Category: Television

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Thursday I Think

Boxes go out on the street. Still happens every week. Got a coveted Fresh Direct window. Which may delay laundry day. Yay. Now there’ll be something to do on Friday. Through the window I see a couple walking their dog with masks around their necks as they smoke cigarettes.

Morning Joes. Biden whinin’ with Scarborough. Can’t win votes by sounding like the women on The View.

Besides Housewives. Have to try these series. What We Do In the Shadows- funny vampires in Brooklyn. Mrs. America- feminism, equal rights, Cate Blanchett, John Slattery. What’s not to like?

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New Views

Still can see the Pink Moon rising over The Carlyle from our huddled one bedroom window.

 

No daytime show in NYC goes uninterrupted any day. Whether soaps or the View. Hour-long pressers with DeBlasio, then Cuomo, and Murphy of New Jersey. Yeah. I know. But. Still. Desperately need a break. Cannot tolerate covfefe talk 24/7.

Bernie out. Kamala Harris rising. She’s on all the networks lecturing in her D.A. way. So. I guess she’s the current front-runner for Biden’s Veep. Too bad.

Masked people walking/running, kids scootering in the middle of our traffic-less street. More birds chirping. People greeting each other from a distance. Some things are good. Market’s above 23,000.

Tiger King not so much. Seedy people with depressing lifestyles. Ozark getting positive reviews. Will give that a try.

First time we’re using the freezer for more than ice and ice cream.

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Crucial Mindless-Ness

Another month of social distancing? Too much to deal with. Stationary bike and weights. Good. The scared shitless diet is also working. And. It is crucial to tune out the news. So.

Final season of POP TV’s Schitt’s Creek so sweet. Will miss it.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None on BBC 1 is kinda dumb but fun. Charles Dance is always worth a watch.

The Inn at Little Washington on PBS is a great diversionary story about a quirky chef going for his third Michelin star.

Homeland  would have been ripped from the headlines a few weeks ago. Now Afghanistan and Pakistan seem so quaint.

American Idol  singer/performer Just Sam aka Samantha Diaz is really a fabulous UWS story (even though they say she’s from Harlem cuz it sounds more hardscrabble). She slayed Selena last night.

So far we are the only people not watching Tiger King. There you go. Getting through another day.

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Place Card

Sheltering in place. Day 10?

NY Gov Andrew Cuomo pre-empts The View. Which is fine. He is a leader and should run for President. Joe Dotard should step aside.

NJ Governor is a jerk and cuts into The Young & The Restless. My renewed few days on stationary bike have therefore withered away. Maybe today.

Celeste Ng’s novel has been made into a series on Hulu. It is great. Little Fires Everywhere. Kerry Washington is fabulous as is the whole cast.

Sappy & soppy but a feel-good diversion. American Idol. Where auditions and heart-break are still normal somewhere.   Just Sam!

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Media Multi-Tasking

Started Messiah series. So far intriguing. Also The Outsider. Jason Bateman. Different. Then. Sunday Marathon.

Mahomes never quits. Spunky finish to send Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl. Over in Santa Clara. Jimmy G didn’t have to work hard. Mostert and blockers dominated to easily take Niners to the NFC win.

Next. Ray Donovan finale. Characters stay true to themselves. Well-written and acted. Sláinte on a gritty season. Then. Capped off the evening fast-forwarding through the SAG Awards. Highlights. Schitts’ Eugene & Dan Levy. Peter Dinklage. Jennifer Anniston. Wow.

Oh. And. NYTimes endorsed Amy & Lizzie. Sorry Joe & Bernie.

Meanwhile. Scanning great photos from St. Vigilio Dolomiti Italia.

mAd Ski Ben.

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Golden Globes Pre-Game

Joe Pesci best in The Irishman. Van Zandt nailed Jerry Vale and Bo Dietl was well himself. It was an intimate slice of the big bad Giancana mobster world which took out Jimmy Hoffa and a President. Reminded me of the old days with my father’s cousins.

Worth mention. Kirsten Dunst as a working class cult survivor in Central Florida. And. The noms for Unbelievable. An outstanding riveting series with Dever & Wever & Collette all winners for their great performances.

Streep brought a compellingly complicated new character to Big Little Lies. Brian Cox & Kieran Culkin faves for Succession. Jeremy Strong robbed. Adam Driver is good in anything. Waller-Bridge of course.

Two on my Worst of the Year List have nominations. Season 3 of Mrs. Maisel and Mirren as Catherine the Great. Bad writing and editing the former and ditto plus creepy the latter. So. Nope.

Pats will top the Titans.

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2019 Good/Bad List

GOOD

BEST
Watching Tiger win The Masters  with Gary & Ben
mAdBen’s crazy cool career &  interview

TV
Succession
Killing Eve & Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The Affair, Series Finale – The Whole of the Moon

THEATER
Moulin Rouge
Peter Dinklage as Cyrano
Brothers Wright by Colby Herchel

JOURNALISM
Miranda Devine, Steve Cuozzo NYPost & West Side Rag
Shining the bright if futile light on the scaffolding cabal

POLITICS
Mayor Mike joins the Dem race

BOOKS

A Decade of The Side Trek

 

BAD

WORST
Hotels have become kennels
Sheds shroud the entire City
Man-hating woke-tards

JOURNALISM
If everything is a bombshell breaking news story,
nothing is a bombshell breaking news story

SPORTS
NFL IR List
Bryson de Chambeau’s robot golf

POLITICS
Mueller Report fizz
Schiff Show bore
Dem Scrum – too many meh candidates

TV
Mrs. Maisel  Season 3
Catherine the Great

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Fix It

Ray Donovan is back. Mick takes Bunchy’s place in the slammer. For how long? Cartoon-ish. But. Still fun. Aunt Sandy is worth the watch. Meanwhile. Nancy is baiting Donny to testify before Schiffty’s Committee. Now. That could nix everything. And. What a show.

West Side Rag did a great article illustrating what restaurants & storefronts look like before and after the epidemic scourge of scaffolding. The two examples have been dealing with this blight for over six years. Killing small businesses all over the City. Hoping it will elicit local government action. We need Ray to fix this contractors’ cabal.

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Respite

We get one day off from Democrat-Run TV today. Yay. All networks gavel-to-gavel impeachment droning yesterday. Complaints all over the net. More tomorrow. Cable News isn’t enough?

Anyway. No worries. Deval Patrick has joined Mayor Mike now in the ever-growing Democrat scrum. Can Hillary be far behind? While Schiff & Co. grind along. It’s all nuts.

So. 4-hour binged Back to Life on Showtime. It’s not Fleabag. Daisy Haggard isn’t Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But. She’s good. As is the cast. It is absurdist earthy and in the end sweet.

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Pre-Emption

Nikki Haley’s new book says that John Kelly & Rex Tillerson tried to get her to join the Insider White House Resistance. Hmmm. As I’ve said. She’s going to be the first woman President.

Dems will hold impeachment hearings on all broadcast channels this week. Pre-empting daytime drama sweeps. Guess who’d be more interesting? Schiffty-Schiff or Shifty Victor. Yep.

Warning. Choose to askew Catherine the Great. Insipidly stupid & gross. Helen Mirren as a horny old hag. Couldn’t do it. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is ripped from the headlines. An action-packed diversion.