Those of you who know me, know how addicted I am to TV. I have a list of entertainment websites that I frequent to get caught up on all the latest entertainment news. For a long time every time I would see an interesting article I would email a link to my friends but pretty soon I was sending lots of emails. I changed my policy and started putting together longer emails with lots of links and lots of other entertainment news items that were a sentence or two long and not really worth a link. I was sending it perhaps once a month to about eight or nine people. Finally I decided in February 2012 to open this entertainment blog and then post the link to Facebook where more people could read it. I also periodically post my reviews of new TV shows and last year I made a serious attempt to review every new show but I wasn’t able to keep up.
I just looked at my last entertainment news update blog was in March 2019 over a year ago. I have posted quite a few reviews since that time and even added a new section of YouTube channel reviews. You can expect more YouTube reviews sometime soon.
I’m going to try to get caught up on some entertainment news and post a blog. It’s probably going to take days to go through my RSS feeds of all my websites. My RSS reader only saves about 8000 articles and I’m sure it has overflowed several times in more than a year. So much of the “news” will be old news. It will probably consists of lots of obituaries. But I would like to get caught up while everything is on hiatus because of the pandemic. When TV production finally does start anew then I will be caught up and ready to go.
As I was scrolling back to previous articles I thought perhaps I would take a quick moment to give you an update on all of the shows that I previously reviewed. The big entertainment news article will probably take me a week or more to prepare. Here’s a follow-up on all of the reviews I’ve written in the past year and a half.
“Gone” Will Be Gone Soon but Plot Twists Save It from Being Just Another Police Consultant Show
I really liked this short series. It’s a shame they didn’t make more of them. In my review I said it was a one and done and it was.
Apparently this BBC America series “A Discovery of Witches” was more well received by the audience then it was me. According to IMDb it was renewed for seasons 2 and 3 although neither one has premiered yet or has a premiere date. I still say it’s a hard pass.
The Jordan Peele reboot of “The Twilight Zone” had a rather uneven first season. Some of the episodes I thought were brilliant while others were just so-so. It was fun to try to spot all of the Easter eggs in each episode. There were YouTube videos that helps you spot them. Season 2 has already premiered but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. It’s high on my to-do list.
Apparently the audience ❤s “Bob ❤s Abishola” better than I did. It was a reasonably big hit for CBS and has been renewed for season 2.
CBS legal drama “All Rise” was okay and I rated it “recommended watchable” but I never did watch anything beyond the first couple of episodes. I decided I liked the Jimmy Smits legal drama “Bluff City Law”. Sadly Bluff didn’t get renewed but “All Rise” will be back next season. I doubt I will pick it up.
“Mixed-ish” is Funny and More Poignant than Its Parent “Black-ish”
“mixed-ish” did really well and was extended for a full season of 23 episodes and has been renewed for next season. Sadly I did not have time to watch more than a couple of the first episodes but I intend to go back and binge sometime. I still recommend it as the only new sitcom worth watching in the past year.
I really liked this take on an old concept that I described as “overdone”. I managed to watch almost half of the episodes and I do plan to finish it someday. Unfortunately it is a one and done with only 13 episodes made. I don’t know how much of a cliffhanger they might have left or if they resolved the story but it did not get renewed.
As predicted “Carol” isn’t going to get a third act. It made it to 18 episodes but did not get renewed.
I highly recommended “Prodigal Son” after just one episode and it did not disappoint in the remaining 19 episodes. Although IMDb doesn’t show it is renewed, TV Line says it has been and I’m really looking forward to more. A good one to binge on demand.
Although I only watched a couple of episodes, I kind of liked it but never did get around to finishing it. Maybe I will binge it before season 2 starts.
Apparently I was right. 13 episodes with no renewal. This was really a stinker.
I called this correctly also. 13 and done with no renewal.
I didn’t get to watch much of this but what I saw I liked and I will definitely finish it off eventually. Much to everyone’s surprise, at the end of the successful first season, the title star actress Ruby Rose decided to quit. Next season there will be a new actress playing a new character who will take up the mantle of Batwoman. While some people say on-set injuries played a part in her decision, she insists she just didn’t want to play the role anymore. No controversy but lots of speculation.
I gave this a “Recommended Watchable” which means I thought it was pretty good but would not watching it myself. That was true. I never went beyond the opening couple of episodes but the audience liked all 18 enough that it will be back next year.
The audience agreed. 13 and done with no renewal.
I loved every episode of this and cannot wait for its return. HIGHLY recommended even if you aren’t a sci-fi fan. It’s a really richly drawn alternate history of the space program.
I really like this new series although it did fizzle a little bit towards the end I am looking forward to a new season. Not worth subscribing to Apple TV+ but if you have it, and are in need of some post-apocalyptic fun action then my recommendation persists “See See”.
“The Mandalorian” Is the Best Star Wars Since “The Empire Strikes Back”
I stand by my original assessment and the audience agrees. It was a huge hit and the fans went nuts over the “Baby Yoda” character. EVERYONE is highly anticipating its return. One confession however… I’ve never seen a bad Star Wars movie or series. I liked all nine of the movies in the Skywalker series even the final three. I also liked Solo which didn’t do well at the box office. But I think I’m in the majority on liking this one. By the way there are rumors that Lucas/Disney is considering disowning the final three Star Wars movies saying they are not officially part of canon and would be relegated to the noncanonical “Legends” series. More if I hear anything. Disney+ remains the best value in streaming.
Would You Recognize Jesus If He Arrived Today? “Messiah” on Netflix Seeks the Answer.
This was definitely intended as a one season miniseries. If you’ve not seen it, definitely check it out. I’m surprised there wasn’t more hype or even controversy about it. Apparently the religious right never discovered it.
I stand by my glowing review of this highly nominated series. It will be back and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
The first episode was wonderful. The next five or so were real yawners. But it finished very strong. If you gave up on this one after a couple of episodes, give it another try. It will be back for a second season.
This one kept me on the edge of my seat for the full 8 episodes. However it finished kind of flat. I wasn’t satisfied with the ending but it was a fun ride while it lasted. A very thought-provoking series about the nature of reality and free will. This was definitely a one-shot miniseries and will not be back.
After that review back in March any blogs since then have been about my favorite YouTube channels. I had hoped to post more of those perhaps on a weekly basis but I got tied up with different maker projects (which pay me and this doesn’t) so I got away from that. Look for a big wrapup entertainment news here and about a week and more YouTube reviews soon after that.