Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Fortune, Jeopardy and Star Treks.

I suppose before getting into the weekly post about TV watching, I should take a moment to mention the big TV thing from Sunday, the Super Bowl.

Andrea and I primarily watch the Super Bowl for the commercials but this year we got caught up in the game itself that went down to the wire in the 4th quarter with the Los Angeles Rams beating the Cincinnati Bengals. 

It really takes the pressure off when you don't have a dog in the fight and give a damn about who wins the Super Bowl.



Let's start this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase with some game show stuff starting with some weird shit that went down of Wheel of Fortune last week.

On Monday, a contestant solved the bonus round puzzle and won $100,000! 

Well, that's cool! 

On Tuesday, a contestant solved the bonus round puzzle and won $100,000! 

Well, that's weird! 

On Wednesday, a contestant solved the bonus round puzzle and won $100,000! 

Well, what the unholy fuck is going on here? 

Did someone hack the bonus wheel? 

Pat Sajak threatened to quit. Apparently, the $100, 000 comes out of his pay. 

On a side note, I've gotten Andrea to admit that Celebrity Wheel of Fortune is boring and gone on too long. 

We still seem to be watching it.   

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Whazzup with Jeopardy

Mayam Bialik is back as host on both the regular syndicated show and the primetime College Tournament on ABC. I like Mayam but I also like Ken Jennings too and having Mayam hosting Jeopardy 90 minutes a day seems like too much Mayam Bialik.  

On the regular show, Jeopardy had a three day champion that Andrea and I actively disliked. His name was Lawrence Long from here in North Carolina and he just rubbed us the wrong way, like he was some kind of alpha male type. 

Also I do not trust people with the last name "Long".

And yes, I know my last name is "Long". 

And Mayam Bialik has taken to calling the first round of Jeopardy "Single Jeopardy". 

That needs to stop. 

On Friday, a contestant named Dave won, a middle aged man with a blue mohawk.  In explaining the mohawk to Mayam, Dave had this to say: "I'm not in a band. I'm just weird." 

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Andrea and I were on hand for the mid-season finale of Star Trek Prodigy and wow!

Just...wow! 

For  the first couple of episodes, it took me awhile to get into the groove of this animated series but over the course of the first 10 episodes, Prodigy has really grown into a much appreciated addition to the Star Trek mythos. 

"Time Amok" is a great time travel episode that does some really cool wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff which actually propels the development of the group dynamic and individual characters into genuine changes to the status quo.  Rok-Tak's time in temporal loop leaves her alone too long but she makes the most of it by teaching herself about computers and engineering. 

The two part mid season story, "A Moral Star" finally see's Dal R'El move beyond his selfish desires and accepts the responsibility that comes with being captain of the Protostar. He's still young and reckless but he now takes into account the well being of his crew and others they can help with the Protostar.  

The depth of the storyline and characterization belies Prodigy's origins as a Nickelodeon animated show.  As Keith DeCandido says in his blog, "Prodigy is the best of the new Trek series."

I don't know if I'm 100% in agreement with that assertion but Keith ain't far from wrong.  

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After two years of playing catch up, Andrea and I finally caught up to Star Trek Discovery in real time when we saw last week's episode last week. 

The crew continues their exploits in the 32nd Century as a massive cosmic force dubbed the DMA  is tearing through space and has already destroyed Book's home planet. It is not a natural phenomenon but the work of an unknown civilization lurking just outside the known galaxy.   

There are divisions in the ranks as Book is determined to make the creators of the DMA pay for destroying his home planet while Burnham is pushing for a more nuanced, diplomatic approach to this civilization. Going in guns blazing against a civilization that create something as huge (it's width is measured in light years) and power is probably not a good idea.  Also the latest evidence suggests the DMA is not a weapon at all but an energy harvester.

Discovery continues to explore the cast beyond Michael Burnham. In last week episode, for example, we got a welcome spotlight on Owosekun beyond her just helping fly this ship. This time she fights a space boxer. 

Discovery has evolved considerably since it's shaky first season and is now a fun, engaging and thought provoking series. 

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Quick side note on Snowpiercer. Layton's back and kicks Wilford's wrinkly fascist ass and throws him in a cell. 

More about Snowpiercer in a later post.   

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Other stuff: 1 episode to go, season finale of Peacemaker coming up. It's been a wild, insane ride.

And just 1 episode left to the series finale of my Justified watch project. What pray tell will I do for my Timothy Olyphant fix when this over?   

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Man, I've got a lot of new TV coming up with the long awaited debut of the new season of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel this week and the last season of Killing Eve the week after that. AND the return of the original Law & Order.

Damn!

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. 

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