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Reviews
Court Night Live (2022)
Jerry Springer meets Judge Wapner in the Octagon.
Cases are adjudicated in "pop-up courtrooms", one of which looked like the back of a restaurant; another appeared to be in the lobby of an office building. A group of random people (who have acting credits and headshots on this site btw) stand in the back and overreact to the endless parade of zingers from the litigants and the judges. Each week, one lucky pair of litigants get their case decided solely by online audience votes (which made one wonder why the judge was needed, other than for snappy comebacks). Lots of phony "suspense" waiting for the verdict.
The commentators are an anemic copy of the Live PD team, minus the talent. One TV judge, one retired judge (who has notes about the law in front of her because she apparently doesn't know it) and a Court TV anchor directing all the "action". All in all, a very cynical attempt to recreate the lightning-in-a-bottle that was Live PD by putting the format in a blender, adding 90's trash TV tropes, and pouring it out on the table for viewers to consume. Looking forward to an early cancellation.
The Pentaverate (2022)
Pretty funny overall...
...if you can get past all the sophomoric sex and toilet humor. I thought Jennifer Saunders stole the show as the Maester, and the show contains many references to other shows and movies that are fun to identify. Mike Myers does a very impressive job of portraying a wide array of characters that even Peter Sellers would admire. Definitely his best work to date.
Jericho (2006)
Relevant in 2020
A show about the interplay of government, military and private industry in the wake of a catastrophic national crisis. Nothing could be more relevant today or more prophetic in 2006. Very well acted with a compelling story. The only downside was the time wasted on silly love stories and characters written solely to appeal to the teenage demographic.
The Curse of Oak Island (2014)
An Oak Tree?.....on Oak Island???
This show suffers from the common fallacy of confirmation bias. Legends and rumors are presented as fact to support the treasure narrative. Bits and pieces of dubious information are cobbled together to create a theory. For example, the, "90-ft stone" that's referenced in the opening credits has never been verified as having existed. In fact, it was first reported in a July 2, 1862, Halifax Sun and Advisor article, which mentioned a letter by J. B. McCully which retold a secondhand description of its discovery during the early 1800s excavation. Solely on that basis, the stone assumed to be real.
Further, the age-old, "almost had it" trope is on full display. As recently as the season 8 premiere, a diver scrapes what appears to be a coin from the tunnel wall, only to suddenly drop it. Note that none of the main characters reacts negatively to this, like they knew it was coming. Think about that. Solid proof of treasure after years and years of searching, and, oops, it fell and it's gone. Conveniently, the coin falls just beyond the alleged safety range of the diver, so no chance of retrieving it. The icing on this cake is the animation of the coin falling to the bottom and inexplicably burying itself in the silt, a gentle message to the viewer that the coin is now history and they can forget about it. As far back as season 1, video of a shaft suddenly turned to static as the camera approached an item of interest.
Like every other time they've employed this showman's sleight-of-hand trick, the searchers shake their heads, shrug and say, "Well, that's Oak Island" and move on to their next great idea. They could easily do this for ten more years.
Also, their "heroic" efforts in the face of Covid fall flat. They're outdoors, nearly alone on an island and very easily social distanced. Acting like their risking their lives in the pursuit of their quest...hardly.
Anyone who's interested in a serious and sober analysis of the Oak Island legend should read Joe Nickell's March 2000 article, "The Secrets of Oak Island". It separates fact from legend and explains the multitude of holes in the treasure theory.
Barnum would be proud. The show is an empty box wrapped in elaborate paper with an intriguing bow on top.
68 Whiskey (2020)
Wasted Potential
After months of marketing, viewers were led to believe this would be a comedy, possibly an updated version of MASH. However, in MASH, the irreverent doctors thumbed their nose at the military. Here, the doctors play straight-man to the medics, who are equal parts hero, criminal and immoral, with cynical attitudes throughout. (Hard to imagine Corporal Klinger gleefully trading medicine for opium).
Most disappointing, but not surprising, is that the writers couldn't resist the temptation to veer into politics and social commentary right out of the gate. Alvarez finds out that she's suddenly being discharged and deported just because, as Rosback exclaims, "...some a*****e in Washington wants to get reelected". Many a canceled show used the old trope of thinly-veiled liberal propaganda disguised as humor. Sadly, 68 Whiskey is just the latest iteration of that failed formula.