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Frasier (1993) s03e01 – She’s the Boss
There are a couple big “it was the nineties” moments in the episode. Though, I haven’t watched sitcoms regularly in over a decade so maybe they’re still doing whole main plots about men (in this case Kelsey Grammer) not being able to work for women (here his new station manager, Mercedes Ruehl). But I’m fairly… 📖
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Staged (2020) s02
So when we watched the first series of “Staged,” I’d forgotten the original episodes were fifteen minutes; we watched the extended ones. Now, this second series either doesn’t have extended episodes or doesn’t have extended episodes yet. Eight episodes, fifteen minutes each, works out to a grand total of two hours. And I don’t know… 📖
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Staged (2020) s2
So when we watched the first series of “Staged,” I’d forgotten the original episodes were fifteen minutes; we watched the extended ones. Now, this second series either doesn’t have extended episodes or doesn’t have extended episodes yet. Eight episodes, fifteen minutes each, works out to a grand total of two hours. And I don’t know… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e06 – Let It Be
The last episode takes place over at most a week, but it feels like much longer. There’s this “show don’t tell” backfire where Ken Stott has hit bottom and he’s laying about in a destroyed apartment, on a bender, and then we find out it’s like three hours after the last scene. And we’ve missed… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e05 – Rainy Night in Georgia
I guess it’s Katy Murphy’s spotlight episode now? The question mark because Murphy’s entirely in support of Ken Stott throughout the episode, so even though she’s in it more and we finally find out her backstory, she’s just the love interest. Especially when Stott’s drinking problems come up—he makes a full disclosure about it to… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e04 – Fool on the Hill
With the radio station seemingly on steady ground for the first time the whole show, “Takin’ Over the Asylum” gets going on some more subplots. This episode gives Angus Macfadyen a spotlight, the station’s de facto engineer who’s about to get released and needs help from someone on the outside to get a job. Luckily,… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e03 – You Always Hurt the One You Love
Was there a doctor appearance last episode? I can’t remember. This episode has the first doctor-involved subplot, this time doctor David Robb, who can’t see a reason to keep Ruth McCabe in the hospital anymore since all she needs is medication to keep her OCD in check and her husband, Jon Morrison (incorrectly credited as… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e02 – Fly Like an Eagle
This episode seemingly takes place soon after the first one—Ken Stott is giving David Tennant DJ lessons—but apparently in the meantime Stott’s had a chance to look at the station’s accounting since he took over. There’s a subplot about hospital money person Sandra Voe wanting to see Stott’s books for running the radio station and… 📖
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Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994) s01e01 – Hey Jude
From the opening, it’s hard to tell if “Takin’ Over the Asylum” is going to be a comedy or not. Window salesman Ken Stott is rushing out of a customer’s house for some reason, running away from a potential sale apparently—I’m not sure you need to have seen Glengarry Glen Ross or Tin Men to… 📖
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Staged (2020) s01e05 – Ulysses, the extended version
Two observations after this episode. “Staged” does really well with guest stars—Adrian Lester shows up, more on him in a bit—and it’s relying a little too much on the too easy “David Tennant is the earnestly obtuse one” bit. This episode has Tennant surprised no one else dreams about him, which is really funny but… 📖
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Staged (2020) s01e03 – Who The F#!k Is Michael Sheen?, the extended version
Last episode they talked about the big name movie star who wanted to be in the adaptation of Six Characters in Search of an Author with David Tennant before dropping out to do a movie but they never identified him. This episode has him guest starring. And it’s Sam Jackson. As Samuel L. Jackson. Who… 📖
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Staged (2020) s01e02 – Up To No Good, the extended version
So this episode doesn’t resolve the previous episode’s sort of cliffhanger, which had play director Simon Evans—played by show creator, writer, and director Simon Evans—apparently hanging up on his call with Michael Sheen and David Tennant when Sheen pressed him too hard on something. Apparently Sheen got over it because they went from it not… 📖
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Staged (2020) s01e01 – Cachu Hwch, the extended version
“Staged” isn’t so much a great concept as it’s a great concept for the constraints it’s under. “Staged” is a Covid lockdown project, with most of the “action” two people talking on video conferencing (they say Zoom but it doesn’t matter) and then some static shots where everyone’s locked down. Also very important is who’s… 📖
