Reviews

12 Monkeys(2015-2018) TV show is based on the 1995 film of the same name starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt. I was so excited about this show - the writing the acting, etc. I loved Amanda Schull from Suits, and. Emily Hampshire from Schitt's Creek. I was like yay another show I can serial watch until 1 am! Then comes episode 4, the writers have Cole save an innocent black man's life and then decide to murder him in cold blood. It's interesting how many liberal, modern shows easily beat up or kill off black characters. Was he deciding his fate for him because he knows best? I'm done.

We became obsessed with this show because of the magic of karma. Karma was like another character. Jason Lee of course was great. Jaime Pressly is a genius performer, she's like the Lucille Ball of our time in talent. But we stopped watching sometime during Season 2 for two reasons: because they got rid of Karma and that was the most fun. I also had a difficult time watching the characters Randy and Catalina. After the first several episodes of the series, Randy went from being dumb to being mentally three years old. I felt like the writers gave them amazing lines but they just weren't being delivered well. Although she's breathtakingly gorgeous, I felt Catalina was also miscast. In my own little fantasy world, I would have cast Jason Segel and Sofia Vergara.

It's difficult to watch some parts, especially Zay who is treated poorly by both women. I truly hope he leaves alone so that he could find somebody with better communication skills who doesn't talk over him and then accuse him of yelling at them.

It was disappointing that when one of them did it yet again during the finale, that neither host defended him.

The most disappointing part of the show was that for a cliffhanger for one episode, the producers chose to use Jae's off-screen voice of "get off me" while showing the doorway of Zay's and her bedroom, falsely insinuating that the large black male participant on the show was raping her.

Then Rae punches Zay. They don't show it on camera but she mentions it a few times in a scene, and yet physical assault isn't even mentioned by the hosts in the last episode. (When it happened, did the production crew rush in?) If the genders had been reversed, would it have been addressed? What if a woman had punched a white man?

The most admirable decision goes to Jake, who despite pressure and manipulation from his ex on both him and his family, was the only participant to risk leave something dysfunctional.

Sometimes we need distance from others' influence in order to make good decisions. It was difficult to watch both his girlfriend and his mother tell this grown-ass man who spent five years in the military to "stop fiddling", or his step-father lecture that there is no such thing as financial stability.

In general, the people who gave the ultimatums had more reactive relationship skills. They could learn a lot from watching Dr. John Gottman videos.

I found the whole process interesting, and the participants brave for making themselves vulnerable. I also liked that the producers didn't throw wrenches in to create unnecessary drama, but really had the participants' wellbeing at heart. It didn't go unnoticed that out of all the gorgeous women, - they were all beautiful - the irony that the two prettiest were saddled with narcissistic men who compared them to two of the other women they "preferred" physically. They reminded me of excerpts from the book Men Who Can't Love. I came in in the middle of the season and when a friend explained that Nancy was the one being told she wasn't physically attractive enough, I was like... but she's the prettiest of the bunch! But I felt that Cole wasn't a narcissist, just young and needs more time to mature before finding a bride and learning about what relationships skills to have what relationship skills to look for and avoid in a mate. He became very articulate when he expressed to his fiance what her skills were lacking so he's on the right path. I felt relieved that both of those couples didn't go through with the wedding ironically for the sakes of the two who were rejected. But it was a lovely process when the communication was great to witness the miracle of the couple who found each other.

I've been watching these episodes non-stop. I felt like ick that they were going to have Shaun not give up on a woman who's been playing him and reeling him in but literally said she's not into him because he's autistic.

But getting through this episode, I realized they were possibly actually going to kill off Melendez. So I stopped watching to do a Google search to find out why. The answer? The writers wanted the audience to lose somebody that they would feel pain about. Yup, felt bad. They accomplished hurting the audience. I'm not even going to finish the episode. It cured my binge watching.

My husband doesn't like reality shows because when Survivor came out, he thought it was going to be a cool show how people help each other survive in the wilderness. Lol Reality shows are usually cut-throat.

But when i asked him to try this baking show, he was happily surprised at the kindness and generosity of the show. The whole thing is set up amazingly. Two judges, two comics to help keep the contestants cheered up, it's so lovely.

The only thing I get angry about sometimes is that the best baker doesn't always win. Steph, Brendan, Jurgen. (Tonight we just finished the semi-finals of Season 12, having watched some every day, and now I have no desire to watch the finale).

In the TV series Friends (spoilers), the creators were originally planning on putting Monica and Joey together, but they followed the actors' chemistry, and instead wrote Monica and Chandler as a couple.

In How I Met... although Robin starts out with Ted, the actors playing Barney and Robin had such chemistry that the writers orchestrated what is arguably the most romantic couple coming together and marrying in SitCom history.

Only to end the series mentioning that in the future they had divorced.

This sitcom would have been fulfilling if they hadn't been so reckless with their own characters.

The writing was great, casting was perfect. (Not crazy about Audrey being so polished, it would have been nice to see political-activist, guitar-playing girl as a natural beauty rather than with a full face of makeup and styled hair, but the actress was good.)

There are only a handful of TV shows I've watched through to the end and then rewatched (Burn Notice, Chuck, Friends, Medium, Fringe, The Office, Dexter) because if the writing goes downhill, I stop.

Dexter New Blood is one of them. The set design's amazing, the acting is amazing. Jack Alcott often steals the show.

I used to call the days of the week Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. But since this series started, I call them Dexter, 6 days to Dexter, 5 days to Dexter, etc. So excited every week, anticipating the next episode.

But then Episode 10 happened. I'm not going to tell you what happens, but I will tell you the way it should have happened (Which may lead you to guessing what didn't happen.):

Dexter is placed in jail. Angela finds Kurt's wax museum. She is so freaked out and distracted with state troopers, CSI, coroners and the FBI (and Angel Batista) entering town to help her in handling this, that eventually one way or the other, Dexter gets a pass and Matt's death is blamed on Kurt.

It goes without saying that Dexter continues his code of not murdering innocent people that he's adhered to for 50 years. He and Harrison stay in Iron Lake, and every once in a while they go for trips to NYC, and places in New England to hunt down serial killers.