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shadowkatOh dear god, there are too many television shows.
Remember when TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, etc would do a run-down of all the new television shows? The critics would provide reviews of all of them? Well no longer. There are so many television shows that the television critics have thrown in the towel and given up trying to keep track of them, let alone reviewing all of them. They just choose the ones that look interesting to them.
1. Picked up TV Guide at the drug store, just because I got curious.
Glad I did, otherwise I would not have known that my favorite Jane Austen (which was written and finished by another lady,Sandition which tells you something about how I felt about Jane Austen) is being adapted for the screen and airs this coming Sunday, in an eight part series, starting at 9 pm. (Although it's not the version I adored, because the writer is just doing his own completion of Austen's tale). Howard's End is being shown before it. Howard's End previously aired on Hulu or some other channel I had no access to in the US, and has now, finally popped up on PBS Masterpiece Theater.
January 12
Sandition airs at 9 PM on Sunday
Howard's End at 8 PM on Sunday
(Both on PBS)
Also, for folks who have HBO? The adaptation of Stephin King's paranormal mystery "The Outsider" is being adapted as a series starring Ben Mendalson and Jason Bateman, among others -- airing on Sunday.
New Streaming Services (as if we didn't have enough already, right?)
* HBOMAx - $14.99 per month, and it premieres in May, and this thing will be huge, because it has the entire Time Warner and HBO library. (That's why Friends left Netflix). Doctor Who, 50 Years of Sesame Street, The West Wing, Gossip Girl, The Sopranoes, Sex in the City, Big Bang Theory, The Wire, Game of Thrones...new series include Superintelligence, Grease: Rydell High, The Flight Attendant (starring Penny from the Big Bang Theory).
* Peacock (basically NBC's version of CBSAllAccess...Abc already has Disney Plus and Hulu...). We have no clue what it costs. It has all the NBC stuff, plus Downton Abbey, Married with Children, Friday Night Lights, Bridesmaids, Brokeback Mountain. (It's NBC Universal). It launches in April.
* Quibi - April 6 ($4.99 a month with commercials, $7.99 without) It's via an app. And it's quick bites -- and offers more than 70 comedies all with episodes between three and fifteen minutes long, including a mystery comedy series. (Uhm. Okay. I guess this gives amateur filmmakers a place to put their content? Also, hey, an app for the people who don't have long enough attention spans to watch television.)
New Series! (Because we don't have enough already. Remember the good old days when you eagerly awaited the brief return of your favs, and new series only premiered in the fall? Well those days are long gone.)
* Perry Mason on HBO (geeze HBO has a lot of content, although considering they are launching a new streaming service on top of their current one, this kind of makes sense?) It's basically a gritty Depression era noir Perry Mason, staring Mathew Rhys (The Americans) as Mason, with Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Masiany (Orphan Black) rounding out the cast.
* Star Trek: Picard - it premiers on CBS All Access on Jan 23.
* Party of Five Reboot -- this round the kids are separated from the parents, because the parents have been deported under Trump's immigration law. It airs on Freeform on Jan 8 at 9 PM. (Basically last night, so oops, we missed it.)
*Penny Dreadful: City of Angles - comes back, yet this round to 1930s LA where the Angel of Death Santa Muerte and her demon sister roam. Decent cast -- Lorenza Izzo, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatta, and Nathan Lane. Pops up on Showtime.
*9-1-1 Lone Star - Sunday Jan 19 at 10 PM on FOX (stars Rob Lowe and Liv Tyler in Austin Texas).
* The aforementioned The Outsider on HBO, Stephen Kings supernatural crime thriller - comes as a 10-part miniseries, starring Jason Bateman (whose also executive producing) as a beloved small-town teacher and Little-League coach accused of an unspeakable crime. Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Ervio (whose getting around, she was in Harriet and is also starring in a mini-series on Aretha Franklin), and Mare Winningham.
*Briarpatch - USA, Feb 6, 10 PM. - anthology series by the guy behind Mr. Robot. The first installment is a quirky adaptation of Ross Thomas' pulpy 1984 tale - a Private Eye (Rosaria Dawson) uncovers corruption (and escaped zoo animals) in her Texas hometown while digging into her sister's murder.
