This is the best of the four seasons, as the show found its footing just in time to be cancelled. I really enjoyed the season, and while I wouldn’t say the Riker storyline from the finale was my favorite, it was still well done. A great season overall, back to regular trek storylines and getting to know different species better.… Read the rest
The third season picks up a bit from the second season low. Whereas Season 2 was mostly depressing, with very few notches in the Enterprise’s “win” column, this season had not only a few more wins but also some allies. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still at war, but they aren’t generally about to die every week just from the Expanse.… Read the rest
The second season has hints of temporal stuff throughout, but it starts to get a little grittier with the alien races they encounter. Almost all of them are duplicitous, false friends to the naive and well-being humans.
The two best episodes of the season are the third and third-last.… Read the rest
Most of Season 1 is about the first Warp 5-capable Earth vessel venturing out into uncharted space. The Vulcans have been taking very cautious steps in helping humans expand, and Archer has been pushing for Earth to take a more aggressive, risky approach. The season shows early attempts, selecting a crew, venturing out, and a series of bloody noses as they meet both friendly and less-than-friendly allies.… Read the rest
The new show takes place after the movies and the end of the Next Generation timeline. There has been what appeared to be an AI uprising and a catastrophic attack that led the Federation to ban all cybernetic organisms (like Data or more inferior copies) and to withdraw from helping the Romulans as their planetary system collapsed.… Read the rest
The premise for the series was always about Keira getting home, and what she would find when she does. Will it be the future she left, with the timeline intact? Will her husband and son be waiting for her? In most shows, the answers would be obvious, and simple. This one recognized the complexity of time, and introduced the idea of a time war with two different factions fighting to keep different timelines intact.… Read the rest
At the end of Season 2, Alec had to make a choice, and it created consequences for everyone. Now there is semi-evil Alec and semi-good Alec, although it isn’t always clear which one is the good guy and which one is the bad guy. And other entities are interested in time travel for their own purposes.… Read the rest
At the end of Season 1, Keira found another time-traveller, one who has not faired so well. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, in fact. But most of Season 2 is about her trying to get home still, yet more on an advanced technological plan with Alec to find a way for him to power the device.… Read the rest
Keira Cameron is a police officer. It’s a pretty advanced time, the year is 2077. While she is overseeing the execution of 8 domestic terrorists, they activate a time travel device that sends them all back to the year 2013. She arrives with a bunch of her high-tech police tools — a special suit with lots of functions built into it, weapons that are keyed only to her DNA, and communications equipment to allow her to connect directly to her HQ.… Read the rest
There is an episode near the end (E19) that is one of the best of the series…it is funny, it is interesting, it is vintage Season 1 and 4 all together in a big bowl of mystery with comedy sprinkled on top. A complete palate cleanser from all the EPs filled with angst.… Read the rest
As I watched the episodes, I frequently felt, “Okay, last season”. Quite a few EPs seem like repeats of story ideas they’ve used before or promising ones that go nowhere. I was initially skeptical of the “Castle as P.I.” plot device, but it isn’t completely batty in its execution, and it does work for the most part.… Read the rest
The season starts off with Beckett working in Washington, and the whole dynamic just doesn’t work. I like the 3XK stuff, and a Carrie-like prank. I’ll even accept the wedding episode. But not a great season overall, one of the lower average scores so far.
They have some good plots for single episodes — Castle might be dying (E01), dead hackers and Daddy (E012), brawling models and wedding planning (E14), and skateboarders (E21).… Read the rest
I really want to love this season, and there are some seriously good episodes, like Ryan going undercover or the Rear Window episode. And while the average is higher for individual EPs, driving the season up to 4.0 overall, my overall satisfaction was down — the backstory just wasn’t working for me any more around Bracken, 3XK, Beckett’s mom, and the wildside of Castle’s Dad’s story (great premise, not awesomely executed).… Read the rest
Building off Season 3, this season really starts to gel in certain areas. Which is odd, because the characters are written so they are NOT gelling…Castle finished off Season 3 with a big pronouncement, and Beckett says she doesn’t remember it. So they are at odds for most of the season.… Read the rest
This is the season where Castle hits its stride. Beckett and Castle are in a good place after the first couple of episodes; they’re in their groove and they’re even making progress on the conspiracy that claimed Beckett’s mother.
For me, almost every episode hits the mark this season.… Read the rest
Season 2 starts with Beckett and Castle on the outs, as she’s pissed at him for looking into her mother’s case at the end of season 1. By the end of Season 2, Castle is starting to give up the romantic chase, just as Beckett starts to think she likes it.… Read the rest
Richard Castle is a successful best-selling author, twice married and twice divorced, living in a spacious Manhattan condo with the single actress mother (Martha) who raised him and a bright teenage daughter (Alexis). He has money, toys, and rotating women, but he’s bored. So bored in fact that he has killed off his best-selling character, Derrick Storm, a rogue prone to danger.… Read the rest
It’s time for the new TV season, and so it’s time for my annual fall preview and predictions.
September:
Each year, I run my own internal personal fantasy TV pool, first guessing how new shows will do based solely on their description and premise, and then updating my prediction after watching the premiere. Now that most of the cancellations are known, I want to see how I did.
For six new ABC shows, one is still undecided/unannounced.… Read the rest
The regular season has ended, but there are lots of other shows debuting, some of which were pushed from earlier. Here are my predictions, updated as I do them, until we get to the fall premieres.
| Show | Description | Prediction based on description | Prediction based on premiere |
|
The InBetween (NBC) | Ghost Whisperer | RENEWAL | Series premiere – The InBetween –> CANCELLATION |
|
The Red Line (CBS) | White cop shoots black doctor | CANCELLATION | PENDING |
|
Grand Hotel (ABC) | Family-owned hotel in Miami Beach | CANCELLATION | Series premiere – Grand Hotel –> CANCELLATION |
| Ultraviolet (NetFlix) |
Online group of sleuths | CANCELLATION | PENDING |
|
Titans |
Something with superheroes or mutants | RENEWAL | Series premiere – Titans –> RENEWAL |
| A Discovery of Witches
|
Witches and vampires | RENEWAL | Series premiere – A Discovery of Witches –> RENEWAL |
| Boomerang |
Young ad workers | CANCELLATION | Series premiere – Boomerang –> CANCELLATION |
| Deadly Class |
A school for assassins? |
