Benjamonster's TV

Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories this week! Also a reminder that this blog will be taking a two week break after this week with posts resuming April 4! #1 - OSCARS RECAP & RATINGS The Oscars were held on Sunday night and plenty has already been written about the telecast. A year after the infamous slap incident, the Oscars played it safe. The ceremony felt like a throwback to older Oscars ceremony with a very classic look, a safe but funny monologue from host Jimmy Kimmel and purposeful attention to not causing waves. It all felt pretty classy except for the shameless studio plugs (a trailer during the actual ceremony??). Among winners, it was Everything Everywhere All at Once that dominated with all major awards except for Lead Actor (which it was not up for and went to Brendan Fraser for The Whale ). In terms of ratings, the telecast was up 12% from last year to 18.7 million viewers. That's a far cry from the ratings it used to get, even less than ten years ago....

Back in the mid-1990s, Nick at Nite ran a programming block on the weekends called "Very Very Nick at Nite," which looked at four episodes with a similar theme. Now I will look at four sitcom episodes from across the decades that have a similar plot or theme. This week's topic is  Very Very Little League! This Week's Episodes Bewitched #6 "Little Pitchers Have Big Fears" (First Aired: October 22, 1964) Samantha helps a shy young boy try out for his little league team in spite of his overprotective mother. This episode is very emblematic of the wonderful early years of Bewitched  when it was a totally different show from the wacky 60s sitcom it became. Sure, there was a little bit of witchcraft - the show is called Bewitched after all - but it was mostly a sweet and earnest story. There were strong guest appearances by June Lockhart (shortly after her run on Lassie ) as well as Jerry Mathers (The Beaver's) younger brother, Jimmy. It had some gentle humor,...

On Wednesdays, I take a look at shows that lasted one season or less. Here's a look at 1998's Encore! Encore! ENCORE! ENCORE! September 22, 1998 - January 27, 1999 11 episodes NBC Starring: Nathan Lane, Glenne Headly, Ernie Sabella, James Patrick Stuart, Trevor Fehrman and Joan Plowright Created by: David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Chuck Ranberg, Anne Flett-Giordano Plot: Joseph Pinoni (Lane) is a famous opera singer on the verge of a major career achievement when his vocal cords are damaged. He returns home to Napa Valley to recover and stays with his family, including sister Francesca (Headly), nephew Michael (Fehrman) and mother Marie (Plowright). Rounding out the main cast is the vineyard manager, Leo (Sabella). Brief Pilot Review: This pilot seemed to show how Frasier could have gone horribly wrong (even with some of the same names involved). It was a show that tried to be highbrow but wasn't actually. The setting and Nathan Lane's character were very stuffy a...

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Tuesdays in the 1998-99 season! Also, after this week, the blog will be taking a two week break for Spring Break. New posts will return on April 4. ABC 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 Sep Home Improvement The Hughleys Spin City Sports Night Various Programs Oct NYPD Blue Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Strange World Apr NYPD Blue May ABC was a mess on Tuesdays in the 1997-98 season except for Home Improvement and NYPD Blue , but the night stabilized quite a bit for them in the 1998-99 season though trouble was on the horizon with the ending of Home Improvement . One of the most popular shows in the 1990s, Home Improvement moved up an hour to air at 8pm on Tuesdays. Stars Tim Allen an...

Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories this week! #1 - "BARRY" ENDING WITH SEASON FOUR Shortly after announcing the end of Succession , HBO announced this week that the upcoming fourth season of Barry will also be its final season and will premiere on April 16 (airing after Succession  on the linear channel). While the Succession news came as a bit of a surprise, it was much less surprising for Barry . The show seemed to be hurdling towards a conclusion and some of the actors have hinted at this being the final season well before the official announcement. The series, which has been nominated for an Emmy for Comedy Series in each of its first three seasons has gotten increasingly dark so it will be interesting to see what happens for the final season. The series finale is slated for May 28.

Back in the mid-1990s, Nick at Nite ran a programming block on the weekends called "Very Very Nick at Nite," which looked at four episodes with a similar theme. Now I will look at four sitcom episodes from across the decades that have a similar plot or theme. This week's topic is  Very Very Ballet! This Week's Episodes Cheers #107 "Dance, Diane, Dance" (First Aired: December 18, 1986) Diane reveals she has been taking ballet lessons and the gang tries to keep her from finding out about a bad review from her ballet teacher. This episode is a fun showcase for Shelley Long not long before her departure from the series. It's also a funny mix of sweetness and humor because the gang at the bar does really look out for Diane while also relentlessly laughing behind her back. There was a nice choice to not show how bad Diane was on the video but just show the characters' reaction. It made it that much funnier. There's also a really great scene between Lon...

