Good day all.
Tonight is the night. On Showtime, Twin Peaks makes it triumphant return in a two hour debut. The 18 episode mini-series picks up where the classic ABC series left off 26 years ago. I am so excited for Twin Peaks that, despite having to miss American Gods and the last two hours of WWE Payback PPV, I will be front and center for the revival. I can’t wait for that damn good coffee and pie, the return of Agent Dale Cooper and the rest of the massive cast. It is happening again.
Meanwhile, we had several season finales last week, each bringing something interesting to the table. First, last Sunday, Once Upon A Time came to a conclusion for the season in what should have really been a series finale. With Jennifer Morrison leaving, the series came to what could only be defined as a happily-ever-after ending after they defeated the Black Fairy and prevented Rumple and Belle’s son from killing Emma. Then, we had a strange time jump where everything seemed to become bizarrely familiar. A little girl came to a door (room 815 by the way, hello LOST!!!) and knocked on it. A grown up Henry answered only to have the little girl claim to be his daughter and that he needed to come with her to help save his family. This, of course, hearkens back to the series premiere when Henry literally did the exact same thing with his mother Emma. OUAT has been renewed for season 7, but the ending to season 6 really felt like a perfect ending. I hope they do not spoil what could have been a magnificent way to go out for the sake of one more season.
Agents of SHIELD came to an end as Ghost Rider jumped over to Coulson so he could finish off AIDA once and for all. Apparently, Coulson made some kind of deal with the devil to temporarily house the Spirit of Vengeance. What that deal is, we do not know. But Agents of SHIELD was not done yet with the questions that they left us pondering. As the team was made to look as if they had attacked Talbot, they were fugitives. But they had done enough running so they waited together to be arrested. Mack had returned safely from the Framework after his daughter, sadly, disappeared. Robbie Reyes returned to some alternate dimension (by opening up with his chain what looked like a sling ring pathway from Doctor Strange). Then, after they were taken by some mysterious group who were (clearly) not he police, Coulson ended up somewhere in space. Is this setting up S.W.O.R.D.? Or will they have something to do with Avengers: Infinity War? Who knows. All I know for sure is that Agents of SHIELD once again brought the goods for a season finale.
Scandal also had a season finale this week, but I feel considerably less positive about this one. The truth behind the Frankie Vargas murder was once again revealed and once more was changed. Now it was in the hands of Frankie’s wife Luna Vargas, who was manipulated into doing it by Cyrus. Yep. That is right. We came back to the beginning again. So, what happened? Why, Olivia and Jake went to Luna with the evidence and forced her to take some pills that would kill her and make it look like she had a heart attack, of course. Wait…what? Olivia forced Luna to kill herself? That is right. Then, Olivia and Cyrus had a meeting confirming that the two of them know what the other was responsible for and neither seemed to upset. The white hat is officially gone. Lots happened here from Mellie’s inauguration to the return of Olivia’s mother (tick tock). The attempt to make Eli and crazy Maya heroic is just sickening. But, instead of making them the heroes, the show has made Olivia just like them. She is power hungry and willing to do anything. She has reformed B16 and has taken the reigns for herself. I do not know where the white hat wearing gladiator went, but I miss her. This Olivia… well, I wish she would go off with Fitz and drive him to drink. Or maybe the entire Pop clan could head off to go fishing off the coast of some third world country and grab control there. Scandal is in desperate need of some heroes again.
Designated Survivor came to a more happy ending with President Kirkman showing the Scandal crew that you can still be a good person and run the country (at least for now). The mole inside the White House was captured and President Kirkman addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time since the bomb that made him the Commander in Chief went off. It was a nice way to bookend the season, but I was becoming somewhat frustrated with the inability of the FBI to catch anyone in connection to the conspiracy. Thankfully, they finally did, although the main villain behind the conspiracy escaped and now has all the state secrets ready to do some dastardly plan next season. This series really could use Jack Bauer to arrive and do some work. I do love President Kirkman, despite how unlikely someone like him could be a president. It has a good message for the country that is tired of all the divisiveness.
Saturday Night Live also came to the season finale, hosted by “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson. The Rock continued to show how much talent he has as he went from skit to skit and just knocked it out of the park. He also had a joke in the opening monologue about him running for president in 2020 and he brought out Tom Hanks as his running mate. The best part of the bit was that it was a joke… or was it? It played like a bit, but it had a realness to it. SNL also featured Alec Baldwin in the cold open performing “Hallelujah” as Donald Trump. Baldwin was joined by all of the people who played parts of Trump’s administration, including Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway and Scarlett Johannson as Ivanka. Look close and you may see the Russian flag lapel pin on Baldwin. Subtle. Word is that Baldwin will be hanging up his platinum wig after this season and, if that is true, this is a fitting send off.
Saturday night saw the next NXT Takeover: Chicago special on the WWE Network. These shows never fail to bring the goodness and really raise the bar to a level that the pay per view the next night could not possibly reach. On the Takeover show, there was a possible Match of the Year candidate as Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate for the WWE United Kingdom Championship. This match was just epic and went back and forth, completely engulfing 
the arena with emotion. Tyler Bate pulled out the fastest airplane spin I have ever seen and the WWE brought Jim Ross out to do commentary on the match, making it feel that much more special. We also saw an amazing ladder match where the Authors of Pain defeated DIY, and then we saw DIY member Tommaso Ciampa turn on his partner and close friend Johnny Gargano in a brutal beat down post match. This was made even worse after Gargano took a brutal ladder shot to the face for his friend, shoving Ciampa out of the way of the blow. The event was wonderful from top to bottom and, again, set the bar really high for Payback.
I will also say that I was pretty engrossed with this week’s Fargo. I have not been as enamored with Fargo season three as much as I have been in the past, but this week got me. I am really starting to get into the story and I want Varga and his men to pay for their crimes. I am also finally starting to feel for Emmett and Nikki. Hopefully, Fargo, which I have loved over the last two seasons, will be able to continue this momentum with me and really pick up the pace for the remainder of the season.
Not too long now until Twin Peaks! Awesome. See you next week! Happy viewing!
Leading the pack for renewals included Agents of SHIELD, Scandal (renewed for a final season 7), Once Upon A Time (though without Jennifer Morrison), Designated Survivor, Flash, Supergirl, Supernatural, American Gods, Big Bang Theory, Lucifer, Arrow among others. While the other end of the spectrum saw the cancellation of such shows as American Crime, Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing, Secrets and Lies, Blacklist, Powerless among others.
Speaking of Once Upon a Time, this past week saw the huge musical episode of the long running series, and I loved it. In my mind it was so much better than the much ballyhooed Flash musical episode that it was not even comparable. While Flash had a couple of good songs, OUAT had a great song almost every time. The song by Captain Hook, “Revenge is Gonna Mine” is just really awesome. Each song had a different style and the actors from the show did an admirable job singing. Sure the Evil Queen had the weakest of the singing voices here, but her song was tailored to her strengths. Plus, it ended with a beautiful Captain Hook-Emma wedding just moments before the new curse is enacted. This was one of the best episodes of Once Upon a Time that they have had for years.
American Gods. Whoa. This show has become one of the best on television in a very short period of time. When Shadow playing checkers is one of the most tumultuous moments of the show, you know you are on to something. Cloris Leachman was perfect as Zorya Vechernyaya. Gilligan Anderson as Media, appearing to Shadow through a television screen as Lucy Ricardo was a truly surreal moment for Shadow and for all of the viewers. Slavic god of the dead, night and chaos, Czernobog was creepy as hell as played by Peter Stormare (with that blood dripping off the hammer) and we started the episode with Mr. Nancy, played by Orlando Jones, aboard a slave ship, talking the slaves into a violent revolt. And doing it in the most outlandish suit possible. This has been one fo the standout shows on Starz in awhile.
