Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Sha Na Na S1 E13, E14, E15, E16

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Had a run of four episodes of Sha Na Na tonight and I have the same complaints that I always have. The laugh track/applause track is just terrible. Honestly, the first 10-15 seconds of every song is impossible to hear because of the fake clapping. Second, the humor is terrible. This show is so much better when they have a musical guest so they can sing with Sha Na Na instead of doing this cringe-level comedy bits.

These four episodes only had one guest star that sang. It was Della Reese and that episode was the best of the four. It did have a pretty racist comedy bit called House of Kyoto, but other than that, this was the one.

I read a tweet awhile ago from Jon Bausman who spoke about the early season comedy being less than they had wanted. He said he thought it got better in later seasons. I sure hope so.

Fact is, when Sha Na Na is singing, this show is sensational. These four episodes had some bangers in them, including Mr. Bass Man, All I Have to Do is Dream, and Why Do Fools Fall in Love, which I believe are done multiple times over the years on the show.

The strangest song of the four featured Pamela Myers singing with Frank Gorshin, who was doing impersonations of celebrities like Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman etc. Gorshin seemed really weird during this segment, but it was interesting to hear Pamela Myers sing the song. It was in the old parked car bit that they usually run.

Other celebrities on these four episodes included Adrianne Barbeau, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Kristy McNichols, Rosey Greer and Milton Berle. I think they had taped more bits with Milton Berle when he was on the show earlier in the year and they just inserted them into this episode because at the end of the show, Bowzer did not thank Milton Berle for being on the show. He only thanked Rosey Greer. Why was Rosey Greer booked for the show?

Looking ahead, Chubby Checker and Chuck Berry are coming up soon. Those are the type of guests I want to see on Sha Na Na. More music, less of all the other background jokes.

Hazbin Hotel S2 E5, E6

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SPOILERS

“Silenced”

“Scream Rain”

Vox has declared war on heaven, and it seemed as if the demons of Hell are behind him.

We had a confrontation between Vox and the angels of Heaven that was incredible. So was the confrontation between Vox and Lucifer.

Things are really coming together as we advance Vox’s plan.

The music in these two episodes was amazing. Loved “Bad with Us” that kicked off episode five.

Angel Dust had a huge revelation, as we find out that he has been a spy for Vox, albeit without his knowledge (being hypnotized by Vox).

They keep name dropping Lilith. She’s going to be involved in this final.

Oh, and Vox wants to Make Hell Great Again.

I really enjoyed these two episodes, especially episode five. There is just one more week of episodes, I believe, to see where this season is going.

Pluribus S1 E3

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SPOILERS

“Grenade”

This show is trippy.

Carol is trying to maintain herself, but with so much taken away, she is finding the way of life to be tough. She does not want the “convenience” of being able to ask for anything and have the Others provide it.

Like a live hand grenade.

Carol asked about how long she had before they turned her into a mindless drone too. Their response: they were not sure. They were working on it.

Carol did get on the phone with one of the non-English speaking survivors. There was a contemptuous conversation there that will clearly come back later in the series.

There was more humor in this episode than in the previous ones, but it felt like a pause between major events. The series has been renewed for a season two already, but Vince Gilligan believed he had a four season story, so things may be on the slow burn for awhile.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E

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Spoilers

“Now You See It”

Episode three of the new IT series on HBO Max is a banger.

We get some more psychic “shining” from Dick Hallorann, who we know ages up to work at the Outlook Hotel (and get an axe in his chest from Jack). The scene of him in the helicopter, flying over Derry and having psychic images of Pennywise in his forms, was exciting. Admittedly, as he was opening the cargo door of the copter, I never thought he’d fall out or die from that because I knew he had to be a part of the Shining eventually. Still, it was a tense moment.

Shawshank was mentioned too, which is part of the Stephen King shared universe. I do love how there are Easter eggs from other films in Derry. I’m sure there are some other hints out there that I do not recognize.

Ronnie’s father has something he is not telling anyone. It feels as if it is something that could work as an alibi, but he does not want to let that info out. Curious.

The flashback to the 1908 incident with Pennywise was scary. Frank and Rose’s interactions with the creature in the woods, a lookalike for the slender man from the carnival, was intense. Frank running from the creature only to be saved by Rose, wielding the slingshot that Frank had given to her (and Frank’s father had given to him). It was an exciting cold open showing what this episode would bring.

It was not as intense as when Ronnie, Lilly, Will, and Rich went into a graveyard to try and summon the monster that had attacked our departed friends from episode one in order to get pictures of it. I am not sure they could have come up with a more dangerous plan if they had tried. They were really fortunate to escape that event with their lives.

We end the episode with a pic of Pennywise as Will said of the photo he took, “It’s… a clown.”

Pluribus S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“We is Us”

“Pirate Lady”

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this. I couldn’t believe what was happening.

Everybody in the world suddenly started spazzing out at the same time. Carol, one of the most miserable people in the world, was apparently immune, for some reason.

The entire planet, with the exception of 12 people, appeared to become of one mind, much like a hive mind. The transformation in episode one was creepy as can be.

Directed by Vince Gilligan who wrote, directed or produced episodes for The X-Files, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, this show is completely original and takes the idea of the dystopian future in a way that has never been seen before.

