Tag Archives: Beef

The AFI Announces Their Top Ten of 2023

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the American Film Institute announced their picks for the top ten American films of 2023!

As far as Oscar precursors are concerned, the AFI is one the stronger ones.  While it’s rare that the AFI list ever lines up 100% with the year’s Best Picture nominees, the majority of the AFI’s pick do tend to get nominated.  Usually, 7 or 8 of the Best Picture nominees also show up on the AFI list.  This year, I wouldn’t be surprised if 9 of the films on the AFI list were nominated.

(Actually, it could even be ten depending on whether the Academy is willing to nominate an animated film about a comic book character.  That said, it should also be noted that Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, both being international productions, were not eligible to be included in the AFI’s Top 10.)

Here’s the AFI’s picks:

AFI Top 10 Films Of The Year
American Fiction (MGM)
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
Maestro (Netflix)
May December (Netflix)
Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures)
Past Lives (A24)
Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures)

AFI Top 10 Television Programs Of The Year
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX)
Beef (Netflix)
Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)
The Last of Us (Max)
The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Poker Face (Peacock)
Reservation Dogs (FX)
Succession (Max)

Here Are The 2023 Gotham Award Winners!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In one of the first events of Awards Season, The Gotham Awards were handed out tonight, with Past Lives picking up the award for best film.  Below, all of the winners are listed in bold!

Best Feature
Passages
Ira Sachs, director; Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (MUBI)

Past Lives
Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)

Reality
Tina Satter, director; Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, producers (HBO Films)

Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (A24)

A Thousand and One
A.V. Rockwell, director; Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Bred Weston, producers (Focus Features)

Best International Feature
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, director; Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Sarah Harvey, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, director; Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion, producers (NEON)

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Tótem
Lila Avilés, director; Lila Avilés, Tatiana Graullera, Louise Riousse, producers (Sideshow/Janus Films)

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, director; Ewa Puszczynska, James Wilson, producers (A24)

Best Documentary Feature
20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, director; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Derl McCrudden, Michelle Mizner, producers (PBS Distribution)

Against the Tide
Sarvnik Kaur, director; Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur, producers (Snooker Club Films, A Little Anarky Films)

Apolonia, Apolonia
Lea Glob, director; Sidsel Lønvig Siersted, producer (Danish Documentary Production)

Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Nadim Cheikhrouha, producer (Kino Lorber)

Our Body
Claire Simon, director; Kristina Larsen, producer (Cinema Guild)

Breakthrough Director Award, Presented by Cadillac

Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24)

Georgia Oakley, Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)

Michelle Garza Cervera, Huesera (XYZ Films)

Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)

A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Best Screenplay

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (NEON)

May December, Samy Burch (Netflix)

R.M.N., Cristian Mungiu (IFC Films)

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin (NEON)

Lily Gladstone, The Unknown Country (Music Box Films)

Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)

Franz Rogowski, Passages (MUBI)

Babetida Sadjo, Our Father, The Devil (Cineverse)

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)

Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla (A24)

Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Michelle Williams, Showing Up (A24)

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Juliette Binoche, The Taste of Things (IFC Films)

Penélope Cruz, Ferrari (NEON)

Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Films)

Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry (IFC Films)

Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest (A24)

Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)

Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)

Breakthrough Series – Under 40 minutes
Beef, Lee Sung Jin, creator; Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Jake Schreier, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, executive producers (Netflix)

High School, Clea DuVall, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, creators; Clea Duvall, Dede Gardner, Laura Kittrell, Jeremy Kleiner, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, Carina Sposato, executive producers (Amazon Freevee)

I’m A Virgo, Boots Riley, creator; Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski, Jharrel Jerome, Boots Riley, Rebecca Rivo, Lindsey Springer, executive producers (Prime Video)

Rain Dogs, Cash Carraway, creator; Cash Carraway, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Swarm, Donald Glover, Janine Nabers, creators; Ibra Ake, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Janine Nabers Jamal Olor, Steven Prinz, Michael Schaefer, Fam Udeorji, executive producers (Amazon Studios)

