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greg-beaulieu
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The Morning Show: Love Island (2023)
Misplaced
Like @Charlie_Chocolate and others, my first reaction to this was that it was misplaced in the running order, and maybe it was for some unknown reason. It (with some editing and small tweaks) have made a reasonable S3E1, but to land in the middle of S3 makes little sense. I wonder what happened.
It's a real shame, because if you stretch credibility a bit (like the Bradley last-minute space shot) I've enjoyed this season so far. Although new episodes get released on Wednesday, I hold them to watch late on Friday night as has been my routine since S1. It's a bit of a tradition in my house to let it roll around 11PM on Friday, sitting in a darkened room with my cat to keep me company and a single malt scotch at hand. It's one of my favorite nights when a new episode becomes available because the show is just so much fun to watch, starting with the opening with the battling balls and the great theme song. Even with the overly large cast that's hard to keep track of and the breakneck pace of things happening, it's great fun, and such a treat for the eyes thanks to the tremendous production values.
So, to have this one land with a thud was disappointing. Too bad, because things were going so well...
Fixer Upper (2013)
Cringey
Nothing succeeds like excess, and the Gaines are living proof of that, having leveraged their down-home image into an empire of Magnolia-branded merchandise and a purchase of DIY Network to carry even more shows produced by them, all built on excess. Excess exposure of the couple themselves, an excess of sameness in their design idiom, an excess of shows featuring Joanna, the princess of fake charm and smugness, an excess of Chip's cornpone buffoonery, and an excess in their opinion of their skills. I don't want to see Joanna showing off her cooking chops, because I don't believe she is authentic in anything she does. I cannot stand her. I can't stand her husband either, but she is on another level of cringe entirely. It is hard to understand their popularity. Maybe P. T. Barnum was correct.
Bosch: Legacy (2022)
Still Bosch!
I was disappointed when I learned that the most recent season of Bosch would be its last, and was hopeful but somewhat concerned when I learned that Amazon had given the go-ahead to the Legacy follow-on series, because sequels are seldom as good as the original. I delayed checking Legacy out for a while until last weekend when I decided to watch episode 1. At the end of that episode I had to watch the next, and continued until the first 4 episodes on offer were finished.
My dislikes are few: the replacement of the original "Can't Let Go" theme music with something that sounds like a mashup of hip-hop and TV commercial music is a mistake. The Stephen Chang character as Bosch's tech guru is a bit of a cheap plot device like what one finds in a lot of TV shows like the modern version of The Equalizer as a quick fantasyland fix to allow things to happen that are close to impossible, so that is disappointing. So far I am sorry that I have not seen any reference to Bosch's old partner J. Edgar, Lt. Billets, or Chief Irving but it is still early.
I was glad to see the Crate and Barrel characters make a return here as they were among my favorites from the original. I know some like to gripe about Madison Lintz but I think she is playing the part well - a young person who is finding her way, still uncertain but learning the ropes, and unsure of what the boundaries are. She's fine. I was also happy to see the producers still showing off some iconic old L. A. locations and hope that continues, as that is one of my favorite things about the series.
Four episodes in it is difficult to give a score until we see how the plot threads evolve but I am optimistic that those involved will use their experience with the previous series to do the same good job with this. I seldom give scores of 10 here because far too many reviewers offer that score up far too easily, but I am confident this will deservedly achieve that level. Looking forward to future episodes!
Being the Ricardos (2021)
Dismal and Disappointing
I began watching this not having seen any previous reviews and with a positive inclination in my mind that it would be enjoyable. That is what makes it so disappointing that it was as bad as it turned out to be.
I find it quite puzzling how it flopped so badly for me. It had Lucy's children as Exec Producers, so even though they weren't around for the time covered by the film, I'm sure they knew of what went on from their parents. It had a decent cast, and even though Bardem looks nothing like Desi he was at least able to sing and perform in much the same way. Kidman sounds like the Lucy I remember and makes for an acceptable mimic much of the time. While J K Simmons sounds too much like J K Simmons to be believable as William Frawley, and the actress cast as Vivian Vance looks nothing like her, both turn in good performances.
