‘Ghosts’ in the Machine, ‘Poker Face’ Sees the (Judith) Light, ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Final, New Blood on ‘SVU’
A new employee suspects there are ghosts on Ghosts in a fun new episode. Peacock’s buzzy Poker Face welcomes Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson as retirement home residents nursing a deadly grudge from the past. Celebrity Jeopardy! pits three of its strongest players in the $1 million final. A detective from the Bronx gets a tour of the Manhattan office of Law & Order: SVU.
Ghosts
Calling the ghostbusters! Actually, it’s the B&B’s new assistant, Freddie (Mike Lane), who begins to suspect there are spirits afoot in Woodstone Mansion. (If he only knew.) When he brings in a contraption called the Ghost Trap 2000, which purports to detect spectral energy and lure such beings into its metal box, will any of our lovable non-living friends fall for it? In other ghostly developments, Sasappis (Román Zaragoza) panics when Freddie sells his car, thus potentially depriving him of contact with his crush, the ditzy car ghost Jessica (Nichole Sakura).
Poker Face
The fun continues on the buzzy light-mystery series from Knives Out’s Rian Johnson, with guest stars Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson having a ball as crotchety, pot-dealing residents of a retirement home who are anything but retiring. Custodian and human lie detector Charlie (the terrific Natasha Lyonne) goes “full Cocoon,” bonding with these rambunctious ladies, sensing kindred rebel spirits—until she realizes these former 1960s radicals may be hiding a deadly secret, which has claimed a new resident as a victim. The Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helberg guests as the victim’s nephew. (And keep an eye on “the Fletchers,” a gaggle of crones addicted to watching crime stories on TV. They’d love Poker Face.)
Celebrity Jeopardy!
Season Finale
Some episodes of this amateur-hour game-show spinoff have been painful to watch, but along the way a few celebrity players have shown how seriously they take Jeopardy! Three have made it to the final round, where semi-final winners Wil Wheaton, Ike Barinholtz and Patton Oswalt face off for bragging rights and a $1 million payday for charity.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Is the revolving door at TV’s longest-running crime drama about to welcome a new detective to the squad? Detective Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane, an Emmy winner as a producer of Inside Amy Schumer) has made quite the impression on Fin (Ice-T) during the squad’s recent escapades in the Bronx, earning a personal tour of the Manhattan branch of SVU. But other colleagues might need convincing, given that Bruno reaped a small fortune after suing the NYPD for wrongful termination when he dared to speak out about corruption. Elsewhere, the team leads a hunt for an ambulance driver accused of assaulting those who ride in his bus.
INSIDE THURSDAY TV:
- Welcome to Flatch (9/8c, Fox): In the Season 2 finale, Barb (Jaime Pressly) and Kelly (Holmes) make the case for their small town to be the permanent home of the Butter Bust Museum.
- CSI: Vegas (10/9c, CBS): Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) had hoped to spend a day off with her granddaughter. But then a woman wakes up from a four-year coma with vital details about her sister’s hair-salon murder. Back to work!
- Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (streaming on Peacock): A 90-minute documentary revisits the movement by locals and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers in the 1960s to register residents to vote in an Alabama county that was 80 percent Black but had no Black voters.
- Skinamarink (streaming on Shudder): Praised for its evocation of primal childhood fears, the creepy low-budget 2022 shocker depicts two children waking up at night to discover their father is missing, and so are the windows and doors of their home.
- The Reading (streaming on BET+): In a chiller executive produced by Lee Daniels, Mo’Nique stars as a widow who barely survived her family’s home-invasion attack, and several years later stages a psychic reading in her fortified home to promote her memoir. The problemxs: the 19-year-old medium (Chastity Sereal) is too good at her job, connecting to an evil force that puts everyone in danger. Where’s the Ghost Trap 2000 when you need it?
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J
Ghosts and So Help Me Todd are on my viewing list tonight.
Anyone watch the Schoolhouse Rock thing last night? I admit some of those songs weren't fsmiliar to me, maybe I didn't watch the show as avidly as I thought, back in the day. On the other hand, I had totally forgotten about the song "Interjection!" so it was good and fun to hear that again. On the third hand, I didn't care for all the garishly bright, colorful sets that the live-action performers were on. *shudder*
BTW, Fred, speaking of The Outpost, last night I saw the premiere of The Ark, on SyFy. (Or at least, I saw the first half of it.) The actor who played Zed on The Outpost is one of the main characters on The Ark.
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A
I did watch the Schoolhouse Rock thing and overall it wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be. Of my favorites only one wasn't performed, although scenes from it appeared in montages — "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here". "Interjections!" might be my #1, but "Verb (That's What's Happening)", "Interplanet Janet", "Conjunction Junction", and of course "I'm Just a Bill" are up there too and were all covered. Not including the song of the Preamble to the Constitution feels like a missed opportunity. I've been watching the original shorts on Disney+ occasionally and this wasn't a bad way to promote them.
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J
I didn't realize the original short videos were available. You're right, this was a good way to publicize them and perhaps grow interest in new videos. You know Disney: they always find a way to squeeze every bit monetary value out of their properties.
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When I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I started a personal pandemic film festival that I coordinated with a friend of rewatching some of our favorite movies and TV shows complete with shorts like Schoolhouse Rock and classic Looney Tunes before the main attractions.
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J
On Saturday mornings MeTV shows 3 hrs of (mostly) classic cartoons. The 7am hour is Popeye (which I love), and Pink Panther (which I don't care for), 8am is Tom & Jerry, and 9am is Bugs Bunny & friends. Sometimes they show really old 'toons like Betty Boop or the Harman-Ising classics. Personally I don't like anything made after about 1965 or so.
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I've tuned into those a few times, although mostly for the Christmas specials.
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A
I'm guessing that would include all the Peanuts specials which I'm very fond of.
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J
I like the Charlie Brown Christmas special, but don't care for the rest. (Actually, I don't really care much for Peanuts in general. It's kind of sad, when you think about it, about a little boy who is probably clinically depressed, and gets bullied by other kids. I know, I know, I'm overthinking it! 🤓 )
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P
Despite dismal reviews I probably should sample The Ark. I mean I watch La Brea, lol!
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J
I watched the first part of The Ark, which more or less set up the action for the season. The premise is intriguing: can people on a long-term space mission, who were supposed to be in stasis for a full year, survive the next however long until they get to their destination? But let me just say that none of the characters really stood out for me. I may check it out again to see how things are going, but I can't guarantee.
Personally I 'm wondering when Alaska Daily will ever come back. Long hiatuses like this one can end up killing a show, especially a show in its first season. That's how I lost Transplant last year: I didn't know when it was returning, and it changed nights on me, so I missed 2 or 3 weeks before I figured out it was back. By then... well, my interest had dwindled away.
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R
1970s radicals. They might come after you for saying 1960s.
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