Look how many shows we have! These are gonna be brief capsules.
Nothing.
Matlock, “Collateral” – Julian is too smart to be duped for too long and the writers know that. Gives the overarching plot some great quick turns and escalations. Case of the week is about some nasty business from ICE. Merger plot still has Billy weirdness hanging over it. Silksong mentioned! A-
Elsbeth, “Ol’ Man Liver” – Solid but straightforward episode, watered down a little due to High Potential recently doing another Bryan Johnson type. And the Alec Bloom plot, where is it going? Solid but nothing that rises above. Hamish Linklater guests. B
Animal Control, “Roosters and Moles” – Frank tries to pull a 24 (rescue 24 animals in 24 hours) to beat Templeton for Officer of the Year. Patel tries to play both sides and does not come out on top. No opinions on Edward Cullen, but, uh, Grace Palmer with short hair hit me like a truck. B+
Going Dutch, “Swapadakis” – Patrick is too smart to fall for Shah’s trickery to stick him with Papadakis so he and Celeste can get a weekend off. But Patrick’s not made of stone, not that that marriage is gonna last. Conway takes Maggie to town to help her avoid crashing out. Papadakis and Patrick screwing with Shah is fun. B+
Stumble, “Finals Week” and “Hildebünch” – Oooooops, so it turns out there was an episode last week and I was completely misinformed!
“Finals Week”: Courteney must get the team to put together and submit a skills tape to qualify for Daytona… but it’s finals week (Heådltston is on the trimester system “in honor of the having the highest college pregnancy rate in the nation”). So finding the time in the midst of academics is tough! Boon starts filming a spinoff of the documentary, Boon Country. (“It’s a play on words.”) Tons of finals-related hijinks, and Peaches saves the day. Packed with jokes, as usual. A
“Hildebünch”: How will the team raise the money to travel to Daytona? And can Courteney find four more cheerleaders to fill out the squad? Will these two plots inevitably intersect, maybe having something to do with candy button magnate Augustus ẞlimpfh and his titular daughter? And does a lot of funny stuff happen on the way? What do you think? Sally getting fed up with Holden’s passivity and overly-agreeableness is a nice wrinkle for such a relentlessly positive character. Peaches and Sally’s fundraising team-up is an A+ joke, but overall I’m going A-
American Dad!, “The Flume Flume Room” – Oddly specific milieu for a Stan-Francine relationship story, but it’s used well. Everyone else in a slight plot with a Roger character and a safe deposit box, but good jokes all around. Roger “on the internet” cracked me up every time. It’s on the border grade-wise, but I’ll be generous. A-
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, “Put It on Your Cabbage!” – Started a little slow, but some really great jokes throughout and two strong stories. Great new addition to fictional TV shows with FDNY: Chicago. Really picked up at the end with some strong storytelling and some very funny one-liners I certainly will be quoting often. I almost gave this episode an A-, then I realized, that was only because I believe it can get even better, and it was the funniest thing I watched this week. Not fair to shortchange it for being so good and having potential to get even better. A
St. Denis Medical, “A New Best Friend” – Tim and Bruce kicking it worries Alex, who does insane manipulative sitcom shit instead of communicating, as is her wont this season. Ron’s squeaky shoes were kind of a throwaway, but Joyce on mushrooms delivered. As did Matt’s weird prospector voice. I was gonna give it a B, but the pickup at the end with the Alex and Tim scene, and Bruce showing a little bit of a softer side, bump this one up. B+
DMV, “Power Shift” – Cece takes over as boss for an afternoon, Vic tries to prove male superiority to Colette, and Noa helps Gregg buy a gift for his wife. Nothing outstanding, but some quite funny moments, overall better character storytelling, and far better use of Colette overall since the midseason break. B+
Best Medicine, “Doc Martin” – Episode named after the British inspiration for the show because that show’s star, Martin Clunes, shows up here as Martin’s father! Possibly the best episode so far; giving us some insight into Martin’s family and why he is the way he is gave the episode more dramatic weight, and, if nothing else, was a welcome change of pace from “everyone in town ignores Martin’s medical recommendations and gets mad at him.” Still another Big Annual Tradition episode, though! And those teens still annoy the shit out of me. B+
High Potential, “In the Driver’s Seat” – Damn it! Thought this was back on the 10th. Clever case involving Tim Baltz’s supercar dealership and a dead body found inside. Fun twists. I guess some movements on Morgan and Karadec’s respective personal lives, too. B+
How to Get to Heaven From Belfast – At the time I write this, we are through three episodes. Still enjoying it, as it’s pretty funny in a similar character way to Derry Girls (I guess kind of like if Erin, Orla, and… I dunno, maybe part Michelle, part Clare were grown up), and the mystery plot actually has some really interesting twists and reveals. Things are not what they seem, and maybe the ladies didn’t know who their old friend Greta really was at all. So far, still happy to recommend.
Correction to last week’s article: The first episode of Strip Law actually is about strippers. (That’s still not what the title means, though.)
