Benjamonster's TV

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. Today I am looking at Nobody Wants This, Doctor Odyssey and Grotesquerie  plus I have a few thoughts on Saturday Night Live and a host of other new shows that premiered last week. NOBODY WANTS THIS It feels like we don't get too many true rom-coms on TV anymore but Nobody Wants This certainly fits into that category. Netflix's new series, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, has the very rom-com plot of an agnostic podcaster who loves to talk about sex (Bell) who has a meet cute and then very quickly a relationship with a young, unconventional rabbi (Brody). In less capable hands, this would be a Hallmark movie with a whole bunch of eye rolls. But in the very capable hands of Bell and Brody, it's mostly a delight. It's always weird to talk about Netflix shows since they drop all at once and some people have surely finished the series. I've watched the first four episodes. The show is absolutely at its best when Bell and Brody are to...

Welcome to a VERY busy newsletter after a week full of big premieres. This week, I am looking at a flurry of new shows: The Penguin, Agatha All Along, Matlock, American Sports Story & Monsters and High Potential . Plus some brief thoughts on Frasier, English Teacher and Bad Monkey . Sorry in advance for the length! THE PENGUIN The Penguin was probably the highest profile launch of the many premieres in the past week. The HBO limited series follows Colin Farrell's portrayal of the famous Batman villain following the 2022 film The Batman . I didn't see The Batman but the days of a campy Burgess Meredith hobbling around making bird sounds are long gone. In case you haven't noticed, the Batman franchise has gotten a whole lot darker over the years. And this show shares way more DNA with  The Sopranos than the original Batman  show.  But that's not to say it's not without camp elements. And that's aside from the obvious nods to Meredith (Burgess Jewelry) and Dann...

Welcome to my (one day late) newsletter1 This week, I am recapping the Emmy Awards plus sharing thoughts on How to Die Alone and more! EMMY AWARDS RECAP The Emmy Awards were held Sunday night and it was an interesting night with some predictable results and some big surprises. of course the surprise everyone is talking about is Hacks winning over The Bear . While there was backlash to The Bear 's third season and its continuous placement in the Comedy field, the win for Hacks was surprising because  The Bear won many awards earlier in the night including Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Directing. But the overall prize went to Hacks , a show that's much more of a comedy coming off a delightful third season and also had a third win for Jean Smart as well as Writing. And even though voters were supposed to be voting for the second season of The Bear , it was clear from the series loss and Liza Colon Zayas' win that the third season was very much on the min...

Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week has an Emmy Awards preview, thoughts on English Teacher and The Perfect Couple and more! EMMY AWARDS PREVIEW The Emmy Awards are this Sunday! Here's my look at what will win, should win and should have been nominated in the major categories. Among the series races, I think Shogun is the only lock. The other two frontrunners could be upset. The Bear seems likely to win especially if voters kept it in their heads that they were voting for Season 2. But if some voters take into account their dislike for Season 3, that could hurt the chances for The Bear and give a lane to Hacks to win. Meanwhile, in the Limited Series category, Baby Reindeer seems like too big a phenomenon to not win. But the offscreen controversies surrounding the show could hurt it. If that happens, it seems like the Emmy could go to either True Detective: Night Country or Fargo , or maybe even the very deserving Ripley .  Outstanding Comedy Series Will/Should Win: The Bear...

My Monday newsletter is back as we head into the fall! Today I am looking at my most anticipated fall shows, reviewing summer TV and sharing some thoughts on the newest season of Only Murders in the Building ! TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED NEW FALL SHOWS This fall feels a lot more like a normal fall after last year's strike-affected fall season. And after a rough summer of new TV (see more on that below), there are some really interesting shows coming over the next couple months! Here's a look at my Top 10 most anticipated new shows of the fall season! 10.  The Perfect Couple (Netflix, September 5) I'm a little leery of this one because I've grown tired of watching Nicole Kidman play wealthy white women with major first world problems. But I'm intrigued by the rest of the cast, which includes Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning and Meghann Fahy, the latter whom I absolutely loved on the second season of The White Lotus . It looks very soapy but also looks interesting enough fo...