Last week, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy returned to launch new seasons. Wheel made some minor updates to the graphics and set with an emphasis on the color blue. Pat Sajak is once more physically interacting with the contestants after 2 years of distancing due to COVID.
Despite the breathless enthusiasm expressed by Pat and Vanna for the show's 40th season, I can't help feel some tiredness from our beloved duo. And Pat in a recent interview has made it clear his time as host is close to the end.
On Jeopardy, Ken Jennings is now introduced as host and seems to be particularly bolstered by the return of a studio audience which had been gone for 2 years due to COVID.
Ken did run into a controversy when one contestant was allowed to change an answer and another was not. The incidents were not identical but the trolls were out in force calling for Ken's head for the perceived lack of fairness.
A few weeks ago, I wrapped up the second season of Hacks on HBO Max. The aging diva of comedy Deborah Vance has been unmoored from her residency at the Palmetto Casino in Las Vegas. Vance hits the road to break in a new act that she is sure will put her back on top. The new act is co-written by Ava Daniels. It is a relationship complicated by the lawsuit Deborah has against Ava for violating her NDA with that invective filled email Ava sent at the end of season 1.
When Ava first met Deborah at the start of season 1, Ava had zero chill for Deborah's aging ego driven white privileged abusive arrogance.
When Deborah first met Ava, Deborah had no tolerance for Ava's anxiety driven self righteous angry arrogance.
Over the course of 2 seasons, Deborah and Ava have grown in fits and starts to a mutual understanding of where the other is coming from and a mutual affection for one another.
Even if Deborah doesn't drop the lawsuit until the final scene of the final episode of season 2.
The season ends with Deborah recording a television special based on her new act which is absolutely killing it with audiences thanks to Ava's insights.
Ava is suddenly in demand as a writer and Deborah lets her go so Ava can take advantage of her moment. Ava for her part doesn't want to go, preferring instead to stay with Deborah.
Jean Smart as Deborah Vance is an extraordinary character, the epitome of someone who is hard to love but damn it once you do, it's hard to let go as Ava discovers by the end of season 2.
So Kevin Can F**k Himself is back for it's 2nd and final season. So what happened with Neil's discovery of Allison's plot to kill Kevin?
OK, SPOILER: Neil tells Kevin.
OK, not so much of a spoiler: Kevin isn't listening. Kevin is too self-aborbed to listen to his alleged best friend.
Non-sitcom Neil is a very sad character.
As you know, the premise of the show is that when Kevin is on screen, the format of the show switches to sitcom with the garish lighting and the canned laughter. In season 2, we find out it switches to sitcom for another person.
In a flashback to the funeral for Allison' dad, the show switches to sitcom when her mom shows up. Played by Peri Gilpin (Roz from Frasier), Allison's mom engages in the same passive aggressive insulting shit that Kevin does to her. The same flashback episode shows how Allison first met Kevin and how she found his antics... charming? And if Patty's eye-rolling at this meet-cute was any more severe, her eyeballs would pop out of her head into Neil's ears.
It seems Patty was crushing on Allison when they first met.
Yeah, I said it.
Anyway, we're halfway through. How will this end? Will Kevin ever exit sitcom world to see Allison for how she really is in the real drama world? Right now I have no clear expectation for how any of this is going to end up.
OK, that's a wrap for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Coming up in a future post, we've got She-Hulk and Stargirl.
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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