The Sternberg Report

Cop Shows - The Reckoning That Never Came

More than 70 years of police portrayals on popular scripted dramas have contributed to public perception of police as the heroic good guys putting their lives on the line every day to keep us all safe.  Doing whatever it takes to catch the bad guys, even if it means roughing up suspects and violating their rights, is forgivable, and often necessary, to achieve the greater good of protecting the public and bringing criminals to justice.

After George Floyd’s murder by police, captured on video for the world to see, networks and producers for the first time seemed willing (and financially motivated) to make changes in how they portray police procedure, racism, and other systemic inequities.  Whether anything in these TV shows has actually changed since then remains debatable.  The new broadcast TV season just began, so it will be interesting to see if there are sea or token changes in how policing is portrayed.

While it’s all well and good to hire cultural and diversity consultants to advise producers and writers on how to more responsibly portray law enforcement, the one thing that will have the greatest impact is actually having more diversity in writers’ rooms (and among showrunners) – which, of course, means more than just one lower-level person of color at the table.  And not just for shows with Black leads or predominantly Black casts.

In 2017,  the non-profit civil rights advocacy organization Color of Change released a major study titled, Race in the Writers’ Room: How Hollywood Whitewashes the Stories That Shape America.  The report looked at 234 broadcast, cable, and streaming scripted series from the 2016-17 season.  Significant findings included:  91% of television showrunners were white and writers’ rooms were more than 86% white; Black writers comprised just 4.8% of the writing staffs; two-thirds of the dramas and comedies examined had no Black writers; less than 10% of the shows had showrunners of color; most of the series employing Black writers had Black showrunners (and those series had at least five Black writers at the table), while more than 69% of writers’ rooms led by white showrunners had no Black writers.

In 2020, the same group issued another study titled, Normalizing Injustice.  For three weeks in 2017-18, graduate students at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project analyzed 353 episodes across 26 different “crime-related scripted TV series.”  This included both linear and streaming shows – from shows such as Netflix’s Narcos, to Prime Video’s Goliath, to CBS’s Blue Bloods and NBC’s Chicago P.D.   Among other things, they tried to quantify portrayals of “wrongful actions” by members of law enforcement, the so-called “good guys.”  Among the 18 series where they found discernable trends, there was an average of eight wrongful acts committed by law enforcement professionals to every one wrongful act by a “bad guy.”  The report also found that 17 of the 26 series studied had police, F.B.I., or military personnel as consultants.

The study also found that 84% of writers for the 19 crime series on broadcast TV during the 2018-19 season were white.  Five series had entirely white writers’ rooms (The Blacklist, Law & Order: SVU, Blindspot, NCIS, and Blue Bloods).  Five other series had 90% or more white writers (Bull, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, Chicago P.D., and Brooklyn Nine Nine).  All of the series (except for CBS’s S.W.A.T.) had 15% or fewer Black writers, while nine (47%) had none.  The networks have promised to improve these numbers. 

The report also found that a large majority of police officers in TV crime dramas were white while a large majority of criminals were people of color.  They also pointed out something that I never thought about before – the casting of Black actors as judges to legitimize a racist system (in the guise of inclusion), while “voiceless” Black actors are cast as criminals.  While the judge thing is probably not intentional, and may just be seen as an easy way to add diversity to an episode, it is something to seriously consider.  

CBS, which airs to most procedural crime dramas, has reportedly committed at least 25% of its script development budget to creators and producers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).  The network has also set a goal that its writers’ rooms will be at least 40% BIPOC in the 2021-22 season, and at least 50% for 2022-23.  This could theoretically cause major changes in how race is portrayed on screen.  Whether or not these goals have been met is unclear. 

And to be sure, there have been some noticeable changes to several series.  Some are actually trying to address these issues in more than just a special episode where there’s some racist event or a racist cop where everything is resolved by episode’s end.  ABC’s The Rookie, for example, has incorporated multi-episode plotlines dealing with racism on the police force, the profiling of minorities, and over-policing of Black communities.  It should also be noted that aside from its star (Nathan Fillion) the main cast members are largely people of color.  And the writers’ room is one of the more diverse, with almost half being non-white. 

CBS shows, S.W.A.T. and The Equalizer, both with Black leads (Shemar Moore and Queen Latifah, respectively), have examined issues surrounding racism and policing in minority neighborhoods.  S.W.A.T. has also had several episodes dealing with corrupt cops, racist cops, LGBTQ+ rights, and the relationship between police and the Black community. 

It also dealt with a group of white supremacist cops, and how other white cops find some of their opinions “reasonable” sounding (even though they themselves aren’t perceived as racist).  The Equalizer has had a number of episodes focusing on race and racial profiling, including Asian hate crimes (one of the main cast members is Asian, and she had input into the storyline).

CBS’s FBI, and NBC’s Chicago P.D. have also had several episodes dealing with racial profiling – although showing the impact on minority members of the main unit, rather than on the general public.

These are just a few of the 20 hours of police procedural dramas on the broadcast networks during the 2022-23 season.  We can probably assume that the new CBS show, East New York, with its Black female lead (Amanda Warren), will have some focus on these issues as well.

But while there have been positive moves toward incremental change, the basic formula for most cop shows has remained substantially the same – even as some issues concerning race and police procedure take center stage.

And most law-enforcement shows still do no-knock warrants, which writer’s probably see as the best way to heighten the dramatic effect – I cringe every time I see a dozen or so cops on Chicago P.D., FBI,  or S.W.A.T. knock down doors with guns drawn, yelling at everyone inside to not move or get down.  Before Breonna Taylor, this wouldn’t have stood out to me at all.  Somehow, cops on TV shows never break down the wrong doors or shoot anyone in these situations by “accident.”

That said, here is a brief history of police shows on television to see where we’ve been and where we might be going.

Over the years, there have been some common themes to most cop shows – the look and feel of these shows have evolved over time, but many of the rules of the road are essentially the same.

Here are the six basic tenets of law enforcement shows on television:

1. Cops are typically honest, heroic, and good

From the earliest days of television this has been a basic tenet of virtually all cop series.  During the 1950s and 1960s, several of these shows (most notably, Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Adam--12, and The F.B.I.) had the cooperation of local law enforcement agencies, which often included script approval.  So they exclusively showed the police perspective.

Societal upheavals in the late 1960s to mid-1970s resulted in some TV police dramas shifting their focus to generational differences.  We started seeing younger cops who looked different from their older colleagues (and had differing perspectives) in shows like The Mod Squad and The Rookies.  We also saw irreverent shows satirizing law enforcement, such as Get Smart.  Several of these shows were populated by more women and people of color.  But even if different generations of cops didn’t understand one another, they were still all good guys.

In the 1980s (Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice), 1990s (NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Street), cop shows became grittier and more graphic, and we saw that some cops could be corrupt.  But those were (and still are) usually presented as a few bad apples who eventually get their comeuppance.  The main characters, whose exploits we follow week after week, were more heroic than ever.

When cable started airing original scripted series, we started to see more police misconduct.  This began more or less in 2002 with FX’s The Shield (2002-08) and HBO’s The Wire (2002-08), which debuted a few months apart.  But these types of shows are relatively rare, particularly on broadcast television.  Other series that feature corrupt cops include, Low Winter Son (AMC, 2013), True Detective (HBO 2014-19), Shades of Blue (NBC, 2016-18), Training Day (CBS, 2017), City on a Hill (Showtime, 2019- ), and We Own This City (HBO, 2022).

2. Violent crime is on the rise, but most crimes are solved

Despite the fact that violent crime declined by 71% between 1993 and 2018 (according to the U.S. Department of Justice), a 2016 Vox-Morning Consult survey showed that roughly two-thirds of Americans thought violent crime was getting worse.  While newscasts certainly contributed to this, so did the increasing number of police series that show violent crimes in every episode, leading many to believe there are daily murders and rampant crime in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago (the most common locales for police dramas). 

During the 2021-22 television season, there more than 20 crime-based TV shows just on the broadcast networks, with several others on cable, and streaming services.  Police procedurals, which usually have crimes solved by the end of the hour, provide an unrealistic view of not only the crime rate, but on the effectiveness and relative quickness of solving each case.  FBI statistics for 2019 show that police nationwide cleared 45.5% of reported violent crimes and only 17.2% of property crimes.  On television shows, it’s more like 95%. 

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3. Crossing the line is OK to catch the bad guys

The city (or country, or world) is only safe because of righteous avengers who are willing to do things no one else is willing or able to do.  These are typified by Andy Sipowicz (NYPD Blue), Elliot Stabler (Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime), Jack Bauer (24), Vic Mackey (The Shield), Danny Reagan (Blue Bloods), Matt Wozniak (Shades of Blue), and Hank Voight (Chicago P.D.). 

Roughing up suspects is acceptable if it helps bring the bad guys to justice.  Other cops stand by and do nothing – even those who are opposed to what is happening, because they know the world is safer due to the few who are willing to take morally ambiguous action.  You can’t worry about constitutional or civil rights when time is running out to prevent innocent civilians from being hurt.  Actions that might ordinarily be seen as deplorable are forgiven and justified when committed by popular characters who on television almost always mistreat suspects who are eventually shown to be guilty anyway.  They seldom “interrogate” the innocent.

There have been some recent attempts to make it seem as if police departments on TV are instituting policies against doing anything that crosses the line, such as roughing up suspects to get them to talk.  But these are generally presented as being misguided efforts from bureaucrats that invariably interfere with or prevent catching the bad guys.

Writers seem to have settled on the common refrain, “We don’t do that anymore.”   In one recent episode of Chicago, P.D., for example, as Hank Voight is about to hit a suspect, one of his subordinates stops him and says, “We don’t do that anymore.”  Hank glares at her for a few seconds before backing off.  If only that would happen in real life.  Likewise, in Law & Order: Organized Crime, when Elliot Stabler is about to beat up a suspect, Olivia Benson says, “We don’t do it this way anymore” – not because they think it’s actually wrong, but because “everything is being looked at through a different prism now.”  

In Blue Bloods, when Danny is about to rough up a suspect, his female partner says, “We don’t do that anymore” (it’s usually a female cop who stops a male cop from crossing the line).  We are also starting to see a cop who is about to assault a suspect being told by his partner to calm down because there are cameras everywhere and everyone has a smartphone – in other words, don’t cross the line, not because it’s wrong, but because people might record you and you could lose your job. 

Chicago P.D., recently had an episode where the new police chief, who is determined to do things by the book and stop violating suspects’ rights, does not allow detectives to enter a property to catch a dangerous psychopath who had kidnapped her son.  Even though they are reasonably sure where he was hiding, she insists on continuing to investigate until they have enough probable cause for a search warrant.  As a result of the delay, her son is tortured and killed.  The clear message of the show was that it’s fine to institute new policies to prevent cops from breaking the rules, but those who make these policies are naïve, and endangering the public by no longer permitting cops to do whatever it takes to catch the really bad guys.  After they discover her son’s body, she tells Voight to do whatever it takes to catch the killer (she realizes he was right all along, and progressive policies that look good on paper can be dangerous in practice).

4. Racism exists but is not systemic

There might be some individual racist cops, but they are rare and easily recognizable – and usually have links to white supremacist groups.  Shows like Chicago P.D., The Rookie, FBI, and S.W.A.T.(the only police series on network TV with a Black showrunner and Black lead star), recently started having multi-episode storylines that deal with racism on the police force in ways never before seen on broadcast television.  Most of these plots, however, focus on racism as seen through the eyes of Black police officers – this does provide for interesting perspectives but hardly addresses the impact of police brutality and racial profiling on the daily life of regular citizens.  In most cases, the surrounding white cops seem oblivious to the issue until a Black colleague loses his or her cool. 

Of course, it is still typically presented as just a few bad apples.  Police brass is usually shown as being unaware that racism is a widespread problem in the department and not knowing how to deal with it.  It’s up to the Black cops to educate their colleagues and superiors, often at great personal and professional risk.  The white members of his unit, ordinarily presented as clever and observant, are invariably naïve on the subject of racial bias, but are virtually never actually racist themselves.

Law & Order: SVU had an episode where our hero, Olivia Benson, questions whether she unconsciously racially profiled a suspect.  The main cops on TV shows never seem to consciously racially profile anyone – and by the end of the episode tend to learn their lesson.

 

5. Cops are mentored and well trained

Cops and FBI agents are taught the right way to do their jobs by veterans, mentors, or instructors.  The whole theme of The Rookie, for example, is that every rookie cop is assigned a training officer who teaches them proper procedure and how to deal with suspects and potential crimes.  Until they pass muster, they can’t be promoted.  Quantico had a full season devoted to showing how well trained FBI agents are. The good cops, (i.e., most cops), even rookies, can stand up to the few crooked or racist cops and eventually succeed in getting them removed from the force (or at least disciplined).

6. The evidence is color blind

FBI series or those featuring other law enforcement agencies (such as NCIS or CSI) seldom address racial inequities.  They simply follow the evidence.  The evidence never lies and virtually always leads to capturing the bad guys or getting them to confess.  Race has nothing to do with it.  Social context is irrelevant.  They seldom jump to conclusions as to where the evidence leads based on the color of someone’s skin.  Most of the time, they show law enforcement rising above and fighting against racism and bias demonstrated by the general public.

In recent times, virtually all of these types of series, Criminal Minds, the various NCISs and FBIs, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Quantico, etc., feature diverse casts who are relentless in tracking down suspects, and have seemingly unlimited resources at their disposal.  The bulk of the criminals in these shows range from serial killers (who are almost always white men), to white supremacists, to crazy white women, to foreign bad actors.  If anyone in the main squad or precinct shows any racial insensitivity, it’s most often presented as simply a lack of understanding, and they are set straight by the appropriate minority member of their group.  Of these shows, only the original FBI has consistently tackled the topic of racial bias within and without their ranks.

Here’s a look at how cop and crime shows have evolved (and not evolved) over time.

1950s/60s: 

It’s Black and White: Cops are the Noble and True (and white)

On law-enforcement shows that started airing in the 1950s, cops and FBI agents were generally older white men or clean-cut younger white men who looked up to their older white male mentors.  The names of these shows were simple and descriptive – Man Against Crime (1949-54), Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949-54), Treasury Men in Action (1950-55), Dragnet (1951-59), The Lineup (1954-60), Highway Patrol (1955-59), Naked City (1958-63), 77 Sunset Strip (1958-64).  Shows that debuted in the early 1960s, such as The Untouchables (1959-63), The Saint (1962-69), The Fugitive (1963-67), and The F.B.I. (1965-74) were a bit more violent, but largely followed the 1950s model. Even the comedy, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) fit into this general mold. 

Cops were honest and good, and almost never broke the rules.  Both the cops and the criminals were typically white men.  If the show continued to air into the early 1960s, you’d occasionally see a Black officer, detective, or secretary, and more minority criminals.  If FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s name was mentioned, it was virtually always with reverence.

From the beginning, many crime shows built relationships with local police departments.  Dragnet’s Jack Webb, who played upright “just the facts, ma’am” detective Joe Friday, submitted the show’s scripts to the LAPD’s Public Information Division and omitted anything they didn’t approve.  The F.B.I. vetted every detail of the original TV series, The F.B.I., which included background checks to make sure no “criminals, subversives, or Communists” were associated with the show.  The closing credits for Adam-12, stated, “Technical advice for the filming of Adam-12 was approved by the board of Police Commissioners and came from the office of … Los Angeles Police Department.” 

1960s / Early 1970s

The Times They Are a Changin’ (but the cops are still noble and true)

 

As the country experienced the turmoil led by the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the resulting generational rifts, the networks seemed uncertain as to how they should present crime and punishment.  Cops, F.B.I. agents, and detectives were still mostly clean-cut white men, but you would occasionally see clean-cut Black officers or assistants/secretaries.  Cops were still universally good and heroic, and almost always played by the rules, using their cleverness to outwit and catch the bad guys.  J. Edgar Hoover was still seen as the epitome of righteous law enforcement.

 

The differing, mostly generational, public perceptions during the late 1960s and early 1970s is epitomized by the fact that Adam 12 (1968-75), which was as clean-cut and by-the-book as you can get, premiered the same year counterculture series, The Mod Squad (1968-73).  The latter is about young undercover cops, revolutionary not just for casting a woman and a Black man in leading roles, but for also trying to address the generation gap and social issues of the time.  It was actually advertised as “One black, one white, one blonde.”  The Mod Squad was the first broadcast network police drama with a woman in a leading role.  Anne Francis actually predated Mod Squad by a few years, starring in Honey West (1965-66), as a female private eye.  The half-hour series ran for just one season.

A few other cop/detective shows debuting in the late 1960s / early 1970s, most notably Ironside (1967-75), Mannix (1967-75), and The Rookies (1972-76), also had central (although not leading) Black cast members.  And, of course, Hawaii Five-0 (1968-80) had people of color in its cast.  Mannix’s loyal secretary Peggy (Gail Fischer) was one of the first regular series roles for a Black woman.

For the first time in the mid-60s there were shows that satirized law enforcement – Car 54, Where Are You? (1961-63), Get Smart (1965-70), and Batman (1966-68).  There were also several action spy series clearly influenced by the success of 1960s James Bond films, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger.  These included, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68), I Spy (1965-68), which was the first American TV drama to feature a Black actor (Bill Cosby) in a lead role, and Mission Impossible (1966-73), which also had a regular Black cast member.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, the only thing that changed about how the police treated suspects, was now they had to inform them of their Miranda rights (due to the 1966 Supreme Court decision).  They would often read suspects their rights from a preprinted card.  You would sometimes see suspects having to be released because they weren’t read their rights to remain silent and that anything they say can be used against them in a court of law.

1970s 

The Maverick “Outsider” Cop (approach but don’t cross the line)

Represented by tough white men – McCloud (1970-77), Columbo (1971-78), Cannon (1971-76),  Banacek (1972-73), Toma (1973-74), Kojak (1973-78), Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files (1974-80), Starsky & Hutch (1975-79), and Baretta (1975-78) – maverick cops who were part of the establishment, but usually played by their own rules.  That was fine because it almost always resulted in getting the bad guys.  As long as you “read them their rights,” everything else was O.K.  These characters were no doubt influenced by Clint Eastwood’s iconic 1971 theatrical film role as Dirty Harry – and the public perception among many at the time that criminals had more “rights” than their victims.  These characters were precursors to Miami Vice’s Crockett and Tubbs.

The 1970s were big on titles based on character names.  In addition to the ones mentioned above, the networks aired, Dan August (1970-71), Longstreet (1971-72), McMillan & Wife (1971-77), O’Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971-72), Banyon (1972-73), Chase (1973-740, Griff (1973-74), Harry O (1974-76), and Ellery Queen (1975-76).  There were a few shows featuring Black lead characters, but most were short lived – Shaft (1973-74), Tenafly (1973-74), Get Christie Love! (1974-75).

Social Issues, Minor Racial Diversity, and Women (for the male gaze)

Shows like The Mod Squad (1968-73) and The Rookies (1972-76) had more diverse casts than previous police shows.  Both had Black men in leading roles.  Both featured younger cops as the networks tried to appeal to younger viewers.  They also took on the establishment and addressed social ills and the “generation gap” in ways not seen before on TV.  Streets of San Francisco (1972-77) dealt with social issues and generational differences as well.

 

CHiPs (1977-83) was the first cop show on television to feature a Latino police officer in a leading role.  Barney Miller (1975-82), one of the first comedies about cops, featured a diverse cast that included Black, Puerto Rican, Polish-American, and Japanese-American detectives in a New York police precinct.  There were a couple of recurring female cops and detectives (female detectives were not yet a regular thing on television), and a gay cop joined the squad during its fourth season.

