Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins and Season 2 of Hijack plus the season finale of Landman and the latest episode of The Pitt. Plus, I am giving my Oscars nominations predictions and taking a look back at Off the Map!
WHAT'S NEW
NBC gave an early release last night of the pilot of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins after football. It won't return until February 23 after the Olympics. This series has some interesting elements but I do have some concerns. Some are my own personal preference concerns. Despite how many feel, I often find the shows from the Robert Carlock/Tina Fey world to be a little too much. I don't need all my sitcoms to have drama but I feel like the incessant jokes and quick cuts that made shows like 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt famous are a bit much at times. And that happened in the pilot here too. I know some people absolutely love their approach, I just never have. I'm also a small dose person with Tracy Morgan so I'm not sure I'm into a full time series starring him.
My concern that is less personal is wondering what this show would look like long-term in success. The premise is making a documentary and that feels like it's going to run out of steam at some point. Sure, we can go back and forth between Reggie and Daniel Radcliffe's Arthur Tobin and have them fight and then re-start things. But the documentary will need to get finished, and then what is the show? Now you might be saying "The Office and other mockumentaries got away with the whole 'making a documentary' concept for a decade." And that's fair except that the documentary was really an afterthought (except for the last couple episodes of The Office). It's a major premise in this show and it's not something that can just be ignored for many episodes of even seasons.
I enjoyed the first season of Hijack though watching the recap made me realize some details are fuzzy (a problem with seasons released so far apart - I didn't forget much from The Pitt's first season, just saying). This is one of those shows that should have been a limited series. It's giving very Speed 2: Cruise Control vibes even as they are clearly trying to be mindful of that problem in the second season. The first episode was almost exclusively setup with Idris Elba having very few lines. Then at the end, the plot started to kick into gear and there was a cliffhanger ending clearly designed to try to turn some things on their head. I won't spoil it, but the problem is we know the last line spoken by Elba is a red herring in one way or another so why play games. I will still watch this but this show had an uphill battle to try to replicate what worked in the first season and I'll be pretty shocked if it can really figure it out in a way that justifies the existence of a second season.
Also...
I gave PONIES on Peacock a try and decided it wasn't for me. I didn't hate it, I thought there were things to like about it but it was one of those situations where I thought "do I really care enough about this show to watch eight hours of it?" and the answer was no. I always think I'm going to like espionage thrillers and Cold War-era stories more than I actually do in practice. But it's not bad, if that's your sort of thing.
I also watched the first episode of Agatha Christie's Seven Dials. It wasn't quite my thing but I might finish it since it's only three episodes. Mia McKenna-Bruce is a real star in this one and could be a breakout British actress. And if you're looking for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms thoughts, you'll have to look elsewhere. The Game of Thrones universe is not my thing.
LAST WEEK ON...
I've mentioned before that my favorite podcast is The Watch with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald and they have done a great job talking about/roasting Landman this season if you want to hear much more Landman content and feel equally frustrated and fascinated by it. The penultimate episode of the season was probably a low point in the series with Taylor Sheridan at his absolute worst instincts. But I think the season finale, which aired yesterday, was probably the best episode of the season. Part of the reason is it was much more focused. All season long, everyone's plots meandered. It felt like Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) was doing the same exact thing every episode. But the show actually reset and changed the game at the end of the season to set up a third season. I don't think this show is good. In fact, I actually think it's bad often. But I can't quit it for whatever reason.
The Pitt
I'm not sure if I'll have something to say about The Pitt every week because I just want to enjoy the ride on Thursday nights. I think the only thing that's been tricky for me in this season is the new characters. I know it's only been two episodes a.k.a. two hours in the show's time. But the show is going need to not have Dr. Robby and Dr. Al-Hashimi doing the same back and forth for too long. The show needs to find some more likable qualities for Al-Hashimi as well as the two new med students, Joy and Ogilvie. They introduced many quirky yet compelling characters last season whose humanity overcame their negative qualities, I hope that happens here too and I expect it to. On a more positive note, I thought this was a fantastic episode for reigning Emmy winner Katherine LaNasa. What a great presence she has in every scene she's in.
