#MoreJoy – Day 17-24 of 31 – Comfort TV
I’m a bit behind again on my posting, and I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff that I have been “enjoying” partly as a distraction and partly just because I enjoy serialized storytelling.
I’ve mentioned this before that each fall I try to watch every new show that comes out that has any chance of garnering my interest, and some that aren’t even close, just to review the premieres. I’ve seen 29 premieres since January, and that is split pretty evenly between last spring and this fall. I’ve reviewed them all, but very few have made it through that gauntlet to make my “watch” list. So that leaves me with my “comfort” food.
Sunday night is limited to two shows currently, the animated show The Great North and the procedural The Rookie. Neither are great art, TGN is mildly amusing, and The Rookie is diverting enough with Nathan Filion in it.
Monday night adds another two shows so far, the new faux reality show called The Big Leap and the long-running NCIS. I find NCIS highly predictable, I generally know who the killer is and why before we reach the half-way point, and sometimes inside of 5m, but well, I’ve binged it to this point, I’ll likely stick with it. For the Big Leap, Andrea and I are watching it together which is pretty rare. She doesn’t watch much TV at all, and when she does, it isn’t very common that we both like the same show. Again, neither are high art, but they’re diverting enough.
Tuesday night has Supergirl (which is ending, thankfully, their writing has been TERRIBLE the last few episodes as they try to win an Emmy) and StarGirl (which I’m behind on, but is mildly diverting as well, and I pretty much watch all the DC hero shows). The one that bothers me that I’m still watching though is New Amsterdam. I loved it when it started, but now it feels like I’m watching a soap opera and the writers are out of ideas. Is it still comfort food if it doesn’t comfort?
Wednesday night has two more CW shows, DC Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman, and I watch them for continuity, not because they offer great writing. But if I am embarrassed by New Amsterdam, I don’t know what you call my feelings towards A Million Little Things. The show started REALLY strong in season 1, and they have had a bunch of issues that are playing out differently in each season. But if NA was the soap opera, that would make AMLT more like a tele-novela without the bad acting. They’re all really good, even when the writing isn’t, and I would watch a couple of them in spinoffs (hint to the writers).
Thursday is when my comfort really takes off. Bull for legacy but the writing has gone downhill; B-Positive, one of the few comedies I watch, although it really is a B-level show; Legacies, yep, the vampire hold-over; and the Blacklist without Keen, and EP1 of the new season was ridiculous for plotting. I was enjoying the action of Titans, but its season has already wrapped, which leaves me with SWAT doing some ripoff of Pale Rider this season. I wish they would get back to the Stephen J. Cannell approach of bad guys and guns every week. The one really bright side of the night is the new comedy, Ghosts. I wasn’t expecting much from it, a bit like Beetlejuice perhaps (although apparently it’s ripping off a British production), but I’ve been looking for something for Jacob to expand his repertoire out of the Flash and Supergirl. It’s PG-level entertainment, some amusing lines, and it seems to be working. Andrea and I watch it too, so it’s one of two or three shows in the week we can watch together.
Friday is my real night for TV though, even if I time-shift them to other nights. Blue Bloods has the four storylines for the Commissioner father, the two cop sons Danny and Jamie, and the DA sister Erin. I sometimes wish that there was a bit more time for one of the stories in a week, rather than shared across all four, but I’m still enjoying the show. Foundation is a new scifi show, and it’s quirky enough to challenge me to follow it. It has decent world-building, and I’m enjoying it so far (I just finished EP03) but it’s not an easily-accessible show. Magnum PI is a terrible show, I admit, even though it’s improved with each season. I can still predict the killer 3 or 4 times out of 6 or so, but still, I like the actors in the four main roles. But the one for Friday that blows me away how much I like is Nancy Drew. It’s a lot like Buffy without the action of staking things, and a bit more mature on the kids’ lives, and added family drama, but I really enjoy it. Every week, if I have it available, I’m watching.
Beyond that, I’m streaming a lot of stuff. I’m currently watching Lucifer, Into the Badlands, Alias, Sex Education, and Voyager.
All American hasn’t restarted yet, nor Flash or Discovery, but I’ll watch those. Same with Witcher when it finally drops in December. But I’m also looking forward to the ST: Prodigy animated show, as I’ve been watching Lower Decks recently too. Yet the two big ones I’m looking forward to are Hawkeye on Disney and The Wheel of Time on Amazon.
They’re not all winners, that’s for sure. But comfort TV gives me #MoreJoy.