Benjamonster's TV

Here's a look at my Top 5 TV News Stories of the week! #1 - GOLDEN GLOBES PREDICTIONS The Golden Globes are this Sunday! Here are my predictions for the TV categories: Drama Series Will/Should Win: The Crown Should Have Been Nominated: Bridgerton Drama Actor Will/Should Win: Josh O'Connor, The Crown Should Have Been Nominated: Justin Hartley, This is Us Drama Actress Will/Should Win: Emma Corrin, The Crown Should Have Been Nominated: Phoebe Dynevor, Bridgerton Comedy Series Will/Should Win: Ted Lasso Should Have Been Nominated: Never Have I Ever Comedy Actor Will/Should Win: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso Should Have Been Nominated: Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Comedy Actress Will Win: Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek Should Win: Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant Should Have Been Nominated: Zoe Kravitz, High Fidelity TV Movie/Limited Series Will/Should Win: The Queen's Gambit Should Have Been Nominated: Mrs. America TV Movie/Limited Series Actor Will Win: Hugh Gran...

On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Three of  Rhoda ! RHODA: SEASON FOUR 1977-1978 24 episodes David Groh has left the show and  Rhoda  kicks off season four with somewhat of a reset. We thankfully get Nancy Walker back, but the show continues its trend of super obnoxious side characters and we don't even have the Rhoda and Joe storyline to keep things afloat like we did in season three. It's a new(ish) apartment, new characters, new theme song, new feel. But it's not a better show. This is very clearly the beginning of the end for  Rhoda , a show that can still be great but feels like a shell of what it was. Starring Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern  (24 episodes) Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern  (24 episodes) Ron Silver as Gary Levy  (20 episodes) Ray Buktenica as Benny Goodwin  (15 episodes) Kenneth McMillan as Jack Doyle  (15 episodes) Nancy Walker as Ida Morgen...

On Wednesdays, I look at shows that lasted on season or less. Today I am looking at 1970s flop Delta House ! DELTA HOUSE Programming Details: January 18, 1979 - April 21, 1979 13 episodes ABC Starring: John Vernon, Stephen Furst, Bruce McGill, James Widdoes, Josh Mostel and Peter Fox Based on the Screenplay for National Lampoon's "Animal House" Written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller Plot: Based on the popular frat boy movie Animal House , Delta House includes many of the same cast members in the same frat house: Flounder (Furst), D-Day (McGill) and Hoover (Widdoes) as well as the beleaguered Dean Wormer (Vernon). John Belushi did not join the series so his character had a younger brother, Blotto (Mostel). Another replacement was Peter Fox, replacing Tim Matheson as Otter.

Tuesdays are Top 10 Tuesdays where I count down a topic in the TV realm. This week is  Top 10 TV Couples! Close Calls Ross & Rachel - Friends Leslie & Ben - Parks and Recreation Cam & Mitch - Modern Family 10. Jed & Abbey - The West Wing I love the power couple that makes up the President and First Lady on The West Wing . As played by Martin Sheen and Stockard Channing, the Bartlets managed to have a pretty equal marriage even when one of them was President of the United States. They kept each other grounded. The series could have done a show entirely about them and it would also have been a good show. 9. April & Andy - Parks and Recreation Leslie and Ben were a great couple and close to making this list but the best couple on Parks and Recreation was April and Andy. She was the princess of darkness and pessimism. He was the overgrown man child who loved everything and everyone. Yet their chemistry on screen was electric as they did exactly what they wanted rega...

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Mondays in the 1988-89 season! ABC 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep MNF Pregame Monday Night Football Oct MacGyver Nov Dec Jan Monday Night Movie Feb Mar Apr May It was another year with the same Monday lineup for ABC. The only difference was that 1988 was marred by a Writer's Strike that lasted from March 7-August 7. As a result, many scripted shows were delayed in their starts so ABC added a pregame for  Monday Night Football  until  MacGyver  was ready to come back. Once it did, ABC had the usual combination of  MacGyver  and  Football  with a movie replacing  Football  in January.