Police Woman (1974-78) featured a female undercover cop (who mostly went undercover as a prostitute, dancer, prison inmate, nurse, or flight attendant).  Its lead, Angie Dickenson, was the first woman to star in an hour-long drama.  Peggy Lipton preceded her on The Mod Squad, but she wasn’t the singular star.  It also reportedly influenced many women to apply for police positions across the country.  Jessica Walter starred in Amy Prentiss, playing a female detective, as part of NBC’s Mystery Movie, but it was canceled after three two-hour episodes.

 

Get Christie Love! (1974-75) had its roots in black exploitation films, being inspired by Pam Grier movies – Christie’s trademark line was “You’re under arrest, sugar.”  Its single season was historically significant because Teresa Graves was the first Black woman to star in an hour-long drama.

Charlie’s Angels (1976-81), featuring three young female cops, became a hit and helped coin the phrase “jiggle TV” (basically scantily clad women jumping around – also known as “T & A TV”).  They took their assignments from Charlie, a heard but unseen mysterious male boss.  A man named Bosley acted as liaison between Charlie and his “Angels,” and supervised their assignments.  Even though Farah Fawcett was only in the first season, she became pop-culture superstar. 

These shows, starring women but written by men as a sort of male-fantasy TV, obviously don’t hold up well today.  But their success did pave the way for women being given more substantial and authentic leading roles in police and detective series.  And just as with the men, female cops were portrayed as universally good and often heroic.  But in the 1970s (and much of the 1980s) female diversity, for the most part, meant simply casting both blondes and brunettes.

1980s

Women and People of Color Take Center Stage

 

Women were given more prominent roles in crime dramas during the 1980s, highlighted by Cagney & Lacey (1982-88), the first cop show to feature two female partners as the main characters (although as a sign of the times, the original casting was changed during the first season, with Sharon Gless replacing Meg Foster, because network executives were afraid the original pair seemed too much like lesbians).

Murder, She Wrote (1984-96) also had a female lead.  Several other shows featured male/female partners – Hart to Hart (1979-84), T.J. Hooker (1982-86), Remington Steele (1982-87), Scarecrow & Mrs. King (1983-87), Hunter (1984-91), and Moonlighting (1985-89).  Female cops were generally portrayed as just as heroic as their male counterparts, but tended to be more likely to follow the rules and not mistreat suspects – one rare exception was Lady Blue (1985-86), whose lead female detective was even more violent than most of her male counterparts.  Way ahead of its time, neither viewers nor critics were ready to see a woman in this type of role.

21 Jump Street (1987-91), Fox’s first hit drama, in addition to making Johnny Depp a star, featured a Black woman and other people of color in leading roles.  In the Heat of the Night (1988-95), based on the 1967 hit movie, featured a Black man as one of the lead characters, as did the one-season wonder, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980).  A Man Called Hawk (1989), with Avery Brooks as a P.I. was another one-season show with a Black lead – a spin-off from Spenser: For Hire (1985-88). 

Police/Detective Shows Add Some Humor

In the early 1980s, network sitcoms were in decline (until The Cosby Show premiered in 1984).  As a way of compensating, many dramas, including cop shows, incorporated comedic elements, often featuring humorous banter (romantic and otherwise) among partners.  These included, Hart to Hart (1979-84), Magnum, P.I. (1980-88), Simon & Simon (1981-89), Remington Steele (1982-87), Scarecrow & Mrs. King (1983-87), Hardcastle & McCormick (1983-86), Crazy Like a Fox (1984-86), Hunter (1984-91), Moonlighting (1985-89), and Jake and the Fatman (1987-92).  These types of shows typically featured white men and women – mixed-race romances, or even flirtations, were not yet acceptable on network television.

Crimes and Cops Get More Violent (and Stylish)

 

Police and detective shows in the 1980s were punctuated by two of the best and grittiest – Hill Street Blues (1981-87), and Miami Vice (1984-90).  Both groundbreaking series included women and people of color as police officers and detectives.  Both shows featured criminals who were far more brutal than those on television in previous decades.  So, of course, the cops were justified in being just as brutal to bring them to justice.  Hill Street Blues’ cops often faced off with street gangs (typically Black and Hispanic), while Miami Vice took on drug cartels (most often Hispanic or Asian).  Vice was also known for its pulsating MTV-style soundtrack and hyper-stylized visuals. 

The short-lived Crime Story (1986-88), whose style and look were similar to Miami Vice (both produced by Michael Mann), had a clear impact on Wiseguy (1987-90), which also featured unusually brutal (for the time) bad guys.  All four of these series notable for their use of serialized storylines (rather than the more common close-ended episodes) that were prototypes for many of the edgier cop shows to follow.

1980s/90s

Ensemble Police Dramas Require Integrating Casts

 

During the 1970, ‘80’s, and ‘90s, there were several popular sitcoms with Black casts, but few dramas with central Black characters.  The 1980s and ‘90s ushered in ensemble casts focusing on police precincts and squads of cops, rather than the individuals or partnerships that were more prevalent in the 1960s and ‘70s.  Pioneered by Hill Street Blues (1981-87), these shows covered multiple story arcs devoted to various characters.  It would have been ridiculous to have shows about detective units or police precincts in major urban areas without having key roles for Black and Hispanic characters.  Ensemble cop shows in this era include, Miami Vice (1984-90), 21 Jump Street (1987-91), Law & Order (1990-2010), NYPD Blue (1993-2005), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), and Brooklyn South (1997-98).

1990s 

Black and Latino Characters Move into Central Roles

In the 1990s, Black and Latino cops and detectives became more commonplace on television.  These shows included, In the Heat of the Night (1988-95), Law & Order (1990-2010), Gabriel’s Fire (1990-91), one of the first police series with a singular Black lead character, Street Justice (1991-93), NYPD Blue (1993-2005), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001), New York Undercover (1994-99), the first police drama on American television to feature two people of color in starring roles, The Sentinel (1996-99), Pacific Blue (1996-2000), Nash Bridges (1996-2001), and L.A. Heat (1999).  Renegade (1992-97) had a Hispanic police officer team up with a Native American bounty hunter.  The comedy-drama, The Commish (1991-96), was the decade’s anomaly, with a white male lead.  There was also Martial Law (1998-2000), which was the only network primetime show in the U.S. headlined by an East Asian (Sammo Hung).  It’s interesting to note that most of the Black and Latino cops portrayed in the 1990s were less likely to brutalize suspects than were their white counterparts.

Women continued to star in police series during the 1990s.  Of the shows listed above, NYPD Blue, Homicide, New York Undercover, and Pacific Blue each have women in key roles.  In addition, Profiler (1996-2000) features a female FBI agent, while Sirens (1993-95) tells the story of three female rookie cops, each of whom works with an experienced veteran who, of course, provides them with excellent training. One-season series, Angel Street (1992), teamed two female detectives, one Black and one white.

Supernatural drama combined with law enforcement, as The X-Files (1993-2002) was one of television’s signature shows of the 1990s.  It paired up male and female FBI agents who investigate unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.  Millennium (1996-99) also involved supernatural elements as an ex-FBI agent hunts down serial killers and other murderers. 

2000s 

Terrorism, Sex Crimes, Corruption: The End Still Justifies the Means

As the new decade got underway, NYPD Blue and the original Law & Order were still going strong.  Since both series are set in New York City, both were severely affected by the events of September 11, 2001.  They, along with other police/detective/FBI series had to start balancing the presumed continuing threat of Middle Eastern based terrorism, with the ensuing prejudice against Muslims by both regular citizens and law enforcement.  The threat of terror attacks, both from abroad and through sleeper cells within the U.S., was an ongoing theme throughout the decade.

The aftermath of 9/11, with the U.S. government’s stance toward “enhanced interrogation,” and the new law known as The Patriot Act, the path was set for counter-terrorism and CIA shows such as 24 (2001-10), The Agency (2001-03), and Alias (2001-06), the first hour-long spy series with a female lead.  All were in production before 9/11, but the events that day changed the direction these shows would take.  The bottom line was that terrorism was such a threat that anything our heroes do to the bad guys is justified as long as it helps prevent the next attack or protects innocent civilians.  24, one of the most popular series on television, relentlessly sent out this message for the entire decade.

In 1999, an extension to the popular Law & Order franchise, Law & Order: SVU premiered (becoming television’s longest running drama, now entering its 24^th season).  More intense than most cop shows on broadcast TV, it focused primarily on often grisly sex-related crimes.  The show has received praise for bringing some of these crimes and issues (such as “no means no”) into mainstream programming, and for its star, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, becoming a real-life champion for sex assault survivors’ rights.  It has also received criticism for presenting an unrealistic portrayal and raising unrealistic expectations of what a real-life sex-crimes unit actually does.  The show has also been criticized for clumsily handling issues of race (It has had a mostly white writers’ room) – but that’s true of a lot of series.

In 2002, ad-supported cable got into the original scripted drama arena, when The Shield (2002-08) debuted on FX.  It  broke many long-standing conventions and led to a gradual increase in edgier dramas on television.  A decade earlier, Steven Bochco famously said he intended ABC’s NYPD Blue to be television’s first R-rated series.  The Shield, with its gritty portrayal of sex, violence, and corrupt cops, really was.  It employed content and language never before seen on ad-supported television.  It also shone a light on police corruption and brutality throughout the police force.  The LAPD was reportedly not happy with The Shield’s portrayal of police, and threatened to withdraw standard security support for the production (according to the show’s executive producer Glen Mazzara).  Characters in the series therefore never refer to “LAPD” by name.  They also wear fake badges on the wrong side of their uniforms. 

A few months after The Shield debuted, HBO premiered The Wire (2002-08).  With its focus on corruption and decay in a major urban city (Baltimore), and the intersection of cops, gangsters, and politicians, it took storytelling to a new level, and demonstrated that for many people in this country, the American Dream is a fiction.  The Wire remains one of the few television series that depicts systemic police brutality against regular citizens (mostly people of color) in addition to showing honest individual cops.  In other words, there can be honest cops in a corrupt system, as opposed to the standard TV narrative that there can be some corrupt cops in a generally honest system.

The 2000s gave us a number of police/detective dramas with women either in leading roles –  Crossing Jordan (2001-07), Karen Sisco (2003), Cold Case (2003-10), Veronica Mars (2004-07), The Closer (2005-12), In Plain Sight (2008-12) – or in equal partnerships with men –  Law & Order: SVU (1999-), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-11), Bones (2005-17), and Castle (2009-16).  There were also several series with racially diverse departments, teams, or partners, often with women in prominent roles, including, Third Watch (1999-2005), CSI (2000-15), The District (2000-04), CSI: Miami (2002-12), Without a Trace (2002-09), NCIS (2003- ), CSI: NY (2004-13), Criminal Minds (2005-2020), Sleeper Cell (2005-06), Psych (2006-14), Flashpoint (2008-12), and Leverage (2008-12).  All of these shows were successful, and all lasted for at least five years.  Monk (2002-09), Numb3rs (2005-10), and The Mentalist (2008-15) were the only ones with solely white male leading characters.

2010s 

A Mixed Bag of Genres – Diversity Reigns

The 2010s had a number of crime shows whose main protagonists fit into several different categories.  While many of these shows could be placed in different sub-genres of police/detective series, they all had one thing in common – the ends justifies the means.  Protecting suspects rights is important only until innocent people are at risk.  Then, anything goes.  And if your suspect turns out to be innocent, you just apologize and move on with no regrets.  You were just doing your job and trying to protect the public.  The greater good outweighs individual rights.

Diverse casts with female leads – Covert Affairs (2010-14), Rizzoli & Isles (2010-16), Body of Proof (2011-13), Homeland (2011-20), Unforgettable (2011-16), Jett (2019), L.A.’s Finest (2019-20) – most of these women are just as likely as men in similar shows to cross the line to bring the criminals to justice.

Diverse casts with male/female or multi-racial partners/teams – Castle (2009-16), Hawaii Five-0 (2010-20), The Chicago Code (2011), The Killing (2011-14), Elementary (2012-19), Longmire (2012-17), Banshee (2013-16), Scorpion (2014-18), True Detective (2014-19), Lethal Weapon (2016-19), C.B. Strike (2018- ), Magnum P.I. (2018- ), Rellik (2018), City on a Hill (2019- ).  Banshee was the first American scripted television series with a gender-fluid character as a main cast member.

Diverse group of federal agents – Criminal Minds (2005-2020), NCIS: Los Angeles (2009- ), The Blacklist (2013- ), NCIS: New Orleans (2014-21), CSI: Cyber (2015-16), Blindspot (2015-20), Quantico (2015-18), Mindhunter (2017-19),  FBI (2018- ) – most shows focusing on the FBI or other federal agencies have diverse casts, but seldom deal with racism (unless in the context of going after violent white supremacist groups), and almost never deal with police brutality.  FBI, which has a Muslim lead character, is one of the few exceptions.

Diverse group of detectives – Southland (2009-13) – One of the first police/detective series to have a regular gay (although closeted) police officer.  Major Crimes (2012-18) – one of the best procedural crime dramas, with a team of detectives led by a woman.  Successfully balances horrific crimes and light office banter.  One of the first series of its kind to highlight a gay teen character and same-sex relationships.  While it does have a diverse cast, both racially and age-wise, its sole Latino detective is the one to have a temper and anger management issues, often losing his cool and needing to be reeled in by his teammates.   

 

Bosch (2014-21) – multiple episodes have dealt with sexism (Bosch’s lieutenant is a woman), as well as police and political corruption.  Chicago P.D. (2014- ) – racism and political corruption have become central themes, as the detectives continue to do whatever it takes to eliminate threats to their own and to the general public.  Shades of Blue (2016-18) – Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta lead a crew that takes bribes and protection money, and thinks nothing of crossing any line to catch the bad guys (but they’re really decent people, who only break the rules to give their families a better life).

Diverse group of rookies – Rookie Blue (2010-15), The Rookie (2018- ) – rookie cops on TV shows are always well trained and taught right from wrong.  These two shows demonstrate the difference in diversity from the beginning to the end of the decade, as many series went from token to more substantial representation of Blacks and other minorities.

Diverse S.W.A.T. team (led by a Black man) – S.W.A.T. (2017- ) – this series has dealt with racism, sexism, and homophobia better than most police dramas.  Its diversity both in front and behind the camera makes it noticeably different in how it deals with these issues.  When it debuted, its star, Shemar Moore, was CBS’s only lead actor of color. 

Diverse group of detectives in a comedy – Brooklyn Nine Nine (2013-2021) – the first series about detectives, where the captain (who is Black) happens to be gay – and Angie Tribeca (2016-18).

White male leads – White Collar (2009-14), Justified (2010-15), Perception (2012-15), MacGyver (2016-21), Prodigal Son (2019-21).  What used to be the standard in casting is now relatively rare.  Instinct (2018-19) featured the first openly gay lead character (who is married to another man) in an American network television series.  Justified, being on FX, which has a reputation for edgier and grittier programming, is one of the more violent cop shows, with Timothy Olyphant portraying a deputy U.S. Marshal who dispenses “his own brand of justice.” 

This decade also brought us the noble police family in Blue Bloods (2010- ) – even when they occasionally cross the line, their intentions are good and they constantly question themselves – when a cop outside the family breaks the rules, the Commissioner (Tom Selleck) usually manages to boot them off the force by the end of the episode (as though police unions don’t exist), often getting them to resign (to avoid bad PR).  Blue Bloods has also had a number of episodes where Black activists try to frame innocent white cops for police brutality – until the righteous Commissioner Reagan persuades them or Black civilian witnesses to come clean.  In this world, the main problem is unfair public misperception of cops and Black activists who cause trouble.

And then there’s Fargo (2014- ), which defies genre labels but is certainly diverse, and features numerous women in leading roles.  Each season has a different cast of quirky and often violent characters.  It is one of the few (if not only) shows to present good, honest cops and corrupt, incompetent cops in relatively equal number.

2020s 

George Floyd, a Year of Protests, and a Promise to Change TV Cop Shows

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer, with other officers just standing by, captured on video for all the world to see, there was a backlash against the portrayal of law enforcement on TV series as universally heroic and righteous.  Networks and showrunners pledged to reassess how policing in minority communities and the brutalizing of suspects is portrayed in law enforcement related series.

The popular reality show Cops, which debuted on Fox in 1989 and shifted to Spike TV, now known as Paramount Network in 2013, was canceled in 2020.  Its “real-life” portrayal of harsh police tactics, particularly toward minorities, was no longer acceptable.  But then the conservative Fox Nation (a subscription video on demand service companion to Fox News) picked it up in 2021.    A&E Network’s Live PD, another highly rated reality show focusing on various police forces across the country, which had debuted in 2016, was also canceled in 2020.  In 2022, cable network Reelz, launched On Patrol: Live (from the same producers as Live PD) with surprisingly little backlash.

Twenty police dramas have premiered since 2020.  They include, Big Sky (2020- ), Briarpatch (2020), Deputy (2020), FBI: Most Wanted (2020- ), Hightown (2020- ), Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (2020), Tommy (2020), Clarice (2021), Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021- ), Walker (2021- ), The Equalizer (2021- ), CSI: Vegas (2021- ), FBI: International (2021- ), NCIS: Hawaii (2021- ), Mare of Easttown (2021), We Own This City (2022- ), Dark Winds (2022- ), Bosch: Legacy (2022), and the upcoming The Rookie: Feds (2022- ) and  East New York (2022- ).  Deputy was notable for having the first character in a broadcast television series come out as non-binary.

Since 2021, the bulk of new law enforcement series have been reboots/re-imaginings of past successful properties, or franchise extension.

Of these, five have Black leads (Briar Patch, Lincoln Rhyme, The Equalizer, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds, while four others have central Black characters (Big Sky, FBI: Most Wanted, Clarice, We Own This City).  The lead character in Hightown is Latina.  Nine of these shows – Big Sky, Briarpatch, Hightown, Tommy, Clarice, The Equalizer, Mare of Easttown, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds – have women in lead roles (Briarpatch, The Equalizer, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds star Black women).  Tommy features a lesbian police chief, and has a strong focus on sexism and homophobia.  Clarice, which takes place in the 1990s, has dealt extensively with sexism and racism. 

Unfortunately, both Tommy and Clarice were canceled after just one season, as were Briarpatch, and Lincoln Rhyme.  Of the remaining shows, only The Equalizer seems interested in addressing racial inequities in any ongoing way (I haven’t seen East New York beyond the pilot, but dealing with both racism and sexism seem to be on the agenda).

Will established police dramas continue to evolve in dealing with these issues now that full seasons are being produced post-pandemic and post-George Floyd?  Or will the lessening press focus on these issues enable business-as-usual inertia?  Just as important will be what new police dramas look like.  Will there even be many new series in this genre that aren’t extensions of popular brands? 

While there did seem to be some initial movement in this area, and there seems to be continuing progress made in diversifying writers’ rooms, there really haven’t yet been substantial changes to what makes it on air.

I watched the season premieres of the Law & Orders, FBI shows, and Chicago P.D. to see if I could notice any significant changes in how the police operated.  Not so much.  But this is admittedly a small sample size. 

During this season’s first episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime, a detective is trying to get information from someone who says he won’t cooperate without a warrant.  After the detective threatens him, he provides the information.  A fairly typical scene for cop shows.  But this time, the detective’s partner says, “It’s easy enough to get a subpoena, you didn’t need to do that.”  Is this what the writers think of as progress, or is it just a first step toward some change in attitude?

