The complete disdain the writers & showrunners have for the gift of a built-in audience is astonishing. You'll be hard pressed to find one absorbing character or captivating villain. Time is of no essence - it flows without story development; Ep 10 ends exactly as you could have predicted at Ep 1, just 17 years later. The names of so many characters sound so alike it's almost impossible to know who is being talked about - if you care - behind their backs. "Inside the episode" chats invariably reference things NOT in evidence in what you just watched; this 'creative' arrogance is off-putting and insulting. Even the dragons are overused yet underwhelming. GOT was kaleidoscopic, HotD is a drudgery.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Echoes
(2022)
Spoiler proof
21 August 2022
Finally! Something that defies spoilers! In order to write a spoiler, it would have to have made an iota of sense. And why am I giving this 3 stars? It was... wasn't... maybe... no... could'a been... but no. I'm not even sure the interesting premise could sustain more than half an episode's attention. For those of you who bothered to rate this series an unmitigated mess before the final episodes, rest easy: it did not get better - simply drained the last ounces of credibility before snapping whatever patience with it you might have had left.
The Passage
(2019)
FOX let a winner get away
25 July 2022
Three years late and I still can't for the life of me understand why FOX dropped this series. The Passage trilogy was perfect for a long-running program, built in audience - and more if they'd given it a chance to catch fire. One of the great disappointments in FOX's otherwise admirable programming. Any chance some other network might pick it up as a limited series?
Needs to Be Seen
7 November 2021
Breathtaking, heartbreaking and - in a word - TERRIFYING. No idea when this will be shown again on a platform that doesn't require Cirque du Soleil efforts to find and view, but if it comes your way, you should watch it and ponder the ramifications for ALL of the United States.
Truth Be Told
(2019–2023)
Frustrating
18 August 2021
How can anything be so good, yet so bad? Only Aaron Paul acquits himself believably. The fault here is not the actors but the characters and holes in the script so far-fetched it drags the entire story down (you'll recognize them when you see them.) The effort is epic in trying to create parallel story lines and most red herrings announce themselves well in advance.
Mary Queen of Scots
(2018)
Ignorance is Bliss
6 July 2019
Artistic license can be a tricky thing when it comes to actual history. The more you know about the story of Mary Stuart, the less you'll like this move. The misportrayal of both Bothwell and Rizzio weakened the plot to no purpose, making two pivotal events seems no more meaningful than misplaced commas. Darnley, on the other hand, has in every telling of this saga managed to avoid fictional rehabilitation and remains a ne'er-do-well. The best part of this reimagining is Elizabeth I's struggle to deal with the emotional and political fall-out of the queen of Scotland. Btw, they never met in real life but the theatrical lure is so overwhelming that most plays and movies can't resist the temptation.
A Discovery of Witches
(2018–2022)
Grown-Up Fantasy? NOT
1 June 2019
First, I haven't read the All Souls Trilogy so I can't claim to be a disaffected reader of a well-regarded work that the NYT called "imaginative grown-up fantasy." This series is most certainly NOT that (though, sadly, it might have been.)
Second, everything about this series was first-rate (locations, camera work, supporting characters and a number of leads) with the crushing exception of Teresa Palmer who plays the crucial character of Diana Bishop. The innocence expected of this role was completely overwhelmed by a cloying "Twilight" teen queen quality that undermined the strength of the story over all.
Third (and the reason for a second star), it manages to be entertaining even if it isn't completely satisfying.
Second, everything about this series was first-rate (locations, camera work, supporting characters and a number of leads) with the crushing exception of Teresa Palmer who plays the crucial character of Diana Bishop. The innocence expected of this role was completely overwhelmed by a cloying "Twilight" teen queen quality that undermined the strength of the story over all.
Third (and the reason for a second star), it manages to be entertaining even if it isn't completely satisfying.
Delete
(2013)
You've Been Warned
20 October 2018
You've got movies so bad they're good, movies so good they're impenetrable, and then you've got irredeemable garbage. I gave it two stars for interesting camera angles. Other than that -- really -- find something else.
Zoo
(2015–2017)
Without Apology: Just Fun
8 July 2015
We are experiencing a New Golden Age of Television. But, relax, "Zoo" is not part of that renaissance
you will not be vexed by conflicted characters, charged with remembering convoluted back-stories, or tortured by the moral ambiguity of the main plot. Consider "Zoo" an absolution, a get out of high-minded television free card. In other words, bring a bowl of popcorn or a package of Twizzlers: this is "B" television at its best: nature gone wild on a global stage (without much gore, thus far), attractive actors, plot holes big enough to swallow a rampaging giraffe, and just enough suspense to bring you back. Having come to "Zoo" without any expectations, I'm giving this high marks for being just entertaining. I imagine it will tell its tale and disappear from our memories like those Saturday afternoon serials of long ago – in that regard, it will be very successful.
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