Entertainment: A FEW SURE-FIRE TV RECOMMENDATIONS

The Company You Keep.   ABC

Will Trent.  CBS

Alaska Daily.   NBC

Away.  Netflix

The Diplomat.  Netflix

The Lincoln Lawyer.  Netflix

The Stranger.  Netflix

Jack Reacher.  Amazon Prime 

These all turned out to be very enjoyable, recent television series for both Deborah and me.  While we often have similar tastes in entertainment, there are certainly some TV shows and movies that we definitely do NOT agree upon.  So at least our mutual enjoyment of these says something.

We found ourselves much looking forward to the next episode in each of these series.  The seasons ended satisfyingly, although with a few cliffhangers.  Our only anxiety now is hoping that most of them will be renewed for a 2^nd season.  When that occurs depends in part upon how long the writer’s strike lasts.

You will also note that five of these eight recommendations require access to a streaming service on your Smart TV – four on Netflix, and one on Amazon Prime.

There are also four – Will Trent, The Stranger, The Lincoln Lawyer and Jack Reacher – which are based uon books by popular mystery writers.  They may or may not float your particular boat.  However, if you happen to be a fan of any of those authors, I am quite certain that you will enjoy them.

The Company You Keep 

ABC, 1^st Season, 10 episodes, renewal chances not looking good.

This show is actually based upon a South Korean television series by the same name.  It is the story of a conman, Charlie and a CIA agent, Emma who begin a relationship with neither one knowing, or willing, to tell the other what they really do for a living.

Charlie’s family – his father, mother and sister – all work cons together and their latest con got them indebted to an Irish crime family.  They are now reluctantly working cons for the daughter of that family in order to pay off their huge debt.

Korean American Emma, unbeknownst to Charlie, is tracking that same Irish crime family.  The CIA wants to put them out of business for good.  Emma’s altruistic brother is running for a Senate seat previously held by their father and that provides a running side story for this first season.

Other than one of the actresses from the old Thirty Something TV series, Polly Draper, who plays Charlie’s mother, all but one other of the actors in this show were not particularly recognizable to us.  However, I did recognize the lead actor, Milo Ventimiglia, from an excellent, low budget movie I once came across by accident – 2019’s The Art of Racing in the Rain.  In it, Milo plays an aspiring Formula One race car driver who has an adorable dog named Enzo (after Ferrari).  It is a sweet movie that you might find enjoyable.

Will Trent 

CBS.  1^st Season, renewed for a 2^nd season

This series is based on the lead character in currently a total of 13 novels by author Karin Slaughter.  Season 1 is based very closely on the 2^nd book in the series, Fractured.

Will is played by Puerto Rican actor Ramon Rodriquez. Although Rodriquez has appeared in both television and movies since 2005, we had not been aware of him prior to this series. Based upon his performance as the unique Will, we think that might change.

Will is a detective with the GBI – the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  He never knew his mother and grew up in a very abusive foster system.  Angie is a detective with the Atlanta Police Department.  Will and Angie grew up together in that foster system and now have an on and off romantic relationship.

Will is dyslexic, which has a profound effect on how he processes things and which also makes him a uniquely effective detective.

You may also have noticed the little dog in the picture with Will.  Her name is Betty.  She is a stray picked up by Will in the first episode and she has brief appearances in all of the episodes.

Alaska Daily  

NBC, 11 episodes, 1^st Season, renewal is not likely.

This new series initially caught our interest because we had just recently finished watching another series on this list – Away.  That also starred Hilary Swank who was primarily a movie actress before this.

In this series, Swank plays a big city news reporter who gets in trouble for reporting a big, political story which could not eventually be verified after a main source backed down.  She is unceremoniously let go by her newspaper and she ends up taking a job as a reporter on a small, Anchorage Alaska newspaper called the Alaska Daily.

The thing that lured her to this job is a promised story dealing not only with the unexplained disappearance of one, specific, Alaskan native woman, but also with the recurring problem of indigenous  women going missing without explanation or resolution.  That recurring story line continues throughout the 11 episodes. That story line is also based on actual facts.

The supporting cast, mostly in her new employer’s newsroom, are pretty much unknown actors but they make a nice ensemble, especially her indigenous partner, Roz, played by First Nations actress Grace Dove. 

Another thing that captured our personal interest is that Deborah and I plan on making our first trip to Alaska this fall (2023) which begins with a five night stay in Anchorage, before we board a cruise from Seward to Vancouver along the Alaskan coast.

Away 

Netflix, 10 episodes, 1^st Season, renewal is not likely

This series is the first of the two shows that we recently watched starring Hilary Swank, as mentioned a primarily movie actress up until recently.  You may recognize her from any number of films, but her academy award winning performance as prize fighter Maggie, in Clint Eastwood’s 2004 film Million Dollar Baby  is perhaps her most memorable.  She also won the Best Actress Oscar in the 1999 movie Boys Don’t Cry  where she very convincingly played a transgender boy trying to fit in high school.

Swank is an excellent actress.  Her performance here as the commander of a four-person mission to Mars is very good.  The story takes place almost entirely on the spaceship and involves many interpersonal as well as technical challenges encountered during the long flight to Mars.