* Snowpiercer - Premiers in the Spring on TNT. This is the television adaptation of the French graphic novel, which had been adapted into the cult film of the same name. It is about a train carrying mankind's survivors around the now-frozen Earth -- stars Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs.
* Quiz - AMC's series - three part docudrama by Stephen Frears -about the British couple who attempted to swindle the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. No clue when it airs. (You'd think they would just talk about and focus on the shows which they have a definite airdate for, but no, let's talk about the ones that don't! And leave out half the one's that do, like 68 Whisky (no clue what that is) and Spy Games (also clueless about))
* Avenue 5 - Premiers Sunday, Jan 19, on HBO - stars Hugh Laurie as an inept space cruise ship Captain who runs afoul of some trouble during his liner's maiden voyage. It's a comedy by the satiric team behind VEEP.
* Tommy -- Edie Falco stars as a former NYC cop who is appointed the first female chief of police in Los Angelos after a sexual harrassment scandal brings down her (male) predecessor. It's on Thursday, Feb 6 at 10 on CBS.
* Dispatches from Elsewhere - premiers Sunday, March 1, AMC -- an anthology series created by How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel -- follows a group of people selected by a mysterious organization to take part in a curious and possibly magical game. Stars Sally Field as one of the people.
* World on Fire - PBS on April 5, 9 PM -- about everyday civilians affected by WWII.
*Hunters - Amazon Prime -- stars Al Pacino as Meyer Offerman, a Jewish business titan who secretly organizes an unlikely group of so-called hunters in 1977 NYC - to hunt down a cabal of undercover Nazi bigwigs plotting to create a Fourth Reich in the US. No idea when it is airing.
*Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame CJ Walker - premiers in March on Netflix.
Stars Octavia Butler as CJ Walker, the self-made black female billionaire. Blair Underwood, Tiffany Haddish also star.
* Little Fires Everywhere - Hulu March 18 -- the adpatation of the novel, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
Believe it or not, I didn't even list all of them, just a handful.
Current Anthology Series Popping Up Again With a New Installment, Just in Case You Forgot They Existed or Thought they were Over!
* Genius: Aretha - staring Cynthia Erivo. Follows the early years...the idea is to show you how much Aretha was able to conquer to be the incredible person she became.
[Premiers in the Spring on National Geographic. It should be a lot less controversial than the last two historical figures.]
*Impeachment: American Crime Story (no not the President you think, that hasn't finished yet -- we're going to have to wait another twenty years for the television version of that one.) Premiers Spetember 27, FX - so this is in the fall, apparently? It's focusing on the President Clinton Impeachment. With Clive Owen as Clinton, Sara Paulson as Linda Tripp, and Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky.
(Just in time for the 2020 election to get into high gear.)
*Dirty John apparently was an anthology series. This means, that they are doing the Betty Broderick case next -- this round with Amanda Peet as Broderick, and Christian Slater as the manipulative ex-hubby that she kills.
* Fargo pops up again with Chris Rock now playing the antihero opposite UZo Aduba.
People Being Added To Casts..With Noting
* The Crown adds Gillian Anderson (X-Files) as Margret Thatcher for S4.
* Killing Eve adds Gemma Whelan (the Iron Islands Princess Yarra Greyjoy in Game of Thrones)
*Westworld adds Aaron Paul as a construction worker who gets involved with Dolores.
2. I watched the premiere episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist last night, which I enjoyed more than expected. I decided to try it on co-worker's recommendation -- this is the co-worker who got me to watch "They Who Walk in the Shadows" and is in love with Outlander and Doctor Who. He loved it, his wife didn't.
But they are trying another episode. It doesn't really premiere until Feb anyhow.
Will you like it? I have no idea. Outside of the format of one character hearing other people do song and dance numbers in her head, or experiencing them as if they are happening, while no one else does -- it has zip in common with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. If anything the concept reminds me a little more of Whedon's for Once More with Feeling (sans demons, etc), where people sing whatever they are feeling -- except Whedon created his own songs.
