Today’s Tuesday TV Touchbase checks in Superman & Lois. The series returns tonight for the first of season 3’s last two episodes wherein we finally meet Lex Luthor.
Episode 11 which aired a few weeks back provided a quasi-season finale of sorts as Bruno Mannheim was arrested and his wife Peia died when her sonic powers went out of control. And Lois had a double mastectomy.
The season long storyline of Lois Lane’s battle with breast cancer has been particularly compelling with Elizabeth Tulloch conveying Lois’ emotional roller coaster of strong defiance and staggering weakness as she endured her chemotherapy and the knowledge this would all end with a mastectomy. Lois dealt with multiple blows to her role as a wife, a mother, an investigative reporter, her identity as a woman. This storyline has been handled with respect and sensitivity and deserves to be recognized and hopefully not dismissed because it happened in a super hero show.
The news came down last week that Superman & Lois has been renewed for a 4th season on the CW but with conditions. The season will be 10 episodes instead of 13 and most of the cast is being pared down to recurring, leaving only Clark, Lois, Jordan, Jonathan and the newly introduced Lex Luthor as the main cast.
More on Season 3 and a look ahead to season 4 in a future Touchbase.
Also news last week was that Pat Sajak will be leaving as host of Wheel Of Fortune after the completion of the 41st season which will commence this fall. The news was not entirely surprising; Pat's been dropping hints for awhile now that we was close to the end of his time on the show. Still, Pat Sajak is such an integral part of Wheel's identity which is to be expected after 4 decades.
There was an episode a few weeks back where announcer Jim Thornton subbed in for a segment (apparently a contestant professed to be a big ol' fan of Jim). Jim performed competently but it was a bit awkward. Meanwhile, Pat was in the announcer's booth filling in for Jim very smoothly and professionally.
Pat is going to be hard to replace and yes, the speculation is running rampant on who that will be. It is way too early for that but that doesn't stop people from speculating. The early front runner in the speculation derby is Ryan Seacrest. I'm personally partial to John Michael Higgins (host of the game show America Says on the Game Show Network). As long as Sony doesn't pull some kind of "series of guest hosts" crap. Jeopardy's guest host project was mostly an embarrassing debacle.
More on Wheel of Fortune in a future Touchbase.
Andrea and I have just finished season 1 of The Librarians. Andrea has taken to this series as I thought she would. I was a bit concerned how she would react to the transition from the movies with their focus on Noah Wylie as Flynn Carsen to a totally new ensemble picking up the baton with the TV series. But she's caught up with it just fine and Flynn shows up enough to satisfy any Noah Wylie cravings or whatever.
In the season 1 finale directed by Jonathan Frakes, the evil Dulaque (slitheringly sinister as played by Matt Frewer) has killed his own second in command Lamia (played by Lesley Ann Brandt who was Maze on Lucifer) to gain access to the mythical but very real Loom of Fate which he then cuts, creating a splintered time line with each member of the Librarians team achieving different destinies. Flynn never answered his summons to the Library from the first movie. He's super smart but useless in a fight. And each time line, no matter if Jacob, Ezekiel or Cassandra is THE Librarian, Eve Baird dies. Which is kind of disturbing to Eve Baird who is bouncing from time line to time line.
It's all very Doctor Who but with magic instead of science.
Oh and we get John Larroquette as Jenkins in a cool sword fight and the revelation that Jenkins was Sir Galahad, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table.
We'll be starting up season two next week. I am thinking ahead to what I will introduce Andrea to when we finish up all 4 seasons of The Librarians. I'm thinking maybe The Orville?
I’m almost through season 2 of Doom Patrol. As much as I admire this show, I’m not sure Doom Patrol is good for my mental health.
The various members of the Doom Patrol remain as depressingly messed up as always and without Alan Tudyk's Mr. Nobody periodically popping in to remind us that it's just a show on a streaming service and we really should just relax, it's all a bit unrelenting.
There is some forward momentum with Rita Farr. Instead of devolving into a puddle of protoplasmic goo at the first sign of stress, she's slowly gaining a modicum of control over her shape shifting abilities. And in turn is also growing in her confidence to actually make use of her powers and those of the Doom Patrol to perhaps make a difference.
Meanwhile, this sad sack team of heroes needs some kind of purpose to counter their very depressing lives.
Next week, the Tuesday TV Touchbase catches up to the returns of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Outlander.
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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