The Post Office Ratings Win

First TV Jumble Blog of 2024 and it's a varied one with two Marvel shows, two ITV shows and the long awaited return of a HBO hit. Here goes.

Archie: ITVX might be on to something with these biopics. They struck gold in early 2023 with Nolly and their four part look into the life of Hollywood icon Cary Grant was another success story. Jason Isaac gave a great performance depicting the older and later in life version of the screen legend while Calam Lynch was equally strong as the younger version. We saw most of Archie's troubled childhood including his volatile relationship with his mother and his wife. It's genuinely worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Echo: The first MCU show of 2024 and it's nice that they're willing to change things up a bit. Aside from releasing the five episodes in one go, there was also the fact that this show had a mature rating as well. Alaque Cox does well enough leading the show, exploring Echo's heritage, reconnecting with her family and of course, her more complicated relationship with Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. There's also a very brief Daredevil cameo during the first episode. Overall, it's not bad but the pacing can be very sluggish in parts. Not the best MCU show but not the worst either.

Mr Bates Vs. The Post Office: The biggest UK drama hit so far in 2024 and for now, rightly so. ITV offered up a very gripping depiction of the post office scandal that devastated a lot of workers lives due to a faulty system they refused to take account for. Toby Jones and Monica Dolan are the heart and soul of this whole miniseries but there's also sterling performances from Julie Hesmondhalgh, Shaun Dooley and Will Mellor to boot. I definitely see this winning a lot of awards over the next twelve months.

True Detective: Night Country: It's been nearly five years since the third season of this show and my, haven't things changed here? You've got a new show runner, a reduced episode count and a much colder climate in Alaska with Jodie Foster and Kali Reiss playing sparring leads trying to solve the mystery of several dead bodies. Add some more mysticism, a few character subplots and supporting roles for Fiona Shaw, Christopher Eccleston and Finn Bennett and this might be a return to form for the show. At the very least, it's getting HBO's 2024 off to a good start.

What If ....: I really struggled with the first season of this animated but I have to admit that the second season turned out a lot better. The last MCU show of 2023 with an episode being released each day over the Christmas period. It was an interesting strategy with the overall arc involving Captain Carter and newcomer Kahhouri posing quite the threat to a much darker and corrupted Doctor Strange. In between that there was interesting scenarios for characters such as Nebula, Hera and Happy Hogan as well as a fantastic Christmas special spoofing the most obvious movie and doing it well. I'm actually looking forward to the third season now.

• Wilson Bethal, Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Hensen will reprise their respective roles for Daredevil: Born Again.
• The White Lotus third season has gone into production. Leading the cast includes Jason Isaac, Carrie Coon, Walter Higgins, Michelle Monaghan and Parker Posey to name a few. It'll air in 2025 on HBO.
• Filming for American Horror Story: Delicate has now completed. An airdate for the second half has yet to be confirmed.
• Chloe Sevigny and Javier Bardem have joined the cast of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. Cooper Koch and Nicholas Chavez will play the title characters.
• Sara Ramirez will not be returning as Che for the third season of And Just Like That. Meanwhile Netflix will stream Sex And The City from April. 
• Kaley Cuoco recently confirmed that The Flight Attendant has ended.
• Tom Ellis has joined the cast for the second season of Tell Me Lies. BBC have the rights to the show.
• WW2 miniseries Masters Of The Air will stream on Apple TV from tomorrow.
• Morena Baccarin will headline an upcoming spin off for Fire Country.
• Netflix have released a teaser for Ripley, starring Andrew Scott, due for release in April.
• The second season of The Last Of Us will feature Kaitlyn Dever, Young Mazino and Isabela Merced as Abby, Jesse and Dina respectively.
• The second half of the third season of Chucky will air from May.
• CBS have a spin off of Young Sheldon in the works.