Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
January 27, 2022
Best of 2021, Best of TV 2021, Television American Dad!, Best of 2021, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Evil, How to with John Wilson, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Nickelodeon football, Only Murders in the Building, PEN15, Pose, Resident Alien, Rick and Morty, RIverdale, Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, Search Party, Solar Opposites, Succession, The Good Fight, The Other Two, The Sex Lives of College Girls, WandaVision, What We Do in the Shadows Leave a comment
CREDIT: HBO
I probably watched somewhere between 1000 and 2000 episodes of TV in the past year. I don’t keep track of this information too specifically, so it’s hard to say for sure, but going by an estimate of at least 3 episodes per day, it must be somewhere within that range (if not higher). Anyway, these are the episodes out of that bunch that made enough of an impression on me to make me go, “Yeah, they nailed it.”
January 26, 2022
Best of 2021, Best of TV 2021, Television A Black Lady Sketch Show, A.P. Bio, American Crime Story, American Dad!, American Housewife, Animaniacs, Atypical, Best of 2021, Big Mouth, Big Shot, Bob's Burgers, Chad, Chucky, College Bowl, Conan, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dickinson, Earth to Ned, Evil, Fantasy Island, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Ghosts, History of Swear Words, Holey Moley, Home Economics, How to with John Wilson, I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, Impeachment: American Crime Story, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jeopardy!, Joe Pera Talks with You, Last Week Tonight, MacGruber, March Madness, Miracle Workers, Never Have I Ever, Only Murders in the Building, PEN15, Physical, Pose, reservation dogs, Resident Alien, Rick and Morty, RIverdale, Rugrats, RuPaul's Drag Race, Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, Saved by the Bell, Search Party, Sex Education, Solar Opposites, Succession, Superman & Lois, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Beatles: Get Back, The Chase, The Conners, The Good Fight, The Handmaid's Tale, The Kids Tonight Show, The Masked Singer, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, The Other Two, The Problem with Jon Stewart, The Sex Lives of College Girls, The Shrink Next Door, The Wonder Years, To Tell the Truth, Tuca & Bertie, Ultra City Smiths, WandaVision, Wellington Paranormal, What We Do in the Shadows, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Y: The Last Man, Young Sheldon, Ziwe, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 1 Comment
CREDIT (Clockwise from Top Left): Screenshot, Netflix, Screenshot, Screenshot
For the Year of Our Screens 2021, my list includes all the shows that I would recommend to my fellow viewers as “worth watching.” So that’s 77 shows! There’s a lot of TV nowadays, and a lot of it’s also pretty good.
I utilized a self-imposed rule in which I had to watch at least 50% of a show’s 2021 output for it to be eligible. However, there were some noteworthy shows that I watched less than 50% of, so I’ve spotlighted those in an honorable mention section:
January 21, 2022
Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television American Dad!, Astrid & Lilly Save the World, Aurora, Fraggle Rock, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, grown-ish, Night Call, Resident Alien, The Gods We Can Touch, Years & Years Leave a comment
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (CREDIT: Apple TV+)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
–Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Series Premiere (January 21 on Apple TV+)
–American Dad! Season 19 Premiere (January 24 on TBS)
–Astrid & Lilly Save the World Series Premiere (January 26 on Syfy) – This looks a little kooky, but I’m gonna give it a shot.
–Resident Alien Season 2 Premiere (January 26 on Syfy) – One of the best new shows of 2021 is back!
–grown-ish Season 4 Part 2 Premiere (January 27 on Freeform)
Music
-Aurora, The Gods We Can Touch – I’ve become interested in this Norwegian singer after she teamed up with the Chemical Brothers.
-Years & Years, Night Call
July 6, 2021
Awards Shows, Emmys, Television 2021 Emmys, A.P. Bio, American Dad!, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun, B Positive, Big Mouth, black-ish, Chad, Dickinson, Emmys, mixed-ish, Mr. Mayor, PEN15, Resident Alien, Rutherford Falls, Saved by the Bell, Search Party, Solar Opposites, Staged, Ted Lasso, That Damn Michael Che, The Conners, The Eric Andre Show, The Unicorn, Young Sheldon Leave a comment
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot
It’s that time again! The 2021 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 13, which means I’ve got a Wish List for the nommy noms I’d most like to see! In case you’re wondering, I haven’t held myself to any minimum or maximum number of entrants per category, nor do I strictly adhere to official Emmy rules. (I’ve included explanations for my deviations.) And of course, I must mention that I haven’t seen everything, so there are probably some worthy considerations I may have missed. First up: Comedy and Animation.
