Before we get started with this week's Touchbase, we must once more must acknowledged some who passed away last week.
Andre Braugher of Homicide: Life On the Streets and Brooklyn Nine-Nine died at the age of 61.
Yes, I will say what I always say: the wrong people keep dying.
As Frank Pemberton on Homicide, Braugher approached the role with a nearly ferocious intensity. But it was as Raymond Holt on B99 that he became a truly beloved television icon. As the strict literal minded captain of the 99th precinct, Holt gradually warmed up to odd but effective goofballs under his command. He will be missed.
Andre Braugher died of lung cancer mere months after receiving his diagnosis.
Speaking of lung cancer, one more TV person to acknowledge but thankfully with a happier outcome. Kate Maccuci (Garfunkel and Oates, Duck Tales and Big Bang Theory) recently underwent surgery to for lung cancer. She's out of the hospital cancer free and with a positive prognosis for the future.
As 2023 draws to a close, I recently caught up on a documentary series that dropped on Netflix way back at the start of 2021.
Yep, that's the Tuesday TV Touchbase, always on the cutting edge of television culture, give or take three years or so.
History of Swear Words is hosted by Nicolas Cage and I could just stop right there, eh?
"You had me at hosted by Nicolas Cage."
The series explores the History of Swear Words (like it says right there in the title) through interviews with etymology experts, popular culture analyst, historians and entertainment performers.
Each of the 6 episodes explores the following words in depth for their own episode:
- Fuck
- Shit
- Bitch
- Dick
- Pussy
- Damn
The series is informative.
- How exactly did the word "dick" come to mean "penis"?
- Where the fuck did fuck come from?
- What exactly is this shit?
And it is quite funny as well. And Nicolas Cage holds this series together with his trade mark intensity and his rapier sharp wit.
Let's touchbase with Jeopardy for a bit.
The big news that dropped on Friday was that Mayim Bialik would not be returning as host. Mayim made the announcement on her Instagram account that Sony informed her she would no longer be hosting the syndicated Jeopardy.
Which suggests she did not show herself out and does also suggest she may be available for Jeopardy projects outside the syndicated show?
I've always thought from day one after the tragic death of Alex Trebek that the hosting gig should go to Ken Jennings. But Mayim deserved better than she got from the trolls.
Celebrity Jeopardy finished up the quarter final games and is taking few weeks off before returning for the semi final games and the million dollar final. No one reached the embarrassing depths of Emily Hampshire but Kyra Sedgewick came pretty damn close. (Thank God she got the question about her husband Kevin Bacon correct.)
Meanwhile, regular Jeopardy is still not "regular". By the time this posts, the interminable Wildcard games will FINALLY be over. BUT we still have some more "stop gap" special games to get through before we ever get to the Tournament of Champions. I read one source that said it could be as late as April before regular games can resume.
While this is going on, our local TV station which carries Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune is not on our cable system. Tegna which owns WFMY is in a dispute with out cable carrier. There are ways to see WFMY live without cable but I am without a means to record those shows since Andrea and I are not available to watch when they are on.
We have been able to watch Jeopardy where the day's episode gets uploaded to You Tube but no one is doing the same for WOF.
Yes, I am still holding out with cable but I'm really thinking it might be time to cut the cord. I do like the simplicity of cable, of just watching whatever happens to be in front of me as opposed to the decision making process that goes into selecting stuff to watch on streaming.
Side note appropos of nothing: last week when I mentioned I was watching season 2 of Invincible, I forgot to mention I also caught up on the 1 shot tie in, Atom Eve. My God, is ANYONE in the Invincible universe every happy for more than a minute? Poor Samantha Eve Wilkins has powers nigh unto a god and all she gets for it is chastised, ignored, threatened and abandoned. Becoming Atom Eve should give her some freedom, some release to be her true self and use her gifts to help people and it just makes things worse?
OK, Atom Eve was a bit of a bummer but well done exploration of one of Mark Grayson's super powered friends.
Also, Andrea and I are at the midway point of season 2 of Quantum Leap. Over three separate leaps into three different people, Ben Song has encountered the same woman, Hannah, a science prodigy who knows Ben is leaping into these people and Ben and Hannah are in love! What? Whoa!
More TV? MORE TV!!!
Andrea and I have finished season 1 of The Orville. I've seen these episodes already but it's fun to revisit them. But this is Andrea's first time around and she's really enjoying it.
Even more TV? YES!!!! EVEN MORE TV!!!!!!
As if I do not have enough TV to watch, I'm now set up with the free streaming service Tubi. The shows and movies have ads but they're fairly unobtrusive. There's a helpful little widget in the upper left of the screen to alert that an ad is coming in 10 seconds and tracks how long that ad break will last (usually no more than a minute.)
I got Tubi as an opportunity to explore classic Doctor Who episodes. Also I've watched some old Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the little seen pilot for Greatest American Heroine (a proposed spin off from Greatest American Hero where Ralph Hinkley gives the super suit to a young woman.) There is a LOT to explore on Tubi. (I really do not need more TV to watch.)
And that is that for this week's Touchbase.
Next week's Tuesday TV Touchbase will be a special report edition as I look back on what I watched in 2023.
In 2024, future posts will explore the last season of Doom Patrol, the first season of Deadloch, the end of That Damned Thing (AKA The Crown), more Ghosts (AND even more Ghosts from the UK), the return of Night Court, Abbot Elementary and the final season of Young Sheldon.
And MORE!
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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