I have not had a chance to watch this yet, but I figured I would get it posted.
Category Archives: TV-G[eek]
Sha Na Na S1 E8, E9, E10
I feel like I need to mention this every episode of this show… I hate the canned laughter and canned cheers. They really do not make the show more enjoyable.
Second, the comedy bits are just not good. Episode 10 did something different, which I liked a lot. They did a Sha Na Na dance contest on the main stage and they, supposedly, grabbed three women from the audience to dance with Donny, Denny, and Santini. I don’t know how real this was, but the winner was chosen by the audience and was definitely the best of the three.
Edgar Bergen was in episode 8, but barely appeared. I also did not remember how much Edgar Bergen moved his mouth when doing his ventriloquist act.
Episode 9 & 10 featured actual musical acts in guests with Jim Stafford and Theresa Brewer. These were so much better than the comedians that they have had before. Both did a song with Sha Na Na and it was entertaining.
In episode 8, Jane Dulo, who played the woman in the window, yelled down to Denny that his father “worked like a slave.” That shocked me and it was never referenced, but I can’t believe someone didn’t notice that comment.
Denny got a couple of songs in these episodes with “The Lover’s Question” and a intro to “Jailhouse Rock.” Screamin’ Scott was featured on “Splish Splash” and “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay.” Johnny did several of the final songs of these episodes. I still like how they moved lead singers around. Jocko got to do “Chantilly Lace” as well.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #38
Spoilers
The Haunting of Hill House
“Steven Sees a Ghost”
The ending of this first episode gave me chills.
We start a new series this week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and, in honor of the creepy season, I chose The Haunting of Hill House.
What a great start to this series.
I have to say, I think this series does an admirable job of introducing these characters to the viewers. With so many major characters, it can be difficult to know who is who. Then, not only do we met these people in the present day, but also in flashbacks to the time they lived in Hill House. It could easily be very confusing, but I have to say that the show did a solid job of connecting the characters from the past and the present. It did require my attention though.
The show does an especially good job with Steven, as we see him both as a young boy, the oldest of the kids and his protective nature, and an older man, skeptical and struggling.
Then, Nell and the moment at the end was an amazing shock. When Nell stood in that apartment staring blankly at Steven, I knew what was going on (I mean, when you title the episode “Steven Sees a Ghost” and he hasn’t up to this point, well, it is not rocket science), but it did not make it any less impactful.
The middle two girls are the characters that I got the least from during this episode, and I hope they will come into focus more are the series progresses. Luke is a fascinating character and I feel like I have a good grasp on him even with the limited amount of screen time he received.
The father has clearly been affected dramatically and I feel as if we are going to dive deeper into the mother’s suicide in Hill House.
I am intrigued by the mysterious events that the show has introduced to us and, with the mind of writer-director Mike Flanagan, who also was the force behind Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and The Life of Chuck, I believe this could lead to something special.
This series is loosely based on the novel of the same name from 1959 by Shirley Jackson.
Peacemaker S2 E8
Spoilers
“Full Nelson”
After seven successful episodes, the finale of season two of Peacemaker felt a little flat.
Episode seven was sensational. Episode eight just felt like a lot of wrap up/falling action. We get some flashbacks to Chris and Harcourt’s relationship, but none of those had as much energy as some of the other scenes.
The whole Chris depression angle was over quickly. He wanted to be left in jail. Then, when he was bailed out, he was going to leave town. Soon, the 11th Street Kids found him and talked him into working together.
The whole crew got together to set up an organization, which also included Judomaster and Agent Langston Fleury and Sasha Bordeaux. Now, there are no real reasons why Judomaster and Fleury join up with the 11th Street Kids. Sasha was at least shown to have lost her belief in Flagg.
Flagg used the door Chris had given him to find a planet to use as a prison. He found the planet of Salvation, which is tied to Darkseid in a way. I am not that familiar with DC Comics material like I am with Marvel, when Chris is stranded by Flagg Sr. in a moment of pure revenge, it looks like something that will be major in the DCU.