So where does this go off the rails? Part of it comes from the look of the film. The show was made in Hollywood, so even though a lot of it takes place in studios and offices, you would expect to see a bit of sunshine, some brightness, something that one would find in such a place. Instead, just about every single scene is set in dimly lit conference rooms, offices, sound stages, or at night. Even the few daytime outdoor scenes are dim, which is quite the accomplishment. It seems clear that this was a deliberate choice by Sorkin, but it really detracts from the film. At one point I began to fear that I had a problem with my screen, but that wasn't the case. It was made that way, presumably to set a tone, but it was a terrible choice. It makes no sense either, since filming on a stage required lots of bright light, and presumably the characters would occasionally venture outside during the day, yet that never surfaced in the movie.
Others have commented on how the events shown do not necessarily align with the reality, so I won't belabor that, except to note that Lucy originally sought to end her marriage to Desi in 1944 after 4 years of being wed, but later withdrew the application. So there were longstanding troubles in the marriage long before the period covered in the film, making the scenes involving her challenging him about the magazine article and the lipstick-stained handkerchief seemingly manufactured for this script. While it goes beyond the time frame covered by the film, the marriage and working relationship continued (though perhaps on life support) until 1960, so clearly there was some motivation on both their parts to continue, and indeed Desilu was created during that period.
I also found the incessant smoking portrayed in the film heavy-handed; yes, most of the characters did smoke in real life back then, but here it is portrayed as being constant and near-universal, which I found very off-putting and unrealistic. Also disappointing was how the peripheral characters such as the network and sponsor executives could have been cardboard cutouts, as none of them played any significant role and were not the least bit interesting or developed to any extent. Finally, we are again saddled with Sorkin-style dialogue. The overly manufactured way of speaking he tends to write is extremely unrealistic, closer to "snappy patter" than the way people actually converse. This is a constant in his movies and has always been a negative for me.
So you have OK though not great casting, a script that is mostly a miss, and a style of film making that produces unappealing visuals. One wonders if this is a result of Amazon Studios not exercising appropriate oversight during the production. Like a lot of what appears on streaming services, this turned out to be more of something to fill a spot on the inventory instead of something good. I suppose we should be thankful it did not include wizards, monsters, time travelers, medieval hordes, or dystopian drama, the staples of what one finds far too often these days on streaming services. But this is equally dismal, and no less disappointing.
Blue Bloods: Help Me, Help You (2016)
Wondering What the Producers Were Thinking
A "progressive" who gets appointed Speaker of City Council is always going to be a villain in the Blue Bloods universe, so it seems like gilding the lily to cast Whoopi Goldberg in that role, as she is unlikely to be a favourite for much of the BB faithful. She does not disappoint, though it was hard to tell if she was delivering lines from the script of just talking off the cuff. Her presence drags this episode down so my score reflects that.
Blue Bloods: Hold Outs (2015)
Winning Gracelessly
This is an interesting episode in that it makes the debut of Steve Schirripa in his long-running role as a D. A. Investigator which he has made into my favourite character on the show. We also have a rare case of no Donnie Wahlberg storyline for a change (yay!), and as a result, no appearance by Marisa Ramirez (also yay!). Somehow, Jamie is doing what seems a lot like detective work in a subplot in this episode but is still working alongside his partner.
The main storyline involves a case that had been prosecuted by Erin's colleague Kelly Blake, played by one of my old favourites, Diane Neal, ex of Law & Order. When a mistrial was declared due to a balky juror, the case gets assigned to Erin, who is even more self-righteous and smug than her usual self in dealing with her co-worker. Thanks to Anthony Abetemarco a new guilty party is identified and Erin gets her culprit.
A case of gracelessness must have swept through the Reagan family here, as Frank gets his nose out of joint at how the newly re-elected Mayor Poole is tardy in asking him to stay on the job. This seemed a bit of a stretch and something the writers had to hatch using the press as an excuse. For the unnecessary self-righteousness on the part of both Reagan's I can only give this otherwise strong episode 8 out of 10 stars.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
When Will All This End?
