travinitrav Reviews

Maggie Winters: Total Eclipse (1998) Season 1, Episode 1

Absolutely terrible generic single woman sitcom. Bad even by late 90's standards.

[1/10 · 22 April 2024]

A brief history lesson for those who dont know or cant remember: Most Nielson box families in the 90's preferred to watch garbage, because it made them comfortable. As a result we got many low quality shows and some of them even managed to stay on the air for a few seasons. We also had tons of incredibly bad shows being greenlit because network executives were desperate to fill airtime and keep their jobs. This is one such show.

The writing is incredibly bland and generic, either because they were trying to appeal to the bland generic audiences or the writers simply had no good ideas. Everyone says stupid trite things in their petty little trite lives and there is absolutely no plot. A woman is forced to move back home. Thats it. Thats your plot. And its as boring as it sounds. She meets some of the people she left behind and big surprise, none of them has done anything interesting. The women are all jealous and spiteful. The men are all stupid and horny. Some wacky shenanigans ensue, and by wacky I mean she kisses a boy on her front porch, and the petty spiteful women forgive and forget. Maggie can't get a job at the local rag, until she does 10 seconds later, and really nothing else happens. Its kind of sad how lazy a show can be and still get put on the air. I guess they were banking on Faith Ford being a huge draw.

She wasn't.

The jokes are mostly of the cute safe variety you'd probably find on an early 80's family show, and theres no depth or characterization even when Maggie is forced to tell he life story to the people she meets. Its annoying, its plain, and it makes you wish you hadnt wasted 28 minutes of your day on Youtube. I am writing this review to spare you the agony. Do not watch. Not even if you think you love Faith Ford. She had some other shows after Murphy Brown. Go watch one of those instead.

Porn King: The Rise & Fall of Ron Jeremy (2022)

Its just OK as documentaries go.

[6/10 · 14 December 2023]

I will do my best to review the miniseries and not Ron Jeremy himself or his victims.

To start off I'm not sure what viewers were complaining about. The early part of the first episode DOES explain how he entered the porn community and how he rose to fame. Not in much detail, I think they were hoping two short episodes would explain the basics in case there's anyone out there who doesn't know anything about Ron Jeremy. The documentary also goes into detail of how most of these actors first met and worked together. They tell some fun and silly stories about Ron before getting into stories of how he would stock, molest, violate, and rape women. Almost all are first hand accounts. They don't allow the witnesses to tell too many stories about other women. My main complaint is while we get plenty of interviews with his coworkers we do not get much in the way of actual investigation, nor do they interview any family members or law enforcement officers involved with his case. We do however get many accounts from the victims of how they were treated by society after coming out and sharing their rape allegations publically. We also don't see more than a few frames of the trial and nothing about his arrest or the official investigation. Its the kind of documentary where the film makers just let the interviewees talk and that's it. They don't have any voiceover explaining facts, and only a handful of title cards with information. For this reason I have to rate it low as a documentary, but the interviews were illuminating and felt genuine.

Also as opposed to the majority of American documentaries, this one does an amazing job of not pushing you to believe a viewpoint or get the viewer to feel a particular emotional state, or take a position. Nor do they speculate on any facts. I like that and I wish more documentaries took this approach. I'd also like them to have more facts. All they documented was a bunch of verbal stories from victims and a few from his coworkers, like cameramen and directors. The second episode ends with his legal situation up in the air. I wonder if now was the best time to make and release a documentary like this. Maybe they will do a follow up. No official word. I would have liked something much more thorough.

Barney Miller: Wojo's Girl: Part 2 (1979) Season 5, Episode 17

Sitcoms should be funny. This episode is not funny.

[2/10 · 27 November 2023]

We get it, Wojo doesnt know how to commit. Thats not enough material for a 30 minute episode.

The alleged couple spends the whole time being awkward and irritable and angry and they fight a lot. That isnt as humorous as it seems. Theres almost no real jokes, just unpleasant interactions between Stan Wojo and his girl Nancy, a woman we heard about a couple times and never saw before. Also a lot of dead silence where I guess the audience is supposed to think or assume. I suspect the biggest issue is the premise: These two people clearly dont know each other well and for not reason thats been explained yet, they choose to move in together. Thats a lazy premise without much hope for an entertaining half hour of TV and the writers put in no effort to make it funny or dramatic. Its good enough for maybe one short scene in a large story.