Here's a look at my Top 5 TV news stories of the week! #1 - "MOM" WILL END WITH SEASON 8 CBS announced the endings of two veteran shows this week and most notable for me is Mom . The Chuck Lorre sitcom will end on May 6 after eight seasons. Mom has been through many incarnations. It was originally focused on a newly sober woman with her recently sober mother and pregnant teenage daughter. Over time, the family element became much less pronounced and the series shifted to a comedy about a group of women who all attend AA together. The series was then rocked again when star Anna Faris departed this past summer. This marks the second series this year, along with Superstore , that lasted just one season after its star left the show. It wasn't always consistent but at its best, Mom could be really great. It really managed to find humor in situations that could be quite dire and sad sometimes. It dealt with a serious topic head-on but never felt too dramatic or too much lik...

On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Three of  Rhoda ! RHODA: SEASON THREE 1976-1977 24 episodes Season three has a little bit of TV history as the writers decided to split up Rhoda and Joe and make Rhoda TV's first divorced lead on a sitcom. I'm not going to pretend the show was firing on all cylinders before Rhoda and Joe split up but the reality is, the show takes a turn for the worse after the divorce. That being said, season three has some highlights because the divorce storyline itself is without question the most interesting the Rhoda and Joe relationship ever was. It features some strong performances from Valerie Harper and David Groh. It's too bad they couldn't find a way to make the marriage compelling without splitting them up. Starring Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern Gerard  (24 episodes) Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern  (24 episodes) Ron Silver as Gary Levy  (13 episodes) David...

On Wednesdays, I look at shows that lasted on season or less. Today I am looking at 1960s flop  Honey West ! HONEY WEST Programming Details: September 17, 1965 - April 8, 1966 30 episodes ABC Starring: Anne Francis, John Ericson, Irene Hervey Developed by Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov Based on: "Honey West" novels by Skip and Gloria Fickling Plot: Honey West (Francis) is a private eye working cases with the help of her "Man-Friday," Sam Bolt (Ericson). She uses her allure and sex appeal to help her on cases and communicates with Bolt via secret radios.

Tuesdays are Top 10 Tuesdays where I count down a topic in the TV realm. This week is  Top 10 Theme Songs of the 2010s!  A reminder, it had to be any show that premiered in that timeframe even if it ran well into another decade. Also, the song had to have been written for the show (for example, Parenthood ) or remakes (for example, Hawaii Five-0 ) wouldn't count. Close Calls Pose The Crown P-Valley 10. Mixed-ish (2019-Present) The newest entry on the list, it's always nice to see a broadcast show actually using a longer theme song written for the show. I'm so-so on Mariah Carey in general but this works pretty well and I'll never be sad about sacrificing a few second of an episode for a longer theme song. 9.  The Americans (2013-2018) This isn't a song I would just listen to on the radio, but it's one that is perfect for its show. It's heart racing and infused with Russian inspired music. The first notes of the theme also could be especially jarring.

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Sundays in the 1987-88 season! ABC 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep Disney Sunday Movie Spenser: For Hire Dolly Buck James Oct Nov Dec Jan Various Programs Sunday Night Movie Feb Mar Supercarrier Apr May Various Programs ABC had just had two movies on Sunday nights through the 1986-87 season but they were more ambitious for the 1987-88 season. First of all, the  Disney Sunday Movie  was reduced to just one hour. And at the beginning of the season, the Sunday Night  Movie  is gone and ABC went with weekly series. At 8pm was season three of Spenser: For Hire.  The drama had not found a steady audience over the past couple years on Tuesdays, Fridays or Saturdays. It ...

