Tag Archives: Freeform

If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/16/20

Posted on January 16, 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!

Kyle’s Choice

Tonight, Freeform kicks off the fun new single-camera comedy Everything’s Gonna Be Okay with a special 90-minute premiere. Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas (Josh Thomas, Please Like Me) had been living in Australia with his mother. Nearly 17 years ago, his parents got divorced after his father had a daughter with another woman. His father moved to America, got remarried, and had a second daughter, but the girls’ mother passed away when they were young.

Seventeen-year-old Matilda is autistic and marches to the beat of her own drum. She doesn’t really get social cues or boundaries and just says what’s on her mind – if she likes the most popular boy in school, she’ll just come right out and tell him, even though he may be out of her league. Matilda is smart and artistic, and it seems like she can do anything she sets her mind to. Her younger sister, 14-year-old Genevieve, is at an awkward age. She has just become a woman and is just trying to fit in at school and stay under the radar, along with the help of her two best friends. The girls’ half-brother Nicholas is just about to head back to Australia when his father drops the news that he is dying and doesn’t have much time left. Nicholas has never been the most reliable or mature guy, so his father never really considered him as a serious possibility to take over guardianship of his siblings, but Nicholas assures him and insists that he can do it. And so, shortly afterwards, Nicholas finds himself thrust into this new situation, trying to be the adult, taking care of two teenage girls, while also trying to balance his own personal life with boyfriend Alex (Adam Faison, Liberty Crossing).

While the series is a fun show about teenage problems and family, I wouldn’t say that all of the humor and situations are necessarily family friendly. Freeform was smart to drop that “ABC Family” name a while back, as a lot of its programming has become geared toward a slightly more mature audience. I had never seen Josh Thomas’s previous acclaimed series, Please Like Me, so I was unfamiliar with his style of comedy. Nicholas is neurotic and self-absorbed, with an odd, awkward sense of humor that sometimes borders on becoming annoying. However, you can tell that he truly cares about his sisters. The relationship between these siblings is a lot of fun, and tonight’s episodes had me laughing quite a bit. There’s lots of physical humor with Nicholas and many laugh-out-loud moments coming from the autistic Matilda, who delivers one the funniest, most inappropriate eulogies for her deceased father. It looks like the series will balance the stories of the girls dealing with typical teenage and school problems and the loss of their father, with Nicholas trying to become a more responsible adult and father-like figure, while also attempting to have a love life. I’m look forward to seeing more of this oddball series.

On tonight’s series premiere, “Seven-Spotted Ladybug,” Nicholas’s single dad has very bad cancer and he’s going to die soon; so Nicholas offers himself up to be the guardian for his two teenage half-sisters. Then, in “Greenbottle Blue Tarantula,” Nicholas wishes he could call an adult; after the death of their father, Nicholas, Matilda, and Genevieve struggle to return to their daily – and nightly – routines; navigating the stay-at-home parent life is harder than Nicholas thought.

Don’t miss the one-hour premiere and 30-minute second episode on Freeform starting at 8:30/7:30c.

I’ll also be watching/recording Young Sheldon, The Unicorn, Carol’s Second Act, Evil, Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, Perfect Harmony, and Deputy.

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If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/8/20

Posted on January 8, 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

Tonight, Freeform kicks off the newly reimagined Party of Five, which is similar in concept to the original 1990s FOX series but with a more modern take. Nearly 23 years ago, Javier Acosta (Bruno Bichir, Narcos) and his wife Gloria (Fernanda Urrejola, Narcos: Mexico) came to the United States illegally and set down their roots, opening a popular local restaurant and expanding their family to include five children. Their eldest son, 24-year-old Emilio (Brandon Larracuente, 13 Reasons Why) is a DACA child who now lives on his own, pursuing a career as a musician. However, when ICE raids the family restaurant, arresting the Acosta parents, taking them away to be deported to Mexico, Emilio is forced to put his own dreams on the back burner and step up to take care of his younger siblings: Lucia, Beto, Valentina, and baby Rafael. Sixteen-year-old Lucia (Emily Tosta, Mayans M.C.) was a straight-A student, but after her parents’ arrest, she starts to act out and party rather than concentrating on her grades. Meanwhile, her twin brother Beto (Niko Guardado, The Goldbergs) is also neglecting his schoolwork and sports in order to step in and try to keep the family restaurant afloat. And precocious young Valentina (Elle Paris Legaspi, Vida), who was celebrating an academic achievement with her parents at the restaurant when ICE arrived, probably misses and needs her parents the most, as she is just hitting puberty.