Apple TV + has been exceptional with the sci-fi genre. This is yet another fine option on the streamer. I have to say that these first two episodes have a great premise, some excellent execution of story and introduction of the characters with real issues.

Carol, an author, has a short fuse on her temper and that causes massive problems for the hive mind, which seems so far to be trying for nothing but happiness.

There are some conflicts in these two episodes that truly make you wonder what you would do if in their situations, but I do feel like something more is on its way. Gilligan has a history of complexities in his shows.

Good stuff so far.

Hazbin Hotel S2 E3 E4

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Spoilers

“Behind Closed Doors”

“It’s a Deal”

Charlie has trouble with the media after she foolhardily invited Vox to film a redemption at her hotel to try and make up for the trouble she had last episode.

Things did not go well for her.

These two episodes work well together as a desperate attempt from Charlie to fix the misinformation present that made her hotel look bad.

Hazbin Hotel focused fully in Hell this week and continued to set things up for the season’s story. I feel as if everything will be coming together over the next few episodes (especially since we are technically halfway through the season right now).

The songs are, once again, fantastic and highly entertaining. The lyrics are exceptional in each song, both funny and as clever as you can be. The animation is awesome as well.

Hazbin Hotel has been great so far, and it feels as if everything is working its way together.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #42

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Spoilers

“The Bent-Neck Lady”

This week’s focus is on Nell and the visions she would have seeing the Bent-Neck Lady.

In what I thought was a fun bit of casting, Nell was seeing a therapist named Dr. Montague and he was played by Russ Tamblyn. What makes that fun was that Russ Tamblyn played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on Twin Peaks. Jacoby was a quirky and oddball psychiatrist involved with Laura Palmer, a tragic death of a young woman. Very much like the death of Nell in The Haunting of Hill House.

The episode saw the events that lead up to Nell returning to Hill House the night that she died. It made sense with the way the last episode ended with Luke blurting out that Nell did not kill herself.

The last part of Nell’s life was filled with torment. I can’t imagine what sleep paralysis would be like. It sounded horrific and made things all the worse as we see how she suffered during it. Of course, the show implied that it was not just a simple case of sleep paralysis and that it had to do with the visions that she would see.

We see how Nell and her husband Arthur met and his tragic death. Those years for Nell seemed to be so wonderful that seeing him drop dead from the aneurism was tough.

That was not the toughest scene of the episode though.

The ending, where we see the identity of the Bent-Neck Lady revealed as Nell’s future self after she hanged herself from the spiral staircase on the night she returned to Hill House, was unbelievably anguish-filled. Watching Nell see all of these moments of her life, but as the bent-neck lady was something that I did not expect.

Now that we have seen Nell’s tragic final day at Hill House, one wonders where the show goes from here. There are still plenty of feelings of guilt and grief to deal with as this entire family does not seem to deal with what happened to them at hill House.

We flash back to the kids era and we see their father bringing them to a hotel and then going back “for mom” he tells them. That night is clearly something that we need to see more of moving forward.

How will everyone continue to deal with the loss of Nell? Luke, in particular, is a character that I am intrigued to see moving ahead. I want to see more of their father too, as he played some major role that we have yet to see.

This show has picked up big time. Last week’s episode was my favorite of the series so far… that is until this week. I think this was a near perfect horror episode with an amazing payoff to a mystery that we have been wondering, while still leaving plenty of questions to be answered.

Untraveled: Day 1 Madrid to Cordoba

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Jay and Adam, the boys from pReview’d, one of my favorite reaction channels on YouTube, have created a travel show. Produced and edited by Michael Millard, Jay and Adam narrate the show from their studio. They showed off their chemistry as they walked around Spain, this episode specifically in Cordoba.

The area is beautiful and Jay and Adam are hilarious. There are seven total episodes of Untraveled dropping on Tuesdays, and I look forward to the next episode.

Sha Na Na S1 E11 & E12

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You see the contrast between episodes here amazingly well.

Episode 11 featured the Lennon Sisters and episode 12 featured Zsa Zsa Gabor.

In episode 11, there was a limited amount of comedy bits, with the main one being what seemed to be similar to the Muppet Show’s At the Dance skit where members of Sha Na Na danced with the Lennon Sisters and the camera followed them to each couple to tell a bad joke. That was a decent little use of the comedy (though that laugh track is still just obnoxious).

Also in episode 11, they did multiple songs including Rockin’ Robin, Runaround Sue, Tonight You Belong to Me (with the Lennon Sisters on the stage), The Great Pretender and a tribute to Elvis (interestingly, they never used the word Presley. I wonder if it was a rights thing.) in that tribute they did three songs, Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me Tender and Hound Dog.

Honestly, episode 11 may have been my favorite one so far.

Then, episode 12 was an over-reliance on the comedy bits. Way too many of them because none of them were funny. Plus, the songs were limited to Sha-Boom and 16 Candles. They did a comedy bit featuring The Lion Sleeps Tonight with Sha Na Na dressed up as cannibals.

Episode 12 may have been my least favorite so far.

When the show focused on the music, it was outstanding. When they pushed the comedy, especially without the guys in the band, it flopped. The comedy bit with The Lion Sleeps Tonight was just too long and, again, not funny.

They have so many great singers in Sha Na Na, I want them to play more music and I believe it worked much better when the special guest star(s) were musical too. I have nothing against Zsa Zsa, but her bits were just not as entertaining as the Lennon Sisters singing.