Author Archives: Phoebe

If We Controlled Your Remote… 4/20/20

Posted on April 20, 2020 by , , and

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

Last week, ABC kicked off the new series The Baker and the Beauty, the US version of an Israeli romantic comedy series (the orthogonal version is available on Amazon Prime). Daniel Garcia (Victor Rasuk, Jack Ryan, How to Make It in America) works in his family’s Miami bakery and has been dating girlfriend Vanessa (Michelle Veintimilla, Gotham) for year, but he’s not sure he wants to move to the next level. So when she surprises him by proposing in a crowded restaurant, Daniel’s response is “No.” Vanessa storms out of the restaurant, but not before pouring Daniel’s soup all over him. One of those looking on at this embarrassing situation is international superstar Noa Hamilton (Nathalie Kelley, Dynasty, The Vampire Diaries), who just went through her own very public break-up. Noa invites Daniel to join her and her entourage for a night on the town, and the two really hit it off. While Daniel and Noa may have some sparks, they come from two very different worlds and cultures. Daniel isn’t used to being part of the spotlight and comes from a close working-class family, while Noa is used to the paparazzi and a rich, lavish lifestyle.

Daniel’s brother Mateo (David Del Rio, Grease Live!) is in disbelief when he learns who Daniel is with, and his younger sister Natalie (Belissa Escobedo) is overjoyed, as she is Noa Hamilton’s number-one fan, viewing her as a role model. Daniel’s parents, Mari (Lisa Vidal, Being Mary Jane) and Rafael (Carlos Gómez, Madam Secretary, The Glades), are also surprised but happy to find out about the proposal and subsequent rejection, as they never really liked Vanessa. Vanessa, on the other hand, realized that she may have overreacted and was on her way to apologize for her ambush proposal when she sees the paparazzi photos of Daniel and Noa together.

I enjoyed last week’s premiere way more than I expected to. It has lots of humor but also quite a bit of heart. The connection between Daniel and Noa feels genuine, and the Garcias also feel like they could be a real family. I really appreciated how they love and support each other, while also having a bit of fun ribbing on one another. I’m looking forward to seeing how this “two people from two different worlds” relationship plays out as both Noa and Daniel try to figure out how to proceed with their relationship and navigate each other’s lives. And I also want to see how Vanessa reacts to all this and if she’s going to try to win Daniel back.

On tonight’s episode, “Ruin My Life,” Noa and Daniel’s relationship begins to flourish; after an unwanted birthday party for Noa, Daniel discovers more about her past; a food critic puts in an outrageous food order the Garcias cannot refuse to take.

Traverse the relationship between Noa and Daniel with them tonight on ABC at 10/9c.

I’ll also be watching/recording 9-1-1, Prodigal Son, Better Call Saul, Breeders, and Almost Paradise.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 4/19/20

Posted on April 19, 2020 by and

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

Last week, Epix kicked off the latest series from the award-winning team behind Downtown Abbey. Belgravia opens in Brussels in 1815, on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, as James Trenchard (Philip Glenister, Mad Dogs) and his wife Anna (Tamsin Greig, Episodes) attend what will become a legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond. James is a merchant trader and Anna the daughter of a schoolmaster, so this party was well above their social status, but it was wartime, and James had earned the nickname of “The Magician” for his ability to locate supplies for the army. The Trenchards had been invited to the party by the Duchess’ nephew, Lord Edmund Bellasis, who was seeing their daughter Sophia. Just as dinner started, the party was abruptly interrupted and the men are called off to the battlefield. While Napoleon was defeated, Edmund didn’t survive the battle.

The show then jumped ahead 26 years. James Trenchard and his family have moved up the social ladder in the post-war era. James got into the building business, partnering with those designing upscale neighborhoods like Belgravia, London. They have become part of the nouveau riche, and Anne has been invited to the Duchess of Bedford’s home for afternoon tea. She first talks with the Duchess of Richmond, and we learn that Sophia died less than a year after that fateful ball. Then Anne runs into Caroline, Countess of Brockenhurst (Harriet Walter, The Crown), whose only son was Edmund, and the two bond over the loss a child. Later, at family dinner, we see that James and Anna’s son Oliver has grown up to become a bit of a disappointing lazy snob thanks to the money his wife brought to their marriage.

