TV 2020 Q1 & and now Q2 TV DISCUSSION

[John from Cincinnati]

14 minutes ago, EVA said:

I feel like BILLIONS is this generation’s ENTOURAGE.

There's a case to be made there. But Ballers also exists.

Of course Ballers is done and Showtime shows can go on a for a while. So in the end, yeah, probably. 

[Craig H]

7 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

There's a case to be made there. But Ballers also exists.

Of course Ballers is done and Showtime shows can go on a for a while. So in the end, yeah, probably. 

Yeah, I was thinking the same exact thing regarding Billions being this generation's Entourage, especially now that Ballers is dead and buried. I will not be the least be shocked if Chuck and Wendy wind up back together again by the end of the season.

[RIPPA]

Season Renewals and Cancellations are starting to happen 

CBS renewed

All Rise, Blue Bloods, Bull, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, MacGyver, Magnum P.I., NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Seal Team, S.W.A.T., and comedies Bob ♥ Abishola, The Neighborhood, and The Unicorn, as well as news programs 60 Minutes and 48 Hours and the reality series Undercover Boss. (Evil, Mom, Young Sheldon, Survivor, and The Amazing Race had already been announced as renewed

They cancelled Broke, Carol’s Second Act, Tommy, and Man with a Plan

[odessasteps]

I hope Man with a Plan was about the Panama Canal. 

[Mister TV]

18 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Season Renewals and Cancellations are starting to happen 

CBS renewed

All Rise, Blue Bloods, Bull, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, MacGyver, Magnum P.I., NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Seal Team, S.W.A.T., and comedies Bob ♥ Abishola, The Neighborhood, and The Unicorn, as well as news programs 60 Minutes and 48 Hours and the reality series Undercover Boss. (Evil, Mom, Young Sheldon, Survivor, and The Amazing Race had already been announced as renewed

They cancelled Broke, Carol’s Second Act, Tommy, and Man with a Plan

Does anyone over 70 watch CBS? I mean there's got to be a point where they purge the NCIS shows and remakes the same way did the rural shows in the early 70's.

[odessasteps]

Just realized this version of SWAT is on cbs and the original was on ABC. And Bob Urich was only the second lead. 

 

[RIPPA]

8 minutes ago, happjack said:

Does anyone over 70 watch CBS? I mean there's got to be a point where they purge the NCIS shows and remakes the same way did the rural shows in the early 70's.

That won't happen until NCIS stops being the #1 rated show in the country

[Mister TV]

It's kind of freaky that Avenue 5 and this season of Brockmire were written, shot and aired before the pandemic, they both seem like something that would have been initially conceived right now.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Old people watch TV too. A lot. 

EDIT: And just to give you an example as to what they will watch -- my dad will dig in every afternoon on reruns of Perry Mason and Route 66. My mom is pissed that Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless are in reruns but she is watching those too. And both of them watch NCIS and all the other similar shows. Think about that and the fact that there are a lot of baby boomers in this country. A lot. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Curt McGirt

[Southside Jim]

Bummed to hear FBI, NCIS: New Orleans, Young Sheldon, and S.W.A.T. are all renewed.  

 

Those may be the four worst scripted shows on network TV right now.

[Southside Jim]

1 hour ago, happjack said:

Does anyone over 70 watch CBS? I mean there's got to be a point where they purge the NCIS shows and remakes the same way did the rural shows in the early 70's.

 

*raises hand*

 

Big fan of the original NCIS and Blue Bloods.

[Eivion]

5 hours ago, happjack said:

Does anyone over 70 watch CBS? I mean there's got to be a point where they purge the NCIS shows and remakes the same way did the rural shows in the early 70's.

I watch NCIS though its mostly a halfass type of thing like Law & Order and it's various shows were for me after a while. My dad watches plenty from CBS though he does turn 70 in December.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

So, yeah, add Dave to Atlanta, Mr. Inbetween, Barry, Killing Eve and The Good Place as shows I decided to check out based on users on this very forum talking about them. 

I'm only 3 episodes in but, holy shit, what a great little show. Saw the Thrift Shop gag coming a mile away at the end of the 2nd episode. Still laughed.

Nearly fell off my chair at the end of the 3rd episode. Not that I knew what that particular table was before I watched that episode....

Dave/Ally are also, incidentally, my wife's new favourite couple on TV...which means they're totally going to split up, right? Yeah? Knew it.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Fuzzy Dunlop

[bazzil]

17 hours ago, Southside Jim said:

Bummed to hear FBI, NCIS: New Orleans, Young Sheldon, and S.W.A.T. are all renewed.  

 

Those may be the four worst scripted shows on network TV right now.