I had never seen the original series, but I thought tonight’s premiere was really well done. It feels like a very modern take on the same concepts of the original show – the kids weren’t left orphaned, but for all intents and purposes, it’s almost like they are. I feared that with a topic like this, the series may get too political, but in the first episode, it never felt so. It is just heartbreaking drama depicting this family being torn apart by an unfortunate situation. With no other family to turn to, the siblings are now on their own and must quickly learn how to balance their lives as children while also taking on more adult responsibilities – from making sure they keep what’s left of their family together, to desperately trying not to lose their home or the family business (their only source of income) and raising their baby brother, who may never know his parents. At the same time, they are working to try to work the legal system and reunite with their parents. I look forward to checking out more of this series to see how the story progresses.

On tonight’s series premiere, “Pilot,” when ICE deports their parents, life for the five Acosta siblings is turned upside down; oldest son Emilio puts his music career on hold to move back home and take care of his siblings.

You can check out the episode right now on Hulu and at Freeform’s website or tonight on Freeform at 9/8c.

I’ll also be watching/recording Modern Family, Single Parents, Stumptown, and Almost Family.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 11/25/19

Posted on November 25, 2019 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

Tonight, Freeform kicks off the all-new holiday-themed reality competition series Wrap Battle, with two back-to-back episodes. The series finds nine contestants trying to out-wrap one another to be the first ever Wrap Battle Champion and take home the $50K prize. You read that correctly: it’s a present-wrapping competition series! With Christmas just a month away, it’s as good a time as any to get into the holiday spirit, and this show certainly has that in droves.

The competition is hosted by comedian Sheryl Underwood (The Talk), who serves as a judge, alongside Carson Kressley (RuPaul’s Drag Race, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), and gift wrapping expert Wanda Wen (founder of fine stationery and luxury paper brand Soolip). Each episode consists of two rounds. The first round is the Swift Gift Challenge, a short 45-minute challenge, at the end of which the winner will be given an advantage for the second round. The second round is the Big Gift Challenge, a longer 3-hour challenge that involves a much bigger effort. At the end of that round, some of the contestants will be put on the Nice List, while some others will make the Naughty List. And it will be a wrap for a contestant from the latter list, as they are sent home.

I checked out tonight’s two episodes and found the show to be a lot of fun. It’s got an eclectic mix of contestants ranging in age from 24 to 47. While some of them are professional gift wrappers, designers, entrepreneurs, and event coordinators, there’s also an insurance agent and a mom/PTA president. And if you like wrapping puns, this show is loaded with them – the contestants are often sent off to the present-tation room to display their work to the judges. Tonight’s second episode features a guest judge for one of the challenges, and I’m sure there will be more of that in later weeks as well. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this battle and what crazy tasks the contestants are given in upcoming episodes.

On tonight’s premiere, “Wrap Big or Wrap at Home,” nine talented gift wrappers compete to become the Wrap Battle Champion and win a grand prize worth $50,000. In the second episode, “Shopping Mall Wars,” wrappers team up to operate gift wrapping kiosks, each team try to out-hustle and out-wrap their competition; featuring guest judge Sherry Cola.

See how talented these wrappers are tonight on Freeform starting at 9/8c.

I’ll also be watching/recording The Good Doctor, 9-1-1, Prodigal Son, and His Dark Materials.
 
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If We Controlled Your Remote… 5/30/19

Posted on May 30, 2019 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

In last week’s penultimate episode of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger season two, we finally got “Big Bad” Andre’s origins slightly fleshed out for us. We see that he was a jazz musician chasing the elusive “Blue Note” on his trumpet that would put him amongst the all-time greatest. His migraines struck him on stage though, and his career passed him by. This was what drove him to be on the bridge during the same Roxxon explosion that gave Tandy & Tyrone (Dagger & Cloak respectively) their powers nine years ago; he was going to kill himself. In the hospital, he only recovered by discovering his strange telepathic ability to transmute women’s despair into psionic power in an astral record shop.

