More New Year Weekend Shows

If you are looking for more shows this weekend, assuming you are caught up on everything else, you can start on the second season of Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle (available since yesterday, January 30th).  

And if you want a head start on other shows starting later in January, on New Year's Day you can see the first episode of season six of Showtime's Shameless, which does not officially premiere until January 10th.

And if that is not enough, Showtime will also show the first episode of its new series Billions, starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, on New Year's Day as well. Again, Billions does officially premiere until January 17th. 

Is that enough? Stay tuned, because I will have more holiday weekend shows to share shortly.

Update:  If you want a little more information about Billions, Showtime provides this helpful trailer and notes:

Shrewd, savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Lewis) are on an explosive collision course, with each using all of his considerable smarts, power and influence to outmaneuver the other. The stakes are in the billions in this timely, provocative series. 

It looks good, as if Oliver Stone's Wall Street was updated and made into a television series.

Second Update: Only two days after the official premiere of Shameless on January 10th the show was approved for a seventh season.  Good news for fans of the show. 

Third Update:  Billions was renewed for a second season after only two episodes. I guess Showtime feels it has a winner, and I have to agree.

Sherlock Returns in Holiday Special

On New Year's Day, while recovering from a wild night, you can sit back and watch the new Sherlock special on PBS's Masterpiece.  Titled The Abominable Bride, the new adventure can also be seen at movie houses later next week - an interesting rollout.  

This new episode has Sherlock and Watson back in Victorian London, which is quite a change for a show that prides itself on its new modern setting. Asked about the change, Benedict Cumberbatch stated:

I thought it was madness. I thought they'd finally lost the plot, jumped the shark, all the other clichés of television gone mad with itself. Then they expanded the idea and pitched it to me properly and I think it's fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.

We shall see. Sherlock has had three successful (yet short) seasons and a fourth is on its way. So sit back and enjoy the holiday special knowing this is just the beginning of Sherlock in 2016.

New Year's Programs

ABC has you covered tonight if you are looking for some New Year's cheer.  Here is the line-up:

--Happy New Year, Charlie Brown

--She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown

--Rudolph’s Shiny New Year 

Don't miss it.

Second Seasons on Amazon

Amazon has approved second seasons for The Man in the High Castle and Red Oaks.  Both the 1960s and 1980s pop in these series, yet in very different ways.  While not everyone is a fan of the fashions of the 80s as portrayed in Red Oaks, I think we can all agree that the 1960s went much better, fashion and otherwise, that Philip K. Dick's much darker version in The Man in the High Tower.

Don't Miss the Slate TV Club

If you are looking for good commentary on the best television shows of 2015, you should catch up with the Slate TV Club.  TV critics Margaret Lyons, Willa Paskin, Alan Sepinwall, and June Thomas provide their top 10 list of shows and take you through the year again to highlight some corners that you may have missed.  

Here is June Thomas singing the praise of Netflix's Sense8:

Sense8’s sloggy bits were minorly irritating, whereas the transcendent sections were maximally mind-blowing. The discovery period in which the eight people in the cluster figured out their interconnections went on for slightly too long, but it was still magical. (If you aren’t familiar with the Sense8 mythology, David Levesley summarized it as follows: “An evolutionary quirk has bred an ubermensch species known as ‘sensates,’ who are born on the same day and ‘cluster’ together, a connection that links their senses and emotions telepathically and allows them to speak the languages and perform the skills of their cluster-mates.” You can also see this in action in the clip below.) Directors Andy and Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and James McTeigue brought a grand, if slightly goofy, cinematic vision, and even if I have some cavils about the writing by the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski, their creative ambition was breathtaking.

And here is Alan Sepinwall highlighting the much forgotten Manhattan on WGN America:

So here you’ve got another period drama about Complicated but Great White Men—specifically, the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project—from a writer who already worked on one of those (Sam Shaw, formerly of Masters of Sex). And while it’s not perfect—it suffers from the Nucky Thompson Problem, where the most important character (rebellious scientist Frank Winter) is played by a fine actor (John Benjamin Hickey) doing good work, yet most of the time I’m more interested in every other person on the show—it looks amazing. Thomas Schlamme of West Wing fame is the lead director, and it’s become a whole lot more complicated and interesting as we’ve gotten to know all of the supporting characters (a more diverse lot all around) and their many conflicting agendas.

Just reading through the banter back and forth tells me I have a lot more viewing to do just to give 2015 justice.  And now we are about to embark on a new year.  I am not ready, but I am eager to see what else is in store for the new year.

Vatican Review Pans Star Wars

I remember hearing that years ago the Catholic Church would rate movies for its flock to ensure they did not see anything too distant from church teachings.  Well, the Catholic Church is back to its rating duties, and this time the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano has voiced its opinion about the new Star Wars film.  According to the UK's Daily Mail, the Vatican daily called the movie "twisted to suit today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema."  

I found a more supportive Catholic review and rating at AmericanCatholic.org primarily concerned about the aging cast than the souls of viewers:

If there are moments you suspect you might be watching the cast-reunion special of an old TV show -- John Williams' majestic music counters that feeling to a degree -- it's largely attributable to how stiff and weather-beaten Ford and Fisher appear...The film contains much stylized fantasy violence. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. 

