Knocked out my checklist so I can concentrate on trying to finish The Wire and starting the Academy Award Challenge the rest of the month.

I’ve always liked the work of Glen Larson, and just discovered one of his shows that I never knew about on Pluto TV, Nightman. I had never heard of him before, but I saw when it signed off, that he was a Malibu comic character.

I started Twin Peaks a couple of nights back. I've watched the first episode so far. I can't really give an overall impression for the series as I've never seen it before. Right now, that first episode doesn't give me a lot of hope. Some of the dialog is quite trite and forced as are some situations. The much lauded music often sounds like a soap opera soundtrack. I'm really trying to give it a fair shake and *not* watch late at night where I'll lose focus. To that end, I'm planning to watch the next few episodes this afternoon.

Didn't get to Twin Peaks yesterday. My 16yo grandson came in and asked if I had any Scooby Doo. He's a huge fan, me not so much, but I did purchase the original S1/S2 set for him and his sister's to watch so I got it out and we binged it, finishing earlier today.

He's also an Abbot and Costello fan but hasn't seen all of their movies. Since I've been slowly working my way through the new BR collection I put some of those in to watch. We've now watched Meet Frankenstein and Mexican Hayride, and just started Meet the Killer. It's *really* fun watching these with him as he finds lots of it absolutely hilarious. It just makes them that much more fun for me, someone who's seen them dozens of times over the decades.

I *did* manage to get in 3 episodes of Twin Peaks last night. I'm not sure what to make of this one.

The music/score hasn't improved and still sounds very soap operaish. The rest... at times it's like a soap opera... at times it's like it's going for tongue-in-cheek (almost but not quite self-parody)... the dialog and plotting swing back and forth from rather amateurish to almost being quite good. It often comes off has having a severe lack of direction (as in no director giving actors something to work with). The demeanor of the FBI agent is almost like everything's a joke and he's just along for the ride. Oddball characters seem to exist for no other reason than to have an oddball character. The dream sequence with "reverse speech" was interesting from a technical standpoint. It only took a couple of sentences to figure out what was done to achieve the effect. It's clever, but seems like an awful lot of work for a short segment in a weekly TV series. In spite of that I really enjoyed that segment looking for the "tells" of the technique used.

At this point I'm having a hard time understanding just why this received huge critical/audience acclaim. Maybe my opinion will change as I get further into the series...

If you're not into it by the end of the first season, I think it's highly unlikely anything in the second season will win you over. I will note that that the "dream sequence" is more than a one-off bit, though, and I think its importance merited whatever work went into it. I'm a little frustrated by how those elements play out, but I will also say that aesthetically and technically, they were among my favorites.

A few years ago, I started binging the show, The Librarians. At the time, season 4 hadn't aired. I've slowly been making my way through it ever since. I FINALLY finished the series tonight. I'm glad to finally get it off my DVR. Part of the reason it took me so long was the episodes started becoming a little too cheesy for me, though the last 4 are really good. Good enough that I'm now sad that the series has ended.

I'm not sure what I'm going to get into next. Keep thinking of M*A*S*H or even Soap. Something humorous and that I can watch in short bursts if needed.

Found myself in a hospital waiting room today and caught a couple of episodes of The Carbonaro Effect on TruTV. I had never seen the show, nor heard of it. But it was fun. Anyone else ever see it? It's a candid camera-type show with a young guy/magician as host. The stunts he was pulling on unsuspecting folks had me rolling.

While I don’t go out of my way to watch it, the episodes I have seen are quite enjoyable.

A few days ago I was offered a free month to come back to the Netflix DVD plan, so one of my first two DVDs I chose was Disc 1 of Birds Of Prey. The show always intrigued me, but I never saw any episodes. If I like it, I’ll watch the rest of the episodes on the DC Universe app.

I really enjoyed Birds of Prey and feel it's not the train-wreck the critics all seemed to think. It's not great, but it's not bad either. Based on recent trailers it's far more in keeping with the comics of the same name as is the new movie. It had potential but was mishandled. The biggest issue with the discs is they're WS but not anamorphic (what genius did that!?).

