Captain's Log
The first network shows of the year are appearing on the schedule
Another week of all network!
I put Solar Opposites in the header image even though it’s already over, because I hadn’t used it yet and I wanted to. (I was going to use it last week, but since Pluribus was ending, I figured it would be more relevant and my only chance to use it.)
If you missed out on Stumble, NBC decided to air it from the beginning starting on Mondays, replacing the post-St. Denis Medical slot that was previously occupied by The Paper. (Which was an odd decision anyway, since The Paper came out all at once on streaming, and also the episodes are long enough that they’d have to be cut down for network.) Hopefully this means a long-term move for Stumble out of the Friday Night Death Slot, since it’s been very funny at such an early stage.
Best Medicine, “Docked” – I figured I’d lead with our first new show of the year! It was fairly enjoyable but obviously there’s a lot of premise to this pilot. Josh Charles plays Dr. Martin Best, who was a big-city surgeon in Boston before he decided to leave that and become the town doctor of a small fishing village in Maine where he summered as a child. We do find out why he decided to leave, and obviously he’s going to find the quirky locals rub him the wrong way (especially since he’s not a people person to begin with), and presumably will grow to love them, Northern Exposure-style. (Perhaps the better comparison would be the ITV show Doc Martin, which this is a remake of. In true British fashion, it aired 79 episodes between 2004 and 2022.) So the pilot isn’t anything truly special or groundbreaking, but it sets the tone well, and hey, what a cast of locals! Abigail Spencer! Josh Segarra! John DiMaggio! Brother Mouzone himself, Michael Potts! (Apparently not a series regular, but still fun to see him in such a different context.) And Annie Potts (no relation) as Martin’s aunt! I also see Clea Lewis in the credits, but I don’t recall seeing her in the pilot episode. Anyway, a welcome enough start for the show; it seems like it could be some breezy fun with the always-great Charles in the lead, even if the ceiling on “light network dramedy procedural” is relatively low. I guess we’ll see!
St. Denis Medical, “You’re in His Bubble Space” – Hey, Maria Thayer! Unfortunately she is in a very limited role as one half of a pair of way-too-permissive parents who let their kid have the run of things, which means not getting a tetanus shot if he doesn’t want to. Matt has to enlist Ron’s help (and experience with tough-love parenting) to convince the kid, but that makes Ron realize his own parenting may have been a little too tough. (I still laughed out loud at “Pee Boy,” though.) Meanwhile, Alex decides to help Joyce plan her wedding to Sanderson, which makes it pretty clear to her what Joyce eventually admits to herself: What she really doesn’t want at her dream wedding is… Sanderson. And Matt wears his glasses to work today, and all the other nurses think they make him hot… which flusters Serena, and which Bruce picks up on and messes with her (his nature-documentary riff to the camera is hilarious). Maybe Serena’s ego still is stinging that Matt’s over her, or maybe… she’s just realizing that being the wild-child man-eater isn’t what she wants to be anymore. (Bruce is right that she’s a shark, even if he’s less right about himself.) Fun return for the show to 2026.
High Potential, “The One That Got Away: Part Two” – The resolution of the art-thief plot we left off in the middle of when we went to winter break (which we did in, like, early November). A briskly-paced episode where the case has a lot of twists and turns for Morgan to unravel, including the possible cliffhanger we left on. There’s also some development in between on the Roman story. I feel like it’s hard to discuss all the twists in the episode without just giving it away, but they don’t feel unrealistic and they do a good job of giving the episode enough points to hit that it doesn’t feel like it drags. Nice and fast-moving; I did feel like the show could get formulaic at points last year, after the initial novelty wore off a bit, and keeping a case moving quickly but realistically with new developments is a good way to counteract that.
Still working on 2025: The Year in TV!
Actually, this is more relevant: I hadn’t even checked on it since I assumed I’d hear about it, and it always comes out later in the States anyway, but apparently season 5 of Shoresy premiered in Canada on Christmas Day. It will premiere here eventually, but I have, uh, already begun preparations to view it on the Canadian release schedule.
This doesn’t really qualify as an “old favorite” for me, since it’s my first time through, but it also feels too old to be on “Catching Up.” I guess between Pluribus and my own interest in the hidden side of reality, she insisted I give one of her favorite shows a shot, Fringe. And so far I’m enjoying it, even though there are times (we’re into season 2 at this point, although I’m not sure where we’ll be exactly by the time you read this) where the cases of the week make me occasionally feel like it’s time to get back to the main story. And there are some network-show elements, particularly early on (but also with the elements of “In case you weren’t paying attention earlier, let’s repeat the information for you). But the cast is great; no wonder Anna Torv won four straight Saturn awards, let alone everyone else (John Noble in particular, but I don’t want to shortchange anyone else). And the actual mythology and other-worlds stuff is pretty cool. I find myself wishing sometimes the pace of the main story would pick up a bit, but I have a ways to go, so I suppose I’ll see what happens there. Some of the stand-alone episodes are cool, but I guess the way I’d put it is… time travel? Alternate realities? Unlocking new mind powers? That I’m interested in. Monster of the week? Eh, I can take it or leave it, mostly. But I’m sure I’ll finish the series, so at some point I’ll have more comments on it later on.
