Category: TV Review

John Ostrander: Making a Better Superman

by John Ostrander

supergirl-season-2As of last Monday night, Warner Bros grew a Superman problem. That’s the night that Supergirl started its second season on its new home, the CW… where one could argue that it always belonged anyway. The show guest starred Supergirl’s cousin, Superman, embodied on TV by Tyler Hoechlin.

If you don’t already know, DC – unlike Marvel – does not link its movie universe and its TV universe. Since DC Comics is currently in the Multiple Universe concept once more, it might help to think of their TV and movie universes as alternate dimensions. So we can have two Flashes, two Wonder Women – and two versions of Superman.

The DC movie version of Superman, as shown in Man of Steel andSuperman vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice Whaddee Do Dah, is played by Henry Cavill and is a darker, more brooding, somewhat more Batman-ish Superman. His costume is also darker, almost a blue-black. He is, we are told, a more “realistic” Superman. And that’s where I think the trouble is going to lie. read article

Munchman Bitches Again!

What we do for luv – and money!
What we do for luv – and money!

Munchman’s TV Musings #1

More thoughts from Yer Friendly Neighborhood Munchman, a guy acknowledged the world over (or at least within the room in which this is being typed) as a penetrating and trenchant observer and occasional conspirator in today’s TV scene:

  1. Word around the interwebs is that Disney, Amazon, and Apple are all looking into buying Netflix, which tells you bud Muncholo here that those of us who lurve the fact that Neflix is all about entertainment and nothing but (yeppers, I mean me! me! me!) could be in deep schitt because becoming part of just another diversified portfolio means the end of excellence as we know it. Think about it, y’all.  Every time the “our shareholders don’t care about the product, all the want is immediate profit” boys have moved in, audiences have suffered. Why, I remember back when I was Euripedes’ go-fer….
  2. Didja know that Black Sails is coming back for a fourth season on Starz? Do yez know why? Me neither, kidz. And I remember when Starz boss Chris Albrecht was a programming genius! Of course, he was also bopping his girlfriend in public back in those halcyon HBO days, so maybe his lost touch means he’s a better human being now, hey?
  3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is being developed for TV by Universal Cable Productions. Munchhausen was all thumbs-up on the Charlie Kaufman-Pierre Bismuth feature film, but this version’s going to one of the geniuses behind Human Target, Mad Dogs, and Forever, credits much more suited for a certain male member that rhymes with the aforementioned “genius” word but starts with a “P.”
  4. Speaking of Schitt, as in Deep Schitt, sorry Canadians, but no matter how hard I try I can’t find a single thing to laugh at in that very rapturously reviewed fraud. Like the old saying sez, “Schitty is as shitty does.” (Come on, there must be some old saying that says that…or at least something like it, yeah?)
  5. To end on a more positive note, the interwebs have been showing Amazon Prime’s first trailer for The Grand Tour and – wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, shockarooney – looks like the old Top Gear gang of Clarkson, Hammond, and May are gonna pull it off. Damn show looks and sounds glorious. Hmm, maybe things won’t be so bad if Amazon buys Netflix after all. But don’t believe my munchin’ mouth. Have a look-see for yerself:

That’s it for this week. Seeya next time with more TV joy!

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munchman’s Take on the Fall 2016 Season so Far

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What we do for luv – and money!

by munchman

More thoughts, munchites, from a guy acknowledged the world over (or at least within the room in which this is being typed) as a truly penetrating and trenchant observer:

  1. Okay, yer munchy one made absolutely my best effort to binge his way through Woody Allen’s Crisis In Six Scenes. Thanks to the magic of fast-forwarding, I made it through the first ep (well, more or less), but after that – whoa? Skinny, boring, old neurotic dude’s ready to trade in Elaine May for Miley Cyrus? This show is Allen’s biggest piece of crap since his last big piece of crap, and believe me, that was a tough act to follow.
  2. Anybody out there watching Amazon’s I Love Dick? No? I knew TVWriter™ attracted a smart crowd. Yer Friendly Neighborhood munchman’s advice: Keep away. Keep far, far away. I mean, how many shows about neurotic, self-obsessed, unhappily married and all-around unfulfilled 40-something housewives does any world need? And even if there was room for one more, I Love Dick wouldn’t be the one. (Lurve the title though. It never fails to bring a nice, sneery, smirk to me face.)
  3. Amazon’s also ready to assault us with a new version of The Tick. The first live TV version was heavenly satire. This one actually seems to be taking itself seriously. Sorry, Amazon, you won’t be kicking Netflix’s ass with this kind of crud. (Do you know what “crud” really means? Trust me – it’s definitely a word worth looking up. Oh, wait, they’ve fucking changed it. Now it means “an incrustation of filth or refuse.” Back when I was in 6th grade it was a guaranteed giggler because Webster’s said it was “a crude synonym for smegma.” And smegma is what The Tick is, through and through.)
  4. Ooh, at last, a half hour – more or less – of pleasure. Just watched the season opener of Blunt Talk, which is Woody Allened (you know, created and run by) Jonathan Ames, a skinny, neurotic, not old or boring neurotic dude who also created, produced, wrote, etc. the late lamented Bored to Death. For my moolah, such as it is, Blunt Talk is currently one of TV’s least-watched but most brilliant comedies. Orgasmically blissful (take it from somebody who, well, knows.)

Ah, nuthin’ like spreadin’ the joy. Seeya next week with more TV joy!

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Doug Snauffer sees “MacGyver”

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This is MacGyver?

by Douglas Snauffer

CBS’ reboot of MacGyver (Fridays, 8 p.m.) is another freshman series I was curious about all summer.  

Not that I had high hopes for it.  The odds are typically against recycled TV shows.  MacGyver, though, is being used as a lead-in for Hawaii Five-O, another title resurrected by CBS that is now entering its seventh-season.  So if CBS believed in it that much (if they didn’t, they would’ve had McGarrett & Company be the lead-in instead of the follower), I didn’t want to completely discount Mac’s chances.

My optimism, however, turned out to be short-lived. Just five minutes into the premiere episode my mind was already made up – I hated it. I dutifully sat through the rest of the hour, but that merely reinforced my initial opinion.  MacGyver is another case of a TV classic receiving a modern make-over with disastrous results. read article

Diana Vacc sees “This is Us”

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By: Diana Vaccarelli

*Be warned – this review may contain spoilers!*

The 2016 fall television season is in full swing.  I got microwaved my popcorn the other night and watched the highly touted new NBC show This Is Us.

This Is Us at this point has seems to have a simple premise: The show gives us a glimpse in the lives of a group of people who share the same birthday. Twins Kevin and Kate. Lawyer Randall. Married couple Jack and Rebecca. But the glimpses themselves are all about surprising twists. read article