I haven’t done entertainment news blog since September so a lot of my so-called “news” is old hat. It’s also been tough to wade through my usual sources because about a third of the news articles are about Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and other sexual-harassment stories. Rather than do a giant blog trying to catch up all at once, I’m going to do it month by month. So here are the old news stories that I should’ve covered in October 2016.
Before doing this post I also did a brief recap of some of the TV reviews I did in September and October. You can find it here.
In the links below read:
Spoilers from Inside Line dated October 12
New cast members for next season of Doctor Who
Video of old TARDIS set being dismantled
Spoilers from Inside Line dated October 26
Not in the links below but still of interest:
George Clooney will receive the AFI lifetime achievement award in 2018
Speculation remains that Game of Thrones will not return until 2019
Westworld is scheduled to return in the summer of 2018
RIP comedian Ralphie May was a finalist on Last Comic Standing age 45 complications of pneumonia
American Horror Story producers edited the October 10 episode to tone down violence in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. The unedited version is available on demand.
Megan McCain daughter of Sen. John McCain is the newest cohost on “The View”
Cinemax announced a new season of military action drama “Strike Back” will premiere February 2 with a totally new cast.
Matt Ryan will guest star on two episodes of Legends of Tomorrow as Constantine
Victor Garber will be leaving Legends of Tomorrow sometime this season. He is going to Broadway to replace David Hyde Pierce in Hello Dolly. His first performance is set for January 20
CBS military drama SEAL Team has been given a full season order of 22 episodes
NBC has canceled its summer medical drama “The Night Shift” after 4 seasons. I never watched it.
RIP actor Roy Dotrice who played “father” on the 90s series Beauty and the Beast. Aged 94.
RIP actor John Dunsworth who played newspaperman Dave Teagues on Syfy Channel series Haven. Age 71
The new Han Solo movie will be titled “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and will premiere May 25, 2018. Ron Howard took over as director after the sudden departure of previous directors. No reason given.
Chelsea Handler talkshow has been canceled on Netflix
CBS has renewed summer series “Salvation” about an asteroid about to hit earth for season 2. Although the first season ended before the asteroid hit, I’m surprised the show got renewed. I watched it because it wasn’t much on during the summer. But I would classify it as just barely watchable.
Actress comedian Julia Louis Dreyfus is battling breast cancer
Star Trek: Discovery has been renewed for a second season on CBS All Access
The Orville has been renewed for a second season at Fox
René Zellweger will play Judy Garland in an upcoming biopic film
Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan for season 6. The setting of the show will shift from LA to New York
CBS has canceled summer sci-fi series Zoo after 3 seasons. I kind of like it.
Sara Ramirez a.k.a. Dr. Calliope Torres from Grey’s Anatomy has joined the cast of Madam Secretary but you might not recognize her with a short haircut.
RIP actor Robert Guillaume who played Benson on that show as well as Soap. He was 89
It has been confirmed that Vincent D’Onofrio will return as Wilson Fisk and daredevil season three on Netflix
RIP blues legend Fats Domino age 89
AMC as renewed Preacher for season 3 and we are well pleased
SNL alumni Fred Armisen is joining the cast of “The Last Man on Earth”
Doctor Who Casts Three New Series Regulars, One ‘Returning Role’
Deconstruction of TARDIS set means we’re getting a new TARDIS
Follow-up Comments on My Fall 2017 Reviews
I haven’t done an entertainment recap since September. Before I go through all of my usual entertainment news with links and one-liner updates I thought I would do a quick post to revisit the shows that I reviewed during September and October as well as talk about a couple of movies. I’ve included links to the original reviews.
I mentioned that the latest incarnation of American Horror Story showed great promise in part because it appeared to contain absolutely no supernatural elements. I’ve only seen seven out of the 11 episodes this season which wrapped up in November but that assessment still holds true. It is just as scary, bloody, an interesting as previous seasons but somehow I think it’s even scarier because it could be 100% real. The story revolves around a disturbed young man who becomes politically active inspired by Trump’s victory as president. He also spawns the creation of a cult of purveyors of murder and mayhem designed to scare the populace into accepting him and his campaign of fear mongering. This series has been very uneven season to season. Some years it has been really great with excellent character development, interesting stories, and lots of blood and gore. Other years are we got was blood and gore. If you been sitting out AHS, consider checking this one out on demand. AHS is back in a good way.