On Chicago P.D., they seem to have settled on a certain theme.  Rather than anyone actually standing up to Hank Voight when he breaks the rules, some detectives will privately talk among themselves that they don’t like what he’s doing, while some will stare at him with somber looks or tears in their eyes when he gives an order they don’t agree with.  One or two of his detectives will even argue with him briefly.  But when he dismisses their concerns they always wind up following him and publicly supporting him.  Because they know their city is safer with him on the job.

On FBI, there were a couple of instances where they several agents busted down doors (no-knock warrants), guns drawn.  Of course, no innocent people were hurt.  Fairly typical.  There was nothing in any of the FBI shows that were significantly different from previous seasons.

So, while there are some signs of incremental change, the networks and showrunners should not be patting themselves on the back just yet for the baby steps they are now taking after 70 years of what many refer to as “copaganda.”  There’s still a long way to go.  More diverse representation and perspectives in front of and behind the camera (and in the writers’ rooms) are the keys to real change.

Severance is the Best New Show of 2022

With the Emmy Awards airing on Monday, I thought it was a good time to provide a review of the best new series of the year.  Refreshingly original, uniquely inventive, and brilliantly conceived, Severance debuted on Apple TV+ in February 2022.  It sits at the top of an impressive stable of original series for the three-year-old streaming service that includes, For All Mankind, Foundation, Pachinko, See, Slow Horses, and The Morning Show. 

Of course, when I say best, I don’t necessarily mean most popular.  I know a number of people whose taste in television and movies are generally in synch with my own who hate Severance.  And for the life of me, it’s hard to explain to them why I like this show so much.  And I certainly understand why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.  I’ve never seen a series where so little actually happens in each episode (except for the unbelievably tense season finale) that is nevertheless so compelling and endlessly interesting – much of which is due to the stellar cast.  It’s a wonderfully innovative series that combines multiple genres – workplace comedy, sci-fi, mystery drama, psychological conspiracy thriller, and religious allegory.  For some reason, the show reminds me of the Bob Dylan classic, Ballad of a Thin Man – “You know something’s happening here, but you don’t know what it is …”

Work-life balance comes to the forefront in this mystery thriller from Ben Stiller.  Office workers voluntarily undergo a medical procedure known as “severance,” which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives.  When they are in the office, they do not recall anything about their outside lives, friends, or families.  When they leave the office, they remember nothing about their jobs or co-workers.  The elevator ride into and out of the office erases all memories of their other selves.  Their work selves are referred to as “innies’” and their outside selves as “outies.”  There is extremely tight security and full body scans upon entering the building’s elevator to prevent either version of an employee from trying to smuggle communications or clues to their other self.

While the innies and outies are technically the same people, only the outies have any life experience.  The innies just exist at work, and are essentially placed into a world where they have no past and no knowledge of anything or anyone beyond the few co-workers with whom they share a windowless, blank-wall, fluorescent-lit  office space, and their controlling bosses who dole out rewards if they meet production quotas (and punishments if they break the rules).  Once they leave the office they have no memory of going home or going to sleep.  Their experience is leaving the office and immediately returning to the office (and somehow feeling refreshed if their outies had a good night’s sleep). 

Would employees be content with this situation or would they find it a torturous existence?  Different people respond in dramatically different ways.  To make matters even more frustrating for some, is that the innies are basically trapped.  Even if they want to quit they can’t unless their outie agrees – which they virtually never do, partly because they have no idea what their innie is actually going through at work. 

The series follows Mark Scout (a pitch-perfect Adam Scott), an employee at the mysterious Lumon industries, who was recently promoted to lead a team in the Macrodata Refinement division on the “severed” floor (in the basement of the building).  Even the employees of this division don’t know what Lumon does.  Their entire job seems to be looking at a computer screen filled with row after row numbers which they have to classify (based on how the numbers make them feel) and sort into the appropriate folders.

This darkly humorous commentary on the drudgery and insidious cult-like nature of corporate office cubicle life is amplified by the fact that these worker bees have no idea why they are performing these dull, repetitive tasks. 

Mark was elevated to team leader after the previous team leader and his best friend (at work), Petey (Yul Vaquez), was fired under mysterious circumstances.  Petey’s replacement, Helly R. (Britt Lower), quickly decides she doesn’t want to work there, but since her outie does (and she has no idea why) there’s no escape.  Her performance is nothing short of spectacular. 

The rest of Mark’s team are Irving (the always terrific John Turturro), who is a dignified stickler for company policy, and Dylan (Zach Cherry), a wisecracking follower, who enjoys the bizarre company perks employees receive for achieving certain goals (such as finger traps, waffle parties, and five-minute music/dance breaks). 

In the outside world, the severance procedure is controversial, with many people protesting it as unethical.  One reason Mark’s outie agreed to the procedure is because he is grieving the death of his wife.  But and as his pregnant sister (Jen Tullock) tells him, “forgetting for eight hours a day is not the same as healing.”  At work, with no recollection of his outside life, Mark is relatively content, although he misses Petey and is constantly trying to deal with Helly and prevent her from being punished for breaking the rules and trying to escape. 

One day, in his outside life, a man he Mark recognize approaches him and says he is his co-worker Petey, and has managed, with help from a secret organization, to reverse the severance procedure (something which is supposed to be impossible).  He goes on to tell him that Lumon industries is an evil company, but won’t say exactly what they do – he fears the company is searching for him and his life is in danger.  This sets up almost  everything that follows.

It’s Helly’s persistent and courageous rebellion that gradually nudges her seemingly content co-workers to start questioning their work and seeking answers about their outside lives – which puts them all in danger.

Patricia Arquette is chilling as Harmony Cobel, Mark’s boss at Lumon, who is also his next door neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, on the outside.  Although she takes on two separate identities, we soon realize she is not severed, and is actually keeping tabs on Mark’s outie. 

Christopher Walken plays another of his many wonderfully quirky characters as Burt, the severed chief of the mysterious Optics and Design division, who has a mutual attraction with John Turturro’s Irving (one of the more fascinating relationships on television).  Tramell Tillman is creepy as Mr. Milchick, the constantly smiling supervisor of the severed floor, who doles out rewards and punishments.  Dichen Lachman is a find as the robotic Mrs. Casey, a Lumon wellness counselor on the severed floor, who may be more than she seems. 

The season finale has some major reveals and a bold cliffhanger (considering it was filmed before the show was officially renewed for a second season) – it’s among the most tense and thrilling episodes of television ever (particularly the last five minutes).  There’s nothing else like this on television.

A League of Their Own Gets to Third Base

Co-created by Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), who also stars, and Will Graham (Mozart in the Jungle), and inspired by Penny Marshall’s pitch-perfect 1992 theatrical film of the same name,  this new version of A League of Their Own has its own reason for being.  As in the movie, this comedy-drama centers around the Illinois-based Rockford Peaches, one of four teams of women competing in the newly formed All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II (the real-life league operated from 1943-1954).  But this is a different group of women from the movie, several of whom simply couldn’t be featured in a mainstream film 30 years ago.      

The league was formed as a way to keep America’s pastime going as young men, including many baseball players, were being sent off to war.  But this is not simply a remake or a reimagining of the original.  It’s more like an expansion.  Thirty years ago, the diversity of stories that major studios wanted to delve into was limited.  And eight episodes allows for telling more stories than you could fit into a two-hour movie.

This series, while still focusing on the Rockford Peaches, tells the stories of a different (more historically accurate) team of women, and the very real discrimination (and often danger) they experienced and occasionally overcame.  The stories of women who, because of the times, had to hide who they really were and socialize in secret.  And of others, who because of their skin color didn’t even have the limited opportunities afforded to white women.  As this series effectively points out, there are different levels of privilege even among the underprivileged.

The show’s creators reportedly did extensive research into the private lives of the women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, both on and off the field, and consulted with around 20 former players.  This series has more LGBTQ+ lead female characters than any show ever (except those specifically about lesbians, such as The L Word).  I was unaware of this before watching the show, since Prime Video’s promos did not focus on this main aspect of the series – probably afraid it might scare away too many viewers.  The promos are clearly designed to draw fans of the original movie, many of whom will be surprised by the more adult themes of the TV series. 

One reason movies don’t often translate well to television is because they tend to continue stories that were designed for a one-time feature film, and the new cast typically doesn’t live up to the high expectations set by the original – would viewers respond well to a Dottie not played by Geena Davis or a Mae not played by Madonna, or a Doris played by someone other than Rosie O’Donnell?  While this has the same basic frame of the original movie, it is essentially a completely new series with different characters.  And while the movie primarily centers on baseball and the actual playing of the games, the TV series uses baseball as the launching point to focus on the main characters’ personal lives (although it does have some exciting baseball scenes, particularly the championship game).

The series revolves around two major parallel storylines.

Carson Shaw (Abbi Jacobson) leaves her small Idaho farm town to pursue her dream of playing baseball while her husband is off to war.  While she loves him, she always knew there was something wrong with her marriage.  She discovers exactly what that is when she meets Greta, a glamorous, outgoing, flirty, and seemingly confident woman from the big-city (played by the wonderful D’Arcy Carden who many viewers will remember as Janet from The Good Place).  Greta uses her femininity and charm, and flaunts the fact that she dates multiple men, to hide the fact that she is gay.  She came from New York City to try-out with her fun-loving and inseparable best friend, Jo DeLuca (Melanie Field).

The superb cast of Rockford Peaches include, Roberta Colindrez as Lupe Garcia, the team’s stubborn and emotional Mexican-American pitcher, Kelly McCormick as Jess McCready, a hyper-competitive player from Canada, Priscilla Delgado as Esti Gonzalez, a young Cuban player who doesn’t speak English, Kate Berlant as Shirley Cohen, the only Jewish player on the team, and Molly Ephram as Maybelle Fox, a seemingly oblivious platinum blonde, who surprisingly turns out to be an insightful ally of the gay players.

As in the movie, the girls are forced to go to charm school, and can be kicked off the team if they don’t pass, or if they break the rules (they can be fined for wearing pants outside the home).  They also have to wear uniforms not at all suited to playing baseball.  The goal is basically to force the players to live up to a feminine ideal (and “8-10 inches of calf”) to sell the league to mostly male baseball fans.  These scenes also highlight the casual but rampant racism of the time – a Mexican-American player is called Spanish because it sounds exotic and is more palatable to white fans, while another player is derided as looking “too Semitic.”  When Carson asks Greta why she thinks they’re putting them through all this, Carson replies, ‘it’s to make sure we don’t look like a bunch of queers.” 

Nick Offerman is Dove, a former major league baseball player, now coach of the Peaches.  Unlike the Tom Hanks character, his role has been dramatically reduced.  While the misogynistic Jimmy from the movie, stuck around long enough to gradually be redeemed and fully embrace his female players and their dreams, the misogynistic Dove quickly abandons them as soon as he is offered a better job.  It seems his character only existed to disappear and provide an excuse to name Carson the team’s manager.  He could have done a lot with the part if given a chance, but they wanted this show to focus exclusively on the women.  His absence gives more time to the Peaches’ chaperone, Beverly (Dale Dickey), who shines in the role.  He may have also just been included so promos could make viewers think the TV series was a truer extension of the movie.

The other major storyline involves Maxine “Max” Chapman (Chante Adams), a talented Black pitcher trying to break into professional baseball.  Because of her race, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League won’t even consider her – even after she throws a baseball with such force and accuracy that it’s clear she’s better than any pitcher in the league.  Her character is reportedly based on three women who actually played in the Negro Leagues.  She is another of the closeted leading characters exploring her sexual identity.

There’s a scene in the original movie where the baseball goes into foul territory and is picked up by a Black woman wearing a nice dress and hat.  While Dottie Hansen (Geena Davis) is waiting for the ball to be returned, it is unexpectedly thrown back with incredible force and precision.  The Black woman gives Dottie a look as if to say, “That’s right, there’s more going on in the world than you know about.”  Dottie silently nods, returns to her game, and the movie continues.  Who was that anonymous Black woman, and what was her story?  She was obviously good enough to play in this league – but didn’t (or rather, wasn’t allowed to).  Her story is Max’s story. 

Max manages to get a job at the local factory, which ordinarily doesn’t hire Black women.  With the army starting to recruit Black men, however, they are desperate for bodies.  She hopes to get a spot on the company’s all-male baseball team.  A bigger opportunity arises when a traveling Negro League team comes to town. 

Gbemisola Ikumelo is Clance Morgan, Max’s best friend and aspiring comic-book artist, who is initially unaware her friend is gay (and calls trans people “freaks”).  Saidah Arrika Ekulona is Toni Chapman, Max’s mom, who owns her own hair salon, and does not support her daughter’s dream of playing baseball, which she sees as a pipe dream.  She wants her to take over the salon someday, telling her that without a man, a Black woman will struggle to survive unless she owns her own business. 

Lea Robinson is Bert Hart, Max’s trans uncle, in what is a truly groundbreaking role.  Dressed in impeccably tailored suits, Bertie is a successful businessman, a Black, gender-nonconforming trans man, living in a hidden world mostly behind closed doors.  Equally groundbreaking is that Lea Robinson is transgender and identifies as non-binary gender nonconforming.  

Max barely remembers Bertie, who has been estranged from her mother for many years.  Bertie lives with his partner Gracie (Patrice Covington), who Bertie calls his wife.  When Max finally meets Bertie, and discovers this world, she starts to think maybe the future can lead to more than just an unhappy marriage.  Max is surprised that Bertie and his family confidently venture out in public.  They see no reason not to live their lives to the fullest despite the obvious dangers.

The two main storylines start to overlap as Carson and Max begin an uneasy friendship that becomes a stronger bond as the series progresses.  Carson was there when Max attempted to join the Rockford Peaches.  Later, Max saw Carson and Greta secretly kiss, and realizes they may have something in common.  They meet up to play catch, or have a catch – they disagree on the correct phrase.  They also discuss various aspects of their lives, and Max calls Carson out for not standing up for her when the league wouldn’t let her try out for a team.  This makes Carson realizes for the first time that even with her own struggles, by simply being white, she enjoys privileges, however limited, that escape her new friend.

Because of the times, Max and her world could not really interact with the world of the Rockford Peaches, so the two storylines play out separately.  In one episode, Carson secretly follows one of her teammates to an underground gay bar (stunned and thrilled that such a place exists).  The following episode shows two different hidden communities, as, Carson goes with Greta and several other players back to the underground bar, while at the same time Max attends an LGBTQ+ gathering at Bertie’s home on the edge of town by the railroad tracks – the noise from the trains is very loud at night, but the location provides the privacy they need.  Both are taking big risks, since in 1943 you could be arrested and severely beaten by cops for simply being in either place – or being what they derisively called an “invert.” 

Rosie O’Donnell has a cameo as the underground bar’s owner – a nod to her Doris character in the original movie and who she really was but was not allowed to be in 1992 (Rosie O’Donnell herself didn’t come out as gay until 10 years later).

After the series premiered, the social media world exploded with universally positive reactions among the LGBTQ+ communities.  Of course, in today’s political environment, any real attempts to be more inclusive, particularly if it means tinkering with a beloved movie or TV show, will result in outrage in some quarters and accusations that the producers and writers are just appeasing the “woke mob.”  But the stories of Dottie, Kit, Mae, Doris, and the other women from the movie were well told the first time, and don’t really need retelling. 

Apparently there is a lot of “review bombing” going on by folks who think this version of A League of Their Own is too “woke,” and that this many players on a team would not really be gay.  To those folks, I have just three things to say – 1. Maybelle Blair, who played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and consulted on the show, came out as a lesbian at 95 years old, and  said that roughly two-thirds of the league’s ball players were LGBTQ+.  2. There’s no crying in baseball (or shows about baseball), especially if you haven’t even seen the series yet.  3. This straight, white, male Baby Boomer found the series interesting, eye-opening, and thoroughly entertaining.

 It’s interesting that we don’t discover Greta and Carson are gay until the end of episode 1, Max until the end of episode 2, and some other players until episode 6.  It was probably smart to get many viewers to like the characters before revealing that aspect of who they are.  The show itself starts out as if it is simply going to be a story similar to the movie but with a different group of women – Carson runs to barely get on the train in time, just as Dottie and Kit did in the movie, once there, she meets Greta and Jo, just as Dottie and Kit met Mae and Doris in the movie, and then they enter the stadium in awe as they see all the other female baseball players trying to male one of the teams.

Since so much time is spent with the parallel Carson / Greta and Max storylines, some of the other very interesting characters are unfortunately given short shrift.  That can be rectified in season 2 (if there is one), and would make the series considerably stronger.   

Because of the subject matter and the representation of multiple LGBTQ+ characters in leading roles, this is an important if not revolutionary series.  Because it is so well done and entertaining, it deserves to be renewed.  It’s one of the best new shows of the year.

The Bear Cooks Up a Feast of Tasty Television

 In a television/video world where there are more original scripted series than ever before, it is rare to find a new show that is truly original and immediately rises to the top of the heap.  I came to The Bear knowing virtually nothing about it aside from a friend’s recommendation that it was “really good.”  She didn’t want provide any details, because she thought I might not want to watch it if she did.  And she’s probably right. 

The title doesn’t tell me anything about what the show might be about.  If she told me it’s a comedy about a chef whose brother kills himself and leaves him a struggling sandwich shop, I’d likely not be interested in committing any time to watch it.  Instead, she simply re-emphasized, “it’s really good.”  This is how word-of-mouth hits are born.

After my wife and I binged all eight episodes over two nights, I’m here to report, we both think it’s really good.  In fact, it may be the best new show of the year.  Here’s my review.

Carmen “Carmy”  Berzatto (a fantastic Jeremy Allen White) is a young James Beard Award-winning chef, who has been immersed in the world of fine dining, and has worked in some of the best restaurants in the world.  He comes home to run his family’s struggling Italian beef sandwich shop (called The Original Beef of Chicagoland) after his brother Mikey (played in flashbacks by Jon Bernthal) commits suicide and leaves him the restaurant in his will. 

Now Carmy has to deal with a set-in-their-ways kitchen staff who loved his brother and resist his efforts to modernize the restaurant.  He also has the considerable debt he inherited from his brother’s mismanagement,.  His brother had borrowed $300,000 from their uncle Cicero (Oliver Platt), which Carmy needs to figure out how to repay – although it doesn’t seem like much of that money was actually put into improving the restaurant.  It also turns out the restaurant hasn’t paid any taxes in the past five years.  So he faces numerous challenges as he tries to turn the restaurant into a “destination” and restructure how the business does almost everything

Before Carmy arrived, Mikey’s stubborn, obnoxious best friend, “cousin” Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) was running things in a way that can only be called a chaotic and haphazard.  Carmy hires Sydney (Ayo Edebiri in a standout performance), a new, ambitious chef, brimming with ideas, who has her own fine-dining credentials (which makes Carmy wonder why she wants to work at a local sandwich shop).  He quickly promotes her to sous-chef, making her responsible for instituting changes that no one is ready to implement.  This immediately puts her at odds with Richie and some others among the staff.

The initial conflict between Richie and Sydney is one of the more interesting aspects of the show.  He is loud, abrasive, explosive, used to settling disputes with his fists (or a gun), and seemingly has no emotional depth (until we discover he actually does).  She is calm, restrained, and efficient, and solves disputes through reason and compromise – but there’s something bubbling under the surface, and you almost expect her to explode at any moment.

