Author Archives: Megan

If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/22/19

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!

Jenny’s Choice

My pick tonight is The Conners. Last week was a fun one. Even though she isn’t even showing yet, Becky wanted to have her baby shower as soon as possible in order to get the “loot” now. As she, Jackie, and Darlene were planning it, Blue showed up and managed to get an invite when telling Becky that her women’s group would be glad to come and…well, do whatever crunchy granola stuff they do. When Becky learned they’d also bring actual store-bought gifts, she not only agreed to invite them but also pulled up a chair to let Blue help plan it. Of course, Blue later asked Darlene to speak to David and tell him she was okay with him having a baby with Blue, to which Darlene was like, Uh, no?! Also, Jackie invited Emilio to the shower, and he showed up with a rocking horse he’d made himself, which was too cute. We finally learned why Becky has been so reluctant about letting him be involved – because she doesn’t want to count on him only for him to leave. Unfortunately, Dan gave her no choice and hired him for his crew in order to let him get extra money to give Becky and the baby. I like Emilio, so I’m hoping he’ll stick around.

But the biggest part of the episode was Ben offering to give Mark piano lessons, and even though he was tough on Mark and Darlene at first was mad at him for it, it turned out to be a good thing for both Mark and Darlene. So much so that Ben later admitted that he’d been given the chance to move the magazine to Chicago, which is only an hour away, but he wants Darlene and the kids to move in with him. What?! They haven’t even been dating that long! I mean, I love him with Darlene (even more so than David now…), but wow. She said yes but she’d have to talk to her kids and family. I can’t wait to see what happens tonight!

Tonight is the season finale, and while the series has yet to be renewed, I’m hopeful. I’ve really been enjoying it.

On tonight’s episode, “We Continue to Truck,” as Darlene grapples with a life-changing offer from Ben, an unexpected conversation with David turns her world even more upside down. Relationship problems lead Jackie to the bottom of the bottle at the last place she remembers being truly happy. Becky’s hopes of a happily ever after with Emilio are jeopardized when Dan delivers alarming news.

See what news Dan gives Becky and what David says to Darlene tonight on ABC at 8/7c.

I’ll also be watching/DVRing Ellen’s Game of Games, The Kids Are Alright, Chopped, FBI, Food Truck Nation, NCIS: New Orleans, & The Rookie.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/18/19

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!

Phoebe’s Choice

In the still of the night, Netflix did it again, dropping the full second season of The Punisher at once. This may be the second to last Marvel Cinematic Universe season to ever occur, with only a third season of Jessica Jones still under contract and done with filming. In hindsight, this corner of the MCU took enough wrong turns to deserve overall cancellation, though the real reason is more likely the fact that Disney has finally consolidated all Marvel Universe film and television rights under one company. After his debut in Daredevil season one, Frank “The Punisher” Castle has been the most independent of the Netflix forays into the MCU. He was the only hero in this corner of the universe to not take part in The Defenders miniseries. In case you forget where we were at in Frank’s arc, let me take you back to the lowdown on last season’s finale.

Psychotic and damaged ex-soldier and mercenary Lewis Wilson started things off with a bang, taking out one of Billy Russo’s ANVIL mercenaries before going crazed lone wolf in an attack on a senator at a hotel. The episode occurred out of order with several threads and narratives explored in a winding chronology. Frank called Russo to warn him that Lewis was about to slip past his security team and attack Senator Ori, who was in an interview with Karen Page in a suite. Karen was then explaining after the attack to the FBI agent on the scene how Frank was not working with Lewis, which was his theory. We saw the attack and the confusion in the room as he gassed everyone. We next saw how Lewis snuck into the hotel disguised as an ANVIL agent. In this telling of the events, we saw that Frank arrived just in time to take a bullet to save Ori & Karen from Lewis.