Why would you be bummed to hear that? You dont have watch them and even if they were cancelled its not like CBS would be coming up with anything great to replace them

[(BP)]

I’m just happy Scott Bakula is getting a paycheck since Hollywood has brought back every television show except for the greatest one of all time, Quantum Leap. Why haven’t we rebooted, Al?! 

 

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

On 5/6/2020 at 7:14 PM, Craig H said:

I think Becky's cameo on Billions was maybe the cringiest moment in the history of that series.

Billions feels like such a dumb show that's completely on a treadmill where it's always Bobby vs Rhodes, everyone talks like a weirdo, and yet I can't stop watching.

It's basically the rotisserie chicken I get from Costco that makes me really wish I had a Thanksgiving dinner (Succession) instead. Acceptable, but I know which is better.

It's one of the few bits of TV I can't quite help but watch, but yeah that Becky Lynch cameo was unbearable.

I hope Chuck and Wendy stay the fuck apart tbh. Chuck can get himself a young fresh dominatrix easily enough, and Wendy is Wendy. 

[Tabe]

For the first time in the longest time, I watched an actual TV show, this time the second season of Big Little Lies.  I quite enjoyed season 1 and had fairly high hopes for season 2 despite thinking it absolutely was not necessary.  Unfortunately, my hopes were misplaced.

For those who don't know or remember, Big Little Lies is an ego project of Reese Witherspoon and her friends to hop on board the "high art TV" bandwagon.  With an A-list cast (Reese, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, Shaylene Woodley), the story centers on the death of Nicole's husband.  They're all mothers of children at a very rich California school with all the entitlement, nastiness, and backbiting that entails.  The five are "friends" though.  Anyway, season 2...

Apparently between seasons 1 & 2, the writers became huge fans of season 2 of Friday Night Lights.  For those that skipped that season, much of the storyline revolves around a teenager who rescued a female friend of his from a rapist by killing the guy.  100% unquestionably, obviously, justified homicide.  So naturally, they dispose of the body and spend the entire season lying and acting as guilty as possible so they can be investigated for murder.

Same idea in Big Little Lies season 2.  The dead guy was shoved down a flight of stairs because he was beating up Nicole Kidman at a party.  100% justified.  5 witnesses (including Nicole) so they naturally they lie and cover it up because...reasons.  It's bafflingly stupid and undermines the entire season since that's much of the storyline.  The characters are all very smart, one of them is even a lawyer, but they rarely even question the idea of lying.  It's just so dumb it hurts.  Other than that, there's not much going on except evil mother-in-law (Meryl Streep) trying to prove Nicole is a bad mother and take her kids away.  Meanwhile, Nicole longs for the days of hot sex after getting beat up by her now-dead husband so we get a bunch of recaps of that stuff.  

In general, season 2 just doesn't work.  The actresses are either over-the-top (Dern & Witherspoon) or super bland (Woodley and Kravitz) in their roles.  Kidman is pretty good as a complicated woman with a whole lot of issues but that's about it.  Streep kinda sleepwalks through her role.  

So, yeah, disappointing.

[RIPPA]

I was thinking about this while posting in the other thread

Elisabeth Moss has, at worst, the 2nd best post-West Wing career, right?

I mean the conversation is basically her and Allison Janney. Then you basically have everyone else competing for third.

(If thinking about main characters or those who were fairly regular and Zoey Bartlett was in 25 episodes and every time I see Moss I think of her as being "from West Wing")

[Craig H]

52 minutes ago, Tabe said:

For the first time in the longest time, I watched an actual TV show, this time the second season of Big Little Lies.  I quite enjoyed season 1 and had fairly high hopes for season 2 despite thinking it absolutely was not necessary.  Unfortunately, my hopes were misplaced.

For those who don't know or remember, Big Little Lies is an ego project of Reese Witherspoon and her friends to hop on board the "high art TV" bandwagon.  With an A-list cast (Reese, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, Shaylene Woodley), the story centers on the death of Nicole's husband.  They're all mothers of children at a very rich California school with all the entitlement, nastiness, and backbiting that entails.  The five are "friends" though.  Anyway, season 2...

Apparently between seasons 1 & 2, the writers became huge fans of season 2 of Friday Night Lights.  For those that skipped that season, much of the storyline revolves around a teenager who rescued a female friend of his from a rapist by killing the guy.  100% unquestionably, obviously, justified homicide.  So naturally, they dispose of the body and spend the entire season lying and acting as guilty as possible so they can be investigated for murder.

