Tuesday TV Touchbase: Hudson & Rex and Late Nite With Seth Meyers

And we’re back! 

Well, kinda/sorta.

I’m still on a blog break but I thought I would poke my head in a minute to look around.  

Normally the Tuesday TV Touchbase is where on Tuesday I touch base on what I’m watching on TV.  

Since things are a bit weird on the blog this week, on this Tuesday I will touch base on what I’m NOT watching on TV.

TUESDAY 
TV
TOUCHBASE

 

Hudson & Rex

After cycling through seasons 1 through 7 repeatedly, Up TV recently began airing episodes from season 8 of Hudson & Rex. 

Getting new episodes of a show we like would normally be cause for celebration.

But Andrea and I will not be watching season 8 of Hudson & Rex.

Hudson & Rex is a series about a crime fighting police dog named Rex and his emotional support human, Charlie Hudson, in the Canadian city of St. John’s, Newfoundland. 

Andrea and I came to Hudson & Rex for the dog but we wound up staying for Charlie, played by John Reardon. 

John Reardon has the most beautiful, piercing eyes.  And my wife Andrea agrees with me.  

Anyway, as of season 7, John Reardon had to step away from the show to address a diagnosis of cancer.  While John took time out to go through treatment, Charlie was written out as going to Mexico to save his brother from some trouble he gotten into.

Back in St. John’s, the supporting cast of Sarah, Jesse and Joe took up the slack of being Rex’s emotional support human and taking care of the paperwork after Rex solved the week’s major crime.

Those episodes were weird seeing people like Sarah saying lines you know were originally written for Charlie.  But Andrea and I were OK as long as we knew this was just temporary and Hudson and Rex would be together again.

But…

John Reardon’s treatment for cancer went well and he was ready to return to work.

The producers of Hudson & Rex decided to go in a different direction.

At the end of season 7, the gang in St. John’s Major Crimes Unit hear that Charlie Hudson was shot in Mexico and he fell in a river, his body washed away. Charlie is missing, presumed dead.

So the show brings in actor Luke Roberts as Mark Hudson to be Rex’s new emotional support human for season 8.

To quote Rocky from Project Hail Mary,  “Rocky hate Mark.” 

There are stories and videos online that identify Mark as Charlie’s brother. No, he is not.  He just happens to have the last name of Hudson. 

While Charlie just sort of fell into the role of being Rex’s emotional support human, Mark is actually a trained K9 police officer so he’ll have a different dynamic in his relationship with Rex yadda yadda yadda I really don’t care.

Andrea and I are giving season 8 of Hudson & Rex a miss.

After season 8 aired in Canada to negative fan backlash and declining ratings, the producers of Hudson & Rex got smart and fished Charlie Hudson out of that Mexican river. 

John Reardon and his most beautiful, piercing eyes will return for season 9 this fall in Canada.  Those episodes will not hit American television until next year. 

Late Nite With Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers and his A Closer Look segments are a much appreciated source of political humor. 

So why are we NOT watching? 

‘Cause it ain’t there too be watched!

Late Nite With Seth Meyers is on a hiatus.  

It is not uncommon for the show to go into reruns for awhile as Seth and his family take a vacation in and around Labor Day.  But this break is longer than it has been in the past.

This hiatus for Late Nite With Seth Meyers began August 1st and the show will not return for new episodes until September 21st. 

OMG! What if Donald Trump or his cronies do something stupid and/or illegal?!?!  

Like  sign an executive order to fuck with a safe and proven regimen of vaccines that will only make life worse for everbody?

Click here for more about that.

Who’s gonna expose and mock shit like that?!?!? 

51 days gone?!?! What are you doing to us, Seth Meyers?

Next week I’m back with a Tuesday TV Touchbase on shows I am actually currently watching.  

• The Librarians: The Next Chapter
• Batman: Caped Crusader
• Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be covered in my Star Trekking posts.

As for the blog, we’re still in low content mode until Saturday when I’ll be back with a new Movie Time post. 

See y'all on Saturday!

Remember to be good to one another.   

Bananas For Star Trek

 Normally when you see this...

...you know it's time for my Star Trekking post.

But when you see this....

...you know it's a me a begging off a doing a post.

So here's the deal, Sparky! 

Yes, I did watch "Human Best Friend", the 3rd episode of season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

But if you wanna read about it, I'm gonna let Keith R.A. DeCandido do the heavy lifting on this and have you click here.

SPOILER: he didn't like it.  To be honest,I'm not sure I did either.