Josh Charles plays her husband, also an astronaut, who was initially tabbed to be mission commander until an accident prevented it.  You may remember Charles from his role on The Good Wife.

The Diplomat

Netflix, 8 episodes, 1^st Season, renewed for 2^nd

The series is written and produced by Debora Cahn.  She previously wrote for The West Wing, Homeland and for Grey’s Anatomy  so her writing pedigree is excellent.

It stars Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell.  You may be aware of Keri Russell from the WB series Felicity  from the late 90’s.  She is most recently known for starring in the FX series, The Americans.

Rufus Sewell is an English actor who may not be a familiar name, but there’s a good chance his face may be familiar to you.  He has appeared in many movies and TV series starting in 1991.  He might be familiar to some of you from his role in The Man in High Castle  on Amazon Prime.

Russell plays a U.S. diplomat, Kate Wyler, whose assignment is changed at the last moment to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.  The President (an older, Biden-like character) wants to see how she handles a situation where a British warship has just been attacked by someone – likely either Iran or Russia.  The President is vetting Kate to possibly be a replacement for the current Vice President who is mired in a scandal.

Sewell plays Kate’s husband, Hal Wyler.  Hal is also an experienced diplomat and was recently the Ambassador to Lebanon.  However, his involvement during the last minute evacuation of Afghanistan at the end of that war, put a real wedge into both his personal and professional relationship with his wife.

Now the tables are turned a bit as he must play second fiddle as the Ambassador’s husband which is not a position he is either accustomed to, nor particularly fond of.  The relationship between the two Wylers is explosive at times, intimate at others, and just generally a lot of fun.  We can only imagine him someday as the Bill Clinton like husband to Kate Wyler as Vice President.

Russell is delightfully real and often profane as she navigates some very tense situations with the British Prime Minister, and with her counterpart, the British Foreign Minister.

The 8^th and final episode of Season 1 ended with a very definite cliffhanger.  The series was one of Netflix most popular and quickly received its second season renewal.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Netflix, 10 episodes, 1^st Season, renewed for 2^nd

This series is based on the lead character in currently a total of 7 novels by author Michael Connelly.  Season 1 is based primarily on the 2^nd book in the Mickey Haller series, The Brass Verdict. 

Connelly is perhaps better known as the author of the Harry Bosch series of novels, which have been made into two Amazon TV Prime series which have run for a total of 7 seasons, and which has been renewed for another.

This series stars Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, aka The Lincoln Lawyer because he often does business out of the backseat of his chauffeur driven Lincoln automobile.

I am a personal fan of the Connelly novels but I think I have enjoyed both the television versions of lead characters Harry Bosch and of his half brother Mickey Haller as much or more than the versions in the novels. Garcia-Rulfo brings Haller to life much the same as Titus Welliver has most definitely made Harry Bosch his own.

The main story line in this 1st season is Mickey being tabbed to take over a portfolio of clients after another lawyer is murdered. One case is a high profile murder suspect which Mickey must defend with very little time to prepare.

The supporting cast includes Neve Campbell as Haller’s estranged second wife, Maggie, and the mother of his daughter Hayley. Maggie also happens to be a high level prosecuting attorney. His office manager is his first wife, Lorna. His investigator Cisco is the former member of a biker gang.

The Stranger

Netflix, 8 episodes, 1^st Season, based on a stand-alone novel so this will likely be the only season. 

Lots of other books by author Harlan Coben have been made into Netflix series, but none featuring my favorites of his characters, Myron Bolitar and Win.

This 8 episode series stars English actor Richard Armitage.  Armitage has acted in both TV and movies, both in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom.  He also stars in at least one other Netflix adaptation of another Coben novel, Stay Close. 

To American audiences, Armitage’s face may not be known but one of his most noted, recent characters is – Thorin Oakenshield.  Thorin was the lead dwarf in the Hobbit  trilogy which was the follow up to The Lord of the Rings.

If you are familiar with any of Coben’s stand-alone novels, they are particularly full of plot twists and turns, and this story is no exception.  Armitage plays a man who is approached by a mysterious young woman who tells him that his wife faked her most recent pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage.  After initial disbelief, he confronts his wife who admits it, but then disappears. 

We then learn that the young woman and her partner are perpetrating this scam on numerous individuals.  In one case, they approach a person demanding money in order to keep a secret.  If they fail to pay, then, as in the case with Armitage’s character, they expose the secret to the person most likely to be hurt by the secret.

There is also a sub-plot involving a bunch of high school students attending a ritual bonfire which involved animal sacrifice, along with the serious injury of one of the students.

Jack Reacher

Amazon Prime.  1st Season, 8 episodes, renewed for 2^nd

This series is based on the iconic lead character, Jack Reacher, in currently a total of 27 novels by author Lee Child.  Season 1 is based on Child’s debut novel, The Killing Floor.

Two of Child’s books were previously released as full length movies starring Tom Cruise as Reacher.  While the movies were actually not too bad, in particular the second one, Cruise is about as close to Reacher as Kevin Hart is to Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

In the books, Reacher is 6’5” and 250 pounds, with massive arms and fists.  Remind you of Tom Cruise?  I didn’t think so.

