2022 In Review: 10 Good Things That I Saw On Television

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing my long-delayed look back at 2022, here are ten good things that I saw on television during the previous year!

(Also be sure to check out my picks for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011!)

The Dropout

Hulu’s miniseries about Theranos was a disturbing look at how Elizabeth Holmes managed to defraud her investors, provide false hope for the ill, and become a celebrity despite not actually knowing anything about which she was speaking. Amanda Seyfried’s performance as Holmes was brilliant and she was well-supported by an amazingly strong supporting cast. The Dropout pretty much is the last word that needs to be said about Theranos.

2. Barry

Whether it was the Kaboom app or that amazing motorcycle chase, the latest season of HBO’s Barry was full of amazing moments. The saga of the hitman-turned-actor-turned-hitman continues to fascinate. As likable as Bill Hader can be, he never lets us forget that Barry is, at heart, a bit of a monster.

3. The Better Call Saul Finale

Finales are a tricky business and a bad one can ruin a show’s legacy. Fortunately, the final season of Better Call Saul delivered everything that the audience could possibly hope for.

4. Pistol

Danny Boyle’s miniseries may have provided a romanticized history of 70s punk rock but it was compulsively watchable nonetheless. Sidney Chandler stole the entire series as Chrissy Hynde. Anson Boon brought some unexpected shadings to the role of Johnny Rotten. That the real-life Johnny didn’t care much for it is, at this point, to be expected,

5. The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race returned with two new seasons. The first season was one that was filmed during the COVID lockdowns and it suffered due to the fact that some of the strongest teams had to drop out of the race because of the long delay in shooting, Still, you had to respect the show for not giving up and just canceling the season altogether. The second season was a return to form for The Amazing Race, with Derek and Claire providing themselves to be two of the most likable winners that the show has had in a while. For those of us who feel that Derek and Claire got screwed over during their season of Big Brother, their Amazing Race victory was especially nice to see.

6. Abbott Elementary

One of the best sitcoms to come along in a while, Abbott Elementary is both poignant and hilarious as it details the day-to-day life of the teachers at Abbott Elementary. Though Sheryl Lee Ralph has deservedly won the majority of the awards, the entire cast is wonderful. Janelle James, as Principal Ava Coleman, will hopefully get some Emmy recognition later this year.

7. Ghosts

What a sweet show about dead people!

8. Yellowjackets

Not sine Lost have I been so intrigued by a drama. Succession is a show that thinks it’s clever. Yellowjackets actually is clever.

9. The Offer

It was a guilty pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless.

10. I Want You Back

The best made-for-TV movie of 2022. Jenny Slate singing Suddenly Seymour was a classic moment.

Lisa Marie’s 2022 In Review:

Here Are The 2022 Gotham Winners!

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Gotham Awards were handed out last night and Everything Everywhere All At Once took best picture. Danielle Deadwyler may have been snubbed by the Spirit Awards but that didn’t prevent the Gothams from honoring her performance in Till. While the Gothams may not be as strong an Oscar precursor as some of the other groups that will be handing out prizes over the next two months, every win helps.

Here are all the winners:

Breakthrough television under 40 minutes
“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
“As We See It” (Amazon Prime Video)
“Mo” (Netflix)
“Rap Sh!t” (HBO Max)
“Somebody, Somewhere” (HBO)

Breakthrough television over 40 minutes
“Pachinko” (Apple+)
“Severance” (Apple+)
“Station Eleven” (HBO Max)
“This Is Going To Hurt” (AMC+)
“Yellowjackets” (Showtime)

Television performers:
Bilal Baig (“Sort Of”)
Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”)
Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”)
Matilda Lawler (“Station Eleven”)
Britt Lower (“Severance”)
Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”)
Sue Ann Pien (“As We See It”)
Minha Kim (“Pachinko”)
Zahn McClarnon (“Dark Winds”)
Ben Whishaw (“This Is Going To Hurt”)

Breakthrough nonfiction series
“The Andy Warhol Diaries”
“The Last Movie Stars”
“Mind Over Murder”
“The Rehearsal”
“We Need to Talk About Cosby”