Even hardcore Barney Miller fans can safely skip this episode. It adds nothing to the series and slows you down.

The Stanley Parable (2013 Video Game)

Its probably what David Lynch would make if he was into video games.

[10/10 · 4 November 2023]

You ever been screwed directly in the brain? Thats what it feels like to watch a David Lynch film.

If video games ever went down that path, they'd probably feel like The Stanley Parable, a dissection of video game tropes and narrative, spun quite well into a fun little walking simulator that also messes with your head more than a quarter gram of LSD. You wander aimlessly, listening to a stranger narrate your every move, except its not aimless, and the narrator is making you do things, and you cant explain it, so you restart, and try another path. Or so you think. And it goes on and on darn near forever until you finally figure out the only way to win is not to play. That's only one of about 40 endings you can find. There's even an achievement for NOT playing the game, because that's the kind of insanity this one is going for.

Go for a trip, see you in the fall, and don't let the automatic closing door hit your ass on the way out.

Method to the Madness: The Making of Silent Madness (2020)

Its not their fault, they tried to make their documentary during a pandemic.

[6/10 · 12 September 2023]

Silent Madness is one of those less popular 80's horror films which has an incredibly small cult following.

Shot on a very low budget with some helpful people proving free locations, it was beaten to the theaters by A Nightmare on Elm street and had inferior 3D due to lack of funds. Regardless, the final product turned out OK thanks to a lot of love and determination by the crew.

Unfortunately this documentary won't give you much of the story. Due the pandemic they couldn't get most of the cast or crew back for interviews and what they do have with the ladies was recorded over Zoom.

Most of the stories are not especially interesting and they weren't able to unearth too many production stills or behind the scenes footage, most of what we get are just clips from the movie followed by somebody explaining the obvious.

A few good stories are scattered in and some background info, like one of the actresses getting her SAG card just so she could be shot in the back and forgotten. We also hear that Tom Savini spent one whole day on the production so that gave them an excuse to put his name on the poster. We also get a story about a famous actress that nobody on set had heard of.

Not a great documentary for a barebones cult film that probably deserved more. You will likely find more information on a web article than here. But its not a bad way to kill 45 minutes. Compliments to the documentarians for getting it put together during a lockdown.

Futurama: The Impossible Stream (2023) Season 11, Episode 1

Not one funny moment in 24 minutes. And the stunt casting of Cara Delevingne did not impress me.

[1/10 · 24 July 2023]

Apparently modern humor is a solid stream of meta jokes and self references. Nothing that was supposed to be funny actually made me laugh.

We get it, Groening, you think its hilarious your show was cancelled and reborn 4 times. Its hysterical. Keep telling us that over and over for an entire episode. I'm sure somebody somewhere is laughing like crazy. Probably in the writers room. Less likely the people at home.

Either the writers completely underestimated modern audiences and felt the need to pander to their desire for jokes about the jokes, or the writers correctly estimated our intelligence and humanity is doomed.

This style of writing might be a good indicator traditional half hour sitcoms are on the way out and we will be in a Dark Ages of TV for some time to come. Maybe the writers strike is a good thing? Perhaps going without a constant barrage of garbage will encourage more people to read books or go outside and talk to their neighbors. I dont know.

I do know this episode is not funny. Which is sadder when we remember the original Futurama was once the funniest show on television. I'm starting to think we should let old things die, and move on & create newer better things. Maybe thats asking too much of an America obsessed with nostalgia.

Anywho, the plot is about Fry's addiction to television and streaming old shows cuz everything new is garbage. And since that meta joke has already been made countless times on other shows, its not amusing anymore. Thats it, theres your plot. A meta plot meta joke on how its all been done before.

The Dana Carvey Show: The Pepsi Stuff Dana Carvey Show (1996) Season 1, Episode 5

Its more surprising than funny, and probably shocking in 1996.

