Category: Television

  • The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale (Stupid Fanboys!, Not a Review)

    CLEARLY!!! THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS!!!

    I have stated many times before that I dislike fanboys. (Oh, you know who I am talking about.) But I would also like to add that I have a new level disgust with a new emerging fanboy; The Middle-Aged Fanboy.

    Let me tell you a story.

    This past Friday was the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. My wife works, I take care of the kid, so we don’t watch the episode when it debuts early in the morning. We check it out after the kid goes to bed at night. This means that on Fridays, the wife and I try very hard to stay off social media for even the hint of a spoiler. All was going well this Friday.

    Then, a good friend of ours birthday was on this Friday, and his wife organized a huge Zoom group to wish him happy birthday. The group was made up of theatre professionals, and tech people. A strange grouping, but we all get along well, as we are all sci-fi nerds; STAR WARS, Dr WHO, STAR TREK, you name it.

    So, as we are chatting, our birthday friend tells us that his wife surprised him with a PS5 as a gift. Then another person, and I won’t call him a friend, then said, “Was it as big a surprise as Luke Skywalker on The Mandalorian?”

    The chat exploded into two camps, those that had seen the episode and those that hadn’t, but on the whole, everyone booed that guy.

    He spoiled it. He ruined all the fun, and he knew it. That was the point; the make people upset, and miss out on the fun. And that was executed by that annoying middle-aged fanboy. Yes, that guy who’s only argument is that, “It wasn’t as good as the original.” Well, no shit. Nothing is ever going to make you feel like the eight-year-old again, so please stop punishing the rest of us for your sad realization.

    Now, the realization that I had after I watched the episode was that so many people working on the production of The Mandalorian did a great job at keeping this secret. Think of all the crew, and editors, and production assistants. They all knew that they had something fun under their hats and they kept it quiet. I appreciate all their hard work on that.

  • TV Review: Ted Lasso

    I try really hard not to be a judgmental person, which is all the more funny, as I am about to write a review of a tv show. I like to think of myself as a person that does not prejudge, and goes into situations with an open mind, but when I heard that Apple TV had made a show, Ted Lasso, out of the commercial for NBC broadcasting the English Premier League, it didn’t strike me as a good idea. I do think Jason Sudeikis is a pretty funny guy, but from what I remembered about the commercials, I thought it would be a one note joke about an American not understanding football.

    So, that was August of this year, when Ted Lasso debuted, and I never thought about the show.

    Then, I started to hear things about it. “It’s not so bad…” “Jason Sudeikis is really funny…” “It’s a good sports show…” “It’s a good workplace comedy…” “The cast is awesome…” and then, “It’s the best comedy on tv…”

    I still wasn’t convinced. And then I had a friend say to me that Ted Lasso isn’t the best show on tv, but it’s the only show that makes you feel better for trying to stay positive.

    Now, I was intrigued with that assessment.

    If you don’t know, Ted Lasso is bout Ted Lasso, a Division II college (America) football coach who just won a championship, who is hired to manage an English football (soccer) Premier League team, AFC Richmond. What Ted doesn’t know is that the team owner, Rebecca Welton, got the team in a divorce, and wants to run it into the ground to spite her ex-husband. Ted and his American assistant coach bring all their America positive attitude and can-do spirit to a jaded and bitter football club.

    I am sure you are like me and pretty much see where this is going; Ted’s positive attitude rubs off on everyone, who in the end comes to love Ted, and the team is successful. And you are not too far off. But I found myself binging through the episodes.

    First of all, it is funny. The writers and cast swing from word play, to spit takes, to sight gags, and every comedy convention in between, and somehow keep the feeling of realism without spinning out into parody or British silliness. But what kept me locked in was watching each of the characters make huge mistakes, or betrayals, and instead of what a lesser show would do, which is make the character learn a lesson and move on, Ted Lasso, plays on the characters finding reasons to be honest. In most of the cases, it is because they start seeing their co-workers as friends, and as such, they owe their friends honesty, and forgiveness. That building friendships, especially for adults, is very hard, and Ted Lasso is a show that was willing to take it’s time with ten episodes, to allow those relationships develop, in a wonderful and hilarious way.

  • Post-Debate: This is bad…

    This is bad folks. Really bad. Such as, I am very nervous that the United States might not survive this election.

    It wasn’t just one moment of Trump’s shit show. And there were some really awful moments. The interrupting, the conspiracy theories, the environment forest management thing, the doubting of a fair election. Then Trump told his supporters that they should go to the polls and intimidate voters, and that the Proud Boys should stand by to be called into action. It is just horrifying that. I never thought that an American politician would behave like that, in public.

