Never-ending Battles - July 8 - What's To Watch?

 

   In doing these weekly pieces, I'm most often spotlighting new and upcoming items, and so functioning more as a purveyor of trailers, often for things I've yet to watch. Still, I eventually hit points - especially with ongoing series - where I'm having to fight against handing out potential spoilers. That's an ongoing battle.
     This week saw the first season finale for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+, and the wrap of the third season of The Boys on Amazon Prime. Even with the weekly episode release, it went by quickly. The Trek season was ten episodes, while the Boys' mayhem was only eight. Enjoyed both, and am still processing each.

     Strange New Worlds brought us more pre-original series drama and character exploration, and on the whole I'm continuing to find it interesting. Anson Mount's performance as Captain Christopher Pike is excellent, giving us a believable command presence in a style unlike the other Enterprise commanders we've known. The people behind the show are clear fans of the Trek universe and the original series in particular, though already in this season we're getting a pile-up of elements that will make some future fan, trying to watch the overall story in timeline order, a bit mystified once they reach the original series run and try to reconcile knowledge of all of the relationship and character development with what they see in those '60s episodes. This is especially the case for Uhura, and for the Spock & Chapel relationship; it's difficult to see this becoming less

pronounced with successive seasons, especially as the show appears to be a hit and could potentially run for years. The decision to make an expansive, recurrent threat of an alien race that in a first season Star Trek episode in early 1967 was introduced as a previously unknown race -- at least as best I recall. In general, the quality is such that I'm trying to not get lost in the weeds. I'm perfectly fine with the visual changes - trying to be too slavish to design elements decided on in the 1960s wouldn't have been worth it, IMHO.
     The season finale ("A Quality of Mercy") used a plot mechanism to simultaneously explore elements of an original series episode ("Balance of Terror") and deal with aspects of Pike's struggle

with his tragic knowledge of the future. While I don't expect this to fully remove that struggle from the picture - someone who rises to the level of Starship Captain is unlikely to completely give up, and will be looking for a solution to even the most seemingly intractable problem - I'm hoping it allows it to recede to more of a grim background element. Beyond that, while I can't help myself from occasionally indulging a contrast and compare with the timeline of established Trek, and see how some dates have been shifted, I'm not having a problem with that level of minutiae. All of the interview materials convince me that the people working behind the scenes on this show are working with true fan levels of respect, and they're not being cavalier about any shifts.
     Those who follow Star Trek: Picard, for instance, know that some points of history established in

the original series of the 1960s have already been adjusted forward. The Eugenics Wars that spawned genetically-tailored superman Khan Noonien Singh were originally said to have happened in the 1990s, roughly 30 years in the future of the original series' broadcast audience. Via a casual narrative note by Picard early in the second season of his series, they are now said to have happened nearer the mid-21st century. I accept that a key aspect of Roddenberry's vision of a Starfleet future has to remain that the audience is allowed to keep the notion that this is a viable future for us. Shifting future history in the timeline to keep it ever in the future of the fans remains a good and I'd argue necessary, aspirational, thing. Any fan who refuses to bend on such points has to at least pause to ask themselves whether their objection is based on anything more than ego. It's a very human thing to have a high esteem for anything we own, and knowledge is among those possessions. End of sermon. I look forward to season two of SNW.
     I only watched the season finale of The Boys a bit pre-dawn today, so it's still settling. The needle's moved a little - there are some changes that have occurred - but I did come away from it with an initial

feel that pieces were just rearranged. The dynamics have shifted, though, much as they had by the end of the second season. I'm looking forward to season four, which was already approved back in June. The addition of a morally degenerate Captain America type, via Soldier Boy (Jenson Ackles), was welcome. A man out of his own time, who unrepentantly represents an old boy's club world, where American men were men and everyone else had better mind their place Returning with a growing vengeance to a world that personally betrayed him decades ago, and that often makes little sense to him.
     I continue to enjoy and recommend the series (with the caveats for the various depravities, violence, sex, drug use and gore) while also continuing to dissuade anyone from bothering with the source comics. The quality of the screen versions of the character and their stories have been raised considerably, given weight and dimension that the generally juvenile shock comics simply lacked.    
 