AWARDS CORNER
While this is primarily a TV blog, I have gotten more into the Oscar Race in recent year and wanted to share my nomination predictions with nominations arriving this Thursday (January 22). This is not my "should be nominated" list, this is what I predict WILL be nominated in the major categories
Best Picture
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
It Was Just An Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Guillermo Del Toro, Frankenstein
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just An Accident
Chloe Zhao, Hamnet
Lead Actor
Timothee Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Lead Actress
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia
Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Paul Mescal, Hamnet
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value
Supporting Actress
Odessa A'Zion, Marty Supreme
Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Original Screenplay
It Was Just An Accident
Marty Supreme
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia
Hamnet
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams
PILOT RE-REVIEW
This season, I am traveling back in time to the 2010-11 season, the first season I did this blog. I will be re-reviewing the pilots from that season, at least as many as I can find!
Original Review: Click Here!
What I Think Now: I wasn't a big fan of Off the Map back in 2011 but it especially bothered me in The Pitt era. While I still think the idea of an exotic location medical show is a good idea, there was nothing that set this show apart from the myriad failed medical dramas before and after this show. The location is not enough to set it apart unfortunately because it hits all the tropes: the cocky doctor, the personal traumas, the heart-tugging story of a patient and his deceased wife. Now, The Pitt was not immune to some of these tropes. But to see how organically it can fit into a story, it's frustrating to see it in a "check the boxes" kind of way. Even Chicago Med has more inventiveness than Off the Map did, at least in the pilot. The performances were forgettable across the board. Zach Gilford, who was fresh off Friday Night Lights at the time, was especially disappointing and it looked like he didn't even want to be there. Only guest star Michael McKean made any sort of real impression.
What Happened to the Show: Off the Map premiered at an interesting time. Grey's Anatomy was still going strong and this was from Shondaland. But it was sort of in-between Grey's being a breakout hit and Scandal sort of cementing the Shonda brand. On top of that, this was before the TGIT days so ABC did not air Off the Map before or after Grey's or Private Practice. It was sent to 10pm, a slot that had already not been kind that season to The Whole Truth and was a problem for several seasons prior. The series premiere aired on an unusual night that had part of the evening preempted by a President Obama speech following the Gabby Giffords shooting in Tucson so ABC aired ten minutes of repeats of The Middle and Modern Family as part of the night. The show premiered to mild numbers and it never got better from there. It lasted through the spring but was cancelled after 13 episodes. It doesn't get mentioned often int he Shondaland pantheon.
COMING UP
It's a busy week of premieres but I'm not sure anything premiering during the week has much of a chance of breaking out or being very buzzy. On Wednesday, FX has the premiere of The Beauty, the latest Ryan Murphy project for the network. This one stars Ashton Kutcher, Evan Peters and Isabella Rossellini among others and feels like it could be a season of American Horror Story. It has been diminishing returns for Murphy's projects in terms of buzz and reviews and I don't see this going any differently. Also premiering Wednesday is Steal on Prime Video, a thriller series starring Sophie Turner. Netflix has two premieres on Thursday: the teen ice skating drama Finding Her Edge and the Brett Kreischer comedy Free Bert. Neither one seems like it will get much interest but you never know with Netflix shows, sometimes they randomly break out. Probably the highest profile premiere of the week comes on Sunday with Memory of a Killer on FOX. The Patrick Dempsey/Michael Imperioli drama will get a premiere out of the NFC Championship Game with a second episode airing the next night. FOX is obviously hopeful this will be as buzzy as a broadcast drama can be in 2026. Also premiering on Sunday is the faith-based drama It's Not Like That on Prime Video through their Wonder Project. The series stars Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes.
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