The actor hired for this first season of the TV series, Reacher, is little known Alan Ritchson.  He was actually in the 2^nd movie in the Hunger Games  franchise – Catching Fire, although I can’t say that he left a huge impression.  However, his work as Jack Reacher in Season 1 was definitely a step up from Cruise.

RAY DONOVAN AND DEXTER MORGAN COME TO THEIR CONCLUSIONS

If you are reading this, then I think it is safe to say that you are probably a fan of both of these Showtime series, as am I.  I think it helps to have a certain type of ghoulish side to your personality to find these series entertaining.  Guilty as charged.

Both of these two personal guilty pleasure TV series just came to their individual conclusions very recently.  After a seven year run on Showtime, Ray Donovan  just ended with a 2-hour movie.  After its own eight year run on Showtime, Dexter  ended with a 10 episode final season.

The original Ray Donovan series ended fairly recently, in January of 2020.  Dexter, on the other hand, aired its final episode way back in September of 2013.  That is quite unusual for a “sequel”, if you will, to not air until more than eight years had passed since the original went off the air.

We watched Ray Donovan pretty much from the beginning.  We had originally ordered Showtime for our Smart TV in order to watch Homeland  which is one of my favorite TV series.  I believe that it was while watching early episodes of Homeland, which ended in April 2020, that we stumbled upon both Dexter and Ray.

If you watched either of the original series, and intend to watch these conclusions, I would suggest that you consider going back and watching the final episodes of each original series. 

In the case of Dexter, that would be Season 8, Episode 12 titled “Remember the Monsters”.

In the case of Ray Donovan, that would be Season 7, Episode 10 title “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

I found it interesting that each of these series decided to bring their storylines to a conclusion via different formats – one in a ten episode limited series and final season, the other with a two-hour movie.  In both cases, I think they each succeeded in their task.

Obviously, both Dexter and Ray are very much what you would consider anti-heroes.  In the case of Dexter, I think it is quite fair to say that there has never been an anti-hero quite like Dexter Morgan.  What is amazing is that a show which featured a serial killer as its main character not only lasted for eight seasons, but also developed quite a large and avid following.

While not a serial killer per se, Ray Donovan certainly did his fair share of killing during his own 7 season run.  Ray was a fixer for the rich and famous and he not only often got his hands dirty, he often got them REALLY dirty.

One of the easiest ways to see both of the final season episodes, as well as the new conclusions, would be to take out a month’s Showtime subscription on your Smart TV.  You just might be able to get a promotional rate for as low as $2.99/month for the first two months.  That should be plenty of time for you to watch and then you can just cancel your subscription. 

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From this point on, I wanted to give you a spoiler alert because I intend to reveal how both of the series came to their conclusions.  If you have not already watched the conclusions, then perhaps now would be a good time to stop reading, and then finish this article after you have viewed both.

Dexter:  New Blood

In the Dexter final season, episode 10, Dexter Morgan has resurfaced in a small, fictional town in northern New York.  He now goes by the name Jim Lindsay, and is a clerk in a local hardware store.  His girlfriend is the town Police Chief.  Dexter has not given over to his Dark Passenger since he controversially faked his own death at the end of Season 8 back in 2013.  (Most fans, it seems, were not particularly pleased with how Season 8 ended.)

In this new season, Dexter is no longer “haunted” by his adopted father Harry, but rather he is now constantly visited by his sister Deborah, who met her bloody demise at the end of Season 8.  Almost all of the other characters in this final season are new with the exception of a few brief cameos by two actors from the original series.  There are also a couple of brief flashbacks to the original series.

Dexter rather quickly yields to his Dark Passenger once again when he kills the really slimy son of the equally slimy owner of a local restaurant.  That sets in motion a number of events as he tries to ensure that his deed is not discovered.

Things really become complicated, however, when his son Harrison appears on his doorstep.  A very young Harrison had been left with Dexter’s girlfriend, and serial killer in her own right, Hanna, at the end of Season 8.  They were headed for Argentina when Dexter faked his death in a hurricane off the coast of Miami.

Hanna apparently died of cancer.  Harrison, having found a letter that Dexter sent to Hanna which let her know that he was still alive, has spent much time on his own trying to track down his father, which he finally does.

Much of the plot of these 10 episodes focuses on Dexter’s attempt to deal with his re-emerging Dark Passenger, to reconnect as a father to Harrison and to ascertain whether or not Harrison, whose mother died a bloody death at the hands of a serial killer … as did Dexter’s mother … carries his own Dark Passenger like his father.

Things get really complicated when that slimy father I mentioned earlier, Kurt Caldwell, turns out to himself be a long time serial killer.  He attempts to first befriend, and then to try and use Harrison to seek revenge on Dexter whom Kurt determined was responsible for his son’s death.

All the while, the Police Chief begins more and more to suspect that Jim Lindsay is in fact the same Dexter Morgan who supposedly died in Miami.  She also believes that Jim murdered Kurt Caldwell’s son.  However, only Dexter has uncovered Kurt’s own bloody history.

Dexter believes that Harrison does in fact have his own Dark Passenger and he vows to help his son deal with it, much like Harry helped Dexter.

Kurt ends up on Dexter’s killing table as Harrison watches.  But even as it was happening, I got the feeling that even despite his own Dark Passenger, this was a step too far for Harrison.

