Benjamonster's TV

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. With no new shows I wanted to talk about, I decided to pivot for this week and talk about the Tony nominations, which are getting revealed tomorrow morning. So, check out that post or if Broadway isn't your thing, I also have my Emmy Preview for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and brief thoughts on Palm Royale and The Big Door Prize . And I'll be back to more TV talk next week! TONY NOMINATIONS PREDICTIONS It's been a wild and busy Broadway season with a record 15 new musicals opening this year (along with many revivals, plays and play revivals). But what's also been interesting is very few shows have gotten unanimous raves. The revival of Merrily We Roll Along has been the hit of the season, which is wild since the original was an all-time flop. Plays Stereophonic, Appropriate,   Prayer for the French Republic and late dance entry Illinoise  were also met with rave reviews. But the rest of the musicals all had their supporte...

Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at Under the Bridge and Dinner with the Parents plus giving thoughts on the Emmy race for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. I also have a few thoughts on Palm Royale and Manhunt ! UNDER THE BRIDGE Hulu premiered the first two episodes of their murder mystery series Under the Bridge last week and although it follows most standard murder mystery tropes, it does them well and creates a solid mystery through the first pair of episodes. The Canadian-set drama was not immune to some eyeroll moments. Like nearly every TV limited series whodunit, the series splits time between getting to know the victim before the murder and the murder investigation. It has a standard opening for the shows with a melodramatic voiceover and darkness that then leads into a much happier time months earlier. The show shines at times though thanks to its very strong cast. That includes Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone, who play former friends now comi...

Welcome to a busy Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at new shows The Sympathizer, Franklin and Fallout as well as more of Ripley and my Emmys Preview for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Plus I have a few thoughts on the latest episodes of  The Girls on the Bus and Sugar . Enjoy! THE SYMPATHIZER HBO's newest Sunday night entry is The Sympathizer , which premiered last night. Based on the 2015 debut, Pulitzer Price-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, the series is centered on a man named The Captain who is a spy for the Viet Cong of North Vietnam while being part of the South Vietnam army. The series is notable for featuring recent Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. in a wide variety of roles, all mostly white antagonists.  I wasn't quite sure what to make of the first episode but there was definitely enough I liked to make me keep going. I often rail against shows for hopping time periods too much but in this show, it seems to be a feature not a bug. The...

Welcome to my Monday Newsletter! This week, I am looking at Ripley and Sugar and kicking off my Emmys Preview with the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series race. Plus, I have some thoughts on Loot, Palm Royale, The Girls on the Bus and more! RIPLEY I've watched half of the season of Ripley , which dropped all eight episodes on Netflix last Thursday after a long and torturous road to getting on the air. The project was announced for Showtime way back in Fall 2019. Filming in Italy was delayed due to COVID and then after the series had been filmed, Netflix ended up picking up the show from Showtime as the premium channel's priorities changed. The show doesn't really feel like a current era Showtime show but it also doesn't really feel like a Netflix show. I don't really care where it fits though because I really enjoyed the four episodes I watched and can't wait to watch the rest of the series. The series, which is set in the 1960s and mostly in Italy, is famously ...

Welcome to my Monday newsletter! Today I am looking at Hulu's We Were the Lucky Ones , the latest episodes of Palm Royale and The Girls on the Bus and more! WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES We Were the Lucky Ones is a new Hulu limited series that premiered this past week with the first three episodes. Based on the novel of the same name, it tells the harrowing tale of a Polish Jewish family ripped apart by the Holocaust and scattered in many different directions. I watched the first three episodes and was definitely intrigued by some of it even if has a bit of a "paint by numbers" feel to the way so many limited series are produced these days. Still, it's a story worth telling and there are some interesting performances, most notably from Joey King. She really steals the show here and I found her scenes to be by far the most interesting of the first three episodes (her travel to the border in the second episode was both intense and surprisingly funny at times). King has struck ...