On Wednesdays, I take a look at a show that lasted one season or less. Here's a look at 1998's The Brian Benben Show ! THE BRIAN BENBEN SHOW September 21, 1998 - October 12, 1998 4 episodes CBS Starring: Brian Benben, Susan Blommaert, Charles Esten, Wendell Pierce, Luis Antonio Ramos, Lisa Thornhill Created by: Robert Borden Plot: Brian Benben (Benben) is a news anchor for KYLA-TV in Los Angeles. He is fired by his boss Beverly Shippel (Blommaert) and replaced by newer and younger anchor, Chad Rockwell (Esten). However, Brian gets to come back to the network as a human interest reporter after a freak accident to the previous reporter. Rounding out the main cast is weather reporter Billy Hernandez (Ramos), sports anchor Kevin La Rue (Pierce) and new co-anchor Tabitha Berkeley (Thornhill). Brief Pilot Review: This was one of those pilots that was inherently somewhat interesting to me because it was set at a TV station and those types of shows always interest me. But this was not ...

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Mondays in the 1998-99 season! ABC 8:00 8:30 9:00 10:00 Sep Monday Night Blast Monday Night Football Oct Nov Dec Jan 20/20 Monday Night Movie Feb Mar Apr May After years of failed shows leading into Monday Night Football , ABC decided to just abandon a lead-in show for the 1998-99 season. They went with a brief pregame show called Monday Night Blast hosted by Chris Berman and then the game started at 8:20pm. The team at Monday Night Football did not include Frank Gifford for the first time since the inaugural season in 1970. Gifford was replaced (unwillingly) by Boomer Esiason, who joined Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf in the booth. After experimenting with no movie in the 1998 winter, a movie came back in Janua...

Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories this week! #1 - SAG AWARD WINNERS The Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Sunday night. While that is primarily of interest for what it means in the Oscar race, there are also TV awards handed out. It just is always a little odd with "awards season" not being at the same time as the Emmys so there's some 2022 Emmy contenders competing against 2023 contenders. The awards were pretty spread out as only The White Lotus was the winner of more than one TV award (Drama Ensemble and Drama Actress for Jennifer Coolidge). The other big winner was Abbott Elementary for Comedy Ensemble and there several surprises. Jason Bateman winning for Ozark over Better Call Saul 's Bob Odenkirk for Drama Actor was a surprise but not as much of a surprise in the bizarre Limited Series acting categories where two upsets happened - Jessica Chastain won Limited Series Actress for George & Tammy , which had very little buzz on Showtime, whil...

 Back in the mid-1990s, Nick at Nite ran a programming block on the weekends called "Very Very Nick at Nite," which looked at four episodes with a similar theme. Now I will look at four sitcom episodes from across the decades that have a similar plot or theme. This week's topic is  Very Very First Meeting! This Week's Episodes Coach #44 "When Hayden Met Christine" (First Aired: December 11, 1990) As Hayden gets ready for a charity event after breaking up with Christine, he reminisces about meeting Christine at the same event four years earlier. Hayden and Christine aren't one of my all-time favorite TV couples because I never felt like there was a ton of chemistry between Craig T. Nelson and Shelley Fabares, even if they're both pretty good characters in their own right. This episode also doesn't quite work for me because of how quickly Christine turns around on Hayden. She goes from being annoyed with him throughout the episode to being enamored...

On Wednesdays, I take a look at a show that lasted one season or less. Here's a look at 1997's  Alright Already ! ALRIGHT ALREADY September 7, 1997 - May 4, 1998 21 episodes WB Starring: Carol Leifer, Amy Yasbeck, Stacy Galina, Mitzi McCall, Maury Sterling and Jerry Adler Created by: Carol Leifer Plot: Carol Lerner (Leifer) is a single woman running an optometry shop in Miami with her best friend, Renee (Yasbeck). She also has an interesting relationship with her parents (McCall & Adler) and younger siblings Jessica and Vaughn (Galina & Sterling). Brief Pilot Review: There were things to like in this pilot, which definitely had a distinct voice from Leifer. I can understand why there was an interest in building a show around her. She was a strong personality even when certain elements in the pilot didn't work. Her comedic timing was on full display when she was interacting with the neighbors and pretending she had a child so they would turn their music down. It sort...