I really thought we were finally done with Papa Pope on Scandal. He was on the way out of town to retire to a happy life of fishing by himself. I don’t know how that can happen since he assassinated the President-Elect of the United States, but I guess forgiveness is tantamount on Scandal. Unfortunately, the return of his crazy ass wife as the REAL big bad of the season (you know… not Peus after all) forced the weak stars of the show call Eli back for his help. Ugh. The rest of the show was fun with a cool little bit with David dealing with a head in a box, trying to identify who the mysterious woman he was involved with truly was.
Riverdale ended with a bang, literally as Archie’s dad, Fred, wound up bleeding out on the floor of Pop’s in Archie’s arms after taking a bullet from an intended robber. It was a dramatic moment after an episode full of finality. Jughead was given a Southside Serpents jacket by the Serpents, as a way of saying that they have his back- especially since J.P. did not name names to get out of his charges. Archie had to punch through the ice on a frozen river to save suicidal Cheryl, who had fallen through the ice. Archie and Veronica had sex, and Jughead and Betty said that they loved each other. Betty gave a very cliched speech at the formal dance that was definitely the weak part of the show. We discovered about Betty’s secret brother that had been given up for adoption. Is he J.P’s son?
Fargo has continued to be a decent show that is not a match for the last two seasons. I have enjoyed the work of Ewan McGregor though, playing the brothers Stussy. This episode though was intriguing with the “Peter and the Wolf” soundtrack playing behind with narration by Billy Bob Thornton. However, I must say, Fargo had the most revolting puke scene and I just hate puke scenes. I did not feel well the rest of the morning after watching that. However, I have really enjoyed the story with Chief Gloria Burgle (especially how none of the sensors seem to pick her up, including the automatic faucets in the restroom. Burgle seems to be starting to focus in on the appropriate areas in her murder investigation.
Guess who showed back up on Agents of SHIELD right at the very end of this episode? Yep, that is Robbie Reyes, aka The Ghost Rider. Looks like Ghost Rider has returned to help the agents end the threat of Aida, who has gained not only a new human body, but also a variety of powers that might just make her unstoppable. And with Fitz basically telling her that there would never be anywhere in his heart for anyone except for Simmons, Aida did not take that well.
We saw the debut of the Neil Gaimann adapted series American Gods on Starz. The show was very entertaining, extremely brutal and bloody. You couldn’t help but become engaged in this story as we see Shadow Moon in prison, preparing for his release. Unfortunately, bad news preceded the release as he found out that his wife died in a car crash. 
This bit of bad news led to an early release and caused Shadow a lot of problems trying to get back for the funeral. Along the way, he ran into the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who offers him a job. Mr. Wednesday is played wonderfully by Ian McShane. I am looking forward to follow this show on Starz.
The biggest reveal last week confirms the long held belief that if your hair turns grey overnight, you are definitely going to/or have murdered one of your children. Riverdale, in an obvious homage to Twin Peaks’ Leland Palmer, revealed that Jason Blossom’s killer was no other than his father Clifford Blossom. We still have not had a complete reason for the patriarch of the Blossom clan to have shot his son in the head, but there should be some further details in this week’s finale of Riverdale. We did find out that the Blossoms and the Coopers had an unexpected connection. They were related. The fact that Jason and Polly were truly cousins may have played in with dear old dad’s decision. Plus, please be careful of those #Maplesyruplandgrabs. (Thanks Sasha and Roth).
On YouTube this week at Collider, we had a special week of TV Talk. Collider TV Talk, which has aired taped on Monday nights, went live each day all week long. The show started at 10 AM PST and was hosted by Josh Macuga. David Griffin was also on each episode as was the lovely 
Scandal brought its season long conspiracy crashing down this week with the bullet to the head of villainous Theodore Peus. The show has truly gone out of its way to make a hero out of Pappa Pope, Eli Pope, that I find that pretty sickening. He did assassinate Frankie Vargas. The whole “We’re gonna send you Olivia’s head in a box” just never felt like sufficient motivation to scare Rowan and make him into such a wussy. And I am so tired of his constant sermonizing. In a season where things started so high, I found myself grimacing more than smiling at Scandal recently.
Much more satisfying was Agents of SHIELD as the main crew (or at least most of them) escaped from the Framework this week back to the real world. I say most of them because Mack decided that he was staying in the Framework when he realized that his daughter would not be waiting for him in the real world. It was a bittersweet moment for the agent and a strong performance from Henry Simmons. We also had a great Coulson-May moment as this pair were able to reunite in both worlds. In the Framework, Coulson is shot and comments on how it feels familiar. Of course, in true Agents of SHIELD fashion, not everything is perfect, as Aida also found herself back in the real world in a non-robot body and TELEPORTED away from the group with Fitz. Teleported??? What? Rumors circulated this week that Agents of SHIELD will be renewed for a fifth season, and, if that s true, it is welcome news because this is consistently one of Marvel’s best shows.
Fargo had a different style of episode this week as Gloria Burgle headed to Los Angeles to continue to investigate the strange backstory of her “step”-father who had been murdered. He apparently was, at one time, a sci-fi writer named Thaddeus Mobley. Though I do like Gloria a lot, and I enjoyed this episode (especially with its weird animated breaks), I have been somewhat disappointed with Fargo so far in season three. This episode had no purpose to it, as we know who killed Gloria’s step father and none of this background info seems to have any reason to be included. Now, maybe I am wrong and it will fold back into the story, but this felt like a real wasted opportunity. And why was Ray Wise there? I hope Fargo picks up as the season continues.
We officially bid farewell to Tracy Quartermaine on General Hospital and we did see her reunite with Luke Spencer in a coffee house somewhere in Europe (Amsterdam, perhaps). We did not hear anything from Luke, but the show played up the fate aspect as their meeting was completely coincidental. It makes me kind of happy to think that Luke and Tracy are together and having adventures somewhere in the world.
Tonight is the Once Upon a Time musical episode. I hope it will be better than the Flash one from earlier this year. I plan on watching. There still has never been a musical episode of TV better than “Once More With Feeling”, the classic episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I still listen to that soundtrack on my phone.
I have been a big fan of General Hospital for most of my life. I started watching the show back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. My mom watched the show and I started becoming engaged with it as well. One of my earliest memories of the show was when Luke Spencer interrupted Scott Baldwin and Laura Webber’s wedding ceremony and Luke wound up falling off a yacht. Good times.
This week, there was a big General Hospital moment as the show had a special episode this past Friday featuring Tracy Quartermaine. Tracy’s portrayer, Jane Elliot, has announced that she is retiring from acting and the show has given her a final storyline to say goodbye to this classic diva. Tracy was placed on trial for her deeds during a delusion she had after being struck on the head by a placard falling off the Quartermaine family crypt. Local mob boss Sonny Cornithos was the judge and the 
lawyers were the aforementioned Scott Baldwin and the ever awesome Diane. The show was brilliantly written, including extremely clever dialogue and nods to past history, as well as showing scenes from the past 30 years of Tracy Quartermaine’s history on the show. Most notably, the scene where her father Edward was having a heart attack and Tracy withheld his heart medication until he signed the will giving her the share of Quartermaine fortune. It was a tremendous scene made all the better by seeing the amazing Elliot react to her younger self, showing the monumental regret of a moment that defined the character ever since. Jane Elliot’s final appearance on General Hospital is scheduled for next Thursday, May 4th and the speculation is former on screen co-star Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer) is reprising his role for a short cameo to help send Ms. Quartermaine off canvas.