Breakthrough director
Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”)
Owen Kline (“Funny Pages”)
Elegance Bratton (“The Inspection”)
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic (“Murina”)
Beth De Araújo (“Soft & Quiet”)
Jane Schoenbrun (“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”)

Best screenplay
Kogonada (“After Yang”)
James Gray (“Armageddon Time”)
Lena Dunham (“Catherine Called Birdy”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”)

Breakthrough performer
Frankie Corio (“Aftersun”)
Kali Reis (“Catch the Fair One”)
Gracija Flipovic (“Murina”)
Anna Diop (“Nanny”)
Anna Cobb (“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”)

Outstanding supporting performance
Mark Rylance (“Bones and All”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Raúl Castillo (“The Inspection”)
Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”)
Nina Hoss (“Tár”)
Noémie Merlant (“Tár”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)

Oustanding lead performance
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)
Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”)
Dale Dickey (“A Love Song”)
Colin Farrell (“After Yang”)
Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Thandiwe Newton (“God’s Country”)
Aubrey Plaza “(Emily the Criminal)”
Taylor Russell (“Bones and All”)
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”)

Best international feature
“Athena”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Corsage”
“Decision to Leave”
“Happening”
“Saint Omer”

Best documentary feature
“All That Breathes”
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
“I Didn’t See You There”
“The Territory”
“What We Leave Behind”

Best feature
“Aftersun”
“The Cathedral”
“Dos Estaciones”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Tár”

Here Are The 2022 Gotham Nominations!

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

And just like that, the 2022 Awards Season began.

The 2022 Gotham Nominations were announced earlier today. While the Gothams have recently started to get some attention as an Oscar precursor, it is important to remember that the Gothams are specifically designed to honor low-budget, independent films. There’s some very strict rules about which films are eligible and which are not. So, don’t be shocked at the lack of nominations for something like The Fabelmans. Spielberg has never been eligible for a Gotham.

If any one film is really going to benefit from these nominations, it’s probably Everything Everywhere All At Once. Seeing as how it’s been a while since Everything Everywhere came out, the Gotham nominations may (or may not) serve to remind the members of the Academy of the excitement that was generated by the film earlier in the year.

Here are the Gotham nominations for 2022. The winners will be announced on November 28th.

Breakthrough television under 40 minutes
“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
“As We See It” (Amazon Prime Video)
“Mo” (Netflix)
“Rap Sh!t” (HBO Max)
“Somebody, Somewhere” (HBO)

Breakthrough television over 40 minutes
“Pachinko” (Apple+)
“Severance” (Apple+)
“Station Eleven” (HBO Max)
“This Is Going To Hurt” (AMC+)
“Yellowjackets” (Showtime)

Breakthrough nonfiction series
“The Andy Warhol Diaries”
“The Last Movie Stars”
“Mind Over Murder”
“The Rehearsal”
“We Need to Talk About Cosby”

Breakthrough director
Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”)
Owen Kline (“Funny Pages”)
Elegance Bratton (“The Inspection”)
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic (“Murina”)
Beth De Araújo (“Soft & Quiet”)
Jane Schoenbrun (“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”)

Best screenplay
Kogonada (“After Yang”)
James Gray (“Armageddon Time”)
Lena Dunham (“Catherine Called Birdy”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”)

Breakthrough performer
Frankie Corio (“Aftersun”)
Kali Reis (“Catch the Fair One”)
Gracija Flipovic (“Murina”)
Anna Diop (“Nanny”)
Anna Cobb (“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”)

Outstanding supporting performance
Mark Rylance (“Bones and All”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Raúl Castillo (“The Inspection”)
Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”)
Nina Hoss (“Tár”)
Noémie Merlant (“Tár”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)

Oustanding lead performance
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)
Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”)
Dale Dickey (“A Love Song”)
Colin Farrell (“After Yang”)
Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Thandiwe Newton (“God’s Country”)
Aubrey Plaza “(Emily the Criminal)”
Taylor Russell (“Bones and All”)
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”)

Best international feature
“Athena”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Corsage”
“Decision to Leave”
“Happening”
“Saint Omer”

Best documentary feature
“All That Breathes”
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
“I Didn’t See You There”
“The Territory”
“What We Leave Behind”

Best feature
“Aftersun”
“The Cathedral”
“Dos Estaciones”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Tár”

Lisa Marie’s Week in Television: 4/10/22 — 4/16/22

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Because of the holidays, I haven’t seen the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead yet. It’s on the DVR, along with American Idol and all the British comedies that I usually watch. I’ll review it in the upcoming few days, even though I’m sure everyone has moved on by now. One fun thing about having your own site is that you can set your own schedule.

Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch:

61st Street (Sunday Night, AMC)

Arriving with very little fanfare, 61st Street is AMC’s latest original series. It takes place in Chicago and it deals with a burned-out defense attorney (Courtney B. Vance) and a high school track star (Tosin Cole) who is just trying to survive long enough to make it to college. Unfortunately, Cole is in the wrong place at the wrong time and, as the premiere episode came to a close, he was being pursued by the Chicago cops.

Judging from the pilot, the show is attempting to do for Chicago what The Wire did for Baltimore. The problem, however, is that 61st Street never feels as authentic, unpredictable, or downright dangerous as The Wire. In the pilot, at least, the characters came across as being caricatures and, for a show that is set in a very real neighborhood, there was little sense of place to be found. The show could have been taking place in any generic city.

Interestingly enough, the show as created by Peter Moffat, an British writer who is best-known for writing a series of films and television shows about recent British history. He also wrote the script for the worst film that Clint Eastwood ever directed, Hereafter. You have to wonder just what exactly led Moffat to try to capture the spirit of Chicago. For that matter, why do we even need yet another show about Chicago? There are other cities in America.

2022 Masters Golf Tournament (Sunday, CBS)

I watched a bit of it with Jeff on Sunday afternoon. The golf course was really pretty. I’m going to learn how to play golf. I already kind of know but I want to learn how to play golf well! Why should my boyfriend have all the fun?

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

During this Sunday’s block of The Brady Bunch, Bobby became a pest after saving Peter’s life, Jan freaked out because she wasn’t good at anything, Bobby and Peter imagined what it would be like to live on another planet, and some weird new family showed up as a part of backdoor pilot! While it’s best not to spend too much time thinking about The Brady Bunch, I have always been amused by backdoor pilots. It’s always like, “Oh, hey, people we’ve never seen or head about before! Wait …. why is the show following them to their home?”

Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

The Tanners are going to Hawaii!

Sunday’s 4-episode bloc of Full House opened with an episode in which Danny, the girls, the uncles, and aunt Becky all went to Hawaii to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Joey and Jesse moving into the house. The cool thing about this episode is that it had plenty of Hawaiian scenery and Becky got mad at Jesse for talking about Elvis all the time. You tell him, Becky!

This was followed by three episodes in which everyone learned an important lesson. DJ and Stephanie learned about the importance of going to school. Becky and Jesse learned how to communicate as a couple. Stephanie learned not to make fun of her nerdy friend and Danny really should have learned to stop inviting Joey to appear on Good Morning San Francisco.

The Girl From Plainville (Hulu)

I reviewed the latest episode of The Girl From Plainville here.

As I mentioned in that post, I’m pretty much over the show and I will probably, from now on, only offer capsule reviews of the 3 remaining episodes in my Week in TV posts.

Hard Cell (Netflix)

This British sitcom takes place in a women’s prison in which the majority of the characters are played by Catherine Tate. I watched the first two episodes on Wednesday and, unfortunately, neither one of them really worked for me. There really wasn’t much gained by having Tate play multiple characters and the mockumentary approach no longer feels that fresh. Tate is undeniably talented but the show just fell flat.

It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (Apple TV+)

Erin and I watched this on Saturday afternoon. Erin wrote about this special a few years ago.

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

This week’s “ripped from the headline” case was based on the Ed Buck murder trial and featured a wealthy, old white man who liked to pick up young black men and then shoot them up with drugs. Occasionally, the younger men died. He was brought to justice, just as Ed Buck finally was. This was an okay episode and it gave Camryn Manheim a chance to shine.

I do have to say that I still always find it amusing how the Law & Order franchise has imagined a world in which a bunch of blue collar, unsentimental New York cops all talk like panelists on MSNBC. I kind of doubt that many cops voted for Bernie Sanders but you wouldn’t know that from watching this show.

