W2W for the Week of 9/9
Gentle Reminder: These are new so I haven’t watched them yet, but they are on the list because the reviews are good, the buzz is loud, or both. Or I just think they should be here.
On Monday, the 12th, we get the 74th version of the TV Academy’s award show, aka the Emmy’s. The show will be on NBC (and Peacock), so it’s little surprise that they’ve chosen Kenan Thompson to host, as he’s seemingly a permanent SNL cast member at this point. I haven’t looked to see who the critics or gamblers think will win (as I don’t actually care), but I thought I might share who I would vote for, if I had a vote, in the major categories.
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series - White Lotus (HBOMax)
Outstanding Drama Series - Better Call Saul (AMC)
Outstanding Comedy Series - Hacks (HBOMax)
Obviously, if any of those shows win, it’s because of the massive support I’ve thrown their way. Also, in case you were curious, I found choosing in the comedy series category to be far harder than in drama series.
And with that, let’s get to what is both a disappointing and short list for this week (so I may get a little long-winded talking about these shows, sorry in advance):
1.) Cobra Kai - Season 5 (Netflix on 9/9) - The original “The Karate Kid” movie (currently available on Showtime and Paramount+) is one of my favorite films. I’ve seen it more times than I can count. I’m not going to claim that I know all the lines, but I know A LOT of them. And I stuck with the series longer than I should have. My family still gives me grief for dragging them to the 1989 dud “The Karate Kid Part III”. Luckily I didn’t drag them to the theaters to see “The Next Karate Kid” with me (I can’t remember who did join me on that outing, and to whomever it was, I’m sorry), because that one was even worse, even if Hilary Swank (the “Next KK”) is a significantly better actor than Ralph Macchio. Plus it was probably another decade before I’d get to say “but we got to see Walton Goggins in one of his first movies” and anyone would care (he’s in it, though I bet you didn’t know that). Despite that love for the original, and possibly because I knew just how bad the series got after that, I was EXCEEDINGLY skeptical about “Cobra Kai” when I heard they were making a show that would pick up on the lives of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel-san decades after the original film and, even with it receiving positive reviews, would have put it in the “others” section of this blog and said something snarky. But then my brother told me it was good. And then I heard from some other people that it was good. Then it ended up on Netflix and so I finally gave it a try. Let me be blunt about this, the show is not good. Yet, I really really really enjoyed season 1. I went from absolutely hating Johnny (and rooting against Billy “William” Zabka in everything he appeared in), to pulling for the guy. Sadly, I’ve found each season to be a bit worse than the previous one, even as they rope in more characters from the first 3 movies. At this point, I wish they would write Daniel-san’s entire family off the show. They are all terrible, and the show is significantly better when they aren’t on screen, which, sadly, isn’t often enough. But, I’m still going to give season 5 a shot. And the reviews are still very good, so maybe this season will be an uptick from season 4. Worst case, maybe I’ll be inspired to do some chores around the house. Maybe some sand the floor or paint the fence.
2.) Atlanta - Season 4 (FX on 9/15) - There was a time pre-pandemic when this was the trendiest show on TV. It won some Emmy’s and turned a couple of its cast members into movie stars. One time in New York City I even saw Clive Owen having a coffee outside with a non-famous person and he stopped their conversation to point out that Atlanta creator and star Donald Glover was walking by. The show wasn’t “normal” in that it didn’t follow a standard narrative, but it had some really good moments. Then season 3 came out earlier this year and I just didn’t really get it. The main cast wasn’t in many of the episodes and even when they were they were sometimes not being themselves. And yet, knowing that this is the final season of this show, I’ll be giving this season a shot and hoping it has more of those really good moments.
Shows I’m Currently Working On: House of the Dragon, Industry (season 2), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Reservation Dogs (season 2). The rest of the shows from last week (Never Have I Ever (season 3), What We Do in the Shadows (season 4), Hard Knocks, and This Fool) I finished.
And now for the others:
Morbius (on Netflix now) - Jared Leto stars as Michael Morbius, a biochemist who accidentally turns himself into a vampire who in the comics becomes one of Spider Man’s villains. According to the website Rotten Tomatoes, this is one of the 20 worst reviewed super hero films ever. Worse than Green Lantern. Worse than Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Even worse than a movie called “Under Dog”. So you should probably watch this on Friday night.
Gutsy (Apple+ on 9/9) - Hillary and Chelsea Clinton shine a light on (by interviewing) women who inspire them to be more gutsy. Somehow this includes Kim Kardashian and Megan Thee Stallion. Um…..what?
American Gigolo (Showtime on 9/9) - This is related to the 1980 Richard Gere movie of the same name, but as I’ve never seen that movie, I can’t tell you all the differences other than that this show is based on some of the characters from the movie. In this one, Jon Bernthal (who was great on “We Own This City”) stars as the gigolo Julian Kaye (Gere’s character was named Julian Kay, with no E, though I have no idea why they made the change). The show takes place both in the early 2000s when Kaye gets convicted of a murder he doesn’t remember and in the present day when he’s out of jail and gigoloing (if that’s a word?) again. Honestly, I don’t know why I went through all of that because the reviews are outright terrible.
Moonfall (HBOMax on 9/9) - The terribly reviewed movie from earlier this year that you may remember seeing commercials for during various sporting events. This movie features the moon falling to collide with the Earth, which is apparently really bad. Luckily, Halle Berry and Samwell Tarly (his real name is John Bradley) are here to save us.
