americans. With all the outrage of blackface and cultural appropriation these days I thought we would never see that storyline ever again. It probably also lessens the outrage by having black guy (with a white mother) play the faker as white people do not care much about whiteface. Though I still do not know how there was not more outrage surrounding White Chicks.

Penny Dreadful: So Vanessa has met Dracula before. I thought we would get a lengthy flashback in a future episode; instead we get a one minute scene tacked on the end of the episode. Maybe it is just a tease for a lot more flashbacks next week. And was that even Dracula? It looked more like Frankenstein’s monster in his previous life without hair. And about Frank, was that remembering his younger self? Bu it looked like that kid was near death. Unless Dr. Frankenstein implanted a child’s brain into the monster’s body. Or maybe he has residual memories of all his body parts. As for his creator, we did learn his buddy’s experiment is only temporary. The question now is has Dr. Jekle already taken his cure or does that come later?

Quantico: No wonder Asher could not make it at Quantico, dude was not even smart enough to jump out of the car before it went over the bridge. But then again, how smart am I for making it all the way through the season?
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: How disappointing that Hugo Strange is implanting new personas in the people he resurrects but Fish Mooney remembers who she was. I thought we were finally going to learn what Batman villain she turns in to. But we did get Clayface… I think.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Wow that was the worst death scene in recent memory. But I guess when you are killed off a show, why bother trying anymore (well except if you hope to get more work somewhere else). But maybe the bigger bombshell was that Kurt’s father confessed to killing Taylor Shaw like everyone thought prior to Jane Doe showing up with markers saying she was and was not Taylor. We do have to wait until the finale to see if this was the ratings of a delusional man or a real bedside confession, but you have to assume it is the latter. Unless, could this be an Orphan Black situation and Jane Doe is a clone of Taylor? That could be really interesting and explain the DNA inconsistencies.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: It was probably for the best that ABC canned this show, most shows have a shelf life of five seasons if they are lucky so eight is enough (bad old person’s pun intended). But oh, was that final scene crammed in. I guess we can assume had the show been renewed and Kate was not returning, she does not survive the gunshot. Actually that scene seemed crammed in to as if they tacked that on after learning Stana Katic was not coming back.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Gee, and I just got done talking about the worst death scene, this one came pretty close with Hive and low rent Electro bro-ing down before their inevitable deaths. And this is exactly why I hate it when shows open up X amount of time in the future before flashing back, we knew someone die and Yoyo’s cross had something to do with it and then in the last episode five different characters played hot potatoes with it. But of course Electro ended up with it because there can be no happy couples on a Weadon show (Really the only fake out they had was when Fitz had the cross for a scene). But hey at least we finally got rid of Ward… unless he turns out to be what the Irish doctor was working on. Please no. That body did look feminine. A mate for Vision? Also six months in the future Daisy has gone rouge and Coulson is reporting to a director (is that Talbert or is there a new head of SHIELD). And why six months? The show seems to move in real time and six months puts us in November when presumably the season will start in late September. Doctor Strange comes out in November but I doubt there will be much cross over with that movie. I wonder if we will have to wait a month or two until we see that scene and prior to that is Coulson searching for Daisy or in that basically where the season will start?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: All season I have ping-ponged back and forth predicting this character is going to join the cult while that one would be joining. Here we are with one episode left and it looks like I was wrong every time. There was a time I thought FBI guy would join, but after his diatribe with Eddie, that is never going to happen, especially after learning Allison’s husband did die under suspicious circumstances. And Allison looks to be coming back into the fold (although that may not last long after she sees the autopsy. I thought the teens would run away together, and Hawk actually did leave, but sneaky Cal nipped that in the bud. But the biggest transition is Eddie. They teased his moments of doubt early in the season, but mostly re-found his way after time in the program in the room. Was that punch his way of exiting the cult?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: Usually I have a good sense of how the winds are blowing going into the finals but I was a bit shocked at how Aubrey did not win and it was not even because of that silly evict a jury member (worst twist since Redemption Island). Sure her Final Tribal was less than stellar (how do you not play up how well you adapted after your two biggest allies were pulled from the game?). But congratulations to Michele who did a much better job playing up her underdog role than Aubrey. Poor Tai, does not even get a pity vote. I originally thought it was a bad decision to split the votes and not take Cydney to the final three but in retrospect, I am not sure it matter with Michele winning either way. Maybe Cydney wins the Jury Veto (which is a stretch because for a Brawn, she was not that great in challenges) and bans Julia, then maybe Tai could have gotten Aubrey, Joe, Neil, and Debbie, but I think instead, Michele wins by a larger margin.