[6/10 · 30 June 2023]

I missed this when it was new. Was an angry teenager in 1996 and mostly got into things like late night Liquid Television and those HBO and Cinemax specials that youngsters probably shouldn't watch. Only recently learned the Dana Carvey show was an epic disaster thanks to the documentary "Too Funny to Fail".

This episode doesn't really come off as hilarious or side-splitting. Mostly it seems like an amusing little diversion and insight into shock comedy of the mid 90's. The sketches arent as deep or introspective as they could be. They dont skewer pop culture or current events. They just set up little scenarios and keep pushing the punchline to the extreme in hope that some shock value might make the audience laugh. I appreciate the nobility of pushing boundaries but if they also could have made me laugh that might have been fun as well.

The stupid pranksters are funny but not laugh out loud funny. The head of Princess Diana isnt funny at all because it lacks wit and cleverness. I dont really care about murder one way or the other, nor do I care Princess Di was killed in a car wreck just a few months later. The bit simply is not funny.

Not a great result even though the writers probably beat themselves up for weeks trying to make it good.

The Simpsons: Fan-ily Feud (2023) Season 34, Episode 18

Its too difficult to describe how horrible this episode was.

[1/10 · 28 April 2023]

The Simpsons writers lost sight of humor about 23 years ago, and they've been slogging along like a dumb lazy overpaid zombie since then. The think they're making fun of pop culture but that was the 90's In the new millennium they just go along with pop culture to get ad revenue. It stopped being about entertainment back in season 9 or 10. The same year they sent some of their best writers to work on Futurama, which is a much better show.

You can go to youtube and watch a video called "The Fall of The Simpsons: How it Happened". Its 31 minutes and 8 seconds long. Very good description about how everything went to hell.

THIS ONE attempts to spoof modern American cultural obsession with young female pop singers, which is at least 20 years late. Instead its basically just kissing their bottoms, which is very much contemporary. And not one joke in the whole 21 minutes was funny. They got somebody I guess they think is famous to boost ratings. Its terrible. I wish they'd have killed it off in 1999.

Go watch. If you like it, you are part of the problem. If you dont like it, please do not watch this show, at least not on primetime. Let the ratings die, let the series die, let us all move on to the future.

Bill Cosby: Walking Free (2022)

Lousy documentary is also lazy.

[2/10 · 18 April 2023]

There's a whole lot of quick shots that don't mean anything and add nothing to the narrative. We also see a lot of long shots which also don't add anything and feel like padding. Doesn't feel like the crew did much research except read and recite Wikipedia, and maybe watch some news.

There a much better documentary called "We Need To Talk About Cosby" which goes in depth on his entire life, good, bad, and crazy. They have excellent interviews with a wide variety of people who knew him personally and professionally, and compare his career to other entertainers and black American icons, as well as his direct affect on American society as a whole.

This one is a waste of time and can be skipped, even for people who need to watch everything about Cosby.

Titus: Sex with Pudding (2000) Season 1, Episode 1

Saw this when it was new. Hilarious. 23 years later its just OK.

[7/10 · 12 February 2023]

At the time Titus and his TV show were pretty damn funny. But decades later I'm a little wiser and more open minded. Its still humorous but some of the jokes come at the expense of people who are not straight white males. And they arent bad people, they arent jerks. Just different.

Having said that you can see the cast really coming together and working as a team, most of the jokes land solid and theres some minor insight into Chris and Erins relationship, but also how the buddies stick up for him and support whatever crazy shenanigans he gets into. And believe me shenanigans are all over this series. Titus gets a weird idea in his head and just runs with it. Repeat for 3 seasons. Its damn funny sometimes but rarely has variety. Papa Titus doesn't have much to do in this episode, and to be honest Stacey Keach is the real star. He's the best actor by a wide margin and he also has the best character to work with. They probably could have just focused on him most of the time, it would have been a better version of "S#!t My Dad Says".

Oh the plot is a co-worker is hitting on Erin and Titus thinks he's going to confront that person and fight him. Turns out he doesnt want to fight them he just likes being a hero to Erin. Thats actually most of the series right there.

Babyface (1977)

excellent adult film, good action, lovely ladies, and its mildly humorous.