The finale was not what I was expecting and I was a little disappointed. James Gunn had mentioned a big cameo and I am not sure what that was (maybe it was the planet Salvation). This did not feel like a finale of a series. It does feel like this set up for future stuff instead of a conclusion for season two.
Gen V S2 E6
Spoilers
“Cooking Lessons”
The latest episode of Gen V was just slowly moving along… and then…
There was Giancarlo Esposito.
We haven’t seen Stan Edgar in awhile and there he, and his tentacled-mouth granddaughter, was rescuing Marie and her friends.
With only two episodes left, there are a bunch of things dropped this week sending things rushing towards the finale.
What we learned:
- Marie and Homelander were the only two survivors of the Odessa Program.
- The show basically confirmed that the old man in Cipher’s house is Thomas Godolkin.
- Annabeth is a supe, though she does not know when it happened.
- Polarity had a big conflict with Cipher. It seemed like Cipher had complete control, but Polarity got the upper hand.
- Cipher tells Polarity that his plan is to weed out the weak Supes, saving only the strong ones. He expects to have 25% of God U.
- Cate asked Marie to fix her powers.
Things do feel like they are on the fast track right now. I did love seeing Giancarlo Esposito once again.
Bonus Action Vol. 3 E1
“The Final Lockdown”
The role playing troop returns to YouTube with their third volume (“season”) of their game. The pReview’d boys, Jay Schmidt and Adam Lash, who have been reacting to shows and movies for the last few years, brought their gaming group for two seasons of playing Dungeons & Dragons to YouTube.
However, season three is now different as they have a sponsor. Their new sponsor is Darrington Press, and they announced that they would be starting a new role-playing game. Instead of D & D, this season, they are playing in the Daggerheart system.
They are all learning the new system and it is an exciting new challenge for the group who are so enjoyable with their characters and their skilled playing of these characters.
Along with the pReview’d boys, the other players include the Game master David Armstrong, and players Amanda Nichols, Ja-Ron Young, Josh Hurley, and Jason Spina.
This has always been so fun and I am looking forward to the rest of this season.
Only Murders in the Building S5 E7
Spoilers
“Silver Alert”
I can’t believe this season of Murders in the Building is up to episode seven already. It has gone very quickly and it has been fabulous.
We returned to the billionaires as suspects as Oliver, Charles and Mabel got a tip from the Mayor (Keegan-Michael Key) who dropped a hint about Bash Steed.
The episode kicked off by seeing Oliver seemingly confused and scared, coming up to an unknown couple in a country area. There had been a silver alert sent out about a man with a purple scarf.
It was a weird beginning, but it made total sense later after we went back over the events that happened leading up to this.
Our podcasters arrived at Bash Steed’s mansion and met his oddball son. Oliver’s belief that everything was like a horror film made this all the funnier and would lead to his deserting of the case.
They found Bash Steed, Camila White, and Jay Pflug playing Operation, which was strange. Apparently, they play games to challenge each other and take out their frustrations.
They split up again, and Charles’s interactions with Bash were sensational. Steve Martin and Christoph Waltz have amazing chemistry with each other and they bounced the dialogue off each other brilliantly.
Charles and Mabel are able to recover the finger, which was what the billionaires were playing for. Turned out that it was about who would get to have the casino bid. Jay told Mabel that the finger was more dangerous than she knew.
Great cliffhanger too as we learn that Camila White was the person who had made the offer for Oliver’s apartment because she wanted to turn the Arconia into the casino.
This was a fabulous episode and it was excellent seeing the three back together facing off with the three billionaires once again.
Sha Na Na S1 E6, E7
I watched two more episodes of Sha Na Na on YouTube tonight and it has become apparent that the first season of this show had the same strength and weaknesses in them.