On TV Fights Live this past week, Matt Knost was one of the fighters and he argued that Rick and Morty was the best animated series since 2010. I thought he had done an excellent job of fighting that series and I decided to look and see what it was like. I discovered that both season 1 and 2 were available for streaming on Hulu, so I began to binge. Wow! I am so glad that I did. Rick and Morty quickly became one of the most entertaining, shocking and dark animated series that I had ever seen. I binged through all of the original two seasons and the first episode of season three and now I am eagerly anticipating the rest of the third season. Thank you, Mr. Knost.
We also had some finale this week. Starting off with the series finale of Bates Motel. Once again, the creative forces behind this reimagining of the Psycho film did a tremendous job of winding up the series. Although I must admit, I was pretty disappointed that Alex Romero wound up being killed by Norman in the first act of the finale. One of the best part of the series to me had been the sweet love story between Romero and Norma Bates. So when Norman killed his mother in the finale of season 4, I had anticipated the showdown between these two. However, it was not to be. I will say that my favorite overall character on Bates Motel was Dylan (I loved the scenes where he and Norma were hashing out their troubled relationship) and having him be the one to finally stop Norman was satisfying. I am glad they ended up with Norman dying at the end and not just locked away.
The other finale of the week was Feud: Bette and Joan on FX. This was as much of an emotional roller coaster as Bates Motel was, if not moreso, since this told the true story of the end of the life of Joan Crawford. The epic brilliance of Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford can not be overstated. I found myself crying over this woman who slowly slipped away into her own 
delusions. Susan Sarandon was every bit as amazing here as Lange. Sarandon’s portrayal of Bette Davis really brought life to the great actress. Feud was as good as television can get and everyone involved in this amazing series deserves kudos.
Gotham returned to FOX Monday night after being off the air for quite a while with an episode that brought us the origin of the Riddler. Edward Nigma has been on screen for the entire series, but we finally get him in the green suit and calling himself the Riddler. We also see how young Bruce Wayne continuously is moving closer to the role that will define his future life. Bruce has been kidnapped by the Court of Owls and replaced by the clone of him from Arkham. And where does Bruce find himself at the end of the episode? Sure looks like it is the Himalayas. Is the Batman training far behind?
Riverdale is ramping up toward its final two episodes with this week’s arrival of Molly Ringwald in her appearance as Archie’s mom. We also found out that FP, Jughead’s father and member of the Southside Serpents, is being framed for the murder of Jason Blossom. We know he is being framed because the gun that was used to kill Jason (which was the same gun that the pedophilia music teacher Miss Grundy had in her car) was found at FP’s house. However, before it was found by the police, Archie and Veronica had searched FP’s place and had found nothing. We also found out that Mr. Blossom no longer had red hair, and that he wears wigs. Apparently, his hair turned white overnight. Hm… is that another toss back to Twin Peaks? Leland Palmer’s hair turned white over night as well (and he turned out to be the killer). Is this foreshadowing or just another red herring? It seems that (according to next week’s preview) that we find out who killed Jason Blossom next week in the penultimate episode of Riverdale. Can’t wait.
The Avengers assembled (or should we call them the Gladiators) on this week’s edition of Scandal as all of the main characters of our show (Olivia, Fitz, Mellie, Cyrus, Jake, David, and eventually Papa Pope) banded together during an orchestrated lockdown to try and come up with a strategy to stop the season’s villains. Peus had instructed Mellie that Jake would not longer be her vice-president and that she would appoint him VP instead. Plus she would have Ms. Ruland as the Chief of Staff. This brought the group together to share a strategy. I really enjoyed seeing this group come together and realize that they had the power of the presidency behind them. The worst part of this episode? Easily the rant from Rowan. Papa Pope’s crazed rant about everybody in the room was as ridiculous as them including him in this meeting in the first place. It is far past time that this character be sent off forever, ideally with a bullet between the eyes. Either way, the decision of the group to fight the shadowy organization was welcome and inspirational.
Designated Survivor was very enjoyable this week as well as the show pushes forward with its conspiracy story and the attempt for President Kirkman to name a replacement Vice-President. However, there were a couple of problems. First, it was advertised that the “mole” inside the White House would be revealed this week and, when it was, I had to look up who the character was. I did not remember him at all. That is not a strong choice when they promoted it as a big reveal. And, worst of all, there was the most awkward and obvious product placement ever right in the middle of a scene with Maggie Q. The Ford Fusion car got a huge close up, including showing how the car 
can be started via a cell phone. Went they zoomed in on Maggie Q starting the car with her phone, and then jumped inside the car to show it starting, I was sure something was going to happen like it was going to blow up. Nope. Just showing you the wonderful features of a Ford Fusion. It was simply a cringeworthy moment, worst than just about anything you would see in any feature movie. Even the blatant product placement in the Transformers movies weren’t as painful as this was. It simply felt like the show went to commercial sooner than you expected.
Last week saw the ending of the first season of 24 Legacy. I found it to be reasonably entertaining, and I did appreciate the few episodes than the normal 24. 24 Legacy had 12 episodes and ended with a satisfactory conclusion. Stand out performer of this final show was clearly Jimmy Smits as Senator John Donovan and his crooked father Henry played by Gerald McRaney. This pair brought the drama to 24. I should also throw out a shout out to our new special agent, Eric Carter, who survived a throwdown with the one and only Tony Almeida. There were times that I thought 24 Legacy was taking a stupid path, but on the whole, the story was done well and I would be up for a second go around with this crew.
This coming week will see the series finale of Bates Motel and the season finale of the anthology series Feud: Bette and Joan. Both of these shows have been spectacular. Bates Motel does not get enough credit and I cannot wait to see how the show wraps itself up. Alex Romero kidnapped Norman from right out of the police station so I am expecting some serious fireworks. And Jessica 
Lange has been brilliant as Joan Crawford this season on Feud. There is just no way that she should not win the Emmy for this role. And Susan Sarandon has been no slouch either. Getting lost among the two divas is Alfred Molina who has also been just tremendous. We have found out that season two of Feud is a go, with the title being Feud: Charles and Diana.
We also got an important debut this week as Fargo returned with its first episode. Just as the past seasons, we get to meet a crew of oddball characters who are being placed in terrible situations. We meet the brothers, Ray and Emmit Stussy, played by Ewan McGregor. They are in an argument over a stamp and things escalate to ridiculous levels. Fargo has shown itself to be a darkly comedic romp through the (usually) snow covered landscape of the northern Midwest, and, with the murder of one of the characters by falling air conditioner, this season looks to be no exception. And are there more aliens coming?
On Scandal, the show has done what I was desperately hoping that it would not. It has reunited Olivia and Fitz. Ugh. Seriously, I just want those two to go off somewhere and never come back (Vermont, perhaps.) Meanwhile, despite all of the attempts to stop it, Mellie Grant was named the President of the United States by the Electoral College, apparently with the fix in. Our two villains of the season, Peus and Ruland, are really cartoon characters and I almost laughed when the blonde haired woman started bashing the brains out of Elizabeth North with a golf club. Mellie did all she could to salvage that scene with her normally excellent acting, but there was only so much she could do. The first half to two-thirds of this season had been great, but I feel like it has slipped into poor patterns.
