You're Getting The F Of A Lifetime

Yes, it's been several months since I've last done this and the next one likely won't be until January (excluding the 2024 In Review blog). Um, here goes.

911: I spent a few weeks properly catching up on the sixth and seventh seasons and while I missed the chance to talk about them as they were airing (minus that Buck story), I won't with this eighth season. The first five episodes had a shit tonne of bees, a plane that Athena had to stop from crashing, Bobby as a technical advisor on a show and the temporary tyranny of Captain Gerard. Then we had a totally batshit Halloween episode where Buck disturbed an old corpse and paid for it immensely throughout. This show does revel in it's absurdity. 

911: Lone Star: Again, I played a game of catch up with the third and fourth seasons of this show. However my focus will be on the first five episodes of this fifth and final season. So far, it's off to a good start. I mean there was a poison cloud, both Marjan and Paul competing for Captain, Judd returning as a probie, Tommy's relationship with the pastor ending and Owen getting a temperamental horse to boot. There was also TK and Carlos going through some marital strife as well but they seem to be on better terms during the last episode.

Agatha All Along: After the success of WandaVision, there was a part of me that wondered if Disney+ had left this show too long for audiences to care. I was wrong because audiences certainly cared as Agatha Harkness and Billy/William Maximoff/Kaplan made for quite a team with a great rapport between Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in this nine episode series. Plenty of magical hijinks, Easter Eggs, flashbacks and some strong supporting performances from Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Ali Ahn and Sasheer Zamata. Easily one of the best Disney+ shows the MCU has done.

Kaos: Falling victim to Netflix's increasingly cancel happy ways, I knew this show was doomed from the start with the lack of hype surrounding. By that way, that's a shame because it's a rather good take on Greek mythology in a current day setting. The stories range from Olympus, the real world and the underworld. There's great performances from several actors (including Jeff Goldblum being a man child like Zeus) and a few nicely done love stories and some great LGBT rep to boot. Yeah, it's worth watching but the cliffhanger will annoy you for the obvious reason.

Only Murders In The Building: Even though this show does weekly episodes, I always leave it until the season has wrapped up and binge watch it in a few days. That's exactly what I did with this fourth season, which focused on the death of Jane Lynch's stuntwoman Sazz. In this season we also had some Hollywood glamour with Eugene Levy, Zack Galifianakis and Eva Longoria playing the movie versions of Charles, Oliver and Mabel respectively and I liked that the show managed to split the time between New York and LA this season. Add in a subplot about another group of renters, Jan's return, Oliver and Loretta getting married, Donna's love for Zack, Paul Rudd as an Irish stuntman and this was another top notch season. Even the killer reveal was decent enough.

Rivals: Oh Disney+. It took them a while to realise that being a glorified babysitting app for kids wasn't going to be enough to sustain them. Going all in with Hulu/Star was necessary but also, so was making original adult content. This adaptation of Jilly Cooper's racy book of the same name certainly helps a bit. There's sublime performances from the likes of David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams and Bella MacLean to name a few. There's plenty of shagging, back stabbing, one upmanship and general madness while set to a 1980s backdrop with the likes of Thatcher and the AIDS crisis playing their part in this delightful show. If Disney+ don't renew this for a second season, then they better adapt more from Jilly Cooper's books and soon.

• Yerin Ha has been cast as Sophie Baek, the love interest for Benedict Bridgerton as Season 4 of Bridgerton has now gone into production.
• The next 911 spin off may be set in Hawaii but that has yet to be confirmed. It's currently a rumour.
• Season 3 of Yellowjackets has wrapped production and will be released on Showtime/Paramount+ in early 2025.
• And Just Like That Season 3 has also wrapped production for a 2025 release on Max.
• Marvel fans will have six shows on Disney+ in 2025. Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man (January 29th), Daredevil: Born Again (March 4th), Eyes Of Wakanda (August 6th), Ironheart (September 3rd), Marvel Zombies (October) and Wonder Man (December)
• Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis will play sisters in upcoming Amazon series, Scarpetta. The show has been ordered for two seasons.
• HBO have renewed Industry for a fourth season.
• Netflix will be releasing second season of Squid Game on Christmas Day.
• UK audiences will have two Christmas specials of Call The Midwife to enjoy over the festive period on BBC1.
• Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny will be the main cast for the second season of Beef for Netflix.
• Kathy Bates version of Matlock has bagged an early second season renewal by CBS.
• Expect a crossover between Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
• Family Guy will release a Christmas special on Hulu from November 25th.