The writers and cast do a remarkable job of making you feel the hectic and often frantic pace of the back-of-house staff, helped by a ticking clock and pulse-pounding soundtrack, as well as the overwhelming stress of the kitchen’s claustrophobic environment, as they have to deal with equipment breaking down, stovetop fires, late or incomplete food deliveries, and surprise health inspections.  Tempers and temperatures often rise among the overworked “chefs” as they narrowly avoid collisions while racing around the confined space to get everything ready for the crush of hungry and impatient lunch customers every day. 

Everything seems all at once on the verge of either triumphant success or catastrophic failure.  When Carmy takes one of his many cigarette breaks where he stares off into space, I can’t tell whether he’s processing how to solve the latest problem or it’s simply a look of despair.  But then he snaps out of it and jumps into action.  In one telling scene, Carmy sees Richie taking Xanax, and asks him why he needs that.  Richie tells him, “I suffer from anxiety and dread,” to which Carny  replies, “Who doesn’t?” 

As the staff starts to see the results of their labors, and Carmy and Sydney’s unrelenting confidence (bravado?) that they know what they are doing, staff members are gradually won over.  Showing the intricacies of the kitchen jargon and making the sausage to the lingering shots of their mouth-watering final dishes, provides details that raise the show to another level – and shows how much everyone involved with the show loves food.   

Each cast member is given their own moments to shine.  Lionel Boyce is Marcus, the restaurant’s creative baker, eager to learn new ways of doing things, and inspired by Carmy and Sydney – he starts researching new recipes and adding artistic flair to his scrumptious desserts.  Liza Colon-Zayas is Tina, the wary prep cook, reluctant to make any changes, and resentful of having to take direction from a young upstart – she is gradually won over by Sydney’s talent, cooking skills, and relentless efforts to make things run more smoothly.  Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) is the unflappable line cook, whom we discover survived the Somali civil war.  Matty Matheson is Neil, the genial handyman, who finds his services constantly needed.  Abby Elliott is Carmy’s sister Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto, with whom he has a complicated relationship.  They have different ways of dealing with their brother’s death.

The show is intensely stressful, but it is also funny, dramatic, thought-provoking, exhilarating, and addicting – and unlike anything else on television.  It’s been renewed for a second season, to air exclusively on Hulu.

Evil - Is it a Great Supernatural Comedy or a Great Procedural Horror Story (Hint: It's Both)

Evil premiered on CBS in September 2019.  It was the network’s best new show of the year, but unfortunately not one of its most watched.  In fact, for the full 2019-20 season, it was one of CBS’s lowest rated series, and a prime candidate for cancellation.  It was simply another good series that got lost in its linear network’s incompatible lineup.  Another victim of the broadcast networks’ ridiculous policy of not cross-promoting one another’s shows as cable has done so successfully over the years.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, delaying production schedules for virtually all networks and platforms, and throwing the 2020-21 season into chaos.  Netflix needed some fresh programming.  Repeats of Evil’s first season were licensed to the streaming service (just in the U.S.), where it started airing in October 2020.  It quickly rose to be Netflix’s 4^th most watched series – and drew a much wider audience than it managed to get on the older-skewing linear CBS network. 

Because of its successful run on Netflix, CBS decided to renew the show for a second season and shift it to its own streaming service, Paramount+.  The advantages of airing on a streaming platform are fairly obvious.

• The series can now tackle darker themes.

• It no longer has to fit into a schedule filled with shows that appeal to a different viewer base, or concern itself with audience flow from one series to the next.

• No need to accommodate artificial fall- or mid-season deadlines (new episodes can premiere whenever the show is ready).

• No longer constricted by each episode having to be the exact same 42-minute length.

• It doesn’t have the same language and sexual content restrictions it had on an ad-supported broadcast network.

According to its star, Katja Herbers, they went back over season 1 episodes to record an appropriate amount of swearing.

Season 3 recently ended.  Here is my review of all three seasons.  It’s been renewed for a fourth.

Evil (CBS / Paramount+ 2019- ):  Robert and Michelle King (The Good Fight) created this delightfully subversive supernatural / religious procedural horror mystery thriller.  The show’s protagonists are three investigators with vastly different backgrounds who work for the Catholic Church to explore whether seemingly supernatural events have some rational explanation, or whether they might actually be miracles or demonic possessions.

This show is funny, creepy, dramatic, twisty, and often intense – everything you want from a supernatural mystery thriller.  Once free of broadcast network restrictions, the show started to really find its footing and got even better.  It’s become sort of a Criminal Minds meets The X-Files, with some Buffy the Vampire Slayer sprinkled in (I’m waiting for that special all musical episode).

Here are the main and some major recurring characters:

Katja Herbers gives an extraordinary performance as Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a retired forensic psychologist and former mountain climber, who is raising four daughters mostly by herself – her husband Andy (Patrick Brammall) is a mountain climbing guide, often away from home for long stretches at a time.  Kristen is not religious and does not believe in God or the supernatural.

In the first episode, Kristen is employed by the Queens, NY DA’s office as an expert witness.  When she is fired, which we discover was orchestrated by rival psychologist Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), she reluctantly accepts an offer from David Acosta (Mike Colter), an assessor for the Catholic Church.  He wants her to help him discern if claims of demonic possession are valid, or whether there is a rational, psychological explanation.  Her skepticism is constantly tested as she’s confronted by numerous unexplained events. 

The superb Katja Herbers is able to convey the gamut of emotions with just a nuanced shift in facial expression, and with just a glance redefines what sexy is all about.     

Mike Colter, who you might remember from his roles in The Good Wife and Luke Cage , is David Acosta, a priest in training who recruits Kristen to work with him as he conducts assessments for the Catholic Church.  He is a true believer.  David once experienced a vision that he and the Church believe was a message from God.  In the first two seasons he experiments with hallucinogens to try and replicate the experience.  One of his roles for the Church is to determine whether an exorcism is in order.  He constantly tries to synch his beliefs with Church politics, and what he sees as its institutional racism.  He also struggles with his growing (and mutual) sexual attraction to Kristen.

Aasif Mandvi rounds out this investigative team as Ben Shakir, a contractor who works with David as a technical expert.  He is always looking for a rational, scientific explanation for any unusual phenomena.  He was raised a Muslim, but is now even more of a skeptic than Kristen.  He relishes his ability to debunk claims of the supernatural or demonic, but there are more and more mysteries of late that even he can’t explain.  Despite increasing evidence to the contrary, however, he steadfastly holds onto his belief that everything has a rational explanation – sometimes it just takes longer to find it. 

 

Michael Emerson (best known for his roles in Person of Interest and Lost) is at his creepiest best as Dr. Leland Townsend, a forensic psychologist, who is either a psychopath or a demon (or just associates with demons) – but there’s no doubt that he is dangerous and can be deadly.  He is obsessed with trying to get others to commit evil acts, and is the biggest threat to our heroes.  Leland is constantly trying to undermine Kristen and get into her head, even to the point of courting her mom and stalking her daughters online.  He despises David, and constantly taunts him while trying to get him to doubt the Church’s teachings. 

Christine Lahti sizzles as Kristen’s hard-living and free-spirited mother, Sheryl, who is not nearly as gullible as she initially seems – and may have her own involvement with the supernatural.  Much to Kristen’s chagrin, she is courted by Leland, which puts a wall between them.  Their romance is short lived, but their association continues.  As the series progresses, she becomes more and more drawn to the demonic forces.  She eventually joins Leland in evildoing, but it remains unclear if she is under his spell or has her own agenda – although through three seasons, no one suspects her.

Brooklyn Schuck, Skylar Gray, Maddy Crocco, and Dayla Knapp are excellent as Kristen’s daughters, Lynn, Lila, Lexis, and Laura, one of whom may have a supernatural secret of her own.  They see through Leland when he tries to stalk them online, and manage to interrupt his plans on more than one occasion.  One ongoing comedic theme throughout the series is that all the girls tend to talk at once over one another so you can’t understand any of them until Kristen gets them to slow down.

Kurt Fuller is Dr. Kurt Boggs, Kristen’s psychiatrist and therapist.  He is one of her links to the belief in more rational explanations for everything that is going on.  Leland attempts to corrupt him, as he is continually trying to undermine anything that contributes to Kristen’s sanity.  In season 3, as Leland uses demonic magic to help the Dr. Boggs write his book, the temptation to turn may be too great for him to resist.

Andrea Martin steals every scene she’s in as Sister Andrea, a powerful, no-nonsense nun who sometimes gives David advice.  You never know when she is going to decide to help him.  She sees herself and David as two of the few equipped to fight in the war against evil.  She tells David that they are among a few million humans who are close enough to God that they can see demons, and therefore know the true existence of Hell.  Her confrontations with Leland are delicious. 

Boris McGiver is Monsignor Matthew Korecki, a priest who assigns cases to David, Kristen, and Ben.  Peter Scolari is Bishop Thomas Marx (seasons 1 and 2) who assigns David his cases prior to his ordination (he passed away in 2021).

Brian d’Arcy James is Victor LeConte, an agent of The Entity, the Vatican’s ultra-secret service, who recruits David to take part in missions that no one – including Kristen, Ben, or anyone in his Church – can know about.  These cloak-and-dagger missions are only partially explained to David, and he struggles with doing things that make no sense to him because he’s not given the full picture.

Li Jun Li is Grace Ling, whom the Catholic Church believes may be a prophet.  She claims to be a prophet from God.  David, Kristen, and Ben investigate her predictions to determine whether she can prophesize the future.  David believes she can.  One of David’s missions for the Entity is to provide information that helps them free her from a Chinese prison camp.

Marti Matulis is George, a demon who sometimes appears to Kristen in her dreams.  He also plays other demons in various episodes, including Leland’s therapist. 

Evil manages to do something that you seldom see on television, namely balance religious belief and skepticism without taking sides.  Oftentimes, religious faith is presented on television dramas as antiquated or problematic, and is seldom shown in a positive light.  Here, while some of the Church’s institutional problems and inequities are addressed, David’s religious beliefs, and those of Sister Andrea are given at least as much credence as Kristen and Ben’s doubts.

Season 1 provides enough logical explanations for seemingly supernatural or demonic occurrences, that Kristen, David, and Ben each find enough evidence (or lack thereof) to support their own world view.  As the series progresses, however, all three have reasons to question what they are experiencing and seeing with their own eyes.

Much of the first season, which originally aired on CBS, is in the format of a typical broadcast procedural, with a mystery of the week.  

Some of the mysterious events in the first season include: a girl miraculously reviving seconds after her autopsy begins (did a racist hospital pronounce her dead too soon, or did the ghostly image seen on security footage have something to do with it?); a woman believes her unborn son is a demon who kills his twin sister in utero; did a legendary Broadway producer really sell his soul to a demon named Joe in return for winning a Tony award?; is a 9-year-old boy possessed by a demon or is he a psychopath?; why are a Catholic girls school’s students singing a repetitive melody nonstop?

Leland spends much of the first season manipulating random people into committing evil acts.  He continues to try and undermine Kristen at every turn, at one point courting her mother.  His testimony gets a judge to overturn a serial killer’s conviction, which puts Kristen’s family in danger (she had helped put him away by debunking his insanity defense).

At the end of season 1, Kristen takes drastic and shocking action to protect her family, which has ramifications through much of season 2.

In season 2, the series shifts from a largely procedural drama with supernatural elements to a full-on horror series (episode four’s Elevator Game episode is genuinely creepy).  Leland makes generous donations to the Church and wants to undergo an exorcism.  The Church agrees, and puts David in charge of assessing him, which lead to numerous taunt-filled confrontations.

Our heroes are assigned several more mysteries to solve, including:  a construction worker who claims the Archangel Michael acts through him; the adopted child of Catholic-Muslim parents is blamed for setting fires, but claims a demon is responsible; a boy disappears and left the mark of a pentagram in his room – Kristen’s daughters help them figure out he is a victim of the Elevator Game, a Japanese legend in which pressing elevator buttons in a certain way opens a direct passage to Hell;  when a white cop shoots a Black driver, the police union asks the Church for an assessment to prove the officer was possessed;  the team is assigned to determine the true nature of a mysterious flying object reported by an Air Force pilot and a college student.

While one of the central questions in the first season is whether Leland is actually a demon or simply a delusional psychopath, several new questions arise in the season 1 finale and throughout season 2 

• Did Kristen really murder the serial killer who had threatened her daughters?

• Are demons in charge of a fertility clinic and spiritually corrupting the eggs of expectant mothers to create a generation of humans who are more susceptible to temptation and sin – and was Kristen’s oldest daughter affected (Kristen had received fertility treatments there)? Kristen discovers that the fertility clinic has secretly been making payments to keep her unused eggs frozen, instead of destroying them as they were supposed to. 

• Why is Kristen suddenly burning crucifixes into her stomach? Is she becoming possessed herself, or trying to prevent herself from being possessed?  

• What’s going on with Kristen’s mom Sheryl and the doll on an altar in her home? Leland and his equally sinister colleague (Tim Matheson) induct Sheryl into a secret society that represents the 60 demonic houses on Earth, but first she has to commit two sinful acts. 

• While David was the one primarily having visions in season 1, now Kristen and Ben are having visions of demons as well (and they are not taking hallucinogens).

David is finally ordained into the priesthood at the end of the second season. 

The first two seasons were very good but uneven, as it seemed as though they hadn’t decided whether Evil is a dark comedy, a CBS-type procedural drama, a supernatural thriller, or an Exorcist-style horror show.

The great season 3 leans into all of the above with equal relish, maintaining the high quality of the show while seamlessly shifting gears at the drop of a hat.  You never know when an episode will jump from family comedy to horror to procedural drama, to just plain weirdness.  The series has become less reliant on the mystery of the week in favor of more character development (a good thing).  And Leland’s plans start to come more into focus.  

There’s an awful lot lot happening this season.  People die in gruesome ways, demons are everywhere – but only visible to a few, there are creepy online games and internet memes, macabre secret societies, a kidnaping, more exorcism, a newborn demon, and even a highway to Hell.

Although they were on the verge of escalating beyond the kiss they shared toward the end of season 2, now that he’s a full-fledged priest, any sexual attraction between David and Kristen seems destined to be unrequited.  But a demon-version of Kristen (which Sister Andrea sees as a mosquito) starts appearing to David, trying to seduce him.

When Kristen becomes increasingly suspicious and annoyed that David is suddenly making weak excuses for leaving in the middle of various investigations, he finally tells her he works with the Vatican secret service, known as the Entity, and has been lying to her.  It turns out that the Entity believes Leland and demons have malevolent intent toward Kristen’s daughter, Lexis, and are grooming her for something evil.

Ben’s nerdy tech-expert sister Karima (Sohina Sidhu) introduces him to the “Super Secret Science League,” a group of problem-solving fellow nerds.  Karima promises to help him solve cases, and bring to the League anything they can’t handle on their own.               

Leland gets Sheryl a position overseeing an online trolling operation.  Her job is to keep people “doomscrolling.”  Leland explains that keeping people nervous causes them to focus more on the evil in the world than the good.  Sheryl’s immediate supervisor appears to Leland and her as a disgusting three-eyed demon, but to most others, he presents as a normal handsome human, described as a Liam Neeson or Ted Danson type.

Kristen’s daughter Lexis starts playing and online game called Bumblebee Valley (similar to Animal Crossing) and figures out that Leland is also there, trying to trick her into thinking he’s a little girl.  Lexis and he sisters start harassing him in the game and driving him crazy.

There are still several mysterious events that our trio needs to solve.

• Driving down a haunted highway (a stretch of I-95) where truckers see visions, and hear demonic sounds. They’re driving along singing to the Turtles “So Happy Together,” when they suddenly hear loud static on their radio, they see something with red lights flying behind them, and their car shuts down.  When Ben gets out of the car to investigate, Kristen tells him that this is how virtually every horror movie begins.

• 10:41 AMhe team examines a machine designed to determine the weight of the human soul by measuring how much weight the body loses at the moment of death – which requires the participation of a dying priest, Father Frank Ignatius (the wonderful Wallace Shawn). The difference in pre- and post-death weight (theoretically the soul) is verified at 24 grams.  Then there’s a sudden power surge in the building, and he is somehow resurrected.  But he’s still 24 grams lighter than before (is he now without a soul?).

• The pipes in Kristen’s house seem to be possessed – after her husband Andy comes home, has an immediate conflict with her mom, and finds Sheryl’s glass jar under his bed. He sees a shrunken head inside the jar and  tries to flush it down the toilet.  But when that doesn’t work he uses a plunger to force it down.  Will it stay down?

• A building explodes, and there are only four survivors. All claim they were guided out of the wreckage by a mysterious woman in a white gown carrying a lamb.

David performs an exorcism in the house next to Kristen’s, and all the demons move into her house.  Sister Andrea battles and destroys numerous demons with a shovel, as Kristen’s daughter Lynn looks on (she can’t see the demons).

There’s a bizarre plotline that has Leland and Sheryl kidnaping Kristen’s husband, planning to eventually kill him and blame it climbing accident during an avalanche.

Kristen discovers the fertility clinic sold her remaining egg to an anonymous recipient.  The season finale ends with a Rosemary’s Baby vibe, and I’ll leave it at that for now.  Season 4 will have a lot to live up to, and I’m hoping it will continue to avoid the typical supernatural-horror-religious tropes that it is all too easy to fall into.

It's All Good Man - Reviewing Six Remarkable Seasons of Better Call Saul

There are more great series on television today than any time in history.  Sitting at the top of the mountain, if not alone then with precious few peers, is Better Call Saul, a show whose very reason for being I questioned before its premiere seven years ago.

Having been a big fan of Breaking Bad, I was extremely skeptical, and didn’t get why anyone would want to develop a series around Saul Goodman, the unlikeable, crooked strip-mall lawyer, who represented Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.  It didn’t seem like there was that much to work with or that the Saul Goodman character was strong enough to carry a show by himself.  I expected it to be cliched, pointless, and quickly canceled.  Man, was I wrong.  As it turns out, the remarkable Bob Odenkirk didn’t have to carry the show by himself – he was helped by an equally remarkable supporting cast (and brilliant writing).

Here is my review of the entire series, including the great final season.  There are some spoilers ahead, but I try not to reveal too many key plot points.

Better Call Saul (AMC 2015-2022): This prequel to Breaking Bad (2008-2013) starts out six years before the events in that series begin.  Former con artist Jimmy McGill is a financially struggling attorney who lives in the back room of a nail salon, which doubles as his office.  The series chronicles his long slide down the slippery slope that culminates with him re-inventing himself as sleazy mob lawyer, Saul Goodman.  Several parallel storylines gradually converge as the series gets closer to, and eventually overlaps, the Breaking Bad universe. 

 

Better Call Saul is every bit as great as the show that spawned it (maybe better).  Bob Odenkirk’s performance is so good that viewers familiar with Breaking Bad, who know what he eventually becomes, can still be unsure of his motives and moral compass.  Rhea Seehorn is equally compelling as his colleague / girlfriend, Kim, who goes back and forth between her straight-laced corporate attorney life and the more exciting seat-of-your-pants (and fun) lawyering she gets to do with Jimmy.  Two major Breaking Bad characters, mob fixer Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) are excellent here, as both are fleshed out and given more in-depth backstories.  In fact, the series is almost as much Mike’s story as it is Jimmy’s / Saul’s.