End of the Road (Netflix on 9/9) - At this point my base case assumption is that any new Netflix movie will be bad. There’s nothing about this one that suggests otherwise. Queen Latifah is driving across the country with her kids and Ludacris (who I believe is playing her brother) when they witness a drug deal going bad and Luda takes the bag of cash left there. Obviously someone comes looking for the cash and the Queen must protect her family.
Narco-Saints (Netflix on 9/9) - Think of this as Narcos: Korea. This time the drug dealers are Korean, but are also doing business in south-east Asia and South America. So that’s fun.
Monarch (Fox on 9/11) - As we get into the fall, regular broadcast TV will be starting a lot of new shows. For instance, if you’re watching tonight’s football game, you’ve probably already seen 17 commercials for the reboot of “Quantum Leap”. By and large, I’m not going to be mentioning these shows on this blog. To make that point, I’m mentioning this show about a family of country music stars (actual musician Trace Adkins and actress Susan Sarandon play the heads of the family) who are trying to make a generational change and at the same time find their power at risk due to shady stuff they’ve done in their past. So yes, this is the country music version of “Empire”. I expect to see 100 commercials for this show while watching football and baseball over the next two months. However, those commercials are all of this show I’ll ever watch.
The Serpent Queen (Starz on 9/11) - Starz has had a number of period pieces over the years. I don’t know why that’s their sweet spot. I also can’t say I’ve ever really watched any of them. This one is about Catherine De Medici (played by Samantha Morton who I know as the precog from “Minority Report”). The reviews are actually very good and the love interest from “Coyote Ugly” (Adam Garcia) is in it. But this one isn’t for me.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Netflix on 9/13) - An anime series based on the videogame Cyberpunk 2077. The video game is actually coming out with an update that ties in with the series. I only know what some of those concepts mean.
Hell of a Cruise (Peacock on 9/14) - A documentary about the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the nightmare the passengers had to live through in the early days of Covid-19 as they were stuck on board with the virus raging through the ship. If you’re actually ready to relive that recent history, the buzz is pretty good on the doc.
Handmaid’s Tale - Season 5 (Hulu on 9/14) - This show used to be as big as “Atlanta”. I have no idea what’s happened with it over the last few seasons, and there’s a chance this is the last season of the show. But if a lot of people watch, I’d bet they figure out a way to make season 6.
Heartbreak High (Netflix on 9/14) - A remake of the 1994 Australian show that was so popular in the UK that the BBC started picking up some of the production costs for the latter few of it’s 7 original seasons. This one tells the story of a girl who becomes a social pariah after being suspected of listing all her classmates hookup history on a wall at school. Now she must deal with love, sex, friendship, and, of course, heartbreak!
Broad Peak (Netflix on 9/14) - A Polish movie based on a true story. 25 years after climbing Broad Peak mountain, a man finds out that he didn’t actually complete his summit. So, even though he’s old, he’s going to try to complete his journey.
Sins of Our Mother (Netflix on 9/14) - A Netflix true crime docuseries about Lori Vallow Daybell, a Mormon who thought her kids were demons. So, maybe she killed them?
Fate of a Sport (ESPN on 9/15) - This documentary about the creation of the Premier Lacrosse League has actually been on ESPN+ all month, but it’s going to be airing on regular ESPN on the 15th (and regular ABC on the 18th). The true story here is pretty amazing, as player Paul Rabil, along with his brother, try to start a new professional lacrosse league through the pandemic all while Paul continues to play.
Terim (Netflix on 9/15) - A documentary about Fatih Terim. Just in case you don’t know who that is, he spent about a decade playing for Turkish football club Galatasaray across the ‘70s and ‘80s. And then he spent the last 35 years as a famous manager, including multiple stints as the manager of Galatasaray and the Turkish national team along with short stints at Italian clubs Fiorentino and AC Milan.
Vampire Academy (Peacock on 9/15) - A second crack at turning the book series of the same name into watchable content. The first attempt was the terribly reviewed 2014 movie starring a young Zoey Deutch. This one is a TV show that will tell the story of two friends, one a royal vampire and the other a half-human/half-vampire training to be a protector. Then YA stuff happens. I can’t imagine this is as good as “Twilight”, and I’m allowing that bar to be as high or as low as you’d like it to be.
The best thing I saw this week actually happened today, and it’s a strange one. For at least a little bit more time, it’s still Disney+ Day. I hope you all got to celebrate this completely made-up holiday. It was originally conceived as a way to commemorate the anniversary of the launch of Disney+, and so the first Disney+ Day was in November. For this second Disney+ Day, Disney decided to move it up to just before D23, the convention for Disney superfans, which is happening this weekend. And on this day, of all days, I happened to come across something so outrageous that I thought I had to share it with you. While I am no expert on copyright laws, I understand that after a certain (long) period of time, art enters the public domain. Since Disney didn’t make any “Winnie the Pooh” stuff until the 1960s, that still remains copyrighted, however, earlier this year, the original A.A. Milne “Winnie-the-Pooh” book entered the public domain. Upstart schlock horror filmmaker Rhys Waterfield (he directed upcoming movies “Firenado” and “Demonic Christmas Tree”) decided to race to do something with the character. And that’s how we ended up with “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey”. The film was shot quickly over 10 days near the Ashdown Forest that inspired the Hundred Acre Wood and tells the story of what happened to Pooh and Piglet after Christopher Robin leaves them to go to college. Without a human to give them food, Pooh and Piglet become feral, and in the movie they go on a rampage looking for prey, even if it’s human prey. I have no idea when this comes out, but it looks and sounds absolutely terrible. I just love that I came across this on Disney+ Day of all days. Below is the poster, and if you want to see the trailer, click here. Can you imagine what nonsense Mickey is going to get into when he hits the public domain?