I was able to get hold of Twin Peaks: A Limited Series Event on DVD through an inter-library loan and gorged on that over the last two days. In some respects, it's more satisfying than the original series. It's more focused than the second season, certainly, and better balanced. The new cast includes some great fits for that universe, including Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Chrysta Bell, Jane Adams, Tim Roth, and possibly my favorite of the lot, Jennifer Jason Leigh as an assassin really into torturing her victims but even more into eating. Tonally, David Lynch and Mark Frost took advantage of being on Showtime instead of a network. It's darker and more mature, but without feeling as gratuitous as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me felt.

It is still frustrating at times, though. Agent Cooper has an arc for much of the season in which he's been reincarnated(?) as a guy named Dougie. His mental faculties are severely curtailed, unable to figure out how to open doors or say more than to repeat the last couple of words someone else has spoken. Despite these limitations, he functions successfully as an insurance agent, ferreting out a criminal conspiracy, and maintaining a domestic life with a wife and son. He's able to do all this because everyone around him fills in gaps for him, shuffling him along from one thing to the next and ascribing to him intentions and ideas that he doesn't actually have. It's the kind of thing one would expect from a Jim Carrey movie in the 90's or a recurring SNK skit. I would have avoided that movie and hated that skit, and I couldn't wait for this arc to run its course. Only Naomi Watts as the wife made those segments tolerable.

The other key frustration I had was pacing. There are a lot of sequences that go on far too long, lingering like a Seth MacFarlane gag that's less about the narrative than about making the viewer feel uncomfortable or awkward. There's art and then there's self-indulgence, and I felt a lot of self-indulgence throughout these eighteen hours. The worst offender is Part 8 "Gotta Light", the majority of which is a dialogue-free series of visual effects representing some of the supernatural history of the Black Lodge. I was genuinely bored and groaned when I realized I still had half an hour to go.

Still, I did enjoy being in that world, and when it was over I found myself wanting there to be more, so there's that.

I’ve always enjoyed BBC Nature documentaries, so one of the shows I was working on this month was a rewatch of Blue Planet ​​​​​​. I decided to skip the bonus material, so I could breeze through the episodes and just finished the final episode. One show down, tons to go 😂.

No one does nature documentaries like the Beeb - especially those with Sir David Attenborough hosting/narrating. Some of them are simply amazing.

Earlier today, I was testing out iTunes on my Windows Tablet that I got for Christmas. I decided to watch an episode of Voltron. It turned out to be one of my all time favorite episodes. Haggar had built a robot to find weaknesses in Voltron and Lotor came very close to winning. Now that I got iTunes working on my tablet, I don’t need to use my phone for watching Apple purchases.

Last night, I hopped back on over to Disney+. I started with a National Geographic special, Drain the Titanic. It presents some of the findings from a scientific expedition to digitally map the entire Titanic wreck site, then create a virtual, digital model of the wreckage sans ocean water. The premise was interesting, but the special itself was awful. The narration wasn't the narration for the special; it was narration for ads for the special, repeatedly playing up how "For the first time, the ship rises above the seabed as never before seen with thirteen thousand gallons of ocean water drained". I was desperate for the narrator to just shut up and get on with the actual findings instead of promoting them. I couldn't recommend it, but I would definitely encourage anyone interested to look up the project independently.

After that, I decided to finally, formally go through Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I've seen some of the earlier episodes sporadically, but never made a commitment to actually follow it. I'm in the minority in that I actually like the Prequel Trilogy, so I enjoy these characters. My favorite SW character has always been Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it's fun to watch him in his prime. Another favorite is Count Dooku, who gets a lot of screen time. The plots aren't terribly inventive so far, but the characterization is solid and I enjoy the wry Star Wars-y humor. I have an especially soft spot for the humor of the battle droids. They remind me of the cartoon henchmen of my childhood, like the Mutants from ThunderCats, Dreadnoks from G.I. Joe, or the Horde from She-Ra. I have to say I'm unimpressed by the video quality, but that may just be my irksome Internet service and not Disney's fault.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I was watching videos. Stumbled across a BBC challenge that I've never heard of called The Great Pottery Throw Down. Picture The Great British Bake Off but with potters instead. Looks like there are 3 seasons and I started with season 3. There are only 3 episodes so far as it's still airing but I watched them all. I will likely go back to season one and start there and binge at least that season.

The farther I get into The Wire the more I can see where the ‘best show ever’ praise fits. Season four is straight up perfect. So many characters, such complex lives and tough decisions, but the writing and acting keep you engaged and caring each minute. Not saying it’ll be my favorite even if season five is somehow even better, but it’s up there. Might do a re-watch of Homicide as a follow-up within the next year or so.

