Understanding The Other Side

Yeah, it's been over a month since I've done one of these and I've not watched that many things since then but here's a look at what I have seen.

9-1-1: The real test for this show will be next season. Will the decision to have killed off Bobby Nash been a disaster or can the show actually survive without him? These last three episodes at least put his successor to bed with Howie assuming the mantle along with the birth of his and Maddie's son. There was some closure for Athena, Hen and Karen's family being completed, more of Ravi (make him a regular already) and plenty of Buck/Eddie scenes with side order of Tommy. Not a great ending but not awful either.

Overcompensating: What can I say about this Amazon college coming of age comedy series? The following actually - a) it's the type of show that would've felt fresh and original had it been released twenty years ago, b) Benito Skinner really shouldn't have cast himself or Adam DiMarco because they both looked too old for their respective roles c) the Charlie XCX references were a bit much as was Megan Fox and d) the potential romance between Benny and Miles was just disappointing. I appreciate some of the hot guys and I liked the budding friendship with Benny/Carmen and certain guest actors but overall, this show was mostly lacking.

Poker Face: It's been two years since the first season ended with Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale incurred the wrath of various mob families. The first five episodes saw the show on great form with some brilliant guest characters. Cynthia Erivo as five different siblings, Giancarlo Esposito as a creepy undertaker, Rhea Pearlman and Richard Kind as a mob couple, Kumail Nanjiani as a throwback to Tiger King (but with an alligator) as wdll as Simon Rex and Carol Kane in a baseball themed episode. Overall, a very enjoyable bunch of episodes so far this season.

The Last Of Us: There's no denying that the decision to kill off Joel so early in the second season has had such a ripple effect. I think for a chunk of the audience, losing the character and Pedro Pascal was enough for them to sign out. I'll admit, I did struggle with the rest of the season, so the brief reappearance of Joel was nice but do general audiences care enough about Ellie vs. Abby or the Ellie/Dina romance to help Season 3? We'll see.

• The second season of Netflix's The Gentlemen has gone into production. 
• Showtime have renewed Yellowjackets for a fourth season.
• AppleTV+ have renewed The Studio for a second season.
• A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms will now air on HBO in 2026.
• Welcome To Derry will premiere on HBO Max during the Fall.
• T'Nia Miller has been cast as Jocasta for upcoming Disney+ MCU series, Vision.
• David Tennant will remain as a regular for the second season of Rivals for Disney+. It's currently filming and will be twelve episodes.
• Dexter: Resurrection will premiere from July 11th on Paramount+ on Showtime from July 11th.
• Kaia Gerber has signed on as the lead for upcoming FX adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's The Shards. The show will be executive produced by Ryan Murphy.
• Krysten Ritter will reprise her role as Jessica Jones for the second season of Daredevil: Born Again for Disney+.
• The Wheel Of Time has been cancelled by Amazon after three seasons.
• The upcoming Harry Potter series for HBO has officially cast Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton as Harry, Ron and Hermione respectively.
• Bridgerton has officially been renewed for both a fifth and sixth season by Netflix. Season 4 will premiere in 2026.

You Don't Get To Rush This

And here's a brief catch up on some of the shows I've been watching the last few weeks.

9-1-1: Oh god, the second half of this season was going pretty well, in terms of stories. You had Maddie dealing with a serial kidnapper, Bobby reuniting with his mother, Eddie rebuilding his family in Texas, Buck/Tommy hooking up, Hen's birthday, Chimney's excitement for fatherhood again, Athena taking another boat trip and Ravi popping up again. Then a contagion two parter aired and with it, possibly the most short sighted decision the show has ever done. Yup, they killed Bobby Nash and there's three episodes left. How the fallout from this plays out will determine if the show has true staying power.

Daredevil: Born Again: I'll admit that for the most part I have enjoyed Disney+ revival of this show but at the same time, something feels missing and it's not just Karen and Foggy. The handling of the Muse story in particular was bad, Fisk really reverted to form too quickly (though Vanessa has emerged as a more complex character) and the Matt/Heather relationship just fizzled out. I did however like the Daredevil/Punisher team up in the finale and Bullseye on the loose does have potential for next season.

The Last Of Us: Two episodes into the show's second season and they went for the most controversial moment out of the gate. Then again, given Pedro Pascal's increasingly full dance card, perhaps sooner was better than later for that scene to happen. Hats off to Pedro , Kaitlyn Dever and Bella Ramsey because the scene where Abby killed Joel and Ellie couldn't prevent it was easily one of the most brutal death scenes in 2025. With five episodes left, it's going to be interesting to see if the show can sustain the momentum now that they've played their biggest hand. The show has been renewed for a third season. 