    But taken as a whole, what I was left feeling is that Trump doesn’t care who he has to hurt, or what he has to destroy, to win. For Trump, it’s win or nothing. And even if he does win, I don’t think that will be enough. I think he will go after his political opponents, and try to put them in jail.

    I joked after the Republican convention that I left feeling like I was a hunted creature for being liberal. After last night, I think Trump will call on his supporters and white supremacists to go and riot in the streets. That open conflict will follow on November 3rd.

    Even if Trump comes to his senses, and agrees to a peaceful transfer, he has already put the thought out there, and you cannot take it back.

  • Trump v Biden: The Debate Battle Royale!

    Maybe I should talk about Trump’s income taxes? That seems to be a big deal right now.

    The debate between Biden and Trump is tonight. I will be watching it alone, as anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth makes my wife very angry, and pretty much puts her in a bad mood for the rest of the night…

    And into the morning…

    And all the next day…

    And for the whole week…

    So, I will be watching the debate on my computer with headphones, while also live tweeting (@mlgroff) my reactions to whatever crazy shit that is said. My goal is to make my friends laugh, but it is also to keep my sanity.

    I was extremely nervous four years ago when Clinton and Trump met for their debates. Hilary won all the face offs, as Trump come across as disrespectful and unprepared, but we all know that in the end, it didn’t really mean anything.

    There is a good chance again, that these debates won’t mean anything. And honestly, I agree with that conclusion. Trump and Biden’s polling numbers really haven’t changed that much in two months, which for me says that most people are locked in on who they are voting for.

    But honestly, who is that 3-5% of the voting population that are still undecided? With everything that has happened in this year alone, how has that not influenced you to make a decision?

    I need to laugh, and I need to laugh and the big orange bully in the room.

  • Late to the Party: Review of “Perry Mason” (2020)

    This is my continuing series of reviews of tv, movies, or music that has been out for a while, that I am just getting around to… As always, there are SPOLIERS!

    I am a sucker for noir films and TV shows. From Sam Spade, to Chinatown, to The Long Goodbye, to LA Confidential, I love noir’s visual style, the dark stories, and also how these noir stories show the dark criminal world that is just under the surface of the cities we inhabit. I will even throw The Third Man in as well.

    When I saw the previews of Perry Mason on HBO in the spring, I was hooked and ready to go. I never watched the original Raymond Burr 1957 television series of the same name, so I had no attachment to anything that had happened in the past, but I was aware that Perry Manson was “the best” defense lawyer around as he could get criminals to admit their crimes on the stand. When I saw that the cast was lead by Matthew Rhys, and also that Tim Van Patten was directing many of the episodes, I felt that I was in very safe hands.

    And for the most part I was.

    We meet Perry in 1932, who at this point is a detective for the lawyer Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan. Jonathan takes the case of defending a mother who is accused of killing her child in a kidnapping plot. It was a very dark subject matter to have the show revolve around, but I do admit that it did create a feeling of uncomfortableness in me for all the characters that are involved in the murder. What also became apparent very early on is that this was going to be the origin story of Perry Mason becoming a lawyer, and his drive to defend people who seemed to be undefendable.

    What I was given was a show that hit all the right noir notes that this type of genre demands, as well adding a very relevant depth to the inherent racism in the LA Police Department, and the indignities black police officers faced. Most of the characters did have backstories of pain that they were still dealing with, or secrets they couldn’t share, or of living lives not out in the open. It created a solid foundation of why all of these very different people would be drawn together to fight for justice.

    The series had a nice slow simmer to it, hitting its marks, and then at the crux of the show, episode 5, after E.B. Jonathan’s suicide, the show starts an awkward sprint to the end. It comes across as jarring and very out of left field. Somehow, with a little coaching, Perry is able to pass the California Bar exam, which I do happen to know that you do not need to go to law school for, and POOF! He’s a lawyer now!

    After a few stumbles at the start of the trial, Perry has no issues to working his way through the courtroom. And when Perry wants to put the corrupt cop who is behind the murder on the stand, he is told that no one confesses under cross examination, but then the show doesn’t put the cop on the stand. A choice that left me very confused. I thought that was Perry Mason’s whole thing. At least let him try and fail, right, as that would be realistic. In the end Perry pays off a juror to deadlock the jury, only to learn that two other jurors also felt the mother was innocent, which I guess was meant to make us feel that Perry did a better job than he thought. It left me with the feeling that Perry isn’t going to become a good lawyer one day, but that he’s just not a good lawyer at all.

    Sadly, it felt like all the pieces are there to make a really good show that is moody, honest, and can be relevant as we examine what justice denied in the past looked like. Perry Mason was renewed for a second season, so I hope that the next time around, with all the characters in place, that they will be able to stick the landing.