But Michele winning was not the biggest shock of the night, seriously, what was Sia doing there? And was that even really her? In real time it sounded to me her accent was coming and going. If it was, Sia just continues to get weirder. Wow. Then we got a tease for next season: Millennials vs. Gen X. Meh. Didn’t the last time they separated end up being an epic fail (that would be the Jimmy Johnson season that was won by Fabio). Probably one of the bottom five seasons of all time. And just by the trailer the Millennials were getting on my nerve already. If they are going to divide by age, I wish they would have done three of four tribes: people in the their twenties, thirties, and forties plus, and maybe fifties plus.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Kind of a throwaway episode because I never thought Reverend Tim was ever in much danger. Really having an emotionally pregnant woman now knowing their secret was the bigger danger. The more ingesting part of the episode was Stan’s old boss getting approached by the KGB. I kind of wanted him to take the offer. Instead he runs through a glass door. Not the best escape plan. It will be interesting how this effects the main storyline.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: The first challenge really suck, now this, this is the challenge I have come to know and love, grinding on a bar of soap. Awesome. Not so awesome is replacing LeRoy with some nobodies. Actually worse than nobody, somebody who thinks acting crazy will get them more screen time. More annoying was T.J. canceling the Jungle for no good reason. So that is two of three episodes where no one when home.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: There was never a point where I thought Lizzie was dead, the only question I had was who helped her. I had thought it was whoever was trying to kidnap Lizzie but it ended up being Tom and Red’s henchwoman. And I long assumed the person that was trying to kidnap was her not so dead mother. Nope, wrong again, it was her dad, or someone claiming to be her dad. That puts a crinkle in my long theory that Red was Lizzy’s dad. After the chunkiness of this season (somewhat reasonable due to a real life pregnancy) this sets up a very interesting season four.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Orphan Black: Crystal is quickly moving up my Clone Power Ranking. She almost made me forget there was no Allison this week. Almost. Seriously, do not make me go a week without an Allison fix.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/15/16

Once Upon a Time: So as predicted Robin Hood died and Captain Hook made his way back to Storybrooke. The only question now is what are they going to do in the final two episodes now that Hades was defeated? The only unresolved issue is that Belle remains under her sleeping spell. Maybe we will get more than the usual tease of the next Disney property they exploit. When do they go to Tron?
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: Oh, no, not the Douchebag Twins. And yet, even with an episode that saw the not so triumphant return of the Douchebag Twins, they did not even give us the most disturbing scene, that was instead Clyde and Doug chugging Jennie’s pump and dump.

Penny Dreadful: Dorian and Lily were wholly absent from the premiere and that was a quite unexpected way for them to return to the show. I fully assumed that that was the type of show they would enjoy but I guess it makes more sense that they would rather participate than just watch. I fear (and would be kind of disappointed) that she will end up like the transvestite from last season. Then you have Dr. Jekyll who has a formula that can turn a criminally insane person into fully functioning human being. Of course there are going to be side effects, the question is has he tried it on himself yet or not. Dracula again is resigned to the final scene again. Last week I feared when we did not get to see him it was going to be a Master on The Strain situation who ended turning out to be a not very scary looking Muppet, but we did get to see Dracula who ended up looking like a low rent Matt Dillon which I guess is better than a low rent Muppet.