Here are the main players and major recurring characters: 

Bob Odenkirk is simply brilliant as Jimmy McGill / Saul Goodman, a former scam artist who is trying to become a respectable lawyer.  After he loses his license and eventually gets it reinstated, he starts working for himself, quickly building a reputation for doing whatever it takes to help his low-rent clients get justice.  In the process, he gets drawn into the world of criminals and drug kingpins, as his moral compass gets murkier and murkier.  He uses his street smarts and con-artist skills to win case after case, and to get out of one jam after another, often with the help of his fellow attorney and girlfriend Kim and occasional client, criminal fixer and sometime ally, Mike.

Rhea Seehorn gives a superb performance as Jimmy’s girlfriend Kim Wexler, who worked her way up from the mailroom to become a successful attorney at the high-powered law firm, Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill (HHM), which was co-founded by Jimmy’s older brother Chuck (Michael McKean).  While Kim thrives in her corporate attorney world, she finds it boring and is thrilled by Jimmy’s con-man side (even though she sometimes thinks he’s conning her as well).  She eventually starts working for herself, and occasionally joins Jimmy in scamming unsavory characters just for fun.  She is almost always the smartest person in the room.  But the fun she has with Jimmy / Saul leads her to become increasingly reckless.

Jonathan Banks is great in another of his gangster-style roles as Mike Ehrmantraut, whom we know as a criminal fixer from Breaking Bad.  He’s gruff, quietly assured, and intimidating, yet surprisingly kind-hearted to those he doesn’t consider a threat.  When we first meet Mike, he is a parking lot attendant at the Albuquerque courthouse frequented by both Jimmy and Kim.  He’s a retired Philadelphia cop who, to help support his widowed daughter and granddaughter, starts working as a fixer and bodyguard for a drug cartel, eventually coming under the wing of drug distributor, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).  His streets smarts, preparation, and sniper skills saves the day and protects Jimmy on numerous occasions.  But it bothers him when innocent people get hurt, which he knows is an inevitable part of the business he’s in.  In one revealing scene, he tells Jimmy if he had a time machine he would go back to the day he accepted his first bribe and presumably change the direction his life took from that day forward.

Jimmy, Kim, and Mike each justify their growing moral ambiguity because being good hasn’t gotten them where they want to be, and the people they are facing off with are really bad people (a lot worse than they are).    

The always good Giancarlo Esposito shows up in season 3, reprising his Breaking Bad role as the ruthless Gus Fring.  He handles the Southwestern U.S. cocaine distribution for the Juarez Mexican drug cartel using his fast-food restaurant (Los Pollos Hermanos) as a front.  He’s known derisively as “chicken man” by several of the cartel members.  But he makes a lot of money for the cartel, and their leaders know how effective he is at selling their product.  He wants to get into the even more profitable methamphetamine business, work for himself, and be free of the cartel and the constant danger it puts him in. 

Gus has an ongoing vendetta with the notorious Salamanca family (part of the Juarez Mexican drug cartel), headed up by Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) and his nephew Lalo (Tony Dalton).  Raymond Cruz also reprises his role from Breaking Bad as the psychopathic and violent Tuco Salamanca, another of Hector’s nephews. 

Michael Mando is riveting as Nacho Varga, a clever and ambitious drug dealer and reluctant member of the Salamanca drug ring.  Hector Salamanca wants to use Nacho’s father’s legitimate business as a front for trafficking drugs.  When his father refuses and is threatened by the Salamanca’s, Nacho starts planning to take out Hector Salamanca.  Nacho is instrumental in getting both Mike and Jimmy involved with the cartel. 

Michael McKean is solid as Jimmy’s brilliant and insufferably arrogant older brother, Chuck McGill, who was a founding member of the HHM law firm.  He is a semi-recluse, who seldom leaves home because of what he claims is an allergy to electricity.  Despite Jimmy taking care of him, he has nothing but disdain for Jimmy’s legal career, and tries to get him disbarred.  Their final confrontation leads to a shocking conclusion. 

Patrick Fabian gives an under-rated, nuanced performance as HHM’s managing partner, Howard Hamlin, who becomes Jimmy and Kim’s nemesis.  Jimmy once worked in the law firm’s mailroom, but when he got his law degree, Howard refused to hire him (we later find out he was following Chuck’s orders).  Howard also has a number of conflicts with Kim.  He tries to be a decent person, but makes a number of unfortunate decisions, and doesn’t understand what he did to get Jimmy and Kim to hate him so much.  Jimmy and Kim devise a scheme to ruin his career, and get a windfall from a class-action lawsuit he is involved in.

Tony Dalton is scary as the vicious and murderous Lalo Salamanca, who takes over his family’s operation of the Juarez drug cartel after his uncle Hector has a stroke.  After Gus unsuccessfully tries to have him killed, he goes underground to plan his revenge – Saul, Kim, Mike, and Gus are all in danger because they have no idea where he is or when he will resurface.  Lalo will kill anyone who gets in his way without regard to whether they are real threats or just innocent bystanders who happen to see his face.    

Each of the first five seasons starts out with a flash-forward to the present, and Saul’s post-Breaking Bad persona, Gene Takavic, who manages a Cinnabon at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska.  This identity was set up at the end of Breaking Bad, to keep him safe.  As Saul said to Walter White at the time, ”From here on out I’m Mr. Low Profile; just another douchebag with a job and three pairs of dockers.  If I’m lucky, a month from now, best case scenario, I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.”  But now it seems a relocated cab driver might recognize him from his days in Albuquerque.  This comes to a head in the sixth and final season.

Much of the first two seasons center around Jimmy trying to convince his brother Chuck that he’s a good lawyer, Kim’s politicking as she moves up the ladder at HHM, Jimmy and Kim’s clashes with Chuck and HHM as their romantic relationship evolves, and Mike’s growing association with the criminal world.

Season 3 ramps up the chaos as Jimmy’s conflict with his brother reaches a shocking conclusion.  Jimmy adopts the name Saul Goodman for the first time when he turns to making commercials after his law license is suspended (the name derives from the phrase, “it’s all good man”).  Nacho makes his move against Hector.  Mike meets Gus Fring for the first time, and together they scheme to topple the Salamanca crime family.  Kim becomes more and more enamored with Jimmy’s care-free, bend-the-rules, scam-artist lifestyle.

The fourth season starts to get darker as Jimmy’s transformation to Saul Goodman starts to take shape.  He manages to persuade the bar association to reinstate his law license (with a passionate plea that even fools Kim into thinking he’s sincere).  Here is also when he starts to become more involved in the criminal world.  At the same time, Gus Fring is preparing to build the enormous underground meth lab used by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. 

Everyone is in peril during season 5.  Gus tries to solidify his power, which leads to a violent conflict with Lalo Salamanca.  Jimmy embarks on a dangerous foray into the desert to retrieve $7 million the cartel buried there to bail a drug lord out of jail.  Jimmy’s influence on Kim becomes more apparent, as she crosses ethical lines she wouldn’t have considered a few years ago.  After a major conflict with HHM, Kim quits the law firm and devises a plan to destroy the reputation of its managing partner, Howard Hamlin.   

Season 6 is brilliant on every level, including the first meeting between Kim and Mike.  When word gets out that Jimmy managed to get a drug lord out of jail, Saul Goodman’s reputation sinks among his legal peers, but soars among the criminal element, and his client base grows dramatically.  The war between Lalo Salamanca and Gus Fring heats up, and tension mounts, first with Nacho being trapped in a deadly situation and then as Jimmy and Kim get caught in the middle. 

Kim realizes she’s being followed by dangerous looking men, and in her first face-to-face meeting with Mike, he tells her they are his guys, who are looking out for Lalo Salamanca in case he comes after Jimmy and her.  When she asks Mike why he’s telling her instead of Jimmy, he replies, “You’re made of sterner stuff.”  Almost every scene in the first half of the season is fraught with danger – one shocking event forever changes both Saul and Kim.

Since Kim does not appear in or is even mentioned in Breaking Bad, fans had been anxiously wondering about what happens to her in the sixth and final season.  I hesitate to use the word “perfect,” but a decision she makes and her ultimate fate are as close to perfect as writing and acting on a television series can be.  It’s also the last piece in Jimmy McGill’s final transformation into the Saul Goodman we know from Breaking Bad.

And then there are the episodes devoted to Saul’s new life as Gene Takavic, as he has to deal with a cab driver named Jeff (Pat Healy) who recognizes him from his Better Call Saul commercials in Albuquerque.  He meets Jeff by getting close to his mom, played by the incomparable Carol Burnett, who isn’t quite as gullible as she seems.  He obviously misses the excitement of his previous life, and channels his inner Saul Goodman, coming up with an elaborate scheme to have Jeff and a friend rob luxury-brand items from the mall he works in after it closes for the night,  He blackmails them into keeping quiet about his identity.  But something goes wrong, and he has to make a quick escape.

When he is finally caught by the police, the FBI, the DEA and the Department of Justice, he has one last card to play.  In typical Saul fashion, it drives everyone crazy as he may once again escape harsh justice.  But unbeknownst to him, Kim has played a card of her own.  What happens next leads to an nearly perfect ending to a nearly perfect series.

If you haven’t yet seen Breaking Bad but plan to, I suggest watching the first five seasons of Better Call Saul, first, then switch to all five seasons of Breaking Bad, then come back for the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul.     

Mid-Year Report: The 22 Best TV Shows of 2022

This is the new Golden Age of television.  There are more high-quality television series on more different platforms than ever before.  Ten years ago, I would have struggled to come up with a list of 22 great shows.  Today, there are several that I’ve struggled with omitting from this list – and there may well be a few series that make your list that I haven’t seen. 

In December, I am going to release my annual list of favorite television series – the top 22 of 2022.  I’m including 15 here (I’m still pondering my final seven).  These are briefer and more spoiler-free than my final reviews.

1883 (Paramount+ 2021/22):  Country music icons and real-life couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill star as James andMargaret Dutton, great grandparents to Yellowstone’s patriarch, John Dutton in this limited-series prequel.  Isabel May is stunning as Elsa Dutton, their eldest daughter, who also serves as voiceover guide for much of the story.  Hernarration is brilliantly written (by show creator, Taylor Sheridan), poetic, and riveting, as she goes from an innocent teen looking forward to a new adventure, to a hardened young woman seeing death everywhere, as she and her family fight to survive hardships unimagined only yesterday. 

The series revolves around the Dutton family joining up with Civil-War veterans, Shea Brennan (Sam Elliot) and Thomas Hill (LaMonica Garrett), who are leading a wagon train of German immigrants through the Great Plains to Oregon.  Yellowstone viewers know that the Dutton’s wound up settling in Montana, where in present day they run the largest contiguous ranch in the U.S.  This series shows how their ancestors got there, what they went through along the way, and why they had to eventually change their final destination.

The acting is first-rate, the production is cinematic and exquisite, and the story is compelling.  The series does not shy away from showing the brutal conditions, and the many ways travelers can die along the unforgiving trail.  Yet despite all the hardships and travails over the 10-episodes, the series is surprisingly hopeful.

Designed as a limited series, there will be no second season.   But the Dutton saga will continue with another Yellowstone prequel titled 1923, which will continue the family’s story at the time immediately following World War I, when they also have to deal with the Great Depression, and Prohibition.

Barry (HBO 2018- ):  Bill Hader is superb as Barry Berkman, a disillusioned and depressed midwestern hitman.  In season 1, Barry travels to L.A. to kill an actor who is sleeping with a mobster’s wife.  He follows his target to an acting class, where he becomes drawn to this community of dedicated and hopeful (but hopelessly mediocre) students.  He is particularly drawn to Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), one of the more talented but self-centered and dysfunctional students, whose goal of becoming a famous actress seem perpetually out of reach – although she’s one of the few students who actually gets acting work, albeit bit parts.  They become romantically involved, which can’t possibly end well (or can it?).  He remains there to take acting lessons from the pompous and eccentric washed-up former star, Gene Cousineau (brilliantly played by Henry Winkler).  While Barry tries to pursue a more normal life, he finds that changing is not so easy, as gangsters he’s worked for and against come to town.

On paper, this high concept show shouldn’t work.  On television, with these stellar performances, it somehow creates magic.  Bill Hader’s ability to seamlessly moving between light comedy and dark drama, and transform Barry’s facial expressions from dead-eyed assassin, to manic excitement when he thinks up a spur-of-the-moment plan to redeem himself and get someone he’s wronged to forgive him, to quiet confidence that he can get an acting job despite having no experience, to sudden, uncontrollable anger, is a marvel to behold.

The supporting cast is wonderful, particularly Anthony Carrigan as the wacky and relentlessly positive mobster, Noho Hank, and Stephen Root as Barry’s “handler,” who assigns his targets (and doesn’t want his meal ticket to quit the business).

Season 1 shifts back and forth between Barry’s old world of hitmen and assassins and his new world of acting classes and his budding relationship with Sally.  The major achievement of the first season is how they effectively balance these two worlds without the viewer or his fellow students seeing Barry as a monster.  Starting with the first season’s pitch-perfect finale, the show gets significantly darker.  I hesitate to even call it a comedy anymore. 

Season 2 has moments of brilliance, but it couldn’t live up to the impossibly high standard set by the first season.  That just means it was one of the top 20 TV shows of the year, rather than one of the top 5.  The great third season is all about consequences and whether it is really possible to redeem yourself and start over.  The pandemic-related hiatus resulted in viewers having to wait about three years between seasons 2 and 3.  It was worth the wait.  It’s been renewed for a fourth season. 

Better Call Saul (AMC 2015-2022):  This Breaking Bad spin-off starts out six years before the events in that series.  Former con artist Jimmy McGill is a financially struggling court-appointed attorney who lives in the back room of a nail salon, which doubles as his office.  The chronicles his long slide down the slippery slope that culminates with him re-inventing himself as sleazy mob lawyer, Saul Goodman.  Several parallel storylines gradually converge as the series gets closer to and eventually overlaps the Breaking Bad universe.  That series aired from 2008-2013, and several of its key cast members show up here.  Two major Breaking Bad characters, mob fixer Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) are excellent, as both characters are fleshed out and given backstories.  If you haven’t yet seen Breaking Bad, I suggest watching this prequel first. 

Better Call Saul is every bit as great as the show that spawned it (maybe better).  Bob Odenkirk’s performance is so good that viewers familiar with Breaking Bad (who know what he eventually becomes) can still be unsure of his motives and moral compass.  Rhea Seehorn is equally compelling as his colleague/girlfriend, Kim, who goes back and forth between the straight-laced attorney life and the more exciting seat-of-your-pants lawyering she gets to do with Jimmy. 

As Jimmy and Mike get more drawn into the criminal world and warring drug cartels, things get considerably more dangerous – they barely manage to fend off one threat after another, often escaping by the skin of their teeth. 

This is one of those rare gems that gets better in each of its six seasons.  The first half of the final season is available now, the second half premieres on July 11^th.  As with most fans, I’m wondering about Kim’s fate – since she isn’t in Breaking Bad.  Both series  are available on Netflix and AMC+.

Bosch: Legacy (Amazon Freevee 2022- ): Bosch aired on Prime Video for seven successful seasons from 2014-2021. This continuation series features some of its main characters.   The original series consists of 68 episodes, and is well worth watching before checking out the new show.  It made my list of best series of the year in each of its seven seasons.  A brief recap for the uninitiated…

In the original series, Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch is a brooding, smart, tough as nails Los Angeles homicide detective, first introduced in Michael Connelly’s 1992 crime novel, The Black Echo (there were 21 subsequent Bosch books).  The jazz-loving Bosch is a sea of calm in a world filled with chaos, a renegade who believes in following procedure.  He’s a legend among his peers (and his superiors), a nuisance to the higher-ups who often see him as a rogue “cowboy,” and a threat to any corrupt cop or politician in his orbit. 

Bosch brings humanity to a job too often filled with tragedy – he has photos on his desk of young people who fell through the system, whose killers he knows will likely never be brought to justice (until he finally catches one).  Bosch’s credo is “everybody counts or nobody counts.”  

Each season focuses on one main crime that Bosch and crew need to solve, along with one or two related (or not-so-related) crimes, with some threads and characters crossing multiple seasons.   There are also a few side stories each season, focusing on Bosch’s family or colleagues.  These side plots never slow down the season’s  main storyline – a testament to the wonderful supporting actors, who are strong enough to carry the show when Bosch is off screen. 

In Bosch: Legacy, Harry Bosch is a private detective (after turning in his badge), and his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) has joined the LAPD.  As a rookie trainee, and her father’s daughter, she is already rebelling against the rules and bureaucracy she sees as impeding her sense of justice.  Unlike her father, however, she does not yet have the legendary history of catching the bad guys that enabled him to successfully buck authority for so long.  Her training officer, Reyna Vasquez (Denise G. Sanchez) tries to keep her in line while teaching her the ropes.  Mimi Rogers’ defense lawyer, Honey Chandler, who sometimes hires Harry to work on a case for her, is the third cast member from Bosch to be a regular here.  Stephen Chang is the newbie, playing Maurice “Mo” Bassi, Harry’s tech expert, who shares his love of jazz. 

On paper, Bosch is the type of character you might think is just another hard-boiled detective throwback.  In the hands of Titus Welliver, however, Harry Bosch is one of the most compelling and watchable characters on television.  Welliver has had so many fine guest-starring and recurring TV roles over the years, it’s nice to see him in the lead.  He melts into the character (as he does with virtually everything he touches).  The remarkable Madison Lintz holds her own playing his daughter, who we’ve seen grow from a naïve teenager to a strong, fiercely independent woman over eight seasons of the combined series.

As with the original series, how Bosch and his allies (and now his daughter) interact while gradually unravelling the mysteries and overcoming several dangerous characters and situations along the way is what makes this series so addicting.  The season does end in a cliffhanger, and I can’t wait for the second season (it was renewed before the first season premiered).

Evil (Paramount+ 2019- ):  Three very different investigators work for the Catholic Church to explore whether seemingly supernatural events are miracles, demonic possessions, or have some rational, scientific explanation.

This supernatural mystery thriller is funny, creepy, dramatic, twisty, and often intense – everything you want from a supernatural mystery thriller.  Shifting from CBS to Paramount+ in season 2 allowed the series to tackle darker themes and edgier subject matter that might not get approved on an ad-supported broadcast network.  Once free of network restrictions, the show got even better, and was quickly renewed for a third season.

Katja Herbers gives an extraordinary performance as Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a retired forensic psychologist who is raising four daughters.  Kristen is not religious and does not believe in the supernatural, but her skepticism is constantly tested as she is confronted by numerous unexplained events.  She is recruited by David Acosta (Mike Colter), a priest in training, to work with him for the Catholic Church.  He is a true believer.  David once experienced a vision that he and the Church believe was a message from God, and he now experiments with hallucinogens to try and replicate the experience.  Aasif Mandvi rounds out this investigative team as Ben Shakir, a contractor who works with David as a technical expert.  He is always looking for the scientific explanation for any unusual phenomena.  He was raised a Muslim, but is now even more of a skeptic than Kristen.  Despite increasing evidence to the contrary, he steadfastly holds onto his belief that everything has a rational explanation.

Michael Emerson (best known for his roles in Person of Interest and Lost) is at his creepiest best as Dr. Leland Townsend, a rival forensic psychologist of Kristen’s, who is either a psychopath or demon, and the biggest threat to our heroes.  He is obsessed with trying to get others to commit evil acts.  In addition to constantly trying to undermine Kristen and get into her head, he despises David, constantly taunting him and trying to get him to doubt the Catholic Church and its teachings.