Zoey has migraines, she goes to the doctor and gets an MRI scan. But she's claustrophobic and hates MRIS'. He plays music for her. She keeps her eyes open during the exam and I thought, close your eyes you idiot. That's how you get through it. Otherwise it looks like the walls are closing in on you. Does she? No. Instead she just keeps them open and freaks out during an earthquake, which somehow or other results in Zoey now hearing other people's thoughts in the equivalent of song and dance numbers. Usually of popular tunes. There are no made up songs in this show. Also it's NOT a satire or parody like Crazy Ex. Less snarky and mean, with an anti-hero, and more feel-good, charming and touchy-feely. Also less show-tune style, more flash dance mob with pop tunes. Over the course of the episode she figures out that she is supposed to help the person who sang to her. Sort of God Friended Me meets Crazy Ex, by way of Once More With Feeling -- or perhaps it's the opposite way around?
It's rather funny in places. The first dance number to a Beatles tune had me cackling with laughter, to the point that I was doubled over. But it does get rather maudlin in others. And some may think it is rather cheesy. Oh, and for a change of pace, takes place in San Francisco and not New York or Chicago or LA.
I'm sticking with it in any event. But that's mainly because I like seeing people burst out in a random song and dance number for no apparent reason. I kind of wish they'd do it in real life. On the other hand it could make it difficult to get from place to place. I'm guessing this is not going to be everyone's cup of coco.
3. Co-worker: Being on a computer all day is killing my eyes.
ME: And I come home and do it too, also read on the train. What can I say? I love to write. Sometimes I think life would be much easier if I didn't.
Co-worker: Really?
Me: Yeah, I don't even care if anyone reads it. (Although that would be nice. But on the other hand, I still live in fear as to the reaction. People don't tend to react to things they way I think they are going to.)
Co-worker: Just to get it out there?
ME: Yep. I just like to write stories, etc.
Remember when TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, etc would do a run-down of all the new television shows? The critics would provide reviews of all of them? Well no longer. There are so many television shows that the television critics have thrown in the towel and given up trying to keep track of them, let alone reviewing all of them. They just choose the ones that look interesting to them.
1. Picked up TV Guide at the drug store, just because I got curious.
Glad I did, otherwise I would not have known that my favorite Jane Austen (which was written and finished by another lady,Sandition which tells you something about how I felt about Jane Austen) is being adapted for the screen and airs this coming Sunday, in an eight part series, starting at 9 pm. (Although it's not the version I adored, because the writer is just doing his own completion of Austen's tale). Howard's End is being shown before it. Howard's End previously aired on Hulu or some other channel I had no access to in the US, and has now, finally popped up on PBS Masterpiece Theater.
January 12
Sandition airs at 9 PM on Sunday
Howard's End at 8 PM on Sunday
(Both on PBS)
Also, for folks who have HBO? The adaptation of Stephin King's paranormal mystery "The Outsider" is being adapted as a series starring Ben Mendalson and Jason Bateman, among others -- airing on Sunday.
New Streaming Services (as if we didn't have enough already, right?)
* HBOMAx - $14.99 per month, and it premieres in May, and this thing will be huge, because it has the entire Time Warner and HBO library. (That's why Friends left Netflix). Doctor Who, 50 Years of Sesame Street, The West Wing, Gossip Girl, The Sopranoes, Sex in the City, Big Bang Theory, The Wire, Game of Thrones...new series include Superintelligence, Grease: Rydell High, The Flight Attendant (starring Penny from the Big Bang Theory).
* Peacock (basically NBC's version of CBSAllAccess...Abc already has Disney Plus and Hulu...). We have no clue what it costs. It has all the NBC stuff, plus Downton Abbey, Married with Children, Friday Night Lights, Bridesmaids, Brokeback Mountain. (It's NBC Universal). It launches in April.
* Quibi - April 6 ($4.99 a month with commercials, $7.99 without) It's via an app. And it's quick bites -- and offers more than 70 comedies all with episodes between three and fifteen minutes long, including a mystery comedy series. (Uhm. Okay. I guess this gives amateur filmmakers a place to put their content? Also, hey, an app for the people who don't have long enough attention spans to watch television.)