Here's a look at my Top 5 TV news stories of the week! #1 - SUPER BOWL RATINGS The ratings are in for the biggest TV event of the year and the results were disappointing by its own standards. The big game, that unexpectedly turned into not much of a game, scored 91.6 million viewers and a 26.5 demo for CBS. It will of course blow everything else on TV out of the water as usual but the numbers were the lowest since the Colts-Bears Super Bowl in February 2007. There could be a number of reasons including the blowout score, two smaller market teams, Tom Brady fatigue, some people tuning out the NFL with their race issues (that includes people tuning out on both political sides either in support of Colin Kaepernick or in protest of the league's renewed focus on racial justice), and a switch to digital (the game had the largest streaming audience yet, though it was still just a fraction of the main total at 5.7 million viewers). The post-Super Bowl slot went to the series premiere o...

On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Two of Rhoda ! RHODA: SEASON TWO 1975-1976 24 episodes Rhoda and Joe have been married for nearly a season and already the show hits a rut at times in its second season. Famously, the attention given to Brenda and Ida stories this season is a reason that the writers split up Rhoda and Joe in season three. Rhoda, and especially Joe, sometimes feel like afterthoughts in this season as the show starts to kick up the obnoxious side characters with episodes devoted to such unnecessary characters as Myrna Morgenstein and Nick Lobo. There are some really, really strong episodes in this season but also some pretty rough ones to sit through. It's a step down from Season 1 but sadly it's better than any season that follows. Starring Valerie Harper as Rhoda Gerard  (24 episodes) Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern  (24 episodes) David Groh as Joe Gerard  (23 episodes) Nancy Wal...

On Wednesdays, I look at shows that lasted on season or less. Today I am looking at 2000s flop Help Me Help You ! HELP ME HELP YOU Programming Details: January 3, 2007 - April 11, 2007 12 episodes ABC Starring: Ted Danson, Jere Burns, Darlene Hunt, Charlie Finn, Suzy Nakamura, Jim Rash and Jane Kaczmarek Created by: Jennifer Konner and Alexandra Rushfield Plot: Dr. Bill Hoffman (Danson) runs a psychotherapy group while also dealing with his own problems. The group includes Michael and Darlene (Burns & Hunt) who are having a secret affair, formerly suicidal office worker Dave (Finn), lonely programmer Inger (Nakamura) and secretly closeted Jonathan (Rash). Rounding out the main cast is Bill's ex-wife, Anne (Kaczmarek). 

Tuesdays are Top 10 Tuesdays where I count down a topic in the TV realm. This week is  Top 10 Theme Songs of the 2000s!  A reminder, it had to be any show that premiered in that timeframe even if it ran well into another decade. Also, the song had to have been written for the show (for example,  Gilmore Girls or CSI  wouldn't count). Close Calls American Idol How I Met Your Mother Arrested Development 10. Two and a Half Men (2003-2015) The 2000s were not as competitive a decade for getting on the list as it was an era when regular network theme songs were shortened or non-existent and streaming services (with flexible run times) hadn't started yet. But this is a fun one that's easy to sing along with. 9. Alias (2001-2006) I don't think this is a great song, but it's one that is very fitting for the show. It has the urgency and intensity that is perfect for a show built on thrills and explosions. 

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Saturdays in the 1987-88 season! ABC 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep Once a Hero Ohara Hotel Oct Various Programs Nov Sable Dec Ohara Sable Jan Dolly Ohara Spenser: For Hire Feb Mar Apr May Saturdays continued to be a nut that ABC couldn't crack in 1987-88 but it wasn't for lack of trying as they tried several different shows over the course of the season with none of them living to see the 1988-89 season. A trio of dramas started things off. At 8pm was  Once a Hero , an action dramedy about a comic book artist whose creation comes to life. It lasted just three episodes and has the distinction of being the lowest rated show in the 1987-88 season among the big three netwo...

