True confession time everyone:

This winter while I really should have been working on South Pole Santa promos and my new writing projects, I have watched a lot of TV. A lot. The days are short. Dark comes early. We get rain, cold and fog, on the daily, making driving at night just plain dangerous. Going out in the evenings has no appeal. I think it must be part of this whole getting older thing. Whatever it's from, it leads to an increased number of evening hours watching a variety of programs on the good ole television set. Which has led to numerous recommendations from friends, which has led to me having lots of opinions on lots of programs to share with you here. 🙂

Maybe the thing to share first is that I'm not your reviewer for anything really violent. Like, I probably will never watch Game of Thrones. Everyone raves on it but it's not for me. I've never watched a horror movie and I can struggle with shows that have too much suspense. My favorite way to watch any show is by streaming it so I can fast forward through scary parts or rewind when my husband comes in and starts talking during the most critical parts! 😬 Oh and I like series more than movies just like I like book series more than standalone books. 

So, in no particular order, here's some of the shows that stood out for me the last three months and what I thought:

• Let's start with The Lincoln Lawyer. This is one of my favorite series. It's on Netflix and really well cast. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is both easy on the eyes and on the ears with his Spanish accent. Lincoln has four seasons now. I really enjoyed the first two. The second two seasons, for me, were a little less successful. This fourth season particularly, with the main character, Mickey Haller, on trial for murder seemed a little routine. I mean, you knew he was going to get off, and frankly, after a lot of this and that, the solution to it all seemed anti-climactic. But I really love the characters in this show. Especially fun is Cisco and Lorna and how Mickey works with both his ex-wives. An A to B+ depending on the season
• Next up, still in a crime-solving genre, is the new show CIA featuring the tall dark and handsome actor Tom Ellis with a Welsh accent. (I clearly have a type I'm realizing! 🙂)Tom was also the lead in the very interesting six seasons of Lucifer. He was a perfectly cast devil loose in Los Angeles. Anyways, CIA is the new CBS show from Law and Order and FBI producer Dick Wolf. As much as I like Tom Ellis and want to like CIA (I was a big fan of FBI International), so far, I think it's stumbling. It feels uneven - much like the new mismatched partners on the show - which might be expected with a new program, except this program has a skilled cast, experienced producer and easy stories. I have hope for it and will keep watching. Grade B-
• And speaking of stumbling, have you caught the new half-hour comedy Stumble? I love it! I think it's a total hoot. The show is built around competitive school cheerleading teams. It has Kristin Chenowith in it but its Jenn Lyon in the leading role and Taran Killam as her husband that really makes it fun. I give this series a solid A.

• Another solid A for me is Starfleet Academy on Paramount Plus. I happen to be a top sci-fi fan and the top of that pile is anything Star Trek so it's no surprise I am big on this show. I also really like Holly Hunter, who is the head of the academy. At times, like all the Star Trek shows since the very first series, the plots can get a little too "out there" in complicated space tech talk but, overall, I really like the cast and the creativity that goes into each episode. Trekkies shouldn't miss this one.
• On the other end of the scale is the new HBO show Rooster. It's a clucker. It has lots of early positive press, stars Steve Carrell from the Office and has been written by the same guy that brought us Ted Lasso which is one of the top shows ever. I really wanted to like it. But it's a show with mean humor. Awkward humor. Humor at others expense. Not my kind of fun. In fairness, I've only watched the first two, but I'm not sure I care enough to waste time on anymore with so many great shows out there to watch. For me, this is a grade C-
• Also, on HBO with loads of buzz - and awards - is The Pitt. Now this show lives up to all the hype. Every episode is frantic, chaotic. You want to turn away, and you just can't. The interviews and reviews suggest the action is very real to a big city emergency room, and it makes me wonder why anyone on the planet would be an emergency room doctor or nurse. Good grief! The stress level is a constant 100 plus. Noah Wiley in the lead role is both super likeable and totally hateable  (yes, I know that is not a real word, but it fits for our purposes here today.) -  all in the same hour. Not a single one of the actors has even 30 seconds of looking glamourous. It's gritty and tough and every episode makes me thankful that there are actual dedicated people in the world willing to put in the hard work to become medical professionals and then sacrifice so much in saving so many of us. I mean, all I do is write. Grade A

• Okay, finally for this round of Reviews by Jingle we have a new PBS TV series featuring one of my favorite books of all time: The Count of Monte Cristo. I love this story. It's the ultimate lead- character-done-terribly-wrong-who-then-seeks-revenge story. It's got terrible lows in it, treasure, romance, betrayal and, finally, redemption of sorts. Our hero is handsome and his so-called friends easy to dislike. I've read the book and seen two movie versions of The Count but this was the first time as a series. Bravo to PBS for taking this on as a series and, mostly, I liked it. Or at least I really wanted to like it and mostly did. The giant issue with this one is the casting of the main character, Edmond Dantes. An actor I hadn't seen before, Sam Claflin, plays the lead and he's just . . . unlikeable. You want to like him, but he plays the role too harshly. There's no softness in him. He's been gravely wronged and rightfully he seeks his revenge, but Claflin plays the role unwaveringly hard. I give it a B.

Thank goodness it's getting lighter and brighter out and ambition is returning so I'm not just a slug bug flipping the TV remote! It's time for me to stop watching (and reading) and start doing and writing. Anybody else got thoughts on the latest greatest shows though? Agree or disagree on these? Suggestions on what I should watch next? You know - in between my "must do's." 

Oh Oh Oh! - Jingle