The White Lotus: The second half of the third season proved a few things. You can't escape financial ruin, some friendships are a mystery, brothers shouldn't be that physically intimate with one another, good people aren't above taking bribes from bad people and the two graves saying about revenge is true. All of these things came to pass in those final few episodes and they made for some of the best and most shocking moments. Season 3 might have taken a bit longer to find it's footing but it got there and I cannot wait for next season.

Toxic Town: While everyone everywhere was hyping Adolescence, there was another Jack Thorne Netflix miniseries that had been released two weeks beforehand and with less fanfare. Featuring a cast that had Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, Karla Crome, Claudia Jessie, Brendan Coyle and Robert Carlyle to name but a few. The four part miniseries took a good look into the Corby toxic waste case. I can see why this might have gotten lost in the shuffle but you should check it out if you've already seen Thorne's other miniseries that has stirred such debate.

Yellowjackets: Season 3 hasn't quite hit the heights of the first season but it's not been without it's shocking moments. There was the resolution to Lottie's murder and then Van got killed by Melissa in the present day. Hillary Swank is going to have quite the task on her hand next season getting audience to like Melissa next season. Add some more appearances from Jackie, Shauna showing her awful side in both timelines along with her own family, Taissa and Misty being done with her and that Natalie scene in the picture above, where else can this show go? It should end next season.

• Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw will lead upcoming series, 9-1-1: Nashville for ABC this autumn. 9-1-1 itself was renewed for a ninth season
• Grey's Anatomy has been renewed for twenty second season on ABC.
• Wednesday Season 2 will be released on Netflix in two parts - Episodes 1-4 from August 6th and Episodes 5-8 from September 3rd respectively.
• Heartstopper will conclude with a movie for Netflix, based on Alice Oseman's upcoming sixth volume. Joe Locke and Kit Connor will be executive producers.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed up for upcoming series, Bad Summer People.
• Dexter: Original Sin has been renewed for a second season by Showtime/Paramount+. Dexter: Resurrection will premiere in June.
• Tom Ellis has signed up as the lead for FBI: CIA for CBS.
• Will Sharpe and Ayo Edebiri will lead upcoming Apple TV+ romantic comedy series Prodigies. 
• Amazon have We Were Liars for June 18th.
• Season 3 of And Just Like That will premiere on Max from May 29th. The Gilded Age Season 3 will on HBO in June. Both feature Cynthia Nixon.
• Stranger Things will be getting an animated spin off titled, Stranger Things: Tales from 85. 
• Outlander: Blood Of My Blood will air from August 8th on Starz.
• Lindsay Logan will star in Count My Lies for Hulu.

Red Death Zips By And More

You know the drill, it's been a while since I've done one of these and here's a brief snippet of the things I've been watching for the last month.

Mayfair Witches: There's no denying that this series doesn't have the same southern charm that Interview With The Vampire has but the final few episodes did somewhat try to up the ante. By the end of the series, Rowan seemingly fell into Lasher's influence, gave birth to a son and put Courtland in his place. All of which has the potential for a hopefully better paced second season. Again, it's a decent show but it does a bit more of a spark to it.

Pennyworth: Even though the show was cancelled last month, I decided to actually bother to watch the final season and I genuinely think I made the right decision. While this show was lucky to get past a first season and was built on a premise that didn't really feel sustainable for an ongoing series, this final season certainly raised the stakes. Alfred dealt with past mistakes and got married to Sandra while even his mother got a new boyfriend and Dave Boy a posh girlfriend. Thomas and Martha dealt with the former being a conditioned assassin, the latter's risky job and being parents to Samantha while Bet got a kid, some new abilities and tied up previous season loose ends. All in all, this was a solid end to the series, minus a never to be resolved cliff hanger.

So Help Me Todd: I kinda picked up this show by accident but a happy one. I'm also a few episodes behind but this amusing dramedy from CBS has Skyler Astin as a struck off private detective now working for his mother's law firm, the latter brilliantly played by Marcia Gay Harden. The show follows a pretty basic 'case of the week' format, married with some nice family dynamics and workplace shenanigans for good measure. There's also an unrequited love story with one ex and a bad girl ex to add to the format but overall, it's a rather light and fun series.

The Flash: Five episodes into this show's final season and things kicked off to a decent enough start with the Red Death, allowing Javicia Leslie some fun as the main threat against Grant Gustin's Flash while also getting to briefly reprise her role as Batwoman too. Add in some rehabilitated former Rogues, a whole batch of new Rogues (such as the Owen Mercer Boomerang and Murmur), a speedy pregnancy for Iris, Joe's exit and the arrival of Khione and it's a moderate improvement on previous seasons. It's still not the show at it's height but it's better than the lows of previous years.