Dexter is arrested and put in jail by his now ex-girlfriend, the Chief.  Dexter escapes jail, but in the process kills the Deputy who also happens to be Harrison’s wrestling coach.

Harrison and Dexter meet out in the woods and Dexter’s intention is for the two of them to escape together and begin life anew somewhere else.  But Harrison realizes that Dexter had killed his coach in order to escape jail.  The realization that Dexter had violated his “code” to only kill those who absolutely deserved it, makes Harrison realize that he cannot go down that same road as his father.

At the end, Dexter realizes this too and he has flashbacks of all of the innocent people, including his sister, who had died not directly because of his Dark Passenger, but because of the continuing deception necessary for Dexter to maintain his freedom.

Dexter encourages Harrison to put an end this by shooting him, which Harrison does.  Dexter’s sister Deborah holds his hand while he dies. The final scenes have the Police Chief coming upon Harrison and realizing that he has shot Dexter.   Knowing everything she does, she tells Harrison to drive away from town and never look back … which Harrison does as the final credits roll.

Some Final Thoughts

I have read that many fans of the original series really feel like this was the way that the series really needed to end, and which many wish had happened back in 2013.  In fact there had been way too many peripheral deaths that had happened as a indirect result of Dexter’s Dark Passenger, and Dexter needed to be held accountable for those deaths.

It was also good to see that Harrison at least now has a chance of escaping his father’s legacy.

I personally found the Season 9 finale of Dexter: New Blood to be exceptionally fulfilling.

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Ray Donovan:  The Movie

In the final episode of Season 8 of the Ray Donovan series on Showtime, a number of major things took place.  Ray eventually shot and killed Jim Sullivan – the local, Irish hood who was allowed to have sex with Ray’s baby sister Bridgit.  Bridgit eventually became pregnant and committed suicide rather than have the abortion for which Sullivan had given her money.  Ray eventually found this out and exacted vengeance.  This was complicated by the fact that his girlfriend, Molly, was the daughter of Jim Sullivan.

Another plot line had Mickey blackmailing one Sullivan son, Kevin, to try and get back money that his father Jim had stolen from Mickey.  Yet another Sullivan son, Declan, wanted the money for himself.  Near the end, when Mickey is ready to trade the certificates he had for millions of dollars, a shootout broke out.  Declan and Bridgit’s boyfriend Smitty were killed.

At the very end, the corpse that Ray had been digging a grave for throughout the entire episode was revealed to be Jim Sullivan.

About two years after that final episode of the TV series was aired, the two-hour TV Showtime movie aired – Ray Donovan:  The Movie.  As with the final season of Dexter, I felt that this conclusion to the Ray Donovan saga also brought the story of Ray to a logical conclusion.

Ray is shown off and on during the episode talking to his therapist, Dr. Aniot, played by Alan Alda.  Ray is confessing to the doctor that he has killed Mickey and Ray eventually admits that he knows that he is also responsible for much of Mickey’s evil because he unjustly framed Mickey for a murder he did not commit, and which sent him to prison.

In contrast to the Dexter series, the Ray Donovan series left a number of questions unanswered when the series ended.  A number of major questions were answered during this 2-hour finale.

• We find out how Ray met his wife Abby.
• We find out how Ray met his mentor, Ezra Goldman.
• We find out why the actor, Sean Walker, was so much indebted to Ray.

The relationship between Ray and his daughter, Bridgit, is explored more thoroughly in this final movie.  Bridgit is brought to understand much more about how Mickey has brought death and destruction to the entire Donovan family.  Meanwhile, Ray grew to understand more and more how he was responsible for starting Mickey on his deadly path, and therefore also responsible for what happened to his family.

In the final scene, Ray has been shot by Molly and he ends up in a seedy motel room.  Mickey followed him to the hotel room and is giddily making plans for him and Ray to begin a new life when Bridgit, who has been following Mickey, enters the room and shoots Mickey in the head.

Ray tells Bridgit to go far away and then Ray commits his final act as a fixer.  He frames himself for Mickey’s murder.  He makes the call to his therapist that has been recounted throughout this movie.  Police arrive and arrest Ray for his father’s murder.

I have read that Liev Schrieber, who played Ray, and who also co-wrote the final, two-hour movie, had not originally wanted to continue the Ray Donovan series.  But when the series was cancelled after Season 8, he wanted the chance to provide a more fitting end to the series.

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So, thanks to each of these well-written ends to their long running TV series, I felt that both Dexter Morgan and Ray Donovan came to their just and deserved, if not altogether satisfying, end.

Bad boys indeed who both entertained … also to the end.

TV REVIEW – BOSCH SEASON 7, BASED UPON MICHAEL CONNELLY’S BOOK “THE BURNING ROOM”? Uhh, I DON’T THINK SO

I just finished rereading Michael Connelly’s novel, “The Burning Room”, featuring his iconic detective Harry Bosch.  I have also just finished watching the first two episodes of the recently released final Season 7 of the Amazon Prime TV series “Bosch”.

Supposedly, and I place great emphasis on the word supposedly, Season 7 is based upon Connelly’s 30^th Bosch novel, published in 2014 – “The Burning Room”.

