Benjamonster's TV

Welcome to my final newsletter of 2023. My weekly newsletters will resume on January 1, 2024. I didn't get caught up on as much as I hoped to so it's a pretty short newsletter. This week, I am looking at my Top 10 Shows of the Year, The Crown and  A Murder at the End of the World . YEAR IN REVIEW: TOP 10 SHOWS I already counted down my Top 10 Episodes and Top 10 Performances. Now, here is my final countdown for 2023 - my Top 10 Shows of the Year! This was a tough list to make! 10. Fargo (FX) Fargo is back in form for its fifth season. The show got back to basics and seems to be doing everything that made it a beloved show in the first place. Anchored by strong performances including Juno Temple, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh, I can't wait to see how the season ends. 9. What We Do in the Shadows (FX) I was sad to hear the upcoming sixth season of this comedy will be the last. It felt like a show that could go on forever with the wild antics of the vampires. I am rarely a...

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at My Top 10 Episodes of the Year, Mr. Monk's Last Case, Frasier, Fargo, For All Mankind and more! YEAR IN REVIEW: TOP 10 EPISODES Last week, I took a look at my Top 10 Performances of the year. This week, I am taking a look at my Top 10 Episodes of 2023! 10.  Fargo "The Tragedy of the Commons" (November 21, 2023) The first episode of the new season of Fargo showed us that the series was back in form with an outrageous action sequence and the perfect mix of dark comedy and just plain darkness. 9.  What We Do in the Shadows  "Urgent Care" (August 10, 2023) One of many delightful summer episodes from an always reliable laugh factory, the episode in a supernatural urgent care was just so inventive and funny. 8.  Abbott Elementary  "Educator of the Year" (April 5, 2023) Of the first season and a half of the show, this episode probably best depicted what it's like to be a teacher, especially when ...

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am counting down my Top 10 Performances of 2023 plus looking at Obliterated, Fargo, For All Mankind and more! OBLITERATED I've watched the first four episodes of Netflix's new action comedy Obliterated . The show is trashy for sure, but I would categorize it as "trashy fun." It has a throwback feel to the action comedy films of the 90s and makes great use of its Las Vegas setting to also draw comparisons to The Hangover . I really thought the setup was funny: a special ops team finishes a mission and gets trashed in Vegas. But when they find out the nuclear bomb they neutralized was fake, they had to go back into the field, while drunk, to finish their mission.

Welcome to a busy Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at Fargo , the end of Lessons in Chemistry and the latest episodes of A Murder at the End of the World, The Curse and The Crown .  FARGO Fargo is back for a fifth season and when I say back, I mean it literally and figuratively. I was one of the many who didn't finish the fourth season. I was super interested in the concept but found it to be horribly dull and misguided. But several years later, it seems as if the creative team behind the show realized their mistakes and the fifth season has a real "back to basics" approach that captures the vibe of the brilliant early seasons of the show: a healthy mixture of humor, violence and quirkiness. 

Welcome to a delayed but very full newsletter. Some of these thoughts are dated back a bit as I am still catching up from my busy week but things I don't get to today, I will get to when the newsletter returns to its regular Monday spot next week. Today, I am looking at A Murder at the End of the World, The Crown, The Curse and more! "A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD"  After a delayed premiere,  A Murder at the End of the World premiered last week on FX/Hulu with its first two episodes (the third episode is out now but I haven't watched it yet). The psychological thriller has vibes of an much eerier version of the Knives Out films with Emma Corrin playing an amateur detective trying to solve a murder at an Icelandic retreat where an eccentric billionaire (Clive Owen) has brought a very select group of guests.

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at The Curse, For All Mankind, The Morning Show, Lessons in Chemistry and more! "THE CURSE" EMBRACES THE CRINGE I'm not directly familiar with Nathan Fielder's work because I haven't watched Nathan For You or The Rehearsal  but I am broadly aware of his brand of humor and how much he enjoys making people squirm. Now he has a new satire on Showtime with Emma Stone and Benny Safdie. Fielder and Stone play a married couple and hosts of a problematic HGTV show. The show gives off the vibe of an improvised show and one that's not afraid to have awkward silences or moments where you can't tell if it's supposed to be comedy or not.

Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at All the Light We Cannot See , Black Cake, The Morning Show, Lessons in Chemistry and more! "ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE" IS A MISFIRE All the Light We Cannot See has been savaged by critics, many of whom are fans of the book and feel the four part Netflix adaptation, which was released this past week, is seriously misguided. I didn't read the book and was looking forward to this show (especially before the reviews started coming out). I'm not sure I have the vitriol for the limited series that some do but I certainly didn't think it was great. The four part series feels like it goes on for eternity with each episode being more of a chore to watch than the last. I actually didn't really dislike the first episode. I thought there were enough intriguing elements to keep watching, most notably the visual flair and a strong lead performance from Aria Mia Loberti, a blind actress playing a blind character.