TV Show Reviews

Murphy Brown (1988-?)

murphy-brown-season-11-cast-photo

Murphy Brown (1988-?)

Network:

CBS

Creator:

Diane English

Starring:

Candice Bergen

Faith Ford

Joe Regalbuto

Grant Shaud

Jake McDorman

Tyne Daly

Adan Rocha

Nik Dodani

Plot:

The personal and professional misadventures of a woman working as a TV journalist.

Review:

You have no idea how fucking excited I was for this show reboot. I freaking hate most reboots and renewals of old shows, but this is mother fucking Murphy Brown. I watched this when I was a very little girl. I loved Murphy Brown. LOVED HER.

I hooked an antenna up to my TV, set an alarm, and watched fucking commercials so that I could watch this “pilot” live and do you want to know what? It was fucking fantastic.

Murphy was everything that my little girl brain remembered her being. She was passionate, and smart, and liberal, but she was not a fucking hate monger. She let facts back her opinion and sure that sometimes pushes her too far, but it’s a TV show.

Candice Bergen, Murphy, has been missed from my TV, and I hope I get to watch many more seasons to come.

Jake McDorman was cast as her son Avery. I loved him in Limitless so I was very happy to see him on a show I love so much. The chemistry between the two of them was spot on. He was a great son and seeing Murphy be proud of him but still competitive with him was amusing. I really liked that they have him working at a conservative network as the lone liberal. He’s passionate, just like his mother, but he’s also young so a bit more idealistic than she is. It was perfect.

Politics is so charged right now. If you are liberal you hate conservatives. If you’re conservative you hate liberals. It’s ruining the future of our country. However, I thought that this episode did a great job not lobbing insults at the other side. Part of that was Avery’s doing and his willingness to work for the “other side.” Yes, it’s a more liberal show, but I don’t think it’s adding to the hate and fear that’s currently out there. I think, I hope, that it’s trying to be better than that.

*sigh* It’s a difficult world we live in right now and I don’t envy the writers of the show, but I can’t wait to see what they have to show us and dear god please let this show not get canceled.

5/5

 

Lucifer Season 2 (2015-?)

lucifer-season-2-maze-charlotte

Lucifer Season 2 (2015-?)

Network:

Fox

Creator:

Tom Kapinos

Starring:

Tom Ellis

Lauren German

Kevin Alejandro

D.B. Woodside

Lesley-Ann Brandt

Tricia Helfer

Rachael Harris

Plot:

Lucifer Morningstar has decided he’s had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity. He settles in Los Angeles – the City of Angels.

Review:

I watched the first season of Lucifer as it aired, enjoyed it, then promptly forgot about it. Not sure what happened there, but while killing TV time before fall premiers started I was able to binge the second season.

Lucifer, Tom Ellis, ends up revealing to his therapist, Rachael Harris, that he’s really, and truly, the devil. He shows her his true form and seeing her reactions was one of my favorite parts of the season. She reacted like any normal person would and seeing her learn everything about Heaven and Hell and Lucifer’s family was great.

The big thing with this season was that Lucifer’s mother, Tricia Helfer, showed up. She isn’t a fan of humans, but wants to have a good relationship with her sons. I had a hard time believing that as her motivation and Lucifer did too. Nothing really came of that, though. She ended up escaping to another universe or dimension or world. Some place where she could create what she wanted. And I assume, that is that, with her.

We learned some about Chloe and there was some movement on a relationship between her and Lucifer, though, I really don’t know how I feel about that.

What I enjoy most with this show is the mythology. Well, the mythology and Mazikeen, Lesley-Ann Brandt. She’s my favorite by so much. She’s a badass, and a demon, and she’s growing as a person. She says wildly inappropriate things and I love her.

Season 3 has already aired, but it’s not available on any of the streaming services I have, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to watch it. I’m going to try and not forget about the show though because it really is entertaining.

3.5/5

I Feel Bad (2018-?)

I Feel Bad

I Feel Bad (2018-?)

Network:

NBC

Creator:

Aseem Batra

Starring:

Sarayu Blue

Paul Adelstein

Madhur Jaffrey

Plot:

Emet, the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter, is learning to be okay with being imperfect.

Review:

I love network comedies because they are usually pleasant background noise. I can tune in and out and be entertained. ‘I Feel Bad’ works perfect for that, and I found myself tuning in way more frequently that I normally would.

I enjoyed that this is about a working mom that’s in a good marriage has a close relationship to her parents and is also a person of color.

I do foresee some issues with her job. She is an artist for a video game company, if it’s depicted realistically it could end up being too real. Of course, if it doesn’t at least mention the issues facing that industry right now I’d be even more disappointed. We’ll see what happens.

The supporting cast were entertaining and I enjoyed the two episodes I’ve watched. We’ll see if it ends up being more like Blackish or if it fizzles and burns.

