If We Controlled Your Remote… 11/20/19

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

In September of 1992, NBC premiered a new sitcom called Mad About You, which starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as newlyweds Paul and Jamie Buchman. The series ran for 7 seasons, following the ups and downs in the couple’s relationship, including the arrival of their daughter Mabel. In the series finale, the show jumped ahead 22 years into the future (2021). However, as no show ever truly ends these days, Spectrum Originals has revived the series for a limited 12-episode 8th season, which ignores those flash-forwards (or maybe those events just haven’t happened yet).

As the new series opens, Paul and Jamie are saying goodbye to their daughter Mabel (Abby Quinn, Black Mirror), who is heading off to college. But Mabel is attending NYU, which is just 5 blocks away. Jamie has a particularly difficult time letting go, and due to the close proximity of Mabel’s dorm, she is constantly showing up announced. Meanwhile, Paul is ready to start enjoying the couple’s empty nest and take the trip to Tahiti they always talked about. However, Jamie doesn’t seem to have any recollection of these plans.

Watching this revival series brought back a wave of nostalgia of the original series. It is shot in the same multi-camera format with limited sets and a laugh track. Over the first few episodes, the series pretty much takes place either at the Buchman’s apartment, Mabel’s dorm room, or Paul’s office. The show is very dialogue-driven, primarily consisting of a series of long conversations between characters. But this time around Paul and Jamie aren’t dealing with newlywed or newborn issues, but rather how they are going to spend the next phase of their life now that Mabel is out of the house, and Paul and Jamie have differing opinions on this topic. Instead working on films, Paul is now producing TV commercials, while Jamie is trying to figure out how to occupy her time now that Mabel is out of the house.

Also back for this revival are Jamie’s sister Linda (Anne Ramsay) and Paul’s brother Ira (John Pankow). Ira now owns a restaurant, which he runs with his Italian girlfriend/head chef Lucia (Antoinette LaVecchia). Paul’s friend Mark (Richard Kind) has also made some life changes – he’s divorced from Fran and is now re-married to psychiatrist Tanya (Kecia Lewis, The Passage).

The first 6 episodes of the revival are available today on Spectrum Originals, while the second half of the season will be released on December 18. You may be asking, “What is Spectrum Originals?!” Well, unfortunately, much like DirecTV/AT&T with its Audience Network exclusive original programming, Spectrum Originals is another provider-specific source of programming only available to Spectrum TV subscribers. While I don’t see anyone changing their cable provider to watch this series, fans of the original Mad About You who do already subscribe should enjoy this nostalgia trip.

I’ll also be watching/recording The Goldbergs, Schooled, Modern Family, Single Parents, Stumptown, Survivor, The Masked Singer, Almost Family, and Riverdale.
 
Jump with us to see else we think you should watch.
 

Jenny’s Choice

My pick has to be yet again the #OneChicago shows, because tonight is the fall finale of all three and looks to be an exciting night in Chicago. In fact, I’ve seen tonight’s Chicago Fire, and if you were a Dawsey fan, this will both make you happy and make you sad all at once, I think. Personally, I wasn’t a Dawsey fan, so this bummed me out, but there is an update on Antonio, which was cool. Anyway, on to a quick recap of each show!

Last week on Chicago Med, Maggie was the one who took a look at the paths and legal and illegal and made the turn to the dark side. (I swear, this show has one character almost every episode who chooses to do something illegal or damn near it, even if it’s for a good cause!) She got some bad news about her new friend, Ben – he wasn’t looking good during chemo, and when Natalie showed up to visit Maggie, she convinced them to come to the ER and let her examine him. Unfortunately, it turned out he had measles and most likely had turned into pneumonia already…and also unfortunately, it was going to kill him before the cancer had a chance to. And since he had to be quarantined, he was likely going to die in the hospital. Maggie was determined to take him home though, and she forged Natalie’s signature to release him. When she got him to his apartment building, she saw all the kids, a new baby, and all the other people hanging around outside his building and realized what a mistake she’d made, possibly exposing them to the measles if she took him through the crowd. Ben told her it was okay, to take him back. Meanwhile, April was being a little cool with Dr. Marcel after their almost-kiss. But when Noah was brought in after being found beaten and unconscious on the sidewalk and Dr. Marcel had to admit the truth about Noah and the gang girl, April got angry and brushed off Dr. Marcel’s opinion that Noah needed surgery, even though in the end, it turned out to be the right call. Thankfully they got him into surgery in time and Noah will be fine. Then there was Dr. Charles, Dr. Choi, and the live-streaming social media guy who let his followers vote on everything in his life – down to whether or not he should have surgery for his appendix. His girlfriend was sure their followers wouldn’t let him down, would have his back, but when they literally told him to jump off the roof and the guy finally said no, most of their followers jumped ship. The guy had surgery to save his life, thank goodness. But I wanted to see a follow up with the girlfriend. Did she stick around, even though it seemed like the gravy train was drying up? And finally, there’s Will & Elsa… She tried asking him out, but he misunderstood, and then we got hit with the fact that apparently he’s going out with one of the new paramedics. Hmm…and just when it seems like Nat is going to get her memories back! Dun dun dun! (Oh, and Sharon and ex-hubby Bert are still seeing each other, and they invited Dr. Charles and Caroline for drinks. Dr. Charles showed up, but he said Caroline wasn’t feeling up to it. Ouch. That doesn’t bode well, given how sick Caroline is!)

