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Tuesday TV Touchbase
Tuesday TV Touchbase
Tuesday TV Touchbase
Tuesday TV Touchbase
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Young Sheldon
The 3rd season reached it's end for Young Sheldon. Per the producers, the end of the season was not supposed to really be the end of the season. The cast was at work for two days on what was going to be the season finale when the shutdown orders came down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
But the episode that did wind up closing out the season was still an effective capper to the season. Sheldon finds out his mother Mary has been receiving offers from various universities for Sheldon to go to school. This is news to both Sheldon and to his dad. Apparently Mary didn't keep George in the loop on this.
Since Big Bang Theory has established that Sheldon Cooper went to college at age 11, it was getting on time to do that.
George may not always understand Sheldon or this genius but he understands the boy has unique and significant skills. As a high school football coach, he has insights on how to approach the decisions about going to college, including
meeting potential parental objections. In an inspired bit, George puts his football coach skills to work to help Sheldon make his case to convince Mary to let him go to college.
The primary objection is that while Sheldon may be a super genius, he is still a young boy. Sheldon concedes the point that going to college out of state is not practical. George and Sheldon shoot a video which presents testimonials from teachers, the principal and Professor Sturgis about Sheldon's phenomenal intelligence and how college will best serve his gifts. In deference to not moving away from home, Sheldon is prepared to attend East Texas Tech.
Mary is moved by the presentation and concedes that her little boy is going to college.
Also in the episode, George Jr and MeeMaw egg Dale's sporting goods store. Dale was being a jackass and had it coming. My favorite character on Young Sheldon is his MeeMaw, played by Annie Potts. Annie's MeeMaw is funny, supportive and will not take anyone's crap.
But the episode that did wind up closing out the season was still an effective capper to the season. Sheldon finds out his mother Mary has been receiving offers from various universities for Sheldon to go to school. This is news to both Sheldon and to his dad. Apparently Mary didn't keep George in the loop on this.
Since Big Bang Theory has established that Sheldon Cooper went to college at age 11, it was getting on time to do that.
George may not always understand Sheldon or this genius but he understands the boy has unique and significant skills. As a high school football coach, he has insights on how to approach the decisions about going to college, including
meeting potential parental objections. In an inspired bit, George puts his football coach skills to work to help Sheldon make his case to convince Mary to let him go to college.
The primary objection is that while Sheldon may be a super genius, he is still a young boy. Sheldon concedes the point that going to college out of state is not practical. George and Sheldon shoot a video which presents testimonials from teachers, the principal and Professor Sturgis about Sheldon's phenomenal intelligence and how college will best serve his gifts. In deference to not moving away from home, Sheldon is prepared to attend East Texas Tech.
Mary is moved by the presentation and concedes that her little boy is going to college.
Also in the episode, George Jr and MeeMaw egg Dale's sporting goods store. Dale was being a jackass and had it coming. My favorite character on Young Sheldon is his MeeMaw, played by Annie Potts. Annie's MeeMaw is funny, supportive and will not take anyone's crap.
Tokyo Girl
I finished off this series on Amazon Prime last week. It is an 11 episode Japanese series about a woman named Aya Saito who leaves her small town of Akito behind for the high stakes, sophisticated and glamour life in Tokyo. Over the course of the 11 episodes, we follow Aya from age 18 to age 45. Aya's dreams and goals are viewed without judgement within the narrative; that's left to the viewer.
Sometimes Aya's actions in pursuit of her desired lifestyle in Tokyo are positive and affirming. Other times, her actions make her seem petty or shallow. The portrait of Aya Saito created over 11 episodes and a quarter century of her life is complex and nuanced. When the series ends, Aya has acheived at age 45 what she set out to do when she was 18, to be come a successful woman admired by other women. This achievement has not come without cost. Opportunities for love and for starting a family have been lost, sometimes through no fault of her own and other times through her own choices.
The aesthic qualities of Tokyo Girl are remarkable. A lot of scenes take place at night with Tokyo presented as a glittering jewel in the darkness. Posh restaurants are lit with a warm golden glow while diners have a white florescent look. The sound of the series is remarkably restrained, very quiet. There are moments we contemplate Aya without dialogue or music, just the ambient sound of wind or the bubbling of a nearby river or the distant noise of traffic.
Now that I've finished this series, I find I miss Aya.
Now that I've finished this series, I find I miss Aya.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
OK, I seem to have a type when it comes to watching shows on Amazon Prime. Here's another show about a woman facing life on her own.
But unlike Aya Saito in Tokyo Girl with her eye on a ball she has her sites on since her childhood, Midge Maisel is thrown into a world and a life she didn't seek or necessarily want. When her husband, a wanna be comedian of limited talent, leaves her for another woman, Midge finds herself behind the mike at a night club wowing the patrons with a wickedly funny routine about her life.
It is a routine that is also wickedly profane and since this show is set in the 1950s, the arbiters of morality keep having her arrested.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is funny and heartbreaking, drawing you into its thoroughly realized world. Rachel Brosnahan is astonishingly good as Midge Maisel with her fast patter and even quicker wit. As good as Rachel is, Alex Bortstein keeps threatening to steal the show as Suzie, a brash woman whose stocky build and decidedly non feminine wardrobe keeps being mistaken for a man.
I'm about half way through season 1 and I can see why this show has won some many awards and accolades. I am having a lot of fun watching this show.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The original BBC TV series is on Amazon Prime as well. The series stars Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, David Dixon as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson as Trillian and Stephen Moore as the voice of Marvin. The voice of the guide is by Peter Jones.
This 1981 show has a look and feel (and probably budget) of early 1980s Doctor Who. I watched this back in the day when I was first getting into my Doctor Who fix back in college. I'm enjoying this revisit. David Dixon who plays Ford Prerfect would've been a perfect Doctor for Doctor Who.
Killing Eve
I should be mad they killed Niko but hell, I'm surprised he didn't die in Season 1.
Poor Niko has not had a good run, has he? He just wanted to be a good husband to Eve but Eve had other plans.
More about this season of Killing Eve next week along with Supergirl and Batwoman.
The season finale for Outander was this past Sunday. I will cover this outside the Tuesday TV Touchbase forum in a separate post that will go live later today.
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