Christine Lahti sizzles as Kristen’s hard-living and hot-tempered mother, Sheryl, who is not nearly as gullible as she initially seems – and may have her own involvement with the supernatural.

Andrea Martin steals every scene she’s in as Sister Andrea, a nun who sometimes gives David advice.  You never know when she is going to decide to help him.  She sees herself and David as two of the few equipped to fight in the war against demonic forces.  Her confrontations with Leland are delicious.

The first season provides enough logical explanations for seemingly supernatural occurrences, that Kristen, David, and Ben each find enough evidence (or lack thereof) to support their own world view.  As the series progresses, however, all three have reasons to question what they are experiencing and seeing with their own eyes.  

Season 3 is brilliant on every level (and I’ve only seen the first three episodes).  You never know when an episode will shift from family comedy to horror to CBS-type procedural, to just plain bizarreness.  There’s nothing like it on television. 

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max 2020-2022 ):  The first season opens with alcoholic flight attendant Cassandra “Cassie” Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) waking up in a Bangkok hotel, hungover with a dead man in her bed – and no memory of what happened.  It turns out she had one of her many a one-night stands with a passenger, Alex Sokolov (Michael Huisman), she met on the flight, who is now lying next to her with his throat slashed.  Sounds like a forgettable B-movie plot, and nothing we haven’t seen variations of many times before.  But in the hands of Kaley Cuoco, who executive produced (along with Greg Berlanti), it’s much more, and sets the stage for an intriguing and thrilling mystery. 

Afraid to call the police, Cassie cleans up the crime scene and joins the rest of her flight crew on the plane back to New York City.  She is met there by FBI agents who question her about her layover in Bangkok.  As Cassie tries to piece together what happened, she experiences flashbacks and hallucinations where she has “conversations” with the murdered Alex.  She starts to remember there was a third person with her and Alex the night he was killed (one of his female business associates).  For much of the season, Cassie gets into and out of danger as she investigates.

This is Kaley Cuoco’s first live-action project since she played Penny for 12 years on The Big Bang Theory, and her acting chops (which may surprise some) are on full display here.  I haven’t seen the dangers and effects of alcoholism displayed in such a visually compelling fashion (without being preachy).  While there are some plot holes, the show moves along so briskly that you don’t really notice.  It is often genuinely thrilling.  One of the best and most original series I’ve seen in years.

Season 2 is just as good, maybe better.  Cassie is now (kind of)  sober and an occasional CIA asset (don’t ask).  On an overseas assignment she becomes entangled in another murder mystery, and discovers there is a woman impersonating her and implicating her in various crimes, including murder.  The intrigue takes her from Los Angeles to Berlin, to Reykjavik as a far-reaching conspiracy unfolds. 

When confronted by particularly stressful or dangerous situations,  we are taken to what Kaley Cuoco calls Cassie’s “mind palace,” where she hallucinates past (and one future) versions of herself, all giving her conflicting advice on how to proceed.  It’s an expansion of the visions and conversations she has of the murder victim in the first season.  It’s a uniquely fascinating way to show how her past experiences influence her current actions (and how she sometimes overcomes them).

The supporting cast is excellent, most notably, Zosia Mamet as Annie Mouradian, a lawyer and Cassie’s best friend, who helps her as best she can, Rosie Perez as Megan Briscoe, Cassie’s friend and team flight lead (who has secrets of her own), Deniz Akdeniz as Max, Annie’s boyfriend and a hacker who helps Cassie, and T.R. Knight as Davey, Cassie’s older brother, with whom she has a complicated relationship.

Despite being designed as a limited series, its popularity led to a second season.  There are no current plans for a third, but you never know.

For All Mankind (Apple TV+ 2019- ):  Created by sci-fi icon Ronald D. Moore (best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica), Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, this alternate history drama delves into what might happen if the Soviet Union landed on the moon before the United States, and the space race never ended.  NASA doubles down on its efforts to catch up.  When the Soviet Union subsequently lands the first woman on the moon, the U.S. is forced to match them, training women and minorities (who were generally excluded in our history from the first few decades space exploration).  The competition between the two superpowers leads to numerous scientific breakthroughs, as both nations ramp up their spending, and establish research bases on the moon.

The alt-history events and how they happen are intriguing.  The series portrays the high-risk lives of astronauts and their families in such a way that everything seems believable, and you care about what happens to them.  Entertaining and thought provoking, and since it is an alternate history, the viewer has no idea what’s going to happen next.  The razor-thin line between success and catastrophe is palpable as the race to control space escalates.  This is one of the best shows on television.

Women in the role of high-profile astronauts in the early 1970s, causes the country to acknowledge women can do anything men can do way before it happens in our history, which leads to the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).  There are numerous other historical timeline differences, many of which are illustrated through newspaper and TV news headline montages shown before each episode begins.

Each season jumps a decade or so into the future, with the third season taking place in the early-to-mid 1990s, as humankind races to Mars.  But this time, NASA and the Soviets have a third competitor, a private company called Helios and its billionaire founder.

The excellent cast includes:

Joel Kinnaman is Ed Baldwin, one of NASA’a top astronauts, who commanded the fictional versions of Apollo 10 and 15.  He has mentored several other astronauts who wind up leading key missions to space.  His family’s story, which includes success and tragedy, is central to the series.

Shantel VanSanten is Ed’s wife, Karen Baldwin.  She manages The Outpost restaurant in Houston, a main watering hole for astronauts.  She eventually heads up the first space hotel.

Michael Dorman is Gordon “Gordo” Stevens, Ed Baldwin’s best friend and fellow astronaut.  He’s had a troubled life and a major mishap on the Moon.  He returns to the moon 10 years later, and puts his life on the line to prevent a nuclear meltdown after the Soviets attack their base.

Sarah Jones is Tracy Stevens, Gordo’s wife, and one of the first astronauts selected for the Apollo program.  When a mishap occurs during the Apollo 25 mission, Tracy saves her commander’s life, becoming a hero and the new face of the space program.  She helps Gordo prevent disaster when the Soviets attack their moon base.  Whether they survive, you’ll have to see for yourself.

Jodi Balfour is Ellen Wilson, one of the first female astronaut candidates.  She has gone from a space pioneer to a leader on Earth, first as NASA’a chief administrator, then as a Senator who runs for President against Bill Clinton.  As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she has had to hide her sexual identity to further her career.  When suspicions arise that she might be gay, which could ruin her career, she marries her good friend and NASA engineer Larry Wilson (Nate Corddry ), who is also hiding the fact that he is gay.

Sonya Wagner is Molly Cobb, the first American woman on the moon.  She commands the fictional Apollo 21 and 24 missions, and then becomes head of NASA’s astronaut office, where she assigns other astronauts to various missions.

Krys Marshall is Danielle Poole, another of the first female astronaut recruits, who becomes the first Black astronaut to go into space and land on the moon.  She is eventually chosen to command the first U.S. flight to Mars.

Wren Schmidt is Margo Madison, who starts out as a NASA engineer and gets promoted to lead administrator.

The first three episodes of season 3 are available now, with a new episode dropping every week.  No word yet on a fourth season, but it seems likely.

Hacks (HBO Max 2021- ):  Comedy-drama starring Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a legendary comic trying to maintain her dignity while treading water at her lucrative but stale Las Vegas casino theater residency.  Hannah Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, an up-and-coming 25-year-old bi-sexual television comedy writer, who is suddenly an industry outcast due to a nasty social-media joke she posted about a right-wing Senator and his gay son.  Ava is forced on Deborah by their mutual agent (Paul W. Downs) to help modernize her material.  Their vastly different comedy styles and perspectives immediately clash.

Jean Smart is masterful as the manipulative Deborah Vance, a long-time star whose residency dates at the casino (in season 1) are in danger of being reduced to make way for younger, more contemporary talent.  She’s used to getting her own way and is set in her beliefs about what makes good comedy.  She initially has no interest in collaborating with the young writer, Ava Daniels (Einbinder), who has substantially different comedic sensibilities.  Ava needs a job, but has no interest punching up the material of a past-her-prime stand-up. 

The writing is superb, as both Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder brilliantly bring these characters to life.  The generational back-and-forth pulls no punches, but also takes no sides, which is both uncommon and refreshing.  It would have been too easy to simply make Deborah seem old-fashioned, outdated, and foolish.  Baby Boomers and their parents might recognize shades of groundbreaking female comedians Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers in Deborah, but Jean Smart is so good that she stands on her own as a fresh character.

This odd couple has a love-hate relationship throughout most of the first season, but eventually each realizes how incredibly talented the other is, and how well they complement one another. 

After her final Las Vegas show, Deborah decides to go on tour, taking Ava along to help punch up her new material.  The tour takes up the entire second season, as Deborah comes to terms with some of the bad things she’s done in the past to get ahead.  As several of her tour dates bomb, she tries to figure out how much of her personal baggage to include in her act.  She eventually decides to self-fund a streaming comeback comedy special.  Meanwhile, Ava is dealing with her own baggage, from her focus on nothing but her professional life, to her choice of sexual partners.  She’s also starting to realize that she is more like Deborah than she cares to admit.

Hacks has been renewed for a third season.

Killing Eve (BBCA/AMC 2018-2022):  Sandra Oh has justifiably received acclaim and awards for her brilliant turn as the title character, Eve Polastri, an ambitious and insightful mid-level MI5 security officer.  But Jodie Comer (who also won an Emmy for her performance) is every bit her equal as the mercurial and brutal international female assassin, Villanelle, with whom she plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse through four thrilling seasons. 

Eve is recruited by a secret intelligence division within MI6 on an off-the-books basis, to help track down Villanelle and the secret organization that employs her (known as The Twelve).  Fiona Shaw is excellent as Carolyn Martens, head of the Russia section of MI6 (and Eve’s sometimes boss), whose real agenda remains a mystery.  Kim Bodnia is dangerously humorous as Konstantin, Villanelle’s handler, who trained her to become an assassin.  Carolyn and Konstantin share a mysterious past.

In season 1, Eve is tasked with hunting down the sociopathic Villanelle.  As they become obsessed with one another (admiration, fear, love?), a fierce game of cat and mouse ensues.  Men are the peripheral characters here, and most of the victims. 

Season 2 picks up immediately following the shocking season 1 finale.  The chase and head games between the two adversaries continue for another eight addicting episodes.  The second season lacked some of the magic of the first, no doubt because the great Phoebe Waller-Bridge was no longer the head writer, and there were a few extra (and unnecessary) storylines, as Eve and Villanelle become even more obsessed with and attracted to one another.  But it was still better than almost anything else on TV. 

Season 3, with its third consecutive female showrunner, amps up the stakes as both Eve and Villanelle start to question their career paths and come to terms with how they feel and why they are drawn to one another.  And, of course, more bodies drop in Villanelle’s wake, as she comes up with ever more innovative ways to dispense with her targets. 

Each of the first three seasons has an almost perfect ending setting up the next installment.  In the fourth and final season, both Eve and Villanelle are trying to convince themselves and one other that they have changed – until they each realize neither really wants to.  As they each go on their separate missions of revenge against members of The Twelve, they may actually be on the same side.  Virtually every scene involving both Eve and Villanelle is riveting.  You never know what’s going to happen next.  Things come to a head in their conflict, as one of Konstantin’s newly minted assassins (Anjana Vasan) joins the fray.  The show’s controversial finale delivers a brilliant and exciting end to a brilliant and exciting series.

Ozark (Netflix 2017-2022 ):  In his best and most nuanced performance, Jason Bateman is Marty Byrde, a brilliant Chicago financial advisor whose partner is killed (in the first episode) after stealing money from a drug lord client (Esai Morales).  To avoid a similar fate, Marty is forced to move to a summer resort community in the Missouri Ozarks with his wife Wendy (Laura Linney), and their two teenage kids, to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel.  When they get there they also have to deal with some local gangsters and corrupt politicians.  Quirky and gritty, with dangerous characters and situations everywhere.  An unusual but very effective mix of humor and violence (which is often sudden and jarring). 

Multiple Emmy winner Julia Garner is a revelation as Ruth, a tough-as-nails young woman who lives in a trailer with her dysfunctional and often violent family.  Her cousin Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) is her lone friend and link to sanity.  After initially clashing with Marty, she winds up working for him until they have a falling out – their evolving relationship is one of the show’s driving forces. 

Season 3 reaches several boiling points (and new heights), as Marty and Wendy clash with one another, with Ruth, and with local mobsters, while trying to stay one step ahead of the FBI – all while continuing a dangerous alliance with the Mexican drug cartel leader (Felix Solis), who is involved in his own war with a rival drug gang.  Tom Pelphrey is Wendy’s brother Ben, whose bipolar disorder and reckless behavior threatens to put the family in peril.  How Wendy decides to deal with him has major ramifications going forward.  There’s also the potential threat from the cartel’s sinister attorney (the always excellent Janet McTeer), who doesn’t trust the Byrdes, and wants the cartel to eliminate them.  Protecting their family has become more complicated than ever.

Over the course of four seasons, as Marty and Wendy descend further into criminality, Laura Linney’s gradual shift from reluctant tag-along wife to political mastermind and ruthless take-charge protector of her family is chilling (and compelling to watch).  Their daughter Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) is excellent as she evolves from frightened teenager to being all in with the family’s criminal enterprise.  Their son Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) goes from an innocent 10-year-old to a 14-year old computer whiz and money launderer.  Of all the characters, only Jason Bateman’s Marty Byrde seems to not dramatically change his demeanor or motivation as the show progresses (until the final few episodes).  His veneer of calm in light of the increasing danger surrounding his family, is one of the more interesting aspects of the series.

The fourth and final season dropped in two seven-episode segments in 2022.  The violence quotient continues unabated and the tension level reaches new heights as Ruth seeks revenge against the cartel leader’s hotheaded nephew (Alfonso Herrera) for an attack on her family, and the Byrdes devise a dangerous plan to finally free themselves from the clutches of the drug cartel (and the FBI).  The final resolution and fates of the main characters are sure to satisfy some, while infuriating others.

Peaky Blinders (Netflix 2013-2022):  After World War I, returning soldiers, revolutionaries, and criminal gangs are struggling to survive in a 1919 Britain rocked by economic upheaval and shifting social mores.  Returning war hero, Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is the cunning, charismatic, and ambitious young leader of one of the more powerful gangs of the time, the Peaky Blinders, which he runs with his family.  They are so named because of the razor blades sewn into the peaks of the newsboy caps they wear, and are loosely based on a real urban street gang of the time.

The series is stylish, suspenseful, moody, beautifully shot, and filled with superb actors.  It contains many of the family dynamics of great gangster dramas, while at the same time redefining the genre.  There’s family loyalty and betrayal, rising up from poverty to build a criminal empire, trying to legitimize the family business, brutally violent gangs both at home and abroad, the start and end of prohibition, shifting alliances, and the evolution of Thomas Shelby into a triumphant but ultimately tragic figure.  And it has perhaps the coolest theme song of all time (Red Right Hand, sung by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), which is pitch perfect for the show.

Peaky Blinders has a remarkable large ensemble cast of regular and recurring characters, some of whom cross multiple seasons.  The series has won multiple international awards for acting, directing, music, various craft and production elements, and for the show itself. 

The Shelby family includes: Helen McCrory as Thomas Shelby’s aunt, Elizabeth “Polly” Gray, the tough and clever heart of the family (seasons 1-5); Paul Anderson as Thomas’s unstable and violent older brother and best friend, Arthur Shelby; Sophie Rundle as the only female sibling, Ada – smart and tough, she eventually helps Thomas Shelby run his business; Finn Cole as Helen’s son and Thomas’s younger cousin Michael Gray, who starts out being Thomas’s protégé but eventually tries to take over the business; Annabelle Wallis as Grace Shelby, Thomas’s girlfriend, a former undercover agent who becomes his first wife and mother of his son, Charles (seasons 1-3, 5);  Natasha O’Keefe as Lizzie Shelby, an ex-prostitute and Thomas’s secretary, who eventually becomes his second wife and mother of his daughter, Ruby; Kate Phillips as Linda Shelby, Arthur’s wife and a devout Christian; Ana Taylor-Joy as Gina Gray (seasons 5-6), Michael Gray’s American wife, whose uncle is a pro-fascist south Boston gang leader and powerful businessman, Jack Nelson (James Frecheville), and Joe Cole as John Shelby, the youngest Shelby brother (seasons 1-4). 

A barely recognizable Tom Hardy has a great turn as Jewish gang leader Alfie Solomons, who is Thomas Shelby’s sometime ally and sometime adversary.  Packy Lee is Johnny Dogs, Tommy’s gypsy friend (seasons 3-6).  Sam Neil is Chief Inspector Chester Campbell, one of the Shelby’s main adversaries during the first couple of seasons.  Aiden Gillen is Aberama Gold, a gypsy assassin who becomes a Shelby ally and Polly’s lover (seasons 4-5).  Adrian Brody is New York mafioso, Luca Changretta (season 4), who has a vendetta against the Peaky Blinders and tries to kill them all (with a team of assassins he brings over from the U.S.).  Sam Claflin is Oswald Mosley, a Fascist British politician who becomes the Shelby’s fiercest adversary in seasons 5 and 6.  Amber Anderson is Mosley’s wife, Lady Diana Milford (season 6), a British aristocrat and Fascist socialite.

The sixth and final season, which consists of just six episodes, was delayed because of the pandemic.  Unfortunately, during that time, Helen McCrory passed away from cancer.  If not for the production delay, she would have had a central role in the final season, which had to be rewritten following her passing.  In the tense and exciting series finale, Thomas Shelby resolves much of his unfinished business.   Although the sixth season was its last, a Peaky Blinders movie is reportedly in the works, and there’s talk of a potential spin-off series.

Severance (Apple TV+ 2022- ):  Work-life balance comes to the forefront in this mystery thriller from Ben Stiller.  Office workers voluntarily undergo a procedure known as “severance,” which surgically divides their memories between their work and home lives.  When they are in the office, they do not recall anything about their personal lives, friends, or families.  When they leave the office, they remember nothing about their jobs or co-workers.  The elevator ride into and out of the office erases their memories.  Their work selves are referred to as “Innies’” and their outside selves as “Outies.”  There is extremely tight security and full body scans upon entering the building’s elevator to prevent either version of an employee from trying to smuggle any type of communication to their other self.

While the Innies and Outies are technically the same people, only the Outies have any life experience.  The Innies only exist at work, and are essentially placed into a world where they have no past and no knowledge of anything or anyone beyond the few co-workers with whom they share a windowless fluorescent-lit  office space, and their controlling bosses who dole out rewards if they meet production quotas and punishments if they break the rules.  Once they leave the office they have no memory of going home or going to sleep.  Their experience is leaving the office and immediately returning to the office (and somehow feeling refreshed if their outies had a good night’s sleep). 

Would employees be content with this situation or would they find it a torturous existence?

The series follows Mark Scout (a pitch-perfect Adam Scott), an employee at the mysterious Lumon industries, who was recently promoted to lead a team in the Macrodata Refinement division on the “severed” floor (in the basement of the building).  He was elevated to the position after the previous team leader and his best friend (at work), Petey (Yul Vaquez), was fired under mysterious circumstances.  Petey’s replacement, Helly (the excellent Britt Lower), quickly decides she doesn’t want to work there, but since her Outie does (and she has no idea why) there’s no escape.  The rest of Mark’s team are Irving (the always terrific John Turturro), who is a stickler for company policy, and Dylan (Zach Cherry), a follower, who enjoys the bizarre company perks employees receive for achieving certain goals (such as waffle parties or five-minute music/dance breaks).

