piercejeans Reviews

Leverage: Redemption: The Mastermind Job (2021) Season 1, Episode 8

Almost a great episode... close

[7/10 · 19 February 2024]

Okay. First of all, one of the best of all the Leverages, because of the concept, not because of the writing. The premise is a home run. The execution of the premise makes it to third base before the inning is over. Here is why. Joey Slotnick was almost the perfect actor for the part. Kevin Sussman is the perfect actor for the part. Big Bang is over, and "Stuart" is available for TV series producers. Use him. Make him the new Nate. And he knows nothing. Perfect. THAT is the idea. Think... "The Man Who Knew Too Little" with Bill Murray. That movie was a ten, and the writing was perfect. And I don't say that about many movies.

Back To Leverage Redemption episode EIGHT. Okay really the plot here is secondary to the common guy posing as the Mastermind of a superhero secret group of avengers. He is so not qualified for the position, but is put in that position. Brilliant. Unfortunately, the writers never took advantage of the premise. There was a lot more milk in this cow. Imagine if he constantly bumbled along in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

I say make him the new Nate Ford. Give him an external reputation. He is the "pretty girl magician's assistant." That is, make him the distraction while the expert crew works at what it does best. They front him to take on all the public personna, but he can't do the job to save his life. His crew always saves the day for him, and the bad guys are always left with the impression he is a criminal genius, tough, thinks on his feet, and is never to be toyed with. I would watch that show for ten years.

Let's do this. May have just solved the "what the hell do we do now without Timothy Hutton" problem. Otherwise, the show is a headless snake. Sophie is likable and competent as a leader, but still miss the driving force of a Nate. And Parker, Breanna, and Elliot were never meant to be the leaders. It's not what they do. By their talents, they can never be the masterminds. I think the missing invisible mastermind in the current show is exactly what is missing. It's what will keep this show from doing five new seasons of episodes. The current premise is not credible. The snake has no head.

Leverage: Redemption (2021– )

The humor is much appreciated... but I hate when writers get lazy.

[7/10 · 18 February 2024]

Okay the premise is spectacular. The poor and oppressed have a hero in the team of Leverage. Great so far. I always root for the underdog. And the humor is great. I just wish there could have been more... too many drama or adventure shows are full of too much gore and sadness. Castle was a lighthearted murder show. Oxymoron? Not really. I always root for humor. And remember Psych? Pure genius. Once again, not enough humor for me.

The cast is terrific and totally believable. Sophie, Elliot, Alec, Parker and Harry bring the cast to life. And Breanna. They breathe life into their characters. Hard to do. Okay, the flaws are in the producers and the writers. The plots are not as strong or believable as they could be. The execution of the episodes strains and groan under the pressure of that next week there has to be another new show syndrome. That is, you can tell the writers have too much plot to fill for one week of time. Things are not a thought out as in a movie such as Ocean's 11. But, that is why movies are usually better than television. There is no time pressure. The screenwriters can write, think, and change the script for years before putting it into production. They can tweak the hell out of the script until its perfect. The Gordon Ramsays of entertainment.

Television, sadly, has terrifically hard time constraints. During production, another new plot has to be banged out each week. That is why there are often ten producers and writers all sitting around a table trying like hell to hash out a half decent show. It's McDonald's, not Tavern on the Green or La Circe.

Gordon Ramsay would crack under the pressure of trying to work at McDonald's. He is a perfectionist, not a sloppy assembly line worker. So too, the writers of Leverage Redemption sometimes slide a sloppy or poorly thought out ending solution past the cameras. You get the idea that slick genius endings are not the priority on this show. The priority are the characters and the humor... and to hell with the plot believability. Know what i mean? This is why shows like The Librarians gave Devlin an easy out to make things end happily or however they want to manipulate it.

Anyway, if you are not a stickler for plots and just enjoy the ride, this show is for you. And there is a lot of good stuff on the ride, but somehow I usually feel like they cheat to make the endings happen. Some of them are terrific such as The Mastermind Job. It is a solid 8. If they would have cast Kevin Sussman as the guest... (Stuart from The Big Bang Theory)... and the writer's harvested a little more high hanging fruit... (come on, the everyday guy in the lead of superheroes? That is always a great premise.) Think "The Man Who Knew Too Little" with Bill Murray. A ten. That movie was pure genius. This episode HAD that opportunity.

Leverage: Redemption: The Rollin' on the River Job (2021) Season 1, Episode 3

One of those episodes that knaws away at your brain...

[7/10 · 14 February 2024]

OK... this one I had to sit down and write a WTF review. That is... I hate TV show episodes that present a problem and deal with it in sixty seconds and leave the viewer scratching his head.. going WTF? Because of complicated things that are shown in fast forward or noised in a hurried line by a character.

OK... first of all... newest character, least experienced, sister to Hardison... has the solution here that the seasoned best thief in the world, the grifter of all continents, the baddest muscle to ever darken a stage, and we are missing the mastermind, Nate Ford, and a seasoned corp lawyer, do not come up with. And the answer has nothing to do with coding, computers, or hacking. Hm.

