Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at DTF St. Louis, American Classic and Paradise Season Two. Plus, the latest episodes of Love Story, Shrinking and The Pitt. I am also ranking my Top 10 TV Shows that start with E and taking a look back at FOX's 2011 sitcom Traffic Light.
WHAT'S NEW
In my time doing this blog, I have seen many crime dramas - ones that start with a body in the opening scene and then flash back. To be honest, I'm pretty sick of that trope. I can forgive it for something I love like The White Lotus but I roll my eyes more often than not at this point. DTF St. Louis, which premiered last night on HBO, feels like a fresh breath on the genre and not just because the dead body wasn't revealed until about 20 minutes in.
The whole tone of the show was very unique and unsettling. From the stark rot of suburbia displayed in the art direction (they really made suburban St. Louis look like it had nothing going on) to the completely awkward cadences in nearly all the conversations that took place between characters. This may ultimately play out to be a standard "who done it" murder mystery but I got the sense from the first episode that it has more on its mind and that was refreshing.
This sort of vehicle is perfect for Jason Bateman who seems to be channeling a bit of his Michael Bluth here with his delivery. It is tailor made for Bateman's awkwardness that he has perfected across many roles. David Harbour is excellent in the first episode as well as a sad-sack character. Linda Cardellini did not have nearly as much to do yet but given the fact that she's billed as basically a co-lead with Bateman and Harbour makes me know there is much more to come from her. I also liked the two detectives (Richard Jenkins and Joy Sunday) who were doing a bit more conventional crime drama work but still had strong scenes together. This show has certainly piqued my interest. We'll see where it goes.
American Classic came in at #2 on my Most Anticipated New Shows of 2026 because I'm a sucker for theater stories and this sounded right up my alley. I've only watched one of the two episodes that premiered last night so I don't know if I feel super confident in judging this show because one of my complaints is how much exposition there was in the first episode and that may have been why MGM+ decided to release two episodes on premiere night.
I'm still pretty optimistic even after the first episode. I think the setup for how Richard Bean (Kevin Kline) ended up back in his hometown was fine but the meat of the show is this small town and the theater at the center of it and we didn't really get to see until the very end of the pilot. The rest of the cast is very solid too. It's good to see people like Laura Linney and Tony Shalhoub back on TV while Len Cariou is once again playing the father of someone just a bit younger than him, like he did on Blue Bloods. Kline is interesting although it felt a bit underplayed in the first episode especially if his character was supposed to have a major meltdown.
I'm sure I will continue to watch this show so hopefully I can have some more complete thoughts at some point but so far, I don't have any regrets about ranking it high on my Most Anticipated list.
It's been awhile since I feel like I actively hate-watched a show. I just don't have time to stick with shows that I don't like and usually I just get bored. But I keep watching Paradise even though it frustrates me to no end. Every once in awhile, it is capable of something really great. That happened with the penultimate episode in the first season and again in the premiere of the second season. With a new character (Shaliene Woodley) introduced, the pilot was an impressive, self-contained story set at Graceland with a great performance by Woodley. But then the second and third episode reminded me of why this show frustrates me so much. I'm sorry, but I just don't think Sterling K. Brown or Julianne Nicholson are any good in this show and I feel like the acclaim they've gotten for this (Emmy nominations) is based more on people liking them from other things. The show is also getting increasingly convoluted with plots spinning in a million different directions and none of them that interesting. It already had no consistent tone in the first season and now it seems to also want to be The Last of Us. I was hopeful the show would learn from its mistakes in the first season and lean into what worked best. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Or it seemed to remember for one episode and then promptly forget again. Maybe I'll actually quit the show this season or maybe it will continue to be my one and only current hate watch just in hopes that another great episode will surprise me.
Also...
I didn't check out CIA or Marshals. I've never watched Yellowstone though I did watch 1923. If I'm going to watch anymore Dutton family shows, I may as well watch the original first. And then CIA seemed about as generic as possible an I just had no interest.
LAST WEEK ON...
I'm coming around more on Paul Anthony Kelly in this show as JFK Jr. I thought he was much weaker than Sarah Pidgeon's Carolyn Bessette in the first couple episodes (even though he was a dead ringer for the real JFK Jr.) but I've come around on his performance more in the last two weeks and I though this most recent episode, which focused on his proposal and the launch of the George magazine, was his best one yet.
Shrinking
This week's episode wasn't as strong as the previous two weeks. That's not to say it was bad, but I'm not all that on board with the Jimmy/Meg pairing and it felt like a lot of other stories, even Gaby and Derrick (who I usually love), were sort of spinning their wheels or setting up the next part of the season. But it did have a truly great moment that deserves to go viral in Brian and Jimmy's hilarious Les Miserables performance. Everything about the way that sequence was done was perfect.
The Pitt
Every week brings another great episode of The Pitt. This week definitely felt like a "Part 2" to last week's episode, which ended on the cliffhanger of having to go analog but it also had the continued sexual assault process. After already being so detailed last week, the rape kit scenes continued this week and I continue to applaud the show for the amount of time and care it put into this story. The analog elements provided a good bit of comedy and I think this was a great idea for the show for this season. Obviously they couldn't do something like PittFest again without it seeming way too "TV" so this switch off of computer systems still provides a "all hands on deck working together" approach in a very different way than a mass shooting would.
