Welcome back to another week of great TV. Thank you for coming back I hope you discover a new show to add to your weekly viewing.
Starting this
week
Here are the shows starting this week that I am adding to my viewing list.
Code Black (CBS) 25th April
The show centers on the fictional Angels Memorial Hospital, where four first-year residents and their colleagues must tend to patients in an understaffed, busy emergency room that lacks sufficient resources.
Quantico (ABC) 26th April
A look at the lives of young FBI recruits training at the Quantico base in Virginia when one of them is suspected of being a sleeper terrorist.
Taskmaster US (Comedy Central) 27th April
Reggie Watts hosts a game show like no other, where contestants compete in a series of incredibly taxing and strange challenges under his harsh judgment.
Renewed
And so it begins, and it starts with CBS as this week they renewed 11 shows.
Here are the shows I am excited to see returning for another season
I Have Been Watching
The Voice AU (Nine Network)
If you love a show, it stands to reason that you will enjoy an international version, and as you know, I love The Voice on NBC and after a bit of googling I had a list of Voice versions from around the world. To narrow the versions done I had a quick look at who the coaches were, and if I was a fan of any of them, The standout was Australia's version as I could see they had a good range of genres and this seasons been as good as any.
The four coaches are Boy George, Delta Goodrem, Kelly Roland and new coach Joe Jonas. What surprised me most was that they air four episodes a week and I think this is an excellent idea as they can give more time to showcase the talent auditioning for the show and keeps viewers coming back to see who gets a spot on one of the coaches teams.
Like most shows of this type, it helps that the coaches get on and have great chemistry and they have lots of it. I am looking forward to the battle rounds as we can see what the artists can do and like the US version the show only gets better with each round.
I am a few episodes behind, but that ok as this is a show I can have on in the background as I do some work on the computer and a bonus I can feel like a coach and take a look at the screen if I like what I hear.
At the moment I have routing for team George to win because he has years of experience he will give his team some great songs.
Last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
I still amaze me that John Olive could not find success in his native UK and had to move to America to get any shot at doing the type of comedy he like's. But UK's loss is America's gain.
This weeks episode was fantastic if only for the last few minutes.
The main subject was all about taxes and help clarify how big companies can do a bit of shuffling and help them only pay the smallest amount of tax possible all the while not breaking any laws.
But I had completely forgotten about that and had to google that as all I can remember is the story that after almost five years since filing for bankruptcy there are still four stores independently owned and operated still open in Alaska. The reason for this is mainly down to slow internet, so using a service like Netflix, the company they were one of the reasons blockbuster went out of business is impossible of expensive if you use your mobile phone data.
Like the rest of blockbusters, the stores are struggling to stay open as internet speeds improve. This story helps segway into a story they covered a few episodes back about Russell Crow is celebrating his divorce but the selling off props from films he has stared in.
When John first mentioned this, he also listed some of the items he was selling off, this included a jockstrap from the film Cinderella Man. With the auction happening last week John thought it only right to let you know how much the jock strap sold for it was expected to sell for around $500. To everyone surprise, it sold to a phone bidder for $7,000. Speculation started to grow as people thought it was John who had bought it and they were right, but that's not the only thing he purchased was he also got other items including a waistcoat from the film La miserable. But he was not keeping them for himself. He gave one of the last remaining Blockbusters 48 hours to get in contact with the show, and they would send the items to them to display in the store and help attract new customers.
I hope in the next few weeks we get to see the items delivered and installed in the store. If you have not seen this yet, I would believe there must be a clip of this on youtube by now.
The Crossing (ABC)
The crossing is one of a few shows in recent years that is doing a great job of answering viewers questions but at the same time bringing up more problems they keep you coming back each week.
As they start to bring in more people to help answer the question of if the survivors are from the future or some kind of cult. With one of the children suffering from an unknown infection, they bring in an expert to help stop it from spreading, but the little girl says that her mum was the only person who could cure her.