Big news in the world of Movie Trivia Schmoedown as we have a brand new Movie Trivia Schmoedown Champion. “Yodi” Mark Reilly defeated “The Outlaw” John Rocha in a championship match on Collider Video’s You Tube channel this past Friday. Rocha failed to answer the final question that would have given him the win (much like when Dan Murrell lost to Rocha) and the title went back to Reilly. Reilly became the first two-time Schmoedown singles champion. Commissioner Kristian Harloff announced Reilly would defend against Murrell at the next biog event, The Collider Collision in July, however, there has been some speculation that Rocha would be added to that match to make it a triple threat match.
Tragedy on Agents of SHIELD as we continue to discover that, even though our heroes are alive in the alternate reality of the Framework, they can still die as we saw the death of the Patriot, Jeffrey Mace. Mace died a very heroic death, holding up a building long enough for the children inside to escape, but the collapsing ceiling finally did hm in. Agents of SHIELD continues to bend reality in the Framework (Hello! Welcome back, Trip!) but the fates of these characters are seriously in doubt. Could there be another loss inside the virtual reality world?
I finished binging 13 Reasons Why this week. The thirteenth episode of this show was as uncomfortable as I have been watching a fictional story in a long time. It was brutal. The scene where we see Hannah slitting her wrists in the bathtub was so realistic and emotionally powerful that I had to turn away. With this being juxtapositioned opposite Clay confronting the counselor (which was tear-inducing in itself), the episode was unbelievable. There were some nitpicks that I had with the series, but, overall, I think this was about as effective of a series on these topics as you are going to find.
Then, Netflix dropped the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 series this past Friday. Fourteen episodes following in the original MST3K footsteps of focusing on old time bad films, providing a riff over top. I found out about this from the RiffTrax guys at their performance of Samurai Cop this week and I was happy to get a chance to see it. Now, since each episode is an hour and a half and has 14 episodes, it is not an easy binge. I have seen the first four episodes and they were entertaining. New star Jonah Ray embraces everything that MST3K did and our villains, Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt, are really charming. I hope to see the remainder of these episodes as I go.
The Movie Trivia Schmoedown had a huge event this past week on YouTube as well. It was called the Free4All and it was based loosely on the WWE’s Royal Rumble. The two-part video was hosted by Schmoe Kristian Harloff and John Campea. The show featured five competitors at a time answering movie trivia questions. After five questions, the player or players with the lowest score was eliminated, only to be replaced by new competitors. The rounds continued until 35 different players entered the fray. Competitors included such notable players as Dan Murrell, reigning Schmoedown Champion John Rocca, Mark “Baby Carrots” Ellis, “The Beast” William Bibbiani among many others. The best moment of the show was when Marc Andreyko was able to eliminate Murrell, Rocca, Bibbiani and Drew 
McWeeney all in one round in the biggest shock of the show. In the end, the player who drew number 34, “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine was able to win the Free4All. Levine, an actor who did appear in Inglorious Basterds, now has the opportunity to go after any title of his choosing. In the post show interview, Levine indicated that he would be going after the winner of John Rocca and Mark Reilly championship match up scheduled for next week. The Free4All was a tremendous show and shows just how creative the Collider show has become.
Saturday Night Live went live in all time zones across the United States this past Saturday for the first time ever. Tonight Show host and former SNL alum Jimmy Fallon hosted the show and it saw the return of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer.
Scandal had a “what if” episode this week. What If was once a Marvel Comic where the Watcher would look into a parallel universe and tell the story of something that happened differently than it did in the real Marvel Universe. The same thing happened on Scandal (except for the Watcher thing). We saw what would happen if Olivia had not fixed the election for Fitz. Scandal has always had some kind of weird fixation on Olivia and Fitz, despite the fact that they are the WORST couple ever on television, so, of course, at the end of this What If episode, these two enablers wound up together. This felt like a filler episode that really wasn’t worth the time.
Bates Motel had a great moment this week as former Sheriff Alex Romero arrived back at the Bates Motel with his intention of getting revenge on Norman. Unfortunately for him, he did not find Norman there, since Norman had been arrested for the murder of several people in town. Of course, he did find Chick, who was typing his book in the cellar, in the room that Norman had constructed for his mother’s dead body. As Chick spoke romantically about the fate of Norma, Alex put a bullet in his head. That was a fantastic moment of TV for the week and setting up the ultimate showdown between Alex and Norman.
Agents of SHIELD continued its awesome new story arc inside the Framework. We met the Patriot, a part of the resistance, and we saw how evil this Doctor “Leo” aka Fitz really was as he gunned down Agnes despite Simmons’s insistence that he would never do it. Rumors are floating around that Agents of SHIELD will receive a fifth season despite talk of cancellation all year long. Hopefully that is the case since this show has been consistently awesome all year long.
Even more awesome- Feud: Bette and Joan. The FX show from Ryan Murphy is exceptionally excellent every week. Susan Sarandon has been great as Bette Davis, but Jessica Lange is absolutely brilliant each week as she loses herself into the role of Joan Crawford each episode. Lange becomes Joan Crawford and brings such humanity to the role that you understand and relate to Crawford no matter what rotten thing she may be doing. This is the best I have ever seen Lange, even better than her amazing roles on American Horror Story. Feud: Bette and Joan is magic and if you are not watching it, you are truly missing something special.
Speaking of suicide, last week’s season finale of the Walking Dead featured the suicide of Sasha, but for a completely different reason than Hannah. Sasha had been placed in a coffin by Negan and she took the poison that had been given to her by Eugene. She made sure that she was a zombie by the time that coffin was opened up, shocking the crap out of Negan. But that was not the only shock Negan had coming as Shiva from the Kingdom made its presence known, causing Negan to yell out, “They’ve got a tiger!” Plus, we had the garbage allies turn traitor against Rick and his forces. The finale had its ups and downs, but everything is set up for the next season to be full fledged war.
WWE RAW and Smackdown had the fallout from Sunday’s Wrestlemania. The return of the Hardy Boyz being probably the biggest moment from the PPV. We also saw the main roster debuts of The Revival, Shinsuke Nakamura, “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger. The crowds were, once again, the best part of the shows as they are just completely active and chant whatever they wanted. Some find that annoying, but, to me, the live crowd makes the action all the better. Then, Vince McMahon showed up and told the live crowd on RAW that next week they were going to have a “Superstar Shakeup.” That is not a draft, folks, but I am guessing it will be similar. Since that, the WWE has announced that the Superstar Shakeup will run over both RAW and Smackdown.
Agents of SHIELD returned this past Tuesday and introduced us to the weird world of the Framework. Daisy was known as Skye and sleeping with Grant, who was alive, working for Hydra, but leading the resistance against them. May was one of the top agents of Hydra. Coulson was a college professor who turned in the troublesome Inhumans. Fitz was Hydra’s evil Doctor. Simmons was dead and in a mass grave. When Simmons climbed out of said grave, you knew things were picking up. And we found out that Madame Hydra was here as well…and she was Aida. Welcome back, Agents of SHIELD, I have missed you.
However, the biggest super hero of the week had to be Huck from Scandal, who apparently can not die. With three bullets in his chest and locked in a trunk of a car that has been submerged in a lake, Huck is able to get free and not drown. Now, I am glad that Huck survived his ordeal, because he was always one of my favorite characters (at least in the first couple of seasons before they turned him into a psychotic killer), but his survival stretched credibility a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way. I’m also not overly fond of what they did with Quinn.
Jessica Lange really stood out this past week on Feud: Bette and Joan. You could feel every bit of emotion of Lange’s Joan Crawford as she prepared for Oscar night and her plan to make sure that Bette Davis was not going to walk away with Best Actress. This episode was must see and really should be Jessica Lange’s Emmy reel. And, the great dame was breathtaking as the silver Oscar. Feud continues to be one of the most amazing shows on television, continuing FX’s run of brilliant shows.
