New thread for the year

ABC:

Abbott Elementary (Season 3) - B+
Abbott Elementary (Season 4) - ongoing
Dr. Odyssey (Season 1) - ongoing

AMC+:

Interview With The Vampire (Season 2) - B
Domino Day: Lone Witch (Season 1) - B+
Orphan Black: Echoes (Season 1) - B-
This Is Going To Hurt (miniseries) - A
Snowpiercer (Season 1) - B+
Snowpiercer (Season 2) - B
Snowpiercer (Season 3) - B-
Snowpiercer (Season 4) - C+

Apple:

For All Mankind (Season 4) - B
Palm Royale (Season 1) - B+
Presumed Innocent (Season 1) - C-
Sunny (Season 1) - B-
Disclaimer (miniseries) - ongoing
Shrinking (Season 2) - ongoing

Amazon:

Expats (Season 1) - B
Reacher (Season 1) - B+
Reacher (Season 2) - C+
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Season 1) - B+
Fallout (Season 1) - A
Them (Season 2) - B+
My Lady Jane (Season 1) - A-

Disney+:

The Acolyte (Season 1) - B
Agatha All Along (miniseries) - B

FX:

Fargo (Season 5) - A
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (Season 2) - B+
English Teacher (Season 1) - C
American Sports Story (Season 1) - ongoing
Grotesquerie (Season 1) - C

HBO:

Industry (Season 3) - A-
The Penguin (miniseries) - ongoing

Hulu:

We Were The Lucky Ones (miniseries) - B+
Under The Bridge (miniseries) - B
Only Murders In The Building (Season 4) - B-
Tell Me Lies (Season 2) - A

Max:

Hacks (Season 3) - A

MGM+:

From (Season 1) - B+
From (Season 2) - B+
From (Season 3) - ongoing

Netflix:

The Diplomat (Season 1) - C+
One Day (miniseries) - A
Girls 5Eva (Season 3) - B+
3 Body Problem (Season 1) - A-
Ripley (miniseries) - A-
Baby Reindeer (miniseries) - A
Selling The OC (Season 3) - A-
Geek Girl (Season 1) - B
The Umbrella Academy (Season 4) - C
Emily In Paris (Season 4) - B
The Perfect Couple (Season 1) - B-
Selling Sunset (Season 8) - B-
Nobody Wants This (Season 1) - A
Heartstopper (Season 3) - A-
Outer Banks (Season 4) - ongoing

Paramount+:

Colin From Accounts (Season 1) - A-
Colin From Accounts (Season 2) - A-
The Curse (miniseries) - C

Peacock:

Apples Never Fall (miniseries) - C-
Below Deck: Down Under (Season 1) - B-
Below Deck: Down Under (Season 2) - B-
Hysteria (Season 1) - B+
Love Island USA (Season 6) - B+
Summer House (Season 1) - B
Summer House (Season 2) - B
Summer House (Season 3) - B+
Summer House (Season 4) - B+
Summer House (Season 5) - B+
Summer House (Season 6) - B
Summer House (Season 7) - C
Summer House (Season 8) - A-
The Valley (Season 1) - B
Vanderpump Rules (Season 10) - A-
Vanderpump Rules (Season 11) - B-
Winter House (Season 1) - C

Starz:

Three Women (miniseries) - A-
Vida (Season 1) - B+
Mary & George (miniseries) - B-

Tubi:

Big Mood (Season 1) - A-

The Curse - A-

Great woke era satire with all three actors crushing it and lots of great cringe moments. The season finale may end the year as the best episode of 2024. The last two Nathan Fielder shows are an amazing unique combo.

Hmm, I did like the trailer for The Curse, I may check it out.

1. Our Flag Means Death season 2 - 7

It is sad to see this show get cancelled, but at the same time it is kinda miraculous that it even received two seasons to begin with. Every episode over the two seasons looked very expensive. Thankfully this season was able to wrap up all the storylines started in the first year. It did leave some lingering plotlines about where they all go next, but we can and shall have to imagine those.

Taika is on a big losing streak right now with Flag getting cancelled, Goal bombing and Thor 4 being mostly disliked (though I think Love and Thunder is hilarious!) Shadows ended amicably at the right time in the story at least. Crazy to think we are only a few years removed from this guy being one of peak entertainers in the whole world!

Also, its too late now, but this show should have been called The Gentlemen Pirates from the start. Would have let the audience know right away what it was all about.

2. Rick and Morty season 7 - 8

-It may not be back to peak Rick and Morty, but this was a nice bounce back from the mediocre season 6 and offseason controversies. The new voices are offputting at first but you get used to them. The episodes with Unity, the spaghetti people, the return of evil Morty, the observers and the fear hole were all great.

3. The Curse season 1 - 4.1

-Ehhhhhhhhh. I was a big fan of Fielder going into this from Nathan For You and The Rehearsal. And who isn't a big fan of Emma Stone? Nathan's schtick just didn't work in a long form dramatic series though. They should have made a 95 minute movie and called it quits. And despite all the talk around the "outrageous" finale, I didn't find it all too much different from the rest of the show lol.

Did you watch the Bear yet?

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers - B+

B+ master Apple strikes again with a watchable show in the Bridgerton/Jane Austen/etc. mode. Was feeling the 80s teen movie love triangle where you knew the whole time which one she was going to pick in the end, the sister's husband was excellent villain, and the twists in the last 20 minutes of the season making sure season 2 has material while it ends with Long Live was superb.

Not yet. I will eventually.