I said that the new sci-fi comedy series “The Orville” from Seth MacFarlane was great comedy and great sci-fi at the same time. That prediction held up the entire 13 episodes. Many critics and fans say that it is closer to the original Star Trek than the new reboot Star Trek: Discovery. While I still like Discovery on its own merits, I have to agree that The Orville definitely feels very much like classic Star Trek in a very good way. It tackles some very serious classic sci-fi themes and still has some very over-the-top comedic moments. The season finale episode “Mad Idolatry” was very reminiscent of one of my favorite Star Trek: Next Generation episodes “Who Watches the Watchers“. It involved a crew member who interfered in a primitive culture and a religion arose around that encounter. Really quality stuff. The goofy humor might be a turnoff to some “serious” sci-fi fans but I still have to recommend it highly.
Speaking of Star Trek: Discovery, I have seen all nine available episodes. The show is on hiatus until later in January where we will get 4 more this season. In general I like it. The characters, stories, and special effects are all top-notch. But I have to agree with some of the critics that it seems to break a lot of cannon for classic Star Trek. Try not to let that turn you off. This is still good stuff and it is marginally Star Trek like. It just doesn’t fit in very well with the traditional Star Trek timeline. I’m still not sure it’s worth the subscription to CBS All Access. If you are a fan of both sci-fi and the old legal drama The Good Wife, then perhaps the combo of Discovery and Good Wife spinoff series “The Good Life” does make the subscription worthwhile. CBS All Access has a third original series that I have not yet seen. It is a police comedy called “No Activity“.
Initially I gave “Young Sheldon” a rather bad review. I continued to watch the show and it’s not quite as bad as I initially felt. I thought in the initial episode Sheldon came across as a little bit pathetic. But the characters have begun to grow on me. I still would have to say that “Me, Myself, and I” is a better show about a young brainy kid and his adult self.
In my reviews of NBC’s “The Brave” and CBS’s “SEAL Team” I said it was a tossup whether you wanted more action in Brave or more personal stories in SEAL. That remains true. Neither are as good as I wish they were but I continued to watch both. I would have to say between the two I prefer The Brave. Perhaps a better choice is the new CBS action drama SWAT which I did not review. Of the three I like SWAT best. Of course all of them suffer from plot holes and plot driven technology. I probably would not stick with SEAL Team if I wasn’t such a big fan of David Boreanaz. Also Shemar Moore‘s charisma adds a great deal to SWAT.
I reviewed 2 new Marvel comics series: Inhumans and The Gifted. Although I watched the entire season of Inhumans I was not really that thrilled with it. People who were familiar with the characters from the comic books seem to appreciate more than I did. The royal family just seemed to me to be a bunch of whiny self absorbed over-privileged ass holes. It was only because traitorous cousin Maximus was even a bigger ass hole that there was any real conflict in the story. I found it difficult to root for the so-called good guys. I don’t mind flawed heroes but they have to be compelling and I’m not so sure these were. On the other hand “The Gifted” is phenomenally good. It’s everything we look for in an X-Men universe story. Great characters, great stories, good performances, outstanding special-effects. I’m only six episodes into the season but I really like it and look forward to more.
A pair of new Marvel series are just okay. The jury is still out on The Gifted and Inhumans
As mentioned earlier, I continue to enjoy “Me, Myself and I“.
Unfortunately the series was canceled after just six episodes. No word yet on if any remaining episodes will be available on demand or will be shown in some junk time slot later in the year. This was the first canceled new series of the season.
“Me, Myself and I” is a lighter, funnier “This Is Us” and better alternative to “Young Sheldon”
I did not continue to watch “9JKL” or “Valor” beyond the initial one or two episodes.
I still have serious problems with “The Good Doctor” but apart from its primary premise it is a good medical drama slide continued to watch it despite my difficulties with the main character and premise of the show.
“The Good Doctor” Challenges Preconceptions Perhaps Too Much
Moving briefly on to movies, since my growing review for Dunkirk the only two movies I’ve seen are Justice League and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I will just briefly say that I really liked Justice League although again DC isn’t quite up to Marvel standards. And as far as Star Wars goes I may do a different blog post outlining why I think the naysayers are wrong about the film. Most people like it but there are good percentage of Star Wars fans who did not like it and I think there are wrong.
That’s all for now. I will have what my regular updates on the blog in a few days.