So far, at least, Bosch Season 7 has about as much in common with “The Burning Room” as arsenic does with champagne.  Oh, they certainly are both liquids … but the similarity comes to a screeching halt right there.

I do not write that with any satisfaction at all.  I am a big fan of Amazon’s “Bosch” series and I think Titus Welliver in the lead role has been fantastic.  For many years now, I see Titus in my mind whenever I read another Bosch novel.  I’m looking forward to the spinoff TV series next season which purportedly will reprise the roles of Bosch, his daughter Maddie and defense attorney “Money” Chandler.

I have previously written and posted a number of very favorable reviews of Connelly novels on my personal blog.

Here are a few examples …

Book Review: “The Closers” by Michael Connelly

BOOK & MOVIE REVIEW: “The Lincoln Lawyer” by Michael Connelly

HARRY BOSCH FANS: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MICHAEL CONNELLY’S MICKEY HALLER SERIES (A Book Series Review)

“The Burning Room” is an excellent novel, combining two very different cases, one a 20 year old cold case, on which Bosch and his young partner (at least in the book) Lucy Soto are working.  There is great investigative work done by Bosch and Soto that eventually pulls threads together so that both cases are separately solved.

About the only thing that Season 7 has in common with this excellent novel is that both begin with an apartment fire that kills a number of children.  But even that is very different from the fire that occurs in the novel.  Unless things drastically change in episodes 3-8, my guess that will be about the ONLY thing that the novel and TV Season 7 have in common.

I’m not saying that the TV series has to be slavish to the books.  It does not have to be, nor should it be, nor has it been in the first 6 seasons. Previous seasons have often combined main plotlines from a number of Connelly novels, and that has served the series well.

But if you’re going to base a season upon a single novel, and that novel happens, in my opinion, to be one of Connelly’s better efforts, then why not at least take advantage of at least a few of the elements that make it such an excellent book?

Instead, the execution of, and the motivations behind the apartment fire are very different from the novel, and I’m worried about the direction that plotline is taking.  There also appears to be no attempt to bring in the second investigative plotline from the novel at all, and I actually thought that it was the stronger of the two plotlines in the book.

Replacing that second plotline are a number of so far quite annoying personal stories.

• One is Money Chandler (Mimi Rogers) defending a Michael Milken/Bernie Madoff style investment fraudster who is just plain unlikable.

• Another is the struggle of LA Police Chief Irvin Irving (Lance Reddick) who is in danger of being squeezed out of another term as police chief, and who is also agonizing over his sick newborn son.  I am sorry about your sick baby, Chief, but I really don’t care whether or not you get another term as Police Chief, and my guess is that a lot of other viewers don’t either.
  • I don’t write that easily about Lance Reddick. I really like him and he was one of the stars of my all-time favorite TV series – “Fringe”.

Quick Quips: “FRINGE” REPRISE

• There is the story of Bosch’s partner Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector).  He is letting his personal and professional life slide right into the toilet because he can’t get over the fact that he killed a mass-murdering, Haitian scumbag at the end of last season.  GET OVER IT, JERRY!  Nobody deserved a couple bullets more than that guy did. Move on, just like Harry would.

• There is also the story of the prejudice coming right to the surface from within the police department about Lt Billets’ (Amy Aquino) sexual preference.  That could be an interesting side plot, but given what they have done with the others so far, I am not optimistic.

There are also opportunities in the novel to bring a number of interesting Los Angeles locations (i.e. Mariachi Plaza) into the TV show.  Showcasing actual L.A. locations in the TV show, in much the same way that Connelly does in his novels, is one of my favorite aspects of the TV series.  Season 4 was based in part on the novel “Angels Flight”.  That iconic, short, downtown tram played a significant role in the show, and still does since it is featured in the opening credits. 

Here is a link to a Facebook post I made about the “Angels Flight” after I returned from a personal trip to Los Angeles.

I have seen little evidence of much effort to showcase new parts of L.A. in Season 7.

So that is where I find the show right now.  Hopefully things will improve in the remaining six episodes.  I will update this post as I watch the remaining episodes.

Update: July 28, 2021

A little more than two weeks after I wrote this first, preliminary review of Bosch Season 7, I finished watching the 7th and the final 8th episode of Season 7. My overall impression of the 7th season improved considerably. To see that review, select the following …

TV REVIEW – BOSCH SEASON 7 … A THUMBS-UP AFTER WATCHING ALL EPISODES OF THE FINAL SEASON ON AMAZON

All Time Favorite TV Shows – List

My top 10 list of TV shows is included in the blog post Pearls’ Top 10 TV Shows.

For more detailed information about each television series, see my blog All Time Favorite TV Shows – Detail.