It’s that time of year when shows begin, not end.
Well, there’s nothing else new from Thursday to Wednesday this week, but I did just learn that last night marked the return of Abbott Elementary— as usual, we’ll cover Wednesday night shows the week after.. Next week, prepare for the return (or premiere!) of four shows.
It’s not New Year’s Day anymore, so I don’t want any excuses for not telling us what you watched.
About the writer
Captain Nath
Born on the bayou, thriving in the mountains. Writer, gambler, comedian, singer-songwriter, bon vivant, globetrotter, and all-around Renaissance Man with perfect opinions about TV and music. Pronounced with a long A and with the H.
It's a gaming ship.
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Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
M*A*S*H, Season Three, Episode Nine, “Alcoholics Unanimous”
“You ask for sound and you get water.”
“That’s show business.”
This is another with Frank in charge – that feels like a fallback they used a lot – with him specifically enforcing prohibition, accusing Hawkeye and Trapper of being alcoholics. There’s actually quite a few interesting ideas going on here; I’ll actually start with this being a good Father Mulcahey episode, of all things. There’s a tiny moment where Mulcahey quietly advises Hawk to compliment Klinger’s gloves, knowing they were important to him, and it made me realise that if this is a show about The System, Mulcahey is a pure representation of anti-bureaucracy. Within this episode alone, we get an example of his willingness to engage with any faith, despite being Catholic. Ironically, he tends to operate well within bureaucracy simply because he generally sees how meaningless it all is, and is more interested in the human aspect of what he does.
This is in contrast to Margaret and Frank, who are both deeply hypocritical in general and here specifically. Frank rigidly sticks to the letter of the law (right up until it becomes inconvenient); Margaret reveals herself as a little more open, and even ends up bonding with Hawk and Trap over alcohol here. I think you can also see it the other way, too – Hawkeye and Trapper give every reason in the book they have to drink, but when they start getting snippy with each other, genuinely contemplate the idea that they’re alcoholics.
“They hate me, don’t they?”
“Just your guts, sir.”
“The instrument has yet to be invented that can measure my indifference to that statement.”
Hawkeye is definitely an alcoholic, but how it’s dealt with here is a lot easier to rewatch than when he goes on the wagon in the Serious Years.
The Last Time I Saw Paris – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Babylon Revisited” is a sad, almost painful rumination on the dissipation of life in Jazz Age Paris for himself and his peer group. So naturally the producer of this adaptation changed the time of the story to after World War II, and also shifting the focus from a man desperately trying to get custody of his daughter from his late wife’s sister to a romance of the man and the wife. All the subtext, indeed most of the text, is lost, and while this works for a time as a romance, once the marriage goes bad, the movie goes bad. Van Johnson is pretty good falling in love, terrible falling out. Elizabeth Taylor (sixteen years Johnson’s junior) is quite good in a shallow role. Walter Pidgeon steals the show as Liz’s neer do well dad. And look for Eva Gabor and a young Roger Moore as the Other Woman and the Other Man.
The Practice, “Home of the Brave” – Three cases. 1) Lindsey’s client is cleared of drug charges only to be arrested by INS and threatened with deportation to Colombia even though he left there at age 1 month. Turns out that they want him to finger the killer in drug related murder, and turns out that the killer is his secret drug lord brother. Of course the abuse of power by the immigration officials resonates now, but we get a standard TV dichotomy: sure the government abuses its power, but there are Drug Lords! 2) Lucy’s role as rape trauma counselor is used to skewer the prosecution of the rapist. I suspect they added the Lucy as Rape Counselor so there could be stories about rape trials without having the regulars be defense attorneys, and so we could root for Helen. Gary Cole returns as the defense attorney. 3) Ernie Sabella is back again as Boston’s worst lawyer, but this time the case he’s taken is a serious product liability case against Big Pharma (at last a civil case). So of course Eugene is going to help out. Pretty sure our inept lawyer wins this one in part two or what’s the point, but the story shows promise. James
Rebhorn plays the drug company’s lawyer.
Seinfeld, Season 5 – “The Wife” was a solid mid-level episode with Courteney Cox guest starring, reliably funny but completely overshadowed by “The Fire” in which George pushes over children and elderly women to get away from a small amount of smoke and Kramer dates one of the most hilariously annoying characters they’ve come up with thus far and also gets a heroic monologue that had me in stitches. Excellent stuff.
“How do you live with yourself?” “It’s not easy” is maybe my favorite George Costanza delivery. Not even trying anymore.
Succession, s4e7-8, Tailgate Party and America Decides.
I did not feel great watching “America Decides.” The whole plot line of a
felt maybe a smidge too real. It is great drama though.