I gave 15 minutes to ABC’s new show premiering tonight, R.J. Decker, because it was on after High Potential. After about 30 seconds I was like “Is this supposed to be a shoddy Bad Monkey knockoff?” Then the credits came and I saw it was based on a novel by Carl Hiaasen. So, yes. Unfortunately, the constraints of network and formula drain it of the zip and spice of that show, and where Vince Vaughn is a complete natural to play the charm and motormouth dialogue of Hiaasen protagonist Andrew Yancy, Scott Speedman is a solid, workmanlike television actor. I guess I’ll come back if I hear it gets really good. And I renamed the section this week so this entry would make sense.
In just two weeks, we’ll be able to start talking Invincible! If it actually is released on the 18th and early enough for us to start watching. Network TV shows that go up on streaming at 1 AM or later Thursday morning do not make it into the Thursday article, for what are probably obvious reasons for you that in this case also apply to me. Speaking of which, Abbott Elementary returned last night, so we’ll cover that episode next week. Neat, what could be twelve TV episodes just on network in any given week.
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 Seventeen, “The Consultant”
“You guys were supposed to be backed and ready by 0800!”
“I know, but Trapper wouldn’t get in the suitcase.”
“Bring me back something.”
“No chance, we’re gonna be careful.”
Fascinated by the show’s description of meatball surgery. We’re a long way from Charles complaining that it degrades his skills; also makes me think about how actors describe working on TV shows 13 or sixteen hours a day.
“Colonel, you are not listening to me!”
“You’ll have to speak up, Frank, I’m not listening to you.”
This is where Alan Alda’s dad shows up. He has a gorgeous, gentle performance; unfortunately, the story doesn’t really hold up, being five pounds of story in a ten pound bag. I’m not terrifically disappointed in this guy because I barely know him. I’m sure it was all very cathartic for the Aldas.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “The Hidden Thing” – What is up with that ending? More late.
Miss Marple, “4.50 to Paddington” – I will let noted mystery critic Robert Barnard sum up: “Another locomotive one – murder seen as two trains pass each other in the same direction. Later settles down into a good old family murder. Contains one of Christie’s few sympathetic independent women. Miss Marple apparently solves the crime by divine guidance, for there is very little in the way of clues or logical deduction.” Yeah, the plot makes incredibly little sense to me and requires a lot of moving parts to get from point A to point B. I am increasingly put off by the absurd plots and the focus on rich people with rich people problems, and reminded of why I didn’t care much for Dame Agatha for a long time. Some of her books really are that convoluted. But this is still fairly entertaining, most of the fun from the look on Inspector Slack’s face having to deal with Miss Marple.
Late Night With The Devil – Watched the Joe Bob Briggs-hosted version with lead David Dastmachian guesting. A total horror nerd – I share his black fingernail paint – and it turns out he starred because he wrote an entire article in Fangoria about horror hosts. I’ll start with the positives, especially that this does a fine job replicating the look of a Seventies late-night set ala Merle Griffin or Johnny Carson, and Dastmachian is of course a fantastic lead for a horror movie and (for a guy rightly typecast as weirdos) surprisingly good at the flop sweat/smarmy charm of a second-rate late night host of the era. But if you’ve seen Ghostwatch, you know where a lot of this is going and the way it keeps breaking the limitations it set out for itself at the start really bugged me. Is this a documentary with the master tapes? A movie with master tapes spliced in? Where are we at the very end, in the host’s mind? Effective and I got a few solid scares so I might be kinder if there’s a next time. Still felt like it could’ve gone much crazier especially if it stuck to the initial format.
It’s actually an Australian production – all the actors aside from Dasmalchian are Australian – and there’s this fascinating thing in Australian pop culture where we have these great and often bizarre ideas and the actual execution is often fuzzy or half-assed. This is very much in that spirit, where the concept is fantastic but the commitment wavers.
I heard that from Joe Bob and you give interesting context. Why do you think Aussie pop culture can’t stick the landing?
Something my countrymen are often criticised for is a lack of vision – having all these resources and not knowing what one wants to achieve with them. I couldn’t tell you precisely why Australia as a culture has this problem, only that we do. I wonder if it’s because as a culture we lean more towards community; not wanting to stick out from the pack, I suppose.
Bad Lieutenant – wow! Such a bad lieutenant! This really delivered on the title. I’ve seen the Cage / Herzog not-sequel / not-remake and that’s maybe more nasty fun but the NYC sleaze here is pretty compelling and Harvey Keitel’s performance is… something to behold.
Broadchurch – fancied something vaguely mysterious and I’m sure I’ve heard at least SOME praise for this prestigey British murder show. The cast is ridiculously stacked, especially if you’re familiar with the last 30+ years of British TV – Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Jodie Whitaker but also Pauline Quirke, Will Mellor, people I haven’t thought about in years. First couple of episodes were enjoyable and compelling and I feel like they’re subtly hinting at some Twin Peaks influences (it does start with a dead kid on a beach, after all) which I will never complain about.
Has anyone decided to check out any shows because of these writeups?
At some point I’m going to marathon Matlock and possibly Elsbeth over a weekend. Reggie Dinkins is gonna be a must-watch when I have access.
Elsbeth probably doesn’t need a binge, as it’s largely a weekly Columbo-style procedural with occasional longer-form stories. Matlock is also fairly episodic, but the big overarching story is the real draw for me.
Reggie Dinkins and Strip Law are probably the funniest / most joke-packed shows so far this year.