Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!
Kyle’s Choice
Earlier this year, Amazon released the pilot for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as part of its spring pilot season. The episode got rave reviews, and the series was picked up a month later for 2 seasons. Early today, Amazon dropped the entire first season exclusively for Prime members (non-Prime members can still check out the pilot). Set in New York City in 1958, the series follows 26-year-old housewife Miriam “Midge†Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan, House of Cards), whose life seems so perfect, just before it comes crashing down. Her husband Joel (Michael Zegen, Rescue Me) is a successful businessman by day and struggling comedian by night. The couple has two children – 3-year-old Ethan and a new baby girl. Midge is the portrait of a perfect housewife, maintaining the home and supporting her husband is his career and comedic aspirations. However, one night after bombing at a comedy club, Joel announces to Miriam that he’s leaving her for his secretary. Miriam drowns her sorrows in alcohol and, in her inebriated state, ends up on the stage at the comedy club. Shedding her prim and proper exterior, Miriam lets loose and instantly wins over the crowd, but her lewd behavior and crude language attracts the attention of the local authorities. However, club manager/wannabe agent Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein, Family Guy, Getting On) sees potential in Midge and wants to help her launch a stand-up career.
The series comes from Gilmore Girls creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and husband Daniel Palladino, and even though this highly-serialized series is a period comedy/drama, it shares a lot in common with the Palladinos’ previous series. It centers around a young single(ish) mother dealing with her disappointed parents – always-irritated father, mathematics professor Abe (Tony Shalhoub, Monk) and more-supportive but overprotective mother Rose (Marin Hinkle). The family’s apartment in the Upper West Side is quite stately, and they have a maid – not unlike the Gilmores’ Connecticut home. Characters are constantly breaking into rapid-fire banter, and while there aren’t any troubadours, the Palladinos have still managed to weave musical performances in throughout the episodes. Even though the series is set in New York City, it still manages to capture a small-town feeling at times.
The series is really well written, with interesting characters, witty dialogue, some great character drama and development, and some fun recurring jokes. Rachel Brosnahan is charming in the lead role, even when she’s cursing like a sailor. And the supporting cast is also a lot of fun, especially Tony Shaloub and Alex Borstein. Other actors that pop up in the first few episodes include Kevin Pollak (Angel from Hell) and Caroline Aaron (Episodes) as Joel’s parents, Luke Kirby (Rectify) as comedian Lenny Bruce, and Max Casella (Doogie Howser, M.D.) as a lawyer. I checked out the first four episodes and could have easily watched more if that had been made available. I look forward to checking out the rest of the season on Amazon!
I’ll also be watching/recording The Goldbergs, Speechless, Modern Family, American Housewife, Designated Survivor, Survivor, Riverdale, Vikings, MythBusters, and Mr. Robot.
Jump with us to see else we think you should watch.
Jenny’s Choice
Last week’s Chicago PD was a rough one, especially for Halstead. A young boy was kidnapped, and their investigation led Intelligence to a group of ex-military kidnapping crew. Halstead convinced Voight to let him go undercover to try to get an “in†with the guys, and he did. He became friendly with one of them, Luis Vega, becoming even…more friendly with the guy’s sister. Unfortunately, during the rescue of the kidnapped boy, Vega was killed. Halstead has been on a downward spiral since accidentally shooting the little girl early in the season. It’s brought back nightmares from his time overseas in the military, and that’s affecting his work and his personal life – case in point, he went back to see Vega’s sister after he was killed, lying to her and saying that he wasn’t there when it happened, and then sleeping with her. This can’t lead anywhere good, which makes me sad because I really like him…
From Halstead last week to Burgess this week… We finally get to meet the new man in her life, and it’ll be interesting to see her introduce him to Voight and Intelligence but especially to Adam.
On tonight’s episode, “Politics,†one of Voight’s friends, Congressman Scott Graynor (guest star Scott Bryce) is found passed out in his hotel room with a dead Ukranian girl. When Intelligence discovers the murder is connected to a sting and Burgess’s boyfriend (guest star Zach Appelman) is working with the Feds, Burgess must choose between compromising her case or her boyfriend’s case.
