Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Sha Na Na S4 E19, E20, E21, E22, E23, E24

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…All greased up and ready to sing their brains out….

I finished off the final season of Sha Na Na this afternoon with the six remaining episodes I had to see in season 4. I have to say that it was a really fun last few months as I worked my way through the playlist from Pattyoc01 on YouTube. While they were not always the best of quality, they were always fun and gave me flashes of nostalgia from when I was a young boy watching these in syndication. Sha Na Na was technically the first concert I ever attended (with my Dad at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa) so I am very happy to have had a chance to watch these again.

Again, as I mentioned in the last post, some of the songs were songs that I had not heard before (or at least did not recognize). They did repeat a couple of songs in these episodes, including Runaway, Hand Jive, and Under the Boardwalk. We got to hear Chico sing again. He has not been a featured singer in the final season. Sure he was one of the lesser used voices overall in the show, but he got more than he has this year. I wonder if that was because of the absence of Dirty Dan.

We got quite a few Screamin’ Scott performances in this last handful of episodes. It was funny, but he wore that green suit in three episodes consecutively, and they were all on the street songs. I wonder if they recorded those all on the same day.

It is also interesting how many different outfits Screamin’ Scott wore. I mean, most of the group had one or two basic outfit that they wore, but Scott is always all over the place with jump suits and bright colors. And not just in the comedy skits either.

Of the guests, the one I liked the best of this group was Scatman Cruthers. I did not know what he was going to do, but he ended up singing and he was great. He played a ukulele and sang the blues. I know he sang the theme song to Hong Kong Phooey, but I did not expect him to do it here, but he was tremendous.

Other guests in these episodes included Mary Wells, The Spinners, Billie Davis Jr & Marilyn Macoo, Peaches and Herb, and Kim Carnes.

Another surprise was Pamela Meyers singing “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”. While Meyers had sung songs before, she was out on the street all by her self. We could hear the background vocals of Sha Na Na, but there was no sign of any of them. I wonder if that was the first time someone sang a song without any sight of any of the group?

Sha Na Na was inducted into the EYG Hall of Fame this year in the April 1 Legends class. I had a lot of fun with the boys over these four seasons.

Grease for peace….

Goodnight Sweetheart, well it’s time to go….

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #63

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“The Hedge Knight”

The new show on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk is the Game of Thrones prequel. I have only watched one episode of Game of Thrones (season 8, episode one… I was hopelessly confused), but I had heard that the show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, did not require a knowledge of Game of Thrones to enjoy, so I added it to the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. There are six episodes, averaging around thirty minutes or so.

The show is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg.

I’m not sure what I expected from this show, but this first episode was nowhere near it. That was not a bad thing. I thought the show was extremely charming. I felt a real connection to Ser Dunk as he attempted to enter a tournament. He was awkward and gawky, and anything like one would expect a knight to be. Meeting with the bald-headed boy named Egg, Egg would eventually convince Dunk to allow him to be his squire.

No bravado or arrogance as most knights show, Dunk was an uncommon character to lead this type of series. Again, I am not sure what I expected from a Game of Thrones prequel, but I really did enjoy this slice of imagination.

Peter Claffey played Ser Dunk. Dunk is an extremely tall person, especially in comparison to the others around him. Dexter Sol Ansell played Egg. I liked the dynamic between these two characters and I expect that they will be an important part of whether or not I continue ot enjoy this show.

It had a much more comedic feel to it than I expected. While not an out and out comedy, the tone of the show had that light-hearted humor feel which is, perhaps, why I did not expect this to be in the Game of Thrones world.

This was an interesting start to the next show in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. We will see how it progresses in the upcoming weeks.

Jury Duty: Company Retreat E6, E7, E8

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When I started watching this season of Jury Duty: Company Retreat, I was unsure how I felt about it. By the end, I found myself absolutely lovoing it.

