Ask Matt: ‘Penguin’s Secret Weapon, Netflix’s Comedy Casualties and More
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 or developments here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected]. Look for Ask Matt columns on most Tuesdays.
How Will The Penguin’s Scene-Stealer Be Recognized By the Emmys?
Question: How do you think HBO’s The Penguin will categorize Cristin Milioti for the purposes of the Emmys next year? Colin Farrell is the title character, and the show overall is from his perspective. So I think that makes Sofia/Milioti a significant supporting character. However, in this week’s episode, Milioti was clearly the lead. She’s been great throughout the run of the show, but I think this week was her best work yet, in part because of the increased focus on her character. Obviously, I don’t know what’s going to happen for the second half of the season, but this very much feels like her showcase episode and she rose to the challenge. In a show called The Penguin, essentially pausing The Penguin’s story for a week in order to shift focus to another character is a risky move. But they pulled it off. I didn’t even mind having less of Oz this week because I couldn’t take my eyes off what Sofia was doing. So can this episode be submitted for Featured Actress if she is clearly the lead of this episode? Or would she have to be considered a lead performance to use this episode?
Also, what has John Turturro been doing lately to prevent him from appearing in this? If you’re going to go with a replacement actor, Mark Strong was a pretty good Carmine Falcone. But considering it’s not a huge role, it’s a bit of a shame that they weren’t able to get Turturro for continuity, given that he played the role in The Batman. — Jake
Matt Roush: It can be a bit fuzzy when it comes to who gets nominated in which category, but I’d be surprised to see Cristin Milioit, as terrific as she is—and she’s great as Sofia Falcone—in the lead category. Even though she carried an entire episode, which isn’t unheard of for supporting characters in drama or comedy series, she’s still a supporting player in Oz Cobb’s story, and this is The Penguin, not Penguin’s World. I’d love to see her get nominated, even though the track record for performers in comics-derived TV series isn’t great. (WandaVision being an exception.) Being on HBO in the prestige Sunday slot doesn’t hurt, and I’m betting Farrell will be a contender. So should Milioti be. As for John Turturro, by all accounts he wasn’t available during filming—these are all in-demand actors—but I agree that Mark Strong was a strong choice to fill his shoes in a very marginal yet critical role.
Netflix’s Cancel Culture for Comedies
Question: I guess you heard by now that both Unstable and That ’90s Show have both been canceled by Netflix. They join a very long line of Netflix comedies that were canceled after one or two seasons. What’s the point of Netflix doing comedies if they aren’t going to have any successes with most of them? The only very few exceptions they have with successful comedies are Fuller House, The Ranch and The Upshaws (not counting animated shows like Bojack Horseman and F Is For Family). Now I hear that both Unstable and That ’90s Show are both being shopped to linear (cable or broadcast) networks. Why weren’t they originally developed and aired on either cable or broadcast networks in the first place? I also feel so sorry for poor Rob Lowe for having another show canceled after 9-1-1: Lone Star got canned by Fox! DO BETTER, NETFLIX! — Chris B.
Matt Roush: Somehow you’ve neglected to mention Emily in Paris, which was just renewed for a fifth season, and Grace and Frankie, which ran for seven. But to your point, streamers don’t have a great track record for long-running comedies during their short history. (Only Murders in the Building, still going strong in its fourth season, is another outlier, and of course Ted Lasso on Apple TV+, now expected to move beyond its third season.) The real issue for me is that Netflix in particular, though it’s not alone in this, has a short-sighted habit of cutting shows off after two or three seasons, somehow ignoring the fact that some of their most popular library series are those that ran for many years, accumulating a wealth of episodes on which viewers love to binge. Singling out Netflix also seems odd, given the sorry state of comedies on most platforms. Right now, ABC only has one comedy on its fall schedule at all (the wonderful Abbott Elementary, but still, and not counting farces like The Golden Bachelorette). It’s not easy to land a hit comedy these days anywhere, and the streaming giant isn’t immune to that. Even so, who wouldn’t want to give it a shot on a platform with that much reach?
Accusing These Stories of Being Too Short
Comment: Felicity Huffman was as usual stellar on the Season 2 premiere of Fox’s Accused. This anthology consistently lures great talent. My one issue with this high-quality drama is that it leaves me depressed and unfulfilled by the end of the episode. Last season as well. It would be a more addicting drama if the producers stretched a storyline for more than one episode. Two or three dedicated to one story would work better for me. A 42-minute episode is not enough time to fully become fully involved with the characters and proceedings — Fred
Matt Roush: I get what you’re saying, and I’ve seen this criticism leveled at Accused during its first year. While some of these stories of legal jeopardy might indeed benefit with a broader canvas and more length, that would essentially turn them into TV movies. I admire Accused for attempting to tell tricky short stories in the long-neglected anthology format, and I imagine that won’t change, although there might be exceptions as the series continues. Part of the show’s intention is to leave things hanging with ambiguity around what happens after the verdict. I respect that.