3.5/5

Jack Ryan (2018-?)


Jack Ryan (2018-?)

Network:

Amazon

Creator:

Carlton Cuse

Graham Roland

Starring:

John Krasinski

Wendell Pierce

Abbie Cornish

Ali Suliman

Dina Shihabi

Plot:

An up-and-coming CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is thrust into a dangerous field assignment as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit.

Review:

When I was younger I really enjoyed the Jack Ryan books by Tom Clancy. It’s been a few years so I’m not sure how those feelings have aged, but I was curious to see this and binged it one weekend.

Jack Ryan, John Krasiniski, is a former marine that after a tragic accident was honorably discharged. He went from a stock broker to working for the CIA as an analyst. He has spotted suspicious financial activity and believes he’s discovered someone about to commit the next 9/11.

The number of times 9/11 was mentioned in the first episode was annoying and had the opposite of the intended effect. I almost stopped there because of it, thankfully, it wasn’t really mentioned again.

I wasn’t impressed with Krasinski’s portrayal of the role. The only time I could tell what he was feeling was when he was smiling, but a show about terrorism meant he was rarely smiling. Every other time I was just guessing, occasionally there would be verbal queues but they didn’t match up with what his face was saying. Mostly he just looked like he was there.

There was one whole plot line with a drone pilot that has caused some controversy because of the transphobic joke that was made. I actually missed the “joke” because I’d been fast forwarding through his sections. They honestly made no sense and could have been completely removed. Maybe his character comes into play later on if there’s another season, but for now it was just wtf.

Female representation was mostly disappointing. Cathy, Abbie Cornish, was the best female main character we had and she was mostly just Jack’s love interest. She did end up getting some of her doctor skills thrown in, but she kind of ruined that by getting mad at Jack for lying about his job. We had a French police captain that was killed. Hanin, Dina Shihabi, was good, but her story line revolved around her escaping her husband and being saved once by the drone operator and then ultimately by Jack. It was a bit disappointing.

James Greer, Wendell Pierce, was probably my favorite character. I loved that they made him a Muslim. He was so incredibly competent at his job and he didn’t automatically share shit with Jack because he was the boss, he didn’t have too. He reminded me of Holdo in The Last Jedi in that regard. He was interesting and a badass and if there’s a second season and they hold with what’s been established in the show and books he’ll be there.

Honestly, based on what I remember of the books, they took a fair amount of creative liberties. That was to be expected, though. Jack Ryan is more about connecting the dots and not action. Occasionally action, but normally it’s a lot of discovering information and sending someone else out into the field. To make a TV show watchable and not boring they had to add more, but it would have been cool if they’d added John Clark and Domingo Chavez.

I’ll probably watch a second season, but I hope they make some tweaks.

3/5

 

 

Westworld Season 2 (2016-?)


Westworld Season 2 (2016-?)

Network:

HBO

Starring:

Evan Rachel Wood

Thandie Newton

Jeffry Wright

Ed Harris

James Marsden

Zahn McClarnon

Plot:

Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, explore a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.

Review:

The end of season 1 had Delores, Evan Rachel Wood, going on a killing rampage. Bernard, Jeffry Wright, discovered he was one of the hosts. And Maeve, Thandie Newton, decides fuck it I’m going to find my daughter and not leave. It’s a pretty climactic ending and season 2 seriously does not disappoint.

Delores leads a revolution. She’s angry and she wants humans to pay in blood and she doesn’t care who’s in her way. Her love, Teddy, James Marsden, can’t even stop her, though, he doesn’t really try. When she realizes he’s going to be a possible hindrance she does what her enemy does and changes him. When he realizes it, he can’t keep going. It’s sad. In the end her desire for revenge matters more than anything. She basically becomes her enemy.

Bernard’s story is probably the most confusing. He too is free, basically, and trying to save his people. However, he doesn’t want to destroy the humans like Delores. He wants everyone to live and thrive and be happy. He is very much Delores foil and the end of the season sets that up handily for the next season.

Maeve, my favorite character of the bunch, could easily be brushed off by saying she only cares about herself, but that’s too easy. She cares about others, but she is not currently a big picture player. She wants her family to be happy. One of my favorite parts of the season was when she met Delores and basically called her out and said if you really believe what you’re spouting then you can’t stop me. It was great.

The Man in Black, Ed Harris, gets more background. Through his story there are more revelations about the entire place. He seems to be going crazy, if he isn’t already there. His story is what really confuses things as a whole and makes you wonder what’s going on.

My favorite episode of the season didn’t have anything to do with these characters, though. At least, not really. It was a new character, Akecheta, Zahn McClarnon, a Native American warrior. His story is just so amazing. I loved that episode so much.

What has me most confused and excited about this season was the end credits clip. It basically throws everything into question and I have no idea which way is up. I am so excited and really looking forward to the next season. Westworld has become more than I ever could have imagined.

5/5