Lewis then escaped with Karen as his hostage, holding a detonator that would kill them both if his hand let go of it. As soon as he exited on an elevator with her, the SWAT on the scene fired at Frank, who fled. We then began to explore DHS agent Madini’s path through the day. She was in the building to confront Russo about the fact it was 4 ex-ANVIL agents who did the job her partner died on. And it was the 5th one who got away who actually killed him. We fast forwarded to the confusion of Karen being kidnapped. She managed to corner Frank in a stairwell. She was taking him in when Russo appeared and glanced a shot off Frank’s head. Madini confirmed her suspicion that Russo killed her partner. They were in a Mexican stand-off when a bunch of NYPD swarmed in. Frank got away in the chaos, making his way to the basement, where Lewis was holding Karen in the huge hotel kitchen, which was otherwise empty.

Frank laid some heavy guilt onto Lewis, harping on how his now comatose father’s life was ruined. He talked to Karen using duress language to confirm she had a gun in her purse. She shot Lewis in the foot on Frank’s signal. Lewis locked himself in the walk-in cooler and blew the bomb. Frank and Karen shared a moment in the elevator and nearly kiss. Then he climbed away and ghosted from the hotel via a zipline. Gotta say, they went out with a bang!

Check out the entire new season now on Netflix!

Aside from binging this, I’ll also binge the three episodes on Young Justice that also dropped at 3AM on streaming service DCU.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/17/19

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

First thing this morning, A Discovery of Witches made its U.S. debut on streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder. The series, which aired on Sky TV this past September in the UK, is based on the bestselling “All Souls” trilogy by Deborah Harkness. Historian Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer, Hacksaw Ridge) is a witch who refuses to use her magical powers – not that she really knows how to control them anyway. After her parents were murdered, Diana was raised by her Aunt Sarah (Alex Kingston, ER, Doctor Who) and her partner Emily (Valarie Pettiford, Being Mary Jane) in their farmhouse in Madison County, New York. Sarah is upset that Diana denies her magical heritage and wants her niece to embrace being a witch, but Diana is more concerned with her academic career. While she received tenure at Yale, Diana has now returned to Oxford in hopes of obtaining a professorship.

While doing research for a paper on Alchemy, Diana accidentally discovers a bewitched manuscript that had been thought to have been lost for hundreds of years. When she opens the book, she finds herself thrust into a dangerous world of witches and vampires, with many parties eager to get their hands on the manuscript. Vampire/geneticist Dr. Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode, The Crown, Downton Abbey) has been trying to figure out why his breed are dying out and are having trouble siring new vampires. He has been looking for The Book of Life for over 100 years and believes the manuscript contains information about how the vampires were created – this information may be the key to their survival. He finds himself inexplicably drawn to Diana after she opens the book but must try to control his urges. Meanwhile, power-hungry witch Peter Knox (Owen Teale, Game of Thrones) is also after the book, but he has other, more nefarious purposes in mind.

This series is beautifully shot, with some really great production value. The pilot quickly establishes the main characters and some of the rules of this world, where vampires, witches, and other demons hide in plain sight among the humans, always fearful of being discovered. The first season is 8 episodes and covers the events of the first book of the trilogy. The series has already been renewed for two more seasons, and the plan is to cover one book per season, so there’s plenty more to come for fans! I’m not sure if there are plans to eventually air the series on the linear Sundance TV network, but today the entire season is available on both the Sundance Now and Shudder streaming services.

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I got the chance to speak with some of the cast and creators of the series and hold the actual book itself! Check out my interview videos at NoReruns.net.

Check out the entire first season streaming now on Sundance Now and Shudder!

