Benjamonster's TV

Here's a look at this week on TV! ABC ABC has a pretty normal week. The season finale of Emergence is on Tuesday night. It could very well be a series finale because of their low-rated drama newbies, I think Stumptown has a better shot at renewal. MONDAY 8:00 The Bachelor 10:00 The Good Doctor TUESDAY 8:00 The Conners 8:30 Bless This Mess 9:00 Mixed-ish 9:30 Black-ish 10:00 Emergence (Season Finale) WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs 8:30 Schooled 9:00 Modern Family (Repeat) 9:30 Single Parents 10:00 Royal Divide: Harry, Meghan and the Crown (Special) THURSDAY 8:00 Station 19 9:00 Grey's Anatomy 10:00 A Million Little Things FRIDAY 8:00 American Housewife 8:30 Fresh Off the Boat 9:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 NBA Basketball: Philadelphia at Boston SUNDAY 7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (Repeat) 8:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (Repeat) 9:00 Shark Tank (Repeat) 10:00 Shark Tank (Repeat) CBS CBS has a mix of repeats and new episodes t...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in broadcast ratings for Week #17 of the 2019-20 season! Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. 9-1-1: Lone Star (FOX, Sunday 10:04pm) - 3.13     Special Airing (NEW SERIES) 2. The Bachelor (ABC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.56     2nd week 3. This is Us (NBC, Tuesday 9:00pm) - 1.47     10th week 4. Chicago Med (NBC, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.22     11th week     Chicago Fire (NBC, Wednesday 9:00pm) - 1.22     11th week 6. Chicago PD (NBC, Wednesday 10:00pm) - 1.09     11th week 7. Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursday 8:00pm) - 1.03     12th week 8. NCIS (CBS, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 1.00     11th week 9. Ellen's Game of Games (NBC, Tuesday 8:00pm) - 0.99     2nd week 10. 60 Minutes (CBS, Sunday 7:00pm) - 0.97     10th week ...

OUTMATCHED Starring: Jason Biggs, Maggie Lawson, Tisha Campbell, Ashley Boettcher, Connor Kalopsis, Jack Stanton, Oakley Bull Created by Ion Zimmet Written by Ion Zimmet, Directed by Jonathan Judge I looked at the date on my computer as I was writing this review to make sure it was still 2020. Because FOX's new Outmatched looks and feels like it could have premiered in 1998. For starters, the premise is pretty silly. Two average-intelligence parents (Jason Biggs and Maggie Lawson) are surrounded by three genius children (Ashley Boettcher, Charlie Kalopsis & Jack Stanton) and one average kid (Oakley Bull). If, for some reason, you find that premise complicated, have no fear! They basically reiterated throughout the entire pilot. That was the single most annoying thing about the pilot. It was truly a one joke show. The entire episode from start to finish was about the kids being smarter than the parents. I mean, literally. There have been some other sitcoms...

9-1-1: LONE STAR Starring: Rob Lowe, Liv Tyler, Ronen Rubinstein, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael Silva, Julian Works Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Tim Minear Written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Tim Minear, Directed by Bradley Buecker I've had very mixed feeling about Ryan Murphy's shows over the years. Plenty of them are too preachy, too erratic or too weird for me. But one of his that I actually do like is 9-1-1 . I love it for its mix of ridiculous situations and strong characters. It puts a little bit of a Ryan Murphy spin on a traditional procedural and it surprisingly works. Like any good procedural, we have a "more of the same" spinoff which sort of dilutes the freshness that 9-1-1 brought to the genre. 9-1-1: Lone Star has a little bit of a different feel than the mothership while also having elements that remind us of the original 9-1-1 . As opposed to meeting a group already w...

Here's a look at this week on TV! ABC ABC's Jeopardy tournament is over and it's back to a mostly normal lineup except for Sunday. Thursday has the season premiere of Station 19 , which bumps both Grey's Anatomy and A Million Little Things back an hour. MONDAY 8:00 The Bachelor 10:00 The Good Doctor TUESDAY 8:00 The Conners 8:30 Bless This Mess 9:00 Mixed-ish 9:30 Black-ish 10:00 Emergence WEDNESDAY 8:00 The Goldbergs 8:30 Schooled 9:00 Modern Family 9:30 Single Parents 10:00 Stumptown THURSDAY 8:00 Station 19 (Season Premiere) 9:00 Grey's Anatomy 10:00 A Million Little Things FRIDAY 8:00 American Housewife 8:30 Fresh Off the Boat 9:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 NBA Basketball: LA Lakers at Philadelphia SUNDAY 7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (Repeat) 8:00 America's Funniest Home Videos (Repeat) 9:00 Shark Tank (Repeat) 10:00 Shark Tank (Repeat) CBS CBS is new on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then they are mostly in re...

Here is the weekly ratings recap looking back at the week in broadcast ratings for Week #16 of the 2019-20 season! Please note no repeats, sports, specials, or Saturday airings are counted TOP 20 SHOWS (18-49 DEMO) 1. Bob's Burgers (FOX, Sunday 10:09pm) - 2.06     7th week 2. The Bachelor (ABC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.87     1st week (New Season) 3. Modern Family (ABC, Wednesday 9:00pm) - 1.51     10th week     60 Minutes (CBS, Sunday 7:00pm) - 1.51     9th week 5. America's Got Talent: The Champions (NBC, Monday 8:00pm) - 1.29     1st week (New Season) 6. Chicago Med (NBC, Wednesday 8:00pm) - 1.10     10th week      Chicago Fire (NBC, Wednesday 9:00pm) - 1.10     10th week 8. Ellen's Game of Games (NBC, Tuesday 9:00pm) - 1.07     Special Airing 9. Mixed-ish (ABC, Tuesday 9:00pm) - 1.05     1st week 10. Chicago PD (NBC, We...