Breakthrough Series – Over 40 minutes
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire
Rolin Jones, creator; Mark Johnson, Rolin Jones, Anne Rice, Christopher Rice, Alan Taylor, executive producers (AMC)

Dead Ringers
Alice Birch, creator; Alice Birch, Anne Carey, Sean Durkin, Megan Ellison, Erica Kay, Ali Krug, Sue Naegle, Stacy O’Neil, David Robinson, James G. Robinson, Polly Stokes, Barbara Wall, Rachel Weisz, executive directors (Prime Video)

The English
Hugo Blick, creator; Hugo Blick, Emily Blunt, Greg Brenman, executive producers (Prime Video)

The Last of Us
Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, creators; Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Rose Lam, Asad Qizilbash, Carolyn Strauss, Carter Swan, Evan Wells, executive producers; (HBO | Max)

A Small Light
Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, creator; Susanna Fogel, William Harper, Avi Nir, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Lisa Roos, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, executive producers (National Geographic)

Telemarketers
Adam Bhala Lough, Sam Lipman-Stern, directors; Nancy Abraham, Dani Bernfeld, David Gordon Green, Lisa Heller, Jody Hill, Brandon James, Sam Lipman-Stern, Adam Bhala Lough, Danny McBride, Tina Nguyen, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Greg Stewart, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Outstanding Performance in a New Series
Jacob Anderson, Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire (AMC)

Dominique Fishback, Swarm (Amazon Studios)

Jharrel Jerome, I’m A Virgo (Prime Video)

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)

Bel Powley, A Small Light (National Geographic)

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO | Max)

Chaske Spencer, The English (Prime Video)

Rachel Weisz, Dead Ringers ((Prime Video)

Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix)

Steven Yeun, Beef (Netflix)

Here Are The 2023 Gotham Nominations (Only A Week Late!)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wow!  I’ve been so busy coordinating this year’s Horrorthon that I totally missed the fact that the Gotham nominations were announced on October 24th!  In the past, the Gothams only honored films that were made for a certain low budget.  This year is the first time that they’ll be honoring films of any budget.  To me, that would seem to defeat the purpose of the awards but whatever.  Everyone wants to be an Oscar precursor nowadays.

Anyway, this is really late on my part but here are this year’s Gotham nominations!  Whether or not these nominations will give a boost to any of these film’s Oscar chances remains to be seen.  The winners will be announced on November 27th!

Best Feature
Passages
Ira Sachs, director; Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (MUBI)

Past Lives
Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)

Reality
Tina Satter, director; Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, producers (HBO Films)

Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (A24)

A Thousand and One
A.V. Rockwell, director; Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Bred Weston, producers (Focus Features)

Best International Feature
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, director; Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Sarah Harvey, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, director; Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion, producers (NEON)

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Tótem
Lila Avilés, director; Lila Avilés, Tatiana Graullera, Louise Riousse, producers (Sideshow/Janus Films)

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, director; Ewa Puszczynska, James Wilson, producers (A24)

Best Documentary Feature
20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, director; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Derl McCrudden, Michelle Mizner, producers (PBS Distribution)

Against the Tide
Sarvnik Kaur, director; Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur, producers (Snooker Club Films, A Little Anarky Films)

Apolonia, Apolonia
Lea Glob, director; Sidsel Lønvig Siersted, producer (Danish Documentary Production)

Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Nadim Cheikhrouha, producer (Kino Lorber)

Our Body
Claire Simon, director; Kristina Larsen, producer (Cinema Guild)

Breakthrough Director Award, Presented by Cadillac

Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24)

Georgia Oakley, Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)

Michelle Garza Cervera, Huesera (XYZ Films)

Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)

A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Best Screenplay

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (NEON)

May December, Samy Burch (Netflix)

R.M.N., Cristian Mungiu (IFC Films)

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin (NEON)