The Last Of Us: The show's first season came to something of an impressive ending for both Joel and Ellie and overall, between giraffes, flashbacks, some truly horrible characters like Kathleen, David and James, game shoutouts ahoy and a lovely backstory episode for Ellie and Riley, this show has set the bar high for HBO this year. Not having played the games and not reading too far ahead meant that most of the events were a genuine surprise for me. I'll definitely be watching the second season.

• Jensen Ackles reprised his role as Dean Winchester for the first season finale of The Winchesters. It's yet to be confirmed for a second season.
• The events of the second game for The Last Of Us will be spread out over more than one season.
• HBO have confirmed the upcoming seasons of both Succession and Barry will be their last seasons.
• ABC have confirmed the tenth season of The Goldbergs will be it's last.
• Rebecca Mader has joined the second season of Fire Country.
• American Horror Story's twelfth season will go into production from May and will be written by one writer, according to Ryan Murphy.
• AppleTV have renewed Shrinking for a second season.
• Amazon have cancelled Three Pines.
• The Bear's second season will be ten episodes.
• Tom Hiddleston's The Night Manager has been renewed for a second season. 

Witches, Pirates And Clickers

It's been a slightly slow couple of weeks with watching new stuff and here, I'll talk about the latest HBO juggernaut among other stuff.

I Hate Suzie Too: The second series of Billie Piper's ambitious and slightly autobiographical show might have taken a long time to come but even with three episodes spread out over the space of Christmas week, it was definitely worth the wait. Six months passed since the events of the first series, and Suzie tried to salvage her image with a dance competition that despite winning, still managed to bring her world crashing down around her. While the show went by too quickly, the episodes were gripping to watch (including an ill advised affair with a bisexual footballer) and Billie Piper delivered an exceptional tour de force. I'm hoping maybe just maybe we get a third helping of this chaotic series.

Mayfair Witches: Last year, we had seven weeks of Interview With The Vampire and AMC to their credit are determined to build out an Immortal universe. This second show, five episodes in has Alexandra Daddario having to come to terms with her witchy heritage, an overzealous supernatural creep named Lasher attaching himself to the women of her family and a rather murderous grandaunt in the form of Carlotta. On the other hand, she does have an ally in Ciprion and there's something rather entertaining in Courtland as a character. While this show hasn't been as gripping as it's vampiric parent show yet, it's still a good Gothic adventure so far.

Our Flag Means Death: Released on HBO Max nearly a year ago, it really did take BBC2 a long time to get this show. You've got the hapless Gentleman Pirate taking over a crew as they get into a variety of scrapes and with a little over half of the first season now, it's mostly a fun if slight series. There's good performances from the main cast, including an amusing turn from Taika Waititi as Blackbeard, whose scenes with Rhys Darby's Stede are enjoyable to watch.

The Last Of Us: HBO have been on fire for the last while and the adaptation of this apocalyptic game series has won over everyone alike in the space of three episodes. As someone who has never played the game, this show has done a good job at feeling accessible to the casual audience with excellent leading performances from both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay as Joel and Ellie. The first two episodes did wonders setting up the world and showed the gruesomeness of the Clickers (poor Tess) while the third episode gave one of the most beautiful if not tragic of love stories with Bill and Frank (truly amazing performances from Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) while still moving things along at a great pace. It's no wonder HBO quickly renewed this show for a second season.

• Kathy Bates will lead a female led  reboot of Matlack for CBS. The network are also planning a Watson & Moriarty series without Sherlock and will do another spin off of The Good Wife.
• Frasier reboot for Paramount+ has cast Nicholas Lyndhurst as an old friend of Frasier. Other cast members include Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anders Keith and Jess Salgueiro.
• A prequel series for Dexter is being considering while Showtime will be folded into Paramount+.
• CBS have renewed So Help Me Todd for a second season. 
• Nicole Maines has joined the cast of Yellowjackets second season, due to air on March 26th.
• The second season of House Of The Dragon will begin filming in the UK and Spain from March. 
• Phoebe Dynever will not be returning for the third season of Bridgerton.
• Wednesday was renewed for a second season by Netflix.
• All American is one of the few CW that will survive the folding into Nexstar. The fates of remaining shows have yet to be confirmed.
• HBO Max have cancelled Gossip Girl after two seasons.
• The third season of The Mandalorian will stream on Disney+ from March 1st.
• Mayfair Witches has been renewed for a second season by AMC.
• Annette Bening will star in Peacock limited series, Apples Never Fall.