• The Avengers  (1961-1969) – 8 seasons
• Beauty and the Beast  (1987-1990) – 3 seasons
• Blue Bloods  (2010-Present) – 7 seasons
• Bosch (2015-Present) – 5 seasons
• Castle (2009-2016) 7 seasons
• Cheers (1982-1993) – 11 seasons
• Cimarron Strip  (1967-1968) – 1 season. 
• Crusader Rabbit  (1950-1952)
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (1999-2015)
• Dexter  (2006-2013) – 7 seasons
• The Diplomat (2023-Present) – 1 season
• ER  (1994-2009) – 15 seasons
• Fallings Skies  (2011-2015) – 5 seasons
• Frequency  (2016-Present) – 1 season
• Fringe  (2008-2013) – 5 seasons
• The Fugitive  (1963-1967) – 3 seasons
• The Good Wife  (2009-2016) – 7 seasons
• Have Gun Will Travel  (1957-1963) – 6 seasons
• Hill Street Blues  (1981-1987) – 7 seasons
• Homeland  (2016-Present) – 6 seasons
• I Spy  (1965-1968) – 3 seasons
• The Incredible Hulk  (1978-1982) – 5 seasons
• The Invaders  (1967-1968) – 2 seasons
• It Takes a Thief  (1968-1970) – 3 seasons
• JAG  (1995-2014) – 10 seasons
• Journey to the Unknown (1968) – 1 season
• The Last Ship  (2014-2018) – 5 seasons
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014-current)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (Just kidding!  Wanted to see if you’re paying attention.)
• Manifest (2018-current)
• The Mod Squad  (1968-1973) – 5 seasons
• M*A*S*H  (1972-1983) – 11 seasons
• Madam Secretary (2014-Present) – 3 seasons
• Moonlight  (2007-2008) – 1 season
• NCIS  (2003-Present) – 14 seasons
• NCIS Los Angeles  (2009-Present) – 8 seasons
• One Step Beyond  (1959-1961) – 2 seasons
• Outlander (2014 – Present) – 5 seasons
• The Outer Limits – the Original  (1963-1965) – 2 seasons
• Poldark – (2015-2018) – 5 seasons
• Ray Donovan  (2013-Present) – 4 seasons
• Rocky and Bullwinkle  (1959-1964) – 5 seasons.  (Animated)
• Rosewood (2015-Present) – 2 seasons
• Ruff and Ready (1957-1960) – 3 seasons.  (Animated)
• Run For Your Life  (1965-1968) – 3 seasons
• Saturday Night Live (1975-Present)
• Saving Grace  (2007-2010) – 3 seasons
• Science Fiction Theater  (1955-1957) – 2 seasons
• Sliders  (1995-2000) – 5 seasons (1^st 3 on Fox; last two on SciFi)
• Spenser for Hire  (1985-1988) – 3 seasons
• St Elsewhere  (1982-1988) – 6 seasons
• Star Trek – the Original  (1966-1969) – 3 seasons
• Star Trek Next Generation  (1987-1994) – 7 seasons
• Suits (2011-2019) – 9 seasons
• Thirty Something  (1987-1991) – 4 seasons
• Thriller  (1960-1962) – 2 seasons
• Timeless  (2016-2018) – 2 seasons plus a 2 hour series finale 
• The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
• Top Cat  (1961-1962) – 1 season.  (Animated)
• Twelve O’Clock High  (1964-1967) – 3 seasons
• The Twilight Zone  (1959-1964) – 5 seasons
• The West Wing  (1999-2006) – 7 seasons
• The X-Files  (1993-2002) – 9 seasons

The Fugitive – a TV review

The Fugitive  (1963-1967) – 4 seasons

Starring:    David Janssen; Barry Morse; Bill Raisch

Synopsis and Tidbits:

The Fugitive is #2 on my personal list of the top 10 TV shows of all time.

Wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, pediatrician Dr Richard Kimble (played by David Janssen) is freed when the train crashes while taking him to be executed.  He is doggedly pursued over four seasons by Indiana police Lieutenant, Phillip Girard (Barry Morse), as Kimble pursues the infamous one-armed man (played by Bill Raisch) whom he saw running from his house on the night his wife was murdered.  While he is on the run, he is in constant fear of the police, and of Girard.   In spite of that, he befriends and often saves many people, and sometimes entire communities, often using his medical knowledge to do so.  He also has many narrow escapes from Girard … that is until the series finale.

The Fugitive was the second of David Janssen’s starring television roles, the first being Richard Diamond – Private Detective.  The Fugitive was initially rejected by both NBC and CBS but was picked up by the then new, American Broadcasting Company (ABC).  It was the first, hour long weekly television drama when it began in 1963 and it helped raise the profile of ABC.  It also turned David Janssen into a television superstar.

I have been fortunate to make contact with a fellow blogger by the name of Mike Phelps (no, not THAT one).  Mike was a long-time, personal friend of David and has not only co-written a memoir with David’s first wife, Ellie, but Mike has also written two of his own books about David.  I highly recommend them, especially if you are a David Janssen fan, as am I.

The 2-part Fugitive series finale Judgment, during which Kimble finally caught the one-armed man, was the most watched TV show of all time, at the time when it aired in August of 1967 (an estimated 72% of the entire TV viewing audience).

Here is the 5 minute series finale ending on You Tube:

And for those of you familiar with the series, here is the final Epilog (a staple of Quinn Martin productions) which is the way all of the series episodes ended.

