Worth Watching: ‘Santa Clarita Diet,’ Dating Game on ‘Crazy Ex,’ Stacy Keach on ‘Blacklist,’ Amazon’s ‘Hanna’
A selective critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix): This is a good week for monsters who make you laugh. First, the squabbling vampires of FX’s What We Do in the Shadows and now a third season of the frenetic satirical comedy about zombies in California suburbia. Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant are a delight as realtors Sheila (the undead) and Joel, careening from one scrape to another as they try to satisfy her bloody appetite — most recently by scouring the local neo-Nazi population for fresh meat. Even with a neighbor cop (Natalie Morales, also on NBC’s Abby’s) on their side who believes Sheila is an instrument of God, peril is a constant, including the looming threat of zombie-hunting Knights of Serbia and the arrival of a Serbian colonel (Goran Visnjic) on the prowl for ghouls just like Sheila.
Among the ton of other Netflix premieres: The Highwaymen, following a limited run in movie theaters, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as the former Texas Rangers on the trail of Bonnie and Clyde; a second season of the urban coming-of-age comedy On My Block; and new British spy thriller Traitors, set in 1945 London, about a young woman (Emma Appleton) recruited to spy on her own country. Michael Stuhlbarg and Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) co-star.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (9/8c, The CW): With only one episode to go, this endearing musical comedy saves one of its best production numbers for almost the end — with nearly all of West Covina, led by Gay Josh (David Hull), declaring “Love’s Not a Game” while placing bets on Rebecca’s (Rachel Bloom) love life in a Guys and Dolls-inspired song and dance. The question, of course, is which guy will this doll choose after a series of Bachlorette-style dates with Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), Nathaniel (Scott Michael Foster) or the fatally unassuming Greg (Skylar Astin). It’s all more romantic than you’d think. Yet also crazy.
The Blacklist (8/7c, NBC): In the first of two back-to-back episodes, Stacy Keach stars as real-life financier and con man, Robert Vesco, who’s the target of Red (James Spader) and the Task Force. (The real Vesco fled the U.S. in the 1970s and supposedly passed away in a Cuban hospital in 2007.) In the fictional version, Vesco unsurprisingly has a history with Red that comes in handy as the newly freed blacklister searches for a lost treasure. The second episode puts Liz (Megan Boone) on the trail of a secret cabal of assassins who go after former intelligence agents. Meaning the Task Force needs to watch its collective back.
Hanna (Amazon Prime Video): Based on the 2011 film and filmed in international locations including Hungary, Morocco, Spain, Germany and the U.K., writer David Farr’s absorbing thriller reintroduces the feral teenager (Esme Creed-Miles) who was raised by her ex-military fugitive father (Joel Kinnanman) in the wild, hoping to keep her off the radar of a deadly CIA operative (Mireille Enos). When father and daughter are separated, the hunt is on, and Hanna’s mad survival and combat skills would make her a perfect companion for Jason Bourne. Except Hanna is still a girl at heart, and between brutal encounters discovers she likes flirting, dancing — and Snickers bars.
Inside Friday TV: Fox’s The Cool Kids (8:30/7:30c) finally introduces Sid’s (Leslie Jordan) ex-wife, Bonnie (2 Broke Girls‘ Jennifer Coolidge), who visits Shady Meadows and causes a rift between Sid and boyfriend John (Jere Burns)… PBS’s Great Performances puts on quite a show with director Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female production of Shakespeare’s political drama Julius Caesar (9/8c, check local listings at pbs.org) from Donmar Warehouse, starring Harriet Walter as Brutus… The Cinemax action drama Strike Back (10/9c) ends its sixth season — next year will be the last — with Section 20 jetting from the Philippines to Azerbaijan to stop rogue Russians from firing Soviet-era missiles on targets in the West… Rising political star Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, IN, who’s running a grass-roots campaign for the presidential nomination, is top-of-show guest on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher (10/9c).
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Saw an ad for What We Do in the Shadows and it seemed somewhat tedious...but then read a Review saying it was QUITE funny...then saw another promo and it appeared to be rather stupid...but then read another Review that said it was the "best comedy of the season"...
So...last night watched the Premier Episode...
Found it to be stupid...and...tedious...
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Yeah, I couldn't make it very far into the episode. Shame. I might yet go back and watch the movie the series is based on since I have friends who loved it but not in a hurry to.
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Yeah, the promos for that show didn't entice me at all. The humor seemed extremely basic and childish.
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The only new show I have tonight -- literally, not even a talk show or baseball game -- is Doom Patrol, and even that's kind-of theoretical since I'm at least one episode behind. We might go to a movie tonight. Of course there's plenty on Netflix, the DVR, and whatever.
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O
Hate that there's no new Last Man Standing but Cool Kids and Fresh off The Boat are still on the table. Other than that it's watching a movie and DVR recordings
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G
FOX all night live . Last Man Standing , Cool Kids and the ever improving Proven Innocent . This serialized mystery / procedural law show is more than solid, especially on Friday night.
I'll watch the penultimate episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend later this weekend.
Not sure it's politically correct but on the show they usually refer to the homo-sexual Josh as "White Josh." The hetero-sexual Asian Josh is Josh Chan.
Mentioning this because I don't recall the show mentioning a "Gay Josh" but I do know they refer to him as "White Josh".
This show has been the lowest rated broadcast program since its inception. I can't believe it managed 4 seasons and a longer than usual 4th season. This final season shouldn't have been shorter because there were more filler episodes than usual. Last week's episode was good and hoping the final two are above par.
There is a rumor that ABC will be airing the very funny American Housewife on Fridays next season . And FOX will be moving Last Man Standing to a weeknight, possibly Tuesday. Interesting scheduling moves.
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See, I'm a little worried about a LMS move to weeknights though not too worried because if people watched when the show moved networks then it shouldn't be too big a stretch to think that they'll watch just another night though I think Last Man Standing works very well on Fridays because its just a great show to start your weekend off with laughs and clean family humor, plus it launched a great Friday night block Fox hasn't had before so I don't think it's a good idea.
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Agreed! Nothing like good comedy on Friday Nights! ABC just might order 2 -hours of comedy of Friday (rumor). But truthfully its more profitable for them to air cheaper unscripted like 20/20, games shows or Shark Tank.
The "NEW FOX" will focus on Wrestling and lots of unscripted. That is what I read.
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I haven't read that about Fox. Where did you see it?
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Don't remember, but a few months back before Disney took over FOX programing. The "New" FOX network was stated to feature more unscripted like the lucrative Masked Singer , Paradise Island , NFL and Wrestling. And less expensive scripted like Passage, Gotham and Gifted.
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I hope the New Fox changes their minds and renews the big budget The Passage and possibly order more shows in that vein.
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If it doesn't work out I hope they put it back
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I wonder how Molly Ephraim is doing. I would love her to return. She was my favorite daughter. Not just because she reminds me of a young Liz Taylor , but she is hilarious in the role.
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I like the new Mandy fine but I definitely prefer Molly Ephraim in the role and thought she brought a real funny quirky aspect to Mandy. Who knows she could end up pulling a two Beckys from Roseanne and go back and forth with the new one lol
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That would be fun!
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I think Speechless and Cool Kids are my only shows on tonight. Good night to catch up on shows I've recorded!
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