Lily Gladstone, The Unknown Country (Music Box Films)

Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)

Franz Rogowski, Passages (MUBI)

Babetida Sadjo, Our Father, The Devil (Cineverse)

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)

Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla (A24)

Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Michelle Williams, Showing Up (A24)

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Juliette Binoche, The Taste of Things (IFC Films)

Penélope Cruz, Ferrari (NEON)

Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Films)

Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry (IFC Films)

Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest (A24)

Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)

Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)

Breakthrough Series – Under 40 minutes
Beef, Lee Sung Jin, creator; Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Jake Schreier, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, executive producers (Netflix)

High School, Clea DuVall, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, creators; Clea Duvall, Dede Gardner, Laura Kittrell, Jeremy Kleiner, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, Carina Sposato, executive producers (Amazon Freevee)

I’m A Virgo, Boots Riley, creator; Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski, Jharrel Jerome, Boots Riley, Rebecca Rivo, Lindsey Springer, executive producers (Prime Video)

Rain Dogs, Cash Carraway, creator; Cash Carraway, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Swarm, Donald Glover, Janine Nabers, creators; Ibra Ake, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Janine Nabers Jamal Olor, Steven Prinz, Michael Schaefer, Fam Udeorji, executive producers (Amazon Studios)

Breakthrough Series – Over 40 minutes
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire
Rolin Jones, creator; Mark Johnson, Rolin Jones, Anne Rice, Christopher Rice, Alan Taylor, executive producers (AMC)

Dead Ringers
Alice Birch, creator; Alice Birch, Anne Carey, Sean Durkin, Megan Ellison, Erica Kay, Ali Krug, Sue Naegle, Stacy O’Neil, David Robinson, James G. Robinson, Polly Stokes, Barbara Wall, Rachel Weisz, executive directors (Prime Video)

The English
Hugo Blick, creator; Hugo Blick, Emily Blunt, Greg Brenman, executive producers (Prime Video)

The Last of Us
Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, creators; Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Rose Lam, Asad Qizilbash, Carolyn Strauss, Carter Swan, Evan Wells, executive producers; (HBO | Max)

A Small Light
Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, creator; Susanna Fogel, William Harper, Avi Nir, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Lisa Roos, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, executive producers (National Geographic)

Telemarketers
Adam Bhala Lough, Sam Lipman-Stern, directors; Nancy Abraham, Dani Bernfeld, David Gordon Green, Lisa Heller, Jody Hill, Brandon James, Sam Lipman-Stern, Adam Bhala Lough, Danny McBride, Tina Nguyen, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Greg Stewart, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Outstanding Performance in a New Series
Jacob Anderson, Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire (AMC)

Dominique Fishback, Swarm (Amazon Studios)

Jharrel Jerome, I’m A Virgo (Prime Video)

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)

Bel Powley, A Small Light (National Geographic)

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO | Max)

Chaske Spencer, The English (Prime Video)

Rachel Weisz, Dead Ringers ((Prime Video)

Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix)

Steven Yeun, Beef (Netflix)

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/23/23 — 4/29/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, I definitely watched more movies than television.  Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch!

Accused (Tuesday Night, Fox)

This week’s episode was pretty good.  Adam Bakri, who played Samir, played obsessed well.  Accused is a fairly uneven show, which is to be expected considering that every episode has a different director, writer, and cast.  But this week’s episode did a good job of holding my interest for the entire running time.

Are You Being Served? (Sunday Night, PBS)

This extremely broad British sitcom pops up on PBS occasionally.  I’ve never been that impressed with it, despite the fact that it was made by the same people who made Allo Allo.  To be honest, I kind of resent that my PBS station has replaced Allo Allo with this.  Anyway, this week’s episode featured the tacky employees of a tacky department store trying to stay warm despite the cold weather and the store’s lack of heat.  No one died during the episode so I guess they succeeded.  I honestly didn’t pay much attention.