Tomorrow is normally the weekly political post about whatever goddam thing Donald Trump did this week that pissed me off to write a blog post about it.

I'm going to turn that job over to Dave Columbo. Click on the link to his You Tube page to look for his most recent edition of "The Week In Trump".  

Gee! How long is this banana break?

I'm eyeballing the Tuesday TV Touchbase as I really want to write about the return of The Librarians: The Next Chapter.

Just in case I don't, go to here for a link to a Season 2 trailer.

I have enjoyed what I've seen so far.  

What pray tell is going on here with the blog?

As I write this, I'm feeling a bit tired and unfocused while dealing with some distractions here at the Fortress of Ineptitude. 

So I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You is going to be in a bit of a holding pattern for a day or two or.... I'm not sure.

I am sure it'll all be fine and I'll be back to blathering about nonsense and shenanigans in short order.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.  

Movie Time: Nimona

While visiting the Fortress of Ineptitude last week, son Dean and friend Jan introduced Andrea and I to an animated movie we had never heard of before.

So let's get a blog post out of it.

It's... Movie Time! 

From 2023, the movie is Nimona, an animated science fantasy action-adventure film with a very distinctive style and vibe.

This film takes on some serious world building, creating an almalgam of medieval themes, futuristic tech and present day commercialism and pop culture.  

A long,long time ago....

A legendary heroine known as Gloreth vanquished a "Great Black Monster" and enclosed the kingdom with a high wall to protect it from other such monstorious threats.  

A thousand years gone, the Institute for Elite Knights continue to protect the kingdom and it's citizens.   

Queen Valerin seeks to induct Ballister Boldheart into this society of knights.  A decision not everyone is on board with as Ballister is the first commoner to receive this honor.

Ambrosius Goldenloin, a fellow knight and Ballister's boyfriend, is on his side but that's about it. 

During a ceremony wherein Ballister is to be fully inducted as a knight, his sword shoots out a laser blast killing the Queen. 

It's Ambrosius who leaps into action to disarm Ballister.

Literally.

Ambrosius cuts off Ballister's arm. 

It's not enough to stop Ballister from escaping.

But even as Ballister cobbles together a mechanical arm to replace his missing limb, it's hard to stay hidden and find proof he was framed.

The entire kingdom hates him and has labeled him a villain.

Including Nimona.

Hey, that's who the movie is named after.

OK, we've gone through a lot to get to the introduction of our titular protagonist, you might forget the movie is called Nimona and why it's called that. 

Well, she's here now. Who the hell is Nimona?

Nimona is a fast talking, impulsive young woman with shape shifting powers and a propensity for creating chaos.

She's decided every super villian needs a sidekick and she's gonna be one for Ballister.

Ballister's insistence he is not a villain, just misunderstood and wrongly accused does little to deter Nimona who plants herself emphatically next to Ballister's side. 

Ballister didn't ask for this but he now as... well, a puppy.

As I noted earlier this week,  Rosie the dog has a new canine sister, a puppy named London.  London is cute and loveable.  She is also just bursting with energy and that explodes in bursts of hyperkinetic impulsiveness. 

Nimona is like that.

And like London's own sad origin (lost and abandoned until Dean and Jan found her), we will discover Nimona's boisterous confidence belies a somber backstory.

Ballister's not the only one in this story who is misunderstood and wrongly accused.   

As Ballister and Nimona buzz through the city looking for clues and evidence to show Ballister was framed for the murder of the queen, we get glimpses into Nimona's psyche and her past.

Nimona as a young girl befriends another young girl who lives in a rustic village.  The two girls become fast friends, a status undaunted by the revelation of Nimona's shape shifting powers.

Until Nimona's abilities are exposed to the villagers who recoil in fear and suspicion and urge Nimona's friend to do the same.

Nimona's friend is Gloreth who history lauds as the one who saved the kingdom from the Great Black Monster.

The Great Black Monster otherwise known as Nimona.  

The director of the Institute for Elite Knights has discovered Nimona's connection to the legend of Gloreth and poisons the kingdom's citizens against her. 

Ambrosius questions Ballister's loyalty to Nimona and her true motives for helping him.  

Reeling with doubt and uncertainty, Ballister questions Nimona and this is more than she can stand.

Feeling betrayed by Ballister, Nimona's pain and loss consume her.

The kingdom thinks she's the Great Black Monster? 

Fine! She'll give 'em the Great Black Monster!  