Bates Motel presented the interaction between Norman Bates and his brother Dylan and it was as twisted as you can imagine. Norman showed that he really did love his brother despite the craziness that is his alter ego, Mother. And the scene where Norman, afraid that the police was coming to search his house, took the body of Norma and buried it in the woods was as chilling as you could imagine. Bates Motel is flying towards the finale as Norman called in to confess to the police about the murder of Sam Loomis. Anything is possible with Bates Motel.
Especially since the lead up to Wrestlemania has been excellent. Friday night, on the WWE Network, we had the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony. Yes, it was long, but I really enjoyed everything about it. From the return of Eric Bischoff and Jim Cornette to a WWE stage to the induction speeches of Beth Phoenix, Diamond Dallas Page and Kurt Angle, the Hall of Fame always delivers emotion and enjoyable stories from behind the curtain of the world of professional wrestling. Kurt Angle celebrated by pouring two jugs of milk over himself (much like Stone Cold Steve Austin used to do with beer). Beth Phoenix introduced her husband, the Rated R Superstar Edge (Adam Copeland) and her beautiful little daughter in a poignant moment of the night. Also inducted were the Rock and Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Diamond Dallas Page, Eric LeGrand (received the Warrior Award), Ravishing Rick Rude, and Teddy Long.
Then, Saturday night on the WWE Network, NXT presented its latest NXT Takeover Special, from Orlando. This show is always a great night of wrestling and always has crowds way into the action, and this night was no exception. It has an early Match of the Year candidate when NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defeated DIY and the Revival in a triple threat tag team match that was off the chart. We also say Asuka retain her NXT Women’s championship with a little dirty tactics vs. Ember Moon. And we topped it off with “Glorious” Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in the NXT Championship match. Roode-Nakamura was hard hitting and would have been considered a brilliant match had the triple threat tag match not been on the card. Take Over has certainly set the bar for Wrestlemania.
This past Tuesday, in preparation for Wrestlemania 33, TV Fights transformed into Wrestling Fights for one night. Roxy Striar hosted the show that saw Billy A. Patterson defeat Joe Starr and Danielle Radford in a match of wrestling geekdom. They fought best WWE superstar of all time, most anticipated match at Wrestlemania 33, and Worst storyline ever. TV Fights is consistently entertaining on the Screen Junkies Plus streaming service and I really enjoyed the specialization during this week. It was announced that they would do another wrestling themed TV Fights the week of SummerSlam. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!
Grimm brought its series run to a close on NBC with a finale called “The End.” I used to watch Grimm regularly, but it faded from my watchlist a few years ago. I was always feeling as if the season long arcs were basically the same arcs just repeated with different characters facing basically the same challenges. Still, I enjoyed the early years of Grimm so I wanted to check out the finale. And, with the exception of some poor child acting, the show came to an acceptable conclusion. Our heroes came to a happy conclusion and they showed us the future of Grimms were well in hand. I must say, I was confused as to why they kept calling Juliette, Eve. Of course, when I stopped watching Grimm, Juliette had just been killed so I assume some weird mojo was going on. It was cool to see these characters one more time, especially Monroe, who was always a personal favorite.
Another show coming to an end, albeit only as a season finale, was Legion. David was able to rid himself of the parasite known as The Shadow King, but not without a cost. Now, the Shadow King found its way into the body of Oliver, who rode away into the world to cause problems another day. Not killing the Shadow King is a good choice. Many times, these super hero shows kill their villains and waste the potential for a lot of future shows. Not Legion which ended its 8 episode season with a post credit scene that saw David being kidnapped by some flying ball/robot. Legion has been a trippy ride all season long and I am looking forward to season two.
On Bates Motel, the show recreated the iconic shower scene, with Norman Bates going full psycho on a hotel guest. However, as a twist, Rihanna, who was playing Marion- the victim from the 1960 movie- was not the occupant of the shower. Instead, it was Sam Loomis, the husband of Norman’s latest “love” interest. Sam had been having an affair with Marion and wound up on the other end of Norman’s iconic knife. It was a surprising twist and now opens up the remaining few episodes of Bates Motel for any sort of conclusion. Perhaps Alex Romero can finally find some justice for poor Norma. Also, Norman’s brother Dylan FINALLY discovered that Norma had died. The show referenced it as two years prior. TWO F’N Years? Come on, Dylan… pick up a phone, man. I expect a huge finale for Bates Motel.
The Flash musical episode. I like musical episodes of television. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Once More With Feeling”, Batman: The Brave and the Bold “Mayhem of the Music Meister”, Multiple Simpsons episodes… had special musical episodes. The Flash seemed like a great idea since both Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist were on Glee (as was Darren Criss) and could sing and dance and they had former Broadway stars Jesse L. Martin and Victor Garber in the cast. However, I found the hour to be lacking in many ways. I did not think the story was worth the time. I was disappointed in the music, not only the songs but also the amount of them. With the exception of the song with Jesse L. Martin and Victor Garber, the songs were poor. I actually thought some of the humor and writing of the show was solid, but the music was just weak. Maybe I should give it a second viewing to see if my opinions continued to be as they are, but as of now, I disliked the musical Flash show.
Then, Scandal. I was very disappointed with the “shock” ending of this show. I saw that one coming completely. The show was focused on Huck. Olivia (continuing to be one of my least favorite characters on the show- how she has fallen) told Huck to murder her father. In the process of Huck doing that, Rowan revealed the conspiracy behind why he killed the President. Huck discovered that there was a traitor in their midst. So Huck went about eliminating suspects. He got to his new girlfriend. He scared her, but in the end believed her to be innocent. And he then took her to see her friend, Jennifer Fields, the woman who was believed to be killed by Jake but wasn’t. And she promptly shot Jennifer and Huck. I saw that twist coming and was disappointed when they went ahead and did it. Even though there was a cool surprise after that with Abby being revealed as the person behind this all (even though that felt very much out of character for her), the rest of this episode was very frustrating.
Legion. What a great episode. This was the penultimate episode in the first season, and we get confirmation that the monster/parasite in David’s mind is indeed the Shadow King. They specifically said the name Shadow King, as well as his real name Amahl Farouk, in the episode. This was a true geek out moment, as was the hint of David’s real father. We saw a wheelchair with an X on the tires. We comic fans know that David’s birth father is Charles Xavier, and this is the first indication that Professor X will also be the father on the FX series. The whole David talking to David in a classroom with blackboards illustrating the history of the Shadow King was epic. Legion has been an existential trip all season long. It has been confirmed that Legion has been picked up for a season two.
Another great show on FX currently is Feud: Bette and Joan. The Sunday night show is only on the third episode, but it feels as if it has gotten better with each episode. Jessica Lange is tremendous as Joan Crawford. The show has already reached the end of the filming of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” I’m curious to see where this show will go from here, but I am completely engaged in it. I love Feud and Ryan Murphy.
I was not convinced about Trial and Error, the new comedy on NBC featuring John Lithgow after the premiere, but the next two episodes were shown on its normal night and I am all in. I actually was laughing very loudly several times. Now, I must admit that I think the Sherri Shepherd character with her inability to see faces and to laugh at the inappropriate times is going to be a joke that is going to be old soon. Despite that, I like the mystery of what is actually happening and John Lithgow is completely charismatic.
I caught up with the new season of American Crime. I don’t know why American Crime, which is shown on ABC on Sunday night, is not available on Hulu, but I was able to catch up on Amazon. Felicity Huffman has been on all three seasons of the anthology show and I was amazed by her performance in the second episode. The new season has several story lines going on, but Felicity has carved out a spot on this show as a great actress.