As the survivor start to believe they are never going to escape the confines of the campsite and are feeling like prisoners.
Police chief Ellies is also feeling betrayed after giving away the details of one of the survivors who is on the run from the FBI but after a swat team rushed in and tried to capture the fugitive.
As he starts to get more questions from the resident of the local town about what happened on the beach, he is beginning to ask his questions.
This weeks episode also saw one of the survivors manage to escape the camp and meet a local who offers to help show her around a local fair.
Survivor (CBS)
Survivor is always better in the individual stage of the competition.
By winning immunity challenges and also keeping their alliances together to help them stay around longer.
This weeks episode saw the return of a survivor classic as the contestants had to eat bugs to win safety for the week.
As the end starts to cross the survivor's minds, the paranoia begins to set in and as new groups from to get out fellow players it always to help to trust the people you are strategising with as within a few hours your plans are out the window, and you're the one being voted out.
Tribal council where the tribe vote out their fellow tribemates is always great. You have the prior knowledge of who the alliances want to vote out even if they change their mind during the tribal council and then after the vote you have the fun of seeing if one of the players will use any advantage they have. This usually is a hidden immunity idol, a small item found hidden near their camp and can be played for anyone but only after everyone has voted.
This show has always been described as a social experiment, and I can see why. You are stranded on an island with complete strangers that in everyday life you might not come into contact with and have to form a tight group to build shelter, find food and ultimately win challenges and keep your tribe intact.
With this show having various international versions I would love to see past winner or important players from around the world compete as a best of the best seasons.
With the show currently in its 36th season, it was unsurprising that CBS renewed it from another season this week. Recently that has given each new season a theme am looking forward to seeing what theme they go for next.
I'm dying up here (Showtime)
My new show of 2017 is back soon and to help promote that Showtime has put the first episode up on it demand service.
This show is about stand-up comedians in LA during the 70's and last season was great and showed all sides of stand-up. From the newcomers just starting out all the way to the headline acts and also showed the club owner and what she as to do to keep both the customers and the comedians happy.
The first episode focused on Cassie and her tv debut. "Women are funny too." a show she got last season with the help of club owner/promotor Goldie. Also, this episode showed us how Ron was getting on as an extra in a TV sitcom as a postman that appeared for a small scene in most episodes.
What makes this show engaging is the diversity of the cast with some seemingly doing well for themselves while others are doing not so great.
Knowing a few of the actors from other shows it always takes me a little while to get used to them in different shows.
It helps that the set is so accurate to the period and the costumes are correct I can see that the creators have spent a lot of time making sure they get every aspect of this right.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens this season as already in this episode they have alluded to the rising popularity of Las Vaga and the posable effect that could have on the LA comedy scene. As it's my current new show of the year, I wonder what will take its place.
Masterchef: Junior (Fox)
Like a broken record I am telling you I am no good at cooking and should have takeaways on speed dial on my phone and I say this as everytime I watch Masterchef: Junior I am blown away by the creations the contestants come up within a limited amount of time.
Most of what I see would not look out of place in a 5-star restaurant. Most competition shows have a sense of strategy or backstabbing, but this one seems different as they all get along with each other and cheer each other on and want everyone to do well.
This week was a double episode. In the first episode, the contestant were grouped into teams to make egg benedict. The team with the most were safe from elimination. In the elimination challenge, the remaining chefs had to make an egg yolk ravioli and from what I saw would be difficult for even the adult contestants.
The next episode saw them having an hour to create a dish including chocolate, and this saw one of the broadest ranging styles of recipes I have ever seen on the show. Predictably most of the kids went for a desert and made some fantastic looking food but to stand out a couple of them chose to use the chocolate in a meat dish, and I had to check if that was a thing and it is.
In a new twist, the winner of the round would win the first ever golden apron. Which keeps the winner safe until the semi-finals, so this was a significant challenge.