Quantico: So it turns out the football player was yet another pawn though the whole using his voice on the phone with Alex was a bit of a stretch. Instead the traitor was the Quantico teacher because… oh who know. Even when he eventually gives his Bond villain type speech I doubt it will make any sense.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: I guess I was wrong with Galavan killing the Captain. It turns out Galavan is really bad at killing people. Tabatha also landed in the hospital and not the morgue. Alfred gets thrown out of a window and was still able to walk away to fight some more. I was going to say Galavan was as good at killing as everyone was at trying to kill him; just how many bullets can that guy take? Then Penguin and Butch show up with a bazooka. Awesome.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Can we get more drugged up chick in the elevator? She was by far the best part of the episode.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I have an irrational hatred of movie theaters so naturally I did not see Captain America: Civil War prior to this episode so I guess I now know who wins. Yeah, D.C.’s movies may have sucked but their separating television from the movies is looking better every time SHIELD spoils a movie. Granted really they have only spoiled the last two Captain America movies. Oh yeah, and they killed off Peggy Carter. Booooo. I was really hoping she would get some anti-aging serum like the Nazi got last season. What a shame that they may possibly kill off her character and cancel her show in the same month. Hopefully ABC finds a way to keep that show going. Oh well. Sending Lash after Hive seemed like a great idea but they kind of overlooked two huge plot point. Okay, Lash, the Inhuman killer can ward off Hive’s parasites, fine, whatever. But why did he not kill Daisy, and not only did he not kill her, he actually helped her and saved her from Hive’s trance? Andrew’s last sliver of humanity was kind of a big stretch.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Last episode, Cal mentioned before killing a dude that the next leader would perform a miracle, could Sarah saving the baby be that miracle? Certainly Cal would no be too happy he is not the chosen one. Maybe that is why he tried to hook up with her.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: I have long thought that winning Individual Reward was advantageous to your game, especially in a case where you pick two people and then there are four people made at you back at camp. But I never thought winning a Reward would turn out as badly as this. To have to be pulled from the game because you ate too much meat, ouch. And we have known this for a while that this was bad. How many times in the early seasons did we see people get Rewards only to spend a lot of time in the woods with a pile of leaves? Seriously people, Reward Challenges are not worth it. At least we did not get the stupid Survivor Action where morons bid on food instead of waiting for an advantage. And that was the second pull out this season which negated what could have been a fascinating Tribal Council. On one side you had a strong Joe/Aubrey alliance. On the other was Michelle. Then there is Cydney in the middle but seemed to be leaning Michelle. Then you had Tai and his Idol so he was not going anywhere. When he and Michelle were alone I was waiting for someone to come up with a plan where he give her his Idol because no one would vote for him because of it. But then he seemed to make up with Aubrey. Really what it may have come down to it is who talked to Tai last. Instead we had our third unplayed Idol, one that went home with someone being pulled, one that went home with someone because he did not play it expecting a SuperIdol, and one that did not get to played because the last Tribal that it could have been played at never happened. Kind of sums up this lackluster season.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

Black-ish: Isn’t it too early for the show to bring in a baby? Usually sitcoms do that when they run out of ideas, it should be too early for that, it I only season two. At least wait until season five.
You can download Black-ish on iTunes.

The Americans: There are few thing lis scary than watching The Day After thirty plus years later. I kind of had to laugh at everyone's reaction. Interesting Philip's reaction was maybe we should not give that destructive virus to their government after watching. It is about time for a shajke up in the show. Maybe instead of the FBI finding them out as tradors, maybe the twist could be Philip becoming sympathetic to Americans.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: Poor Leroy, that is two straight seasons he goes home early for medical reasons. But we essentially had a two and a half premiere episode. I guess that is needed to get to know the new cast and introduce the season, except the two people who went into The Jungle I had no clue they were even on this season until they got picked to go in. Hopefully we go back to one elimination per episode because there was just too much filler in these first two episodes.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: There was a point when I thought Scottie was going to turn out to be Lizzy’s mother, but no, she is Tom’s… or least that is what Red told him. The episode was alright but as a backdoor Pilot, I am not ready to watch another show which is just The Blacklist with the gender of the two leads being swapped. Maybe I will watch if the show is filler between a break of the ordinal.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/8/16