The Movie Trivia Schmoedown had a pretty good week this week on Collider Video on YouTube. The Tuesday match was a return match between The Schmoes (Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis) vs. Team Top Ten (John Rocha and Matt Knost) that went down to the final question. Top Ten got the win and earned themselves a team title shot vs. the Patriots. Then, on Friday, the Wolves of Steel teammates, Mark Reilly and Clark Wolfe, had a singles match to gain a title match with “The Outlaw” John Rocha. Mark Reilly defeated his teammate and then he had a great and intense promo with Rocha in the backstage area. I know most of that stuff is put on like pro wrestling, but Reilly and Rocha were great here. You could almost believe that they hated each other. The Movie Trivia Schmoedown has become one of my favorite shows online during the week. Congrats to Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis for their work on this entertaining show.
How about Iron Fist. Marvel’s latest series dropped on Netflix this past Friday to unmarked territory for a Marvel series… bad reviews. The show had been panned, lambasted… dramatically by the critics leading me to wonder how bad the series could be. The answer? Not bad at all. In fact, I binged the series this weekend and I enjoyed it tremendously. I find it difficult to believe that this was a series that received 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sure, it may not be up to the standards set by Daredevil, but to call this a failure is just not fair.
What could cause such issues? Well, there is speculation that the controversy about Marvel not casting an Asian actor to play the role of Danny Rand (despite the source material featuring a white Danny) was mentioned by several critics, leading me to believe that some of them may have gone into the viewing with a less than objective viewpoint. Maybe they only watched the first two or three episodes because these episodes are not the best of the series. It is fairly slow paced…. as they said on Collider TV Talk, deliberately paced, and maybe that would have led some critics to blast the series as they did. Maybe some critics were looking for better martial arts, but I don’t know any different so it seemed fine to me.
The next really big news happened on MSNBC where Rachel Meddow tweeted out earlier in the day on Tuesday that she had President Donald Trump’s tax returns. This created a firestorm of activity for the news network ans excited Americans tuned in for the breaking news, only to discover that the tax returns in question was two pages from 2005 that showed that Trump had paid some 35 million in taxes. Then, it was revealed that the tax returns had been anonymously left in a reporter’s mailbox, leading to the, fairly reasonable assumption, that the Trump Administration themselves had leaked this information to serve as a distraction or to show that he actually did pay taxes. Not only that, but with Maddow stretching the reveal out into about half of her show’s run time, she was criticized for trying to fool the viewers into thinking she had more than what she did. Bill Maher even went as far as to say that Maddow’s scoop had “turned out to be a big Nothing Burger. Worse than a Nothing Burger, it was a Help Trump Burger.” Maddow defended her reporting by saying that “we broke the story correctly.”
Turning to a president of another type, Designated Survivor continued its sharp return with an exciting episode that saw the death of newly minted and treacherous Vice-President Peter 
This week saw the premiere of the first two episodes of Trial and Error, the new comedy series on NBC starring John Lithgow. Told in a mockumentary format, Trial and Error follows the story of the eccentric Southern poetry professor who was accused of murdering his wife by throwing her through the glass door. The show features a crew of extremely wacky and crazy characters with many of the strange and quirkiness that one might see on this type of show. The show has several redneck and Southern justice cliches that it milks for all its worth. There is also a young New York lawyer who comes down to handle the case, adding to the comedy. Honestly, Trial and Error only worked because of Lithgow and his remarkable ability to be funny with this oddball character. I plan on giving it yet another few episodes to see if the show can catch its feet.
I do believe that I called this last week. On ABC’s Scandal this week, it was revealed that Eli Pope was the actual assassin behind the gun that assassinated President-elect Frankie Vargas. In last week’s column, I said, “ I must say that I approve of this season of Scandal, as it has kept me on my toes and guessing who was actually behind the death of Vargas. However, I might be disappointed if it turns out to be Rowan.” Who knew that I was prophetic. Now, I will say that the episode was very dramatic and still did surprise me with the lengths that Papa Pope will go to for his power, but I have to say that I really believe it is past time for Papa Pope to finally pay for his crimes.
I also predicted that Caleb would not be long for the show. Then last week, he was hit by a car and dies. This week, they had to get rid of the body. Norman Bates continues to race toward his insanity as he is having more and more conversations with his dead mother. He is also dressing up a woman he is interested in in his mother’s dresses. There was so much creepy about that episode that you can’t even begin explaining it. Alex Romero continued his trek back to get his revenge on Norman for murdering Norma by picking the buckshot out of his stomach from his encounter at a farm. Romero appears to be on a direct target for Norman and is like a Terminator in doing so.
On the Walking Dead last week, it seemed as if we finally have the confident Carol back and ready to fight. Sadly, it did not come until after the death of young Benjamin. Benjamin, shot by the Saviors when it appeared that the Kingdom had shorted them a cantaloupe, died because of Richard’s attempted plot to get the Kingdom to join Rick and the others against the Saviors. This plot led directly to Morgan strangling Richard to death in front of the Saviors and King 
Ezekiel. We saw the return of berserker Morgan. However, the events of this episode has convinced Ezekiel that the time for fighting is here. Morgan then revealed the truth about what Negan had done to her friends to Carol. Things are progressing rapidly toward the season finale of the walking Dead in just three weeks. Oh… and we all love Jerry!
Ryan Murphy returned to TV this week with his next anthology series. Feud: Bette and Joan premiered Sunday night, telling the story of how film icons Bette Davis and Joan Crawford came together to film the movie “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” Starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon, Feud pulled no punches in the display of this famous feud. I was surprised at the level of language on display on the TV network, including several F-bombs and one very memorable use of the C-word. Brilliant performances and an enthralling story. Feud is the next great Ryan Murphy mini-series and this year’s People vs. OJ.
FX’s Legion continues to be the most trippy, psychedelic and confusing hour of television anywhere. And that is awesome. This week, it seems that the “Devil with Yellow Eyes” may have been identified as the X-Men baddie The Shadow King. Although they never specifically named him Shadow King, there are plenty of hints and suggestions to infer that the psychic villain is indeed the “parasite” that has taken up root in David’s brain. The scene where the Devil With Yellow Eyes comes into the white room and stalks Syd was as frightening as it could possibly be. This week’s Legion felt much like the episodes of Twin Peaks where Agent Cooper is running around inside the Black Lodge. You could never tell what was real and what was not. Legion definitely has that tone to it. The first episode of Legion was underwhelming to me, but I have really begun to dig this out-of-your-mind trip. Plus, a haunting version of the Rainbow Connection. Episode 5 was masterful.
Designated Survivor returned from a long hiatus to reveal the person who had been shot by the sniper’s bullet in the cliffhanger during the midseason finale. Turned out that it was President Kirkman himself. This was a bit of a letdown, considering that really took the question out about whether or not the assassin’s bullet would prove fatal. Clearly Kiefer Sutherland was not leaving his own show. However, the rest of the intrigue within the episode was spot on, especially with Kirkman finally coming face to face with Agent Hannah Wells. Finally! The treason of the Vice President is about to come out.
Riverdale was very solid this week as we had a Jughead-centric episode. Jughead has become one of my personal favorite characters on Riverdale and I was happy to see more about him. It featured a nightmare segment with Jughead picturing the crew like they are portrayed in the classic Archie comic books. The all-American family, with Jughead sporting his comic alter ego’s iconic headgear as well. The show quickly transformed back from this dream into the strange and bizarre show that it has become. This is another show that hearkens back to Twin Peaks, with the central mystery of who murdered Jason Blossom adding in both Jughead and his father as suspects.
