Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
December 31, 2021
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television black-ish, Kenan, That's My Jam, The Lost Daughter Leave a comment
The Lost Daughter (CREDIT: Netflix)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–The Lost Daughter (December 17 in Limited Theaters, December 31 on Netflix)
TV
–Kenan Season 2 Premiere (January 3 on NBC)
–That’s My Jam Timeslot Premiere (January 3 on NBC) – Music in service of a game show.
–black-ish Season 8 Premiere (January 4 on ABC) – Final Season Alert!
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
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.
October 16, 2020
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Podcasts, Television American Utopia, black-ish, Card Sharks, Connor Ratliff, David Byrne, Dead Eyes, Miley Cyrus, Podcasts, Roald Dahl, Robert Zemeckis, Supermarket Sweep, The Conners, The Goldbergs, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Witches, Tom Hanks, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Leave a comment
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (CREDIT: Netflix)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–The Trial of the Chicago 7 (October 16 on Netflix)
–The Witches (October 22 on HBO Max) – Bobby Zemeckis takes on Roald Dahl.
TV
–Card Sharks Season Premiere (October 18 on ABC)
–Supermarket Sweep Reboot Premiere (October 18 on ABC) – Host Leslie Jones sends the contestants on their grocery hunts.
–Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Season Premiere (October 18 on ABC)
–black-ish Season 7 Premiere (October 21 on ABC)
–The Conners Season 3 Premiere (October 21 on ABC)
–The Goldbergs Season 8 Premiere (October 21 on ABC)
Music on TV
-Miley Cyrus Backyard Sessions (October 16 on MTV)
Music on Stage as a Movie on TV
–David Byrne’s American Utopia (October 17 on HBO)
Podcasts
–Dead Eyes Season 2 (Premieres October 22) – Connor Ratliff is still wondering why Tom Hanks fired him from Band of Brothers.
October 2, 2020
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Podcasts, Television Adam Sandler, black-ish, Brandon Cronenberg, Daveed Diggs, Doctor Who, Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones, Ethan Hawke, Hubie Halloween, Matt Gourley, Paul Rust, Podcasts, Possessor, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Soulmates, The Blues, The Faceless Ones, The Good Lord Bird, Willam Shatner, With Gourley and Rust Leave a comment
Hubie Halloween (CREDIT: Scott Yamano/Netflix)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Possessor (Select Theaters) – Body horror from Brandon Cronenberg.
–Hubie Halloween (October 7 on Netflix) – Adam Sandler in a Halloween movie. Now give him some candy!
TV
–Saturday Night Live Season 46 Premiere (October 3 on NBC) – They’re back in Studio 8H!
–black-ish Election Special (October 4 on ABC)
–The Good Lord Bird Series Premiere (October 4 on Showtime) – Ethan Hawke as John Brown and Daveed Diggs as Frederick Douglass.
–Soulmates Series Premiere (October 5 on AMC)
–Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones Premiere (October 7 on BBC America)
Music
-William Shatner, The Blues
Podcasts
–With Gourley and Rust (October 2 on Patreon, October 9 on all other platforms) – Matt Gourley and Paul Rust talking horror movies.
August 14, 2020
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television black-ish, Lovecraft Country, Magic Camp, Podcasts, Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, The AP Bio Podcast Leave a comment
CREDIT: HBO
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Magic Camp (August 14 on Disney+) – Gillian Jacobs is in this.
–Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (August 18 On Demand)
TV
–black-ish, “Please, Baby, Please” (Now Streaming on Hulu) – An episode that was pulled from the schedule a couple of years ago has finally seen the light day.
–Lovecraft Country Series Premiere (August 16 on HBO)
Podcasts
–The AP Bio Podcast – A new podcast about one of my favorite NBC/Peacock sitcoms!
July 21, 2020
Awards Shows, Emmys, Television 2020 Emmys, American Housewife, Atypical, Baskets, Better Things, black-ish, Emmy Wish List, Emmys, GLOW, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Living with Yourself, mixed-ish, Never Have I Ever, Saturday Night Live, Schitt's Creek, Sex Education, Sherman's Showcase, The Conners, The Goldbergs, The Last O.G., The Righteous Gemstones, What We Do in the Shadows, Young Sheldon, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 3 Comments
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
The 2020 Emmy nominations will be announced on July 28. As per annual tradition, I have assembled a Wish List for as many categories as I have something to say about. There is no minimum or maximum number per category, nor is there any strict adherence to official Emmy rules. And of course, there is the necessary caveat that I have not seen everything. Even with much of the country shut down for the past few months, that’s impossible.
Yesterday I kicked off my Emmy Wish List coverage with plenty of Drama. Today it’s time to laugh along with the Comedies, and boy, what a year for laughter it was! At the top of my list are those wacky vampires (Vacky vampires? Wacky wampires? Vacky wampires?) of What We Do in the Shadows, which in its second season staked itself permanently in my heart. It’s my winner for Comedy Series and all but one of the acting categories. Too bad it doesn’t have a Supporting Actress, otherwise it would’ve been a clean sweep.