I’ll also be watching/recording Grey’s Anatomy, A Million Little Things, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Fam, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Gotham, and The Orville.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/16/19

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

Tonight, Syfy officially launches the new series Deadly Class, which is based on Rick Remender’s hit comic book series of the same name. Set in the 1980s, the series follows Marcus (Benjamin Wadsworth, Teen Wolf), who was orphaned as a young boy when his parents were killed by a person with mental issues. He blames Ronald Reagan and his budget cuts for his parents’ untimely death. Marcus was sent to a boys’ home, where the living conditions were horrible. He literally burned the place to the ground when he left, killing dozens of children. Now he lives on the street, eating out of trash cans and avoiding the cops. One day Marcus is approached by a group of teenagers, who abduct him and bring him to see Master Lin (Benedict Wong, Doctor Strange, Marco Polo). Master Lin tells him about King’s Dominion, a secret school for assassins, founded by his grandfather, where Marcus could learn to harness his hate and master the deadly arts.

And so Marcus now finds himself in this strange and deadly new world, taking classes like AP Black Arts, Hand-to-Hand Combat, and Poison Lab. He learns of the various gangs and cliques on campus and meets some of his fellow students – the mysterious Saya (Lana Condor, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), who has goals of being valedictorian and is the person Master Lin sent to close the deal with Marcus; the unstable and wild Maria (Maria Gabriela de Faria, Yo Soy Franky), who causes Marcus to be the target of the cartel on his first day of class; skater punk misfit Billy (Liam James, The Way, Way Back, Psych), the son of a corrupt cop; and would-be gangster Willie (Luke Tennie, Vengeance), whose L.A. gang leader mother sent him to the school to toughen him up.

I really enjoyed tonight’s premiere, which sets up this elaborate and interesting world that feels both fresh but also familiar in some ways – King’s Dominion is like Hogwarts or Brakebills but for assassins rather than magicians. The episode also introduces viewers to a wide variety of characters, each with a unique background and reason for being at the school. The series has a bit of a darker, more mature tone, as it explores the angst of high school – just at a very unusual and more deadly one than most of us attended. The 1980s setting works well for the series, as these students live in a world that isn’t flooded with social media and phone cameras to catch them doing their homework assignments—the first of which involves finding and killing someone who deserves it! Plus there’s a lot of great 80s rock/punk music in the show’s soundtrack. This show looks and feels like a feature film, and I can’t wait to see where this story goes next and what lies ahead for these characters.

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I got the chance to speak with some of the cast and creators of the series. Check out my press room videos at NoReruns.net.

On tonight’s premiere, “Reagan Youth,” a disillusioned teen finds purpose and fights for survival at an elite academy for the Deadly Arts.

If you want to check out the episode early, for free, you can find it on iTunes, Vudu, and possibly On Demand.

I’ll also be watching/recording The Goldbergs, Schooled, Modern Family, Single Parents, Match Game, The Masked Singer, Schitt’s Creek, MythBusters Jr., and I’m Sorry.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/15/19

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!

Jenny’s Choice

The episode of FBI before the winter break was one of my favorites so far because we focused a lot on OA (plus there was the return of Billy Burke to TV, yay!). When an illegal arms broker turned informant was killed, OA assumed his identity and went undercover to stop the sale of danger weapons. OA rocked the undercover gig, so much so that at the end, he visited the FBI academy to talk to a class of recruits about undercover work. I loved how calm, cool, and collected he was each time he was with the bad guys (or girl…). One of my favorite moments was when he was meeting with the bad guy’s daughter (who turned out to be even more of a bad guy, killing her father and taking over the deal herself) for the first time and she asked about when he went to school with another player on the board. Maggie remembered the info just in time to feed it to him, and it all went smoothly.

I’m enjoying this show a lot. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s a lot of fun, and I love the cast.

On tonight’s episode, “Identity Crisis,” when a judge and her daughter are murdered after she sentenced a man to life in prison, Maggie and OA search for the killer behind a possible retaliation. Dana has a vested interest in this case as she has a history with the victim.

Find out who killed the judge and her daughter tonight on CBS at 9/8c.

I’ll also be watching/DVRing The Conners, Ellen’s Game of Games, NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, The Kids are Alright, & Chopped.

[I originally wrote this up last week, but CBS pulled it to air this week due to all the political crap that aired during primetime Tuesday. So if this seems familiar, that’s why. 😉 ]
 
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