Here’s a bit of relaxation to help ease you into week. I know many people out there wish they could be at the beach right now. Spring Break should be for everyone. Well, I can’t give you the beach. I don’t have that power and that’s probably a good thing. With great power comes great respons …. well, you know how the saying goes. But, even if I can’t give you the beach, I can share this video of the beach.
Enjoy!
Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week!
(Yeah, I know that is kind of a rudimentary introduction but cut me some slack. It’s been a long week and the government stole an hour from me last night. As a result, it’s now going to take forever for the sun to actually go down. I’m a night person. Extending the daylight does me no favors!)
Films I Watched:
Television Shows I Watched:
Books I Read:
Music To Which I Listened:
Awards Season:
News From Last Week:
Links From Last Week:
Links From The Site:
More From Us:
Want to see what I did last week? Click here!
Last night, the Directors Guild of America awarded their top prize to Jane Campion and The Power of the Dog. This is definitely good news for the film, as far as the Oscars are concerned. With West Side Story now on HBO and so many people rediscovering how important a director Steven Spielberg really is, it seemed as if the momentum may have been shifting. But, thanks to the DGA and the recent controversy over Sam Elliott’s comments about the film, The Power of the Dog is once again the front runner.
(To be honest, as far as Spielberg is concerned, it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of Academy voters are currently of the “In just a few month, he’s going to get another chance with The Fabelmans” mindset.)
Here are the film winners from the DGA:
NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve – Dune
FIRST TIME NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Tatiana Huezo – Prayers For The Stolen
Lin Manuel-Miranda – Tick, Tick…BOOM!
Michael Sarnoski – Pig
Emma Seligman – Shiva Baby
DOCUMENTARY
Jessica Kingdon – Ascension
Stanley Nelson – Attica
Raoul Peck – Exterminate All The Brutes
Questlove – Summer of Soul
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin – The Rescue
by George Crichard
Don’t forget to reset your clocks!
This is Croatia’s entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. I might share some of the other entries throughout this week.
Enjoy!
Here’s a few thoughts on what I watched this week!
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
The Resistance was finally able to smuggle the Enigma machine out of Rene’s Cafe. The effort, of course, led to lot of costume changes and many scenes of Rene rolling his eyes in exasperation. But the important thing is that the plan worked and Michelle had to “say this only once.”
American Idol (Sunday Night, ABC)
The judges were in Nashville and almost everyone who auditioned wanted to be country music star. It got kind of boring. A former Miss America auditioned and Katy tried to steal her crown. That was pretty cool. I relate to Katy Perry far more than I relate to Taylor Swift. Eventually, one girl sang while playing the piano and was declared to be the industry’s next big superstar so I guess the show’s over now. Oh well.
Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)
I finally decided to return to my Baywatch Hawaii binge after taking about two months off. To be honest, the only reason why I returned is because I’m a completist and it’s hard for me to abandon anything. It’s certainly not because this show is particularly good or anything like that. There’s a reason why, after months of watching, I’m still struggling to finish up the first season.
Sunday morning, I got things started with an episode in which Jason was sent to the Big Island of Hawaii, where he got in touch with his native heritage by making his own canoe. A grumpy old man assisted him. Seriously, that was the entire episode. This was followed by an episode in which Sean and Jenna teamed up to rescue a few people and to argue about whether or not it was even necessary for the Baywatch Hawaii training facility to even exist. Sean thought it was necessary, which makes sense when you consider that he would be out of a job otherwise. Jenna felt it was a waste of money. Despite being attracted to each other, Sean and Jenna fought and fought. Despite being first-billed in the credits, David Hasselhoff was nowhere to be seen in either of these episodes.
Later that evening, I watched the next episode, which didn’t really have a plot beyond Kekoa and Dawn having a crush on Sean and Jason and JD trying to hit on every woman they saw. This episode basically felt like it had been put together out of scenes that had been edited out of previous episodes. Perhaps it was. Again …. no Hasselhoff!
And, for the rest of the week, I kind of forgot about the show. So, I guess I’ll get back to binging it tomorrow.
The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)
On Sunday, I was too congested to change the channel so I lay on the couch and I was tortured by the Bradys. The Brady kid fought over a clubhouse. The Brady Kids fought over trading stamps. The Brady Kids fought over a lost wallet. The Brady Kids fought over feminism. The Brady Kids spent a lot of time fighting. I blame the parents.
Court Cam (Wednesday, A&E)
Court Cam has finally produced some new episodes and, as a result, I was shocked to actually see some new footage on Wednesday. For instance, I saw the Naked Cowboy getting detained in Daytona. Court Cam remains an odd show to me, largely because of how worshipful it is of the legal system. The judges are portrayed as being modern day super heroes, quick to exercise their power to find anyone in contempt. The unquestioning embrace of the court system is, overall, probably not a good thing but that’s the way of the world nowadays. My inner libertarian will always have a hard time accepting it, though.
The Dropout (Hulu)
I wrote about the latest episode of The Dropout here!
Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
MeTV is currently showing episodes from the first season of Full House. I watched four on Sunday. Every episode has a sort of bizarre train wreck appeal to it, never more so than when Uncle Jesse gets as serious storyline. First, Stephanie cut Jesse’s hair while Jesse was sleeping so Jesse had to go get a real haircut and this led to him crashing his motorcycle and breaking both his arms. Then, Jesse decided that he would rather pursue music with his dorky band than work in the family garage. Jesse’s father was not happy about this but Uncle Jesse was like 40 years old so who cares?