    Monday (July 11th) AMC will resume season six of Better Call Saul, bringing us the first of the six, final episodes. This Breaking Bad spin-off, which is mostly a prequel, has been peak television, and the audience was bowled over by where they left us in the most recent episode, before the break. While the first five seasons of the show are currently available on Netflix, the only way to catch up on the current season would be via AMC+, where the complete series to date is.
     This is definitely one of those series where I'm torn between wanting to know the fates of key characters, and not wanting the show to be over. The series has been a stand-out piece of television from the start, not in the least for taking a premise I didn't fully expect to be interested in - the origin story of a flashy lawyer who was a supporting player in Breaking Bad - and turn it into something I might have actually enjoyed more than BB. A rich journey, and some terrific characters we otherwise would have never met.
     I'm not going to run a trailer for this final season, but will, instead, just present the one for season one. Even though this is, mostly, a Breaking Bad prequel series, I'd still suggest watching Breaking Bad first. In part, because many of the characters in Saul are more significant for having first seen them for who they'll come to be, and because Better Call Saul begins - and presumably will end - with bookend chapters that deal with what happens to Saul after the events of Breaking Bad.

       Returning to FX Tuesday night (and so appearing on Hulu on Wednesday) is supernatural comedy series What We Do In the Shadows, back for its fourth season.

Looking forward to it!

     Speaking of Hulu, the 10th (Sunday) will see the arrival of the fourth and final season of Killing Eve. I'd caught it season to season via BBC America, but here's an opportunity to either catch up if you'd lost track, or watch it from the beginning if you didn't get around to it before.

     Landing on Hulu and HBO Max on the 12th (Tuesday) will be The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022  PG-13  1h 42m),  animated feature that debuted in theaters on May 27th. The on-going Fox tv series is on its 12th(!) season, something that still throws me because I've still only seen the first one or two episodes of it. I'm told the film works both for established fans of the show and as an entry point to the characters for the uninitiated. I'm among the uninitiated, and haven't seen it, so I cannot say. Either way, here's the trailer for the movie.

     Unfortunate side-effect of watching the trailer: It reminded me that we've already passed both the Memorial Day weekend and fourth of July. This summer is screaming by.

     Arriving today on HBO Max is an odd Warner TV project from France, that as best I can tell aired there back in May. It's an eight-episode, deadpan style humor, sci-fi series set in the town of Point-Claire. An unhappy, sullen, child-man's first day on the police force there - a sudden and questionable change of career for him - strange lights collide in the sky, and they soon find themselves in the middle of a conflict between two, alien races.  The episodes run between 22 and 28 minutes each, and it appears to have entirely too many characters for this structure to support. It's presented in its original French, with English subtitles (I watched the first few minutes of the first episode), while this trailer is simply the original one for a French audience. It's Visitors

     It has me curious enough likely take more of a look at it soon, though my overall expectations remain reserved. Who I'm taking to be the main character, Richard, is in the opening moments of the show a taciturn schlub. Nancy, presumably his wife, is obviously energetic and driven, partner in a local real estate business we see as the main sponsor for the local newscast. In the first scene we see with them I was torn between the dismissive way she was treating him - seemingly only being interested in details if they're points on which to criticize him, and otherwise making it clear that as there will be other people there and something going on at home that night that he should plan on coming home late - and his hang-dog expression and aspect, which gives us little reason to be on his side save the humane reflex to to side with someone who is being bullied. My expectation is that the story arc will be a hero's journey one for him, during which he comes at least closer to being alive.

     Beginning Sunday on HBO and HBO Max is a 6-part documentary series covering a socio-political movement/experiment launched in 2015 by a Canadian entrepreneur. It was based on a non-traditional definition for anarchists, and presented itself as a big tent, anti-government movement that ended up drawing in a diverse group of people, many of whom otherwise likely would have no reason to be anywhere near many of the others, including libertarians and right-wing families who reject even formal, standardized education and anything that might seek to govern them. People who at least initially liked the idea of some social organization that didn't involve a government and central banking oversight. Some of them were already fugitives. They were all brought together at an annual event in Acapulco, Mexico, dubbed "Anarchapulco." An attempt to unite under one banner a diverse assemblage of people who pointedly do not want any restrictions, most of whom find any notion of consensus to be a red flag. It's The Anarchists:

     The series was shot and developed over the course of six years. As someone who over the years tried to investigate various political parties, looking for the best possible fit, I sampled and ultimately rejected Libertarianism largely on the basis that it's an ideology that is going to be most attractive to the young, healthy, strong and secure, with the strength and security varying in its sources, though usually coming down to wealth, property and force of arms. An ultimately "I got mine, go fuck yourself" mindset, especially if they're feeling threatened. A mindset in which weakness is unworthiness, and potentially dangerous people to be around if fortunes turn and the sub-groups begin to circle their own, clannish, wagons.
     I do want to do a little reading on this before I decide to watch, mainly to be assured that it's not ultimately more "reality tv" bullshit, that's significantly scripted and contrived. The topic deserves better than that, and I'm hoping to find that it's gotten that consideration here.

