Ask Matt: Is ‘Saul’ the End of the Road for ‘Breaking Bad’?
Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic — also known to some TV fans as their “TV therapist” — Matt Roush, who’ll try to address whatever you love, loathe, are confused or frustrated or thrilled by in today’s vast TV landscape. (We know background music is too loud, but there’s always closed-captioning.)
One caution: This is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t be addressing upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected] (or use the form at the end of the column) and follow me on Twitter (@TVGMMattRoush). Look for Ask Matt columns on many Tuesdays and some Fridays.
How Does a “We Like Mike” Show Grab You?
Question: One of the most interesting characters on Better Call Saul (and Breaking Bad before it) is Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). Do you think we might get a prequel featuring his younger self? — David
Matt Roush: Maybe we should let the dust settle on Saul first, no? (By the way, this was written before seeing Monday’s series finale.) By all accounts, the show’s producers and creators are moving on, and Vince Gilligan in particular is said to be developing something in an entirely different world. Mike is an awesome character, so I’d never say never, but it seems unlikely that given what we’ve already learned about his backstory that they would go for another prequel. I’m looking at the end of Better Call Saul as the end of the Breaking Bad saga. For now, anyway.
Tone Down Password
Comment: I wish I enjoyed the new Password as much as you did. I’ve always loved the game. I like the tweaks to the format in this one. I like Keke Palmer‘s approach and enthusiasm. But everything else is so relentlessly pumped up. The celebrities and contestants hugging, dancing, trash talking all the time, the audience whooping and hollering and getting to their feet after a score, let alone a win? Too much. Dial that all back and the game will still be fun. I prefer the rebooted $100,000 Pyramid. — ML
Matt Roush: Like you, Pyramid is my favorite of the prime-time game shows currently on display, but I went into Password with such low expectations that just seeing the game played again, and so playfully, left me with a warm glow. (I’m tuning into Wednesday’s episode with Martin Short with high hopes, just saying.) I’ve grown accustomed to the audience hysteria on shows like these, but I get why that can be a turnoff. I was less annoyed by Jimmy Fallon and his celebrity guests razzing each other and celebrating their wins with hugs, high fives, and the occasional strut. If I want to experience the more sedate version, I can always go to the Game Show Network. For me, the game’s the thing and the fact that the new Password didn’t ruin it was enough to make me happy.
Major League Disappointment
Comment: We were very much looking forward to A League of Their Own since we enjoyed the movie so much. We watched the first four episodes and are very disappointed. The sex and cussing were over the top and added nothing to the story. The league was about women’s baseball, not women’s sex. — L.D. and S.K., Oswego, IL
Matt Roush: Depends on who you ask, I guess. Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham’s new approach to A League of Their Own put front and center what some had seen as subtext in the original movie, with the brief glimpse of the Black woman throwing the ball and a suggestion that there may have been same-sex attraction among some of the players. The fact that both main characters, Carson (Jacobson) and Max (Chanté Adams), were going on this sexual self-exploration journey in parallel worlds might seem a bit much, and the modernization of the dialogue (if not the swearing—which I’d think comes with the dugout territory) was off-putting to others, but despite some heavy-handedness on several fronts, I ended the season very engaged in their story and hope it gets a second turn at bat.
Has Shadows Gone Too Far?
Question: I have been a huge fan of the show What We Do in the Shadows since the release of the first episode. The last few episodes have kind of taken me aback with the amount of sexual vulgarity. I’m at the point where I’m probably not going to watch anymore. I feel that that much of it is a little over the top. I know it’s rated MA and the F-word is used quite a bit and that doesn’t bother me as much as all the sexual commentary in the last two shows. My question is whether or not you’ve had any complaints about this from other fans of the show. — Kathleen C
Matt Roush: You’re the first. We all have lines we’re not willing to have a show cross, but Shadows has always shown these hilarious vampires to be vulgarians in almost every way. So I’m a bit surprised that someone who’s been a fan from the start would get squeamish about their sexual (among other) appetites after all this time. I hope Kathleen doesn’t miss this week’s (Aug. 16) episode, which adds some depth to the Nandor-Laszlo relationship and includes memorable interplay with Guillermo’s family, all without going into the gutter.
Remembering Anne Heche in Men in Trees
Question: As fans eulogize Anne Heche, I remember really loving her in Men in Trees (which, if I recall correctly, was a recommendation from you that I got hooked on). As far as I know, this series has never been released in any format. My question is: Why hasn’t some streamer picked up the rights? It produced 36 episodes over two seasons (2006-08), which isn’t enough for traditional syndication but certainly seems like they could be loaded onto a streamer and live there for fans. I would certainly enjoy seeing that show again. It would be a nice tribute to her to make it available again, as she was fabulous in the role. She also met James Tupper on the show and had a child with him, so it was a life-changing role in that sense. (Years ago, I bought a rare Emmy FYC screener DVD of it from eBay which has three episodes on it, but that’s as close as it has come to getting a release.) — JL
Matt Roush: Men in Trees was unquestionably a high point of Anne Heche’s eclectic TV career and I agree it deserves exposure — it also deserved to run longer than it did, but that’s another story. But as we’re beginning to learn as the streaming industry experiences some inevitable growing pains and contractions (even Netflix), the notion that these platforms will provide a bottomless resource for library content is not the reality. Even seemingly inexpensive options like making a short-lived show available for streaming has costs attached. And much as it was apparently decided that it wouldn’t be profitable to release Trees on DVD back in the day, it appears some shows are staying on the digital shelf because it doesn’t make sense to the bottom line to license these shows if no one or very few are likely to watch, and that probably doubly applies to a show ultimately deemed unsuccessful.
The News About Days
Question: With one soap opera going to a streaming service, have you heard what’s going to replace it, if anything, yet? My fear is it will be some dumb “reality” show or whatever network was airing it will MORE of their afternoon news, which is NOT needed by the way. (There are already three 24-hour news channels, and I use that figure loosely, as one is NOT a real news network at all.) As such, there is NO need for any of the regular networks to EXTEND their afternoon news. I’d rather have a game show than MORE news and certainly not another garbage “reality” show. When do you think we might know what is replacing that soap opera? Does it bode well for the other afternoon soaps? — Andrew
Matt Roush: When NBC announced the move of Days of Our Lives to streaming on Peacock in September, it was simultaneously revealed that its replacement will be a news program: NBC News Daily from NBC News, with star correspondent/anchors like Kate Snow participating, and an option for local stations (much as you feared) to provide local news content. As previously discussed, this isn’t great news for the already shrinking world of daytime soaps. But for now, ABC is sticking with General Hospital and CBS with its Young and the Restless/Bold and the Beautiful combo, so all is not lost.
And Finally …
Question: When is Jon Batiste coming back to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert? He’s still in the opening credits but has not appeared in several months. — Unsigned
Matt Roush: For those who missed it, Colbert announced just last week the unsurprising news that Jon Batiste, whose career has surged to a new level lately with Grammys and other accolades, won’t be returning to lead the band going forward. Taking over will be multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato, who’s been filling in this summer as bandleader. Next time we see Batiste on The Late Show, it will be as a guest, though it’s hard to imagine him not jamming with his former bandmates any time he’s in the vicinity.
That’s all for now. We can’t do this without your participation, so please keep sending questions and comments about TV to [email protected] or shoot me a line on Twitter (@TVGMMattRoush), and you can also submit questions via the handy form below. (Please include a first name with your question.)
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