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939, Frank Capra)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington runs two hours and nine minutes, with the last thirty minutes and change giving star (but second-billed) Jimmy Stewart a big, long scene; sure, it’s intercut with various asides but as far as Mr. Smith Stewart is concerned, it’s a single long scene. Stewart’s had some significant scenes before, but… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e09 – Wax Patrol
So “Doom Patrol” didn’t just have to cut an episode off season two because of the Covid-19 and wrap it up here, they also don’t have their season three renewal in yet… so essentially Wax Patrol is playing chicken with the network. Going to be a bummer if they don’t get renewed. The episode, which… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e08 – Dad Patrol
It’s another packed, season-relevant big plots (though even the season’s B plots have big moments too) episode, with unlikely pairings—Matt Bomer and Diane Guerrero go on a mission together for maybe the first time ever solo while Robotman (Brendan Fraser voicing a truly magnificent physical performance from Riley Shanahan) shows daughter Bethany Anne Lind around… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e07 – Dumb Patrol
And now here’s where “Doom Patrol” asks for permission to be silly. It’s kind of been goofy before, but this episode—where the heroes find themselves trying to give in to their worst ideas at all times—gets silly. Even stranger is how effectively the “new” Diane Guerrero works as straight woman to the crew. Last episode… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e06 – Space Patrol
I thought last episode was good, this episode’s even better. In fact, it might fully realize translating comics to film, with Dorothy (Abi Monterey) running as far away from dad Timothy Dalton as she can. Keep in mind dad Dalton has various space ships sitting around the property, which surprises the other characters a little… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e05 – Finger Patrol
I’m not great at tracking the “Doom Patrol” creatives but I remembered Chris Dingess was working out and Shoshana Sachi was one of the good writers, so I had good feeling going into Finger Patrol and it does not disappoint. Maybe the most surprising part is how well things work out for Joivan Wade and… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e04 – Sex Patrol
At some point someone working on “Doom Patrol” decided they weren’t messing around and gave Alan Mingo Jr. a truly devastating speech about transgender people’s humanity—to Joivan Wade—and it’s a wow aside in the episode. Sex Patrol goes all the way from hilarious to terrifying to, well, titillating but when Mingo delivers that monologue… everything… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e03 – Pain Patrol
Samira Radsi directs a positively unnerving episode here, doing both social awkwardness in the extremes and then, you know, traditional inter-dimensional evil who was Jack the Ripper—is Red Jack (Roger Floyd, who looks like a cross-between Hellraiser and Stanley Kubrick’s Phantom of the Opera) a Redjac from “Star Trek” reference? Cute. The most likable thing… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e02 – Tyme Patrol
Tyme Patrol is packed; writers April Fitzsimmons and Neil Reynolds make the subplots seem just as big as the main one, which has the team trying to steal some time travel goo from an infamous time traveller (the titular Tyme, voiced by Dan Martin while Brandon Perea handles the, um, roller-disco). He ends up having… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s02e01 – Fun Size Patrol
“Doom Patrol” starts off answering the outstanding question—who is Chief Timothy Dalton’s daughter? Her name’s Dorothy, which could be perfect but I don’t want to get ahead of myself hopefulness-wise with the character. She’s half-twentieth century human, half-20,000 century BCE human. Abi Monterey—who’s not in the opening title credit roll—plays the part, in makeup a… 📖
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Griffu (1978)
Griffu has all the trappings of hard-boiled detective fiction–a reluctant “hero,” in this case the titular Griffu, whose not a private investigator but a “legal advisor” (read, apparently, debt collector), a femme fatale (or three), and an intricate plot line involving corruption and class—only set in seventies Paris. And, of course, there’s the omnipresent narration.… 📖
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All Rise (2019) s02e06 – Bounceback
There’s a lot going on with this episode of “All Rise.” In addition to a lot going on in the episode—it rushes through assistant district attorney Wilson Bethel getting stabbed and half the people thinking it was random, the other half thinking it was a warning from the L.A. County Sheriff, who Bethel’s investigating for… 📖
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Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1975-77)
I was waiting for Bronze Age to get to the Batman Family reprints, assuming since DC moved Batgirl from backups to an anthology—and even a feature or two—the stories must be better. Surely Elliot S. Maggin and Bob Rozakis had to be better at writing her comics than Frank Robbins. Silly me. Most of the… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e24 – Dark Victory
Dark Victory has three writers—Christopher Lloyd, Linda Morris, Vic Rauseo—except Morris and Rauseo are a team and Lloyd is a solo guy usually so the disjointed flow makes sense. It’s the season finale, it’s got to get to some kind of season finale moment, except it’s a sitcom and it doesn’t have a cliffhanger. I… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e23 – The Innkeepers