As the premiere came to a close, we learned that Edmund and Sophia had secretly gotten married and consummated their union. However, Sophia discovered that the wedding had been a sham as Edmund headed off into battle with his buddy, the “reverend,” and that she later died in childbirth. Later in the evening, Anne raises the idea to James that they should tell Caroline about her grandson, but James isn’t too keen on the idea.

Where have they been hiding this grandson for the past 25 years?! And how will Caroline react to this news – will she welcome him as a son and heir, or will she be upset?

I think folks who enjoyed Downton Abby will also enjoy this series. By the end of last week’s episode, Belgravia felt very similar with its soapy and outrageous twists and turns. It also deals with similar class themes, not only between the titled and the nouveau riche, but also the upstairs/downstairs interactions in this new era, like in last week’s episode, as the Trenchard house staff gossiped about their employers. And there was even the wisecracking, grumpy old Duchess of Richmond, who felt a lot like Downton’s Dowager Countess. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the series.

In tonight’s second episode, Anne tells Caroline a secret that puts the women in opposition; a surprise guest at a lavish party hosted by Caroline forces James to reveal a truth that threatens to tear the Trenchards apart.

Note: If you’re not an EPIX subscriber, for a limited time you can access it for free without a login via the Apple TV app if you have a TV or streaming device that offers this app.

Otherwise, catch it tonight on EPIX at 9/8c.

Tonight, I’ll also be watching/recording Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, The Simpsons, Duncanville, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Killing Eve, Westworld, and Run.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/21/20

Posted on February 21, 2020 by and

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

This is going to be a quick and dirty write-up to recommend Amazon’s latest, Hunters. Executive produced by Academy Award–winner Jordan Peele and led by legendary Academy Award–winner Al Pacino, Hunters follows a diverse band of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York City. The Hunters, as they’re known, have discovered that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S. The eclectic team of Hunters will set out on a bloody quest to bring the Nazis to justice and thwart their new genocidal plans.

I’m not a fan of period pieces (shows/books/movies set in the past), but given the story line and the cast, I’ll probably check this one out. It also stars Logan Lerman (Jack & Bobby), Jerrika Hinton (Grey’s Anatomy, Here and Now), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother, Rise), Tiffany Boone (The Chi, Little Fires Everywhere), Greg Austin (Class), Louis Ozawa Changchien ( Matador, The Miraculous Year), Saul Rubinek (Warehouse 13, Blind Justice, Nero Wolfe), Dylan Baker (The Big Time, Damages, I’m Dying Up Here), Becky Ann Baker (Freaks and Geeks), Lena Olin (Alias, Welcome to Sweden), James Le Gros (True Fiction), Jeannie Berlin (The Night Of), and Ebony Obsidian (Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Sistas), as well as Henry Hunter Hall, Jonno Davies, Josh Mostel, Julissa Bermudez, Kate Mulvaney, Miles G. Jackson, and Caleb Emery.

The entire first season came out overnight last night on Amazon, so check it out now!

I’ll also be watching Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector & Hawaii Five-0.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/20/20

Posted on February 20, 2020 by and

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

Listen, Star Trek: Picard is good. It’s like the best of Star Trek and the best of Star Wars sorta mashed up in what is definitely the old TNG timeline, pre-reboot movies. After the alleged daughter of Data came to him for help, she was assassinated by a Romulan sect known as the Tal Shiar. She had a twin sister however, and she was out there somewhere, so Picard was on a quest to find her. He recruited an old friend from Star Fleet, Raffi, and her friend the star pilot, Rios. Rios played as “intellectual Han Solo” to me. We also added android scientist Dr. Agnes Jurati at the last minute as they were departing Earth.