I hope that studios, networks and streaming services are running out of fantasy/sci-fi material to base programming upon. Between LOTR and GOT and everything else based in this genre there is far too much of this schlock. I don't need to see another wizard, or dragon, or gore, or gratuitous maiming, blood and death. It's like nobody's tastes mature after age 12. I find Rosamund Pike extremely unlikable in just about anything she does and this is no exception. Not wasting any more time on this.
The Morning Show: Fever (2021)
Another Mess
I was looking forward to the S2 finale in hopes that so many of the loose threads this season has created would be tied up. That did not happen and more loose threads were created instead. We see Alex playing out a Peter Finch Network-style monologue on live TV that rivaled a Shakespearean death scene, we see her and Chip suddenly reconciled; we see Bradley searching the streets for her brother and nobody recognizing her, we see Yanko delivering the news segment, we see Daniel still discontented, we see Stella still acting like a shrew, we see Cory starting to unravel, and we see Mia somehow retaining some level of competency amidst all of the pandemonium. How anything actually gets on the air given all this is the biggest mystery. I will give them a bit of credit for finding a bit of humor in some of the initial responses to the pandemic, with Cory's plexiglass desk box the best of those.
If there is a season 3 I suspect it will be even more soap opera-ish than this was, which is saying something. As it is, my 1-year free trial of Apple TV ends next week and after watching the finale I canceled it to avoid paying for the privilege of spending $15 to watch a movie. The Apple content that is included as part of the monthly cost is pretty poor for the most part as I found it mostly unwatchable and not at all compelling. I enjoyed S1 of both TMS and Lasso, but S2 for both were major steps backwards. I will wait for some reviews to be posted on the respective S3 for both to see which way they go before deciding whether to rejoin.
The Morning Show: Confirmations (2021)
Bounce-Back Episode
After a season of disjointed, confusing and disappointing episodes, this one started cleaning up the mess the earlier episodes had made. While not perfect - I found Mark Duplass' performance strained, and Mia's soliloquy was a bit much - a lot of loose ends are now able to be tied up. I still am wondering what the point of Bradley's brother showing up was, since we already knew she was messed up, and the scene with Chip and his fiancé seemed pointless, but that was offset by the scene with Chip, Cory, and his table. I still want Stella to get fired or otherwise disappear, since she seems unqualified and clueless, but there is still time for that. Jennifer Anniston turned in a fine performance here, and perhaps her character finally learned some truths. Hope the next two episodes resolve a few more things.
The Morning Show: A Private Person (2021)
Sinking Fast
This episode was yet another mess, with no Jennifer Aniston in sight, Cory feeling down but still being a snake, Chip feeling like a 5th wheel, Yanko still aggravated, and yet more crises to to deal with. We get even more characters parachuted in, like a substitute weatherman, Bradley's brother, and Dave Foley as a retread UBS personality. Of course we still haven't figured out what a bunch of other minor characters are supposed to be doing. Nothing much seems to be progressing or becoming even slightly more clear. It's like a plate of spaghetti that was dropped on the floor. I'm unsure if this thing can be saved.
The Morning Show: Ghosts (2021)
Patching the Pieces Back Together
Over the last couple of episodes, there were so many things going on it was very hard to keep track. Who is this person? What is their role? Why are they acting that way? It was as if we had missed an episode or two where that would have been included. This episode helped patch together some of those plot pieces, either with flashbacks (I hate flashbacks) or in-the-moment explainers. It is as if the writers and producers suddenly discovered a bunch of holes left by earlier episodes and knew they needed to fill them.
Billy Crudup continues to steal every scene that he's in. Cory is such a great character, a slick lizard but here we learn he is capable of having feelings and sometimes wants to do the right thing. The connection between him and Bradley continues to get fleshed out and although I find the two of them a very strange pair of allies I suppose it is necessary for the plot to move forward. Alex... still a mystery. Totally insecure, totally oblivious to a lot of things, and seemingly with no idea how her treatment of people affects them. I find the progression of the Mitch storyline intriguing, if somewhat hard to swallow. His monologue while being interviewed shows a degree of self-awareness he now has that Alex seems to never have cultivated. I enjoyed Yanko's pushback against how he was being treated by the brass. And we are on the verge of COVID exploding too. Lots still to come! Hopefully the next few episodes will continue to be coherent, unlike the ones that preceded this.