     Speaking of a predatory world, I see that way off on Thursday the 14th, the eve of next week's post, Netflix will see the arrival of a new series: Resident Evil. Based, of course, on the video game franchise that was launched back in '96. It looks fun, and as I contemplate the world of the ever-evolving COVID virus I've grown nostalgic for a virus that gives us more obvious monsters, and more directly & unequivocally cancels all other plans.    

     An eight-episode series, all arriving on the 14th.

        Time has once again flown, and this is going up close to five hours later than I'd normally have it set to auto-publish. This week's followed the trend and evaporated on me, with too little to show for it. As is likely the case for any of you, I have too many things calling out for my overdue attention. Why, you'd think I was spending all my time watching shows and movies!
     Keep well, keep cool, and I hope we're all back here next Friday. For now, enjoy the weekend and take the time to do at least one thing today you'll feel good about. For you or for someone else who needs it. We all need it.  - Mike

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

 

What's To Watch? - Apr 29 - Past and future remembered? Murders, hahas, spacemen and haints -- it's a mixed bag

     

This week sees two Netflix series dropping their final episodes.

     This is a move that some (many) have suggested Netflix should be taking a closer look at given their recent, bad turn of fortune. They just reported a roughly 20% drop in their subscriber base. Longer-running, exclusive-to-them series would seem to be what a streaming service should be interested in developing and protecting, yet it seems Netflix has been shifting away from long-form, serial content, choosing instead to cancel series much as the worst of the old school broadcast tv networks have often done.
     That's a large and complicated issue, though, including the nature of "exclusivity" in a world where the actual ownership is trickier than what we rubes might imagine. In general, it appears that Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, at least, in general don't have the same lock on material that, say, HBO seems to with their exclusives/originals -- an arrangement that has to be costlier than ever to swing -- or, at least, that's my expectation.
     On the positive side, if they're going to bring series to a close, at least (using these two as an example) it appears they're giving enough advance notice that the shows have a chance to tie up loose ends.
      The final episodes of what is currently Netflix's longest-running series, Grace and Frankie, arrive today. I know I've at least mentioned the show several times over the past few years, going back to April two years ago, where I spent a little time in the details. This is the bulk of season seven, twelve episodes, with a ramp-up/teaser beginning to the season being the four episodes they released back in August 2021. With this final block the series will stand at 94 episodes. The show debuted back in 2015. Seven years, seven seasons, when put that way it hardly seems as if there was a pandemic wedged in there, does it?
     While the specifics shifted and were refined along the way, the cancellation in general cannot be a surprise to anyone who was following the series. Netflix announced the formal, eventual, cancellation way back in September of 2019. Pandemic protocols stretched the process out, as one would expect.
    Given the ages of the cast - Lily Tomlin's 82, Jane Fonda's 84, Sam Waterston's 81, as is Martin Sheen - as soon as the pandemic really hit (as in being declared as such) and production shut-downs began, I had concerns that it might not be coming back, intentions or no. With that in mind, to have reached a point where we're getting an ending is a victory, all the more so with an expanded final season.

     The other Netflix series dropping the back portion of a final season today is the crime thriller Ozark.
     In it, Jason Bateman plays a man who finds out upon the violent death of his business partner that said partner was deep in business with organized crime. Marty (Bateman) has to adapt quickly to keep said shadow partners happy and give himself and his family a chance to survive. This leads him to making them an offer to expand their operations, relocating from the Chicago suburbs to a remote, summer resort area of Missouri. It's wrapping its fourth (and, again, final) season. I'm at an odd spot with this one, because while I watched and overall enjoyed the first season enough to see it all the way through, I never made the time to come back for season two, much less move on to three, so I'm at sea as to how the show and the characters may have evolved in the past 2.5 seasons. As best I recall I was finding it just stressful and unpleasant enough that when they survived the events of season one I was happy to indefinitely let it ride at that relative safe spot. In that way it was much as I ended up leaving matters with Sneaky Pete (Amazon Prime), where season one's scheming saw the lead successfully navigate increasingly dangerous waters, and I found myself in no hurry at all to see what challenges and threats he'd be dealing with next. So it is that I have two more seasons of that canceled (officially as of June 2019) series still waiting for me over there.
     Back to Ozark, in a slightly perverse move, here's the season four, part 2 trailer that, so far, I haven't watched other than to see that the link works

     Meanwhile, over on Amazon Prime, I was happy to see the return for a second season a show I'd thought was likely to have not made it past its 2019 season one; looking back at the write-up I gave it when I got around to it back in January 2020, I see I'd forgotten that I knew then that it had been renewed for a second season. In fact, I'd only decided to watch it back then once I saw notice of the second season renewal, being a little gun-shy at the time because Prime was tending to cancel things rather than renew them, and indications were that this wasn't going to be a single season story, complete unto itself.
     It's a fantasy adventure with sci-fi elements, as Alma, a young woman who nearly dies in a car accident, discovers she has a new, flexible relationship with time. She ends up using her ability to investigate the death of her father. The show was officially Prime's first animation effort for adults, though it's done using a rotoscope process - they filmed actors and then drew over the images. It's Undone.