But it is the black girl who is smarter than all the rest of those dumb ass white people. Right? Elliot, Parker, Sophie, and Harry are just dumb asses with their thumbs up their butts... "Gee, there is too much money to take out. How do we get it off the boat?"

And then we are to believe as someone else mentioned that multi million dollar river boats have one inch pine plywood floors, beneath which is the open river. Right. (not) See if they were catamarans, this would work. But, I went to pictures of big wheeler river boats, and guess what? They all have boat hulls, and the floor of the main deck is above the water. So if the floor of the vault led to the water directly, the boat would have sunk, because the water would have rushed in. But no riverboats, except catamarans, have main decks above open water. The main decks have a hull beneath them, or the main deck would BE the hull, which is impossible, because it would be two to four feet UNDER the water. See what I mean? Eats at your brain.

See this is where in shows like this I feel cheated. Because the writers and producers come up with a solution that does not exist in real life and is not believable, which leaves you wondering... how the hell DO you get a big hatch hole in the middle of the floor of a bank vault that is on a riverboat? Ocean's 11 and Twelve and Thirteen did spectacular heists, and the reason they were so good and so popular is that OCEAN's movies TOLD YOU how they did it. They showed you. And it was believable. They worked. And therein is the genius and the wonder of the movies. They were believable.

If you ever watched Below Deck, you are thinking fiberglas hull, possibly steel second inner hull protected, above which is the inside finish floor which might be carpeted and laid over some kind of solid teak wood. Not something Bob Vila would use to put up a tree house with. Snore. Cheated.

... Imagine if you carried the episode to this point and then just went... "and they got the money out somehow and they all lived happily ever after." Like the plot does not count... cause the writers have to finish the show in sixty seconds and all we really wanted to do is show our characters in motion and ripping off this evil guy. Good believable endings be damned. (Why did they not consult a yacht builder for the answers? I needed the step by step in how they got into the vault, bagged the money, opened the floor and got out and away. Watching it again, I get now why Parker was hauling orange bags out of the water. Somehow, they were luckily aboard the cheapest built river boat ever made, which probably would NOT have sunk when you cut a hole in the floor, cause a one inch wood floor would not have held the pressure anyhow. And the floor was obviously not the hull, because it was built above the water and not on the water, which begs the question where the hell WAS the hull of the riverboat? Oh well. This is one of those TV shows where sometimes you have to write an alternate ending which works and put that in your mind and forget what the producers put out there, just so you can sleep at night. Sloppy. Surprising with a show that is otherwise done so well. Every Rose has it's thorns.

Oceans movies always showed a believable ending and tell you how they did it... so you don't go out of the movie and wonder... WTF? How did they do it? But lazy writers are too often guilty of this, and blow off unbelievable endings in a couple minutes so hopefully the audience does not ask questions. Bugs the hell out of me, really.

Okay I know my ex wife would be rolling her eyes and sucking on her teeth here at my comments... cause it's a TV show and it's about the story and the people, not the engineering and the believability. Which is why I never wrote a space ship movie. Because I would want the physics to work. I would want the highly educated men and women who saw the movie to not roll their eyes at the impossibility of what I wrote. Gene Roddenberry bent the rules a little, I know. But somehow he pulled it off. Even without a physics degree.

And I loved Star Trek. And Star Wars was okay. But at least the reason the Death Star blew up has a believable reason... the little hole in it necessary for the exhaust or whatever... made it vulnerable. I GET THAT. I can handle that. Riverboats with flooring made of the stuff you nail shingles to on a roof that floats about three feet above the water... with no hull under it... goes beyond believability to the point of magic and other dimensions. Sigh. I think you get where I am coming from.

Friends (1994–2004)

One of the Best of all Time

[8/10 · 18 September 2023]

After watching and reviewing several parallel sitcoms I recommend all future directors and writers for TV comedy study and watch Friends. This show is the model of how it is done, later mirrored by Modern Family.

Ok this is the bare bones of what made this sitcom tick: There was a lot of high energy, and the writers and actors kept all of the scenes, no matter what the subject matter, funny. They never bogged down into slowly delivered lines said with pathos and drama. There was no time for slowly delivered lines with stories that left viewers feeling sad they had watched. No one majored in reminding viewers of the moments of their lives that they almost put a gun to their heads. Comedy is comedy. Tragedy is tragedy. In a piece of short literature like the sitcom, never the twain should meet.

I think the execs and the producers always kept an eye on funny and light heartedness.

One of the reasons it succeeded so magnificently through the years and has become a classic is... pardon my insult to the general masses... the characters were young, good looking, and portraying life situations where they were on the rise... good things happening and better things coming. Doomed sitcoms will feature people who are... visually challenging, middle aged and older, and portraying tragedy and bad times that pluck at the bad memories in the viewing audience. Crossing any of these lines is a major disaster for writers and producers.

