What's To Watch? - May 6 - New Paths

    Another trying week for many of us, tasked in part by matters over which we have little control. We each have our own political commitments, and have some sense of where our friends and relatives are in all this - for good or ill. We do what we reasonably can, and wonder how desperately dire it has to become before some people are moved to act.
     Work obligations and social politics continue to wear, and personal/home life and situation continues to task me. A move is in my future, and I even know where, but it's a complicated situation. However, you're not here for any of that.
     
     As mentioned near the end of last week's piece, yesterday was an overlap day for current Star Trek series on Paramount+, with the second season finale for Star Trek: Picard, and the first episode of new series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
     Picard's season finale was an emotional one, and left me wondering what the arc of season three (which they've already shot) will be. As time travel was central to this season's tale, I eased back on initial demands for plot rigor. I don't like to do that, but I remind myself there's little point in getting riled up in such a one-sided disagreement. Ultimately here the sentiment is what's weighed as more important by the writers or whoever overrides them, so for good or ill, hearts win out over heads. Ideally, season three will at least attempt to address what should be severe timeline ripples as 400 years of altered history would be involved.

     I remain well on-board for Strange New Worlds, but portions of the debut episode reminded me of the numerous problems that come from going back to fill in history that had previously just been a matter of scattered, casual references, if that. There were at least two story elements (an alien race being mentioned that was seemingly new to Starfleet in an original Trek episode that happened more than a decade after the events of this show, and setting up what really can't help but become a considerable, retroactive complication between Spock and James T. Kirk, again, ten plus years after the events of this series) in the episode that I see problems with, and that was with me deliberately trying to suspend judgement. It all looks terrific, though, and I'm enjoying the performances. I do fear a lack of restraint on their part in including calls-forward to character and plot elements from the 1966-'69 Original Series, the inclusion of which they may find to be too tempting as nostalgic sweeteners for the Trek fan base. And this is all just here in season one. Recent articles and interviews tell us that season two will be including a young James T. Kirk, so..?
     I've long since lost track of where things are since the J.J. Abrams' rebooted/alternate timeline was introduced... so if we choose to watch we would likely be best advised to just roll with it, and see how well it holds together over time. So far it's entertaining.

      Seven seasons on Amazon Prime saw them wrapping production of Bosch (2014-2021) an adaptation of a blend of various Michael Connolly novels centered on hard-nosed LAPD homicide detective and jazz aficionado Harry Bosch (ably played by Titus Welliver.) In the final episode of that series, having challenged and been challenged by administrative authority a few too many times, Harry resigned from the force and became a private detective. At the same juncture, his daughter, Maddie (played by Madison Lintz, who we got to see grow from childhood to young adulthood over the seven years of series production) ditched a budding career in law to follow in the family business, so to speak, enrolling in the police academy. This next chapter of their lives warranted a new series, and beginning today, on IMDb TV, we get the first season with Bosch: Legacy.

     I'm still working out the intent and dynamics of IMDb TV, as it's set up to operate online much in the model of broadcast tv - free access, with commercials. It was established back in January 2019, and is owned by Amazon, which brings me back around to wondering "Why?" as they already have their own streaming platform: Amazon Prime. Presumably this will become clearer as they develop more exclusive shows for this platform. I can't say I'm a fan of a format that takes this backward step into an era where we're forced to watch or at least wait out commercials. My expectation is that there will be (or maybe already is -- is that part of the incentive to become a subscriber to imdb-pro?) a pay option to eliminate the commercials? If so, then I'll really come to resent the decision to not just run this on Prime. It'll just be another money-grab.
     The entertainment landscape continues to (d?)evolve.
     Anyway, this isn't best taken as a jumping-in point, though it could be. They do lay out the key character elements - if sometimes with a bit of a leaden hand - so a new viewer will know the essentials. Lacking seven seasons of character exposure and development, though, could leave some of this a little cold. When it comes to Harry Bosch himself and especially attorney Honey Chandler (Mimi Rogers), there are direct continuations of events from season seven of this show's Amazon Prime predecessor: Bosch.
     Harry himself, though, has a new core case, and a brand new tech assist character, Maurice "Mo" Bassi (Stephen A. Chang), while Harry's daughter Maddie is a "boot", a rookie cop on those potentially slippery first rungs of her career ladder. The militarized mindset in the police department scenes is personally off-putting, but your mileage may easily vary. Beyond that, there's a chip-on-their-shoulder character attitude and a less than subtle heavy-handed formula to the characters that sometimes borders on being offensively condescending, but I understand that they're looking to connect with a potentially new audience and at least some of those will want Simple and Direct.
     The first four episodes of this 10-episode season appeared today. I've watched the first two, and will be getting back to it as time allows later in the day.