New Series! (Because we don't have enough already. Remember the good old days when you eagerly awaited the brief return of your favs, and new series only premiered in the fall? Well those days are long gone.)
* Perry Mason on HBO (geeze HBO has a lot of content, although considering they are launching a new streaming service on top of their current one, this kind of makes sense?) It's basically a gritty Depression era noir Perry Mason, staring Mathew Rhys (The Americans) as Mason, with Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Masiany (Orphan Black) rounding out the cast.
* Star Trek: Picard - it premiers on CBS All Access on Jan 23.
* Party of Five Reboot -- this round the kids are separated from the parents, because the parents have been deported under Trump's immigration law. It airs on Freeform on Jan 8 at 9 PM. (Basically last night, so oops, we missed it.)
*Penny Dreadful: City of Angles - comes back, yet this round to 1930s LA where the Angel of Death Santa Muerte and her demon sister roam. Decent cast -- Lorenza Izzo, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatta, and Nathan Lane. Pops up on Showtime.
*9-1-1 Lone Star - Sunday Jan 19 at 10 PM on FOX (stars Rob Lowe and Liv Tyler in Austin Texas).
* The aforementioned The Outsider on HBO, Stephen Kings supernatural crime thriller - comes as a 10-part miniseries, starring Jason Bateman (whose also executive producing) as a beloved small-town teacher and Little-League coach accused of an unspeakable crime. Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Ervio (whose getting around, she was in Harriet and is also starring in a mini-series on Aretha Franklin), and Mare Winningham.
*Briarpatch - USA, Feb 6, 10 PM. - anthology series by the guy behind Mr. Robot. The first installment is a quirky adaptation of Ross Thomas' pulpy 1984 tale - a Private Eye (Rosaria Dawson) uncovers corruption (and escaped zoo animals) in her Texas hometown while digging into her sister's murder.
* Snowpiercer - Premiers in the Spring on TNT. This is the television adaptation of the French graphic novel, which had been adapted into the cult film of the same name. It is about a train carrying mankind's survivors around the now-frozen Earth -- stars Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs.
* Quiz - AMC's series - three part docudrama by Stephen Frears -about the British couple who attempted to swindle the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. No clue when it airs. (You'd think they would just talk about and focus on the shows which they have a definite airdate for, but no, let's talk about the ones that don't! And leave out half the one's that do, like 68 Whisky (no clue what that is) and Spy Games (also clueless about))
* Avenue 5 - Premiers Sunday, Jan 19, on HBO - stars Hugh Laurie as an inept space cruise ship Captain who runs afoul of some trouble during his liner's maiden voyage. It's a comedy by the satiric team behind VEEP.
* Tommy -- Edie Falco stars as a former NYC cop who is appointed the first female chief of police in Los Angelos after a sexual harrassment scandal brings down her (male) predecessor. It's on Thursday, Feb 6 at 10 on CBS.
* Dispatches from Elsewhere - premiers Sunday, March 1, AMC -- an anthology series created by How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel -- follows a group of people selected by a mysterious organization to take part in a curious and possibly magical game. Stars Sally Field as one of the people.
* World on Fire - PBS on April 5, 9 PM -- about everyday civilians affected by WWII.
*Hunters - Amazon Prime -- stars Al Pacino as Meyer Offerman, a Jewish business titan who secretly organizes an unlikely group of so-called hunters in 1977 NYC - to hunt down a cabal of undercover Nazi bigwigs plotting to create a Fourth Reich in the US. No idea when it is airing.
*Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame CJ Walker - premiers in March on Netflix.
Stars Octavia Butler as CJ Walker, the self-made black female billionaire. Blair Underwood, Tiffany Haddish also star.
* Little Fires Everywhere - Hulu March 18 -- the adpatation of the novel, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
Believe it or not, I didn't even list all of them, just a handful.
Current Anthology Series Popping Up Again With a New Installment, Just in Case You Forgot They Existed or Thought they were Over!
* Genius: Aretha - staring Cynthia Erivo. Follows the early years...the idea is to show you how much Aretha was able to conquer to be the incredible person she became.
[Premiers in the Spring on National Geographic. It should be a lot less controversial than the last two historical figures.]
