BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: March 10, 2025

Welcome to a fairly short newsletter as it's been a busy week. Here are some thoughts on the new season of The Righteous Gemstones plus the latest episodes of The White Lotus, Paradise, The Pitt and Severance!

"THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES" SEASON 4

The Righteous Gemstones made a very unusual decision for its fourth and final season premiere. The series did an origin story of the Gemstones set in 1862 and featuring none of the regular cast members. It instead starred Bradley Cooper as the first Gemstone preacher, a Civil War-era criminal who pretended to be a minister (yes, the Gemstones were scammers way back then).

This was certainly a big swing for the series. The series has done "prequel" episodes before but it's always been directly related to the main characters. Some of those break-from-form episodes have been the best of the series. This was probably the biggest swing and it didn't totally work for me. I think it's rough to do for a season premiere of a show that drops weekly episodes after nearly two years away. I was ready to see Danny McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson, Walton Goggins and the rest so it felt like a letdown. I think this probably should have been a two episode premiere if they really wanted to do this episode.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: March 3, 2025

Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am giving a brief Oscars recap plus thoughts on Running Point, The White Lotus, Toxic Town, Paradise, Grosse Pointe Garden Society and Severance!

OSCARS RECAP

The Oscars were on Sunday night and it was a huge night for Anora, which won five awards including Best Picture and an upset win for Best Actress for Mikey Madison (shout out Better Things!). I thought Anora was a deserving Best Picture winner of the five nominees I saw, and, as much as it would have been a great moment for Demi Moore to win Best Actress, that award was well-deserved by Madison. I'm also over the Adrian Brody acceptance speeches but sad there won't be anymore from Kieran Culkin for a bit. And I'm happy that Emilia Perez is out of our lives (it went from what seemed like a lock for International Film to losing to I'm Still Here even though it still won two awards). 

As for the telecast itself, I thought Conan O'Brien was a game host but there were some real clunky musical moments (Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were strong but yikes at the James Bond sequence and the Queen Latifah number, while fun, felt entirely unnecessary over three hours into the telecast). For predictions, I went 16/23, just above last year's 15/23 result. The worst part of the evening? Hulu glitches. Finally airing on a streamer, Hulu really messed it up. I didn't have the problems at the beginning of the telecast that many did but it did cut off before the final two awards of the night, which was super annoying.

"RUNNING POINT"

Netflix debuted the new comedy Running Point on Thursday. The series stars Kate Hudson as a new owner of the fictional Los Angeles Waves NBA team (a.k.a. the Lakers without permission to call them the Lakers). She gets the job from her brother, Cam (Justin Theroux in a recurring role) after a drug-fueled meltdown. She has to navigate being a brand new owner with her other two brothers (Drew Tarver & Scott MacArthur) vying for power, a new brother they didn't know about (Fabrizio Guido) and an eccentric group of personalities within the locker room.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: February 24, 2025

Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week, I am looking at Zero Day, Good Cop/Bad Cop, the latest episode of The White Lotus and giving some Oscars predictions. Plus, thoughts on the SAG Awards and the latest episodes of The Pitt and Severance!

"ZERO DAY"

I'm sure some of you have already finished the entire series but I am three episodes into Netflix's new political thriller limited series Zero Day. The show had a fair amount of anticipation due to its great cast but the reviews weren't promising. Still, I went in hoping I would feel differently from the critics and I'm sorry to say that I don't. I will probably finish it since there's only three more episodes. But if this was a 10 episode season, I probably would have bailed by now.

The series is a classic offender of the "tell, don't show" problem. Characters spend so much time filling in backstory or details by just giving clunky expositional thoughts that aren't natural at all. The show feels like yet another attempt at recapturing the magic of 24, something that too many shows (including 24 spinoffs) have failed at in the last, ahem, 24 years. This time, we have Robert DeNiro playing a Joe Biden-type ex-president who spends a lot of time watching TV after a mysterious event called "Zero Day" that hacks into phones across the country. Eventually, he is put in charge of a Zero Day commission by the current president (Angela Bassett) after a speech to a crowd that would make Aaron Sorkin cringe and then a bunch of hushed tones and conspiracy plots start to unfold.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: February 17, 2025

Welcome to this week's newsletter! This week, I am taking a look at the third season of The White Lotus and SNL's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Plus thoughts on Severance, Paradise, The Pitt and Abbott Elementary!