Almost every single one of my Comedy Series preferences from last year is not eligible this year, whether because of series finales or longer-than-average breaks in between successive seasons. Luckily we have a plethora of streaming services to fill the gaps, and plenty of them are represented here. We’ve got Hulu! We’ve got Peacock! We’ve got Apple TV+! We’ve even got that dang HBO Max. There’s also some room for basic cable in the form of Syfy’s Resident Alien. And it looks like for the first time since I’ve been making Emmy Wish Lists, there is no broadcast network series making my cut (although one of my choices began as an NBC show and another is a reboot of an NBC show).
In the acting categories, it’s an absolute embarrassment of riches in the Lead Actress category, with every one of the ladies I’ve selected giving the performances they were born to play. That’s also true of Alan Tudyk, who’s my easy winner in the Lead Actor field. (He’s an alien … pretending to be a human! Can you imagine?!) Over in Supporting, it’s a mix of newbies and usual suspects, with plenty of sitcoms really making full use of their deep ensembles these days.
KEY:
Bold=My winner
*=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
Comedy Series
A.P. Bio
Dickinson
Pen15
Resident Alien
Saved by the Bell
Search Party
April 16, 2021
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television American Dad!, Big Shot, Greta Thunberg, Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World, Greta van Fleet, Independent Spirit Awards, John Stamos, Let the Bad Times Roll, Melissa Villasenor, The Battle at Garden's Gate, The Offspring Leave a comment
Big Shot (CREDIT: Disney Plus/YouTube Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
–Big Shot Series Premiere (April 16 on Disney+) – John Stamos coaches girls basketball.
–American Dad! Season 18 Premiere (April 19 on TBS)
–Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World (April 22 on PBS)
-36th Independent Spirit Awards (April 22 on IFC) – Hosted by funny lady Melissa Villaseñor!
Music
-Greta Van Fleet, The Battle at Garden’s Gate
-The Offspring, Let the Bad Times Roll
January 6, 2021
Best of 2020, Best of TV 2020, Television A.P. Bio, American Dad!, Animaniacs, Beef House, Best of 2020, Better Call Saul, Big Mouth, Dispatches From Elsewhere, How to with John Wilson, Joe Pera Talks with You, Killing Eve, Middleditch & Schwartz, Never Have I Ever, PEN15, Rick and Morty, Search Party, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Mandalorian, What We Do in the Shadows, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Leave a comment
(CREDIT: FX/YouTube Screenshot)
When making Best Episode lists, some TV critics limit themselves to one entry per show, but I never operate by that self-imposition, as certain shows are just masterful when crafting a single hour or half-hour (or whatever runtime they feel like using), and that ought to be reflected in the ledger. So you’ll find that several shows have wound up more than once in this list, and those tended to be the ones that also fared the best on my Best Shows of 2020 list. You’ll also find at least one program that didn’t make my Best Shows list, as it’s possible to have one excellent outing within an otherwise disappointing season. So forthwith, if someone who missed all TV in 2020 asked me for a refresher, here is where I would direct them:
January 4, 2021
Best of 2020, Best of TV 2020, Television A.P. Bio, American Dad!, American Housewife, Animaniacs, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun, B Positive, Beef House, Best of 2020, Better Call Saul, Better Things, Big Mouth, black-ish, Bob's Burgers, Bojack Horseman, Devs, Dicktown, Dispatches From Elsewhere, Earth to Ned, Fargo, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, grown-ish, His Dark Materials, Holey Moley, How to with John Wilson, Jeopardy!, Joe Pera Talks with You, Last Week Tonight, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Match Game, McMillion$, Mike Tyson Mysteries, mixed-ish, Mrs. America, Muppets Now, Nancy Drew, Never Have I Ever, Normal People, PEN15, Rick and Morty, RIverdale, RuPaul's Drag Race, Saved by the Bell, Search Party, Sex Education, Solar Opposites, Stargirl, Superstore, The Conners, The Eric Andre Show, The Goldbergs, The Good Fight, The Good Lord Bird, The Last Dance, The Last O.G., The Mandalorian, The Masked Singer, The New Pope, The Plot Against America, The Twilight Zone, The Unicorn, Three Busy Debras, Unorthodox, What We Do in the Shadows, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Wilmore, Young Sheldon, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 2 Comments
Clockwise from Top Left: What We Do in the Shadows, Never Have I Ever, Better Call Saul, How To with John Wilson (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots)
Last year, I decided to rank as many TV shows as I felt like recognizing in my year-end list, and that worked out so well that I decided to do it again for 2020. So welcome to my ranking of the 67 Best TV Shows of 2020! Not every show is accompanied by a blurb, just the ones that I felt like I really needed to say something about.