What follows is an action packed and emotionally fraught climax as Nimona changes from a raging menace to a victim of deep despair who seeks to end her existence to the kingdom's salvation from a dangerous and deadly threat. 

______________________________

Nimona went through nearly a decade of development hell.   

In June 2015, 20th Century Fox Animation acquired the rights for an animated feature film adaptation of  the Nimona webcomic by ND Stevenson. The film would be produced by Fox subsidiary Blue Sky Studios with an eye on a 2020 release.

In March 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired Fox. Nimona was delayed until 2021, then to 2022.  

On February 9, 2021, Disney announced it was closing down Blue Sky Studios, and Nimona was cancelled.

Former Blue Sky staff members stated the film received pushback from Disney leadership concerning the film's LGBTQ themes and a same-sex kiss.

On April 11, 2022, it was announced that Annapurna Pictures and Netflix had retrieved Nimona from the dust bin. 

And the finished film made it's debut a year later in 2023.  

_____________________________

Nimona is very much a unique sort of film with a distintive animation style, mile a second action and rapid fire jokes, subversive satire and yes, rip your heart out sadness.  

And the soundtrack rocks! 

While watching the movie, I heard a song that sounded familiar.

And it hit me: OH MY GOD! THAT'S METRIC!!!!

I have documented in the past my obsessive fascination with the Canadian rock band fronted by Emily Haines and I was stoked as fuck to hear them in Nimona.

Here's Metric with the song on the Nimona soundtrack,  "Gold Guns Girls" 

Kudos to Dean and Jan for introducing Andrea and I to Nimona.

To be honest, it was not a movie that was anywhere on my radar and I likely would not have sought it out on my own.

But I am certainly glad I did see Nimona! It was quite an amazing adveture that I really enjoyed.  

__________________________________

Nimona was not the only animated movie we saw last week.

But that post will have to wait until next Saturday.  

Your Friday Video Link: Glen Hansard

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Glen James Angus Hansard last week. 

Hansaes was an Irish singer and actor who starred in the musical drama Once (2007), which earned awards including the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly", with Markéta Irglová. 

Below is a video of Glen and Markéta performing "Falling Slowly" which is one of my all time favorite songs.  

Glen and Markéta's performance in Once was iconic enough to warrant parody on The Simpsons.

A few years ago, David Lettermen went to Ireland to film a documentary called “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming".

While in Ireland, Dave spent some time with Glen.  He posted a video from that time and wrote this in tribute.

"I spent time with Glen on a train to Dublin. He was smart and kind and I was immediately fond of him. A new father, full of excitement about his son. We talked about U2, Irish music, and fatherhood, and it was all magical.  He was new to me, but not a stranger. I often think of Glen and our train ride to Dublin."

Glen Hansard died in a motorcycle crash on July 29th.    

Tributes poured in from around the world from U2's Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Lin-Manuel Miranda amd President Barack Obama and hundreds more. 

It is a testatment to the man's talent and goodness that so many people have been compelled to give voice to their grief and their admiration for his life and his gifts.   

A public wake was held on August 3rd in the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, Dublin, and was attended by more than 11,000 people.

Hansard's funeral was held the following day at St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Glen Hansard with a gentle, kind soul beloved by so many people and it is truly a tragedy that he is no longer with us.

"Take this sinking boat and point it home."

We no longer have time but we have memories of a good man and a wonderful talent.

Dave-El's Book Report: Five Gears In Reverse

It's been awhile since I've done a book report post. 

The Thursday spot has been dedicated to comics.

You might argue that since the book in question is told with pictures of people talking in word balloons, it's still comics.

Since this is a new hard cover production from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, I will insist this is a BOOK and if you wanna call it comics, well, you can fuck right off.

Let's get into Five Gears In Reverse.

This latest installment by Brubaker & Phillips takes place in their Criminal universe of mobsters vying for supremecy in Bay City and the hapless luck deficient Lawless family who flit along the edges of the crime families who run things.  

The focus falls on Ricky Lawless, son of the near legendary Teeg Lawless. Ricky has inherited his father's unfortunate knack for getting into trouble but Ricky is deficient in Teeg's luck for getting out of that trouble.    

Karl calls Ricky.  He wants his goddam money.  

Ricky's in the hole to the bookie for 25 grand.  Karl gives Ricky a tip on a job that will more than net the money he owes. 

All Ricky has to do is show up at the right place at the right time and a big satchel of money will fall right into his lap.

Of course the job is too easy and after many, many questionable decisions by Ricky Lawless, the job goes down with considerable violence ending in murder.  