The last two episodes continued the storyline of the purchase of Rockin’ Grandma’s by the Triukas group and the reveal that they had a sinister motive behind the deal, giving Anthony a chance to come in at the end as a hero to stop the deal.

The Talent Show section of the show was absolutely amazing, and bringing in Sia as a guest star in the talent show was such a ridiculous, over-the-top moment, but worked so well.

Anthony Norman was such a wonderful man, and the perfect piece for the heart of the show. He was willing to take on all sorts of craziness from the collection of characters around him and he did it with such leadership and empathy. I did not think this show could top Ronald Gladden from season one of Jury Duty, but I think maybe Anthony was able to do it.

The final episode of Jury Duty has been when they go behind the scenes after the final reveal to the non-actor and it has always been one of my favorite episodes of the season because you get to see how intricate things have to be and to what lengths they take things to make this show work. Being able to see Anthony with his eyes finally open to what was going on around him is so much fun.

It also truly showed how much of a bond he had made with the actors, how connected he was with these fictional characters in real life and how much of an effect he had on them is so sweet and heart-warming. It gives you the message that if you are respectful and kind to people, good things will happen. I would be curious to see what would happen if they guy they bring in to the series would just freak out or not go to the extremes that they required him to do.

I am sure they spent all kinds of time researching their non-actor, making sure they would find the strongest possible candidate. They truly succeeded in that aspect this year.

I was iffy on the show at first, but it quickly turned into one of my favorite shows. It was easy to watch, always funny and entertaining and had a fabulous message. Jury Duty ahs had two stellar seasons of TV on Amazon Prime so far. Here’s hoping for a season three down the line.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E6

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“Requiem”

I guess Skull Island is taking place at Jurassic Park now.

What was that opening scene meant to convey? It was a huge nothing. I guess there had not been many scenes between Kentaro and Hiroshi so the writers felt they needed something to show the audience. Or maybe they needed to throw a Kong cameo in to justify the name.

I don’t know how much more of this show I can take.

I did like how Kentaro ripped into Cate with her ridiculousness. The Cate character does the same thing every episode and it feels like they could just take her dialogue and copy it every scene.

What has been true about this show since day one is that the flashbacks are heads and shoulders above the present day material. That remains to be true. We follow Shaw in his reassignment and we come to meet his father. It didn’t make me feel much better when his father asked him why he was here, and he said was it a fight or fornication. Fornication? Who uses that word in their daily dialogue?

It was interesting to see how Lee’s flashback to his father was similar to the way Lee was thinking in the present. It is meant to show that Lee is not thinking clearly, but if he is on the opposite side of Cate then I am all down with it.

The Godzilla cameo in Kentaro’s dream was ridiculous. It was not as superficial as the Kong cameo, but it wasn’t much above it.

Then, as Lee was attempting to see if it was possible to open a rift to summon Godzilla to fight Titan X, something wonky happened and present day Lee started talking to young Lee on the walkie talkie.

Has the show added a time travel element to it? That ending was an interesting tidbit that maybe becomes something to help the show out. I have found this to be quite the sludge to get through each week, and I hope that the second half of the season would bring more to intrigue me than what it has done before.

Invincible S4 E5

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“Give Us A Moment”

Holy crap.

Okay, that was as gruesome and as brutal as anything I have ever seen. I was shocked and disturbed by the imagery of Conquest ripping Mark’s intestines out of his body while Mark choked him to death.

I mean… clearly Invincible is not dead, but I have no idea how he survived that ending of this episode.

I sure hope Conquest is finally dead. The show made it appear that he is done, but I know super hero shows bring dead people back.

This episode seemed to be a slower episode as Mark and Oliver prepare to leave earth with Omni Man and they dealt with a bunch of the moments on the planet. The face off with Debbie and Nolan was amazing. Debbie was brutal as she listened to Nolan’s excuses but responded with so much vitriol.

There was a nice meeting with Nolan and Art, and Art’s reaction to Nolan’s departure was great and very understandable. When Art told Nolan that he had closed his account because he only does costumes for heroes was rough.