One thing that bothers me somewhat is how obsessed they are with the ceo position. Their wealth is stock. It’s not like they need to be CEO. Unlike Tom or Greg, they have a pile. They should hire a competent ceo and then go hang out on an island or something. Of course, without their weird psychosexual obsessions with Logan there wouldn’t be a show, and it’s not like real life billionaires are any better.
Anyway, sometimes the dark comedy reflects reality in an uncomfortable way, but I have good news on that front: Donald Trump
also refuses to wear his compression socks.
Connor will happily cash in for political cache, Kendall actually makes the most sense given that he badly craves validation/thinks he is owed the job.
I might hate Kendall the most. “Hmm, do I want to promote racist hatred against my own half-Indian children or risk being paid billions of dollars by a swede. Tough call.”
(Also, white guy who was briefly a star of woke media deciding to embrace fascism and racism against his own kids? Is this Kendall Roy or JD Vance?)
Connor and Willa at least are the only people who seem to have a genuine-ish relationship with each other. Willa is the only one even remotely honest to herself about her motivations (lunch in vienna, dinner in venice).
I was also thinking of J.D. Vance! I noted to a friend that Connor’s the only character who can completely and sincerely apologize to anyone, let alone have any real recognition. You get the impression that he got out of Logan’s inner circle not just because he’s insane but to keep whatever humanity he had left.
It’s not like it required a huge amount of prescience from jesse armstrong but i’m still impressed. The compression socks thing will, fingers crossed, turn out to be uncanny.
I know the Murdoch kids were going “Okay, who’s talking?” lol
Tom’s reply to shiv
is to say he can’t believe her because it might a tactic or a play. I was in the same boat during Connor’s wedding.
Until we saw logan’s body I was expecting him to pop up and yell “ha! You’re fucked! I fucking played you like a goddamn fiddle!! That’s why I’m the ceo and you’re nothing!!!!”
I’ve caught some of the promos for Best Medicine and already meant to try it for the Josh Charles of it all, so it’s good to know it has some breezy charm.
One episode into Strang5r Things. As I noted, it is pretty clear right away that it’s still the same show and that if you were still into it in season 4, you will still be into it in season 5. Even if every last kid is too old and every last boy has insane amounts of eyebrow. (Also, Finn Wolfhard is starting to look like Chris Reeve.) One question I have: how is it that Hopper and Eleven are able to live in his cabin in the woods without anyone finding them? Surely there is a record of all property he owns. And why isn’t the military keeping Joyce under surveillance? I suppose we can chalk it up to military incompetence, but it does feel like a really dumb plot hole. (Also, waffle mix? Did Netflix have a parting the ways from Eggos?) Thankfully, there are just eight episodes so it shouldn’t take too long to watch, but this is not a show I want to binge. (And the sooner I am off Netflix, the better. Its catalogue of movies from before 2015 is abysmal. Heck, its catalogue of movies it didn’t produce altogether is pretty poor.)
Been rewatching Letterkenny S4 and S5, always a fun time and it’s cool how downright utopian and even anarchistic the show is – there’s no police force, people resolve problems by asking for community help, even from the subcultural groups they don’t like, and sex positivity reigns. (The McMurrays are classic weird swingers, to be sure, but then Gail is into it.) The episode where Glen and the Skids switch places for the day also leans into Glen’s Christianity being genuine and not actively preachy. The Skids give him props too for letting them try it on. Looking back, a lot of the sweeter TV shows of the 2010’s turned me off because they tried so damn hard to sand off any edges*, whereas here there are assholes, and sometimes you are going to have punch them, but there’s also merely people living together in relative harmony.
* Which resulted in outright unsettling messages, no, I don’t want the Roses to get their money back, Schitt’s Creek!
I liked Pluribus a lot, but I was very disappointed by that squib of a finale.
Fringe is good albeit uneven, but the cast is insanely good. Torv is so good she you could rightly think she was bad before you realize that no, she’s actually playing a character that is supposed to start out wooden and emotionless.
Finishing season two now and you definitely see how much range Torv can have in “Brown Betty” and in, uh, altern-Olivia (I don’t know if there’s a more canon/fanon name for her).
Year of the Month update!
Here’s the movies, albums, books, TV, and games from 1985 for you to write about next January.
TBD: Ruck Cohlchez: Tim and/or Fables of the Reconstruction
Jan. 9th: Gillian Nelson: Advice on Lice
Jan. 16th: Gillian Nelson: The Wuzzles/The Gummi Bears
Jan. 19th: Tristan J. Nankervis: The Breakfast Club
Jan. 23rd: Gillian Nelson: The Golden Girls
And coming February 2026, we’ll be looking at 1957, including all these movies, albums, books, TV, yadda yadda.
Feb. 6th: Gillianren: The Story of Anyburg, USA
Feb. 13th: Gillianren: The Truth About Mother Goose
Feb. 20th: Gillianren: Our Friend the Atom
Feb. 27th: Gillianren: Sleeping Beauty’s Castle