Featured Video of the Week: “If my grandmother had wheels …”

PUT THE IMMIGRANT RELOCATION DILEMMA RIGHT BACK IN THE LAPS OF DESANTIS AND ABBOTT (An Editorial)

This is from a morning talk show, ITV’s This Morning, on British television.  The male and female hosts, Holly Willoughby and Phil Schofield are doing a segment with their celebrity chef Gino, who is very Italian, as this clip will attest.  Holly has a suggestion for Gino’s macaroni and cheese dish.  If you check out You Tube, you will also find quite a few more funny segments with Holly and Phil.

Here’s another clip of Holly, Phil and Gino …

Featured Video of the Week: “Hugh Janus”

The weather guy’s name is Henry DiCarlo.  He is part of the KTLA early morning TV team out in Los Angeles and I believe he is still broadcasting.  Check out some of his other You Tube videos.  They are generally hilarious.

Quick Quips: YOU GOTTA ADMIT. TRUMP DOES OCCASIONALLY SPUR CREATIVITY.

Pithy Quotes

From  Cold Cold Bones … A Kathy Reichs’ novel featuring Temperance Brennan (aka Bones)

Tempe is speaking with a medical examiner who is working on the body of a guy who had recently fallen from a zip line.

Tempe asks her what might be the possible cause of death?

           She says, “Acute Numerical Assumption.”

           Tempe looks at her quizzically

           She responds, “His number was up.”

 

 

From  Jack Reacher … A Lee Child novel made into a TV series on Amazon Prime

Reacher is surrounded by toughs in an alley.  When they ask him what he thinks he’s gonna’ do, Reacher tells them that he is going to break the wrists of three guys.

One of them says, “But there are four of us?”

Reacher responds, “One of you has to be able to drive to the hospital.”

 

From  The New Girl … A Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva

An Israeli agent asks a doctor about the condition of a Russian oligarch who was just exposed to radiation used in an assassination attempt.  

“How bad is he?” 

“A little south of Hiroshima … but not much”

 

 

From  Vanished … A  novel by Joseph Finder

Nick Heller after speaking with the corrupt CEO of a private security company …

“Wash DC is to lying what Hershey PA is to chocolate.“

 

From  Killing Season… A  Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman

(An old joke)  “The difference between involvement and commitment is like the difference between bacon and eggs.

The chicken is involved.

             The pig is committed.”

From Monday Mourning … A Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs.

          A woman calls a man up at 5 in the morning.

“Did I wake you up?”, she asks.   “Nahh. I had to get up anyway to answer the phone.“

 

 

From Terminal Freeze… A novel by Lincoln Child.

          In the Arctic, the ratio of men to women is said to be 10 to 1.

It is also said that “If a woman is interested, the odds are good … but the goods are odd.“

 

 

From Lethal Agent … A Mitch Rapp CIA thriller by Kyle Mills.

Rapp’s mentor, Stan Hurley:  “It’s not how you play the game, its whether or not your opponent ends up dismembered in some woods..

From The Lost Boys … A Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman.

              Fool me once, shame on you.

              Fool me twice, shame on me.

              Fool me a third time, and someone is

                    a moronic dumbass.   (Chris Donatti)

A woman in need of a liver transplant is told by her Russian boyfriend (who happens to be an assassin!) that he offered to donate part of his own liver to her, but was refused.

She told him, “Doesn’t matter.  They say you should never accept a liver from a Russian.”      (From the Mitch Rapp spy novel, Red War, by Kyle Mills.)

He was so dumb … “He couldn’t plan a fart after eating beans.”  (from The Mercedes Coffin by Faye Kellerman)

Police Lieutenant Milo Sturgis gets a call from a murder suspect who says he wants to talk and he asks Milo if they can meet.

Milo looks at his friend, Alex Delaware, and says, “If I respond ‘Hell, yeah’, do you think that would sound too eager?”

“His hometown is so fuckin’ small, the Laundromat uses a clothesline.” (Author John Sandford, paraphrased slightly from his novel Golden Prey)

“Spank me, I’ve been a bad boy.”  (The Donald, 2006, to Stormy Daniels)

After getting roughed up in a fight, Hawk asks Spenser what happened.  “I cut myself shaving.”  To which Hawk replies, “What, you shaving with a weed wacker now?”

Hawk to Spenser talking about two thugs they are tailing:  “If those boys were any dumber, you’d have to water ’em.”

Capt. Marty Quirk to Spenser:  “Shit happens.  You should probably Just put that on your business cards.”

“Your mother was a vending machine and your father was a roto-rooter.”  An annoyed Louise Baltimore speaking to her robot Sherman in the 1983 novel Millennium.

“I solve all my cases.  They’re just not all solved yet.”  Spenser, 1994

“Better here than Philadelphia” on WC Fields’ tombstone

“I’ll have what she’s having” from When Harry Met Sally, 1989

 

From the movie Absence of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field, and with one of the recently passed Wilford Brimley’s best character performances.

 

A dirty, local district attorney tells Brimley, who is an Asst. Attorney General, that recent bad publicity for the justice department was due to a leak.

 

Brimley answers, “A leak? You call that a leak? The last time there was a leak like that, Noah built hisself a boat!”

 

 

 

“Ending Theme” from “Field of Dreams”

As befitting of my all-time favorite movie – 1989’s Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, there are already two other links here in the My Favorite Music section of this blog to the original soundtrack.

