July 6, 2022
jmunney
Awards Shows, Emmys, Television
Better Call Saul, Evil, RIverdale, Severance, Succession, The Good Fight, Undone, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
CREDIT: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Fun (or Frightening?) Fact: this year’s Emmy ballot includes nearly 3000 performers. We’ve all known for several years now just how overwhelming television has become, but somehow it still had room to launch into another level. So for my personal wish list, I decided not to think about it too hard. I’ll just include however many or however few selections per category I’d like to. I’ve probably forgotten some worthy contenders, but I won’t stress about it too much. We’ll find out what the TV Academy thinks when the nominations are announced on July 12!
Severance and Winning Time are the big-time rookies in my book, but Better Call Saul still needs plenty of love! Especially Patrick Fabian in his unforgettably [SPOILER] outing as Howard Hamlin. Speaking of shows with Bob Odenkirk, Undone is in the Animation field on the ballot, but it belongs in Drama. “No more Drama”? More like plenty of Drama!
KEY:
Bold=My winner
*=I have placed this nominee in a different category than the Emmy ballot.
**=Not on the Emmy ballot
Drama Series
Better Call Saul
Evil
The Good Fight
Riverdale
Severance
Succession
Undone*
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
More
January 27, 2022
jmunney
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
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.”
More
January 26, 2022
jmunney
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
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:
More
November 12, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Belfast, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Courtney Barnett, Damon Albarn, Gov't Mule, Heavy Load Blues, Julia, RIverdale, Snoopy in Space, The Nearer the Fountain More Pure the Stream Flows, The Shrink Next Door, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Things Take Time Take Time
The Shrink Next Door (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.
Movies
–Belfast (Theaters) – This takes place in Belfast.
–Clifford the Big Red Dog (Theaters and Paramount+) – I love dogs.
–Julia (Theaters) – Documentary about Julia Child.
TV
–The Shrink Next Door Series Premiere (November 12 on Apple TV+) – Starring Will Ferrell and newly minted Sexiest Man Alive Paul Rudd.
–Snoopy in Space Season 2 (November 12 on Apple TV+)
–The World According to Jeff Goldblum Season 2 Premiere (November 12 on Disney+)
–Riverdale Season 6 Premiere (November 16 on The CW)
Music
-Damon Albarn, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
-Courtney Barnett, Things Take Time, Take Time
-Gov’t Mule, Heavy Load Blues
July 7, 2021
jmunney
Awards Shows, Emmys, Television
2021 Emmys, Big Shot, Emmys, His Dark Materials, Lovecraft Country, Perry Mason, Pose, RIverdale, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Handmaid's Tale, The Mandalorian, Utopia
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. Today, it’s Drama’s turn.
My Drama Wish List this year is a tale of two shows whose two most recent seasons were nearly two years apart. But weirdly enough, they were both eligible last year, and they’re both once again eligible this year. One is resurgent, while the other is just as excellent as ever. I’m of course talking about The Handmaid’s Tale and Pose. The former was nowhere to be seen on my 2020 Wish List, while the latter was one of my favorites last time and is even more so this time, as it’s my top choice in Drama Series and ALL the main acting categories. (It’s also striking up plenty of heat in the Guest fields.)
I’d also like to send some love to Disney+’s winning basketball series Big Shot. Who knew that John Stamos coaching high school girls would be the cure for what ails us?! The more you know…
KEY:
Bold=My winner
Drama Series
Big Shot
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Mandalorian
Pose
More
January 15, 2021
jmunney
Entertainment To-Do List, Television
Disenchantment, grown-ish, Nancy Drew, RIverdale, WandaVision
WandaVision (CREDIT: Marvel Entertainment/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
–Disenchantment Part 3 (January 15 on Netflix)
–WandaVision (January 15 on Disney+) – The MCU heads to the burbs.
–Nancy Drew Season 2 Premiere (January 20 on The CW)
–Riverdale Season 5 Premiere (January 20 on The CW)
–grown-ish Season 3 Midseason Premiere (January 21 on Freeform)
January 4, 2021
jmunney
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
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.
More
January 17, 2020
jmunney
Best of 2019, Best of TV 2019, Television
American Dad!, Barry, Best of 2019, Documentary Now!, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, Legion, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., mixed-ish, Momma Named Me Sheriff, Mr. Robot, Pose, RIverdale, South Park, The Other Two, The Twilight Zone, Watchmen
CREDIT: TBS
If you were cryogenically frozen in suspended animation for all of 2019 and want to get caught up on all the great TV you missed as efficiently as possible, well boy, do I have some suggestions for you…
1. American Dad!, “Rabbit Ears”
2. Watchmen, “A God Walks Into Abar”
3. South Park, “Band in China”
4. Barry, “ronny/lily”
5. Mr. Robot, “whoami”
6. Documentary Now!, “Batshit Valley”
7. The Other Two, “Chase Drops His First Album”
8. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “The Gang Chokes”
9. The Twilight Zone, “Blurryman”
10. Pose, “Never Knew Love Like This Before”
11. The Twilight Zone, “Replay”
12. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Thunder Gun 4: Maximum Cool”
13. American Dad!, “Top of the Steve”
14. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “The Gang Texts”
15. Momma Named Me Sheriff, “TV”
16. John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
17. Riverdale, “Chapter Sixty-Five: In Treatment”
18. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Inescapable”
19. mixed-ish, “Let Your Hair Down”
20. Legion, “Chapter 25”
October 4, 2019
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television
Big Mouth, Joker, Lucy in the Sky, Mr. Robot, Nancy Drew, Pain and Glory, RIverdale
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
–Joker (Theatrically Nationwide) – Worth checking out to have your own reaction.
–Lucy in the Sky (Limited Theatrically) – Lucy! I’m home, in space!
–Pain and Glory (Limited Theatrically)
TV
–Big Mouth Season 3 (October 4 on Netflix)
–Mr. Robot Season 4 Premiere (October 6 on USA) – The final season unfolds over Christmas.
–Riverdale Season 4 Premiere (October 9 on The CW)
–Nancy Drew Series Premiere (October 9 on The CW)
May 14, 2017
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Better Call Saul, Doctor Who, Fargo, Last Week Tonight, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., RIverdale, RuPaul's Drag Race
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 – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Better Call Saul finally laid it all out there.
Tuesday – Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Wednesday – Fargo is hot on the trail.
Thursday – Riverdale is just not letting up.
Friday – RuPaul’s Drag Race
Saturday – Doctor Who
Older Entries
Jmunney's Blog 