Matt Berry is at the top of the Lead Actor heap thanks almost entirely to the Jackie Dayton episode (which ought to also earn Mark Hamill a Guest Actor trophy). Meanwhile, Mark Proksch slays the Supporting Actor Field thanks to Colin Robinson taking full advantage of his promotion. And Natasia Demetriou is the #1 Lead Actress because Nadja is awesome in every episode.
As for the Supporting ladies, I’ve got a little bit of everything, and ultimately it just felt right to go with the representative of the oldest show on my ballot as the winner.
Some other notables: Never Have I Ever and mixed-ish make the strongest showings of freshman series, Sex Education switches its category placement from Drama to Comedy (and remains worthy of praise), and I’m currently only on Season 2 of Schitt’s Creek, but I’m sure it’s just as good in its final season.
KEY:
Bold=My winner
!( )!=I haven’t caught up to the current season of this show, but I still wanted to recognize it.
Comedy Series
Atypical
Baskets
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Mixed-ish
Never Have I Ever
Sex Education
!(Schitt’s Creek)!
What We Do in the Shadows
January 4, 2020
Best of 2019, Best of TV 2019, Television American Dad!, American Housewife, AP Bio, Barry, Baskets, Best of 2019, Better Things, Big Mouth, black-ish, Bob's Burgers, Bojack Horseman, Broad City, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Documentary Now!, Fleabag, Fosse/Verdon, GLOW, I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jane the Virgin, Jeopardy!, Joe Pera Talks with You, Last Week Tonight, Legion, Living with Yourself, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., mixed-ish, Momma Named Me Sheriff, Mr. Robot, Pose, Rick and Morty, Russian Doll, Sex Education, Sherman's Showcase, Silicon Valley, Speechless, Superstore, The Conners, The Goldbergs, The Good Place, The Kids Are Alright, The Last O.G., The Mandalorian, The Masked Singer, The Orville, The Other Two, The Unicorn, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Undone, Watchmen, What Just Happened??!, What We Do in the Shadows, You're the Worst, Young Sheldon 2 Comments
CREDIT (Clockwise from Top Left): Amazon; Disney; Pamela Littky/FOX; Rhys Thomas/IFC
Under the known laws of physics, it is currently impossible to watch every TV show (or even just every good show) airing new episodes in a given year. But for those of us who treat televisual consumption as a transcendent pursuit, we do our best to fit in as many programs as possible, which means that there are more than ten or even twenty shows worth recognizing in an annual best-of list. So this year, I decided to rank as many shows as I thought were worthy of recognition and provide blurbs for the ones where I really needed to say something.
September 20, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television Ad Astra, Between Two Ferns, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, black-ish, Brittany Howard, Crank Yankers, Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Disenchantment, Emmys, Evil, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jaime, Loro, mixed-ish, Schooled, Single Parents, South Park, Superstore, The Conners, The Goldbergs, The Good Place, The Masked Singer, The Unicorn, Young Sheldon Leave a comment
CREDIT: Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Ad Astra (Theatrically Nationwide) – Dad Astra.
–Between Two Ferns: The Movie (Streaming on Netflix)
–Loro (Limited Theatrically) – Bunga bunga!
TV
It’s that time of year again!
–Disenchantment Season 1, Part 2 (September 20 on Netflix)
-Creative Arts Emmy Awards (September 21 on FXX)
-71st Primetime Emmy Awards (September 22 on FOX)
–The Conners Season 2 Premiere (September 24 on ABC)
–black-ish Season 6 Premiere (September 24 on ABC)
–mixed-ish Series Premiere (September 24 on ABC)
–The Masked Singer Season 2 Premiere (September 25 on ABC)
–The Goldbergs Season 7 Premiere (September 25 on ABC)
–Schooled Season 2 Premiere (September 25 on ABC)
–Single Parents Season 2 Premiere (September 25 on ABC)
–It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 14 Premiere (September 25 on FXX)
–South Park Season 22 Premiere (September 25 on Comedy Central)
–Crank Yankers Season 5 Premiere (September 25 on Comedy Central)
–Superstore Season 5 Premiere (September 26 on NBC)
–Young Sheldon Season 3 Premiere (September 26 on CBS)
–The Good Place Season 4 Premiere (September 26 on NBC)
–The Unicorn Series Premiere (September 26 on CBS)
–Evil Series Premiere (September 26 on CBS)
Music
-Brittany Howard, Jaime
November 13, 2016
Television, What Won TV? Better Things, black-ish, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Dave Chappelle, Jeopardy!, Leslie X Kyle, People of Earth, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Westworld Leave a comment
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – Westworld
Monday – Thanks for all the empathy, People of Earth.
Tuesday – Jeopardy!
Wednesday – black-ish
Thursday – Better Things
Friday – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Saturday – SNL, thanks to Dave Chappelle talking and Leslie and Kyle loving
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