Season 5 Episode 2: Fuelled by music
Welcome back to another of my weekly updates into what I have been watching.
As the new season gets into full swing I’m beginning to see which of the new shows I’m getting into.
I am still getting everything sorted to make my TV viewing experience as hassle-free as possible and look forward to each new day as it gives me a few hours of viewing and the tough decision as to what the watch first.
As someone who is just doing this for a little bit of fun during my spare time (normally a Sunday), I always feel bad about talking about my Patreon but the more people I follow and support the more I decided that having a Patreon was not a bad thing but just a simple way for people to show the smallest amount of love. So if anyone does become a member they will get their name on the Hall of Fame and forever be known as a loyal supporter.
If you think that you don’t want to support me monetarily another way to show love is to give me a quick follow on Instagram. i update it with all the shows I have been watching along with any new news items.
News
Renewed - Cancelled - Ordered
It may only be the start of the new season but that does not mean there will never been interesting things going on within the TV industry.
All Rise revolves around the personal lives of judges, prosecutors, and public defenders in a Los Angeles courthouse.
The plot follows newly appointed Judge Lola Carmichael, a highly regarded and impressive former deputy district attorney who does not intend to sit back on the bench in her new role, but instead leans in, immediately pushing the boundaries and challenging the expectations of what a judge can be.
Like this week out of nowhere a show I thought was dead and already berried was given a second chance on another network. After two season on CBS, they decided not to renew the legal drama “All Rise” for a third. It was a show that I was late too and watch the first season within a week if not quicker, then I watched each new episode almost immediately, so when it got cancelled I was a little surprised and after many month’s and now news about it I added it to a list of shows in my head that I believed deserved another season. So when leading actress Simone Missick posted a video to Instagram announcing that the show was coming back for its third season only this time on the OWN network I was very happy, and from what I was seen it looks like a lot of the original cast is back on board. so fingers crossed and good luck to all involved in making this show a success and I can’t wait to get back into it.
I Have Been Watching
The Rookie - S4 E1 – Life and Death
ABC – Comedy/Crime/Drama
It’s week two of the new TV season, and that means a few more shows are returning and one of them is one I look forward to each week, and that is “The Rookie.” Most of last season centred around two main storylines, one being the wedding of officer Lopez. The other was about “La Fiera”, a local crime boss out for revenge after her son was murdered in front of her.
At the end of the last season, Lopez was abducted just before her wedding, So the season opener focused on finding her alive and safe. Also, in this season premiere, we saw that La Fiera had given the orders to have officer West killed.
The only problem I had with this episode was that it was a bit out there for me. When the show first started, it was based locally and focused on minor crimes and the dynamics between the Rookie police officers and the training officers. There was a bit of comedy within most episodes when someone would run away, and the recruits would have to chase after them. But as the seasons have progressed, they have started to go a bit “Big budget”, “Blockbuster.”
To be clear, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing for a show, but only if that’s how it starts; that’s one of the reasons I love “Lethal Weapon” as a show, but when I first heard about this show I was drawn in for a few reasons one of them being that it had “Nathan Fillion.” The other was that it reminded me of an old cable show called “Southland.”
With the cliffhanger from last season tied up, I hope we can get back to the day to day normality of a LA police officer. Also, the fact that Nolan is now officially a P2, I hope, will move the show’s storyline along a bit and may even introduce a few new cast members.
Bob hearts Abishola - S3 E2 – Bowango
CBS – Comedy/Romance
Bob hearts Abishola is one of the shows I believe is consistently funny. I can’t think of an episode that I did not laugh out loud at some point while watching it. I know that not every episode is a standout, but I have never watched an episode and felt like I had wasted 20+ minutes of my time.
Last season we followed Abishola, worried about Dele and what would happen if she let him go back to Nigeria with his father for the summer. After some consideration, she allows Dele to go and visit his family in Nigeria. Still, the worse is realised when in the final episode, Dele’s father, Tayo, says that he is keeping his son in Nigeria as that’s what is best for him. So in the opening episode, Bob, Abishola, Olu and Tunde travel to Nigeria to bring Dele back to Detroit.
Having the first two episodes based outside of the usual setting’s of Detroit and in Africa was lovely to see; even if they are still filmed in the US, they still made them look like they were filming in Africa.