Tried The Terminal List and Percy Jackson but didn't really like either one. Which lead me to a safe choice of...

4. Disenchantment season 5 - 6.9

-Disenchantment had a pretty epic "final" few episodes to make up for some of the background tv ones in the middle of the season. I put quotes around final since this is a Matt Groening show after all. Futurama has ended before and look what happened there. The Simpsons will likely never end. I do really like where all the main characters landed here, so it'd be nice to let it lie for once.

5. Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 - 6.9

-While there was a lot to like in the second attempt at a live action Avatar, cramming everything into 8 episodes just left me a bit unsatisfied.

6. Girls5Eva season 3 - 7.5

The Girls are back on a new streaming service. They only got six episodes, but made the best of them. The finale in New York is one of the best episodes in the series, complete with character actors from Tina Fey's other shows randomly popping in and out. This would be a fine place to end the series, though obviously I'll keep watching it if Netflix does put out a season 4.

7. Upload season 3 - 5.3

Eh this show started as a fun San Junipera/Good Place-like fantasy comedy that also involved some workplace romance. It started to take itself a little too seriously in season 2 with the characters becoming revolutionaries and now ... I dunno, it barely even feels like a comedy anymore. I thought this would be the final season but I guess I was wrong about that too as it just got renewed for s4. Will I watch? Ehhhh we'll see.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+

Randomly my favorite laugh track sitcom since HIMYM. The writing feels sharp to me and the four most important castmembers all work for me with Abby/Dan having nice daughter figure/father figure energy, Olivia's sociopathatically careerist jokes (and her and Rauch are a nice combo to look at) and Gurgs as the wacky fun character. The only thing missing is some sort of longer term storylines since both of Rauch's boyfriends have sucked so far.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B

I had a decent enough time with this. I liked the main trio's chemistry with his nerdy wingman adding some vulnerability compared to our Sherlock Schwarzenegger/Hunter Hearst Holmes lead, and likeable love interest cop as well. Too bad they are not in the 2nd season.

I haven't seen Reacher but I love that Thad from Blue Mountain State got cast as the lead to replace Tom Cruise.

8. Abbot Elementary season 2 - 7

-I gave the first season a 6.5 and noted that it got better in the second half once they figured out the character dynamics (the MC is more of a Michael than a Pam, the principal is more a Kelly than a Michael, etc...) and they continued on with the positive upswing in season 2. Just a nice old fashion (from the ancient times of 2008-11) work-place comedy.

9. Invincible season 2 - 8.7

-Not quite as strong as season 1, but still one of my favorite shows. Episode 4 especially. Pretty easily the best episode of any tv show I've seen this year so far. The second half of the season doesn't advance the story as much as I'd like, but again, still really good. Alternate realities have been played out, but the best use of it here is showing how easy and often Mark turns out to be a bad guy like his father. Our Mark is special in the way he still cares ... for now.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B
5. Reacher season 2 - B+

Another fun enough season that mixes in the action and unraveling plot well and the partners playing off him have chemistry. Robert Patrick and Herc from the Wire were solid guest stars. One thing I appreciate is not just making Reacher a 10/10 in killing people and sleuthing but also a lover, they somehow replaced the cute blonde cop from season 1 with an even hotter love interest this year.

10. Planet Earth 3 - 8.5

-The usual great stuff from BBC Earth as they continue to get even more amazing footage with the use of drones and other modern technology. However ... there was something about this that felt kind of like a season finale which just made me sad. You can interpret it a number of ways, but David Attenborough is in his 90s and can't realistically keep doing this for much longer. Or maybe its the Earth itself that is in its final season as more and more species get wiped out?

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B
5. Reacher season 2 - B+
6. Ghosts (US) season 3 - A-

Sadly only 10 episodes due to the strike but another fun season for my favorite live action comedy going right now, and loved the ending.

11. X-Men 97 season 1 - 8

-This one started a bit weird for me as I kept asking "why did they do that?" or "why did they do this?" instead of really enjoying myself. It all comes together once the real villain comes in and from there on its just non-stop exciting action until the end.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B
5. Reacher season 2 - B+
6. Ghosts (US) season 3 - A-
7. Tracker season 1 - B

While still not high art or anything, an actual watchable case of the week, I'm usually interested after the first 5 minutes how it's going to turn out, the lawyer side kick and tech phone call guy or lesbian case finders are enjoyable enough, and I don't mind watching handsome hero guy roll up to a small town in his RV and cause some shit for the criminals there or do some other stuff like skydiving into some woods to save a few hours.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B
5. Reacher season 2 - B+
6. Ghosts (US) season 3 - A-
7. Tracker season 1 - B
8. Fallout season 1 - B-

I was enjoying this more halfway through the season with Lucy and the Ghoul transversing the wasteland and Maximus getting into hijinks in his robot suit, but as soon as they started doing the double timelines thei writers Westworld instincts started to kick in, all building towards their big conspiracy twist in the finale. Still probably more entertaining than watching Rings of Power though.

1. The Curse - A-
2. The Buccaneers season 1 - B+
3. Night Court 2023 season 2 - B+
4. Reacher season 1 - B
5. Reacher season 2 - B+
6. Ghosts (US) season 3 - A-
7. Tracker season 1 - B
8. Fallout season 1 - B-
9. The Bear season 3 - B

This season could have had some more clear arcs (felt like Richie had little tension with either main character) and there's some questions they're not asking like whether upgrading to a more joyless fancy restaurant environment just so Carmy can get validation from snob critics is really better than making kick ass sandwiches, but it still had some really good episodes.