Here's a look at this week on TV! ABC ABC has had a great week thanks to the Jeopardy: Greatest of All Time tournament that has been dominating in the ratings. It will definitely air on Tuesday and could air several more days depending on what happens. MONDAY 8:00 The Bachelor 10:00 The Good Doctor TUESDAY 8:00 Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Part 4 (Special) 9:00 Mixed-ish 9:30 Black-ish 10:00 Emergence WEDNESDAY 8:00 Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Part 5 (Special) - if needed 9:00 Modern Family 9:30 Single Parents 10:00 Stumptown THURSDAY 8:00 Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Part 6 (Special) - if needed 9:00 The Last Days of Richard Pryor (Special) FRIDAY 8:00 Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Part 7 (Special) - if needed 9:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 NBA Basketball: LA Lakers at Houston SUNDAY 7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos 8:00 Kids Say the Darndest Things (Season Finale) 9:00 Shark Tank 10:00 Shark Tank (Repeat) CBS CBS has...

LINCOLN RHYME: HUNT FOR THE BONE COLLECTOR Starring: Russell Hornsby, Arielle Kebbel , Roslyn Ruff, Ramses Jimenez, Brooke Lyons, Tate Ellington, Courtney Grosbeck, with Brian O'Byrne and Michael Imperioli Developed by Mark Bianculli & VJ Boyd Teleplay by Mark Bianculli & VJ Boyd, Directed by Seth Gordon Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector was originally just called Lincoln . I understand the need to change from Lincoln (they didn't want audiences thinking it was about the president - although I would have preferred that). But why such a long and cumbersome name? Why not just call it The Bone Collector , the same title as the novel and film? It's not like shows have shied away from using the same name as their source material. I start with that because that was the most interesting thing about the pilot, it's ridiculous title. It wasn't a bad show, there was nothing laughably terrible. But it brings absolutely nothing new to the ge...

ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST Starring: Jane Levy, Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, John Clarence Stewart, with Peter Gallagher and Mary Steenburgen Created by Austin Winsburg Written by Austin Winsberg, Directed by Richard Shepard I watched the premiere of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist  immediately after watching the premiere of FBI: Most Wanted  and talk about two shows that couldn't be more different. FBI: Most Wanted was basically as standard as it gets while Zoey is unlike anything I've watched. I honestly don't know what to make of this wildly whimsical show. I feel like I oscillated between thinking it was utterly ridiculous and ridiculously charming. There were times it worked really well and other times it was a little manipulative and corny. But I have to give major props to NBC and the show for trying something different. After seeing a by the books procedural, this was a breath of fresh air for network TV. Zoey 's plot plays out as c...

FBI: MOST WANTED Starring: Julian McMahon, Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Nathaniel Arcand Created by Rene Balcer Based on the Series "FBI" Created by  Dick Wolf & Craig Turk Written by Rene Balcer, Directed by Fred Berner I watched a grand total of 1.5 episodes of FBI last year. Even though there are procedurals I really enjoy, this one just didn't click for me and there's plenty of other shows like it. I know there was a backdoor pilot that aired on FBI last year but I didn't see it, so this felt a little bit like dropping in on any procedural drama. In some ways, that was a little bit of a relief because exposition on these kinds of dramas can be extremely awkward and often result in the "case of the week" getting less attention than it should. It was clear watching this episode that exposition is really not necessary for a show like this. Sometimes, there are character driven procedurals. The Chicago sh...

Here's a look at this week on TV! ABC Broadcast TV wakes up from its holiday nap this week with lots of winter premieres. ABC starts the week off with the venerable franchise The Bachelor and its three hour premiere. They also have the heavily promoted Jeopardy tournament between the game's all time top three champions. Given that a Jeopardy special did surprisingly well on Thursday night, I think we could see pretty big numbers for this tournament. MONDAY 8:00 The Bachelor (Season Premiere) TUESDAY 8:00 Jeopardy: The Greatest of All Time Part 1 (Special) 9:00 Mixed-ish 9:30 Black-ish 10:00 Emergence WEDNESDAY 8:00 Jeopardy: The Greatest of All Time Part 2 (Special) 9:00 Modern Family 9:30 Single Parents 10:00 Stumptown THURSDAY 8:00 Jeopardy: The Greatest of All Time (Special) 9:00 Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein (Special) FRIDAY 8:00 American Housewife (Repeat) 8:30 Fresh Off the Boat (Repeat) 9:00 20/20 SATURDAY 8:00 The Conners (Repeat) 8:30 T...

DEPUTY Starring: Stephen Dorff, Yara Martinez, Brian Van Holt, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Siena Goines, Shane Paul McGhie and Mark Moses Created by Will Beall Written by Will Beall,  Directed by David Ayer FOX's new drama  Deputy was billed as blending the "spirit of a classic Western" with a "modern day attitude" and boy, do they try to hammer that home throughout the pilot. This is a show that wants to have it all and appeal to all without actually taking a stand on anything. It's like they wanted to do their rootin' tootin' shoot 'em up and get the bad guys approach that might appeal to conservatives but then bend over backwards to make progressive storylines such as immigration. As a result, the show suffers quite a bit from its tone and feel not matching its words and beliefs. Deputy centers on a veteran lawman, Bill Hollister (Stephen Dorff). How do I know this? Well, his first line is "I'm a lawman." Due to an a...