Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at the fifth season of For All Mankind, the finale of Love Story and the latest episodes of The Pitt and Rooster. Plus, I am counting down my Top 10 Shows starting with H and looking at the Emmy Awards race for Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series.
WHAT'S NEW
I've had a very up and down relationship over the years with For All Mankind, a show that has been on the air since the day Apple TV launched back in 2019. I thought the first season was technically impressive but ultimately somewhat boring. Then Season 2 was brilliant, one of the strongest second season jumps in recent memory in terms of quality. I was super stoked for Season 3, but it ended up being a bit of a step down from the second season though I still thought it was quite solid and ended in a really exciting place. But then the wheels came off for me in Season 4, which finished up way back in January 2024. So I approached this penultimate season (as recently announced) with some trepidation and that appears to be warranted through one episode.
The technical prowess that has been there the whole time is still there (with one exception that you can probably guess and I discuss in the next paragraph) but the storytelling just isn't. This is a show that had one exceptional season and it's given it a lot of goodwill from me, probably more than it has earned. One hallmark of a new season of For All Mankind is the jump forward in time where we see what is happening in the world from their alt-history perspective from the space race and news to national and world events (Al Gore became president! JFK Jr. lived!) to pop culture things (John Lennon lived and performed with Jay-Z at the Grammys! Blockbuster is opening a store on the moon and looking into producing original content!). Sometimes it feels like the writers have more fun and creativity with those couple minutes of time hopping than crafting compelling stories to flesh out the season. Just saying. I think they have a good sense of world-building, but not the interpersonal stories on a weekly basis.
And I'm really not one who gets that bothered by exposition dialogue but boy do they layer the exposition on thicker than Joel Kinnaman's old-age makeup. There is so much dialogue used up to not just remind the audience of events from the past but to also fill in the intervening years and it feels very stilted. When a show is away this long, I guess it might be necessary because I forgot a lot of details but boy did I notice it in this. And, as the internet has already determined, the old age makeup is just ridiculous. For a show with an Apple budget behind it and the internet ridicule from previous seasons, I can't believe they've never managed to do better with that. With the announced renewal of a sixth and final season, I'll probably see this one through and keep hoping it can recapture its Season 2 magic.
LAST WEEK ON...
I was pretty skeptical of Love Story because of it coming from the Ryan Murphy factory (though he wasn't the creator or showrunner). But I was pleasantly surprised by it. While it didn't have as much social commentary, it was a lot closer to The People vs. OJ Simpson than a lot of Murphy's recent, more exploitative shows. It's just too bad that he and his underlings can't resist the urge to be a little exploitative. Love Story seemed to have decent goodwill from people until Daryl Hannah spoke out about her depiction in the show. And that seemed to create a lot of ill-will towards the show. It was just all so unnecessary because Daryl Hannah didn't even need to be a character in the show and she certainly didn't need to be portrayed the way she was for the show to work. But they just couldn't help themselves and it seemed to really turn some people against the overall project and away from what were thoughtful portrayals by Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr., Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy and especially Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette. Another standout was Constance Zimmer as Carolyn's mother, Ann Messina Freeman. I think Daryl Hannah had reason to have gripes with the show but I don't think the Kennedy family had a reason to be upset with the show. I think it was thoughtful and respectful to the two main characters.
The Pitt
It's been interesting to watch a more slow burn season of The Pitt. Around the 6pm hour last season, chaos was unfolding in a major way with the PittFest crisis. This time around, while it's still been busy and crazy, it hasn't really gotten any crazier since the hospital went offline. If anything, it's maybe calmed down a bit. But that has given us a different type of season and I am here for it. The scene between Katherine LaNasa and Noah Wyle outside in this week's episode showed us all why they are the reigning Emmy winners in their respective categories. With the shift coming to an end, I'm very curious to see what the last three hours of the season look like.
Rooster
I know the reception for this show has been mixed at best and I've been feeling pretty mixed on it as well. But I thought last night's episode, the fourth of the series, was the best episode yet. It feels like the parts are starting to gel a bit more the way Bill Lawrence shows do. This was by far the best episode for Steve Carell as he is starting to really find his character and having the mix of pathos and humor. In fact, he would fit right in with the gang over on Shrinking. I'm not convinced that the rest of the cast is there yet but I continue to be optimistic about this show.
THE BEST TV ALPHABETICALLY: LETTER H
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 H:
I think most people think The Haunting of Hill House is the superior Mike Flanagan Netflix show but I couldn't get into that one. The follow-up, The Haunting of Bly Manor, was a really thought-provoking show with just enough creeps and thrills.