Meanwhile, on another episode, Danny was hired to co-anchor a talk show with Becky (Lori Loughlin). I believe this was Loughlin’s first appearance on the show but she didn’t share any scenes with Jesse. In fact, it almost seemed as if the show was trying to set her up as a future girlfriend for Danny. While this was going on, DJ threw a party and had to kick out several of her guests when they started drinking beer. Fortunately, in the next episode, she got a horse to make up for losing all of her friends.
Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)
Ripped from the headlines! This week’s Law & Order was based on the Gabby Petito case and took a look at the difficulty of solving crimes and getting convictions in the social media era. It wasn’t a bad episode but I still don’t know how I felt about it or this revival overall. The episode was so obviously based on the Petito case that it actually felt a bit exploitive. I mean, I doubt Gabby’s parents took much comfort from the fact that their daughter’s death inspired a TV show.
The Love Boat (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
On today’s cruise: Willie Aames, Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, Elaine Joyce, Susan Lucci, Rose Marie, Michelle Phillips, Tristan Rogers, and Jerry Van Dyke! That’s quite a lineup! Willie Aames thought he could steal Dr. Bricker’s girlfriend! A psychiatrist tried to take a vacation from his therapy group but the group decided to tag along! And, best of all, Susan Lucci played a soap opera writer who fell for Tristan Rogers. This was a cruise to remember!
The Office (Sunday Afternoon, Comedy Central)
I watched the two-part season three finale on Sunday. Jim, Karen, and Michael all went up to New York to interview for a corporate position. Michael withdrew when he realized that Jan was going to get fired. Karen showed zero sympathy for Jan so Jim apparently abandoned her in New York and drove back to Scranton so he could ask Pam out on a date. And, of course, Ryan got the job.
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
Arkwright and Granville pursued a mouse that had invaded the store. Arkwright continued to obsess on Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. It’s odd that this show apparently ran for 10 years, despite producing only 20 or so episodes.
Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
I reviewed the finale of Pam & Tommy here!
Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I reviewed the season premiere of Survivor here!
Talking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)
Yay! Talking Dead has returned to the studio. This week’s episode was pretty good, as any episode featuring Chris interviewing Josh McDermitt tends to be. It was also nice to see the return of Michael Cudlitz to the interview couch.
The Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)
I reviewed the latest episode of The Walking Dead here!
Whatever else you may or may want to say about The Walking Dead, you’ve got to love Josh McDermitt and his performance as Eugene Porter.
Eugene has consistently been one of the most interesting characters on this show. He’s gone from being an untrustworthy coward to being one of the strongest people on the show. He’s also gone from being the weirdo who made your skin crawl to being the weirdo who you secretly hope will find everything that he’s looking for. The fact of the matter is that, if there was an actual zombie apocalypse, the majority of the survivors wouldn’t be Darryl or Morgan or Carol or Michonne. The majority would be people like Eugene, people who survive through luck and who still hope to find some sort of normalcy. There’s something very touching about the fact that, even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Eugene is writing a science fiction novel.
There were a few plotlines playing out in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead. The two reporters tried to investigate what led to Tyler snapping at the Masquerade Ball. Mercer walked around and glowered in his threatening way. Lance took Carol out to the opium camp and made an effort to win her loyalty for the Commonwealth. (At some point, people will learn to stop trying to recruit Carol to their pet causes.) But the episode’s heart was with Eugene and his attempts to discover what had happened to Stephanie. And that’s really were it should have been. Against all odds, Eugene has emerged as the show’s symbol for every person who is trying to survive the zombie apocalypse without surrendering their emotions and their humanity. Back when Eugene first appeared on the show and was lying about being a scientist, who could have guessed that he would still be around? Who would have guessed that he would have outlasted not only Rick but also Carl? Eugene survives.
This episode was directed by Michael Cudlitz, who previously played Abraham on the show. (You may remember that Abraham was murdered by Negan. It was kind of unfair, I thought, that Abraham was sacrificed in order to make it even more shocking when Negan then killed Glenn but that’s The Walking Dead for you. It’s cold world.) Cudlitz brought a lot of noir style to this episode. I especially liked the scene at the end, with Eugene huddled in that dark alley, burning his dreams, while Max emerged from the shadows and introduced herself as being the real Stephanie. If nothing else, this scene showed that The Walking Dead can create an haunting atmosphere, even without using walkers and blood.
The episode was, of course, dominated by Josh McDermitt’s poignant performance as Eugene but I also liked Paola Lazaro’s work as Princess. She and McDermitt make a good team, as do Eugene and Princess. Josh Hamilton continues to do great work as Lance Hornsby. His rather casual dismissal of Eugene’s outrage was one of the episode’s highlights and it brought up an interesting point. Everyone knows the Commonwealth is corrupt but everyone also knows that they’re safer in the Commonwealth than outside of it. People will accept a lot when it comes to staying safe.
Though it took me a few days to find the time to watch it, this was a good episode. I look forward to seeing what happens next!
Hush 🤫 Erin, Case, Jeff, Leonard! Don’t tell LMB I said that!
(by Robert Schulz)
This is what being social looked like in 1954. This cover was doe by Robert Schulz, who ever signed his name in the lower right hand corner.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 