"THE WHITE LOTUS" SEASON 3

The White Lotus returned on Sunday night for its third season. The first season, set in Hawaii and the second Italy-set season are two of my favorite seasons of any TV show in recent years so I have been eagerly anticipating the return of the show, now in Thailand. I tried not to really read reviews of the third season but did see a few critics note that the season starts a little slow but picks up speed. I think that's definitely true, but that's always a little bit true of The White Lotus. We have to get to know the characters and creator Mike White's way of writing is a slow build with themes developing and emerging. The first couple episodes always feel like we're feeling the characters out. That's especially true in the second and now third season when there are such fond memories of the casts that came before.

Maybe it's the tropical setting or the return of Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), but this season is giving me vibes of the first season more than the second season. I think that's also because of the rich family (this time with parents Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey) reminding me of the Connie Britton/Steve Zahn family. There's also a key returning cast member besides Rothwell who was a surprise (and I won't spoil it here). I think right now it all feels a little bit familiar because we haven't really gotten into the themes Mike White wants to explore so right now we're still on a superficial level with all these characters.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: February 10, 2025

Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at The Z-Suite and the latest episode of Severance plus thoughts on Clean Slate and Abbott Elementary!

"THE Z-SUITE"

First of all, I find the Tubi intro when you launch the app so funny. Maybe it would get tiresome if I watched Tubi a lot but I just find it funny right now. Anyway, Tubi is the home to the new sitcom The Z-Suite, starring Lauren Graham and Nico Santos as prolific advertisement executives who lose their jobs to a trio of Gen Z roustabouts. And if you think roustabout is an outdated word, wait until you see how this show tries to write for both the Gen Z characters and the older characters who don't understand them.

This is one of two generation gap comedies to come out this week, along with Clean Slate. And neither one is particularly good but I might stick with this one a little bit longer only because it's funnier. But that's not the same as saying I think it's a quality sitcom. Lauren Graham is a veteran comedic performer and Nico Santos had some great moments in Superstore. They are responsible for a lot of the comedy. The Gen Z trio (Madison Shamoun, Spencer Stevenson & Anna Bezahler) are much more irritating though I think that's more a problem with writing than performances.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: February 3, 2025

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at Paradise and the latest episode of Severance plus I have thoughts on Watson, Abbott Elementary and The Pitt!

"PARADISE"

When Landman ended its first season earlier this month, I felt a bit sad because I didn't have an absolutely bonkers, ridiculous show to watch on a weekly basis. Well, that may have been short-lived because Hulu's Paradise is here. I thought this was going to be a prestige play and it's definitely trying to be. It came from Dan Fogelman and starred Sterling K. Brown. The two men are, of course, vets of This is Us, a show that was solid to spectacular for most of its run (save for the rough COVID-tinged fifth season). Paradise is silly with a capital S but, unlike Landman, it's taking itself far too serious to be as enjoyable as a show that knew how stupid it was.

The first episode ends with a big twist. I won't spoil it here for those who still plan on watching, but knowing there was a twist going in definitely changed how I viewed the first episode. I recently watched the movie Parasite for the first time and did not know there was a major twist. What an exciting moment when the twist happened! When I know there's a twist, I'm definitely watching in a different way and truly it's a more distracted way. I am spending the episode looking for clues instead of watching for the narrative. 

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: January 27, 2025

Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week, I am looking at Season 2 of The Night Agent and The Hunting Party plus giving thoughts on Severance, The Sex Lives of College Girls and Abbott Elementary.

"THE NIGHT AGENT" SEASON 2

The first season of The Night Agent was a real pleasant surprise for me. It filled the 24-sized hole in my TV schedule and was very addicting with its propulsive plot and cliffhangers with insanely high stakes even as I readily acknowledged it was all a bit silly. But I really did like it a lot, so much so that I nominated it for Outstanding Drama Series in my 2023 Benjamonster Awards.

The series returned for a second season this week with a bit of a "here we go again" vibe. I'm sure some people have already watched the entire second season but I am only three episodes in. It's still a good, old-fashioned action show but at least through three episodes, it is not working nearly as well as the first season for me. The first season case felt like it all really mattered and involved the highest levels of government while also being a personal crusade for Gabriel Basso's Peter. The second season has seemingly broadened its scope with a couple stories on track to collide with each other. But the stakes don't feel quite as high and it feels a little forced to keep Luciane Buchanan's Rose in the story.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: January 20, 2025

Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week, I am looking at the second season of Severance and the documentary SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night. Plus I have thoughts on The Pitt and Hollywood Squares. 

