BENJAMONSTER NEWSLETTER: October 12, 2026
Welcome back to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am taking a look at Cupertino and Eternally Yours! Plus, the Season Finale of Ted Lasso, my Top 10 Shows starting with S, a look at the Oscar Race for Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay and more!
WHAT'S NEW
For the last two years, CBS has aired Matlock and Elsbeth back to back on Thursday nights. While I don't watch them live, I usually watch both back to back or close to each other on the weekend that follows. It's been interesting because Matlock has had an intriguing overarching story (albeit one that has now gotten played out a bit) while the week to week cases have been lackluster. And Elsbeth has had many fun cases of the week but has struggled to have any sort of real compelling on-going story. Now, with Matlock waiting until midseason, we have the arrival of Cupertino from Robert and Michelle King, creators of Elsbeth and many other successful shows including The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Evil. I am hopeful this will be able to blend the two elements essential for most network TV dramas with good episodic tales and a fun overarching theme and story. Unlike the show that is next on this list, it's already quite clear what this will look like week to week even with some of the series regulars not appearing in the pilot.
Cupertino feels like it has the most critical buzz for a network drama in quite a long time and with good reason. Although it is basically a legal show at heart, it has style and flair rarely seen in network TV these days. From a quirky shooting style to a clear desire to enter the cultural conversation about AI, this is a show with lofty and admirable ambitions. As I mentioned in my Fall Preview, I really hope this succeeds so we get more shows like this back on network TV.
Eternally Yours is the new vampire comedy from the people who have given us Ghosts for the past half-decade. Ghosts has been a quiet favorite of mine for a long time and I continue to be impressed by how much it has been able to do with what seems like a limiting presence. Because of the pedigree, I have hopes for Eternally Yours but I wasn't super impressed by the pilot. I really liked the trailer but this was one of those shows where all the best moments were in the trailer. The pilot itself featured an annoying amount of exposition where characters would say lines to each other that would make no sense except to establish some element of the premise. I haven't seen the Ghosts pilot in a long time but I feel like that show did not have to resort to such blatant premise sharing. In fact, we've continued to discover rules about the world of the ghosts in the nearly 100+ episodes since.
The ensemble for Eternally Yours is decent but not nearly as likable or as interesting as the varied cast of characters on Ghosts. Ed Weeks and Allegra Edwards have some funny moments as a couple that has been married for 500 years, but they were somewhat bland otherwise. Helen J. Shen, who I loved on stage in Maybe Happy Ending, felt a bit relegated to a background character despite being hugely integral to the plot. And then (SPOILER) the decision to make Jaren Lewison's Max a vampire at the end of the episode means the premise for the series is going to be a lot different going forward than the premise was of the pilot. Will this be more of a Munsters situation with the weird family getting into hijinks with the general public? It's hard to tell when the dynamic of the pilot between a non-vampire and the vampire family has now been upended.
I will give this show some time for sure but I'm less optimistic it will be the next Ghosts than I was before watching it.
Also...
I didn't get a chance to watch Carrie yet but plan to check it out at some point. I thought the Abbott Elementary premiere was a little lackluster and they had a really unfortunate attempt to integrate AI into one of their plots. The Elsbeth season premiere was decent thanks to some funny office antics, but Nicole Scherzinger wasn't great as the villain of the week. I haven't gotten to some other premieres from this week yet (Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Law & Order: SVU are the other network shows that I watch that premiered this week).
LAST WEEK ON...