I worked with a self-imposed rule that I had to have watched at least 50% of a show’s 2020 output for it to be eligible, but there were some shows that I’ve only just begun to watch that I wanted to recognize as well, so they’ve got their own Honorable Mention section. And there were also some shows that aired relatively few episodes in 2020 to the point that I didn’t think they should be eligible either, so they’ve also got an Honorable Mention section. And then there’s one more show that’s managed to establish its very own Honorable Mention section, and that’s where we start.
December 18, 2020
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television Alex Trebek, American Dad!, Ariana Grande, Chadwick Boseman, Evermore, I Love You Daddy, Jeopardy!, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, McCartney III, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Viola Davis Leave a comment
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (December 18 on Netflix) – Viola Davis plays the title role alongside Chadwick in his final role.
TV
–American Dad! Holiday Episode (December 21 on TBS)
–Jeopardy!: “Around the World with Alex” (December 21-January 1, check local listings) – 2 weeks of classic episodes of Alex presenting clues from across the globe.
Music
-Paul McCartney, McCartney III – Macca making more music.
-Taylor Swift, Evermore – This came out last week. Taylor keeps sneaking up on us with surprise releases.
Music Documentary
–Excuse Me, I Love You (December 21 on Netflix) – Ariana Grande in concert, hurray!
September 11, 2020
Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television American Dad!, American Head, Archer, Creative Arts Emmys, Drew Barrymore, Emmys, Jeopardy!, The Drew Barrymore Show, The Flaming Lips Leave a comment
Archer Season 11 (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
–Jeopardy! Season 37 Premiere (September 14, check local listings)
–American Dad! 300th Episode (September 14 on TBS)
–The Drew Barrymore Show Series Premiere – Everybody loves Drew!
–Archer Season 11 Premiere (September 16 on FXX) – Returning to the core premise after several seasons afield.
-Creative Arts Emmys Days 1-4 (Streaming September 14-17 on Emmys.com)
Music
-The Flaming Lips, American Head
April 10, 2020
Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Podcasts, Sports, Television American Dad!, Cate Blanchett, George St. Geegland, Gil Faizon, Insecure, Joel McHale, John Mulaney, Ken Jeong, Mrs. America, NBA Horse Challenge, Nick Kroll, Oh Hello, Oh Hello the P'dcast, Saturday Night Live, SNL, SNL At Home, The Darkest Timeline, The Darkest Timeline podcast, The New Abnormal, The Strokes, What We Do in the Shadows Leave a comment
CREDIT: FX/YouTube Screenshot
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
–SNL at Home (April 11 on NBC) – A remotely produced new episode of Saturday Night Live.
–Insecure Season 4 Premiere (April 12 on HBO)
–Killing Eve Season 3 Premiere (April on AMC and BBC America)
-NBA HORSE Challenge (April 12 on ESPN)
–American Dad! Season 17 Premiere (April 13 on TBS) – Still one of the most consistent shows on the air!
–Mrs. America Series Premiere (April 15 on Hulu) – Starring Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly.
–What We Do in the Shadows Season 2 Premiere (April 15 on FX)
Music
-The Strokes, The New Abnormal
Podcasts
A couple of great-so-far podcasts have recently launched:
–The Darkest Timeline – Community co-stars Joel McHale and Ken Jeong answer your questions.
–Oh, Hello: the P’dcast – Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland have discovered a new medium in which to deliver their tuna.
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