The Morning Show: Kill the Fatted Calf (2021)
Credibility: Strained
This episode was all over the place. Alex is back on the set but doesn't seem to have anything to do except being feted. Bradley is suddenly of fluid sexual orientation. Yanks is under attack from a Twitter mob. The Board Chair hates Corey. Daniel follows the time-honoured tradition of going rogue on-set. And Stella makes us all wonder who the heck hired her and why, as she seems totally inept except for being the personification of woke-ism. It all strains whatever credibility the series has built up. This one was just a mess.
Ted Lasso: Inverting the Pyramid of Success (2021)
Finale Matches the Season
Season 2 was a disappointing letdown compared to S1, so it is appropriate that the season finale was very much a letdown as well.
It is important to discount the usual avalanche of 10/10 reviews posted by hyper-fans, who overlook the flaws and missteps. There have been no episodes this season deserving of an objective 10 score in my opinion, unlike S1 which was brilliant. But scores aside, this episode personifies where S2 went off the rails. There was very little clever humour, though I did get a smile out of the biscuits made with salt and Rebecca's reaction, and Roy's postgame greeting for Jamie. But otherwise it was all quite serious. And of course Ted is still torturing himself over his divorce.
As predicted by others, Rupert did reappear as a team owner, and his whispered conversation last episode with Nate now makes more sense. The cliffhanger last episode regarding Keeley and Roy resolved itself only for another to be created at the last minute, almost as an afterthought, and quite clumsily at that. As for Nate, his speech to Ted near the end made no sense to me and made me think I had missed something. His reactions were very unrealistic and really stretched credibility. For that matter, so were Ted's after Nate spewed his vitriol. In any other world he would have been escorted out of the facility.
All in all, a disappointing close to a disappointing season, one that saw the series change from a warm, uplifting show to a largely unfunny soap opera trying to deliver rather heavy-handed messages. One hopes Sudekis and the writers will take the honest criticisms of how S2 went wrong and right the ship in S3, and not be deceived by the can-do-no-wrong opinions of the show offered by the superfans.
Ted Lasso: Midnight Train to Royston (2021)
Roller-Coaster to Royston
After a few seemingly wasted several episodes on things that did nothing to advance the story, this one crams in as many turning points as possible. Some got the time they deserved, some didn't, but it sets up the season finale and likely a number of cliffhangers for next season as well. Soap opera writing at its finest.
The various booby-traps set in this episode can all go off in various ways so it is fairly hopeless to speculate who they will take out. Some will likely be resolved next week but I suspect most are going to be used in S3. I think the Sam departure will not occur, but who can say for sure. Consequences are surely coming for Nate, but what form they take is uncertain. Since the Roy-Keeley story line has now become a soap opera too, despite what logic may demand that outcome is also in doubt. Ted and his issues seem to have a path to keep them under control but that is also by no means a sure thing. So many balls in the air.
The episode was at least a return to something close to form, especially considering the most recent episodes that preceded it, but the series still has a ways to go. Something remains missing, whether it be charm, or humor, or whatever it was that made S1 so enjoyable. Like some other episodes this season, some of what was here seemed forced. But if nothing else, at least it made me want to watch the next episode.
Ted Lasso: No Weddings and a Funeral (2021)
Teetering
After last week's disaster of an episode, I was looking forward to this week to see if the series was able to get back on track. My conclusion is that it isn't there yet.
This episode brought back pretty much every character in the Rebecca universe, but somehow didn't do much of anything with them. It got very soap opera-ish with the Rebecca-Sam, Keeley-Roy, Keeley-Jamie, and Sassy-Ted relationships but did very little with any of them. The only relationship that seemed to advance was that between Rebecca and her mom, but even that was an ordeal to get there. We did learn more about Ted and his issues, but as always seems to be the case, the life was sucked out of the scene when Dr. Fieldstone made her appearance.