Once Upon a Time: Learning how Emma got that silly Thriller jacket is the Jack’s tattoo episode on Lost. It I time to give this show an end date and wrap it up. The promo monkeys also teased a death, it is not Regina or Emma, my first thought was Robin Hood, but then I thought could that funeral we see be just be a cheap ploy and they are just having one for Hook after the fact? I do have a sinking suspicion that whoever does die will be the key to get Hook back to the land of the living.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Fear the Walking Dead: When Strand was carrying that dude back to his hotel, I thought he was holding him a little too cloe and actually thought he might take advantage of him. Strand did, just not in the way I was thinking. Except, flash-forward to the end and he actually does make out with the dude. But why exactly did he run when the other people boarded? Actually, I spent most of the episode thinking I missed something. I rven went back to see if I missed an episode. But no, maybe jut bad editing.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Quantico: C’mon, you cannot have a pedophile character on the show and them name him after a sitting governor who was running for president. I do not care about your politics, that is just wrong and really kind of appalling. Then the promo monkeys promised that next week we will learn who the traitor is. Um, did they not reveal that this week? It seemed pretty clear the former football player was the traitor. Unless he had an accomplice.
You can download Quantico on iTunes.

Gotham: Has Galavan’s ears grown since he died? But anyway. We also got a tease of the Mad Hatter with Hugo Strange choosing Alice in Wonderland as a persona for one of his resurrected patients. I wonder if we already met who he read the story to or if we actually get to meet him. Well Captain Barnes needs a way to get back on the show now that he is dead.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.

Blindspot: Oh my, Chrissy Seaver went full MacGyver defending thee cottage. Although I guess you can say she went full McGruber by blowing it up. Was that really necessary.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: Kind of disappointing that they brought in a Firefly co-star only to be a run of the mill killer of the week. Adam Baldwin really set the bar for shameless guest spots. Actually, since Backett seems like she will not be back next season, how about bringing Baldwin back full time? Oh yeah, I guess his TNT boat show is still on the air.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Holy Billy Riggins sighting! Although I could have sworn he has been on the show before and if my memory serves me correctly (which it rarely does anymore) he was some random civilian in a restaurant a couple seasons ago. I kind of thought he was going to be a red shirt but he actually made it through the episode. But what was with the lack of fire power in fighting Hive? How about taking a grenade or a rocket launcher, or some alien tech left by the invaders from the first Avenger’s movie? All they brought was regular guns and some laser blaster.
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Alright, things are finally starting to come to ahead. Cal caught Eddie aiding Allison, Mary confronted Cal, Hawk’s girl’s family left the cult, and then Cal up and killed a dude after leaning The Path is a scam. Now Eddie and Hawk are out on a two-hundred and fifty mile walk. Should be interesting to see wear all this goes as the season starts to conclude. I still think Hawk will chose the girl over the cult, Eddie will chose Allison over the cult too. Then there is FBIC guy who may just picked the cult over work, especially if they help his daughter.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: I knew they really should have gotten rid of Tai last week, now he is guaranteed the final four with his Idol. Although after irking everyone this week, I do not think he is as likely to win if he makes the final. They should have blindsided him this week except Joe and Cydney (I think this is the first time I even mentioned either of them; not good for someone who makes it to the final five) were dead set on Jason. So who goes home next week, Tai has the Idol and this is the last he can use it so unlikely he gets any votes. Michelle does look like to be on the bottom but the promo monkeys make it look like she buddies up with Tai. That would be awesome if he give her his Idol and sends home one of the other three. The only thing better would be Michelle laying Ti to get his Idol and then everyone votes him out. Tai does seem that gullible.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: So Martha is actually going to make it to Russia. I wonder if we will actually follow her there or that is the last we see of her. If Nina was still around I figure they would run into each other but no fish out of water buddy comedy scenes for those two. Kind of an odd ending, it almost felt like a series finale. Instead it will likely be the calm before the storm.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals III: We usually only get one Challenge per year but when the last season sat nicely in between the Survivor hiatus I suggested that the shows should always alternate. Apparently someone was listening because just as Survivor is running down, we get a surprise season of The Challenge. Rivals and Exes has been some of the most entertaining recent seasons of the show and they sort of combined them with the first ever co-ed version of Rivals (alternating boys and girls eliminations was always silly especially when we are supposed to be considered equals these days). Unfortunately that was one of the most boring first challenges ever. The first time someone dropped their partner was kind of entertaining, but they did not even drop into water (a Challenge staple). And then it just kept on dragging on. I thought around the time Johnny Bananas went, well at least he is the last one, but then there were about four more rounds after that. Ugg. Hopefully they have something better planned for later in the season.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.