9. The Hustler (ABC, 2021)
This might seem like a weird entry on the list and I doubt many people watched or remember this show even though it was only a few years ago. But I was completely enraptured by this Craig Ferguson-hosted game show. I thought it deserved to be a sensation but what do I know.
8. Homefront (ABC, 1991-1993)
The pacing of this show feels a little slow for today's sensibilities but it's still a beautifully done broadcast drama, the likes of which we don't see anymore, with a gigantic cast, high ambitions and a time period (post-war 1940s) that has never gotten enough dramatization.
7. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu, 2017-2025)
This is a show that maybe went on a little too long but its first season couldn't have come at a more perfect time for what was going on in America. It continued to provide a lot of thrills and great performances even when it didn't have enough story to tell.
6. Happy Endings (ABC, 2011-2013)
I was down on Happy Endings when it premiered but I gave it a second chance years later and I'm sure glad I did. The show is a really hilarious friendship sitcom in the vein of shows like Friends and New Girl. With a cast that gelled completely, it deserved a longer run.
5. Hill Street Blues (NBC, 1981-1987)
The OG prestige drama. I haven't watched this entire series but I've seen enough to know that it is the grandfather of so many storytelling devices used on procedurals and prestige dramas alike. It got there first and did it well, changing what we could expect from dramatic television.
4. Hey Arnold! (Nickelodeon, 1996-2004)
It's a tight race between this and Doug for the best Nicktoon. This one might take the cake because of how unique it is - most specifically a jazzy noir feel accompanying the exploits of elementary students. If you've never seen the "Heat/Snow" episode, it is the perfect showcase for this show.
3. How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 2005-2014)
This show is lucky to come in at #3 with how much I hated the last couple seasons and especially the ending. But in its early years, it's as good as any sitcom ever. With a perfectly compatible cast of characters, a ton of in-show references and a wonderfully romanticized view of New York City, those early years are golden.
2. Happy Days (ABC, 1974-1984)
Another show that definitely lost its way in later years but was near perfect at the beginning. It's funny because when I was younger, I liked the more raucous studio audience years but now I really appreciate those early 50s-nostalgia years. Either way, it's an iconic show that seemingly created an entire nostalgia industry that we still live in today. And, of course, the Fonz is an iconic TV character.
1. Hacks (HBO Max, 2021-Present)
With the upcoming fifth and final season trailer dropping, it's made me already sad about Hacks coming to an end. Quite possibly the best comedy of the 2020s with a leading performance by Jean Smart that should go down in the TV Hall of Fame with an ever improving co-lead performance from Hannah Einbinder. I hope Hacks goes out on top with a great final season and I look forward to revisiting it from the start at some point.
AWARDS CORNER
Last year, these two categories were dominated by The White Lotus and Severance. With neither show in the mix this year, the only eligible returnees are James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson for Paradise and last year's Supporting Actress winner, Katherine LaNasa for The Pitt. There is another previous winner in the mix too with 2020 and 2024 winner Billy Crudup eligible again for The Morning Show as well as some other former nominees from The Morning Show, The Gilded Age and Euphoria back in the mix for nominations. Will The Pitt level up in terms of number of nominations for its second season? It seems quite possible in these wide open categories. Here are my current forecasts for the two races:
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
1. Patrick Ball, The Pitt
2. Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
3. Colman Domingo, Euphoria
4. Jacob Elordi, Euphoria
5. Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
6. Gerran Howell, The Pitt
7. James Marsden, Paradise
Just Missing: Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Pluribus
Also in the Mix:
Tom Pelphrey, Task
Bradley Whitford, The Diplomat
Dexter Sol Ansell, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Ato Essandoh, The Diplomat
Kit Harington, Industry
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
1. Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
2. Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
3. Allison Janney, The Diplomat
4. Karolina Wydra, Pluribus
5. Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria
6. Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
7. Christine Baranski, The Gilded Age
Just Missing: Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
Also in the Mix:
Nicole Beharie, The Morning Show
Emilia Jones, Task
Isa Briones, The Pitt
Greta Lee, The Morning Show
Marion Cotillard, The Morning Show
COMING UP
It's a quiet week for premieres this week before a busier week next week. There's only two premieres. On Thursday, Netflix premieres the third season of XO, Kitty. The show doesn't have a lot of mainstream appeal but has its fans. On Friday, Apple TV has the second season premiere of Your Friends and Neighbors. The Jon Hamm drama had mixed reviews for its first season but it did well by Apple standards as far as viewers for its first season and it's back on the air just about a year later, unlike For All Mankind.
If you are looking for my Pilot Re-Reviews that have been in this newsletter before, I am now a contributor to The TV Ratings Guide and posting them there on Tuesdays!
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