Barry (Sunday Night, HBO)

Oh my God, it’s Guillermo del Toro!  This was another great episode, though I did feel bad for everyone who got shot at the end of it.  The assassins with the podcast were a good example of what this show does so well.  I also loved the class’s reaction to Sally trying to use Gene’s methods to teach her class.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Paramount Plus)

Okay, seriously, Old Beavis and Old Butt-Head freak me the fuq out!  It’s always so jarring to see a story about them as adults paired up with a story about them as teenagers.  To be honest, it’s kind of depressing.  I mean, it’s not like it’s a shock that they’re going to grow up to be losers but still, Butt-Head is a heart attack waiting to happen and Beavis reminds me of this old guy who always tries to talk to me whenever I find myself near Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.  Of course, the old guy only has one arm and even less teeth than Beavis but still, they have the same jawline.

Anyway, it was a funny episode this week.  Teenage Beavis and Butt-Head’s utter stupidity and lack of physical ability while trying to egg the house made me laugh.  It’s just sad to realize that they’re peaking in high school.  Throwing an egg in a tree is as good as its ever going to get for the two of them.

Oh well.  At least Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-Head are getting to enjoy the universe.

Beef (Netflix)

I finished watching Beef on Sunday.  You can count me amongst those who suspect that the final episode was actually a dream.  Anyway, it was an excellent show.  I kind of hope that there aren’t any more seasons because I really can’t imagine anything topping what’s already been done.

Dirty Pair (YouTube)

Anime action!  I watched another episode of Dirty Pair on Saturday morning.  I had no idea what was going on but a lot of stuff blew up.

Farmer Wants A Wife (Wednesday Night, Fox)

This show is definitely one of my favorite reality shows right now, even though that’s largely due to it providing an antidote for the ickiness of the previous season of The Bachelor.  That said, I can’t help but notice that the show makes it look like farming is all rodeos and barn dances.  I have farmers in my family and, believe it or not, they go to the movies, they liked to read, and sometimes they just like to stay at home and binge whatever’s on Netflix.  Hopefully, the potential wives understand that not every night is going to involve a barn dance.  Anyway, the farmers still do not have wives.

Half Nelson (YouTube)

You can check out my thoughts on this week’s episode by clicking here.  Only one more episode to go and then I’ll be moving on to Freddy’s Nightmares.

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

To be honest, I nearly turned off this week’s episode when it opened with a congresswoman talking about how she had to go to a “freedom caucus” meeting because the Law & Order reboot has always been at its worse whenever its tried to deal with politics.  In general, anyone who is to the right of Bernie Sanders is usually portrayed as being pure evil on Law & Order and that was certainly what happened this week as the token Republican congresswoman repeatedly complained that her husband’s murder was bad for her career.  That said, the case itself was actually an interesting one and, for once, the episode was willing to admit that people can genuinely disagree with each other without having nefarious motives for doing so.  This week’s trial dilemma had no easy answers.

Price and Maroun continue to be two of the most inconsistently-written characters on television.  When the reboot started, Maroun was unquestionably loyal to Price and her devotion actually came across as being a bit creepy.  One got the feeling that she would murder someone if Price told her to.  Over the last few episodes, though, Maroun has been disagreeing with Price on everything and essentially suggesting that he’s just not very good at his job.  Personally, I prefer the perpetually annoyed Maroun to the meek Maroun of the past.  Price, meanwhile, abruptly went from being a self-righteous liberal to being a self-righteous pragmatist.

This week’s episode deserves some credit for ending with Price having to cut a deal to get a conviction.  Far too often, Law & Order has portrayed Price as being “Super Lawyer,” with his superpower being the ability to get a conviction despite having a ludicrous weak case.  Infallible Price was almost as annoying as Meek Maroun.  Talented but still flawed Price, on the other hand, has the potential to be a far more interesting character.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about The Love Boat here.