THE BEST TV ALPHABETICALLY: LETTER E
In honor of 2026, I am looking at the 26 letters of the alphabet and listing my Top 10 TV Shows of All Time that start with that letter (no "The" or "A" don't count as the first letter of a show). This week, I am looking at letter E:
There's a surprising amount of E shows that are high on my list of shows I've always meant to watch: Ed, Everwood, Everybody Hates Chris, ER. But since I haven't watched those, #10 goes to Evening Shade, an inconsistent but sometimes enjoyable show that still exudes small town charm.
9. The Event (NBC, 2010-2011)
This show is certainly flawed but darn it if it wasn't a fun time. I've always had a soft spot for this show, which was a buzzy debut when I first started this blog. They just don't make these ambitious but messy network dramas anymore.
8. The E! True Hollywood Story (E!, 1996-2021)
It's been years since I've seen an episode of this but it was a guilty pleasure when I was growing up and would catch the episodes in the channel flipping days (boy do I miss channel flipping days). I actually didn't know it aired new episodes as recently as 2021.
7. Everything Sucks! (Netflix, 2018)
An underrated Netflix gem from their earlier days of originals, this was a great coming-of-age show that should have lasted longer. It also featured Sydney Sweeney just before she hit it big.
6. Euphoria (HBO, 2019-Present)
Speaking of Sydney Sweeney, HBO's drama has only aired two seasons since 2019 (with a third finally arriving in April). It is a really messy show but capable of some extraordinary moments, especially in the visually stunning first season and the one-off episode between Zendaya and Colman Domingo.
5. Eight Simple Rules (ABC, 2002-2005)
This show started off as a formulaic but charming family sitcom with great performances. Then after the sudden death of star John Ritter, it rose to the occasion for a few raw and real episodes before it ultimately fell apart when it tried to soldier on long term. A lot happened to this show in three short seasons!
4. Enlightened (HBO, 2011-2013)
This Laura Dern dramedy is often considered a two season wonder. I watched it many years later and while it wasn't perfect, it was certainly an interesting show with a lot of great performances. I wish it had gotten more time.
3. English Teacher (FX/Hulu, 2024-2025)
I've already talked about the mess behind the scenes with this show and it's probably a good thing that it came to an end. But that doesn't erase the fact that this is one of the funniest and most true to life shows of the last couple years.
2. Elsbeth (CBS, 2024-Present)
One of my favorite current broadcast shows, the strength of the episodes rise and fall a bit based on the guest star (a.k.a. the killer of the week) but what doesn't change each episode is Carrie Preston's incredibly quirky and fun central performance.
1. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS, 1996-2005)
A family comedy that famously chose to not be topical and instead be everlasting. It has held up very well as a result with the timeless performances from Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle among others. The recent CBS reunion special made me remember how much I enjoyed this show and made me want to watch some episodes again.
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: Traffic Light is the definition of a perfectly fine, perfectly forgettable sitcom. TV history is littered with shows like this - ones that ran a half season and were not some epic disaster like Cavemen nor some hidden gem that couldn't find an audience like Terriers. It was just a standard network sitcom that probably very few who even watched it remember. I thought the cast was fine - nothing special. I've never quite gotten the appeal of Nelson Franklin and David Denman is good as an everyman recurring role in a show like The Office but doesn't work as well in a leading role. I thought the plot was serviceable though somewhat boring (I know the show is called Traffic Light but there were a few too many scenes in the car). The biggest problem was I didn't laugh - or even come close to it - once. It wasn't unfunny or incredibly stupid - it was just so blah.
What Happened to the Show: Back in 2011 and the years surrounding that year, FOX would launch many shows around January/February when they could use American Idol and the NFL playoffs as a major launching pad. In 2011, they also had the Super Bowl and used then-phenom Glee as the lead-out. Glee aired Tuesdays at 8pm and led into Raising Hope and Running Wilde in the Fall of 2010. When Running Wilde failed, they decided to try a new sitcom - Traffic Light and it premiered two days after the Super Bowl. It was met with a collective shrug and premiered to weak numbers. There was more interest but ultimately more disappointment in Running Wilde. Traffic Light felt like a show that was a dime a dozen, which it was. It was cancelled in May but did air its full 13 episode season. I was surprised to read how positive my initial review was. I must have watched a few more episodes given that review but I have no memory of the rest of the series.
COMING UP
This week has a fair number of premieres. On Tuesday, ABC has the premiere of RJ Decker starring Scott Speedman. On paper, it seems like the light-hearted procedural should be a good fit out of High Potential. On Thursday, Netflix premieres the dramedy Vladimir starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall. It hasn't had a ton of buzz but we all know Netflix shows can always break out. Also premiering Thursday is the second season of Ted on Peacock. Premiering on Friday is the eighth and final season of Outlander on Starz. The show has been on the air since 2014, which is an eternity for cable/premium. Finally on Sunday, HBO has the premiere of the new Steve Carell comedy Rooster, which comes from Bill Lawrence. I'll be very curious to see the reviews for this one, I hope they are good.
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