The Love Boat (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

On this week’s cruise: Telma Hopkins, Theresa Merritt, Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Noble, Raymond St. Jacques, Holland Taylor, Adam West, and Alan Young! The highlight was Adam West, parodying himself in the role of an overly macho buffoon.

Midnight Mass (Netflix)

This horror-themed miniseries from Mike Flanagan was released in October of last year but, at the time, I really didn’t feel like watching a show about a demonic priest. However, with the Emmy nominations coming up, I figured that I should go ahead and give the show a try. At the very least, I wanted to see if it lived up to all the acclaim.

It’s a show about life on an isolated island and what happens to the community when a mysterious priest shows up. I watched the first episode on Sunday night and it was pretty effective, even if some of the dialogue felt a bit overwritten. Flanagan knows how to create a creepy and intriguing atmosphere and I liked Hamish Linklater’s menacing-but-friendly portrayal of Father Paul Hill. I did not like the episode’s final scene, which involved a bunch of dead cats washing up on the beach. Normally, that’s the sort of thing that would make me stop watching but, because of my faith in the storytelling abilities of Mike Flanagan, I decided to make an exception in the case of Midnight Mass.

That said, Holy Week (especially one that I was spending with my sisters) didn’t really feel like the right time to watch a miniseries about an evil priest so I decided to put off watching the rest of the show until next week.

The Outlaws (Amazon Prime)

This British comedy/drama hybrid deals with seven strangers who are forced to due community service as punishment for breaking the law. At first, they start off as strangers but then they bond and steal a lot of money. You can probably guess the story. Christopher Walken plays Frank, an old con artist who has recently been released for prison. He’s a delight, as always.

I watched the first episode of this show on Monday night and I have to say that it kind of annoyed me. I appreciated the performances of Walken, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Darren Boyd but otherwise, the show itself often seemed to be trying a bit too hard and the mix of comedy and drama occasionally played a bit awkwardly. Largely due to the fact that it was only a 6-epiosde series and the presence of Christopher Walken in the cast, I decided that I would give the show a second chance but that first episode didn’t do much for me.

I watched the second episode late on Tuesday night. It was a definite improvement on the second episode and featured plenty of good Walken moments but the hour length still made the episode feel as if it was punishingly overextended and the show’s balance between comedy and drama continued to be a rather awkward one.

I’ll watch the four remaining episodes of the show next week.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I reviewed the latest episode of Survivor here!

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

I finished up Yellowackets on Monday afternoon. I cried with Laura Lee blew up. I was also really upset when Jackie froze to death. And don’t even get me started on the dog! This was actually kind of a traumatic series. Still, it was a fascinating show to watch and I look forward to seeing how things plays out during the second season.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Televison: 4/3/22 — 4/9/22

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

For the next few weeks, I’ll be trying to catch up on all the potential Emmy nominees that I missed when they first aired. So, I guess my week in television is about to get a lot busier!

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

“I shall say this only once,” Rene announced to Michelle, “I am done with the Resistance!”

Rene says this during nearly every episode of Allo Allo and no one ever believes him. Such was the case with Sunday’s episode. Michelle responded to Rene’s resignation from the Resistance by giving him suicide pills and announcing that the British airmen had been captured but she had a great plan to rescue them, a plan that would, of course, hinge on Rene’s involvement. While Rene’s mother-in-law prepared for her wedding and Lt. Gruber tried to make sure that the painting did not fall into the hands of his rivals, Rene had to deal with a code book that had been eaten by rats. I realize that previousy sentence makes no sense but that’s to be expected with this show. Eventually, everyone ended up disguised as an undertaker while Crabtree wished everyone a “Good moaning,” in his fractured French.

American Idol (Sunday and Monday Night, ABC)

Hollywood week came to a close with two episodes of American Idol.

On Sunday, the finalists were forced to perform duets, which meant that the episode was full of people singing painfully sincere songs and getting all emotional. It was a bit awkward to watch at times. There was a definite lack of drama, as only one duet team failed to get along. Though a lot of Idol fans are going to hate me for saying this, I found myself getting a little bit tired of Kelcie going on and on about how insecure she was. Fortunately, she was paired with Betty, who made it her life mission to bring Kelcie out of her shell. And it worked, as both Kelcie and Betty made it to the next round.