Three big things happened on Chicago Fire, in what was one of my favorite eps of the season. First, Stella started her new job of leading the physical conditioning class to new recruits. Her first class was right after a shift at work, and the boss who met her indicated that he expected his instructor to teach by example, which meant she had to get down and do it all herself as well. Teaching plus work made for a zombie Kidd, who kind of zoned out on a call and got reamed by Casey for it. Second, when they had to put out a fire and rescue a woman from her burning house, Herrmann realized something didn’t add up. He looked at the woman’s sofa, which was the origin point, and noticed it was made by the same company that had the mattress fire that killed Otis and that the materials the sofa was made out of were basically gasoline. He and Casey went to try to talk to the company CEO, but they were given the runaround by the public relations people. Then they and the others started a protest by sitting outside the building, until the security guard told them in confidence that the CEO wasn’t even in town. When the guy was back in town, Herrmann decided that wasn’t enough, so instead, they put one of the company’s sofas in the guy’s parking space, waited until he pulled up, and then Herrmann confronted him. The guy said all their furniture was within standard guidelines, and Herrmann asks if that’s enough, then lights the sofa on fire. It doesn’t take long for it to erupt into huge flames. Herrmann’s speech and demonstration made such an impression, though, that the CEO came to the firehouse later with his two young children to pay his respects, looked at Otis’s memorial, and told Herrmann that his company was going to make sure their furniture was made and held to a higher standard from then on. And finally, Severide started at OFI and made a huge difference to the life of one store owner, whose fire had been ruled suspicious so she didn’t get a check from the insurance company. Turned out it was an electrical fire, not arson, so now the young woman gets to rebuild and reopen, making her life and the lives of the people in the neighborhood better. (Oh, and as a funny story line… Brett got asked if she wanted to lead a spin class, she recommended Foster instead, since Foster’s rent had just been jacked up and she needed the extra money. But it turned out Foster was a BRUTAL spin instructor, and when the gym owner showed up at the firehouse, Brett began to apologize, thinking she’d come to tell her everyone had quit. But no, apparently Foster’s style was quite popular, and membership for the class was up, not down, so Foster was being asked to lead more classes AND was getting paid more too. Hah Brett was SHOCKED.)

Finally, we get to Chicago PD… Burgess is pregnant! I’m sure a lot of us knew that going into the episode, given that NBC didn’t hide that reveal at all in their promos, but still… She was shocked, as was Ruzek when she told him. His reaction wasn’t bad, though. He swears he’ll be by her side, whatever her decision is. Originally she made an appointment to take care of the pregnancy, but after searching for and finding a missing little boy, she realized she was being hasty and had cancelled the appointment. She isn’t sure yet what she’s going to do. Obviously she can’t be pregnant and still be in Intelligence, which would mean she wasn’t on the show. So I’m not sure how they’re going to handle it. Miscarriage? Time jump? I haven’t heard that Marina Squerciati is leaving the show, so it can’t be that Burgess takes time off to be pregnant. That just would be ridiculous. Anyway… The missing boy was part of the case the team was working. It was a good one but nothing super exciting – aside from how I wanted to yell at the cops who rolled up in their squad car while Intelligence was waiting for the suspect to come out of the store. I did wish that we could see the rescued young woman being reunited with her parents, since she’d been abducted nearly a decade before. Ah well.

On tonight’s Chicago Med, “I Can’t Imagine the Future,” April receives unfortunate news that makes her question her future with Ethan. Dr. Charles and Maggie see tough times on the horizon. Natalie’s memory from the accident starts to return.

Then on tonight’s Chicago Fire, “Best Friend Magic,” an unexpected visit throws Casey for a loop. Severide sets out to exonerate a wrongly convicted arsonist. Kidd pays the price for burning the candle at both ends. Cruz goes on a mission to fix one of Otis’s old toys.

And finally, on tonight’s Chicago PD, “Absolution,” Halstead’s secret ongoing relationship with a woman connected to another case puts him in jeopardy.

Don’t miss all the fall finales tonight on NBC starting at 8/7c.

I’ll also be watching Mad About You, The Goldbergs, Schooled, Guy’s Grocery Games, Modern Family, SEAL Team, Single Parents, S.W.A.T., & Stumptown.