Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/24/23 — 9/30/23

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bleh! I have been sick this entire week! (And I don’t mean “sick” as in I had allergies or a headache. I mean I was seriously ill, with fevers and fatigue and everything else.) I haven’t even gotten to watch the Survivor and The Amazing Race premieres yet! Here’s a few thoughts on what I have watched:

All You Need Is Love (NightFlight Plus)

I watched an episode of this old music documentary series on Saturday morning. It dealt with ragtime music and the tragic life of Scott Joplin. It was interesting stuff. Joplin was a fascinating character and it’s a shame that his final years were not happier ones.

Big Brother (24/7, Paramount Plus and CBS)

I wrote about Big Brother here!

Dr. Phil (YouTube)

Bleh. I swore to myself that I would never watch this show again but I hate to admit but it does work well as background noise and watching it on YouTube does help me get my thoughts together. I do make a point of only watching YouTube videos that were not uploaded by the show’s official account. But basically, I’m a hypocrite.

Anyway, on Sunday, I watched (or, to be honest, listened) to an episode about a daughter that worried her mother was suffering from paranoid delusions that led her to believe that she was being stalked by a “hook-up” app.

On Monday, I watched an episode featuring an annoying guy named Anthony who claimed to be a millionaire rap star, despite the fact that he was homeless. Anthony was obnoxious and rude to both the audience and Dr. Phil. It’s always fun when someone tells Dr. Phil to go to Hell.

Gun (Tubi)

I watched the first episode of this Robert Altman-produced 90s anthology series on Thursday. Look for my review this upcoming week!

Hell’s Kitchen (Thursday Night, FOX)

Hell’s Kitchen, one of the few classic reality shows to still retain its bite, is back! The Quidditch player is definitely going to be a liability for the Blue Team but he’s so weird that I have a feeling that the show will find excuses to keep him around for at least a few weeks.

The Hitchhiker (YouTube)

I watched episodes of this anthology series throughout the week while preparing for Horrothon.

The Montel Williams Show (YouTube)

On Monday, I came across an episode of this show on YouTube. Montel tried to understand goth kids and was shocked to discover that being rude and condescending is never a good way to win over a teenager. It was good for a smile.

Night Flight (NightFlight Plus)

The episode that I watched on Friday night was all about animation in music videos. The videos were pretty trippy.

Police Woman (Monday Morning, GetTV)

Police woman Angie Dickinson went undercover as a flight attendant to catch a smuggler played by Larry Hagman. It was all very 70s.

Red Dwarf (Monday Morning, PBS)

I watched an episode of this British sci-fi satire on Monday morning. A robot was briefly transformed into a human being and struggled to adjust. The episode ended with the robot-turned-human once again being transformed and turning into a miniature version of Robocop. It was amusing, though I get the feeling I would have gotten a lot more out of the show if I was a regular viewer. As is, this was only my second time to watch an episode of Red Dwarf and I spent a lot of time trying to catch up with who everyone was and why they were in space.

Saved By The Bell (Sunday Morning, Me TV)

On Sunday morning, as I got ready for me day, I watched the episode where Lisa overspent on her credit card and was shocked when her father refused to punish her for being irresponsible. Seriously, if you can avoid getting punished for being stupid, don’t question it. Just go with the flow.

Yes, Prime Minister (Monday Morning, PBS)

This week’s episode featured one of the rare occurrences in which Prime Minister Hacker got the better of Sir Humphrey and I have to admit that, as much as I enjoy watched both this show and Yes, Minister, it just didn’t feel right. I know that the point of the episode was that Hacker is finally learning how to use the self-importance of the civil service against itself (i.e., by threatening to take away Sir Humphrey’s key to Number 10) but I like Hacker more when he acts like a well-meaning incompetent than a Machiavellian game player. By the end of last night’s episode, Sir Humphrey would probably agree.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/21/23 — 5/27/23

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I didn’t watch much this week. For whatever reason, I really wasn’t in a television mood. Still, I did catch a few shows and here are my thoughts on them!

Barry (Sunday Night, HBO)

Monroe “The Raven” Fuches has his own compound. NoHo Hank is discovering that being a legitimate businessman still means doing a lot of illegal stuff. The FBI is now convinced that Cusineau was Barry’s accomplice. And Sally and John have been kidnapped. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous about how all of this going to wrap up on Sunday night. I’m hoping for a happy ending but I don’t know if there is such a thing in the world of Barry.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Paramount Plus)

Oh no! Beavis and Butt-Head are dead! Well, actually, I’m sure they’ll find a way to survive being in that car that just got tossed into the car smasher thing. I mean, Old Beavis survived having one of his kidneys explode so it might just be that the boys are immortal and incapable of dying. That’s kind of a scary thought.

Black Bird (Apple TV+)

I finished up this excellent miniseries on Sunday. Paul Walter Hauser chilled me to the bone. Ray Liotta broke my heart.

Bubblegum Crisis (Night Flight Plus)

I watched the fourth episode of this anime on Saturday morning. It features a black car shoving a bunch of motorcyclists out of the way. That was actually kind of neat because everyone knows the frustration of getting stuck behind a motorcyclist (or, even worse, a freaking bicyclist) in heavy traffic.

City Guys (YouTube)

I have finally started in on the 5th and final season of City Guys. You can read my thoughts on the 4th season finale right here.

Forgive or Forget (YouTube)

Robin Givens talked to teenagers who felt that they had been let down by their mothers. Wait …. where’s Mother Love!?

Great Performances (Monday Morning, PBS)

Danai Gurira played the title role in a Shakespeare in the Pak production of Richard III. Gurira was certainly able to capture the character’s ruthless determination but there still wasn’t much depth to either her performance or the overall production.

Hang Time (YouTube)

I’m nearly done with this show. Yay! Read my thoughts on this week’s episode here!

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about this week’s episode of The Love Boat here!

The Master (Tubi)

Max Keller, union activist! The third episode of The Master was pretty silly and I wrote about it here!

The Office (Peacock)

“Hey there, Mr. Scott, what you gonna do? What you gonna do? Make our dreams come true!” Can you guess which episode of The Office I watched on Friday afternoon?

Red Dwarf (Monday Morning, PBS)

The long-running British science fiction comedy is now airing on my PBS station so I watched an episode on Monday. Apparently, the last Earthling in existence gave some false memories to his companion, a hologram. The hologram was disappointed to learn that his memories weren’t real. It was funny but it was also kind of sad, to be honest. It made me wonder what I would so if I woke up one day to discover that I was the last remaining person on Earth (or in space, as the case may be).

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

Another season of Survivor has come to a close and I am off the reality show beat until Big Brother returns in August. Yam Yam, to be honest, got on my last nerve because he was so whiny and petulant. He played a good enough game that he deserved the victory but still, I would have preferred to have seen either Carolyn or Carson take home the money. What was up with Carolyn getting zero votes? That sucked! You can read my thoughts on Survivor here!

Yes, Minister (Monday Morning, PBS)

This week, Jim Hacker caused a panic when he threatened to withhold honours from civil servants who did not reduce their budgets. Of course, no civil servant would ever willingly reduce their budget but what’s the point of being a civil servant without the honours? It was all very British but it was also universal. Bureaucrats love to be rewarded for not doing anything.