I found the dialogue in this very hard to follow at times. A lot was said in whispers or hushed tones, and so I'm not confident I heard everything accurately. Given the way the episode played out, that might not be a bad thing. The one thing I am more sure of is that there was no laugh-out-loud or even ha-ha moments in this one for me.
S2 has not come close to matching S1 in terms of how it grabbed the viewer and made them care about the characters, and this episode kept that record intact. The series has a long way to go in the last 2 episodes of the season to redeem itself. I am scratching my head what the people giving these episodes scores of 10 are seeing that I am obviously missing.
Ted Lasso: Beard After Hours (2021)
Worst Episode of the Series
This is an episode that never should have been written, produced, or aired. It was totally out of context with the rest of the series, did zero to advance the many story lines, and in the end was deeply unsatisfying to watch. Certainly I had a hard time seeing it through to the end without switching off, which would be a first with this series for me. You shouldn't have to be an obscure movie nerd to get anything out of it. Even if they had just copped out near the end and made it all a dream sequence, that would have been better than them making it real as they did, when so many of the things that happened were simply not possible. I understand this was an added episode at Apple's request for more material in S2, and the results show it was not well thought-out. Hopefully the series returns to its former level of quality next episode. But this episode was, sadly, a fail.
See (2019)
Just What We Didn't Need
Another dark, dystopian fantasy with characters throwing spears and swinging swords is probably the last thing the TV world needs. It's been done multiple times, far too often in my view as someone who dislikes those types of shows, and this version of it is just silly and full of nonsensical plot elements and visual premises. C'mon, Apple, start producing something that isn't a comic book for 14 year-olds.
Hawaii Five-O: Try to Die on Time (1973)
Impossible to Understand
This strikes me as one of those film noir-type plots that are so complicated nobody, not even the writer, can keep track of all the loose ends. I watched this episode 3 times back to back and still cannot tell you who did what and why, or explain all of the bedlam that takes place. Not a good episode.
Flack (2019)
Not Likeable
This followed the pattern of most series shown on Prime in having a first episode (the pilot, I presume) that made me want to switch off just a few minutes into it because it was just so disagreeable. This time I fought that instinct and stayed with it. Subsequent episodes picked up slightly, but the core problem remains - none of the characters are likeable (except perhaps Melody, the intern) and most are cardboard cutout caricatures of what they are supposed to be playing, set up in ridiculous situations.
The dialogue is far too fast-paced, with every second line being a zinger of some sort. People simply do not talk this way. Robyn, Anna Paquin's character, has a boyfriend who she is living with but we don't know why they are together, what the attraction is (we certainly don't see any), and no understanding of their situation at all. At least her sister Ruth has a husband and 2 kids and something resembling a normal family, although of course the writers had to try to mess that up too very early on. Eve, Robyn's work colleague, is amped up to 11 in everything she does and starts out as just plain nasty, although she develops a few different facets as the series goes on and eventually became my favorite character despite being unrelentingly awful. Their boss, Caroline, is the best worst example of the characters in the show, behaving and speaking in a way that no actual person would ever be able to do. They could have cast a robot in that role with little difference.
Aside from that, the constant drug use with little to nothing in the way of consequences, the casual sex, the insanely amoral situations the principals create for their clients, and the lack of any understanding of what these characters are getting out of this - despite working nonstop for a tyrant of a boss, Robyn does not seem to be very well-off, well-compensated, or enjoying any of the fruits of her labors except cigarettes and cocaine - contributes to making the series fall flat. Too dark, too rushed, and too undeveloped pretty much sums this up. Nice production values though.
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (2021)
Good When About the Food and the Culture, Less So When About Politics
This show is very good when Stanley Tucci lets his engaging and charming personality come through, and sticks to discussions about the food and the people. The cast of characters he meets and interacts with are generally interesting and fun. Even when he strays off into things that are either uninteresting (the Italian hipster cocktail bar scenes) or off-putting (the rabbit and offal cuisine types) it can still be entertaining. When he is in a restaurant kitchen kibitzing with a pair of Italian chefs who say he has a Roman face, and he strikes a pose as he responds it is like Julius Caesar's, it is laugh-out-loud funny. Some of the people he uses to guide him along the way are great, like his female friend of 30 years who accompanied him through parts of Rome, though others make me wonder where they found them and why anyone thought they would be interesting.