Without Ricky getting the promised haul.  

With girlfriend Mallory in tow, Ricky robs a liquor store that is a front for the Santini crime family.  

Once more, the old Ricky Lawless bad luck kicks in.  Ricky's score is lost, Mallory gets badly injured and Ricky winds up in the crosshairs of the big man Arno Santini himself.

In order to save Mallory and himself, Ricky takes a low effort,high risk job out of town on behalf of Santini to deal with a rival syndicate. 

Well, that goes badly. 

Looks like Mallory and Ricky are gonna die but Ricky pleads for one last chance to do something for Santini to spare their lives.

So it turns out there is some business Ricky can help Arno Santini take care of.

Ricky takes a high effort,even higher risk on behalf of Santini to take revenge on Sebastian Hyde, Bay City's other, bigger and badder mob boss. 

All Ricky has to do is murder Chester, Hyde's top enforcer.

Chester didn't make it to the top of Sebastian Hyde's criminal network without being very good at what he does.

Ricky weighs his options and decides his best chance of keeping Mallory and himself alive.

Is to make another deal.  

SPOILER:  Ricky and Mallory will escape Arno Santini.

SPOILER #2: Arno Santini will not escape Chester's wrath.

And the book ends with Ricky and Mallory safe and sound despite their misadventures rife with bad decisions and lousy luck.

Except....

Karl calls Ricky.  He still wants his goddam money. 

Well, fuck! 

With Five Gears In Reverse, Ed Brubaker writes a tight, twisted tale of Ricky Lawless in a cycle of ever escalating peril fraught with bad luck, bad decisions and bad impulses.  

While the focus is mostly on Ricky, Brubaker does spend some time on Mallory's backstory, a terrible tale of torment and loss. Mallory is the best thing to ever happen to Ricky but any positive influence she has on Mr.Lawless is mitigated by her own propensity for bad luck, bad decisions and bad impulses. 

Brubaker has an amazing gift for dialogue and internal narration. Brubaker's script is laced with flashes of dark humor as he paints a picture of growing danger and despair.   

Artist Sean Phillips is on point with some of his best artwork, conveying the dark moods of a classic film noir.  With his son Jacob providing color, Sean conveys intensity in people talking as well as explosions of graphic and brutal violence.  

Over the course of various Criminal books, we've watched Ricky Lawless grow from a child to an adult, trapped in the same spiral that consumed Teeg Lawless, his father.  

With Five Gears In Reverse, we witness the epitome of Ricky's evolution into truly his father's son.  

Only with even worse luck than dear old dad.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The world of Criminal will be moving from graphic novels to television with a new TV series set to debut on Amazon Prime later this year with Ed Brubaker as writer and producer. 

The TV series will continue to explore the criminal underworld of Bay City and more misadventures of Ricky and Mallory. 

Canine Expansion Pack

Last week, Andrea and I received a visit here at the Fortress of Ineptitude from our granddaughter, Rosie the Dog.

If Rosie looks a bit pensive here, well, she's under a little bit of stress.

She brought her emotional support humans, son Dean and friend Jan.

She also brought her new sister.  

Meet our newest granddaughter, London the Dog.

On one hand, London will sit on her hind legs and quietly look up at you with wide open eyes and a quizzicle expression as if to say:

I DARE YOU NOT TO LOVE ME!!!!

She is so friggin' adorable when she does that! What a CUTE li'l puppy she is!  

On the other hand...

She is overloaded with energy, whizzing and whirling about, testing everything and everyone as potential sources of food.

London can be a lot.

London is a puppy with puppy energy and a whole range of puppy behaviors she still needs to learn to control.  

And Rosie is not quite ready to deal with that.

When we first welcomed Rosie to our family, we got a slightly older, more docile creature.  

Like a true member of the House of El family, Rosie is a quiet creature of habit who has gotten used to years of being the only child.

Rosie: "I am NOT dealing with this!"
London: "Will you be my friend?"
Rosie: "I'm not listening!"
London: "Will you be my friend?"
Rosie: "I did NOT agree to any of this!"
London: "Will you be my friend?"
Rosie: "Can I go back to the shelter?"
London: "Will you be my friend?"

Dean and Janna were not planning on being emotional support humans to another dog. But when they found London abandoned by the side of the road, what else could they do? 

Welcome to the family, London! 

And Rosie, you're still top dog in the familial hierarchy.  

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Stuart Fails To Save The Universe

Big Bang Theory is dead.

Long live Big BangTheory!