It seemed like everything else was just a pre-fight episode… and then all hell broke loose.

The battle between Mark and Conquest was absolutely insane. I was actually screaming at the TV when Conquest shoved his hand through Mark’s gut. I can’t believe how devastating this fight was and how vicious the struggle was. Mark, refusing to break his grip from around Conquest’s neck no matter what happened, was amazing.

I know Mark does not die… or at least, he is still alive in the comics. I don’t know if there is some kind of death but resurrection coming. Mark sure was left in a horrendous state.

Shrinking S3 E10

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“The Bodyguard of Sadness”

Woof. This one packed a punch.

It was graduation day for Alice and the emotions are all over the place for poor Jimmy, with his father departing for a deep sea fishing trip instead of attending graduation, Paul getting ready to move to Connecticut and the fact that Alice is graduating is really crushing Jimmy’s spirit.

Jason Segal gave one of his best performances of the series in this episode as he confronted Paul about a myriad of issues, some of which were directed toward Paul and others that were directed toward his own father. It was devastating to see Jimmy rip into Paul like he did, especially since a lot of the anger was actually directed to his father and his childhood trauma, the fact that everyone was leaving him, and that he was feeling alone.

Harrison Ford has been brilliant in this series, and this episode was no exception. He was so subtle throughout, but you could tell how much Jimmy’s attack affected him. He sat in his home, waiting for the car to take him to Connecticut, and you can see how much he was suffering from the rejection of Jimmy, who Paul had invited for a goodbye breakfast.

The line: “I get it now. I’m not as important to you as you are to me. I just feel stupid it took me that long to realize it. I’m just not that sensitive, Paul. I’ll survive” dropped by Jimmy was like a dagger and put in words they way that Jimmy was feeling.

This was the penultimate episode of season three, but man did it feel like a finale. Everyone was finding their path over the next several months, and Jimmy was there all on his own.

It makes me worried for Jimmy as his mental health seems to have taken a huge back step from the positive areas that it had reached since the loss of Tia.

One more episode of the season next week. The finale should be fire.

The Pitt S2 E13

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“7:00 PM”

I have never watched The Pitt live on HBO Max on the night it released until tonight. It had a premiere feel to me. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it did seem to make the episode pop even more than it does.

Robby and Dana continue their conflict with each other that resulted in a fiery scene to end the episode. Dana is trying to get Robby to go home and start his sabbatical and Robby is listing the reasons why he is still there. You can tell why these two are the backbone of the ensemble. Then, Robby blurted out the episode ender, leaving us all with our mouths agape… “What if I don’t come back?”

Obviously, this is something that has been weighing on Robby for awhile now, and part of the reason he is avoiding his departure is that he is afraid that if he heads out, he’ll find what has been missing and he won’t come back. Robby stated that he was unsure if the place could go on without him. This is, of course, extremely narcissistic feelings, but they stem from his own breakdown.

There are speculation online that this might be leading to suicidal thoughts for Robby, with some going as far as to say that Robby might die. It does seem as he has been getting worse as this season progressed, but I find it hard to believe that there is going to be any sort of suicide attempt by the lead character of this show.

It was nice to get some extended time this week with Whitaker as he has seemed to be somewhat benched this season. It is ironic that we get more of Whitaker on the screen at a time when his shift should be over. It is funny how the show consistently looks for ways to keep these people in the ER well past when they should be gone.

I have to say that I am not sure I appreciate this show giving me a character like Ogilvie, who I hated, only to bring him down to earth, humanize him, and make him someone I can relate with.

Then, I did not understand why Sean was here as a night shift doctor named Henderson. I thought Sean was preparing to be a sous chef. Of course, this is a reference to the fact that actor Luke Tennie, who has played Sean on Shrinking for all three seasons of that show is now appearing on The Pitt. It was a touch distracting through no one’s fault but my own.