On the outside, the severance procedure is controversial, with many people protesting it as unethical.  Mark’s Outie is grieving the death of his wife, and as his pregnant sister (Jen Tullock) tells him, “forgetting for eight hours a day is not the same as healing.”  At work, with no recollection of his outside life, Mark is relatively content, although he misses Petey and is constantly trying to deal with Helly and prevent her from being punished for breaking the rules and trying to escape.  But one day, in his outside life, a man he doesn’t recognize approaches him and says he is his co-worker Petey, and has managed, with help from a secret organization, to reverse the severance procedure (something which is supposed to be impossible).  He goes on to tell him that Lumon industries is an evil company, but won’t say exactly what they do – he fears the company is searching for him and his life is in danger.  This sets up everything that follows.

It’s hard to explain why I like this show so much, and I certainly understand why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.  I’ve never seen a series where so little actually happens in each episode (except for the unbelievably tense season finale) that is nevertheless so compelling and endlessly interesting – much of which is due to the stellar cast.

Patricia Arquette is chilling as Harmony Cobel, Mark’s boss at Lumin, who is also his next door neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, on the outside.  Although she takes on two separate identities, we soon realize  she is not severed, and is actually keeping tabs on Mark.  Christopher Walken plays another of his many quirky characters as Burt, the severed chief of the mysterious Optics and Design division, who has a mutual attraction to John Turturro’s Irving (one of the more interesting relationships on television).  Tramell Tillman is excellent as Mr. Milchick, the constantly smiling supervisor of the severed floor, who also doles out employee rewards and punishments.  Dichen Lachman is a find as the seemingly robotic Mrs. Casey, a Luman wellness counselor on the severed floor. 

The season finale has some major reveals and a bold cliffhanger (considering it was filmed before the show was officially renewed for a second season).  The last five minutes might be the most thrilling moments of television this year.  There’s nothing else like this on television – a truly original and brilliant series.

Slow Horses (Apple TV+ 2022- ):  Based on Mick Herron’s 2010 novel of the same name.  British MI5 agents who screw up in a variety of ways, are exiled to Slough House, an administrative purgatory, where drudgery and paperwork are the tasks of the day.  Known derisively as “slow horses,” these outcasts report to the notorious Jackson Lamb (played with relish by Gary Oldman).  Seemingly past his prime, slovenly, borderline alcoholic, and contemptuous of those he is forced to oversee, Lamb’s acerbic and obnoxious demeanor belies the keen mind of a legendary intelligence officer. 

The newest member of Slough House, River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), is an up-and-coming MI5 agent who was set up to very publicly fail during a training exercise.  He joins a motley crew of agents who were deposited there because of either embarrassing failures or bad luck.  When properly motivated (which they seldom are), they are a surprisingly talented bunch. 

They excellent cast includes, Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), Slough House’s administrator, a recovering alcoholic, Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke), a competent agent inexplicably assigned to Slough House, Min Harper (Dustin Demri-Burns), assigned here because he accidentally left a top-secret disk on a train, Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar), who wound up here after an operation went badly, Struan Loy (Paul Higgins), assigned to Slough House after sending an inappropriate work email, and Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), a brilliant computer expert and hacker, apparently assigned to Slough House because he’s so obnoxious no one else wants to work with him.

When MI5’s Deputy Director-General Diana Taverner (a perfectly cast Kristen Scott Thomas) tries to blame Slough House for a failed MI5 false-flag operation that results in potential disaster, the slow horses spring (or trot) into action in an effort to uncover the truth and save themselves in the process.

Part taut conspiracy thriller, part workplace comedy, the sharp writing and Gary Oldman’s terrific performance make Slow Horses completely enjoyable and entertaining.  It’s been renewed for a third and fourth season.  

Succession (HBO 2018- ): One of the buzziest shows in the past few seasons, this satirical drama is that rare series that actually lives up to the hype.  When Logan Roy (Brian Cox), an aging Rupert Murdoch-style media tycoon has a stroke, his four adult children (Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Sarah Snook) start jockeying for control of the family’s international media and entertainment empire.  When he recovers and lets them know he has no intention of stepping down anytime soon, all types of power plays, backstabbing schemes, and elaborate infighting ensue, as ambitions collide with family loyalties.

One might think a series about unlikeable and privileged one-percenters (actually 0.001 percenters) is not the recipe for broad success, but the sharp writing, fierce acting, and effortless shifts between comedy, tragedy, and family drama, make this compelling and entertaining viewing. 

While owing something to the Dallas and Dynasty type soaps of the 1980s, the key differences become obvious from the start.  Viewers might have felt that with the right breaks they could become akin to the Ewings or Carringtons, and might even behave as J.R. and his clan did if they amassed similar wealth.  In some ways these shows could be considered aspirational.  But Succession is different.  You will never accumulate this type of wealth unless you inherit it, and nobody on this show acts the way you might if you suddenly became rich.  They live in their own little insulated bubble universe, with no sense of community with the real world.   They have little concern over what content goes out on their news network, and no sense of obligation to the public – as long as it makes them money.  They have no concern about any consequences for their crimes or subsequent cover-ups – they can always find a patsy to take the fall.  They are so out of touch with the real world, that they have little concern about supporting a neo-Nazi for president and having their picture taken with him – whomever Logan Roy and his network support will be the presumptive Republican front-runner.

The opening credits sequence (the images change slightly each season) and award-wining original theme music might be the most fascinating 90 seconds of television on the air.  The video sequence intersperses images of the New York City skyline with home-video footage of the Roy family.  The patriarch (Logan Roy) is shown mostly from behind as he observes (and directs?) his privileged, isolated, and largely unhappy children growing into screwed up adults.

In season 1, we are introduced to the powerful, wealthy, and dysfunctional Roy family.

• Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is the billionaire founder of Waystar RoyCo. a giant media and entertainment conglomerate. He has four children from two of his three previous marriages  He is ruthless and misogynistic, and treats his family as nothing more than pawns on a chess board.  His ex-wife says of him, “Logan enjoys kicking the things he loves just to see if they’ll come back to him.” 

• Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) is Logan’s second son (the first from his second marriage). He is presumed to be Logan’s successor.  Through his own and everyone else’s doubts, he struggles to prove he is worthy, while battling substance abuse.  At the end of season 2, he makes a stunning move that throws everything and everyone for a giant loop, thrusts the company into chaos, draws new battle lines, and sets the stage for the confrontations to come in season 3.

• Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) is Logan’s middle son from his second marriage. He is immature and does not take his responsibilities seriously, but he’s street-smart and has people skills.    Despite all evidence to the contrary, he continues to think his father believes in him.  

• Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook) is Logan’s youngest child and only daughter from his second marriage. She was a left-leaning political fixer, whose views clash with the conservative Waystar media company, but she comes back to work for her father when he dangles the CEO position (which she desperately wants but never gets).  She thinks she is much more qualified to run the company than her brothers, but Logan, who has a general disdain for women, keeps shutting her out of major decisions.

• Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) is Logan’s eldest son from his first marriage. He wants more involvement in the family business, but he is not seen by the others as particularly qualified for anything, and has been shunted aside.  In season 2 he announces he plans to run for President of the United States.

• Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) is Shiv’s fiancé and later her husband, and one of the most put upon characters in the show. He’s a Waystar executive who was promoted from their amusement park and scandal-ridden cruise division to head of the company’s global news outlet.  He is a people-pleaser and vies for more power, but is thought of as an outsider by the family’s inner circle.  Shiv has been casually cruel and dismissive toward him for virtually the entire series, oblivious to how it might be affecting him.  He appears to have made a surprise move in the season 3 finale that stuns Shiv and promises even more fireworks in season 4.

• Nicholas Braun (Greg Hirsch) is Logan’s bumbling but opportunistic great nephew – the grandson of Logan’s estranged brother, Ewan Roy (James Cromwell). He is manipulated by some members of the family, particularly Tom, until he starts to wise up.

The first season starts out slowly, but builds into something great as the season progresses.  Season 2 is near perfection, with strong guest starring roles for Cherry Jones and Holly Hunter.  The surprise ending sets the stage for everything that happens in season 3, which sees Kendall Roy face off with his father, an uphill battle to be sure, as the viewer wonders if any of his siblings will eventually join him.  But as Tom says to him when he tries to get him to switch sides, “…my hunch is you’re going to get fucked, because I’ve seen you get fucked a lot and I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once.”

In the season 3 finale, Logan makes a move that threatens the future financial security of all his children, as Shiv and Roman seek Kendall’s help to try and stop him.  This episode is a true acting masterpiece – it expertly builds tension, reveals what people are thinking based solely on their body language, and ends with a boom.  Season 4 should be a blast.

Tehran (Apple TV+ 2020- ): Israeli spy thriller about a young Jewish Mossad agent, Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan) on her first field mission in Iran’s capital – she was born in Iran, but moved to Israel when she was a child.  She’s an expert computer hacker, whose undercover mission in Tehran is to help disable a nuclear reactor.  The plan is to neutralize Iranian air defenses so that the Israeli Air Force can bomb a nuclear plant to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb.

Every episode is fraught with tension and anxiety as Tamar is exposed and goes into hiding, and is hunted by Faraz Kamali (Shaun Toub), lead investigator of Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guards.  Glenn Close joined the cast in season 2 as one of Tamar’s key allies.

This is one of those rare series that attempts to show the humanity of both sides – and also the ruthless disregard for the collateral damage to innocent life in the pursuit of what each side sees as its righteous cause.  No one on either side is safe.  Captivating, intense, and exhilarating.

The show received an award for best drama series at the 2021 International Emmy Awards.  No word yet on whether it will be renewed for a third season, but I hope so.

The Law of Declining Ratings: Why Most New Shows Flop, and What Can Be Done to Prevent it

The mortality rate of new broadcast series is higher than ever.  Only 21% of the primetime scripted series premiering over the past five years will still be on the air during the 2022-23 season (36 out of 169) – 23% of the fall series (17 out of 73) and 20% of the mid-season shows (19 out of 96).  If we take out the spin-offs, reboots, and franchise extensions, the total percent still on the air becomes just 17% (24 out of 139).

I haven’t seen all of the new broadcast primetime TV series pilots yet, but I can predict with virtually 100% certainty that broadcast network audiences will decline next season and most new series will flop.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

We have the laws of physics, the law of gravity, the law of large numbers, the law of diminishing returns, the law of supply and demand, even the law of averages.  But despite the fact that broadcast ratings decline virtually every season, there’s no actual law of declining ratings that I could find.  So I’ll posit one.  As more viewing options become available, most returning TV shows will lose viewers, and it will take longer for potential viewers to become aware of new shows.  Corollary 1: The only way to stem the tide of network audience erosion is to promote both new and established series on TV shows that appeal to similar viewers – regardless of the network or platform.  Corollary 2: The likelihood that network TV audiences will decline form one year to the next is directly related to how much that network prioritizes rankings over ratings.

It’s not that the networks aren’t capable of creating hits anymore, it’s just that there are so many choices out there, television viewers no longer have to watch the “least objectionable programming,” a term probably unfamiliar to anyone under 35.

There are actually more high-quality shows on television than ever before.  The most popular ones seem to be on streaming services.  It seems that way because the press headlines, social media chatter, industry “buzz” tell us so.  Are Stranger Things or Squid Game really more popular than NCIS or Chicago Fire?  Have more people seen The Flight Attendant this season than Young Sheldon?  Of course not. 

In reality, we have no idea how many people are watching any individual show on streaming platforms – Nielsen’s sample is not representative of streaming subscriptions, nor do they measure all streaming services, nor do they measure streaming beyond the television set.  Whatever limited data is currently provided by streamers is not using the same metrics as Nielsen (or one another).  So, we really do not have any valid ongoing comparisons between linear TV viewing and streaming using the same metrics or time frame.  But we do know that broadcast ratings tend to decline every season.  Streaming series may as well, but we just don’t see the data.   

The New TV Season is Not as Relevant as It Used to Be 

Prior to the early 2000s, the new fall TV season was one of the few entertainment topics discussed throughout the summer on syndicated TV shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Extra, and Access Hollywood, and print magazines such as People, Us, and Entertainment Weekly.  The broadcast networks aired mostly repeats during the summer months, and cable networks contained mostly off-network reruns and reality.  Except for the occasional movie blockbuster or celebrity scandal, there wasn’t much else for the entertainment press to focus on.  That was before original scripted series started proliferating on cable networks during the summer months, and before the average TV home subscribed to at least three streaming services.  With new original scripted series available to viewers on multiple platforms year-round, the new broadcast TV season simply doesn’t generate as much press or viewer excitement as it once did.

New Series Promotion is More Important but Less Effectve Than Ever 

There are so many good shows on so many different venues and platforms, both ad-supported and not, even top-notch new shows can slip through the cracks if they aren’t effectively promoted.  Part of the problem promoting a new season that begins in September is that shows that air in the summer tend to appeal to different audiences than those that air in the fall.  It wasn’t a problem several years ago, when the summer consisted largely of broadcast repeats of regular series (which did generally appeal to the same viewers as in the fall, albeit fewer of them).  Today, the broadcast network summer schedules are filled with game shows, reality, and limited-run series – not necessarily the audience for the new fall scripted series.  While on-air promos are still the best way to create awareness for new shows such as Alaska (ABC), East New York  (CBS), Lopez vs. Lopez (NBC), Monarch (FOX), and Gotham Knights (CW), they are not maximizing their potential target reach by being promoted in Celebrity Family Feud (ABC), Love Island (CBS), American Ninja Warrior (NBC), and Lego Masters (FOX). 

 

My wife and I watch a significant amount of broadcast television during the fall and winter, but very little in the summer.  For us, summer is the time to find new streaming shows to binge.  Or, if we’ve heard good things about a linear TV series we haven’t seen, we’ll catch up with it on whatever on-demand platform it’s on.  This is becoming the case for more and more people across the country, and not just younger viewers. 

The broadcast networks still adhere to fall and spring seasons with program lineups, with weekly episodes targeted to largely similar audiences – unlike a streaming service, where shows that appeal to substantially different viewers can thrive side-by-side.  Netflix, for example, can put on Stranger Things, Money Heist, BoJack Horsemen, The Crown, Grace & Frankie, The Umbrella Academy, and Bridgerton, at the same time without being concerned about audience flow or cohesive nightly lineups.  Ad-supported cable networks do have seasons (or at least air weekly episodes), but are not as reliant as broadcast networks on premiere dates, lead-ins, or having similar programming across their schedules.  They also often repeat primetime episodes either immediately following the first run or during late night. 

The broadcast network structure makes promoting a new show that doesn’t fit in with that network’s typical audience much more difficult, particularly if it is restricted to its own air.  A prime example is the upcoming Monarch, a multi-generational family drama about a country-music dynasty (with Susan Sarandon, Trace Adkins, and Anna Friel) set to debut on Fox this fall.  The only problem is that it is not similar to any other current Fox show.  But it should appeal to many regular CBS viewers.  If the broadcast networks finally see the light and start cross-promoting one another’s programming, Monarch will advertise in shows such as CBS’s Bob Hearts Abishola, Young Sheldon, Blue Bloods, and NCIS, and most likely become a success (or at the very least get a strong viewer sampling).  If the broadcasters continue to live in the 1980s, seeing only each other as competition, and stubbornly refuse to cross-promote one another’s shows, then a series like Monarch might not get the viewer sampling it needs to become successful.

Do Fall or Mid-Season Shows Have a Better Chance to Succeed?

Theoretically, a new mid-season series has an advantage over one that debuts in the fall when it comes to promotion.  Shows that premiere in September are competing for awareness with several other new series debuting over the same two- or three-week period.  And these shows are promoted during the summer, when program schedules and viewing habits are substantially different than in the fall.  Of course, there is only an advantage for mid-season shows if thee broadcast networks start cross-promoting.  Broadcast shows that debut mid-season (usually January – May) are able to advertise in established first-run series – a big plus if you take advantage of all the programming on all the networks that reach the precise audience your new show is targeting.  Otherwise, as is often the case with ineffectively promoted broadcast shows, they will get lost in the shuffle – people are used to sampling new series in the fall, since so many debut at around the same time.  By mid-season, viewing patterns are more established, so without cross-promotion it’s easy for a new show to slip through the cracks – unless it’s a brand extension of a successful franchise.  

Of the current top-30 rated scripted shows among adults 18-49, for example, less than one-third (9) debuted in mid-season.  More than half of those (5) were spin-offs or franchise extensions – which already had built-in audiences, and did not need extensive promotion to become hits.

Who remembers these excellent but short-lived mid-season series – For the People, Whiskey Cavalier, Tommy, Deputy, Debris, and Rebel – shows that most people probably never heard of.  All victims of network stubbornness to not promote their product to the largest chunk of available target consumers – namely viewers who are watching similar programs, regardless of the network.

Keeping Viewers Tuned to Broadcast Television

Viewers don’t think in terms of ABC vs. CBS vs. NBC vs. FOX anymore.  Only network executives still think that way.  It is essential for the broadcast networks to finally understand that keeping viewers tuned to any broadcast network is the best way to keep them in the broadcast arena and get them to switch over to their programming.  Once they go to other platforms, it’s much harder to lure them back.  And while the broadcasters still refuse to take ads from each other, they gladly accept them from their real competitors, premium cable networks and streaming services. 

Ad-supported cable networks long ago figured out the best way to increase viewership is to cross-promote one another’s programming.  They also understand that it doesn’t really hurt them if other cable networks do the same.  If everyone gains viewers, more advertising dollars shift from broadcast to cable, and everyone eventually benefits.  Streaming services quickly realized that the best way to get viewers and new subscribers is to advertise where the most viewers still congregate – the broadcast networks.  Yet while the broadcast networks constantly sell broadcast television to advertisers as the best place to reach large chunks of target viewers at one time, they still don’t seem to believe it when it comes to their own product.

Prioritizing Rankings Over Ratings:  Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Decline 

The networks and the press have long considered program rankings far more important than actual ratings.  I still cringe when I see an article that talks about how well a program performed, winning its time period with a 0.4 rating among Adults 18-49.  This low a first-place rating should be a cause for alarm, not celebration.  

The upfront is designed to reward rankings over ratings, and enables the networks to continually raise prices for shrinking audiences.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you gave broadcast network executives a choice between growing their audience by 10% but slipping from first to second place, or losing 10% of their audience but moving up in the standings (because other networks declined by more), they would uniformly pick the latter.  This is probably one of the main reasons the broadcast networks stubbornly refuse to cross-promote their shows.  They’d rather hurt the other networks than see everyone improve (and potentially see another network gain more viewers).  Why else would NBC schedule its new American Song Contest opposite ABC’s popular American Idol?  They couldn’t possibly have thought it would attract more viewers.  But they might have thought it could hurt one of ABC’s stronger shows, and maybe they could inch up in the standings.

I led research departments at major ad agency groups for more than 30 years, and while media buyers would often ask for program or network ranking reports, I can’t recall many instances where anyone asked if a show or network’s ratings were up or down from the previous season.  If I was putting together a ranker chart for a presentation, I was never asked to include the actual ratings (in fact, I was usually asked not to).

For the larger cable networks, ranking among the top 10 matters more than growing their audience.  I worked at a cable network where even though our average rating was up from the previous year, we slipped from 10^th to 11^th place among cable networks for adults 25-54.  This was considered a disaster.  The fact that only three-tenths of a rating point separated the 3^rd and 20^th place cable networks was not relevant.  The following season, our average rating was unchanged, but we had managed to climb to 8^th place (because other networks declined).  Celebration time. 