Finding a New Balance on Found
Question: I am a big fan of this column and of your reviews!! My questions are about NBC’s Found. Now that the first episodes of the second season have aired, it seems like the show’s writers are changing the focus of the show. During the first season, each episode dealt with finding a different missing person, with some Gabi-Sir drama mixed in. But the first episode was mostly Gabi-Sir drama plus everyone hating on Gabi with a little of finding their missing colleague. I’m very curious to hear what you think of this. I think that for one or two episodes, it’s fine. But I really enjoyed the first season and its format, and I do not want a whole season of looking for the same person with almost non-stop Gabi-Sir drama and everyone-hates-Gabi drama. Do you think this will be the format of all of Season 2? Can the show sustain this for an entire season? Or will the show return to the format of Season 1 after another episode or two? But with Sir on the loose, how can they? — Sarah
Matt Roush: I don’t want to get too far ahead of the show’s storytelling—this isn’t a spoiler column—but from the storylines NBC has published, I think it’s fair to predict that the search for Gabi’s colleague will be resolved soon, although I’d also expect that the search for Sir and the fallout of Gabi’s deception will likely be an ongoing thread for a while. That’s pretty meaty drama as she works to win back her team’s trust while also navigating this bizarre bond with her former abductor. If all of that were resolved too soon, I’d be surprised and disappointed. I give Found some credit for blowing up its high concept (a missing-persons professional hiding the Hannibal Lecter of kidnappers in her basement) after just one season. If it just kept telling the same story week after week, it wouldn’t be as interesting. At least not to this viewer, who prefers a little more substance in their bottomless procedural menu.
Network TV’s Dead Zones
Question: I’ve often wondered why programs on TV are overwhelming on some nights (Thursdays) and sparse on others (Friday/Saturday)? I’m retired, watch a lot of TV and record most of what I watch on my DVR. Some nights I have to revert to Netflix to find something new! — Nita H., Oregon
Matt Roush: You’re not alone in that regard, which is why Netflix keeps shoveling out the product even at the risk of burying their very best material. As for why Fridays and especially Saturdays are so bleak when it comes to programming choices on the broadcast networks, that has everything to do with changing viewing habits. I’ve been covering TV since the days when some of TV’s biggest hits aired on Friday (Dallas) and Saturday (The Golden Girls), but with the exception of CBS still airing a full lineup of popular shows on Friday (capped by Blue Bloods), the networks generally bow to the fact that weeknights and Sunday nights command a far larger potential audience. This becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy when the networks don’t even try to program anything but true crime, repeats and inexpensive reality shows on these nights. But that’s where we are.
And Finally …
Question: I’m writing to comment about an article about Brilliant Minds in the Oct. 7-27 issue of TV Guide Magazine that notes: “Speaking of heart, we love seeing [Zachary] Quinto making history as the first openly gay lead character of a network medical drama played by an openly gay actor.” Maybe I’m misreading this, or maybe the detail I’m ignoring is the phrase “network medical drama,” but didn’t Alan Cumming make REAL history by being the first openly gay actor playing an openly gay lead character (Dr. Dylan Reinhart) on ANY network series, namely CBS’ Instinct in 2018-19? Yes, it was a police procedural rather than a medical drama, but it was a network series. I just think this is misplaced praise, and Cumming should get the credit he is due. Not only was Cumming’s Dr. Reinhart gay, but he was even living with his husband, Andy, the lawyer-turned-bar-owner. So far, Quinto’s Dr. Wolf cannot top that! What do you think? — Carl B.
Matt Roush: My take is that the exact wording was a way to acknowledge that others have come before, but never as the lead of a network medical drama, since the story was by necessity tightly focused on Brilliant Minds and how the show and characters are progressing, and probably couldn’t fit in a tangent about other gay male leads played by openly gay actors on TV. I agree that Alan Cumming (currently triumphing as the host of The Traitors on Peacock) will always deserve credit for what Instinct represented during its relatively brief run—here’s hoping Brilliant Minds lasts longer—but Zachary Quinto and Minds also earn their own distinction for putting such an unorthodox portrayal of a gay doctor at the center of a compellingly offbeat medical mystery series.
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 X (formerly) Twitter @TVGMMattRoush. (Please include a first name with your question.)
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