James Horner composed the music for this movie.  Along with John Williams, he is my favorite composer.  Horner went on to compose music for many of our best known films, such as An American Tail, Avatar  and Titanic, to name just a few.  Horner tragically died in June of 2015 at the age of just 61 in a private plane crash.

Near the end of this music section is a link to Horner’s original “A Catch With My Father“. The link I am providing now is to a wonderful, spot-on performance of that same, ending theme of Field of Dreams, which was performed at Fumicité – the Tenerife International Film Music Festival in 2012.

If you are a music nerd like me, please consider listening to “A Catch With My Father” first, and then listen to this link. I have never heard a more perfect rendition, even by the original composer.

This was conducted by Spanish composer Diego Navarro, and is performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra.

Please feel free to add a Comment below if perhaps you too have enjoyed this movie as much as I have over the years, and what you think of this performance. You may also wish to scroll through and listen to some of my other Favorite Music clips. I would like to hear which of them you might also like, and perhaps you can suggest some others to me as well.

Thank you for reading and listening.

Pithy Quotes

From  Cold Cold Bones … A Kathy Reichs’ novel featuring Temperance Brennan (aka Bones)

Tempe is speaking with a medical examiner who is working on the body of a guy who had recently fallen from a zip line.

Tempe asks her what might be the possible cause of death?

           She says, “Acute Numerical Assumption.”

           Tempe looks at her quizzically

           She responds, “His number was up.”

 

 

From  Jack Reacher … A Lee Child novel made into a TV series on Amazon Prime

Reacher is surrounded by toughs in an alley.  When they ask him what he thinks he’s gonna’ do, Reacher tells them that he is going to break the wrists of three guys.

One of them says, “But there are four of us?”

Reacher responds, “One of you has to be able to drive to the hospital.”

 

From  The New Girl … A Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva

An Israeli agent asks a doctor about the condition of a Russian oligarch who was just exposed to radiation used in an assassination attempt.  

“How bad is he?” 

“A little south of Hiroshima … but not much”

 

 

From  Vanished … A  novel by Joseph Finder

Nick Heller after speaking with the corrupt CEO of a private security company …

“Wash DC is to lying what Hershey PA is to chocolate.“

 

From  Killing Season… A  Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman

(An old joke)  “The difference between involvement and commitment is like the difference between bacon and eggs.

The chicken is involved.

             The pig is committed.”

From Monday Mourning … A Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs.

          A woman calls a man up at 5 in the morning.

“Did I wake you up?”, she asks.   “Nahh. I had to get up anyway to answer the phone.“

 

 

From Terminal Freeze… A novel by Lincoln Child.

          In the Arctic, the ratio of men to women is said to be 10 to 1.

It is also said that “If a woman is interested, the odds are good … but the goods are odd.“

 

 

From Lethal Agent … A Mitch Rapp CIA thriller by Kyle Mills.

Rapp’s mentor, Stan Hurley:  “It’s not how you play the game, its whether or not your opponent ends up dismembered in some woods..

From The Lost Boys … A Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman.

              Fool me once, shame on you.

              Fool me twice, shame on me.

              Fool me a third time, and someone is

                    a moronic dumbass.   (Chris Donatti)

A woman in need of a liver transplant is told by her Russian boyfriend (who happens to be an assassin!) that he offered to donate part of his own liver to her, but was refused.

She told him, “Doesn’t matter.  They say you should never accept a liver from a Russian.”      (From the Mitch Rapp spy novel, Red War, by Kyle Mills.)

He was so dumb … “He couldn’t plan a fart after eating beans.”  (from The Mercedes Coffin by Faye Kellerman)

Police Lieutenant Milo Sturgis gets a call from a murder suspect who says he wants to talk and he asks Milo if they can meet.

Milo looks at his friend, Alex Delaware, and says, “If I respond ‘Hell, yeah’, do you think that would sound too eager?”

“His hometown is so fuckin’ small, the Laundromat uses a clothesline.” (Author John Sandford, paraphrased slightly from his novel Golden Prey)

“Spank me, I’ve been a bad boy.”  (The Donald, 2006, to Stormy Daniels)

After getting roughed up in a fight, Hawk asks Spenser what happened.  “I cut myself shaving.”  To which Hawk replies, “What, you shaving with a weed wacker now?”

Hawk to Spenser talking about two thugs they are tailing:  “If those boys were any dumber, you’d have to water ’em.”

Capt. Marty Quirk to Spenser:  “Shit happens.  You should probably Just put that on your business cards.”

“Your mother was a vending machine and your father was a roto-rooter.”  An annoyed Louise Baltimore speaking to her robot Sherman in the 1983 novel Millennium.

“I solve all my cases.  They’re just not all solved yet.”  Spenser, 1994

“Better here than Philadelphia” on WC Fields’ tombstone

“I’ll have what she’s having” from When Harry Met Sally, 1989

 

From the movie Absence of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field, and with one of the recently passed Wilford Brimley’s best character performances.

 

A dirty, local district attorney tells Brimley, who is an Asst. Attorney General, that recent bad publicity for the justice department was due to a leak.

 

Brimley answers, “A leak? You call that a leak? The last time there was a leak like that, Noah built hisself a boat!”