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Category: TV

  • Yellowjackets: Showtime’s Terrific Drama Returns for Season Two

    A girl being chased through a snow-covered forest is suddenly impaled by falling into a hole filled with large, sharp sticks. Fast forward 25 years and a journalist asks, “what really happened out there?” This was the enticing and foreboding opening of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, the network’s latest outstanding contribution to Sunday night TV. It completed…

  • Borgen: The Engrossing Danish Political Drama and Its Well-Deserved Encore

    “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” A salient quote from one of history’s great thinkers leads off each episode of the terrific Danish political drama, Borgen. Originally, a DR production (the Danish public broadcast company that previously produced The Killing), Borgen is “The Castle,” the informal name of the…

  • Perry Mason: Season Two of HBO’s Striking Revival Series is Here

    “Months after the Dodson case has come to an end, the scion of a powerful oil family is murdered. When the DA goes to the city’s Hoovervilles to pinpoint the most obvious of suspects, Perry, Della, and Paul find themselves at the center of a case that will uncover far reaching conspiracies and force them…

  • Your Honor: Now on Netflix, A Once-Respected Judge Faces His Demons

    Post Update: This post originally ran in January 2023 after the premier of the second season. I’m re-publishing it because it just started streaming on Netflix. Take a look if you missed it on Showtime. Michael Desiato is a prominent New Orleans judge when his son kills another teenager in an accidental hit-and-run collision. Michael…

  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2022 Induction Ceremony

    Dolly Parton and Judas Priest. Dave Grohl and Lionel Ritchie. Steven Tyler, Ed Sheeran and Eminem. The 37th annual inductees were probably the most diverse yet, as all these artists performed alongside each other. Once again, thanks to HBO for condensing the 5½ hour ceremony into the three-hour telecast (now streaming on HBO Max). The…

  • Derry Girls: More Than a Wee Bit of Fun

    Five teenagers navigate the final years of the troubles during the 1990s in Londonderry (“Derry”), Northern Ireland. Sounds interesting, intense, and sad, doesn’t it? Actually, the Netflix comedy is hilarious, raucous, and optimistic (three seasons of six, six, and seven 25-minute episodes). While the Troubles lurk in the background, the show focuses on the antics…

  • The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

    Time for another Best-of list courtesy of the latest Rolling Stone magazine (see previous such posts The Best of Netflix: Rolling Stone’s Top 20 and Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time). They have updated their 2016 list of the greatest TV shows. Like I did before, I’ll provide some brief comments on the…

  • Emmy Awards 2022: Repeat Winners or New Faces?

    I’ve discussed the changing landscape of television and the demise of awards shows in previous posts. So, let’s just get right to it. Like it or not, the Emmys were here again on Monday September 12th. Succession had the most nominations (25) giving it a good chance to win again as Best Drama Series. Same…

  • Five Came Back: A Book & Netflix Series on the Untold Story of Hollywood and WWII

    Five Came Back (A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War) by Mark Harris is a remarkable book about Hollywood’s role in WWII and the five legendary directors who chose to go, and come back: John Ford (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers), George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant, Shane), John…

  • The Best of Netflix: Rolling Stone’s Top 20

    It’s been almost a decade since Netflix revolutionized how we watch and talk about TV. They started by obtaining rights to an extensive archive of classic TV shows, including Friends, Lost, and The Office, just to name a few. And boy, did they launch their original content off with a bang; House of Cards, followed…

  • The Old Man Review: Bridges & Lithgow Tangle Up in a Spy Game

    Former CIA operative Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) has been living off the grid for 30 years when an assassin breaks into his home. They have finally come for him. FBI Assistant Director, Harold Harper (John Lithgow), alerts Chase that he’s being hunted and gives him one last chance: either disappear once and for all or…

  • Dark Winds: AMC’s Crime Drama Puts the Navajo Nation in the Spotlight

    “Backup. What backup? We have 50 tribal officers for over 27,000 square miles.” Dark Winds captures the isolation of the Navajo Nation in 1971 amidst the murder of two native residents. At the same time, a brazen bank robbery in Gallup, N.M. and the getaway helicopter has brought that investigation onto tribal lands and the…