I will let you know if I find any good television ratings.

Going for a Third Season and More

If you are worried about the future of some of your favorite shows then I have some good news. For instance, HBO's Leftovers has been approved for a third and final season. Yes, even the end of the world needs proper closure.

And if you prefer a good comedy, you will be happy to hear Netflix's Grace and Frankie have already been approved for a third season before the second season has even aired (it is scheduled for early 2016).  This terrific story stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston as married couples going through a huge transition.

And a fourth season of ABC Family's (or Freeform now) The Fosters will go forward.  The second half of season three starts January 18th as this growing family continues to face the trama of sex-charged teens and troublesome courts. 

Even with all the new shows, you don't want to miss out on some of your favorites.

Amazon Piles on New Shows

Just as earlier Amazon shows Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent were nominated for Golden Globes, we learn five pilots were approved for full seasons.  I provided a summary of all these pilots in an earlier post. 

Overall, I am happy to read Amazon is moving forward with some great new shows, including One Mississippi, a dark comedy about one woman as she deals with death in the family as well as her own declining health; Patriot, that follows a one-family spy machine were the unstable son puts classified information into folk songs at the end of each mission; and Good Girls Revolt, a historic tale that seems more like a cross between Mad Men and The Newsroom. Of the three, Patriot probably surprised me the most for its originality. I think we are looking at the next Transparent in terms of a popular series. 

I am somewhat confused that the odd comedy Highston made the cut. And while Z is a beautiful period piece, it was more an extract from a  longer piece than a stand-alone piece. As far as Edge, which did not get a green light, it was little more than a gore-fest too pleased with flying body parts. Good riddance. 

In at least three of these approved pilots, Amazon is keeping pace with Netflix when it comes to quality programming, and the awards indicate others agree.

Plenty of New Awards

Earlier this week the American Film Institute (AFI) announced the 10 most culturally and artistically significant TV programs in 2015.  Here is the list:

--The Americans

--Better Call Saul

--Black-ish

--Empire

--Fargo

--Game of Thrones

--Homeland

--Master of None

--Mr. Robot

--Unreal

The AFI also gave a special award to Mad Men. 

I was surprised Aziz Ansari's Master of None, a series just released by Netfilx, made the list.  That said, I would put it up there with Louie, though Ansari has his own unique perspective on America.  And Mr. Robot certainly broke from the pack this year with a thrilling attack on capitalistic complacency.

Last week the Golden Globe nominations were also released and they included some similar shows, yet some nice additions as well.  For instance, best television drama nominations included:

--Empire

--Game of Thrones

--Mr. Robot

--Narcos

--Outlander

Best television comedy/musical included:

--Casual

--Mozart in the Jungle

--Orange is the New Black

--Silicon Valley

--Transparent

--Veep

And the best limited series/television movie included:

--American Crime

--American Horror Story: Hotel

--Fargo

--Flesh & Bone

--Wolf Hall

Outlander certainly deserves the attention and Wolf Hall was a gem.  I would have added Poldark to the series list as well, and Humans deserved a nod under drama, but the lists are fair. That said, as True Detective fell apart in season two, I feel Fargo is not worthy of an award.

I need to put together my own list shortly.

Post-Netflix Binge Depression?

Last weekend Matthew Schneier wrote a piece titled The Post-Binge-Watching Blues: A Malady of Our Times in the New York Times, highlighting the new trend of television binge-watching as a result of services such as Netflix and Amazon.  Discussing his own recent viewing habits, he noted:

I felt anxious, wistful, bereft in advance; I’d eaten up nine episodes in only a few days, liking them more than I’d expected to. Once finished, there’d be no more until the next season — if there was a next season, which has still not been officially announced.

He goes on to quote others and concedes that excess watching has been around for awhile.  I think his piece was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it does discuss the state of affairs for some where television becomes their view on the world, for good and bad.  And one cannot say excess is new.  People have been much the same with books and other things.  For example, ask George R.R. Martin about the continual requests he gets about his next book in his Game of Thrones series.  

With everything else going on in the world, I think this issue as well as too many programs on television is something we will survive.  This is entertainment, folks, and not a death march.  Relax and enjoy the show.  And maybe check out the news from time to time to see what you should really be worried about.

SyFy Monday: The Expanse and Childhood's End

Get ready for an impressive night of adventure on Monday (December 14) as SyFy premieres both The Expanse and Childhood's End. I already discussed Childhood's End in an earlier posting, and this trailer gives you a good idea of what is to come in the three-night miniseries, so I will focus my remarks here on The Expanse. Here is the basic story: 

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark. 

It is within this future that The Expanse begins. The series follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it? I watched the pilot episode and had to rewatch it to ground myself in both the dialogue and underlying story. You are dropped into the middle of an expansive plot (sorry) and you need to catch up fast, unlike other shows like Dark Matter where you start knowing as much as the characters.