On Monday, the remaining competitors performed one last time for the judges and they were whittled down to 24. Both Betty and Kelcie were let go during this round. We didn’t actually get to see Betty’s performance but we did see Kelcie perform and she wasn’t bad. She’s got a great voice, even if the insecurity is a bit hard to take. But she was apparently let go specifically because of the insecurity, with the judges telling her to work on her confidence so …. I don’t know. It seems like, if that was going to be a determining factor, that’s something that they could have said during the Duets. Instead, they put Kelcie through because it would make for good television to then cut her at the last minute.

Anyway, it’s a pretty bland bunch of singers this season. They’ve got good voices but there’s very little real quirkiness to be found. And no, Leah Marlene is not quirky, no matter how many times she tells us that she is. Real quirkiness is natural. It’s not something you have to work at.

Bar Rescue (Sunday and weekday mornings, Paramount)

Sunday’s bloc of Bar Rescue episodes was all about Jon rescuing bars in Texas! I watched two episodes on Sunday evening. They were both set in Houston and they both involved a lot of yelling. The important thing, though, is that every bar was made profitable by the end of the hour.

On Monday, I watched an old episode that found Jon Taffer and the crew in Florida. The bar owner thought that Taffer had good ideas. The bar manager felt that Taffer was rude and he resented being yelled at. I was kind of on the manager’s side as far as that was concerned because Taffer really did go a bit overboard with the yelling during this episode. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end. The bar was rescued, just in time for the hurricane season.

Beyond the Edge (Wednesday Night, ABC)

It amuses me to no end how this show keeps pretending like the celebrities are in mortal danger in the jungle. We all know that production is not going to let Metta World Peace drown in quicksand. After I pointed this out on twitter, a fan of the show wrote to me, and said, “Your weird.” (That’s an exact quote, including the misuse of your.) Oh well! You can’t please everyone.

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

What a weird collection of episodes! First off, we had an episode where Mike’s father and Carol’s mother visited and the kids tried to get them to fall in love with each other. Robert Reed and Florence Henderson played their own parents. You could tell Florence was just having fun but Robert really went all in and acted up a storm. This was followed by the episode where Cindy and Bobby auditioned to be on television and Cindy ended up freezing once the cameras were on her. Poor Cindy! Finally, Bobby got his first kiss and turned into a jerk and then Greg got in trouble for helping his friends steal a goat. The drama never stopped with those Bradys!

The Chair (Netflix)

I watched all six episodes of The Chair‘s first (and, perhaps, only) season on Thursday. In this comedy-drama, Sandra Oh plays the newly named chair of Pembroke University’s moribund English department. When the department’s most popular professor (Jay Duplass) is filmed doing a Nazi salute in jest, all heck breaks loose. The Chair is a bit uneven but ultimately, it works. It’s well-acted and the mix of comedy and drama is, for the most part, effectively handled. A recurring bit about David Duchovny being invited to give a lecture is a highlight of the show’s first season.

Couples Court With The Cutlers (Weekday Afternoon, OWNTV)

I had this on as background noise for two hours on Monday. That’s a total of four episodes, for those keeping count. I didn’t really pay much attention because, again, it was background noise. I did hear the audience gasp quite frequently. And, of course, I looked up whenever Kendall Shull came out to deliver the lie detector results.

Court Cam (Wednesday, A&E)

I watched four episodes on Wednesday evening. Mostly, I just had them on for background noise. I do remember that one episode featured an attorney getting mad at a deputy who went through her private papers while she was giving her closing statement. The deputy was held in contempt of court, as he definitely should have been. He spent ten days in jail, after refusing to apologize to the attorney.

Cruel Summer (Hulu)

The first season of Cruel Summer aired on FreeForm last year. With each episode jumping back and forth between three separate years, the show tells the story of two teenage girls in Texas. One is abducted. The other takes her place. On Thursday, I watched the first two episodes of Hulu. It was all a bit overdone and overheated but undeniably compelling. I always enjoy a good melodrama.