"SEVERANCE" SEASON 2

Severance returned this week to much fanfare after a nearly three year break. I really enjoyed the first season of the show but I didn't remember a ton of the details, just the broad swaths and I was not about to rewatch the first season or even the finale because I just don't have the time. So I was very curious if I would feel confused or disoriented when the second season started. And the answer is... only in the ways I think I was supposed to. I think the show did a good job with bringing us back into the world after so much time off because the characters were a little disoriented too. So I felt like there was a conscious effort by the writers to sort of remind the viewers what was going on and not in a cheesy way, but in an organic way that makes sense for characters trying to make sense of things.

The episode started with some cool camera work of Adam Scott's Mark running through the halls of the severed floor of Lumon and it was very clear that this was a show that was more self-assured going into Season Two. The first season certainly felt experimental but not like it was a show that knew a lot of people were going to watch it. The beginning of this premiere felt like when a big show came back in the fall season after a summer off and knew everyone was going to be watching. It then smartly proceeded to reset a lot of things for the second season while still dangling some threads from the first season.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: January 13, 2025

Welcome to this week's newsletter! This week, I am looking at The Pitt, Shifting Gears and Doc plus thoughts on the Landman finale and the crossover episode of Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

"THE PITT"

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of The Pitt going in. I thought it would be a serviceable medical drama but I also thought "what can a streaming version of a network procedural offer that a network can't besides some better production values and swearing a bit more often?" Well, at least with The Pitt, the answer is quite a bit. While the series is really just a traditional medical drama with the slight gimmick of being in real time (each episode is an hour in a 15 hour shift), the show feels better than anything a network can offer in this genre in 2025.

It's apparent in both big and little things. The show has an incredible attention to detail. They take the time to show doctors getting a squirt of hand sanitizer whenever they're about to enter the room. That might seem like a small example but as someone who spent some time in a NICU with my newborn son, that is something that happens out of habit for everyone working there. That tells me that the director has their eye on realism and the actors are fully immersed in the moment. I'm sure someone who actually works in an ER could tell you a bunch of things that the show gets wrong in specifics but, like Abbott Elementary is to schools, it feels like they at least got the vibe right. The Pitt (the location in the show) feels claustrophobic and busy. It doesn't feel like it was done on a Hollywood soundstage without enough extras (see the next show down for more on that). And the production value bells and whistles that come from being a streaming show really does make a difference, even in a medical drama. The show feels crisp and sharp in how it looks, how it's directed, how it's edited.

BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: January 6, 2025

Welcome to my Monday Newsletter! This week, I am looking at my Top 15 Most Anticipated Shows of 2025 plus a review of Going Dutch and thoughts on the Golden Globes and the Shrinking season finale.

MY TOP 15 MOST ANTICIPATED SHOWS OF 2025

It's a new year so here's a look at my most anticipated shows of 2025! Some shows are dated and coming very soon. Others have much less information but here's my list based on what I know now. 

Close Calls: The Night Agent Season 2 (Netflix, Jan 23), Death by Lighting (Netflix, TBD), Mid-Century Modern (Hulu, TBD), The Artist (The Network, TBD), The Hunting Party (NBC, Feb 3)

15. The Four Seasons (Netflix, TBD)

Date Night reunion alert! This project puts Steve Carell and Tina Fey together in a comedy based on the 1981 film starring Alan Alda and Carol Burnett. There is very little known about this show, which also stars Will Forte and Erika Henningsen and it's not even guaranteed a 2024 premiere. But I had to put it on the list because of Carell and Fey. They may have a few misses in their repertoire but I like the chances of this being good when they are together.

14. The Pitt (Max, Jan 9)

The Pitt is one of the closer attempts to a network procedural that a streamer has done. It's basically 24 in a hospital with each episode of the 15 episode first season taking place over one hour in a hospital shift. Noah Wyle's putting on the scrubs again years after ER and this seems to hit a lot of the same beats as many broadcast medical dramas that came before it (just more swearing). I tend to check out quickly on medical dramas but I'm still interested in this one, or at least interested in giving it a try especially with the solid reviews it's gotten.

13. Grosse Pointe Garden Society (NBC, Feb 23)

I'm intrigued by this show because it feels a little different than the type of shows Broadcast TV have been offering us lately. It feels like it could be more like Desperate Housewives than yet another procedural drama. I wasn't really into Housewives but I'm still intrigued with a cast that includes Melissa Fumero, Aja Naomi King, Nancy Travis and others. If this proves to be something a little bit different, I hope it is rewarded by viewers so broadcast networks will branch back out a bit.

12. Etoile (Prime Video, TBD)

I'm not sure I would be into a show set in the ballet world except that Etoile is the follow-up to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. Maisel is one of my all-time favorite shows so I'm going to absolutely follow them to their next show, which already has a two-season order and stars Maisel's Luke Kirby. Consider me very intrigued.