I used to pride myself on my ability to keep up with movies, TV shows, music, pop culture, and even books. Well, it's HARD these days isn't it? Amazon keeps releasing stuff, Netflix keeps releasing stuff and of course we have the networks and CBS All Access and there just isn't enough time to cover it all. I actually feel relief when I watch a new show that sucks or when an old show jumps the shark and I can delete that Season Pass and cross the show off my to do list. The bar has been raised to make my own personal Must See TV itinerary. It's got to be GOOD. Good enough to lift my head away from Candy Crush, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and email.
The Week in Review
I'm not a Woody Allen fan at all butof course I was super curious and had to check out Crisis in Six Scenes on Amazon. I lasted six minutes. Awful.
Can't wait to be done with Transparent. I have 4 eps left. It's true what they say about the Emmy's, they do bring viewers to shows that they might not ordinarily watch at all.I keep going back to watch this one because it won the Best Comedy Emmy. I don't want to be the only one not on the bandwagon BUT this show is super depressing and makes me feel so incredibly uncomfortable. If Jill Soloway really lives with people like this on a daily basis, she must be on some serious meds to keep her sanity. Moira Fefferman is the LEAST of it. I know I say it every possible chance I get, but I just can't get past the fact that this show continues to win awards in comedy categories and there isn't one SECOND of funny. NOT ONE!!!! Most Depressing...YES! Most Dysfunctional...Absolutely! Most Uncomfortable...WINNER! Best Comedy??? No F'ing Way!!!!
Thank God for Jeff Probst and Survivor. I can ALWAYS count on it. Survivor never disappoints. It consistently evolves, surprises and keeps us interested and engaged. This season we have Gen X'ers vs. Millenials and it's really quite interesting how different the 2 generations really are. Big differences and little differences. There was one small moment last week where the tribes had to return a tarp Jeff gave them. The Gen X'ers folded their tarp perfectly and gave it back to Jeff. The Millenials had the tarp in a messy ball and just threw it on the ground knowing he'd retrieve it and take care of it. The weather's insane this season, the people are nuts and the game is riveting.
With so much content out there to keep up with, having 2 shows with the word Survivor in their title on the same night COULD be confusing, but Designated Survivor couldn't be any more different than the original Survivor. We got Kiefer Sutherland as President Thomas Kirkland. 11th in line for the job and trying his best to lead the country after the entire government was blown to smithereens during the State of the Union. There are quite a few Jack Bauer moments. Little hints of that guy we love, that come through in between Kirkland's panic attacks and deep breaths. Kiefer's not aging well at all. He needs some Botox or he needs the camera person to pull back a bit, add a filter, or light him differently. There's a ton of close-ups that don't do him any favors at all. I'm loving this show but sometimes it feels a little too close to home with all the terrorism stuff. Designated Survivor broke the record for TV's largest Live+ 7 day increase. The show gained an additional 7.7 million viewers ousting Big Bang Theory's 7.2 million.
Pretty sure only 3 of my readers watch Power on Starz. You guys really need to get on this one and binge the first 3 seasons. It's SO good. The finale last weekend was great even though there were a few things that were ridiculous and made no sense at all. Yes, I will admit, that some of the acting isn't the greatest, but Ghost, Tommy and Fitty/Fifty Cent are all enough to keep you coming back. Fitty/Fifty is one bad mother'fer.
If you're a Mom, better yet, if you're a single Mom, you gotta check out Better Things on FX. Pamela Adlon's awesome, the kids are too. Lots of great cameos and guest stars like Lenny Kravitz, but it's Celia Imrie as Sam's Mom who steals the show. You'll recognize her, but you won't know where you've seen her before. She's British in the show. No explanation on her Britishness, but seriously, hilarious. The scene from this weeks episode with Lenny Kravitz was HILARIOUS!
Second ep of This is Us didn't disappoint. Most 2nd eps are tough but this one was strong, had one of my favorite songs of all time, Dire Straits "Romeo & Juliet" and another crazy twist at the end. NBC already gave it a full season order. Lets just hope the writers are on their game and can keep the surprises coming for 20 more episodes.
Gotta admit, I didn't think Kenya Barris, the showrunner for Black-ish would bend over and make his writers spend one second of their time coming up with a bullshit 30 minute Disneyland commercial for ABC & Disney, but he did. VERY disappointing. At least the 2nd episode of the season was the type of episode we've come to expect. God was the subject matter and once again brilliantly done.
Thumbs up to The Goldbergs, Queen Sugar, Empire and The Good Place.
Did anyone notice Cookie's ENORMOUS gold tire-like bracelets? No way she could drive a car, send an email, get ANYTHING out of her bag, or wipe when she goes to the bathroom. I can't find a photo or I would post it because they were insane.
Liev and Naomi are done
First CBS and Viacom were one, then they broke up and now, it looks like they're trying to work things out and get back together...again! The lawyers are probably psyched by this one, not sure anyone else would be.
86 million people watched Hillary and Trump
SNL delivered its highest Season Premiere in 8 years. The show delivered a 5.8 Rating. Did you see it? OMFG too funny! Here are the best clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nQGBZQrtT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC4VXwFibWY
All week long people were posting about a Will & Grace reunion. I kept telling everyone it wasn't true, it wasn't true. I knew it wouldn't be a REAL reunion. I knew Netflix wasn't bringing the series back like they did with Full House or The Gilmore Girls. The gang got together for Hillary Clinton. This clip has already been viewed over 5 million times, so maybe Netflix, Hulu, Crackle or someone SHOULD think about it getting the gang together for a revival. What have Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing and Megan Mullaley actually been doing? Nothing that great that I'm aware of. If you haven't seen it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzae4DKexkoLip Sync Battle's been sucking lately, but the trailer for the new season is awesome. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCy1GQ-svQc
Last week's John Oliver was so good that I watched it twice. If you did not see this, take a moment, a real moment and watch the entire clip. Whether you're a Hillary fan or a Trump fan, I think you'd appreciate Oliver's take on things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lfd1aB9YI
My favorite late night clip of the week? James Corden and The Backstreet Boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQtT4JNdRN8
Sticking Around
Matt LeBlanc got the go-ahead to keep hosting Top Gear which is surprisingAmazon gave the green light to I Love Dick, The Tick and Jean Claude Van Johnson
Designated Survivor and Speechless get full season orders
Your the Worst renewed for 4th Season
High Maintenence has been renewed for a 2nd Season
On Its Way Out
The Strain's 4th season will be its last
Archer's 10th season will be its last season.
Aquarius is DONE. Cancelled after 2 season
800 million people visit Twitter each month.
64% of those vistors influence the purchases of friends and family
82% are actively engaged with brands on Twitter.
93% of Twitters video viewing takes place on mobile devices.
Videos on Twitter are six times more likely to be re-tweeted than photos and three times more likely to be re-tweeted than GIFs.
Have a great week.
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