Dopesick (Hulu)

On Thursday night and Friday morning, I finally watched the highly acclaimed miniseries, Dopesick. The miniseries deals with the introduction of OxyContin and how the drug literally destroyed communities and continues to destroy them today. This was one of those miniseries where good scenes co-existed with scenes that were a bit too on-the-nose for their own good. Michael Keaton and Kaitlyn Dever both gave excellent performances as two people caught up in the epidemic. The miniseries wasn’t quite as good as I had been led to believe and it was definitely heavy-handed but it was still effective enough to make an impression.

The Dropout (Hulu)

I wrote about the series finale of The Dropout here!

Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

Poor Uncle Jesse! On his 26th birthday, he and his band had a gig at the hottest club in town. Unfortunately, when the band couldn’t make it, Jesse’s idiot roommates decided to help him out and basically, they ruined Jesse’s big night. Everything worked out in the end, though, because it’s not like Jesse could move out and have a normal life or anything like that. The other three episodes that were shown on Sunday featured Joey getting back together with his ex (ewww!) and a two-parter in which Jesse and Becky nearly got married at a tacky casino before decided that it would be better to hold off so that Becky’s parents could come to the ceremony. Run, Becky! Escape while you still can.

The Girl From Plainville (Hulu)

I reviewed the latest episode of The Girl From Plainville here!

King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoons, FXX)

I watched two episodes on Wednesday, both classics from the show’s final season. In the first episode, Louanne and the Manger Babies got involved in the lucrative but demanding world of direct-to-DVD children’s programming. As John Redcorn put it, “We are already direct-to-DVD. There is no other place to go.” This episode featured one of my favorite Dale storylines, as he tried to write a children’s book about the “gun who cared.” The second episode featured Boomhauer allowing an obnoxious Canadian family to stay at his home while he went up to Ontario. The Canadians were not impressed with America but Hank still helped one of them get out of jail because that’s what neighbors do. Awwwww!

Law & Order (Thursday, NBC)

Eh. The Law & Order revival is just as clumsy when it comes to handling political issues as the original series was. This week, a congressional candidate was murdered and an extremist group went on trial and it all felt very much like partisan fan fiction.

The Love Boat (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

On this Sunday’s cruise: Frank Bonner, Shelley Fabares, Jennilee Harrison, Arte Johnson, Stephen Shortridge, McLean Stevenson, William Window, and Jane Wyatt. Not exactly the most exciting line-up, to be honest. And this was actually a pretty boring episode but the ship and the ocean both looked really nice!

The Office (All the time, Comedy Central)

I watched two episodes on Saturday. Unfortunately, they were both from the 8th season. In the first one, the Office crew went to a local trivia night. The second episode was the pool party episode. The trivia episode was actually fairly amusing but the pool party was the 8th season at its worse. There was never any reason for Robert California to invite the Scranton branch to a pool party. The problem with all of these ensemble party episodes during the post-Carell era is that they mostly just served to remind us that we really only knew these characters by how they related to Michael.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

After being rejected by Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, Arkwright considered burying Granville alive in the storeroom. It was an intense episode.

Parking Wars (Monday Morning, A&E)

In Detroit, Pony Tail handed out the tickets and encouraged everyone to be kind to each other. It was a valiant effort but we all know that it’s cold in the D. Anyway, I watched two episodes on Monday morning and they left me as aggravated as usual.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, ABC)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

Talking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

Chris Hardwicke interviewed people and complained about the villainy of Lance Hornsby.

The Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I reviewed Sunday’s episode here!

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

I missed the first season of Yellowjackets when it first aired so I decided to catch up this weekend. I binged the first half of the season on Saturday and I’ll do the second half tomorrow. So far, this show has been playing out like a combination of Lost, Degrassi, and This is Us. Even though I already kind of know what’s going to happens thanks to Wikipedia, I’m still intrigued by the show. That said, I’m also spending a good deal of the show with my hands over my eyes because OH MY GOODNESS! THE COACH LOST A LEG! THAT GIRL’S FACE WAS RIPPED APART! THERE’S A COMPOUND FRACTURE ON THE SOCCER FIELD! EVERYONE’S PERIOD HAS SYCNED UP! AGCK! Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynesky, and Juliette Lewis are all Emmy-worthy.