BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: September 30, 2024

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 together. The two have an easy chemistry and have a lot of fun together on screen. Close behind are times when Bell is with Justine Lupe as her sister and co-podcaster. Bell and Lupe certainly have a sisterly dynamic and have some funny moments with their parents. The show falls apart a little bit for me with Brody's on-screen family. Besides being a bunch of thinly drawn Jewish stereotypes, there also just isn't the easy camaraderie or chemistry, at least through the first four episodes, that makes me believe them as a family. They seem more about punchlines and broad caricatures.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: September 23, 2024

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 Danny DeVito, from 1992's Batman Returns (Danny's Roofing Company). Between the purple car and suit, the use of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and the nearly cartoonish elements of the style of Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone, the show still retains a bit of camp even though its set in a deadly serious mob underworld. I'm not sure the pilot completely struck the right tone with that but it wasn't a wild miss and it mostly worked for me.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: September 17, 2024

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 mind of voters. That Supporting Actress award really should have been Hannah Einbinder's considering how Hacks did overall and Zayas had her showcase in the third season, which is eligible next year. Oh the weirdness of the streaming calendar with the Emmys window.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: September 9, 2024

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

Should Have Been Nominated: The Righteous Gemstones

Outstanding Drama Series

Will Win: Shogun

Should Win: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Should Have Been Nominated: Elsbeth

Outstanding Limited Series

Will Win: Baby Reindeer

Should Win: Ripley

Should Have Been Nominated: None - these are the five I would have nominated!

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Will/Should Win: Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Should Have Been Nominated: Kayvan Novak, What We Do in the Shadows

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Will/Should Win: Jean Smart, Hacks

Should Have Been Nominated: Rose Byrne, Platonic

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: September 2, 2024

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 for me to give it a try and hope it is one of the better versions of that type of show.

9. Agatha All Along (Disney+, September 18)

Unlike some other shows on this list, my interest is this show dropped after seeing the trailer. I loved Kathryn Hahn on WandaVision so even though I'm not much of a Marvel guy, I was very intrigued by this show. But I thought the trailer looked pretty bad. The production values look like cheap CGI and Hahn seems to be missing all the pizazz she had on WandaVision. Still, this show has Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Debra Jo Rupp and others in the supporting cast. I'm still definitely giving it a try but I'm much more apprehensive.

8. Nobody Wants This (Netflix, September 26)

This show was on my radar but I became a little more interested after seeing the trailer. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are both very likable actors and the premise, about an agnostic woman who falls for a rabbi, has potential. It seems very much like a rom-com movie of the 90s but that's not a bad thing. It's nice to see the rom-com genre getting two leads in their 40s and there doesn't seem to be some unnecessary hook or deep dark secret here. I think it could be a very pleasant watch.

7. Matlock (CBS, September 22)

I really enjoy Kathy Bates so even though this show is way outside my demographic, I think it'll be a really solid legal show. Elsbeth revived my hope that network procedurals can still have some fun and this seems like a really good pair with Elsbeth on Thursday nights. I loved Bates in the otherwise troubled Harry's Law and she will certainly be a force here. Kathy Bates in a legal drama procedural on CBS just goes down easy. It may not be as ambitious as some of the other shows on this list, but it certainly could be some nice comfort food TV.

6. How to Die Alone (Hulu, September 13)

This was a show that was not on my radar at all until I saw the trailer. Now it's definitely a show I'm curious about. I loved Natasha Rothwell on The White Lotus and this seems to be a show with distinct voice and vision (coming from Rothwell). The story, about a JFK employee who tries to turn her life around after a near-death experience, has a promising plot to be able to explore relationships and I thought the trailer had a lot of fun and sweet moments. It could be a surprise this fall.