     This was my first formal brush with IMDBtv's Freevee streaming environment - you won't forget the name because it's obnoxiously plastered as a partially-transparent logo over part of the picture in the lower right-hand side of the screen. The episodes I watched showed considerable restraint with respect to commercial breaks, but I'm bracing myself for that to be an early come-on. For now I'm tapping into this via Internet browser, though it's adding to the reasons for this Old Dog to learn some new tricks -- in this case that starting with me finally trying out the Amazon Fire Stick son Nick gave to me what's becoming an increasingly embarrassingly long time ago. For now, this link should get you there. Oh, and FYI, it's already been renewed for season two.

     Next Thursday, May 12th, HBO Max will see the return of the comedy series Hacks for its second season. I'd intro'ed and discussed the series shortly before Thanksgiving last year (so follow that pop-out link to better see if it's a series you'll be interested in.) I've been looking forward to its return. Here's the season two trailer:

     
     The accidental tap of a control button earlier this week launched Crackle on my smart tv. That's one of those free streaming services that includes commercials. I can't recall the last time I'd intentionally launched it, but here it was, reminding me it existed. As it turns out, one of their recent acquisitions was a 10-part Australian tv show, based on characters from a popular Australian series of novels, the show built around and named for one character in particular: Les Norton. (That's Les as one would say the first syllable of Lester, not an errant bit of French.)
     Set in 1985, it centers on a hard-knock life, yet somehow still affable, young guy from the Outback who in trying to outrun some trouble there finds himself in the city lights and sleaze of the Sydney of at least that era. So, basically big kid from the sticks comes to the big, bad, anything goes city, where he tries to find a niche. He becomes a bouncer for an illegal gambling casino, and is very quickly awash in highly questionable types, each with their own agendas.
     The big selling point for it up in this hemisphere seems to be that this is also a showcase for Rebel Wilson, though it also has a prominent role for David Wenham, who was Faramir in the Lord of the Rings movies, Friar Carl in Van Helsing, and Dilios in 300. Here he plays casino kingpin Price Galese.Wilson plays twins, one of them the owner of a brothel.

      The unplanned push of the button happened at an odd time of night just a couple nights back, so I haven't seen more than about a quarter of the first episode. There's certainly enough going on, and all of it in unfamiliar environs, to find things of potential interest. It being a period piece set in Sydney reminds me that aside from various tech not being in play I really can't appreciate the details of what they're trying to recreate, not even to the degree that I can when watching something from a similar era for, say, New York City. I've never been there in person, but I'm at least familiar with the history.
     The show was on Australian screens back in late summer 2019, I've no idea yet how self-contained the story is, I don't know whether any more is planned. As it appears to be a partial adaptation of the first novel in that series, and there are twenty novels in that series, I'm guessing those involved were hoping it would fuel a multi-season show. For now it's best to presume this ten-episode series is all of it.
     I will note that while not at a wholly grotesque level, Crackle is heavier on the commercial breaks than I care for, though it's important to keep in mind that I've gotten used to avoiding most commercials for much of the past decade, between ad-free streaming platforms and time-shifted, DVR viewing where I can casually take 30-second leaps with the touch of a button.

     Closing with another online, freebie, tv movie, we go back to February 21, 1973, and what is most honestly seen as an unsuccessful attempt for Dan Curtis to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was the previous year's hit tv movie over at ABC, The Night Stalker. This time it was for NBC, and intended to be a pilot for a series that was never picked up. The cast includes Roy Thinnes as the titular David Norliss, Angie Dickinson, Don Porter and Claude Akins. It centers on tapes left concerning cases investigated by David Norliss, a writer who investigates supposedly supernatural occurrences with the intent of debunking them. As you may expect, this movie sees him finding a genuinely supernatural menace. It's The Norliss Tapes (1973  72 m)

     That's all more than I really had the time for. Now I have to try to keep several plates spinning at the end of long sticks, while making at least one seeming miracle happen. Wish me luck -- but mostly the stamina and focus -- to get this to happen. I'm feeling my age, and very off-warranty. Again, take care until next week! - Mike