The fourth season of Ted Lasso came to an end and I felt like it summed up what I felt about the whole season in one episode. The stuff with the women's team and especially Tanya Reynolds as Alice Chilton continued to work (Reynolds was hilarious as the cat during the dogs meeting). Even when their stories were underserved, the women's team was the beating heart of this season and by far the most compelling stories. I wish the show had been more focused on them throughout the season. On the other hand, so many of the other stories with the returning characters were all over the place. Rebecca is suddenly engaged despite the show never resolving her character's concerns about that. Roy and Keely had a season's long worth of stories thrown at them in the final two episodes because the show spent forever delaying their inevitable reunion. There was a very sudden and abrupt decision to care about Ted's son. And the Tracy Ullman thing? It devolved into a cartoon villain situation that didn't even ultimately have much of a climax. Ted Lasso was frustrating when I think about all of those things but I still feel like vibes-wise it got much closer to the first season than the depressing third season did. And if they can really lock in on the team for a potential fifth season, I think it will continue to move in the right direction.
THE BEST TV ALPHABETICALLY: LETTER S
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 S!
A relic from my childhood. I haven't seen it in years but I have fond memories of both the live action part set at the train station and the Thomas the Tank Engine animated segments. I especially remember the Christmas and Valentine's Day episodes.
9. 7th Heaven (WB/CW, 1996-2007)
7th Heaven might be the ultimate guilty pleasure show for me. I know it's not good but I watched it for years as a kid and even revisited it not all that long ago. The early years, while filled with bad acting and ridiculous plots, are somehow incredibly compelling still.
8. Superstore (NBC, 2015-2021)
A gem of a workplace comedy from the late 2010s, this is a show I'd like to re-visit at some point (like so many other 2010s comedies that I just haven't re-watched). It had a great commentary on working in that type of environment, was very funny and was perhaps the only show that actually successfully integrated the COVID pandemic into its plot.
7. Scandal (ABC, 2012-2018)
A show that burned hot and bright and fast, Scandal was never a show that was going to successfully run for years and years. But at its best, around the second and third season, it was an absolute must-watch with jaw-dropping twists at the beginning, middle and end of every episode. A great performance by Kerry Washington helped keep it grounded.
6. Schmigadoon! (Apple TV, 2021-2023)
I saw the Broadway version of Schmigadoon! this past summer and it made me very nostalgic for the show. The first season came at a time when theaters were still closed and it made me very wistful but on top of that, it's a loving and silly parody of golden age musicals and the second season is almost as strong when they shift to 60s and 70s musicals. I wish it had been allowed to keep going.
5. The Sopranos (HBO, 1999-2007)
This show definitely pre-dates my entry into Prestige TV but it's a show I watched during the COVID shutdown. I think it is great, and it is one of the most influential shows of all-time. But I think it laid the groundwork for even better shows (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) that followed. There's no denying the seismic influence it had and deservedly so.
4. Succession (HBO, 2018-2023)
I enjoyed Succession all the way through but it was the brilliant final season that put it this high on my list. With rapid fire, smart dialogue and very complicated characters play with precision by a glorious cast, it feels like the last show from the prestige antihero era.
3. Shrinking (Apple TV, 2023-Present)
One of the best comedies on TV today, I don't feel like Shrinking necessarily gets the respect it deserves. It expertly blends more serious topics with a great hang-out comedy vibe. I enjoy the main plots but I also just love seeing the cast mess around with each other and have fun. Plus, it broke the Ted McGinley curse with a career-best performance for him!
2. Schitt's Creek (CBC, 2015-2020)
One of several shows on this list that was a COVID show for me. This joyous family comedy created memorable characters and so many meme-able moments. It just kept getting better too culminating with a deserved historic Emmys performance for its final season. And it's especially poignant now that Catherine O'Hara is no longer with us.
1. Saturday Night Live (NBC, 1975-Present)
For its entire existence, Saturday Night Live has been inconsistent (this new season is certainly no exception). But how can anything else be at #1 when it has run for over fifty years, permeated pop culture like no other TV show, made stars out of so many people we love in TV and movies, influenced presidential elections and created a countless number of memorable characters. It's an institution at this point and even when it's not that funny, you know the next great moment or episode or character or performer might be just around the corner.