The week started off with one of the biggest controversies of all time, and the biggest Oscar mistake ever. Sunday night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Academy Awards and did a bang up job. He hit many, if not most, of his bits and the show was reasonably entertaining. However, once the Best Picture Award was to be announced, the broadcast stepped into some kind of Bizarro world. Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the wrong envelope (Best Actress) so when Beatty opened it, he was understandably 
confused. Everyone, including Dunaway, thought he was just messing around, keeping everyone in suspense. He showed her the card and she saw La La Land and announced the musical as Best Picture. The problem… it had not won. Moonlight was the actual winner for Best Picture, and what followed next was as surreal of a scene as you will ever see. Apparently, there is always two envelopes available depending on which direction of the stage the presenters enter from and the side where Beatty and Dunaway entered from had not gotten rid of the duplicate envelope. Hence, the most amazing Oscar moment was born. La La Land producer 
Flash completed its two part Gorilla City story arc Tuesday night and the second part was quite a letdown. The invasion of the gorillas led by Gorilla Grodd should have been an epic encounter that Flash, Kid Flash and the crew had to struggle against, forever changing them. Instead, it took like 5 minutes and one moment of planning. Most of the episode was given to the Kid Flash/Jesse Quick relationship and the weird performances of Tim Cavanagh. I found the CGI to be just terrible, even by TV standards. Especially with the gorillas. After a pretty fun (though campy) part one episodes, I expected much more form Flash, but this was well below expectations for this series.
Bates Motel is just full boar fun. Seeing Norman dressed to the nines as Norma while talking to the frozen corpse of his mom in the cellar…well, Bates Motel has gone places where few TV shows have been willing to go. Your main protagonist is completely certifiable and you just love him for it.
On Screen Junkies Plus, Movie Fights have begun their March Madness programming. The first major event they held was billed as Rocha-Mantz III. John Rocha and Scott Mantz are both movie pundits that work in Hollywood, but they have had some contentious moments on the debate show as well as the Movie Trivia Schmoedown on Collider. Movie Fights brought the pair in to do a special one-on-one fight this past Thursday on the streaming network. Judge Andy Signore moderated the debate that included such geek-tacular arguments such as Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Moonlight vs. La La Land and what was the best performance from Bill Paxton. The two plus hour show came up at a dead heat for the final speed round question which was won by Scott Mantz. Mantz will now go into a special #1 contenders battle to see who will earn a title shot at reigning Movie Fights champion Dan Murrell.
Saturday Night Live returned from break and hit the cold opening hard with Kate McKinnon playing Jeff Sessions as Forrest Gump. The opening scene was just tremendously funny, taking advantage of the Sessions-Russian rumors that have been flying around Washington this week. However, I felt that the remainder of SNL (excluding Weekend Update) was lackluster. Considering the amount of crazy that had happened during SNL’s break, I expected way more than I got. The video tribute to the Republican who stood up to Trump- TBD was funny, but there was so much more that could have been mocked.
We had double sad news in the world of television today. Bill Paxton (who may be more well known from his movie roles, but I will always remember as John Garrett on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD) and Judge Joseph Wapner from The People’s Court died today. RIP to these legendary men.
This week in TV started off strong with the return of Bates Motel. And we see that Vera Farmiga is going to still be a huge presence on the show despite her character of Norma Bates being killed in the penultimate episode of season 4. The “spirit/delusion” that hung out in the house was great, chastising Norman for going out and leaving her alone. The final season of Bates Motel is off to a great start.
Speaking of Agents of SHIELD, it ended its storyline arc of the LMD with the most insane episode that I have ever seen. There were remarkable emotional moments throughtout, barely giving you a chance to process what was going on. The confrontation between LMD Fitz and Simmons, Simmons and Daisy finding each other, the confrontation between LMD May and LMD Coulson, the fight between Daisy and LMD Mace, the use of Daisy’s powers to take out Mac and Coulson, the reveal that Fitz not Daisy was the LMD, the murder of 
I have not been watching The Flash as much this season as I have in the past, but I found myself back on the viewership of the show as Flash and his friends headed to Earth Two to save Harrison from Gorilla City. Gorilla Grodd has always been one of my favorite villains in DC and the draw of this episode had me searching out the CW for Flash. It being a two-parter did not hurt either. Next week’s episode looks tremendous so I expect to be watching it next week as well.
The standout moment from last week’s The Walking Dead was definitely the reunion of Daryl and Carol in her little house just outside of the Kingdom. I’m not sure how I feel about Daryl lying to Carol about the Saviors. I understand why he did it, but hiding the fact that Glenn and Abraham were killed by Negan might be worse later than now. Sure, Carol had said that if anyone else of their people suffered, she would go kill everyone and lose herself, but lies have a tendency to come out. Will that affect their sweet friendship? I hope not. By the way, it was fun to see how Daryl and Shiva the tiger were seeming to bond. I see a scene down the road where a rampaging tiger may save everybody’s favorite redneck.
Oh, there was also this….Winslow the spiked zombie…
We know know who killed Wes on How to Get Away with Murder after its two hour season finale on Thursday. I must say that the reveal of the killer, a friend of Laurel’s, hired by her father, was a bit anticlimactic to me, although what led up to that reveal was tremendous. Connor being “kidnapped” by the DA who was revealed to be working against Annalise was quite the twist. For a while, I thought he was going to be the killer. Peter Nowalk (Connor) and Conrad Ricamora (Oliver) delivered knockout performances. It was also nice to see Annalise get her groove back, if only partially. Viola Davis is tremendous in this role and I am cheering for her tonight at the Oscars for the Supporting Role she had in Fences.
I have really enjoyed the new version of The Match Game, starring Alec Baldwin. I did not expect to like it much, despite how much I loved the original version with Gene Rayburn. However, the show is funny, just as risque as the original and shows how much fun you can have with celebrities and liquor. I would kind of like to have a couple of regulars among the rotating celebrity cast like the original had with Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Sommers, but when the show gets a cast like last week’s, where they clearly enjoy being together, it can really make magic. This is a perfect replacement series for the summer or during hiatus. I hope Match Game has a long life on ABC.
I want to start off with Santa Clarita Diet. This was a new show on Netflix starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Now it did not drop this past week, but this was the week that I was able to get around to binging it. There were ten episodes about a half hour each and I found this laugh out loud funny. Drew Barrymore was the wife of Timothy Olyphant, and Barrymore, for some reason, winds up vomiting everywhere (in one of those really gross scenes), dies and becomes a zombie. However, she retained her personality, her feelings and much of her characteristics. She does start to hunger for human flesh and has to start to do some really drastic things to stay as she was. Olyphant was just tremendously funny, with a real dry wit and fantastic dialogue, and he had amazing chemistry with Barrymore. There was also a daughter on the show played by Liv Hewson, who had a sweet relationship with neighbor and top notch geek, played by Skyler Gisondo. I really have loved the sweetness of these two young actors. The show is a hoot and I can’t wait for more of it. Now, I will admit that the show can be pretty graphic at times, so take that into consideration. But it was well worth it.
Sunday night, the WWE had their latest pay per view on the WWE Network, The Elimination Chamber. And there was big news coming out of the event as they crowned a new WWE Champion. Bray Wyatt won the WWE title inside the Elimination Chamber after a brutal match with five other competitors. While in the chamber, Wyatt pinned the champion John Cena and former champion AJ Styles. This was Bray Wyatt’s first time holding any kind of title in the WWE, and signified a big change heading towards Wrestlemania. He then wound up pinning John Cena again on the following Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown Live. Word was that Cena insisted on putting Wyatt over. Good for John if that story is true.