The Innkeepers is a great sitcom episode without necessarily being a great “Frasier” episode. It’s a really good “Frasier,” with the entire cast doing a great job—they just aren’t asked to do very much. John Mahoney spends a bunch of the episode doing his irate thing even after it isn’t making things funny anymore. He… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e22 – Agents in America: Part 3
Agents in America: Part 3 doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a very big episode, but then the last third or so is very big scale. The first two acts(?)—see, I probably should have learned the structure of sitcom plots, I’m sure there’s proper terminology—but the first two-thirds is mostly at the apartment. The… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e21 – An Affair to Forget
Writer Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano turn in one of the instant “Frasier” classics. It involves the show’s reliable standards—Maris jokes, the radio show, David Hyde Pierce’s physical comedy–and hits spectacular heights with all three, but most impressively the Hyde Pierce stuff. The episode ends with a fantastic sword fight with Hyde Pierce versus Brian… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e20 – Breaking the Ice
I really wish I was keeping track of what “Frasier” writers wrote what kind of episodes, though I do know I wasn’t expecting a Crane boys outing episode from Steven Levitan. Or, at least, I would’ve expected it from other writers first. Levitan wrote an episode first season, but just the one. This episode, Breaking… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e19 – Someone to Watch Over Me
I figured I’d have remembered Don Seigel’s name from last season, if only for it confusing spell check, but I didn’t. I should have. His episode last season was great. This one’s pretty great too; it’s another SeaBea Awards episode, with Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin sure they’ve got a chance this year if only… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e18 – The Club
It’s a quintessential “Frasier” if only because it plays with some very familiar, very ingrained snob tropes. Writers Elias Davis and David Pollock did another episode earlier this season—and The Club is their final contribution to the series, unfortunately—and have a great handle on the characters. The successful “guest” writers (i.e. not also an exec,… 📖
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The Hunt for Red October (1990, John McTiernan)
Sean Connery, who’s so important to the workings of Hunt for Red October he could easily be “and special guest star” credit instead of top-billed, has his last scene on the bridge of his ship, giving a very Captain Kirk read of a quote. It’s something about sailing and it’s got to break the cultural… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e17 – Daphne’s Room
Once again it’s a “Frasier” where it feels like they’re trying to one-up something, but they’re not actually trying to one-up anything. It’s just Kelsey Grammer trying out an extremely physical episode—extremely physical bits are mostly David Hyde Pierce’s forte (though Grammer’s had at least one good one this season already)—but after a certain point,… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s02e16 – The Show Where Sam Shows Up
I was kind of dreading this episode—the first season of “Frasier” immediately established the show’s differences from “Cheers” and made the need for a stunt cameo from a “Cheers” cast member superfluous. So waiting to the back nine of the second season to bring in Ted Danson, who was trying to recover from the blackface… 📖
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The Pay-Off (1930, Lowell Sherman)
The Pay-Off opens with young lovers William Janney and Marian Nixon in Central Park, snuggle-napping on a bench in the middle of the night because they’re got to maintain their chastity. Everything’s about to change for them because Janney’s finally saved up enough money they can get married, only he talks about it too loud… 📖
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The Call (2020, Lee Chung-hyun)
It’s unclear for a while but what The Call needs more than anything else is a great villain. It’s got its villains, starting with very bad mom Lee El, but she’s not great. She’s kind of one note too, with writer and director Lee cutting away from her when she’s going to be establishing the… 📖
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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e16 – At the Mountains of Madness
I got really hopeful when I saw the title, At the Mountains of Madness, because they mentioned the Mountains of Madness in a previous episode and it’s the Lovecraft story with monster dinosaurs and so… monster dinosaurs are probably going to be cool. There are no monster dinosaurs in the episode. There are the Mountains… 📖
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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e15 – The Endless
The Endless is the best episode of the season so far and one of the best showcases for Kiernan Shipka as an actor ever. She’s trapped in another alternate universe, only this one is where she’s an actor on a television show, seemingly “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” She quickly discovers this alternate universe doesn’t have… 📖