There are two remaining episodes of the season and with Robby’s friend Duke getting a horrible diagnosis, things may be amping up to a painful final two episodes of a season that has been sensational once again.

Daredevil: Born Again S2 E2, E3

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“Shoot the Moon”

“The Scale & the Sword”

This week, Disney + dropped episode two and three of Daredevil: Born Again tonight.

There are some amazing things happening in this series. The highlights of these two episodes include:

  • Trial of the Swordsman. Spoiler… it was fairly rigged and he was found guilty.
  • Reveal of the Mayor Kingpin online person: It’s Bebe.
  • Matt and Karen lead an attack on the AVTF base in Red Hook.
  • Daredevil got all the caged individuals out.
  • White Tiger returns… kind of…
  • Bullseye is running around. He killed two AVTF agents in the elevator- brutally.
  • Heather continues to slip into darkness.
  • Fisk was preparing to box, killed his trainer.
  • Daniel is concerned that the leaks were coming from his laptop. He warns Bebe.
  • Gallo’s death is covered up as a car wreck.
  • Karen and Matt are roused out of the bar where they are hiding out.
  • Cherry is safe, gotten out of the hospital before the AVTF got him.
  • Vanessa has weird dreams
  • Kingpin had the ship blown up, killing the workmen on the ship.
  • Karen captured a AVTF agent who wants to help them stop Fisk.
  • Karen and Matt take up residence in Frank’s place.

The Daredevil fight scene at Red Hook was awesome, with DD and Jack fighting brutally.

I am anxious for Jessica Jones, who has yet to appear. I am excited to get her into the show.

Episode two was a little slower, but I thought the characterization is great. This show has done a really great job including the story of the ensemble cast around Matt and Karen.

It did feel a little easy for DD to get into the cages and to get the people out of the prison.

However, I did not want episode three to end. When it went to black screen, I literally yelled out. I wanted it to continue. I am excited to see next Tuesday.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E5

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I just HATE Cate.

Yet again, her stupidity or selfishness has led to tragedy. This time, you could see it coming a mile away. Cate couldn’t though.

Her latest brain dead moment had her right in the path of Titan X for no reason.

I had seen a spoiler somewhere online that someone major was going to die in this episode and I so hoped it would be Cate, but I knew it wouldn’t be. I had my fingers crossed, but she continued to be the worst character on TV.

I want to point out that this is not a diss at the actor playing Cate, Anna Sawai. She is doing what she can and she has a lot of emotional moments. My complaints are how the character is constantly being written.

As soon as she was standing before the gigantic monster and Hiroshi noticed she was not with the crew, I knew who was going to be the tragic loss. In fact, earlier, when they were dealing with the fact that Hiroshi had found the letter Keiko wrote Lee, it reminded me of how things would be resolved on LOST and then that character would bite it.

I don’t know where this show goes next, but I am not a fan of the current path of this story.

Paradise S2 E8

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“Exodus”

What a finale.

Paradise season 2 wrapped up with episode 8 in the most explosive way…literally.

The amazing action, reunions, and new twists and redemptions.

Sinatra making the sacrifice play, did not see that coming.

Xavier reuniting with his kids was amazing. Xavier and Sinatra working together to save their daughters who were trapped in the elevator. Link and his men coming across them and jumping in to help was a wonderfully heroic moment.

Jeremy coming back with help to save Nicole Robinson, who was badly injured and who demanded that Jeremy leave her behind. He showed himself as another hero on this show and seeing him and Presley kissing at the end was sweet.

I confirmed that Sinatra’s husband, Tim Redmond, was played by Tuc Watkins, who appeared on some soap operas I watched years ago (OLTL, GH) as well as on Desperate Housewives. I thought it was him, and I Googled him to conform the role.

Discovering the identity of Alex looks to set up the next season of the show as the underground bunker in the mountain is no more. Exodus, or the evacuation of the colony was unbelievable. What will those who were in the bunker for so many years, thinking that the outside world was gone, react to the fact that the outside world is still there and livable?