In the now, Tyrone & Tandy were trying to trace Andre/D’Spayre, but they found that all the women he still held sway over were in a trance coma state, all humming the same tune. Mayhem brought one of the girls for Tandy to try to read her spirit to see if she had any hope left. While Tandy was discovering that this girl was just a black hole of static noise inside, Tyrone found out that his mom killed Detective Connors and was busy covering up the evidence. Tandy used the static space inside the girl’s mind to enter the memories in her mind, where they faced off against D’Spayre. He was impervious to her attacks, however, and ejected from the astral battle.

Out in the real world, Tyrone shook down a pair of drug dealers and threatened them and told them to warn the streets that no sex trafficking through drug addiction would be allowed, as per Cloak & Dagger. He also got Andre’s location from them. When they got to him, he was using his personalized voodoo symbol, or veve, to completely enrapture a crowd of people who stood to watch him play trumpet. He was reaching for the Blue Note, and Tandy & Tyrone combined their powers to defeat his living body, but that was not enough. The gathered mesmerized crowd all dissolved into nothing as he collapsed to the ground. We saw in the last scene he was somewhere back in the astral plane with a club full of people to perform for now.

This show has been one of the great underestimated sweet spots in comic book adaptations of late. In the last few years, only season one of Jessica Jones, season one of Legion, Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, and most recently Doom Patrol have been in the same echelon of production value and storytelling in comic book TV. They have done well to make the city of New Orleans itself a character in the tales — or at least the voodoo culture of the city has done a great deal to transform this tale about a superhero duo that usually operates in New York City. It has been a pleasant alternate reality to watch. With a good chance for season three renewal, tonight’s finale could be either a conclusive showdown or a cliffhanger to string us along. Tune in to find out!

On tonight’s episode, “Level Up,” Tyrone and Tandy head to the Loa dimension to stop the evil force threatening New Orleans. To finally put an end to it, they must come face to face with their own personal issues that have been holding them back. Meanwhile, Mayhem and Evita do their best to hold off the dangers in the real dimension.

To see how the season ends, tune in to Freeform at 8/7c.

I’ll also probably cue up an episode of Good Omens, which drops today.

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If We Controlled Your Remote… 5/16/19

Posted on May 16, 2019 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 #1

When a big, long-running show ends, it usually marks the end of an era, and that’s truly the case with tonight’s series finale of The Big Bang Theory. All season, we’ve been seeing repeat guest stars, story lines wrapping, and the show preparing the characters and the audience for the end. That’s why getting advance notice of a series ending is so important. That doesn’t mean everything will wrap up with a nice and tidy bow. As of last week, Raj is single again. Sure, he may have a “meet cute,” romance-movie moment where he meets a woman and it looks like she’s the one. But that’s all it’ll be, since we won’t get to see their relationship grow like we have the others – including Stuart and Denise, who said their I-love-yous and agreed to move in together last week! I do hope we at least see Raj get his “moment,” though. And surely one of the characters will be pregnant… Will it be Amy & Sheldon? We know both are open to and/or want kids. Or will it be Penny & Leonard, who are on opposite sides of that wish? Or…will no one end the show with another kiddo on the way? Will Sheldon & Amy win the Nobel Prize? Surely they will, right? Now that Leonard’s relationship with his mom is in as good a place as it can be, there’s no other parental relationship up in the air…except for Howard’s father. Will the series end without so much as a single visit? Or maybe a repeat visit from his surprise brother, who we’ve only seen and heard of that one episode? Ahhh! So much to think of and only an hour left…

Of course, then after the Young Sheldon finale, there’s the half-hour special, where we get a look back at the show, so if you’re a fan, you won’t want to miss it!

On tonight’s first episode, “The Change Constant,” Sheldon and Amy await big news.

Then on “The Stockholm Syndrome,” Bernadette and Wolowitz leave their kids for the first time; Penny and Leonard try to keep a secret; Sheldon and Amy stick together; and Koothrappali makes a new friend, as the gang travels together into an uncharted future.

Later tonight, on “Unraveling the Mystery: a Big Bang Farewell,” actors Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco host a retrospective look at the show, sharing backstage secrets, unforgettable clips, personal memories and favorite moments; features tours of the iconic sets.

Don’t miss the exciting and emotional 1-hour series finale starting at 8/7c and the 30-minute special at 9:31/8:31c, both on CBS.
 
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