See which side Burgess lands on tonight on NBC at 10/9c.
I’ll also be watching/DVRing The Goldbergs, Iron Chef Showdown, Law & Order: SVU, Modern Family, & American Housewife.
Phoebe’s Choice
Two seasons of Fight Club-meets-Hackers was pretty f’n rad, and it’s why I am still here mucking through the sludge of a plot that passes for Mr. Robot season three. The shark has been jumped. I’m pretty sure it all ends badly. Whether Whiterose’s time-reversal machine really works or maybe this is all some Bobby Ewing in the shower bullshit that’s gonna posit us right back into season one somewhere? The crack in the veneer had been starting to show, and this past week was just the worst.
The episode opened with Dark Army enforcer Leon taking former Fsociety lead hackers Mobley & Trenton out into the middle of some desert. This was where we hit SJM (Shark Jump Moment) #1. Leon wouldn’t shut up about how much he liked 80s show Knight Rider. He just couldn’t get the theme song out of his head, and yeah…they played the song as credit rolled. This show had had a bunch of clutch moments carried by the song selection for sure. But this obtuse 4th wall testing shitcanoe sunk my enthusiasm immediately.
Elliot ran to his shrink, where his stress caused Mr. Robot to emerge and confess that he/they were the architect of the 5/9 attack that blacked out all of NYC for weeks. Tyrell Wellick, in holding, now steered the investigation toward exposing the “real†masterminds behind the hack, to try to save his own ass. Angela was completely FUBAR in the head, asking, “Are those dead people going to be OK?â€
Mr. Robot flipped out and confronted Irving in his garage over the expanded scope of phase two that he was not involved in that got so many people killed. Fade to Whiterose emotionally blackmailing his big bad American counterpart Price for “the opportunity to teach a lesson.†Never before in watching this show was I uncertain if it was Mr. Robot or Gotham… But for a minute I thought I had been thrown back into last year’s Penguin on Riddler gay crush maybe? SJM #2!! They even know they’re going ham for lack of intelligent plot as Price hollered in the hollered restaurant, “This is a just joke!? A bad joke!!†Yeah unfortunately that’s about where this show is.
Then we got to the point where Leon dropped Trenton & Mobley off with the Dark Army lieutenants that would decide their fates. As it turned out? They set them up as patsies, shooting them in the head and leaving them for the FBI to be found amidst pro-Iranian propaganda and computers that had just been used in some new stage of the cyber war that compromised all air traffic in America. This scene skipped forward to Agent DiPierro investigating the scene a week later and whispering to herself, “He’s gonna get away with it…†meaning Whiterose, but I am thinking Esmail. SJM #3 END SCENE.
This show is still damn good TV. But it is just not Mr. Robot anymore. Mr. Robot had killer reveals all saved up for late season one and season two. The only thing lingering now is Whiterose’s time-reversal machine, and if you didn’t pick up on the fact that’s what’s gonna happen, watch Angela rewind the building collapse 14 times in a row, 14 more times. I guess they should be grateful… At least they won’t be eaten by that big ol’ shark, cause they sailed way the fuck over it. Thanks for two awesome seasons Mr. Robot. I won’t cry when you predictably don’t get picked up after this year.
On tonight’s episode, “eps3.7dont-delete-me.ko,†Elliot tries to get ghosted; it is the day of all days.
Find out what happens with Elliot tonight on USA Network at 10/9c.
Megan’s Choice
Law & Order: SVU has been very focused on Benson this season, and that is perfectly okay with me because I love seeing more into her life. It’s been interesting to see her deal with Noah’s biological grandmother coming into their lives, and I am curious to see just how close they all get. All of the personal stories aside, SVU is still one of the most intense shows on at the moment due to the fact that the subject manner is often dark and twisted.
On tonight’s episode, “Something Happened,” Benson must disclose the secrets of her past to help a rape victim recall the details of one terrible, traumatic night.
To see how Benson deal with rehashing the dark memories, tune in to NBC at 9/8c.
I’ll also be watching Chicago PD.