Oh and, surprise, there is another bunker under the Denver airport. This seems to be where Alex is, and Alex apparently is an AI that can see the future and determine what to do from it. An AI that is thinking on its own and answering questions that haven’t been asked yet. The show always had a sci-fi element to it, but it feels as if the show has taken a bigger step into the genre.

I think I may have liked season two of this show more than I liked season one, and I thought season one was exceptional. Season two had so much going for it and it captured so much suspense and drama with the characters and the difficult situations the show placed them in. Who would have thought that Sinatra would be the redemption arc of this show?

Bring on season three!

Invincible S4 E4

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“Hurm”

How was the episode with Satan the funniest of the season?

The dialogue of this episode, especially between Mark and Damien Darkblood, is just tremendous.

How was the trip to Hell what helped spur Mark to begin his recovery from his season long funk?

Starting off the episode with Art being the person Mark could talk to was a nice idea. Above all else, to get Invincible out of that rotten blue and black costume and back into his old one, which is soooo much better. I love seeing Mark flying through the air with the blue and yellow.

I saw an article online that episode four is divisive of an episode and has been the lowest rated episode of the season. I was surprised by this, because this is my absolute favorite episode of the season so far. They claimed this was a “filler” episode, but I couldn’t care less about that. Filler or not, quality is quality.

It could be divisive because of the fact that Mark is in Hell and that the show has a specific comment to make about Heaven. That makes more sense to me.

With Omni Man and Allen arriving at the end of the episode, just before Eve can tell Mark that she is pregnant, is some solid writing. The moment had the proper amount of gravitas as Nolan and Allen floated above the skyline.

I loved this episode. I found it to be such a breath of fresh air and gave me the hope that maudlin Mark wasn’t going to last forever. And it was extremely funny with the dialogue… especially how the demon was more positive than Mark. That juxtaposition was wonderful.

Sha Na Na S4 E14, E15, E16, E17, E18

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The series of Sha Na Na is coming close to an end as I am in the middle of season 4. Season 4 has not been my most favorite season of this show. I think a big part of that is that they have been doing a bunch of songs that I have never heard before. Part of the fun of Sha Na Na is that they were singing songs that I recognized form the 1950s and 1960s. While I appreciate that they do not repeat songs very often, a lot of these songs did not appeal to that nostalgia. They did them fine, but I just was not engaged as I should have been.

Some of these guests were scrapping the bottom of the barrel too. See if you can figure out which one of these is not like the others: Lacy J. Dalton, Joey Travolta, The Currie Sisters, Jackie DeShannon and James Brown. Yep, I said James Brown. It was a strange performance though. He did not seem to get much reaction from the Sha Na Na crowd and it seemed to bother him. I think he probably fed off the energy of the crowd a lot, and there was not much energy in the crowd.

One of the comedy bits was with the song Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and I remember learning about that country name change from this song.

They played the song “Rock ‘N Roll Music” but it was sung by Chico. While I enjoy Chico’s songs usually, it just felt like the wrong Sha Na Na singer for this song. It was originally recorded by Chuck Barry and I think it would have been better with Donny singing it. Or maybe Screamin’ Scott. Chico’s version was fine, but it just did not feel right.

There were actually several songs that felt a little off during these episodes. I wonder if they were realizing that the end was near and that the overall energy was starting to lack a bit.

Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat E3, E4, E5

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I was surprised as I was binging a few episodes of Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat. As the fifth episode ended, the Prime account I had switched to a different show. I come to find out that this was not dropped all at once, as I had thought, but instead episode six was being released on April 2nd.

I felt disappointed, because I had reached a sort of rhythm with the show and I was into it. So I was ready to watch maybe even the rest of the series tonight. Now I can’t do that. It’s okay.

The show had picked up steam for me. The whole Grandma with the moving arm bit was absolutely hilarious. Unbelievably raunchy and an amazing visual.

The speaker who climb Mount Everest and had his testicles get frostbite… as painful as that sounded, I could not stop laughing.

