What are you watching right now?

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Criminal Minds: "Amplification"

[JD DeLuzio]

The Terror: Infamy.

It has no real connection to The Terror (aka "Season One"), other than they're both historical dramas with a supernatural element. The first ep gets to the supernatural angle pretty quickly, and production and acting are strong.

Bonus: George Takei playing someone who is not Sulu.

[Captain Comics]

we're looking forward to it!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Just moved from season six to season seven. It occurs to me that the first season began when I was in the first grade, and the final season (of Archie Bunker's Place) began when I was a senior in high school. I grew up with Archie Bunker. Season seven begins with a three-parter featuring Archie's infidelity to Edith. I thought it was a mistake then, and i think it's a mistake now.

Speaking of Archie's racism (as we were weeks ago), we also caught a fourth season episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Milton Berle. My jaw dropped at was considered acceptable then vs. now. (Tracy kept staring at me as if it were my fault.) They eventually cut his mic at the end of his monologue... not because of his material, but because he couldn't stop ad libbing and they needed to go to commercial.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I’ve been thinking more about Milton Berle’s casual racism in his SNL monoloque since I posted yesterday. I don’t think he was racist, but it’s shocking (by today’s standards) what was considered “acceptable” back then. I used to like comedy that pushed the envelope of what was considered good taste but, ironically, I wouldn’t have considered this “pushing the envelope” back then.

[Captain Comics]

Sister-in-law was in town this weekend and wanted to watch the Highlander series, which she's had some fetish about for some time. All I can say is that it was representative of its era (early '80s), which is to say, terrible.

The presence of Who frontman Roger Daltrey did not convey serious drama, to say the least.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

I remember liking it, without actually thinking it was very good. If that makes sense.

I just finished binge-watching the 1st season of Titans. I could have done with a few fewer F-bombs, but I'm up for Season 2.

[ClarkKent_DC]

We're into the third season of Black Love. It's done by two documentary filmmakers, Codie Elaine Oliver and Tommy Oliver, who are newlyweds and each have divorced parents, and wanted to challenge the narrative that Black can't find each other and stay together.

Each episode is simple: a conversation with a couple in their home, usually seated on a couch, just talking about the ins and outs of being married. About courtship, romance, struggle ... infidelity, breakups ... relatives, kids ... adjusting to life together in all ways, big and small. And there are plenty of stories, sad, astonishing, heartwarming, funny -- and the kinds of stories that are funny now when you tell them but weren't funny when they happened. 

Most of the couples come from entertainment industry -- TV, movies or music. Among the people interviewed are

• actor Viola Davis and her husband Julius Tennon
• actor/host Terry Crews and his wife, Rebecca
• actor Glynn Turman and his wife, Jo-Ann Allen
• comedian/actor/talk show host D.L. Hughley and his wife Ladonna
• Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe
• singer Ricky Bell of New Edition and his wife Amy Correa
• actors Sean Patrick Thomas and Aonika Laurent
• actor Michael Beach and his (second) wife Elisha Wilson
• Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons and his wife Justine
• power couple Meagan Good and Devon Franklin

And more; the Olivers talked to 90 couples and realized they had too much good stuff for a single movie, and sold the OWN channel on a TV series. 

The couples, on average, have been married 12 to 20 years; and the next group married 20 to 30 years. There are outliers, like the relative newlyweds married four years or less and old timers married more than 50 years.

We like the show and look forward to each new episode because it's very positive and affirming of married life. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

Suits is in its final season. As it builds toward the series finale, last week USA re-ran the pilot episode, augmented with short interviews with several cast members and pre-commercial bumpers showing clips from the past and photos of the characters.

Since the pilot first aired in 2011, naturally several of the actors looked different, most particularly Rick Hoffman as Louis Litt; he's noticeably heftier these days. Sarah Rafferty and Gina Torres, however, haven't changed a bit. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

A BRADY RENOVATION: I hate reality TV shows and I hate those “home renovation/real estate” shows, so you’d think this three-episode series would have two strikes against it from the start. But I love it when someone reconstructs a set for a TV show: the bridge of the Enterprise for an episode of ST:TNG, the entire Jupiter II for a Lost in Space retrospective, Archie Bunker’s house for a live TV special.

For A Brady Renovation, those two brothers (whose show can be seen in doctors’ waiting rooms across the country) bought the actual house used for exterior shots on The Brady Bunch and renovated it so the inside matched the old sets. This was not an easy task given that, for one thing, the actual house is a one story and the Brady house is two. The draw is, all six of the actors who played the Brady Kids are involved, as themselves.

[Detective 445]

I have 1 episode left to go on the Netflix mini-series Godless.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes westerns.  Really well done with some great performances.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ALL IN THE FAMILY: We moved from season seven to season eight over the weekend. Big changes are in store this season, starting with Archie's purchase (against Edith's will) of Kelsey's bar. This is also the season in which Mike and gloria move to California. I'm am enjoying these episodes much more than I expected to, certainly more than the first time they were originally run.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Also in season eight (I knew it was coming but I wasn’t sure when) is the two-part episode dealing with the attempted rape of Edith and its aftermath. Part one made me uncomfortable then, and it makes me uncomfortable now. First of all, I’m ambivalent about them putting her through that. Second, the attack wasn’t all that convincing, but they couldn’t have made it much more realistic. What I remembered was part one (the attack) and not so much part two (the aftermath). It is part two that now makes me think the storyline was worth pursuing.