The more I get into Twin Peaks the more I wonder why it got the accolades and love it has. It really drags at times and absolutely feels and plays like a soap opera with disjointed plot lines that somehow feel like they should intersect but never do. I'm 7 episodes into S2 with a possible resolution of the main plot in sight. It's now thrown in some "possession" type horror elements that've never truly been in place. Hinted at in some respects but never acknowledged. Log lady seems to be there for no good reason. The sub plot with the mill has, for all practical purposes, apparently been abandoned (although a mystery person has been revealed hinting at its possible resurrection). Log trucks are still going through town even though it's been said the mill is shut down due to the fire. The sub plot with the drug running truck driver seems to be going nowhere.

I just finished ‘Lotor’s New Hit Man’ on Voltron ​​​​​​, and I think that episode had one of the best lines in the series. A pilot for Haggar’s new robeast was talking about changes that needed to be made to it. “It must be red. I only fly red ships. And it must have many more windows.” Haggar replied, “My magic can easily make the robeast red. But I don’t do windows.”

I love Homicide! The last time I went through it, I made one of my ranked lists of its episodes. (Here, in case anyone is curious or wants to debate my rankings.)

Yeah, those next half dozen episodes of S2 aren't gonna do much to redeem the show for you, I'm afraid. Though if it's encouraging, I found the last third of the season stronger. Still uneven, but more gratifying overall. I think I was more receptive to Twin Peaks than you've been, BobO'Link, but I do take some solace knowing I'm not the only one who doesn't quite get all the love the series has enjoyed. I really dig the characters, but plot-wise, I honestly don't see what was so mindblowing about it. It's like the TV version of Inception for me.

Just for thoroughness and transparency, while I’m easily on pace to finish The Wire, I made the conscious decision the other day to save season 5 for our March Challenge. I have some reading resolutions to meet and turned off the TV and started reading a couple days ago.

So here’s my brief summary of my month’s viewing and a personal “state of my viewing goals.” The past couple years I’ve rarely binged anything and most months just watch the minimum ~40 items on my personal checklist. Lots of those items are TV shows, so I’ve been slowly working my way thru a dozen or more shows, but not even one episode a month in many cases. So January TV was a great Challenge to concentrate on getting back on the horse on many of those shows. Still enjoying them all, particularly Smallville and Rick and Morty. My every January dive into Criterion’s set Golden Age of Television, which features six live plays from TV’s, er, golden age, this time had a powerhouse performance from Jack Palance in Requiem for a Heavyweight. Loving this set. Ramy on Hulu didn’t do much for me, and the silly kid’s animated show Clash-a-rama! continues to be much more entertaining than it should be. V from a few years ago is mediocre, but I can’t stop now. Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes me lol several times an episode, I’m not sure about The Witcher, but think I like Fear the Walking Dead. And lastly, again, The Wire gets better and better each season.

Thanks shado and everyone else, as always, the discussion is always fun, and the massive lists of so many of you fondly remind me of my past (and Octobers).

A friend got a trial of Amazon Prime Video, so I checked out their original series version of The Tick. I made it through the first nine episodes while I was at her house, and decided to start my own trial so I could keep going. Finished the first season just now. It wasn't as delightful or as fun as the 1994 animated version, but it was more satisfying than the short lived 2001 live action version. This one has a single arc throughout its first season (The Terror returns, and all the principals get to know one another). It's definitely got a potty mouth, which kinda doesn't work for the younger me that was introduced to The Tick by way of that animated version, but most of the cast is really good at delivering their lines in such a way that a lot of it feels natural and funny. I didn't have any bust out loud laughing moments, but I chuckled and snorted quite a lot. My goals for the remainder of my Amazon Prime trial are to finish the second season of The Tick, then go through both seasons of Jack Ryan. I'm interested in Psych, which isn't streaming anywhere else, but I could get on disc through the library. There are other Amazon Originals of interest, though, like Fleabag and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which I've heard enough about that I want to at least sample them.

I'm about TV'd out. Time to rejoin the land of the living. I thought about finishing with a Firefly binge (after all, the internet has been telling me to watch the thing for 15 years), but I'll be limping to the finish line. Time to get some reading done (and doing some laundry...and maybe bathe).