Same idea in Big Little Lies season 2.  The dead guy was shoved down a flight of stairs because he was beating up Nicole Kidman at a party.  100% justified.  5 witnesses (including Nicole) so they naturally they lie and cover it up because...reasons.  It's bafflingly stupid and undermines the entire season since that's much of the storyline.  The characters are all very smart, one of them is even a lawyer, but they rarely even question the idea of lying.  It's just so dumb it hurts.  Other than that, there's not much going on except evil mother-in-law (Meryl Streep) trying to prove Nicole is a bad mother and take her kids away.  Meanwhile, Nicole longs for the days of hot sex after getting beat up by her now-dead husband so we get a bunch of recaps of that stuff.  

In general, season 2 just doesn't work.  The actresses are either over-the-top (Dern & Witherspoon) or super bland (Woodley and Kravitz) in their roles.  Kidman is pretty good as a complicated woman with a whole lot of issues but that's about it.  Streep kinda sleepwalks through her role.  

So, yeah, disappointing.

I had written a lot about season 2 as it was going on. A couple others did too, I think. Yeah, that whole second season is an illogical mess. I hated Meryl Streep, the cover-up story is so dumb, all of the flashbacks are hilariously bad, and so on. One of the other people on here talking about mentioned or linked to an article about why season 2 was such a mess. It all starts with the fact that the first season covers everything in the book and so the second season is all new material, which never works well. In addition, the reason why there were so many flashbacks was because of fighting between the new showrunner (David E. Kelly left the show after the first season) and the producer for it.

I hate watched that season from beginning to end and it was rarely good from what I can remember. It never needed a second season. It would be like if they did a second season for Sharp Objects.

By the way, you might like Sharp Objects if you never read the book. I thought the series wound up being better than the book, but that's what happens when Amy Adams is the star of it. It's on HBO.

[Tabe]

Yeah, Sharp Objects has been on my list for awhile.  Amy Adams is a favorite of mine.  

I was watching Big Little Lies and my wife walked in the room and I told her I wasn't liking it.  She says don't worry, it gets better.  I say I'm halfway through the finale.  She says ... oh, then I guess it won't.  LOL.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

CBS announced a couple new shows for fall(-ish).

They're rebooting The Equalizer with Queen Latifah playing the lead.  I swear I'm not making this up.  At least the supporting cast looks solid.

They also announced the long-rumored Silence of the Lambs spinoff (Clarice).  Clarice Starling is being played by an actress from Pretty Little Liars who I am completely unfamiliar with.

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/cbs-equalizer-reboot-clarice-starling-series-chuck-lorre-b-positive-2020-2021-season-1234601901/

 

 

3 hours ago, RIPPA said:

I was thinking about this while posting in the other thread

Elisabeth Moss has, at worst, the 2nd best post-West Wing career, right?

I mean the conversation is basically her and Allison Janney. Then you basically have everyone else competing for third.

I feel like you could make a case for Dulé Hill, depending on your criteria.  Doesn't get critically-acclaimed roles like Moss, but has worked an awful lot since 2006 and possibly made more money than Janney or Moss.   Been cast in three series (eight years of Psych; Doubt, a legal drama that only lasted one season; last two seasons of Suits).  Got a producer credit for Psych.

Really, though, virtually everyone who was a regular/semi-regular on the show has had a long career and worked steadily since Wing ended.  Looking at cast lists, the only name that jumped out at me as not working a lot was Janel Moloney (Donna), though Wiki says she had a regular role on the Leftovers.

[J.H.]

On the West Wing front... I don't recall seeing NiCole Robinson in much afterwards. Its weird, she was in almost every episode of West Wing yet never made it to Main Title sequence level star. Think how much we lose if the show neber had Margaret

James

[Matt D]

The last episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist pretty much wrecked me. I do not have too much pride to admit this.

[J.H.]

8 hours ago, Matt D said:

The last episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist pretty much wrecked me. I do not have too much pride to admit this.

No shame brother, the odds o  it getting renewed aren't good but the show went where it needed to go if it id a 1 and done season but fuck doees everyone involved in this show don't deserve Emmy nods!

James

[Tabe]

On 5/8/2020 at 2:22 PM, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

 

I feel like you could make a case for Dulé Hill, depending on your criteria.  Doesn't get critically-acclaimed roles like Moss, but has worked an awful lot since 2006 and possibly made more money than Janney or Moss.   Been cast in three series (eight years of Psych; Doubt, a legal drama that only lasted one season; last two seasons of Suits).  Got a producer credit for Psych.

Janney has done 150 episodes of top-rated Mom and TONS of movies, including a well-received role as the mother of Tonya Harding. She has had an outstanding career post-Wing. I'd be stunned if anybody on the cast has made more money than her after the show. And good for her. I love her. Such a supreme talent. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Tabe