The main female characters... were extremely attractive. Never a bad thing with the male audience. It keeps them coming back. To be sure, the males were not unattractive guys. The balanced cast who could each take part of the load of keeping ratings up worked. It's a winning formula. The same way James Bond was popular as a movie franchise because Bond always won. He always came out ahead, won the fight, got the girl, and defeated the villain.

Nobody wants to see a movie or TV show about losing and going through hell to a winless ending. If they wanted to do that, all they have to do is live their own harrowing lives. Why use your fantasy time or money to view something that could have been pulled from your own life?

The point is, good looking characters, light hearted scripts, actors who knew how to deliver comedy lines, and positive futures and endings will keep 'em coming back for more.

Ok, now why did I not give it a ten star rating? Ten stars denotes perfection. Woody Allen movies are not ten stars in my book... not because they are not genius, but because there are flaws and weak areas in all of his movies. To be sure, Friends has its weak spots and faults. Seinfeld had weak spots and faults. Sometimes the episodes were written with unlikeable characters, or drawn out into drama... even though they were funny. Rachel and Ross are not believable in how long it took for them to get together. Sometimes the characters did or said things that are not credible to human beings with an IQ over 80. It's okay. All sitcoms do it. It's known as "filler." But, even with flaws... damn... it was a great series. The proof of a classic is... CAN you watch it over and over again and still enjoy it? Almost like a new hit song. If your sitcom is not watchable more than once... it ain't a classic. Friends is definitely a classic.

Go On (2012–2013)

It's not Matthew's fault

[6/10 · 17 September 2023]

As in capital punishment, execution is everything in a sitcom TV show. The premise is darkly possibly funny. One of the producers from Modern Family was connected to this show. With an exec producer from Friends and the best male star of Friends, what could go wrong?

This is the "what were they thinking" part of the review. I think it's best to compare this to another successful sitcom like "Modern Family." The Levitan / Lloyd creation had an ensemble cast like Friends and somewhat like they tried to do here. What happened? It was not the weak plots... Friends had plenty of "I can't believe they wasted an episode on this premise" episodes. And it was not the directors... or was it?

Time and again, comparing the quick tempo perky high energy of Friends and Modern Family to this production leaves me wondering how the directors and producers could allow them to produce a half sitcom and a half soap opera. The drama and serious moments of the show were played with too much pathos... that way. THAT is the problem.

In Friends and in Modern Family, it did not matter what the subject was or the premise of the episode, it was always played funny. The actors never bogged down even in the serious moments. Matthew Perry showed them how it was done. The rest of the cast... did not. There was no chemistry. The performances of the female actresses was weak and forced. The assembly of a politically correct array of demographics perhaps contributed to the genuine lack of energy and chemistry between the actors. Everybody tries... but producers have to pick actors for the parts.

In the shows Friends and Modern Family, you could not imagine other people playing the roles... they made it their own roles and their own characters came to life, different from the rest of the cast but still belonging. In GO ON, it seemed as if half the cast is just reading lines, and they really did not do justice to some genuinely funny material. Granted, the lines were not Woody Allen quality, but then again they should not have become General Hospital.

I am surprised Silveri and others did not pick up on the weak spots, coming from such powerhouses as Friends and Holland being a future producer of Modern Family. Perhaps it was the budget. It is always sad when high potential is not executed properly. Matthew Perry is very talented and skilled at comedy. I think they should have aimed at a cast around him which had the same energy and charisma as the Friends cast. All I have to say for now. I am going to go off into a corner and sulk.

The Intern (I) (2015)

I wanted so much more

[6/10 · 23 December 2022]

The premise is excellent. It did not wind up where I thought it would. I did not expect DeNiro to get the girl. And he did not, that is, not as a lover or wife. But, the movie went nowhere. It basically ended exactly where it began. That is, a successful entrepreneur female with a husband who has an affair and is rattled by her busy life finds a part of her life instilled with peace and balance by a father figure of Bob DeNiro. The movie ends up the same in the end except that DeNiro (Ben) is now a part of their lives and has come to add a much needed father figure status to Hathaway's existence.

What I had hoped for is a few twists, maybe some laughs, and perhaps some inventive rewarding plot developments. There was none of those things. The script is dead. The actors and the production itself is first class, A category, and very well produced overall, except for the lack of a great script. This is a nice script. This is a movie for a Saturday afternoon when you feel like just relaxing in and not thinking about a lot. Maybe that is enough.

Imagine if Ian Fleming's Goldfinger in 1964 was produced as it was, but the script only developing James' character, and showed no real plot or action. Maybe if Goldfinger was never encountered, there were no chase scenes, and Oddjob did not chase Bond all over the movie set. Just a snapshot production of the life of a secret agent. The girls, the bars, some of the gadgets, but no story. Kind of the same thing here.

