Tuesday TV Touchbase: The Crown, Young Sheldon and more

 

The Crown 

So Andrea and I have started off on another season of The Crown with two new additions to the cast.  

Emma Corrin joins the Crown as Diana Spencer, a young ingenue, a bit shy but charming, bright as the proverbial button and sweet as all get out. She checks off all the boxes to be a perfect wife for Prince Charles. The royal family is rather rapturously in love with the young lady. 

Prince Charles himself is not. He likes her just fine but his heart still yearns for the now married Camilla. Still forces greater than of even a future king of England can resist are in motion and driving Charles and Diana towards matrimony whether either of them are ready for it or not. 

Also joining the Crown in season 4 is Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and what a piece of work this woman is. Perennially in a dull and sour disposition, Thatcher is unrelenting in her work which is to force political conservatism on the British government even in the face of political and social unrest. Thatcher has no patience for the antics of the royal family but her disdain is not just rooted in some kind of populist resistance to the egalitarian royals. Thatcher also lacks empathy or understanding of the working class.  Thatcher can't seem to see past her own conservative ideology.  

Queen Elizabeth and the royal family aren't exactly endearing themselves. As the queen gets older, she seems more isolated. Olivia Colman does her best to bring some spark and wit into an otherwise rigid and humorless role.  Prince Phillip is aging into a self righteous stick in the mud; Tobia Menzies take on Prince Phillip with his restrained clipped phrasing is a far cry from the more free wheeling days when Matt Smith was in the role. 

I'm hearing that the royal family is less tolerant of The Crown as the narrative has moved into more recent times. The family is not cast in a positive light with Prince Charles's characterization being regarded as particularly loathsome. 

Young Sheldon

The new season saw li'l Sheldon Cooper graduating from high school age 11. The graduation episode was originally intended for the finale of the previous season but was cut short due to coronavirus pandemic lockdown.  

The first episode ends with a special twist via the narration when older future Sheldon notes he has a son named Leonard. Now if you're thinking that it's sweet that Sheldon's son is named after his best friend, narrator Sheldon tells us that he wanted to name him Leonard Nimoy Cooper but Amy wouldn't let him.

Then Amy sounds off in the narration: "You're luck I let you name him Leonard!"  

As much as I enjoy this series, Young Sheldon does stuff that makes future Sheldon's behavior in Big Bang Theory problematic. Young Sheldon learns lessons in human behavior that adult Sheldon in BBT has clearly forgotten. 

Also in BBT, Sheldon would describe his father in less than glowing terms while in Young Sheldon, George Cooper has been a kind and supportive husband and father. Perhaps George takes a turn for the worse before he dies when Sheldon turns 14. Which is quite the dark and haunting sword of Damocles to be hanging over such a funny and charming show. 

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

Since the death of Alex Trebek, Andrea and I have been making a concerted effort to watch these last new episodes that Alex recorded before his passing. 

Occasionally I will get caught up in the game where I will get a hot streak where I know stuff or watch in awe as players answer correctly while I sit there on the sofa like a gape jawed Neanderthal wondering "how the hell did they know that?"  

Then I will remember that man hosting this show is quite literally a ghost, a flickering image of a life that has since passed from this earth. It is a dark and daunting knowledge to accept while also racing the players on the screen to a correct response and calculating wagers for the daily double. 

A Jeopardy viewer posted this image on Reddit where they paused Jeopardy right in the middle of a transition from one shot to another.

Kind of spooky.  I was able to accidentally replicate a ghost Alex on my TV screen as well.  

Meanwhile, I figure if Andrea and I are going act like old people and watch Wheel of Fortune every night, I might as well take a shot at making some money from it. Yes, I've signed up for the Wheel Watchers Club and I have a spin ID. Yes, I have a Wheel of Fortune Spin ID and I might as well admit I am a senior citizen. 

Supernatural 

I don't make a habit of writing about shows I do not actually watch but my daughter Randie does follow Supernatural and she recently watched the series finale of the long running CW show and has this insightful review of the episode:

"FUCK!" 

Actually, she is prepared to elaborate on that a bit more so I will give her some space to do so.

Before noon today, a bonus Tuesday TV Touchbase post will go live here on I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You as Randie gives you her take on the series finale of Supernatural. 

In my own next go-round with the Tuesday TV Touchbase next week, I will see where I am to date with the Mandalorian.  

Until next time, stay safe, remember to be good to one another and keep it down, will ya, I'm tryin' to watch TV here.