Let's take a look at Stuart Fails To Save the Universe. 

Let's start with the theme song composed by Danny Elfman.

The comments on You Tube dismiss the opening as A.I. slop. I think this may be just trolls engaging in "haters gonna hate" or hell, the comments may be A.I. slop.  It does seem to be the go-to insult to to dismiss anything as A.I. slop whether it is or not.

God, I hate having to always be on guard if something is A.I. or not. I can't always tell even though I am a genius as certified by  Cracker Barrel Inc. 

Me, maybe I'm just dumb but I liked the opening and I hope it's not A.I. slop.   

Anway, that's the intro from episode one.  The opening changes with each episode with Elfman providing variations to the arrangement each time.

The naming convention for episode titles is "Spoiler: _____"

For episode one, it's "Spoiler: Gary Dies".

Who's Gary?

He's just this guy who.... don't get too attached because, well, he dies. 

OK, he is in episode two because as Stuart correctly identifies, "You're some kind of running joke in this nightmare."

So what the hell is going on in Stuart Fails To Save the Universe?

OK, here's the deal,sparky! 

Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter and Howard Wolowitz have created a quantum entanglement doohickey that has gone wrong and fractured reality.

Comic shop owner Stuart Bloom is tasked with recovering the device and averting a resulting "multiverse Armageddon".  The device sends Stuart skipping across different realities encountering variations of himself and his friends with different worlds operating under strange and distinct rules.   

The core of the series features: 

• Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom 
• Lauren Lapkus as Denise No Last Name* 
• Brian Posehn as Bert Kibbler
• John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke 

*It looks like Denise might be in for a repeat of the gimmick of Penny on Big Bang not having a last name. But the name on the door of her apartment building in episode 2 shows "Denise Jeffries".  But that's just in one of multiple realities so it might not stick and become "some kind of running joke in this nightmare." 

Also making cameos: 

• Kunal Nayyar, Kaley Cuoco, Melissa Rauch, Joshua Malina, Wil Wheaton, Christine Baranski and Riki Lindhome are among the ones we know about.

During some recent interviews, Jim Parsons made a point to say how miserable he was playing Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang Theory and has no intention of being Sheldon ever again.

Doth the man protest too much? 

Nobody's heard from Johnny Galecki.  As for Howard, Simon Helberg's been quiet as well but I can't see Simon saying no to this.

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe is an amalgamation of comedy and sci-fi adventure.  While rooted in some obvious Big Bang Theory nostalgia, this show also far removed from BBT.

For example, instead of appearing as Beverly Hofstadter, Christine Baranski appears as "noted film, TV and theater star Christine Baranski" as the host of a training film at a rehabilitation camp. Will the rehabilitation be painful? as "noted film, TV and theater star Christine Baranski" says, "It will hurt like a motherfucker" and then she laughs.

Oh yeah, they get to cuss on this show.

As Stuart says in the pilot, "Shit's about to get weird."  

What turns Stuart Fails To Save the Universe on it's head from being a mere nostalgia trip is seeing how returning actors from Big Bang are NOT exactly playing the characters we remember.

Episode two is "Spoiler: Zack Is In This One"

Hey BBT fans! It's everyone's favorite Penny's pre-Leonard dumb boyfriend, Zack!

Actually, Zack is not the best example of "the same but different".  Zack's still kind of dumb.

But Kaley Cuoco shows up as Penny but NOT the Penny we knew but a dark haired hard ass leader of a resistance movement against a planetary fascist A.I. regime. 

While Stuart Fails To Save the Universe defies our expectations from Big Bang Theory canon, it also defies our expectations of a sci-fi adventure series. 

Stuart Bloom is still pretty much the weak willed nerd comic shop owner from BBT but he's genre savvy enough to know he needs to step up to this challenge he's been thrust into. Too bad he's not a stronger, smarter person than he is and thus, as it says in the title, Stuart is destined to fail.   

That seems a bit of a pessimistic premise to hang a TV series. I don't know, maybe Bert or Denise will have better luck.

Spoiler: Barry Kripke is NOT to be trusted. 

As befits a series set around a comic book store owner, Stuart Fails To Save the Universe will be part of a series of variant covers from DC Comics.   

Jason Badower

Serg Acuna

Sean Izaakes

By the way, there is an official Stuart Fails To Save the Universe podcast that goes live after each episode drops.  It's hosted by Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day and the podcasts are longer than the episodes they're talking about.

And that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Coming up on the Touchbase: The Librarians are back as the next chapter resumes with season 2.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.