What COULD have been done? I never wanted DeNiro to get the girl or have an affair. I did expect him to be the in name only CEO of the company, and I imagine some funny situations could have been made when Ben attempts to fool the investors that he is in charge and experienced in fashion enough to safely direct the company. He could have accidentally produced a new fashion, or killed off an existing one. He could have stumbled into a genius success at being a CEO while not bumping off the protagonist. Imagine if the founder was not around and not reachable, and some important decisions had to be made. Imagine if he accidentally made the right ones. You get the idea.

This is not a comedy. This is a mug of hot chocolate. It is a cross between a drama and a romance. I am convinced if Robert DeNiro had not played the lead, this film would have flopped and gone nowhere. I think the movie betrays the audience. They expected more. I think a Carol Burnett class of comedy writers should have been brought in to give this script the shot in the arm it needed. Nuff said.

Anger Management (2012–2014)

Can't Believe it took me So Long to Review This!

[8/10 · 19 December 2022]

I thought Two and a Half Men was OK. It had its weak points, weak characters (Jake), and come on are you kidding me episode plot writing. But, here is an in your face to Chuck Lorre from Charlie Sheen. It's a grand slam. Out of the park. Better and more satisfying than Two and a Half. Funny stuff, well written, jokes keep coming. There is however one huge flaw in the show... they are too damned short! I always end one I am watching with the feeling it should be at least twice as long. 40 minutes is not too long for a great premise episode with strong writing and very well cast actors. Seriously, it disappoints me every time an episode ends. Let's face it... what are they... 20 minutes at best? But, thank God the twenty minutes is there, Sheen had the guts to go it alone, and he picked a damned good bunch of actors to star with. Nothing funnier than gay men interacting in a straight world. They could have done much more with the character. Lacy is sexy, hot, and sells her part. Nolan is the typical stoner, but soft and fuzzy with a good heart. And of course, no comedy is complete without the "no filter" in his speech like a grumpy old man. All the female guest actresses are hot, of course. I think perhaps the Brian Austin Green character... Sean... is a bit cloudy, without a hard crystallization of his personna. He seems to be all over the map without a finished character. But, this is nit picking. Watch, enjoy, repeat.

Crazy on the Outside (2010)

I always hate to see big talent fall flat on its face

[6/10 · 7 December 2022]

Ok here is the deal. Big talent, with writers who are vets of good sitcoms. Tim Allen directed. The premise is kind of good. Unfortunately, they phoned it in. The writing was mediocre. The acting was mediocre. A lot of times Allen should have called cut and gone for another take. The music score was top notch, and reminded me this movie wanted to be a feel good family fun outing like we used to have in the sixties.

Well now to the autopsy. What went wrong? Well for one, my number one rule is NEVER under any circumstances mix drama with comedy. Soap operas are never funny and comedies never make you sad or emotional. You never kill off the hero in a comedy. Even Shakespeare knew that. If the hero dies, its a tragedy, not a comedy. If there are jokes in it and everybody lives, it's a comedy.

The Bird Cage is my model perfect TEN comedy movie. It doesn't get any better than that. Good rich characters with a lot of energy and direction that keeps the energy flowing and makes the audience feel like they are right there. And Bird Cage kept you wondering what was going to happen next, but you were always surprised from the next curve. And juxtaposing Williams and Lane with Gene Hackman was a perfect voltage opposite.

I wanted it to be good. I mean, you have A list sitcom actors and Sigourney on her own can carry a movie, like Sandra Bullock can. Ocean's 11 it was not. No voltage, no excitement, no "wow" factor. Ocean's is a movie that kept you guessing.

Crazy on the Outside was a movie with few turns and you could see the end coming a mile away. Perhaps some comedy friends just wanted to get together and make a little money. Ray Liotta was not used to the best of his comedy ability.

Several times I wanted to say... they needed a closer shot, the camera should follow the action, the scenes were too casual, there was not enough urgency. I did not buy the scenes and I kept popping out of the movie. Sometimes in comedy in the crunch times of the plot you need to speed up the dialogue and push the camera in tight in order to put the audience into the scene. Mad Mad Mad Mad World comes to mind. There was a very well made movie that is a textbook for young movie makers.

Jack Benny and Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett and Milton Berle all gave you "crazy." Like Bird Cage, the degree the actors characterized the roles sucked you right into the movie with them. It was a fun ride. And that is exactly what this movie lacked. This movie was not a fun ride. This movie was the Teacup ride at Disney World.

Anyway, if the choice is between watching your paint dry on the four walls or watching this movie, you could do worse than to pick watching the movie. There were shining moments. Allen had some funny lines. I would love a shot at rewriting the script to punch it up and deleting some of the drama. Also I would tighten the shots, bring up the lighting a bit, and speed up the energy of the dialogue and the action. This movie could be fixed.

Coach (1989–1997)

Some bumps in the road, but overall, watchable.