Night Court (Tuesday Night, NBC)

*Yawn*  From what I understand, this show is doing well in the ratings but I have to imagine that’s entirely due to Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette.  Whenever an episode spends a good deal of time with any of the other characters, like this week’s did with Neil reuniting with his high school crush, it’s torturously dull.  At this point, it’s pretty obvious that Abbi is going to break up with Rand at the end of the season and season 2 will find her newly single.

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

The episode that I watched on Friday night was about African music of the 80s.  It was an interesting history lesson.

The Old Guys (Sunday Night, PBS)

PBS is showing The Old Guys again.  This week’s episode featured the old guys going out on what turned out to be a triple date.  The jokes were obvious but the cast was likable.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I was sorry to see Kane voted out this week but I was even more sorry that apparently, not a single fake idol is going to be used this season!  Seriously, this season had three fake immunity idols and now, they’re all out of the game without anyone trying to play even one of them!  I know I seem to say this every week but I really miss old school Survivor, where Jeff Probst openly ridiculed the players and we didn’t learn anything about their lives back on the mainland.  Now, everyone has a sob story and Probst is all “Up with people!”  It just feels weird.  You can read more of my thoughts on this week’s episode here!

Waco: The Aftermath (Sunday Night, Showtime)

This episode featured great work from Michael Shannon as the FBI agent who still feels guilty for his part in creating the monster that he’s now having to fight.  Elohim City, by the way, is a real place and it still exists.  This is an interesting series and one that deserves a bit more attention than it’s been getting.

Yellowjackets (Sunday Night, Showtime)

Last night, in the 90s, Misty killed the most annoying of the survivors.  In the present, Taissa went to the home of the 2nd-most annoying of the survivors so, if nothing else, we know that Van’s going to be around for a while.  Speaking of annoying, Callie finally figured out that her new boyfriend is cop so she lied and said that Shauna had been having an affair with Randy Walsh.  You kind of have to wonder what Randy thinks about some of the things he’s been put through over the past few days.

Yes, Minister (Monday Morning, PBS)

Oh well!  Even if PBS is no longer showing Allo Allo, at least they brought back Yes, Minster.  This week’s episode was the one in which Hacker’s daughter planned a protest to save a colony of badgers and Sir Humphrey had to make plans to save Hacker from embarrassment.  This was also the episode in which Hacker decided that he was tired of the civil servants keeping secrets and tasks from him, just to then discover how much pointless minutia truly goes into being a member of the government.  It was very British and it was very funny.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/16/23 — 4/22/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Barry’s back!

Barry (Sunday Night, HBO)

Barry returned last Sunday with the first two episodes of season 4.

The first episode updated the viewers on what happened after Barry was arrested.  Barry went to jail, where he was reunited with Fuches.  Fuches briefly became an FBI informant until Barry told him that he loved him, which led to Fuches not only stepping away from the FBI but also declaring that he was going to start his own prison gang.  Sally went back to Joplin and promptly got into a fight with her mother over the television show and its portrayal of Sally’s abusive ex.  Gene plotted to control how the story of his relationship with Barry would appear in the media.  Cristobal and NoHo Hank plotted to start a semi-legitimate business, selling sand to construction sites.  Directed, as all of this season will be, by Bill Hader, the first episode was full of surreal touches and it left me feeling rather unsettled.  Sitting in prison and only showing emotion when Sally briefly came by to visit and demand to know whether he had killed their dog, Barry appeared to have finally snapped.  He went as far as to taunt a guard into nearly beating him to death.  The show had its funny moments but, make no doubt, the first episode was all about tapping into Barry’s heart of darkness.

The second episode had a bit more of the show’s trademark bizarre humor.  Cristobal and NoHo Hank attempted to convince two rival crime families to join them in their sand enterprise.  In order to convince them, they arranged for a meeting at the happiest place on Earth …. Dave and Buster’s!  The meeting went well, up until NoHo Hank announced that freeing Barry from prison would be a part of the plan.  An upset Cristobal told NoHo Hank that his loyalty to Barry made him appear to be “soft.”  However,  Fuches then called NoHo Hank for prison and told him that Barry had decided to become an FBI informant.  A stunned NoHo Hank announced that Barry would have to die.