AWARDS CORNER
I'm continuing my Oscars preview with a look at the state of the race for the last of the two big categories: the Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay (ranked from most to least likely):
Best Original Screenplay
1. Wild Horse Nine
2. The Debut
3. Fjord
4. Elsinore
5. Artificial
Keeping an eye on: Behemoth!, I Play Rocky, Obsession, Club Kid, Possible Love
Best Adapted Screenplay
1. The Odyssey
2. La Bola Negra
3. The Invite
4. All of a Sudden
5. Project Hail Mary
Keeping an eye on: Being Heumann, Dune: Part Three, Sense and Sensibility, The Further Misadventures of Cliff Booth, Ink
NFL MUSINGS
Here are some thoughts after a busy Week 5 Sunday that had a couple wild finishes before the week closes tonight in Los Angeles with a heavyweight showdown between the Rams and Bills:
- The debacle at the end of the Giants-Commanders game lies at the feet of one person: Jayden Daniels. Sure, you could knock Dan Quinn or Offensive Coordinator David Blough for not reminding the entire offense of the situation they were in and the coaching staff is certainly not blameless here. But Daniels is a professional quarterback who clearly had no awareness of what was going on, even when some of his own teammates clearly did given their gestures to get him moving. I don't understand these types of brain farts at the highest level when your average couch potato knows what needs to happen. It's a terrible, terrible look for Daniels (who had a decent game before that) above all else.
- What a wild, wild end in London with the Jaguars getting the walk off win after Philly got the lead with eight seconds left. Given how volatile the Eagles seem to be and how sensitive they can get to outside noise, this feels like a kind of loss that can really derail a season for a team like this.
- A team I really can't make heads or tails of is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Some weeks they look anemic on offense and they bicker with each other while other weeks Aaron Rodgers turns back the clock and they look like they are humming along with the best of them.
- It is getting really dire for the Titans. Of course the Texans weren't as bad as their 0-4 team indicated, but the Titans still got blown out 26-3 by a winless team. The Dolphins are still showing fight as an undermanned winless team and the Chargers are a mess but have still been in most games. The Titans look like far and away the worst team in the league.
- Several teams I was pretty skeptical of showed up big time this week. Despite the Patriots' big win over the Bills last week, I wasn't sure they had solved their problems. But they manhandled the Raiders this week and look scary again. The Packers had showed next to no fight this season before showing up and embarrassing the Bears. And the Vikings had their most complete game to date to continue to be one of the least noticed undefeated teams.
- Regardless of what happens tonight on Monday Night Football, the 49ers will have the minimum of a two game lead in the NFC West over the Rams and Seahawks, which is absolutely crazy.
COMING UP
The fall rolls on with some more big premieres this week. The beginning of the week is quiet before there's quite a few premieres on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday is the premiere of Vision Quest on Disney+. One of the last remnants from the Marvel invasion of TV that produced a huge amount of shows in a few years, Vision definitely feels like the end of an era. The Paul Bettany starrer was first put into development back in 2022 when Disney had a much different vision for its Marvel TV entries. Also premiering on Wednesday is the second season of The Lowdown on FX. The Ethan Hawke series received critical love but minuscule ratings and no Emmy attention. Hopefully it'll break through in its second season, but I'm skeptical. Wednesday also has the return of Bevis and Butt-Head on Comedy Central. It's the second season on Comedy Central, the fourth season of the revived series and the 12th season overall. On Thursday, Peacock has the Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake starring Linda Cardellini. Coming a week after Carrie, it's definitely trying to tap into the spooky month feels. Also premiering is the fourth season of The Diplomat. The perennial Emmy nominee has become a reliable performer for Netflix, returning on a near-yearly basis. Finally, Thursday night has the return of ABC's Thursday lineup: 9-1-1 (Season 10), 9-1-1: Nashville (Season 2) and Grey's Anatomy (Season 23!). On Friday, Paramount+ has the fourth season of its hit Sylvester Stallone drama Tulsa King while USA Network brings back its first return to scripted programming, The Rainmaker, for a second season.
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