     Hulu seems to be going for true crime dramas, the latest being Under the Banner of Heaven. Produced by FX exclusively (at least for now) for Hulu, the first two episodes of this six-episode miniseries appeared on Hulu yesterday. The show is an adaptation (the ever-slippery "inspired by true events") of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book of the same name. A police detective's faith is shaken as he investigates the death of a mother and baby daughter that appears to involve the Church of Latter-day Saints. Andrew Garfield plays the lead.

     This isn't the sort of thing I rush to watch, and as early reviewers were just working off the first one or two episodes there's no sense of how well or not early investment in Mormon history will pay off. To keep it more potentially interesting I've avoided details of the real-life 1980s murders, and the subsequent trial.

     Over on HBO, along with the long-awaited return of Barry (previewed last week) this past Sunday saw the debut of an eight-part (arriving weekly) new, British, supernatural horror comedy series: The Baby.
     Michelle de Swarte stars as Natasha, a 38 year-old, single woman who is revulsed by one of her oldest mates changing due to having had a baby, only to have the other member of their cards and drinking session trio announce that she, too, is pregnant. What passes as her social life outside of work now being all but dead, Natasha takes a sudden holiday to try to get her mind straight. She has no idea how surreal the experience coming for her will quickly become.

     I enjoyed the first episode, and am looking forward to the rest. Given the (soon obvious) supernatural element to the story I'm bracing myself for a likely less-than-thorough set of eventual explanations. (The first episode leaves us with several big questions.) It's dark fun both at the surface and in being an obvious parody exaggeration of the dehumanizing aspects of the tunnel vision both of the new parent herself and of the world's view of the same, in early parenthood. As with all things HBO, episodes are also available on HBO Max.

     Next Thursday (May 5), over on Paramount+, the Star Trek machine has a dovetail week, presenting both the final episode of season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, and the first episode of new, retro-Trek series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The new series primarily focuses on Captain Pike, Mr. Spock, and the crew aboard the USS Enterprise. So, all of this will be what the Enterprise was up to in the years before Captain Kirk took command. The main characters (this casting of them, as they were first seen by Trek audiences in the recut pilot of the original series, which was adapted into the two-part The Cage) happened during the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, which was part of the reason I did a recent rewatch of the first two seasons of that show.
     The ten-episode first season will be running from May 5th through July 7th, landing each Thursday as new Trek shows do on Paramount+. Here's the series trailer:

     Prequel series are inherently problematic in what they can and can't show, as the familiar shows, set later in their timeline, established so many firsts that these shows set earlier in the timeline can't reference without invoking some gimmick to keep the information secret from the future. Then there's the matter of the relative state of tech that can easily (and has) left us with equipment more advanced than the arguably more advanced (their timeline) adventures showed audiences decades ago.
     Predicting what the future will look like is terribly tricky business, especially as we in the audience have had front row seats to drastically expanding tech in our daily home and professional lives over the decades since the original series began back in 1966. We need to be forgiving and flexible about it, and maybe just be at least a little happy that some aspects of the future we've lived to see have already surpassed what they imagined the 23rd century would offer back in the late 20th. Our casual workstations are so much cooler and versatile than what the 1966-'69 original series crew had to work with, and our phones can do so very much more than their communicators could.

     I'm going to end this week with another made for tv movie - this one a few years older than the others I've linked to in some earlier posts - and one that'll be new to me, too, and which received generally good reviews. Originally airing on ABC as the Movie of the Week on November 24, 1970. It's a supernatural horror film centering on a couple, Maggie (Hope Lange) and Ben (Paul Burke) inheriting an old New England farm. Soon after moving in, Maggie starts having visions involving witches and satanic cults. The cast includes John Carradine. From Aaron Spelling Productions, it's Crowhaven Farm (1970  74m)

     Okay, I did peek at the first couple minutes, which gave me a couple of unintended laughs, but I'm still looking forward to watching the rest of it. Based on the opening two minutes there seemed to be no flies landing on the director, as the pace of this set-up is swift!
 
     That's as much as I have time for this week. Things are ratcheting up both at work and on the home front, with big changes coming in the case of the latter. (Hopefully not the former, unless it's a case of sudden, sustaining wealth.) Spring around here's gotten to be an oddly chilled affair of late, but at least there's been more sunshine -- not that I've gotten to be out in much of it. By Sunday it'll be May! How'd that happen?
     Take care, and I'll see you back here next Friday. - Mike