[8/10 · 1 October 2022]

OK, this is not the king of all executed sitcoms as far as plot and writing. Craig Nelson and Shelley Fabares made the parts. Their acting was spot on, and they did everything they could do given the dialogue. Some of the plots were very weak. Some of the gems of the series could have fathered paths to go down that could have given more than one episode. One wonders why Barry Kemp chose to use a hit and run technique on the individual episodes, and not the shotgun approach.

Jerry Van Dyke's character was weak. It strained credibility past the breaking point, unless this was part of a Three Stooges film. Jerry Van Dyke had great acting abilities, but the character part they gave him of a moron did not fit several categories. No winning coach team would have not fired him within weeks. His constant bumbling was costly and aggravating, not only for the story line but also for the audience.

Shelley Fabares was perfect. Her acting and appearance and casting was a strong TEN. Dauber / Bill Fagerbakke was also perfect. The character was well written for what it was.

I could have done without the Stuart character and interplay with Kelly. Certainly, had they stuck more to the football side as a docu-comedy and had a lot less soap opera drama, I think this might have made it to classic status. A football show does not have to be full of laughs every minute. Just like romance comedy movies are not all full of belly laughs. The series just tries too hard in episode after episode. I am reminded of the Chuck Lorre production technique of going with the potty humor and the lowest common denominator. So the show can have his daughter in it, but as a side note and not part of the main plots, much like the paradigm, Everybody Loves Raymond. ELR did not revolve around the kids or their love lives. It never crossed over into soap opera territory. Coach always seemed to be straining for the female audience. When you try to please everybody, you wind up pleasing no one.

So why did I watch it? I think I watch it with an editing eye, always looking for what was possible, and how it could have been better. Much like I do when watching Two and a Half Men. They could have done without the Jake part, and a lot of potty humor filled the show out from its main plots.

There were some very seriously funny and interesting episodes. The episodes where Hayden is trying to make Christine pregnant by various doctor visits and medical aids and Troy Aikman. These were funny and surprising and full of great lines. I go back and rewatch certain episodes over and over, much like listening to a favorite oldie song.

Well that's enough of an idea and a critique. It is damned hard to write a consistently funny and interesting show week after week, and they certainly tried for 200 episodes. There is no perfect sitcom. There are hits and misses in all of them. Seinfeld and ELR are no exceptions. It's hard to produce funny on a weekly schedule. A fine effort overall.

As far as the Orlando shows, I liked them very much. I don't think they HAD to go anywhere with the show. I think they could have stayed in Orlando for ten years. There seemed to be a lot of pressure to go deep into the future in the last episodes, much like the mistake Castle and Seinfeld shows made in their finales. And the characters could have driven the plots without moving the football team into championships. Thanks for reading this.

The House (I) (2017)

Really bad

[3/10 · 27 August 2022]

Words cannot express. It's not funny, definitely not a comedy. More like a parody of a horror movie, but without wit or laughs. The plot is flawed in so many ways. There is nothing funny about taking an axe and chopping off an arm. Sitting there for one minute and watching blood shoot out of a hand is not funny.

There's an old saying in Hollywood and in entertainment ... if one of the main characters gets killed or dies horribly, it's not a comedy. It does not matter what the jokes are. Its in such poor taste, I am sure a couple of young and high pot smoking morons wrote this piece of crap. No main characters die here, but your time will if you invest into watching this.

Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020 Video)

Godawful

[3/10 · 19 July 2022]

OK big spoiler here. That is why I said I have spoilers. And it is why the movie was spoiled for me. Awful ending. Supposedly, Burt Gummer dies. There is melodramatics about his death, shots of his grave and the stick cross, etc. Really? Is this how you end a franchise? I hope when they do the last BOND movie, James Bond does not do something stupid like go over a cliff in a car and get mourned by all the other professional killers. Sheesh. Give it a LITTLE thought about the writing. Over gory scenes, bad writing, awful acting, and yes James Roday should have played Burt's son. Not this stunt man look alike. Just awful.

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018 Video)

Here is how you FIX Tremors franchise ...

[5/10 · 19 July 2022]

OK, there is possibility here, but as in all things, the execution is where you can screw it up. I think the fatal flaw in the mix in the entire franchise is a mixed bag of casting. I think Michael Gross, Reba McIntyre and Kevin Bacon were good. Everyone else gets to go home. Burt's son was obviously written to be played by James Roday Rodrigez, ex of Psych. He was probably too expensive, and the producers thought they could get by on a look alike. Wrong. Then the series has to decide if it is a horror movie with some light laughs, or a comedy with a little thriller in it. Both together do not mix like pankcake syrup and mustard or ketchup.

Disgusting carcasses says B class horror flick. I think like in Psych, it is possible to do horror without being gross or off-putting, much like Shakespeare knew how to balance murder and comedy. I think when any part of your movie is Steven King territory, you really need to lose the comedy and the funny guys. Unfortunately, A Cold Day in Hell tries to be both funny and full of horror. What it does is shake the audience out of the movie and back to reality by being poorly written, cast, and acted. Five.