Unfortunately, some episodes can be breezing along and then suddenly, out of the blue, in blows a storm of political commentary a la Tucci. We end up either getting a not-so-subtle message about the joys of the left or an outright, heavy-handed lecture about immigration. Both of those are relevant to Italy, which has flirted with far-left politics for decades, and which now is in the middle of an immigration crisis. It just seems jarring to have these things presented in the middle of a show about food that is otherwise light and breezy. To me, it makes the show less enjoyable and makes me less likely to want to watch again. That's a shame, because when it stays focused on the food and the people who make it, it is wonderful.
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything (2021)
Some good here, but flawed
I enjoyed much of what I saw in this series. The archival footage let me see things like Bowie's appearance at Glastonbury that I had never encountered before. I had seen footage of the Stones in the south of France in '71 but this offered some new clips and new background, which was interesting. The same holds true for the emergence of Elton John in the US that year.
The biggest flaw for me is that this often seems to take on the binary sort of thinking that has afflicted our political discourse of late and applied that to 1971 issues. It seems you were either for Nixon or a supporter of the extreme left. Obviously that isn't the case, but that is how it seems to be presented here. The same holds true for the episode dealing with the Black Panthers, Angela Davis and the Weather Underground subversives. It does a poor job of laying out the whole spectrum of positions with the various subtleties and instead goes for the simple political bad/good in presenting the characters. It seems to not understand that you could be opposed to Nixon and his policies without being a communist or far-left supporter. The same holds true for the segments about the UK underground press, which seemed to devote a lot of time to a group that was mostly appealing to an extremist fringe and did not make much impact on the greater society in the UK.
I was slightly baffled by the amount of time given to An American Family, the PBS series featuring Pat and Bill Loud and their children. While it was certainly a groundbreaking piece of work that helped illustrate the social changes in society at the time, I thought this series was about music, and so it struck me odd to find so much footage of it here. At least the producers do not sidestep the point that drug use was the cause of the downfall of many of the artists who had emerged around this time, showing that in all the years since, some things really never change in the music and entertainment business.
With all that said, the series is still fairly entertaining to watch, and really is mostly suffering from a misleading title. While some music certainly did lead to societal change, the series does not focus on that exclusively and takes the viewer to other areas where they probably should not have gone.
Island of Bryan (2019)
Nothing Makes Sense on Renovation Island
I've been a longtime fan of Bryan Baeumler. His home reno shows in various forms have been on TV in Canada for years. He seems like a solid guy, does good work without being superior or overbearing like some other HGTV stars, and comes across as the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. His most recent shows have been more of a look at the inside of his business and life, and to me have been less engaging. I really don't need to see his kids, and then there is his wife Sarah.
She emerged a few years ago on a previous series of shows and even then I found it hard to understand why she allowed herself to come across as poorly as she was shown. I find it hard to believe she really is the way she portrays herself on these shows. But now we are on this little island in the middle of nowhere with next to nothing else on it other than this resort property, and she is even worse. But nothing else about this series makes any sense at all either.
They talk about "risking everything". Not a chance. Bryan is nothing if not a shrewd businessman and there is no way he would jump into this if that was the case. They knew nothing about the resort business, the place was a run-down dump that probably should have been bulldozed completely, and he had what looked like more work than he could handle at home. Why uproot yourselves, your kids, abandon your businesses and supposedly mortgage everything to the hilt to take on this? Answer: he wouldn't.
I don't know the actual story but clearly a whole lot of this has to be typical made-up HGTV fake drama. It is disappointing because while in his more recent series with Sarah they strayed into that space, it was far off his usual straightforward renovation "brand" and did not sit well with me. This just takes that to new lows. The odd thing for me is that the place is so isolated and lacking amenities once you stray off-property that the potential market is always going to be pretty small. The business case for this must be really interesting, if there even is one. The "surprises" they found doing the renos would have been obvious to someone like him with even a cursory inspection. It just doesn't make sense.