In the most recent episode, it was the big day. Bob and Abishola were getting married, so many traditions and customs needed to be done. One of the standout moments for this episode was the “presenting ceremony.” Where an Elder from Bob’s family has to introduce Bob to Abishola’s family, on one side, you have Abishola’s large family taking up most of their side. In contrast, Bob only has his mother, brother and sister on his side, taking up next to no space at all. I hope they have a few more episodes from Nigeria as they have been some of the shows best.
With Bob and Abishola now married im interested in where the show is going. Will they move in together? Will Olu & Tunde move in as well? What will happen to Dottie? Will she move back into her place? For a comedy show to have so many questions, it’s a mark of a well thought out program.
La Brea - S1 E1 – Pilot
NBC - Adventure/Drama/Fantasy
Along with Shows returning this week, we also got a brand new show in the form of “La Brea”, a show that could be very polarising. The premise is that a giant sinkhole opens in the centre of LA with many people falling into it. One of them being a mother and son, leaving the daughter behind with only her father still around.
For the people who fell into the hold. They ended up in an unknown land with no knowledge of where they are or how they get back to LA. When I first read that this was what the show was going to be about, I was looking forward to it even if it sounded like many shows that had been and gone in the past. All they needed was to add a slight question over the nature of the sinkhole, and you have a standard Fantasy Drama.
So after watching the first episode, I was not disappointed the show hit every Fantasy cliché in the book. Not only have they placed a question mark over if the people that fell into the sinkhole also went through a riff/wormhole, and they also posed the idea that they may have got back in time. As the area they landed in also had a lot of animals trying to kill them. They added the overused vision’s concept while they were “Losting,” the people in the skin hole. It was revealed that the father from the now split up family was discharged from the military for weird visions he was seeing. Only now he was seeing his wife in them now, believing they were still alive.
I would have been happy with just the where or when are the skin hole people story but having to have many fantasy storylines within one show is a little too much. Another problem I had with the opening episode was that it looked like some of the shot’s were filmed in front of a green screen and stood out like a sore thumb. Every so often, I was taken out of the story. I can forgive them because this was just the pilot and was also filmed during a global pandemic. Still, if it keeps happening, I can see it being a problem for some people.
As with any show, I always give it at least four episodes before giving my final opinions; even then, I still try to keep up with it. So this has three more episodes to make it onto my must-watch list.
Survivor - S41 E2 – Juggling Chainsaws
CBS – Adventure/Game-Show/Reality-TV
Of all the shows that might have had a problem returning in time for that start of a new TV schedule, Survivor was going to be one high up on my list. Still, luckily Fiji official’s allowed them to enter the country and begin filming.
This season the Survivor producers have decided to shorten the number of days the game is played from 39 days to 26 days. This reduction means that the game will have to be sped up to complete the season in time. Another exciting part of this season was a few new gameplay elements, including having people of tribes go to the top of a hill and risk their vote for the chance to gain another vote, along with the immunity idol this year is only valid when all three have been found—one on each tribes island. And if you choose to take it, you have to forfeit your voting rights until the other two have been found. To know if the others have been found, the owner has to say a specific phrase at the next immunity challenge, so you know they have all been found.
In this weeks episode, we start to see the Survivor we have come to enjoy. There are two idols to play for in the immunity challenge, unlike last week, where two tribes had to vote someone out. Like most immunity challenges, it’s always fun to see how convoluted the tasks are. They usually consist of moving a heavy chest forward to the next step, then opening the heavy trunk to revile the pieces needed to complete a puzzle, not before taking the pieces in bags up to the top of a wooden structure. I’m not saying I don’t like challenges set out like this, but it would be nice to get something slightly different.
It is still early into this season, and there are many games still to be played. Still, with the changes I have seen so far, I agree with the idea that this is a brand new era of Survivor, But even with all the changes and the reset feel about the show, there are still some things you can’t get away from or even control, and that is the discussing who to vote out in the middle of tribal council. Not many people will notice that all this is going on, and host Jeff Probst is still asking the contestants questions like it’s not even happening. That is not easy to do at the best of times, but doing it on a TV that is such an institution must be commended.
Well, it’s been a shorter one this week but this does not mean I have watched any less TV than normal like I said before it posted a photo onto Instagram for each show I have watched. So you think I’m not watching your favourite show or there is a show I’m missing out on head on over and message me and I will try and added it to my already busy schedule. Also while you are there please consider giving me a follow or even better take a trip over to Patreon and support me and in the process get your name on the Hall of Fame.
With that once more thank you for your time and I hope to see you back here again next week.