[10/10 · 31 January 2023]

For an adult movie it has a decent plot with some storytelling. A guy "accidentally" does it with an underage girl and has to go on the run. (Don't worry, the actress was well over 18 at the time). He ends up at a brothel and must stay there or be turned over to the police. He services various women as best he can before getting frustrated. Some of them are nicer than others. He also has flashbacks to other encounters in his life.

One amusing fun-fact is most of the performers here were in one and only one movie, this one. Including our hero, Dan.

The action scenes are great and well shot especially for this era. Lots of variety including groups and interracial.

Earlier DVD releases range from just OK to pure garbage. The HD release looks excellent except for a minor nitpick. In the 2nd half of the movie the frame jiggles a LOT. They used the cheap process of scanning the film while it played and the quality varies. Like the guy who did it was an armature or very pressed for time. Audio is mono but good quality, no scratches or weird sound compression or anything like that. You should probably look for the HD version wherever you buy your golden age smut.

Highly recommended movie especially for fans of the classics.

Night Court: Pilot (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

The first pilot had heart. It was about something. This one is just sass and canned laughter.

[3/10 · 19 January 2023]

Never in my life have I ever been so aware of fake, canned laughter over a tv show as I am with this one. Its almost as bad as The Bing Bang Theory. In fact it feels so similar to the big bang theory I wonder if it wasn't put together when that show was winding down. I guess the network executives needed money more desperately than Harvey Weinsteins lawyers.

Its not funny. The jokes are generic and terrible, and so are the characters. Dan Fielding in particular feels weak and one dimensional, like either the writers didn't know what to do, or Laroquette just wasn't feeling in the mood to go back.

A typical product of an era in which no one wants to take risks or be shockingly funny. This feels like it was thrown together quickly to cash in on the nostalgia craze. They were late. The nostalgia craze dwindled quickly during Lockdown, and now these types of shows just look dumb and outdated. I am sure it will not get one full season. They would do better to air re-runs of Night Court instead.

Also, the sentimental moments feel extremely forced, annoyingly sweet and not at all real. And the timing is a mess as well. Like John is the only professional actor here and everyone else is still figuring it out.

Not recommended even for the kiddies. If you are middle aged now and grew up with the original, you will hate this.

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

I want to like this, I really do, but it leans too heavily on the nostalgia table

[6/10 · 17 November 2022]

Without bringing enough original jokes.

Obviously, this whole project relied on steep nostalgia, but they really should have put more effort into making something that can stand on its own as entertainment. Bob Clark and Jean Shepherd couldnt rely on references for the first movie, because they had no previous film to reference, so they just told a good story. This one made its feast primarily of Member Berries and forgot to add some new ingredients, like a fun story or original characters. I think it got made in 2022 specifically because the Nostalgia Train is till running strong and a bunch of Boomers needed to feel warm and fuzzy while the world around them moves on. Also Peter Billlengsly may be trying to give a warm fuzzy feeling to Generation X at the same time. But that generation doesnt always like being obviously manipulated.

Most of the lines, jokes, and even shots are all based on making you remember something about the first Christmas Story, which isnt very entertaining by itself. Mostly it just reminds you that we could be watching that movie instead, which was kind of original at the time, and superior entertainment anyway. Of particular annoyance is all the flashbacks to actual clips of the first film. Thats great if all you want is warm feel-good memories of the old days. But a lot of the dialog feels flat and unfunny, probably because the only ideas they could come up with were references to old material.

If you are hoping for something fun and new, take a pass on this. Unlike the first movie, this is NOT required watching for all Red Blooded Americans. Its not a meal. Not even good enough for dessert. More like an after dinner mint. No one would confuse this with the main course. Its watchable, but you won't be watching it year after year like the Good one.

Shut Up & Sing (2006)

Its just not a very good documentary.

[3/10 · 18 October 2022]

At the time I did not love or hate the Chicks, in fact I had only a vague notion of who they were as I am not a country music fan (still not to this day). And I was a serviceman serving in California when the controversy started. I also like to think myself cold, objective, and not blindly patriotic. One of the many freedoms I protect (possibly the most important) is free speech. Unpopular speech is the type that actually needs legal protection because people will try to take it away from you, especially in the middle of a war or chaotic times. I respect that the Chicks made a statement and defended it when the rest of the nation was in a blind frenzy. The incidents after the statement are also a shining example of how America is actually a nation filled with dumb angry zealots and thats our real problem, not outside terrorists or weapons of mass destruction.