Also on Sunday night, The Walking Dead returned with its mid-season premiere and we saw Rick and his group meeting up with King Ezekiel at the Kingdom. Honestly, that meeting was fine (yes, it was awesome when Rick’s group saw Shiva, the tiger, for the first time), but the best part of the episode was the epic mass zombie kill pulled off by Rick and Michonne later in the episode. This was one of the greatest scenes in the seven year run of the show and made everything else on this episode pale by comparison.
Agents of SHIELD found that robots are never a good thing. All of the team members who went on a mission to save Director Mace from the Inhuman hating Superior of the Watchdogs wound up being captured and replaced by LMD (Life Model Decoys). That included Mace, Coulson, Mack and Daisy. The first thing the newly minted LMD crew did was to reactivate the LMD May as well. In fact, only Fitz and Simmons remained as humans, a fact which our ever lovable scientific duo have discovered. The upcoming episode on Tuesday will be the final Agents of SHIELD episode until April and has been rumored to be bringing the LMD storyline to a climax.
Riverdale has returned to goodness, after last week’s weaker episode, with a focus this week on the music teacher, Mrs. Grundy. We found out that this was not her real name, and that she was supposedly hiding out from an abusive former relationship (though I am unsure if I believe that). However, when the secret of her tryst with underage Archie Andrews came to light, Mrs. Grundy was forced out of Riverdale. We also got quite a bit about Jughead as he tried to save the destruction of the drive-in theater– because that was where the now homeless Jughead was living, as we discovered. Riverdale picked up the pace this week after last week’s odd episode and became once again a show not to miss.
Scandal also has been on fire this season as the mystery of who assassinated Frankie Vargas was filled with twists and turns. This week we discovered that Cyrus and Tom were not behind it, despite Cyrus spending the entire episode in prison. His trials in the prison were full of dramatic moments and you really found yourself hurting for Cyrus, despite the horrible things he has done over the years. The twist that Tom admitted that he had not killed Vargas was unexpected and really brought home an extremely strong and entertaining hour of television. Scandal has really been firing on all cylinders this season after a couple of down years recently.
Another murder mystery is getting ready to end as How to Get Away With Murder will broadcast a two-hour finale this coming Thursday. We found out this past TGIT that Connor had a bit of a secret when it came to Wes’s death. In a flashback, we saw Connor, who had been all up about Annalise being possibly guilty, trying to revive Wes with CPR. The shocking final scene was shown to us after Oliver found some evidence on Annalise’s phone that proved Connor was at her house on the fateful night. Could Connor be the killer of Wes? Did he set the house on fire to cover his tracks? That seems unlikely to me as this feels like one final misdirection that HTGAWM is known for. Still, I believe Connor has some ‘splainin’ to do.
On Friday, the latest match in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown was released, and what a match it was. We saw a new Movie Trivia Schmoedown champion crowned as “The Outlaw” John Rocha completed his unlikely journey back from the Bespin edge to defeat “Dangerous” Dan Murrell. Murrell, the Movie Fights and TV Fights Champion, could not answer the final question, “Who directed the ‘Burbs?” (Joe Dante, by the way), and was defeated by one point. Rocha nearly broke down in tears when the announcement was made. I will admit that, although I have always liked John Rocha, I was cheering for Dan Murrell. However, it is always awesome when someone reacts the way Rocha did when achieving a goal. Clearly Rocha was happy to win the title and he showed it with his emotional response. Congrats to “The Outlaw” on his well deserved victory.
Saturday Night Live turned out to be a rerun this week, which disappointed many viewers considering the President Trump press conference on Thursday was wild and ripe for parody. The press conference was just one of the week’s worth of chaos (fake news I guess) surrounding the Trump administration. It started on last Sunday’s morning talk shows with Trump surrogate Stephen Miller said, in his best henchman voice, that “…our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions that the powers of the President to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned” and ended this past Saturday with Trump stating during a campaign-style rally in Florida that there were terrible goings on in Sweden, a fact that was a surprise to the Swedish officials. Next week’s SNL could literally fill the entire 90 minutes with Trump items.
Melissa McCarthy has played White house Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Last week, the world all laughed together as the clip of McCarthy dominated television discussion, and now she returned to SNL for a second week, this time with the cold open. The ruthless portrayal of Spicer is remarkably funny and savagely satirical. The Trump administration has brought out the best in SNL, bringing the show back to prominence that we have not seen in many years. Rumors circulated this week that Rosie O’Donnell wanted to play Steve Bannon on the show (the show currently portrays Bannon as the Grim Reaper), but there was no sign this week of Rosie. However, Alec Baldwin, this week’s host, did reprise his Trump, taking the three federal court judges who overturned the travel ban to the People’ Court.
What happened to Riverdale? The first two episodes of the new CW series based on the comic book characters of the Archie universe were very intriguing and interesting. There was a central mystery involving the disappearance of Jason Blossom and the show had a Gossip Girls meets Twin Peaks feel to it. Last week’s episode ended with the apparent arrest of Cheryl Blossom for the murder of Jason when his body was found dead (not missing). Then, this week’s episode, focused on a boring story about the football team and their slut shaming of girls at Riverdale High. While the story is an important one to tell, the timing of this was extremely questionable as it seemed to derail the momentum of the first couple of episodes. I hope it gets back on track next week.
Scandal continues it renaissance with another dramatically intense episode, showing us the real circumstance behind the assassination of President Elect Frankie Vargas. It turns out that Cyrus Bean was behind the assassination, inadvertently. The killer turned out to be Tom, who had killed the president’s son, and who was in love with Cyrus. His plan was to get Cyrus into the Oval Office. The problem, Cyrus rejected him because, although he had sent him after Jennifer- the young lady who had made the call that tipped off Olivia Pope on the possibility that Cyrus was guilty, Cyrus had told Tom that Frankie was not to be touched. After rejecting Tom, Tom got his own revenge by confessing to the crime and telling Fitz and anyone who would listen that Cyrus had ordered him to do it.
24 Legacy premiered to lower ratings than anticipated after the Super Bowl. People believed it was because the Super Bowl ran long, with the New England Patriots defeating the Atlanta Falcons in the first ever overtime Super Bowl in history. However, 24 Legacy first two episodes were tremendous, effectively setting up the series with its bright new star Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre from Straight Outta Compton). By the end of episode two (which aired the next night in its regular time slot), I was all in with the new version of the beloved show.
Legion debuted on FX this past Wednesday and most people who saw it spoke extremely highly on the new mutant series. I will be honest, I was not sold with the pilot. It was interesting, but I found it kind of hard to follow. The first episode was an hour and a half and followed the story of telekinetic mutant David Haller (Dan Stevens) through his struggles at a mental institution. The show was certainly a beautifully shot and directed show and it is not as if I hated the episode. I just was not as blown away as I thought I might be. It appears that the ratings agree with me as they were only so so for FX. I will still be watching the show, however, expecting the story to improve as we proceed.
My current favorite couple on television goes to Maya and Jimmy DiMeo from ABC’s Speechless. This week’s Valentine Day episode looked closer at their relationship and found one of the healthiest married couples on television. These characters are played charmingly by Minnie Driver and John Ross Bowie. They are so perfect for each other despite being shown as people who have a list of problems and eccentricities. Speechless continues to be a consistent and solid comedy for ABC on Wednesday nights and the chemistry between the DiMeos are a big reason why.
TV Fights Live crowned a new TV Fights Champion this week after a week of controversy on the Screen Junkies Plus show. Last week, challenger Joe Starr, who had been trash talking for weeks toward champion 
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 