Strengths: The songs are great. Specifically, the songs the group does on the stage in front of the studio audience. Donny did a cool rendition of “Come and Go With Me” and led the singing in “Rock Around the Clock.” Johnny, whose voice is so heavenly, did “Teen Angel” and gives an epic sob in the middle. Then, one of the best street songs so far was “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” with Donny and Chico taking the main part of the song. This was one of the better choreographed songs so far. Great basketball pass at the end of the song from Santini too.
Weaknesses: Comedy. The comedy on the show just feels too forced. I hate the crowd noises they add because there are several times where it just intrudes on the song. In the comedy song bit “Along Came Jones” the can laughter and applause made it hard to hear the song. Pamela Myers’s acting in this song was atrocious (though she was a Tony-nominated actress). I do not think I have laughed once with the back stage skits from Kenneth Mars, Philip Roth or Jane Dulo. At least Avery Schreiber’s cab driver character has a few laughs.
Two comedians were the guest stars on these episodes with Charles Nelson Reilly and Phyllis Diller. Both had some good moments. I am a big fan of CNR, especially during his days on the Match Game, which he referenced in the episode.
I remember being a fan of Lennie Baker as a child. Being a chubby kid, I related to Lennie. I have to say though, watching him do his background dancing is always funny. Lennie has a tremendous voice though.
I have really enjoyed the musical parts of these shows so far, but the rest have been a bit of a trudge to get through. The music is absolutely the stand out from these talented musicians.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #37
Spoilers
“Full Circle”
Our fifth series for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk ended today with the tenth and final episode of HBO’s Lovecraft Country.
I wonder what H.P. Lovecraft would have thought about this series?
I did not see the ending of this show coming. I was very surprised with the death of Atticus in that ceremony, and the victory at the end, bonding Christina from using magic… and all white people… was a cool end.
I especially liked the use of Ji-ah in the finale. I have been wondering the purpose of this character for much of the series and to have that pay off in such a meaningful way makes me feel positive.
Of course, we had the best scene of the series in this episode too. Atticus, Leti, Montrose, Ji-ah, Hippolyta, and Diana were in the car, driving to Ardham, when the song “Sh-Boom” comes on the radio. Diana starts to sing along with the song and, before too long, the entire carload was joining in. It was my favorite moment of the series, giving us a flash of innocence and joy before the final spell.
Couple of things: Ruby’s death off-screen was a bit of a waste, I think, just for the surprise twist of Christina being one step ahead. Then, I am not sure how I feel about Diana crushing Christina’s throat with her bionic arm at the very end.
There felt to be a bunch of dangling threads or things that happened over the course of the show that felt insignificant. Why did Hippolyta have to go on her adventure through time?
Lovecraft Country, for me, was very up and down. Some weeks the show was tremendous, but I do think it lacked a comprehensive vision of what story they wanted to tell. It had some real highs and some lows too, all capsulized in this final epsiode.
Next week, in honor of the month of Halloween, we start the sixth series in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. It will be Netflix’s series, The Haunting of Hill House.
Gen V S2 E5
Spoilers
“The Kids Are Not All Right”
Another rough Gen V episode as Marie, Emma, and Jordan went to try and break Cate out of Elmira after she was being punished for the plan from last episode. Their attempt was not successful, but they found more than they anticipated.
Annabeth. Marie’s missing sister.
Annabeth is a pawn for Cipher, and he is trying to turn Marie into the “salvation,” as he said. During their escape, Marie found Annabeth in a pool of blood, and she was able to use her powers to bring her back. That was a stunning moment and we’ll have to see where this goes from there.
Sister Sage made her appearance here, in a shocking flashback. She showed up with Cipher and they had sex in front of his burnt up father. What is Sister Sage’s plans and how will these affect the final season of the Boys. Is she going to be in Gen V season two more?
We get some good scenes with Sam and his parents. We discover that Sam’s mental illness predated the Compound V.
Cipher is a shockingly evil character that has some dark secret waiting for us. When he plunged that knife into his own hand in front of Andre’s dad, it was an unbelievable moment. He is absolutely someone I want to see come down.