I am amazed that Anthony has not started wondering about the entire situation. These speakers were so over the top that he had to be thinking, at the very least, what the heck kind of retreat is this.

The sexual harassment seminar that they had to attend gave us a running joke: porcupine. I will never think of that word the same way again.

If Anthony really does not know what is going on, then he has to be a saint for the way he treats these insane people around him. He is really going to the next level as a temp employee.

I felt badly for Dougie as he revealed that Taco Bell sauce was a main ingredient in his new product sauce.

I have picked up momentum with Jury Duty 2 and I am looking forward to the next episode.

Invincible S4 E2, E3

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“I’ll Give You the Grand Tour”

This episode went into space to see Nolan and Allen in their attempt to find ways to avert the upcoming war against the Viltrumites.

The episode took us into the past of the Viltrumites, showing how the race dealt with a killer virus and how Nolan came to be the way he was.

The first half of this episode was not as interesting to me. When the show switched to Nolan and Allen, my interest level increased. These were some fun moments between the two as their developing friendship was highlighted.

Plus, a little parody of Star Trek is brought to the story.

JK Simmons and Seth Rogen carried the episode with their voice work with these two unlikely friends teaming up with each other to prepare for what is coming. Nolan is on his way back to earth to Mark.

“I Gotta Get Some Air”

Hey, Mark and Oliver bleed from their nose in the exact same way.

As Mark deals with his decision to punch through the head of a man to stop the Sequids, Atom Eve has to deal with her own problems as her powers are going wonky. Turned out that she is pregnant and that is what is causing the issues.

There was so much going on in this episode.

  • Titan getting revenge on Mr. Liu for attacking his family; He called Invincible Inc. and Oliver responded.
  • The Flaxans returned in an attempt to take over the earth. They were taking human prisoners.
  • Monster Girl and Robot got stuck in the other dimension after going through the portal to destroy the antenna that keeps the Flaxans alive on earth.
  • Invincible and Oliver fight the dragon.
  • Both Titan and Mr. Liu were suckered to rejoin the Order

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #62

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His & Hers

“Episode Six”

Well, what do you know.

I was right.

Well, kind of…

I had speculated after the third episode that Anna’s mother, Alice, was the killer and that she had killed Rachel in a state of confusion. When the second body showed up, I figured that my twist suspect was innocent.

Nope. I was right. Alice was the killer. However, I was wrong in that she did it in a state of confusion. No, she planned it out and executed all three of the killings as retribution for an attack that Anna suffered at her 16th birthday party when she was raped by a bunch of men and these girls just sat back and watched. The whole dementia thing was faked as part of her plan to get away with the murders.

She confesses in a letter she wrote to Anna, who was pregnant and had reunited with Jack.

For awhile, the show hinted that maybe the killer was actually Kathryn, and I was guessing that she had faked her own death, but that was also a theory that was quickly dropped in this finale. Turned out that Lexy Jones was actually Kathryn. Lexy and her husband was the patsies here because Alice was planning on framing Lexy for the murders, but Priya shot her before that could happen. Poor Richard the camera guy got totally f-ed up during this whole thing, and he did not do anything,

It always felt as if there was something missing. I stated it last week that it felt as if there were some pieces that did not fit together and that I was hoping that the show would fill those gaps in in the finale. It sure did that.

The video tape that Alice found that showed the assault on Anna at her 16th birthday, and it inspired her to go after the others. That twist made a lot of the missing gaps go away. At first, I was not sure about the twist, but as it continued on, I found it to be a neat way to wrap up the limited series.

I enjoyed the six episodes and it does feel like it was a satisfying conclusion to an intense series. I am not sure how I feel about the ending as things are left fairly up in the air. And poor Richard…

So with that, another series during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to a close. Next week, we start the new series, the Game of Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max. I never watched Game of Thrones, but I heard that you do not need to have seen the original to enjoy this show. I hope they are right.