Having said all that: This documentary never really dives too deeply into any of that material. It leaves out all kinds of negative and positive incidents that occurred immediately after the statement. It actually spends a great deal of screen time just watching the Chicks go about their business as usual , I guess in an attempt to humanize them.

I still need a good documentary about what happened to them and in America and around the world. But a cold objective look at their lives would have to come from the outside, probably without their assistance.

Vice Principals: The Principal (2016) Season 1, Episode 1

Its OK if you love dark comedies with stupid characters.

[5/10 · 17 September 2022]

Its supposed to be a comedy, but I did not laugh once. I will admit I was more entertained and interested in Vice Principals than most other comedies. Nothing that happens is especially funny. Its a little shocking at first to see two grown men behaving like angry toddlers. But that novelty wears off quickly, then you are left with a series that's awfully shallow. Two guys don't like a woman taking the job they wanted. So they act like monsters.

In a way its kind of a bad idea for a TV series but in a way its also really good. Especially on a network that lets them swear and really insult each other. There's not a whole lot of character development here. If an actor is allowed to express themselves at all they come across as very one-dimensional. Danny McBrides character has a little more depth to him, but not much. Mostly its a show about two angry immature grown men just being unpleasant. Some people find that humorous. Some will laugh like crazy. It doesn't amuse me. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I've met way too many real people like that on the job. They aren't funny. They are annoying and occasionally scary.

My So-Called Life: Pilot (1994) Season 1, Episode 1

I think I would have liked this as a teenager. It probably would have spoken to me.

[2/10 · 5 September 2022]

As an adult, I think its garbage. The protagonist is wholly unlikeable for a number of reasons. The biggest one is she's just a horrible human being pretending to be decent so as to walk the path of least resistence. I was 15 in 1994 and I guess I am so removed from those years that watching anything about angsty Generation X teens is just irritating. Also most of the scenes dont seem to serve any purpose. They do not advance the plot nor do they develop the characters. Most of this pilot is just the characters wandering aimlessly. Which, given what I know about my generation is very appropriate, but still not entertaining.

2/10, because some of these actors are likeable, just not here.

Picket Fences: The Bus Stops Here (1994) Season 3, Episode 3

Its an ugly episode about ugly people, but thats kind of what makes it so entertaining.

[8/10 · 31 May 2022]

We finally see how racist and narrow minded the bulk of the white residents actually are in this landmark episode of Picket Fences. Even our noble protagonists and their kids are shown to be far less than perfect, which is actually kind of a nice change of pace. Normally the white middle class suburban families in 90's TV are shown to be perfect or almost perfect and never bigoted or angry. Here we see their fears and prejudices on full display and its nice to know they could possibly be real people instead of caricatures.

Same goes for the rest of the townsfolk, who were frequently portrayed as imperfect but never monstrous. The episode deals with the controversial topic of forced bussing for public school students. It shows the fears and hatred of one side and the agenda of the other side and both of them are allowed to make cold, logical arguments as well as impassioned pleas to emotion. It works well but sometimes the debates seem a little childish. Then I remember the real life debates over this issue also seemed quite childish at times and it works. The discussion between the two judges is probably the best acted and the most intelligent, which makes sense and is also fun to watch.

The B-story in this episode is about a women who posed nude years earlier and never thought it would come back to haunt her. Thats kind of a serious issue but its handled clumsily and also takes away from the A-story which should have had a lot more depth. In any case, this is a must watch episode. Particularly as 30 years later we still have the same heated debates in America, showing that most of us haven't actually learned diddly-squat.

Baywatch Nights: Pursuit (1995) Season 1, Episode 1

So bad its just bad. Not cheesy enough to be fun. Not fun enough to watch.