Here's a look at my Top 5 TV news stories of the week! #1 - GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS The Golden Globe nominations came out this week and, as per usual, there was a mix of exciting and head-scratching choices. Getting the most scrutiny were the inclusion of Ratched in the Drama Series category and Emily in Paris in the Musical/Comedy Series category. Both Netflix shows were buzzy during their fall releases but mixed at best from critics. Joining Ratched in Drama Series are The Crown, Lovecraft Country, The Mandalorian and Ozark while The Flight Attendant, Ted Lasso, Schitt's Creek and The Great rounded out the Musical/Comedy Series nominees. The Crown and Schitt's Creek led the nomination totals and are considered frontrunners though Ted Lasso certainly has a chance. Limited Series/TV Movie nominees were Normal People, The Queen's Gambit, Small Axe, The Undoing and Unorthodox. Notable snubs included Bridgerton (the Netflix series that seemed more likely than Ratched or ...

It's time to kick off a new episode guide! Over the next six weeks, I will be looking at  Rhoda  during my weekly Thursday episode guide! A reminder about my breakdown in ratings of episodes: 9-10: Exceptional 7-8: Strong 5-6: OK 3-4: Mediocre 1-2: Terrible RHODA: SEASON ONE 1974-1975 25 episodes After four celebrated years on  The Mary Tyler Moore Show , Valerie Harper moves over to one of TV's first successful spinoffs in  Rhoda .  Rhoda  kicks off its run in grand fashion with a string of very strong episodes leading up to the iconic one hour wedding episode (more on that below). After the wedding episode, the show starts to meander a bit and develops the inconsistent streak that will plague it for the rest of its run. Though there are great episodes to come,  Rhoda  is a show where the first 10 episodes collectively are better than any batch of 10 that follow it. Starring Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern Gerard  (25 episodes) Julie Kav...

On Wednesdays, I look at shows that lasted on season or less. Today I am looking at 1990s flop  The Bonnie Hunt Show ! THE BONNIE HUNT SHOW (also known as BONNIE) Programming Details: September 22, 1995 - April 7, 1996 11 episodes CBS Starring: Bonnie Hunt, Janet Carroll, Mark Derwin, Richard Gant, Brian Howe, Don Lake, Eamonn Roche, Tom Virtue and Holly Wortell Created by: Bonnie Hunt & Rob Burnett Plot: Bonnie Kelly (Hunt) is a TV reporter who has just moved to Chicago from Wisconsin. Along with her bosses (Derwin & Carroll) and co-workers (Wortell, Gant, Virtue, & Howe), Bonnie also had mostly improvised scenes with real-life people about actual events.

Tuesdays are Top 10 Tuesdays where I count down a topic in the TV realm. This week is  Top 10 Theme Songs of the 90s!  A reminder, it had to be any show that premiered in that timeframe even if it ran well into another decade. Also, the song had to have been written for the show (for example, Party of Five or The Sopranos  wouldn't count). Close Calls Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Frasier My So-Called Life 10. The Nanny (1993-1999) The 90s were basically the last decade to have a decent number of "premise" theme songs that were popular back to the 1960s. Between the animated visuals and the jazzy theme, this song had a throwback feel to a show that (to my understanding) also felt throwback at times (I'm not a regular viewer). 9. 7th Heaven (1996-2007) Oh sure, it is super cheesy. But it's cheesy in the best kind of way. Anyone who watched this show at some point in their life can probably sing most or all of the song and that will of course involve a belting of ...

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Fridays in the 1987-88 season! ABC 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 Sep Full House I Married Dora Max Headroom 20/20 Oct Nov Mr. Belvedere Pursuit of Happiness Dec Jan Mr. Belvedere The Thorns Sledge Hammer! Feb Mar Perfect Strangers Full House Mr. Belvedere Family Man Apr May I Married Dora Although it wasn't known as TGIF yet, some of the eventual pieces of TGIF started to form on Friday nights on ABC in 1987-88. It started with the launch of  Full House  at 8pm. The family sitcom and its theme song have now become iconic but it didn't start strong, in fact it only placed at #71 for the year in the ratings. Its...