Tremors (1990)

The Best Test of a Movie is ... Re Watchability

[9/10 · 17 July 2022]

This is one of those movies that you can watch again and again. Just like a good old song or a favorite book can be read again. I can't put my finger on why, but maybe it's the great cast, the right blend of comedy, the almost laughing at itself movie that never takes itself too seriously. Kevin Bacon and Michael Gross definitely helped out. I always love Reba. Enjoy.

Stark Raving Mad (1999–2000)

Writing and concept is superb

[8/10 · 7 June 2022]

Most sitcoms are average families in one form or another, and the foibles of family life. If Castle were made into a comedy and they removed the murder mystery stuff, you would have something like SRM. NBC was really wrong to cancel this. The creator is the same creator responsible for the best sitcom ever written ... Modern Family. Steve Levitan is awesome in his vehicles. This is one that was destined for gold.

There are a couple caveats. Despite the writing, the energy level on the actors seemed to be low. What was with the fake moustache on Shalhoub? It really looked like a cheap Halloween moustache. I think the casting could have been tweaked a bit. I like Shalhoub, but Neil Harris seemed a bit pulled back from his part. Not totally engaged.

I still like the idea of a rich author who is a bit nuts, be it Richard Castle or Tony's character. Putting an opposite in the water with him was genius. Richard Castle had no uptight opposites on his show. The love affair between Beckett and Castle never worked or fit the show. Raving Mad's set was unnecessarily middle class and stark. Definitely not the set decorator that Castle had. I know I keep comparing SRM and Castle, and aside from one is a dramedy and the other a comedy, there were a lot of parallels. Actually I was pulling for the comedy in Castle, not the drama. I don't watch murder mystery shows per se.

I think not throwing a family in SRM like they did on Castle was a good thing. Whereas Castle attempted to be all things ... drama, thriller, comedy, and romance ... SRM attempted to be only comedy. You can only do so much in twenty minutes a week. The commercial interruptions in the broadcast sitcoms are bad enough, without dividing a show into four different pies.

If they had given the same chance to Seinfeld that they gave to SRM, we would be watching reruns on YouTube of Season One only of Seinfeld. A real shame. Its possible that Levitan should reengineer the show ratcheting up the lifestyle and the financial position of the main character. I think the girls should be rethought.

I gave my thoughts online in a conversation with Chuck Lorre about where to take Two and a Half Men, and he chose a winning route. Ashton Kutcher was not perfect, but a good choice, and while the finale was disappointing, the show had some very well done facets such as set decoration, concept, core stars, and half of the episode story lines. I say all that to say Stark Raving Mad was not perfect, but the concept is brilliant, the main stars are fairly close to perfect, and it begs to be binge watched. The writing on Stark was better than the writing on Two and a Half Men. Like I say, the cluttered impoverished looking loft that Ian Stark lives in is more suited to some twenty somethings wanting to be software billionaires who are just starting out, not a successful novelist of horror. Stephen King lives better than Ian Stark.

Enough for now. Have fun.

The Birdcage (1996)

The Perfect Movie

[10/10 · 7 June 2022]

You know how when you were a kid and you went out and bought the newest Beatles song and then you played it over and over again... for an hour? This is all that in a movie. It is VERY rare in my life that I can watch a movie again after seeing it... and certainly buying it on DVD and tape and then watching it again and again... the fun is still there, Robin makes me spit coffee through my nose, Nathan channels Williams energy perfectly, and Hollywood will never make another comedy this good again. Because we lost Robin and Nathan is older and Azaria just has that certain something that inspires and breathes into his lines... which he is hysterical at. And once a set of actors does their parts perfectly in a movie... where are ya gonna go from there?

When I was a kid, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World came close to this much fun. That was a funny movie with the best comedians at the time in it. I can't say enough about this movie. I would not marry a girl who did not find this movie funny. Enough said.

Pick a genre and think of your favorite movies in the genre. In comedy, this is it for me. The over-the-top performances of the actors in this movie happened to be exactly what the movie needed.

This movie is a cartoon of over-the-top characters which will have you belly laughing all night long. Don't drink any liquids while listening to Nathan Lane or the "houseboy." Robin sets up the other actor's lines perfectly. The perfect amount of disdain and anxiousness. If the actors did not believably pull off the parts, the laughs would not be as strong. Every part is studied and portrayed to draw you into the fantasy with every cell in your body. I can't say any more, because pulling on different favorite lines would spoil your own viewing, so I must end the review here, although I would love to discuss lines like "you're not a woman", "pirin", and "Yes, it's sludge."

Enough. Enjoy. Call the kids, get the popcorn and beer or soda ready.

Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005)

Pretty Damned Good

[9/10 · 7 June 2022]

A lot to learn here for future creators and executive producers. The writing is strong from episode to episode. The series was handled exactly as a sitcom series should be handled. The care and wellbeing of the series characters is always in front and first in writing ideas. The final episodes of the entire series keep the viewer and characters safe and secure for future generations. Watching the ending of the series will not damage your viewing of the other seasons, unlike series which preferred to crash and burn the show as a whole on the final days. I am thinking of Seinfeld and Castle, both of which left the viewers asking ... "what the hell?"

The actors cast in the roles were perfect. I could not see any better picks for any of the roles of the series. Other executive producers and writers crash and burn their series with awful decisions on casting, which along with the writing and direction are the most important elements in a sitcom. If you have ever watched a TV show or movie, and kept thinking to yourself "I wonder how X would have been in this part", you know exactly what I mean. One weak actor in the main cast of a TV show or movie can destroy the whole show. Frasier comes to mind as another perfect cast. I would fault some of the story lines of Frasier, but never the cast.

Mistakes in casting appeared in TV shows like Two and a Half Men, movies like "Bowfinger", and other screen disasters which led viewers to ask, "What the hell were the producers thinking?" There are no such holes here. Every main cast member fit the role perfectly. Frank, Marie, Ray and Debra were all perfect and emoted their roles with strength and real character. Rare on any TV show.

That's why you can watch these episodes again and again. For the same reason that you can listen to a favorite song over and over. For the reason I can watch "The Bird Cage" movie with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams over and over again and always get belly laughs. There is no substitute for good casting.

Modern Family (2009–2020)

As Good as it Gets

[9/10 · 7 June 2022]

This is the school textbook for writing and producing great sitcoms. The characters are delightful, and it does not hurt that they are some of the best in the industry. Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond have another seat in royalty next to their chairs. Ed O'Neil plays his role perfectly. Sofia "Viagra" is always eye candy. Her accent is charming and sexy. The gay son and his husband play their parts well without being over the top or offending any camps. Of course the traditional family is represented by the "daughter" and her family and so all varieties and ages of family are represented, giving the sitcom the ability to go in any direction for laughs and entertainment. And it does. The absence of a laugh track is a welcome relief. Creator Steven Levitan scores yet another one through the uprights. Off hand, I can't think of any other sitcom I have enjoyed more. Even Seinfeld and Friends had some "Must Not See TV" episodes. I have always hated it when sitcoms left their genre and went for the easy road with soap opera and or potty humor. I am thinking of Friends and Two and a Half Men here. We come to sitcoms to laugh. We don't want the main characters hurt. We are not amused by the use of gases or liquids emanating from the human body. This series does not disappoint.

Shark Tank: Episode #4.6 (2012) Season 4, Episode 6

Wait till you see "ECO NUTS".

[5/10 · 31 May 2022]

OK Eco means cheap and nuts are something you eat, like peanuts or cashews, right? So who in their right mind would name a natural soap company "eco nuts." It's no wonder they eventually went bankrupt. Like old expressions in business "location location location," in today's online market the motto is "name name name." What's in a name? Everything.

The sharks are great. They did the right thing.

'Til Death (2006–2010)

Good writing, bad direction and acting

[5/10 · 7 May 2022]

This is one of those few failing sitcoms whose writers are not to blame. Usually, it is the writers who are poorly talented, and the actors and production staff are top drawer. Well, truth be known, I thought King of Queens was average at best. The same producers are here on 'Til Death. Usually, top hit sitcoms are really made by top actors with excellent casting. While Joely is a talented beautiful female with a great voice, and Brad Garrett fit in perfectly in ELR with Ray Romano, in this sitcom the casting was off quite a bit. You really needed Ray Romano here, almost as an ELR II. His voice, inflections, pauses, and neutral emotion dead panning would have been perfect for this sitcom. Garrett overly emotes his part for the Woody Allenish scripts. Joely is beautiful but her comedy timing is not up to Patricia Heaton.

Seinfeld had a dead start with NBC execs wanting to axe it. The producers fought for the show and won ... big. Seinfeld has a place in sitcom history and rightfully so. The same is true of Everybody Loves Raymond. I think actually between the two, ELR was the better written, acted, and produced. And the lesson here is network execs need to stay out of decisions for production.

'Til Death has a good concept and the writing was entertaining. I think Brad and Joely were fine as leads, but they needed a much stronger supporting cast. ELR and Seinfeld succeeded because all of the actors were very strong and had well developed characters.

I noticed Brad Garrett attempted from time to time to use Woody Allen movements and inflections. Kind of like watching Andre the Giant attempting to do ballet. Woody should only be attempted by vulnerable, short, thin males, preferably Jews. Woody had the right voice, much like Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano have voices that were just naturally funny.

Let's move on to the supporting cast again. Brad and Joely come with a certain Hollywood energy and star power. The rest of the cast... do not. They needed much stronger actors preferably well known or veterans of sitcoms. Truth be told, the writers were excellent, but the cast did not do justice for what was written. Absolutely, the episodes could just as well have been used for Everybody Loves Raymond scripts. Unfortunately, this cast butchered and walked over some very funny Woody Allen worthy material. And it was the director's job to stop the taping and reshoot scenes that were badly blown. I noticed top directors for the show, but somehow they were hamstrung and just worked with what they were given.