This is not Star Trek. The spacecraft are slow, the environment is gritty, and the story is grounded on Ceres in the asteroid belt. Is this why we want to stretch our wings and expand throughout the solar system - slave colonies on asteroids, close-quarters insanity, and sub-premium limb replacements? Space travel seems as slow and hazardous as submarine travel. And corporate shirking of its duty to the greater good seems rampant. 

Even given these point, I like it because it has an authentic feel and compelling storyline. And the pilot episode ends with a bang. I recommend you take a look for yourselves.

Michael Buble's Christmas in Hollywood

If you missed the last four annual specials, this may be your last chance to capture a Michael Buble Christmas singalong.  NBC is broadcasting Michael Buble's Christmas in Hollywood tonight.  Each year the show has been a little schmaltzy yet still filled with plenty of holiday songs to get you into the right mood.  Mr. Buble has indicated that this show may be his last. 

This year's special includes special performances by Celine Dion, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and Tori Kelly.  Other appearances will be made by Gigi Hadid, Kylie Jenner, Jay Leno, Eva Longoria, William Shatner, and Blake Shelton.  I hope Mr. Shatner has no plans to sing. 

Telenovela on NBC

It is not a new idea, but the spread of Telenovelas on American TV sets is a welcome phenomenon. ABC had Ugly Betty and The CW has Jane the Virgin. So now it is NBC's turn with the premiere of Telenovela tonight. This is what you can expect: 

Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives") stars on this big, fun and flashy half-hour comedy as Ana Sofia, the star of a popular Spanish language soap opera. One problem, she doesn't speak any Spanish. Other problems? Ana must manage a new boss, jealous castmates and high-maintenance best friends - and that's all before her ex-husband is hired as her new on-screen love interest. Just like a real telenovela, this comedy is full of all kinds of drama, including love, hate, life and even death! Despite all the chaos, this telenovela's cast and crew is a family... or, at least, they try to be.

We can thank the Telenovelas for at least on great star that went a little more mainstream (yet maintains the drama).  As noted by ABC News in 2012:

 ...increasingly the slap-happy, sometimes sappy, and always dramatic world of Telenovelas is becoming a proving ground of sorts for Latin stars eager to make the jump into English language TV. Before Colombian-born Sofia Vergara played for laughs as Gloria on "Modern Family," she was the sultry Leonora on "Burning for Revenge." And before William Levy's mainstream breakthrough on "Dancing With the Stars," the Cuban native glowered as Alejandro on "Love Spell."

Yes, thank goodness for Gloria and the telenovelas.

Update:  While you can see the first 3 episodes in December, the 13-part series will officially start on January 4th.

Comic Werewolf Deaths on Adult Swim

Can you have a grisly comedy?  Yes, and I have witnessed one.  Adult Swim is already showing the pilot episode of its new mini-series Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter.  This is not Teen Wolf or anything like it, but I would not expect such from Adult Swim.  Instead you have the sudden death of B&B hopping Paul Rudd and the craziness that ensues in a small Vermont town.  Luckily, Neon Joe, played by Jon Glaser from Parks and Recreation, can save this small town. 

The fun officially starts tomorrow night (December 7), so tune in for all five episodes.  It is odd yet memorable (and did I mention "grisly"?). 

Amazon's Transparent Returns

Tonight you can begin streaming the second season of Amazon's hit series Transparent (I think it may have been unofficially available even earlier).  In the trailer for this season, one of the character states "It's a mess...everything is blowing up."  That appears to be the theme of this season, and we know they will all do it so well.  

For those not familiar with Transparent, the series follows the family drama surrounding a father's transformation to a woman.  It was one of those break-out hits no one expected and yet one that now seems so natural in a fast-changing society.  Very often the father, played by Jeffrey Tambor, can be the most normal one of the bunch. He projects a certain calmness that is pretty amazing while everything else is falling apart. The children are a mess, while the suffering Jewish mom has her moments yet can also be a sane presence at times. 

Here is Willa Paskin's take on the family in Slate magazine:

Chatty charismatics, as bright and blunt as they are self-obsessed, the Pfeffermans are like amnesiac spiders—drawing interesting and substantial people into their web and then leaving them stuck in Pfefferman gossamer, abandoned for shinier prey. It is spellbinding to watch them in action, and it makes you feel lucky to be doing so through the safety glass of a TV screen.

I plan to be watching them through the safety glass this weekend.  I expect many more will be joining me. 

Update: In case you are wondering, Transparent has already been renewed for a third season. 

Second Update: If you are not an Amazon Prime member you will need to wait until December 11th to view the second season.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You cannot do better than start the Christmas season with the classic 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  You can catch it tonight on CBS. Turn it on and let the holidays begin.  Don't be a Scrooge!

Netflix: Real Rob

If you like Rob Schneider you will like this eight-episode series from Netflix called Real Rob. It not only follows the Hollywood business world as fictionalized by Mr. Schneider, but also stars his real life wife Patricia Schneider.  We already have Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie, and now Aziz Ansari in Netflix's new Master of None.  Do we have room for one more?

I think I will skip this series. Here is the trailer if you are thinking of checking it out.