[1/10 · 30 May 2022]

This is clearly an ego project for Hasselhoff. He needed a 2nd TV series to show off his body and his alleged charisma. Everything is set up to make him look cool. He thrives on proctecting ladies which at the time wasn't quite so condescending but it means Baywatch Nights has aged poorly compared to most other shows. The dialog is hammy, even when compared to Baywatch. The story is incredibly simple even by 90's primetime standards. The women are even worse actors than the men, and as pretty as they are I'd have to say thats the only reason they were hired. Its nice to have little jazz numbers in a TV show but thats hardly enough to carry a series. TV audiences didn't have very high standards in the mid 90's but this was terrible even for them. I'm not surprised they tried a major change in format for the 2nd season and I'm not surprised it failed after that. Aside from pretty ladies in tank tops without bras, this show has absolutely nothing going for it. And you can see more boobs on other shows. I'd like to give it 0/10.

Roots: Part 1 (2016) Season 1, Episode 1

Extremely well made, but lacking the emotional connection of the original.

[8/10 · 26 May 2022]

It is a good miniseries and I do recommend it for everyone, except young children. But it fails to make the audience love the characters like the original miniseries did. They move too quickly for plot points and character building moments and I rarely felt any sort of affection or connection to anyone, not even Kunta who is of course the protagonist of the story. I like that they spent a little more time on the city and culture of Kuntas homeland, and that they deleted a whole lot of unnecessary nonsense about the slave traders themselves. That material always seemed to take away from the real story. But they also gloss over a lot of African relationships and interactions that made the first and second episode of the original Roots so memorable. In the original when Fiddler finds Kunta loose from his chains there's a whole ordeal of him not only being scared but angry, and you realize these two people have just complicated their relationship. In this one it didn't feel like much of anything. I just don't care about these people the way I did before.

It's definitely more cinematic and probably more historically accurate. It's a joy to watch, but I wont be rewatching over and over like the original. There's not much in the way of feeling with the new version of Roots.

The Kids in the Hall: Episode #1.1 (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

Cant think of anything good to say about this episode.

[2/10 · 16 May 2022]

I grew up with The Kids in The Hall. They made me laugh hysterically every episode, and almost every sketch. Part of it was they were young and had nothing to lose and werent afraid of shocking comedy. They wanted to break the cute safe comedy mold that had dominated television for much of the 70's and 80's. They wanted to be different and surprised people, maybe even offend audiences. In fact I think they debuted the same year as Married With Children.

They also helped create a culture that was slowly but surely becoming immune to shock comedy, similar to Howard Stern and his shock radio.

Unfortunately 30 years later the boys just arent special any more. Its almost impossible to shock anyone today, especially with a sketch show. The guys dont have the same daring or youthful energy they needed back in the 80's. I wouldn't say they were phoning it in, but clearly they do not have the angry 20-something enthusiasm any more. They looked like they wanted to be there but just weren't giving one hundred percent. None of the sketches made me laugh. I was a bit surprised to see two of them nude, but it wasn't funny, just weird. Death Comes to Town was pretty funny, but I saw it on Youtube in 240p and it was kinda ugly. Still had some humor though.

I love these boys, I always will. They gave me a ton of great memories. They seem to have lost their way, which is fine because they're much older. They wont be making me laugh again, but I do appreciate them trying.

The Batman (2022)

its a lot like Blade Runner, very nice example of visual art, but poor storytelling.

[4/10 · 21 April 2022]

The story itself is generic and feels like it was pulled from a comic book, like one issue and only one issue of the Batman comic. Theres not enough material here to warrant 2 hours and 57 minutes. Nothing terribly interesting happens to the city (we've seen Gotham almost destroyed a dozen times now, get a new schtick) and we get very little insight into any characters. You dont need all this time to tell a basic story with no character development. Could have all been done in 90 minutes or less. Most scenes just drag on pointlessly. And the visual feast only occurs in small chunks. A lot of it is dreary shots of a dreary city with loads of rain. Thats fine for 20 seconds at a time, scattered throughout the film, but you don't need to pack the runtime with pointless and ugly scenery. In this way its actually inferior to Blade Runner.

All the actors do their jobs well, nothing worthy of an Oscar but they clearly put in the effort. It doesnt matter much because no part of the story really grabs the viewer and makes them feel anything. The movie wants to be angry and spirited but just comes across as dull.

Having said all that, I am looking forward to the inevitable next installment, because for some reason Warner Brothers can only get it right when they use the Joker. Still not sure why that is. Maybe we can blame DC for the lack of really interesting villains.