The first two seasons are entertaining. The last two seasons are ideas that are interesting in a progressive way. I kept wanting to hear Ray Romano say the lines. And I did have him read the same lines as Garrett in my head, and the show works with him. Romano has a combination of neutral deadpan delivery of lines, and the comic sense of when to ramp it up and crack the voice and sound genuinely upset.

The bottom line is I watched the series because of the writing. Unfortunately, the cast just didn't do it justice.

London Has Fallen (2016)

Don't Bother

[4/10 · 4 March 2022]

It was so bad... words cannot do justice to the pain you feel from having been excited about a good premise... Tom Clancyish type of plot...only to find out, it's going to call itself an action movie with a lot of machine gun fire and car chases. Trust me, you have seen others just like this one, only with better car chases. The Matrix at least had an interesting premise...we are all just in a sim. This one's premise is this: somebody tried to kill off all the world leaders. Okay. Like our secret service and billion dollar President's limousine are just that bad and cheezy. Next.

Space Force (2020–2022)

Just Awful

[5/10 · 11 January 2022]

Another embarrassment for Netflix. They just think on another level. Not on my planet. I can't believe how much money Netflix wastes on garbage. And garbage is being nice. I gave it five stars, because the concept was good. But, like a lot of failures in the media, execution is everything.

Two movies come to mind... The Man Who Knew Too Little. Great concept, great execution. The Spy Who Dumped Me. Great concept... two girls get innocently swept up into the spy world of real spies. Bad, bad execution. Not a funny joke in the entire movie. A lot of cliche chase scenes. And warmed over actresses. See the difference? Same thing with Space Force. A waste of time and money and talent. Writing is everything. Good direction and a decent budget help. But, not with Netflix.

Friends: The Reunion (2021 TV Special)

Spoils us for all other sitcoms... ever.

[10/10 · 10 January 2022]

OK, it made me seriously question ever watching another sitcom on TV again ever. Why? Because it was that good. And because the original show was that good. WHAT could they possibly do that would be that heart warming, entertaining, and identifiable again... as this show? I mean I loved Newhart and The Bob Newhart show. They were good. But, FRIENDS was THE show for THE time in my life and in the life of millions others. OK in 1994 I was past this age of the characters... but just past that age. I could relate... to all of the experiences of the entire series. And the reason the Reunion was that good... is because it was done perfectly. And it reminded us all over again about how much we loved that show, and how much we miss it.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

Great Concept, Dismal Execution

[5/10 · 8 January 2022]

OK, this is the problem. There is a great concept... two girls who are not spies become involved in the middle of a spy caper. Like The Man Who Knew Too Little... without the good results, without the funny, and without the big stars. In other words, just LOUSY execution. Rule one in any good movie is... the plot has to be funny, and the movie has to give the audience a payoff. This is neither a good spy plot, a thumb drive with secrets on it, nor is it funny. At all. The chase seens have been around for 50 plus years.

Bad casting, really awful writing, and the photography is not winning any awards either. One has to assume the screenwriter is in his twenties and is a big fan of action adventure. And cursing. A lot of unnecessary, blowing through the fourth wall, cursing.

To fix this, you need a brilliant screenwriter, top actors, a good director, but right there that's enough to describe what's wrong. Bad movie. If you have the choice between watching your fingernails grow, or watching this movie, this movie might be your choice. But, if you have a couple bucks or a car that works, you might just want to go to the mall.

Frasier: Mixed Doubles (1996) Season 4, Episode 6

Bad endings give low reviews

[6/10 · 8 November 2021]

If you are going to leave us depressed with an unhappy AND an unbelievable ending... (there never could be such a spineless move as they wrote for Niles, to be near the woman he loves and shrink back from letting her know it... unless he absolutely is out of the running and would never ever think of putting himself in the same ballpark with her.) And to not have things work out at all... this plot takes is clearly out of the realm of comedy and puts it into the mode of Soap Opera high drama, with a few funny lines thrown in. They should not have called it Frasier. They should have called it... As the Space Needle Turns.

Frasier: The Two Mrs. Cranes (1996) Season 4, Episode 1

It's the Plot, in the end, that decides if you like it.

[6/10 · 8 November 2021]

Something most executive producers do not get or know somehow is that Shakespeare had comedies and tragedies. Tragedies mean that main characters die somewhere along the way. Comedies are those Shakespeare plays in which the main characters do not die along the way. Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, therefore. In this episode, Clive does come off as Australian. Most of the joke lines in Frasier are overdone and milked too much. It is its mortal flaw. Once the bounds of incredibility are transgressed, there is no hope of buying into the plot anymore. That is a fatal flaw of sitcoms. I could nitpick this from front to back, but why bother. It's a solid six.