Given how the marketplace has traditionally functioned, higher rankings do lead to short-term success and profitability.  But focusing on rankings at the expense of audience growth also leads to long-term erosion and drives viewers to other platforms, many of whom may not return.

Networks Stop Promoting New Shows Too Soon 

While the broadcast networks heavily promote their new fall shows over the summer and during premiere week, they tend to cut back on these efforts way too soon.  It usually takes three to five weeks for a new show to settle into its final ratings range.  And in the era of Peak TV+, it takes viewers longer than ever to even become aware of a new show much less start watching it.  I’m still discovering shows to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video that have been on for several seasons.  While the networks rely on ad revenue, so don’t have that kind of time, they should be promoting new shows they believe in throughout the year and heavily promote the fact that viewers can catch up with recent episodes and previous seasons, which are available to stream on demand.  Stop treating good shows as lost causes if viewers haven’t found them during their first few weeks on the air.

There’s no law that says broadcast ratings have to decline every year or that most new shows will fail.  To paraphrase a famous playwright, “the fault lies not in their stars, but in themselves.”

Some Pre-Upfront Thoughts (5-22)

In a series of presentations to the advertising industry this week, the major media companies are announcing plans for their linear and streaming platforms during the next year or so, which includes their respective fall TV schedules.  This marks the start of the “upfront” season, when advertisers willmj,spend upward of $20 billion buying commercial time on national television shows scheduled to air during the 2022-23 broadcast year.

As I do every year, I will be reporting on each company’s presentation, and once I watch all the new series pilots, evaluating their upcoming broadcast network programming.  But first I have a few pre-upfront thoughts.

Do the Upfronts Still Matter? 

In today’s video world, the very idea of a fall TV season seems old fashioned.  The broadcast networks might still adhere to fall- and mid-season schedules for debuting new shows but their competitors do not.  Ad-supported and premium cable networks premiere many new shows during the summer months, while streaming services drop new series whenever they happen to be ready.  In a television landscape of 10-13 episode cable shows, and 6-10 episode streaming series, when you can binge entire seasons at one time, most viewers don’t think in terms of TV seasons anymore.  Their favorite non-broadcast shows premiere, go on hiatus, and return at different times during the year.

The broadcast networks, however, still hold onto a schedule that starts in the fall.  They have traditionally been locked into weekly schedules of first-run programming coinciding with their local affiliates’ sweep months of November, February, and May (which dates back to a time when local ratings were measured via paper diaries four times a year).  Current audience measurement technology makes sweep months increasingly irrelevant, although the “official” broadcast season continues to end in May.  It’s also easier to sell commercial time upfront if buyers know when every show will premiere.  And let’s not forget they still make the most money from selling advertising in their linear network programming. 

The once highly anticipated “upfront week” has become a much more subdued affair of late.  Because of the pandemic, the last two years were exclusively virtual presentations, which simply don’t have the same energy as live events at Radio City, Carnegie Hall, or Lincoln Center, and the subsequent celebrity-filled after-parties.  This year’s upfront events will be live, but those who don’t yet feel comfortable returning to crowded settings will still be able to live-stream the presentations. 

Until recently, there was also a fair amount of anticipation among the general public during this period.  After the upfront schedule announcements, pundits would proliferate on syndicated entertainment shows, and in print magazines, and newspapers, throughout the summer talking about the new fall TV shows.  Online chatter and buzz would ensue.  There used to be little else happening in the television  arena, and aside from the latest theatrical release or celebrity scandal, the upcoming fall TV season was the one of the only big entertainment news items.  Today, with so many high-profile streaming services with new programming premiering year-round, the broadcast fall TV season is no longer the only game in town, and new broadcast network shows simply don’t generate as much pre-season buzz as they did just a few years ago.

The upfront season has traditionally benefited sellers more than buyers, and have been seen as big branding events for the broadcast networks and the top tier ad-supported cable networks.

• The upfronts have served as annual reminders to the ad industry and media press that the broadcast networks are still watched by significantly more viewers than any other video source and are still the best way to reach large chunks of viewers at one time. On this basis alone, the upfronts have been extremely valuable to the broadcast networks (as well as some of the larger ad-supported cable networks).

This will be the third consecutive year, when instead of individual events for broadcast and cable networks, we have presentations from competing media conglomerates, each of whom owns a broadcast network, ad-supported and premium cable networks, digital platforms, subscription and ad-supported streaming services, and sports and news operations. 

The broadcast network schedule announcements have long been the foundation of these upfront presentations, but last year marked the first time they were not the main focus.  The presentations were instead designed to tell us that these media companies are everywhere, can reach everyone, have high-tech analytic capabilities to optimize and better target any ad campaign, are diverse and inclusive, and are better equipped and have better scale to provide advertisers and viewers what they want than any other media company (they all made essentially the same claims).  This year’s presentations are likely to be even more focused on the depth and breadth of scale, as well as streaming ads, and using alternate “currency” measurement to supplement (but not replace) Nielsen.

• The upfront system enables the networks to continually raise prices for a shrinking product. By traditionally having the broadcast upfront first, the networks have created an artificial demand for what is essentially an unlimited supply of rating points.  It also allows the sellers to force the buyers to purchase advertising in less desirable programming so they can get the more desirable inventory. 

Keep in mind that 30 years ago, the average broadcast network rating was more than 10 times higher than the average of the top-10 cable networks.  Twenty years ago, it was roughly 7 times higher.  Today, it’s barely 3 times higher.  The advantage broadcast had over the top ad-supported cable networks is not nearly what it used to be.   But if more cable networks shift away from original scripted series, the broadcast networks will again have an advantage.

• For advertisers, audience guarantees makes the process seem worthwhile. If the buy underperforms what a network promised (guaranteed), the network provides the advertiser with additional commercials to make up the shortfall.  This was important at a time when there were wide disparities among network and individual program ratings, and future performance was less predictable.  

 

As average ratings have declined, however, they have become easier to project from one season to the next.  Blockbuster hits are few and far between – particularly in mid-season.  It is much more likely you will under-estimate a show’s performance than over-estimate it, and far more likely you will not overestimate an entire buy.  And if you’re not buying upfront, but rather going into the marketplace just a month or two before a show airs, if you can’t project the audience with a reasonable degree of accuracy, you should be doing something else.

• The upfronts are basically a futures market, allowing media companies to provide Wall Street with the confidence that they are financially healthy.

For advertisers, the upfront contains a fair amount of uncertainty.  When you buy inventory for an entire year upfront, you know going in that much of what you think you’re getting won’t be there later in the year.

For the networks and studios, spending tons of money on new programming and pilots also remains a risky proposition – only about 21% of all the new series that debuted over the past five years will still be on the air next season.  Increasingly, partnerships and back-end deals (often with streaming services) are necessary to help offset these high costs.

Are Ads on Streaming Platforms More Valuable Than Ads on Linear TV?

Ad-supported tiers on streaming services are important to their media company owners who are looking for additional revenue streams to help offset the high cost of programming, to advertisers who are searching for ways to reach consumers at a time of declining linear TV ratings, and to the general public, many of whom are looking for ways to reduce their own costs.

HBO Max introduced an advertising tier in 2021.  Netflix  has indicated it might start accepting ads in a lower-priced tier by the end of 2022.  Disney+ will do so even sooner.  This is not only a game changer, but it is the best thing to happen for advertisers in many years.  

From an advertiser perspective, one key advantage of linear TV is that you know in advance when viewers will watch the show (more or less), and that the audience will be fairly predictable and stable on a weekly basis – which means they are better suited to time-sensitive advertising campaigns.  That’s because network programming is locked into weekly schedule grids.  Not so with streaming series, where viewership is more likely to come in spurts, depending both on the platform and on how many episodes of a series are dropped at one time. 

Nevertheless, the advantages of streaming commercials to advertisers far outweigh any potential downside.  When you are streaming something, it is, along with DVR playback, typically the highest level of appointment TV (on demand).  There is no commercial avoidance through channel switching, and unlike DVR playback, you can’t fast-forward through commercials.  Streaming services also contain fewer ads per hour and significantly less commercial clutter than linear networks.

A “confirmed” commercial impression on a streaming platform is therefore far more valuable than a commercial minute impression on linear networks.  By confirmed, I mean certified by the streaming service (which has access to the actual data), not third-party measurement done by Nielsen, ComScore, or some other research company.  Current C3 ratings do not accurately account for commercial viewers on linear TV, and Nielsen’s sample is not representative of the streaming universe, nor does it measure all streaming services or devices.

While most streamers don’t reach nearly as many viewers as a broadcast network, Netflix does.  Even if only 20% of current Netflix users opt for the lower-priced ad-supported tier, it would probably place Netflix above any linear cable network in terms of audience size, particularly for its most popular series – and there’s no question that a lower-priced version will attract more subscribers.  Advertisers will know exactly how many viewers they are reaching and for how long (if they don’t rely on third-party measurement for streaming).

 

Many people, particularly younger folks, do not really want ads interrupting their streaming.  They’ve grown accustomed to ad-free viewing.  So we seem headed toward another situation (that we’ve already seen to a degree with DVRs) where the most desirable viewers, those with more disposable income, will be the greatest ad-avoiders.  The demographic differences between those who opt for ad-supported streaming and those who can easily afford not to, bears watching.  Will some people want the ad-supported tier for the more expensive Netflix and HBO Max but not for the less expensive Disney+, Paramount+ or Peacock?  This, of course, requires good research into streaming, including who subscribes to which form of which service and why.  Research which is now sorely lacking (non-existent?).

Squid Game Yes, Squid Game No - Discuss (11/21)

Netflix claims this South Korean survival drama is its most watched new series ever – the latest worldwide phenomenon in a string of major global hits, which include,  Money Heist (Spain), Lupin (France), Elite (Spain), Dark (Germany), Fauda (Israel), Ragnarok (Norway), Barbarians (Germany), Bordertown (Finland), and Kingdom (South Korea), among others.  Whether or not Squid Game is really Netflix’s most viewed series launch (the streamer is not exactly transparent with its audience metrics, and Nielsen streaming data is extremely limited), there’s no question that it’s one of the buzziest (and most controversial) shows in a long time.

Whether you see Squid Game as an insightful social commentary on capitalism and income inequality or simply as a brutally violent exercise with no other purpose than to be brutally violent, your reaction is valid and defensible.  I’d like to say it’s the former, because that makes me feel better about finding the series so entertaining – but I keep going back and forth.

            Here’s a not-so-brief synopsis.  Spoilers ahead…

In an over-sized, candy-colored playground, 456 desperate people who are drowning in debt are pitted against one another for a chance to win a life-changing amount of money.  They have to compete in a series of childhood games, sometimes competing individually, and sometimes as part of teams.  The catch is that all the losers through the six-rounds of contests are immediately gunned down by a group of masked and costumed guards.

Those who run the game do not force anyone to participate.  They invite people who they know have insurmountable debt and very few choices in life, with the caveat that once they accept, they cannot leave until the tournament is over (if they survive), or if a majority of players agree to end the game (and forfeit the prize money).  Once they accept, they are picked up by vans, gassed into unconsciousness, and driven to a secret location, where they awaken in a dormitory setting wearing green, numbered track suits.  A giant grid displays pictures of each participant along with their number.  The guards, who are  donned in pink jumpsuits, keep constant watch over the contestants.  The games are run by someone called the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) in a black mask and uniform.

As the games unfold we are gradually introduced to the main characters and discover their motivations for playing.  Despite being from vastly different backgrounds, most have some basic things in common – they are broke and desperate for money or have insurmountable debt, they have either creditors, gangsters, or the police closing in on them, and there is virtually no hope of their situations getting better anytime soon.

You will cheer on some players while despising others, but all have an equal chance of being the next to be killed.  The main characters are no more safe than the many background characters, whose stories we never hear.  This is, of course, different from most TV shows, where you can be reasonably sure that the main characters will not be abruptly killed off.  It adds to the anxiety and unpredictability of the series.

A number of interesting philosophical questions arise as the games continue and a smaller and smaller group gets closer to actually winning the cash prize and instantly becoming wealthy.  Can you remain good in a system that is essentially corrupt?  Are you a better person for feeling guilty about betraying someone than if it doesn’t bother you at all?  Can one person change the system or will the system inevitably change every individual?

The acting is top notch.  Here are the main players: 

Lee Jung-jae (#456) is Seong Gi-hun, a divorced chauffeur and gambling addict, who is deeply indebted to some dangerous loan sharks.  He lives with his sick mother (who has no health insurance), and is estranged from his ex-wife and young daughter.  He is the first character we meet (before the games begin) and much of the series is seen through his eyes.

Park Hae-soo (#218) plays Seong Gi-hun’s childhood friend and classmate, Cho Sang-woo, a former top investment broker, who is wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients.  He also has massive personal debts from bad investments.  He is the smartest player and often comes up with winning strategies.  He went to SMU business school, and Gi-hun has always looked up to him.

Yeong-su (#001) is Oh Il-nam, an elderly man with a brain tumor, who would rather play the game than just wait to die on the outside.  He is more formidable than he seems. 

Jung Ho-yeon (#067) is Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector hoping to get enough money to bring her parents across the border and get her little brother out of an orphanage.  She is also a pick-pocket who stole Gi-hun’s money after he won a bundle at the track. 

Heo Sung-tae (#101) is Jang Deok-su, a gangster with huge gambling debts, who has stolen money from his mob boss and is on the run.  He is mean and dangerous.

Anuparn Tripathi (#199) is a migrant worker from Pakistan who needs to provide for his young family after attacking and injuring his boss for refusing to pay his wages.  He is one of the physically strongest of all the players. 

Kim Joo-ryoung (#212) is a loud and manipulative con-woman whose reasons for entering the game are unclear (but she’s probably in debt and on the run from someone).

Wi Ha-joon is a police officer who infiltrates the game by impersonating a guard so he can find his missing brother.

More than half the competitors are eliminated during the first game – a surreal version of “Red Light, Green Light,” in which those who move even slightly after “Red Light” is announced by a giant little girl doll/robot (with a rotating head and eyes that scan the arena for any movement) are shot.

Each time a contestant is eliminated, his or her image in blinked out on the giant screen, and more money is added to the pot – which hangs from the ceiling as a constant reminder of how much money they can win (it eventually grows to 45.6 billion won, or roughly $38 million).

After the first game, where 255 of the 456 contestants are eliminated, the remaining players take a vote to end the game (which passes by a single vote).  They are deposited back into their normal lives – which are so miserable that 187 of the 201 remaining players decide to return to the game.

The second game involves cutting out one of five shapes (circle, square, triangle, star, or umbrella) embedded in a piece of candy without breaking it – relatively easy if you picked the square, not so easy if you picked the umbrella.  Players had to select a shape before they knew what the game entailed.  Anyone who doesn’t have a completely intact shape or doesn’t finish by the 10-minute time limit is immediately shot.  Seventy-nine more players are eliminated during this game. 

One player attacks a guard and forces him to remove his mask – the guard is killed by the Front Man because his identity was revealed.  The player commits suicide rather than having the guards shoot him.  During a break, the gangster (#101) beats another player to death with no consequences.  Players realize that if they kill other players between games, their odds of winning improve.  This adds a whole new element to the proceedings, as groups and alliances are formed. 

When Seong Gi-hun asks Kang Sae-byeok to join his team so they can protect one another between games, she responds, “I don’t trust people.”  He answers, “You don’t trust people because you can, you trust people because you have to.”  This is one of the ongoing themes – who should you trust and should you consider betraying them to save yourself?  During the night, when the lights are turned off, various players attack one another.  More than 20 additional players are eliminated.

One of the players (Yoo Sung-joo) is a doctor who has secretly been working with some corrupt guards to traffic the organs of dead players.  In return, they give him advance information on what the next game will be.  When the Front Man discovers what’s going on, he is not concerned with the selling of the organs, but rather the idea that any player would receive an unfair advantage.  He explains that this is the one place in their lives where every player has equality regardless of who they are or where they come from.  Everyone competes on equal footing.  The doctor and corrupt guards are killed and their bodies displayed out in the open for all remaining players to see.

The players are required to form teams of 10 for the third game, which they discover after the teams are selected will be tug of war – with each losing team falling into a chasm to their deaths below.  Stronger teams with all men seem to have a big advantage.  The old man (#001) and the smart one (#218) come up with strategies to help their group, which includes three women, defeat physically stronger teams.  Their main rival group, led by the gangster (#101), also wins.

For the fourth game, each player selects a partner who they assume will be their teammate.  But instead, after the players have paired up, they are told that they will be competing against one another (and one person from each pair will be eliminated).  They are each given a bag of 10 marbles and told they can make up their own game.  The one who winds up with all the marbles will be the winner.  Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo, friends who grew up playing the Squid Game together, have vastly different approaches.  Seong is mostly ruled by his emotions, while Cho sees everything as a solvable intellectual exercise.  Yet both arrive at the conclusion at the same time that the only way to win this game is to betray their friend and partner (rather than compete fairly and risk losing).  This wracks Gi-hun with guilt, while Sang-woo seems fine with his own actions.  After this game, there are only 16 players left.

For the fifth game, the players are required to walk across a bridge made up of glass panels.  Half the panels are tempered glass, which can support the weight of two people.  The other half are regular glass, which will shatter under the weight of a single person.  Step on the wrong panel and you fall to your death below.  Players were allowed to choose the order in which they would go before they knew what the game was.  Those who chose to go later have a big advantage.

In the seventh episode, we discover the tournament is funded by a group of bored, ultra-wealthy deviants, who bet enormous sums of money on the outcomes of each game.  All of them are seen wearing gold or diamond-encrusted animal masks, but they are clearly white westerners – Americans and Europeans.  

In the ninth episode season finale, a brutal competition of Squid Game results in a champion. We also learn who created the game and why. If the game itself does not make it clear that one of the main points the series is trying to make is that the ultra-rich see the poor as less than human, the game’s creator, when confronted by the eventual winner, who questions how they can be so brutal and dismissive of the death they caused, answers, “You bet on horses, we bet on humans.  You are our horses.”  This is a fascinating juxtaposition – at the beginning of the series we see one of the key players betting on a horse race; now he and the other players are the horses. 

The game creator goes on to say, “What does someone with no money have in common with someone with too much money to know what to do with?  Life is no fun for either of them.  If you have too much money it doesn’t matter what you buy…everything just gets boring.”  He explains that he and his clients wanted to figure out something to do where they could have fun, so they could feel something.  His adult life has become devoid of joy, so he hearkened back to the games he enjoyed playing with his friends as a young boy.  He justifies the brutality by pointing out that no one was forced to play.  These explanations actually weaken the impact of the series, because they feel like something just tacked on to the ending to explain to viewers that what they’ve just seen has some social relevance and that rich people have no idea what poor people go through – and see them as disposable and easily replaceable.

Some reviewers have compared Squid Game to Hunger Games and the Japanese action-thriller, Battle Royale, both of which focus on a dangerous competition where the only way to win is for all other contestants to die.  But the fact that these players are not forced to play, puts this on a completely different plane.  Participants have simply decided that their odds of survival here (187-1 after the first game) is far better than their chances out in the real world.

I often felt while watching that the income inequality stuff was just a thin veneer to justify the violence and carnage.  Perhaps that’s because I’ve seen similar themes in numerous other TV shows and movies.  A few people I know in their early 20s, however, are firmly in the “insightful social commentary” camp, so maybe it’s a generational thing.