As for the entertainment value, some of the scenery is pretty, some of the locals are engaging, and his right-hand man Adam comes across well. Sarah comes across as a shrew, Bryan comes across as the henpecked husband, and the kids are there just to fill some time in sidebar stories. But the majority of it is just cringey and leaves me scratching my head. I can only assume HGTV is paying them a ton of money to go through this. C'mon Bryan, get back to what you do best and stop trying to make your family into TV stars. You're better than this.
Rehab Addict Rescue (2021)
A Step Backwards?
I've always enjoyed watching Nicole Curtis and her Rehab Addict series. Seeing a series of episodes involving different parts of a house under renovation allowed her to go into some detail and also we got to see her personality along with her interaction with her crew. The new series Rehab Addict Rescue is different. Each hour-long episode has her diving into a stalled reno and taking it to some level of completion. It's a decent idea but stumbles in a few areas. Everything gets crammed into a single episode so things feel rushed or glossed over. What gets done often seems to be not what she wants to do but what the homeowners want, which is sometimes not great. None of the clients have much to spend so you get some compromised results. As a result none of the finished products have much of the Nicole feel or look. Some of them are pretty awful actually, with ugly colours or amateur artwork that would need to be painted over. Pieces used sometimes appear magically from her warehouse and get installed, which is nice but not something that a viewer would be able to do. And everything seems rushed, unfinished, and sometimes the results look very sloppy. I hope Nicole returns to her previous format and allows herself to do better work at a slower pace so we can enjoy her on-camera personality.
Restored (2017)
Entertaining Show
I like this show and I like Brett Waterman, but the show does have a few things that could be improved for me. But first, the good things: Brett is a wealth of knowledge and skill, and obviously has great love for the types of houses he chooses to work on. The people he works with all seem to be wonderful craftspeople, suppliers and artisans, and the results he achieves are always very well done. Some of the turnarounds shown are simply remarkable transformations. And sometimes you get a real winner, such as his recent resto of the 1960s California bungalow that was simply outstanding. Shout out to Sara Zofko, his usual designer, for her fine work on this.
What I don't like quite so much are some of the changes that seem imposed upon the homeowners for the sake of originality and design integrity. We aren't living in the 1900s and with some of these restorations I find myself wondering how long the result shown lasts after the cameras leave and the owners need to live in it day to day. The budgets are usually large, yet the results sometimes don't seem to reflect that level of investment because of the costs of finding the right vintage tile for a fireplace, dull linoleum for the kitchen floor, or reproduction (and to my eye, not always attractive) period light fixtures. Spending $150K on restoration to end up with a house with 2 small bedrooms and no place to watch TV doesn't always seem the wisest investment to me, but I guess that is what the owners asked for. I also find the repetition of scenes before and after commercial breaks, especially the predictable one near the end before revealing the kitchen, pretty tiresome. But a good show overall.
Desert Flippers (2016)
My Only 10 on HGTV
This is the only show airing on HGTV that gets a 10 from me. Now, that doesn't mean it's perfect - the show follows a pretty rigid formula which can get a bit tiresome sometimes, and a lot of the renos look quite similar, but that is a problem for most of these kinds of shows. The thing about this one is what it does NOT have - no manufactured drama, a minimum of fake deadlines, and hosts who seem largely like real people, not ones who are stuck on themselves or brought in from Central Casting.
Lindsay Bennett is the biggest asset this show has. She is charming, funny, stylish, and has some talent at design. Her husband Eric tries a bit too hard to be a comedian sometimes but works well in conjunction with Lindsay, and he is not trying too hard to be funny like Chip Gaines does. And when he plays it serious, Eric comes across very well and seems to know what he's talking about. I would watch this show over virtually anything else on HGTV.
I only hope we have not seen the last of it. The last new series dates from 2018 and that may mean that either HGTV or the Bennetts have decided to move on. I surely hope not.