What an odd day for television. Thank God I had Julia (MAX) at the end of the day as a dessert. It’s sad that show is coming to an end, because while watching that White House centric show, along with the speech around the publisher going blind, and Paul just being great all episode, this really reminded me of what a Julia Season 3 could have been if not cut tragically short by MAX. #SaveJulia
Instead, I watched some new shows. I’m honestly not sure if I want to watch any of them again. Death And Other Details (Hulu) does have Mandy Patinkin playing an investigator, which I’d basically watch any day of the week. The problem is, he’s oddly not the lead, and the story is about this young woman who he was supposed to help years ago, who now is in a situation where someone has been killed, and a murder mystery is afoot. Can these two build that trust again? Do I care? It’s odd to have the detective not as the primary character. I might go one more episode with this to see where it goes. Roy Samuelson I believe is narrating this, for anyone who cares, though I was too bored to sit through the credits. Not a great sign for longevity.
Boy Swallows The Universe (Netflix) has potential, but it is just a limited series anyway. I had so many questions about this series. At one point, the boy says they live in a world without laws, but that’s not true. He’s writing to a pen pal in prison. And they’ve got a kid who just walks around with a samurai sword like no adult is paying attention to him? There was a moment in the audio description where the boy’s brother (who doesn’t speak) is staring up at the sky, and the narration was that he wrote Boy Swallows The Universe. With what? Where? Into the air? If someone moved their fingers to write that much text, I doubt anyone would know what it was. This show also jumps around in time periods. Mom goes to see Terms Of Endearment, so I assume this is in the 80’s, or she’s stupid and that was the only movie she could think of. One of two things. There’s a lot of caning going on in Australia apparently, as if no one cares. What an odd series. Again, one I’m not sure I want more of.
And to round out my bizarre day, I had to sit through Ruth Wilson in The Woman In The Wall (Paramount Plus with Showtime), which has an interesting premise, but chooses to stick with this one character who is slipping in and out of reality in the first episode. She has to write on the wall to stay awake. But, if you remove her bullshit character, there’s a rich story here about a group of women who were all used and abused by the Catholic Church in Ireland. Headlines like “where are Ireland’s Children?” Pop up. THAT is the show. You can still have the mystery death of the priest, and Daryl McCormack coming in to try and investigate who killed him, and learning about what an ensemble cast of women went through, but Ruth Wilson’s entire story ruins what could have been a terrific series. I cared a little about her past, but quickly, the writer goes off the deep end with her character. Another show I’m not sure I want a second episode of, which is a shame, because I see so much potential here. If Ruth Wilson’s character gets killed off in the second episode, perhaps I’ll consider.
So weird that I started three new shows that had audio description, and all of them fell flat. Will you ever see them again here? Honestly, I don’t know, but if I had to predict the one most likely to survive, it would be Death And Other Details, as sometimes a star can buy an extra episode (as Emma Stone did for The Curse, which I gave 4 episodes). And Mandy patinkin has the kind of credit with me where I can see myself giving his unremarkable mystery a second chance.