Peacemaker S2 E7
Spoilers
“Like a Keith in the Night”
The penultimate episode of season 2 of Peacemaker was amazing!
Wow, what a great episode. There was so much emotion and drama.
Major points:
- White Dragon was not a racist! What? Then, Vigilante killed him in front of Chris. Hearing Auggie Smith talking so calmly and fairly, even after hearing the details of his own son’s death was unexpected.
- Keith getting pummeled by the whole group.
- Chris’s cry of anguish as his friends were trying to stop Keith was heartbreaking. I’m worried about Chris and his mental health.
- Ads and Jusomaster playing Earth X brand of Scrabble (Scrobble) was a hoot. Watching Judomaster murder the mob of people who were pursuing Ads in the swimming pool … well, that was a little uncomfortable. I guess they were all Nazis.
- Economics may have been the heart of the show early on but… he ain’t any more. He has not done well in Earth X.
- With Harcourt preparing to shoot Keith in the head, but failing, I expect Keith back in the finale.
- Peacemaker surrendered the dimensional portal to Rick Flagg Sr. While protecting his friends. Chris is arrested and taken away. Ads stopping Vigilante from doing anything to stop it showed her leadership.
Next week is the finale. I can’t wait. It has been a tremendous season and I can’t express how much John Cena has kicked ass in this role. That emotional outburst over Keith’s injured body was something I never thought he was capable of doing. This has been an exceptional season.
Only Murders in the Building S5 E6
Spoilers
“Flatbush”
Meryl Streep returned to the Arconia after a tragedy saw her apartment burn down. While she was processing the loss of her things, she jumped right into the case of who killed Lester.
Last episode, it seemed as if Lester’s wife Lorraine and Nicky’s wife Sofia were working together, giving us a new pair of suspects. However, this episode also basically cleared them as Oliver and Loretta followed them.
The episode was a trip down memory lane for Oliver, who had grown up in Brooklyn. It was some wonderful work as he strolled through past flashbacks of him as a child. It led him to the stage in an old theater where he had learned his love of the theater. These scenes between Meryl Streep and Martin Short are fantastic and help give us even more understanding of them as characters.
Meanwhile, it was good to see Donna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) involved more with the group. She was going to pick up the finger for testing, only to find that the finger was gone. It had been stolen. We find out that all the footage had been tampered with and that the company that ran the security was owned by Bash Steed, one of the billionaires (Christoph Waltz).
Waltz had been catfishing Charles as a “Priscilla” and digging for details of the investigation. He ended with a text saying, “You’re such a smartypants. Now I need to come hunt you down.”
Mabel and THE made up as this felt like a rushed storyline. Maybe there will be more to it as the season moves along.
I am excited to get back to the billionaires who have not been seen or mentioned much since they pulled the fast one over Charles, Oliver and Mabel.
Sha Na Na S1 E3, E4, E5
Grease for Peace!
I am back with the next three episodes of season one of Sha Na Na. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I always looked forward to seeing the next episode.
I just have to say, some of the negatives stand out more for me now than it did when I was a kid. The comedy is downright bad. Very few of these bits were funny at all. The only ones that seemed okay were the ones in the car with one of the members of the band and Ginger. The can laughter made it all the more obvious that it wasn’t funny.
The exception was the bits during episode 5 with Milton Berle. He brought in members of Sha Na Na and would makes jokes with them. These bits felt fairly improv-like and you can see the members of Sha Na Na trying to keep from laughing. Some did better than others. Johnny was working that gum over hard during his moment with Berle.
You do have to respect how they passed around singing responsibilities on the show. In these three episodes, only Santini did not have a lead vocal or a duet. Duke of Earl and Silhouette was performed by Denny. Party Doll and Itsy Bitsy teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini was done by Chico. Whole Lotta Shakin’ was led by Screamin’ Scott. Screamin’ Scott and Jocko combined for Poison Ivy. Bower sang with Ethel Merman with Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. Lenny sang Too Chubby to Boogie. Dirty Dan sang Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow. Johnny sang the last song of episode five, though I did not recognize the title. The whole group had a part in The Name Game.