The Blacklist: So this was essentially an introduction for the proposed Tom Keene spin-off with presumably Famke Janssen playing the Red part. We will get more next week, but that better get much interesting because I was kind of meh on the idea so far.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 5/1/16

Fear the Walking Dead: So Junkie Riggins learned that zombies cannot tell you are living if you are covered in zombie guts. But we have known that for a long time, so what a boring episode. Is this just what the show is going to be, discovering things we already know?
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Lucifer: So Lucifer dies, goes to Hell, finds the gates are locked and gets to come back to Earth. Alrighty. And then later he says his father gave him the get out of Hell free card that he gave the crooked cop. Huh? But at least we got some intrigue for the next season. At first I thought they were going to pull the annoying fade to black ploy when Lucifer took a dramatic pause when his brother asked who escaped from Hell as for the reason God let him back to Earth. But we did get the one word answer before the season ended, “Mum.” Mmmmmm. Who knew angels had a mother? Unless it is more of a metaphorical mum. I am guessing this “mum” who gave the lady cop her powers to make Lucifer more human.
You can download Lucifer on iTunes.

Blindspot: The show actually managed to combine my two least favorite plots these types of shows do: the school shooting and authoritarians taking advantage of kids.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.

Castle: Having a guy cheating death was entertaining, but c’mon, surviving a bullet to the head? That was a bit much. I did peg the crush as the baddie of the week, she was way too quick to accept a date and then plan it for a half an hour later.
You can download Castle on iTunes.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: So we got to learn the power of the Australian dude this week: he is some sort of microwave man who can turn anything into a bomb. I guess that is kind of cool for a bad guy but the idea of a superpower was always going to be more interesting than whatever you actually get. But that was really the only interested thing that happened this week. Seriously, how anticlimactic was the team taking down Hydra?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

The Path: Oh yeah, Hawk is leaving the cult for the chick. Except the only problem is that her family might be joining. This may be a runaway situation by the end of the season.
You can stream The Path on Hulu.

Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: And here in lies the big problem with recent seasons of Survivor, contestants have learned not to vote out the annoying people because you can win against them in the finals. So Jason gets a pass despite being the obvious choice while the tribe cuts loose the eye candy. Hurmph. But really what should had happened was when whoever broached the subject (I think it was Aubrey but am too lazy to look it up) everyone else should have realize, she is going to take Jason to the finals instead of me, we should get Aubrey out, and then I can take Jason to the finals. But the editors actually got me to think Cydney and other hot chick were going to flip. That was the right choice in my eyes. It is better to be in a four person alliance with someone who has no chance of getting any jury votes besides Scot than possibly fourth and fifth in a five person alliance with two people likely to beat you in the finals (Tai and Aubrey) especially since one has an Idol and an unknown to you advantage. Sure worst case scenario he plays the Idol and then uses his extra vote to break a three-three tie next week, except he did not play his Idol and you could have gotten him out.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.

The Americans: Meh, we basically ended where we started, Martha back in the safe house with nothing changed except Henry getting his first beer. Something better happen next episode.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Very noticeable that Lizzie had a closed casket. It was also interesting that Aram was talking about standing over an empty grave with Red. So are we going to have to wait until the season finale to see a not so dead Elizabeth? Only three episodes to find out.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.