*Impeachment: American Crime Story (no not the President you think, that hasn't finished yet -- we're going to have to wait another twenty years for the television version of that one.) Premiers Spetember 27, FX - so this is in the fall, apparently? It's focusing on the President Clinton Impeachment. With Clive Owen as Clinton, Sara Paulson as Linda Tripp, and Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky.
(Just in time for the 2020 election to get into high gear.)
*Dirty John apparently was an anthology series. This means, that they are doing the Betty Broderick case next -- this round with Amanda Peet as Broderick, and Christian Slater as the manipulative ex-hubby that she kills.
* Fargo pops up again with Chris Rock now playing the antihero opposite UZo Aduba.
People Being Added To Casts..With Noting
* The Crown adds Gillian Anderson (X-Files) as Margret Thatcher for S4.
* Killing Eve adds Gemma Whelan (the Iron Islands Princess Yarra Greyjoy in Game of Thrones)
*Westworld adds Aaron Paul as a construction worker who gets involved with Dolores.
2. I watched the premiere episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist last night, which I enjoyed more than expected. I decided to try it on co-worker's recommendation -- this is the co-worker who got me to watch "They Who Walk in the Shadows" and is in love with Outlander and Doctor Who. He loved it, his wife didn't.
But they are trying another episode. It doesn't really premiere until Feb anyhow.
Will you like it? I have no idea. Outside of the format of one character hearing other people do song and dance numbers in her head, or experiencing them as if they are happening, while no one else does -- it has zip in common with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. If anything the concept reminds me a little more of Whedon's for Once More with Feeling (sans demons, etc), where people sing whatever they are feeling -- except Whedon created his own songs.
Zoey has migraines, she goes to the doctor and gets an MRI scan. But she's claustrophobic and hates MRIS'. He plays music for her. She keeps her eyes open during the exam and I thought, close your eyes you idiot. That's how you get through it. Otherwise it looks like the walls are closing in on you. Does she? No. Instead she just keeps them open and freaks out during an earthquake, which somehow or other results in Zoey now hearing other people's thoughts in the equivalent of song and dance numbers. Usually of popular tunes. There are no made up songs in this show. Also it's NOT a satire or parody like Crazy Ex. Less snarky and mean, with an anti-hero, and more feel-good, charming and touchy-feely. Also less show-tune style, more flash dance mob with pop tunes. Over the course of the episode she figures out that she is supposed to help the person who sang to her. Sort of God Friended Me meets Crazy Ex, by way of Once More With Feeling -- or perhaps it's the opposite way around?
It's rather funny in places. The first dance number to a Beatles tune had me cackling with laughter, to the point that I was doubled over. But it does get rather maudlin in others. And some may think it is rather cheesy. Oh, and for a change of pace, takes place in San Francisco and not New York or Chicago or LA.
I'm sticking with it in any event. But that's mainly because I like seeing people burst out in a random song and dance number for no apparent reason. I kind of wish they'd do it in real life. On the other hand it could make it difficult to get from place to place. I'm guessing this is not going to be everyone's cup of coco.
3. Co-worker: Being on a computer all day is killing my eyes.
ME: And I come home and do it too, also read on the train. What can I say? I love to write. Sometimes I think life would be much easier if I didn't.
Co-worker: Really?
Me: Yeah, I don't even care if anyone reads it. (Although that would be nice. But on the other hand, I still live in fear as to the reaction. People don't tend to react to things they way I think they are going to.)
Co-worker: Just to get it out there?
ME: Yep. I just like to write stories, etc.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 02:22 am (UTC)Well, YouTube is trying to make you subscribe -- yet is still free. (Something I'm confused about to be honest.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 02:27 am (UTC)Well that would certainly explain it! I knew I'd seen a few episodes during a free preview week and assumed it had been HBO, I am less clear about YouTube Red but I know that You Tube TV is different in that it offers broadcast and cable TV. I believe they may have also created some original content for it.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 02:35 am (UTC)The NY Times article made the point that we should take advantage of the bubble while it lasts because sooner or later it's going to implode. There's no way it can sustain itself for long.