Admittedly, some of the background dancing gets too hectic at times and it gives the audience too many things to try and focus on. However, episode five gave us something different as this was the first time that we got to see shots of the live audience and their responses to the stage songs. I liked that variation on what they had done prior.
The dancing was okay during Carol Lawrence’s dance of The One, from the Broadway musical A Chorus Line. The whole group of Sha Na Na provided chorus line dancing.
Episode five was my favorite of these episodes as it felt like they did some different things and the Milton Berle comedy worked so much more than some of the other episode comedy bits.
Gen V S1 E1-E4
Spoilers
I am finally getting caught up with most of the TV shows and that meant that I got to Amazon Prime’s Gen V.
The spin-off of The Boys had a surprisingly good season one and this new season leads right into some of the major events going on in that series.
First of all, we had to deal with the real life loss of actor Chance Perdomo, who played Andre in season one, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2024. Andre was a major character among the ensemble of Gen V so decisions had to be made. The show decided against recasting the role and decided instead to kill the character off-screen. While it was an uncomfortable idea, the death of Andre provided motivation for several of the characters to move forward.
We have a new Dean of Godolkin University and he is the new big bad of season two. Cypher is very mysterious and manipulative.
I do love how the group is kind of getting back together, even after the horrible things that they have done to each other. It sure looked like, after episode one, that Jordan had killed Cate. I am glad Cate survived as the entire event has led to a tentative reunion between Cate, Marie, Jordan, and Emma.
Gen V continues to have the same kind of shocking moments that are typical on The Boys, and the characters from The Boys are referenced constantly Starlight even made a cameo in one of the episodes, trying to recruit Marie to help her out. She mentioned one of the mysteries of the season, which was Odessa. It appeared as if Odessa was Marie, but that has all been questionable.
Episodes will release every Wednesday, so I will be watching them when I can. This kick off has been very enjoyable so far and I am deeply invested in the mysteries of the show. I am curious to see how this show will eventually play into the final season of The Boys.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #36
Spoilers
“Rewind 1921”
After a short respite on a Friday morning last week, we are back on Sunday morning, BABY!
I went to SiouxperCon last week in South Dakota, which meant that I had to miss a Sunday morning. Instead, I did the Sunday Morning Sidewalk #35 on a Friday morning.
Back on Sunday, I watched the penultimate episode of Lovecraft Country, “Rewind 1921.”
Time travel is always tough, but this trip back to the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 was impeccably done. It brought us back around to a scene from the first episode that featured Jackie Robinson and made it make sense with what our current story is.
Atticus, Leti and Montrose travel through the portal to 1921, thanks to the returning Hippolyta, in search of the Book of Names, in order to save Diana. What they find is horror and loss in a brutal manner as the Tulsa race massacre was in full nightmare.
Montrose, especially, had to go through his own personal anguish, as they witnessed his father beating him with a switch. Montrose went to see the death of a boy that he had had feelings for and, all the while, Montrose knew that he could not do anything to change what happened.
To find out that it was Atticus all along who showed up and saved Montrose and George (aka Jackie Robinson) was one of those wild time travel things that brings everything full circle.
It was an emotional, powerful, painful episode looking back at how these characters were affected by this tragic event in American history.
Leti went through it as well, as she found the Book of Names as the house burned down around her, including Dora’s grandmother, who had given her the book just before horrifically burning to death in front of her.
The episode ended with our heroes clearly affected, but back in their own timeline.
I have a feeling that next week’s finale is not going to provide the satisfactory conclusion I hope as I had heard the show left off on a cliffhanger and it has never been renewed. I hope it is a cliffhanger that is designed to create something new and not one to continue this story moving forward.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 