Last week, instead of heading directly to the lead they have to follow up on on Freecloud, Picard had Rios charter a course to the Romulan resettlement world of Vashti, where Jean Luc once lived. He revisited the Qowat Milat, who were an order of ass-kicking nuns. He recruited the help of Elnar, who was the only male raised by the nuns. They got off planet together just in time for the ship to be attacked by local warlords. This was where the Star Wars–like action kicked in. Very few Trek films or shows have featured such intricate, fast, and masterfully pulled off outer space combat. Perhaps Discovery had some battles that were as cool, but these are the next gen shows, and starships have grown much more agile in this continuum fo’ show. They barely won this battle with the help of a mystery battler on a small A-Wing sized ship. When beaming that person aboard, they got the next recruit to the team: Seven of Nine!

Meanwhile, out on a defunct Borg cube, the lost twin sister, Soji, was part of a strange reclamation project. They are salvaging Romulans by taking Borg parts out of them then rehabilitating them as pure organic beings. The process didn’t work on all victims equally however, and she was trying to find out what happened with the particular batch of the misfits she happened upon in her research. The Romulan she was cavorting with promised her access to information, but at the same time, his contact in the Tal Shiar threatened to use force if his subversive tactics didn’t pay off soon.

This show moves quick, is a lot of fun, and features aspects of all kinds of Star Trek cannon. Don’t miss out!

Catch this week’s episode, “Stardust City Rag,” now on CBSAA.

I’ll also be tuning in for How the Universe Works & Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/9/20

Posted on February 9, 2020 by

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

So there are several HBO seasons that I have been waiting for anxiously. At least two I can think of. But I don’t watch their coming attractions, so I had no idea that Avenue 5 was about to drop last month, so I understand if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s a science fiction comedy that stars Hugh Laurie (I heard he did this show called House?) as Ryan Clark, the captain of the wayward deep space cruise ship called Avenue 5. The ship and the companies which run it are owned by Herman Judd, who lampoons on the ship as a passenger. The expensive space cruise ship was recently struck with a disaster that killed one of its engineers and knocked them off-course, extending their journey by at least six months.

Last week, Captain Clark found himself once again facing the dissatisfaction of Karen, the Domme wife to rollover hubby Frank Kelly. Karen had been gathering complaints from the passengers to blindside Clark with. He invited her to a later private meeting to further discuss those issues, and she agreed. Meanwhile, Judd was putting together his plan to gather 500 shuttles to rescue the people on the Avenue 5 on the 48 hours they should hypothetically, sometime in the future, orbit Earth again. Nad, one of the crew PR guys, tried to work out couples therapy for an unhappy couple who were only there on the free ticket given to them by their friend Rav. Rav was the earthbound coordinator of the company who worked under Judd. Somewhere in there, we learned that back on Earth, Captain Clark was in a polyamorous relationship with both a man and a woman.

In an effort to stave off the threat of mutiny Karen posed, Clark offered her a swanky suite that used to belong to Dead Mary. All she had to do was accept the title and responsibilities of Passenger Liaison Officer. In this meeting, while totally tipsy, he accidentally spilled two secrets to her that his drunk self presumed she knew: A) that he was truly British, not American, & B) that he was a real captain, not an actor planted in the cruise to present a charming demeanor of calm amongst the tourists aboard. The trajectory math that was meant to cut their trip down to six months instead got re-calibrated to 3.5 when they counted in 500 extra passengers who Judd threw on board for profit. On Earth, Rav had a huge breakdown just before she had to face the press about the fiasco that was this cruise. Billie peeled back layers on Cpt. Clark to show him even the crew was not the crew. Karen warped the perceptions of the hostage passengers to usage their concerns, and this show gets legit lit.

On tonight’s episode, “Wait a Minute, Then Who Was That on the Ladder?” with Judd worried about his reputation, Iris arranges a meet-and-greet with several passengers in his luxury suite. Frustrated by a bridge crew with no answers, Ryan and Billie bond with the engineers below deck. Matt encourages Frank to become the man he always wanted to be.

Don’t miss the fun tonight on HBO at 10/9c.

Tonight also brings us the long anticipated macabre return of Kidding, the Jim Carey black comedy
on Showtime.

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