The Rookie: Coding (2022) Season 4, Episode 17

Not as stupid as some other season 4 episodes.

[5/10 · 4 April 2022]

Unfortunately its just boring. The writers have this magical ability to take a good idea like holding a hospital hostage and make it seem unimportant and uninteresting. Nobody seems that determined to save a life or stop a madman, the madman himself is terribly dull, and the victims seem almost disinterested in their predicament.

The B stories are also terribly told and dont seem like high effort work from the producers. This show either needs much better writers or it needs less executive meddling.

And by the way what happened to Thorsen? He's not around very much, and he's technically the only rookie. The show was supposed to be about rookies.

The Rookie: Real Crime (2022) Season 4, Episode 16

Show jumped the shark a while back. Now I just watch to see if it might be good again.

[1/10 · 14 March 2022]

Yet another docu-drama/true-crime episode. And its not even good.

This is the worst of The Rookie. The show used to mean something and now its just boring garbage. I do NOT want to watch a show about shallow vapid rich people acting like d-bags. There's literally a dozen other choices for that and I avoid them all, because I don't consider that to be television. And I darn sure don't want it on The Rookie, which was previous an honest look at the lives and careers of new cops, and is now just a mess. They used to have moderately interesting plots. Now the stories are dumb and the characters don't behave like they used to and no one is interesting to watch.

We are in a cesspool of horrible television these days, and I do not think its because Hollywood is lazy. I think its because Hollywood is greedy and desperate to attract viewers who've been lost to the internet. This is the result of going lowest common denominator.

Last season I suggested the producers look long and hard at the show and see what it is they're really doing. I suggested they go back to the core and work on stories about cops learning the job, making mistakes, doing better, growing, changing.

This season I suggest they just give up and let it die. There's nothing left of value anymore. The premise was good, the execution was terribly flawed. Let it die, and in 5 years or so make a new show about young cops starting on the job. Maybe set it in Chicago or New York.

Madam Secretary: Valor (2019) Season 6, Episode 4

The quality of writing took a serious downward turn in season 6.

[6/10 · 5 February 2022]

Previous seasons were very good about creating wonderfully deep, multilayered stories that combined international intrigue with good character development. I was impressed with the writing not just in world building but also dialog.

I do not know what changed. Maybe there was a big exchange of writers, maybe the producers decided to take the show in another direction, maybe the crew just got bored and wanted to mix it up. Executive meddling is always a favorite scapegoat. Whatever the cause, the show isnt as good as it used to be. They focus a little too much on character drama and not enough on the complexities of 21st century politics. Even worse is they decided to use the old cliche of cutting back and forth between different time periods to explain "what happened" and the worst use of this cliche is a courtroom or in this case a senate oversight committee. Its been done to death and in the sixth season of Madam Secretary they even made it boring somehow. This episode has some focus on V. A. issues and impropriety of staffers, but nothing fun happens, nor anything terribly important. The actors also seem a bit bored at this point. Maybe the show ran too long.

Since season 6 is shorter than most I think I will tough it out and finish the rest of the episodes, but I'm actually glad the series finally ended. They ran out of good ideas a while ago and the show deserves enough respect to end with dignity.

The Rookie: The Knock (2022) Season 4, Episode 12

Gets boring in season 4.

[5/10 · 24 January 2022]

I dont know if the writers have run out of good ideas, dont care any more, or are under orders from the network to produce as boring a show as possible, but The Rookie just isnt like it used to be.

Nothing interesting happens any more. They just fumble around looking silly and sometimes not even acting like cops. It was better when things were completely new to them and they were experiencing the insanity of Los Angeles streets for the very first time. And the new rookie doesnt even make an appearance here. He's gone with no explanation. Not that he was terribly interesting to begin with. They should probably find a new direction in which to take the show. Maybe find a new batch of rookies, maybe give a trainee or mentee or protege to Nolan. Or maybe just end the show since they cant find a good rhythm any more. Nylas drama with her daughter was kind of interesting. What happened with that? Nolan making rookie mistakes and learning lessons was probably the best aspect of the show. Now its all over.