While that was going on, Gene finally gave an interview about his experiences with Barry but, being Gene, he couldn’t just sit down and answer questions.  Instead, he put together a one man show, one that actually turned out to be pretty good, even if Gene’s version of events was a bit self-serving.  Meanwhile, Sally has returned to Los Angeles and is trying to put the pieces of her life and her career back together.  Unfortunately, her career still hasn’t recovered from last season’s viral video scandal and, to top it all off, she is now known for being the girlfriend of a serial killer.

As for Barry …. well, Monroe wasn’t lying.  At the end of the second episode, it appeared that Barry has decided to work with the FBI!

What a wonderful way to start the fourth season!  This is the final season of Barry and I can’t wait to see how the story wraps up.  I have a feeling that there won’t be many happy endings.

Beavis and Butthead (Paramount Plus)

Barry’s not the only one to have returned this week.  These two morons, Beavis and Butthead, have returned as well.  This week, Beavis and Butthead ruined meditation for everyone and then they went hunting with Mr. Anderson and nearly got killed.  Of all the supporting characters on this show, Mr. Anderson is probably my favorite because he’s basically just a really old version of Hank Hill.  His World War II flashback was wonderfully odd.

Beef (Netflix)

Unfortunately, it’s been a long week so I’ve only had time to watch the first four episodes of this miniseries.  Ali Wong and Steven Yeun are both giving outstanding performances in this series about a road rage incident that spirals out of control.  I’m looking forward to finishing it up during this upcoming week.

Dynaman (Night Flight Plus)

I watched an episode of this Japanese series on Saturday morning.  A bunch of fish monsters were trying to take over the world.  Dynaman stopped them.  Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words so here’s a screenshot:

Farmer Wants A Wife (Wednesday Night, Fox)

The farmers are still not married.

Half Nelson (YouTube)

I reviewed Half Nelson here!

Hang Time (YouTube)

I have watched and written up reviews for several hours of Hang Time this week.  In fact, I’m nearly done with the show.  (My reviews of the show will be running through September.)  Read this week’s review here!

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about The Love Boat here!

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I recapped this week’s episode for the Reality TV Chat Blog!

Tulsa King (Paramount Plus)

I finally got around to watching the second episode of Tulsa King this week and I’m afraid the show still isn’t working for me.  I think it’s because Stallone’s character is a bit too aggressive.  Stallone is at his best when he’s playing either a dumb but likable mook (i.e., Rocky) or when he’s fighting for his survival, like in First Blood.  But when he’s the one who is actually barking out orders and intimidating innocent people, it’s just not as much fun.  Plus, there’s only so many times that any show can go to the “Old people sure are confused by technology” well before the joke starts to run dry.  That said, I’ve been told the show get better so I’ll stick with it and see what I think of the third episode.

Waco: The Aftermath (Sunday Night, Showtime)

This miniseries picks up where Showtime’s last Waco miniseries left off.  The Branch Davidian compound has been burned down.  David Koresh is dead.  The main FBI negotiator (Michael Shannon) feels guilty about what happened at the compound but he also fears that the stand-off is going to embolden the militia movement.  (And he’s right!)  Meanwhile, the surviving Davidians are being railroaded in court and treated as scapegoats for the failures of both Koresh and the government.  Things got off to a strong start on Sunday.  I look forward to seeing where this show ends up going.

Yellowjackets (Sunday Night, Showtime)

This week’s episode was intriguing.  I loved the scene where Shauna confessed to Callie.  I’m still worried about Walter and Misty though.  I can just see Walter getting on Misty’s nerves and getting poisoned as a result.  I’ll also say that, as much as I enjoy this show, I’m starting to get a bit tired of the whole Taissa thing.  The show need to either explain what’s going on with all that or just move on.