Always loved the video magazine news of 60min, 20/20, Dateline, etc. But ya, over the last few years Dateline is repetitive on depressing murder stories. Now many many years ago, I think it was Dateline, they'd do excellent murder court cases. Where I'd watch the first half and think, ya, this guy's getting convicted, and then watch the second half, and think, ah ha, there's all the reasonable doubt in the world here. I'd watch a new one of those anytime. But haven't noticed any.

Season finale of The Masked Singer

Was totally surprised who the winner was!

The Orville.
Well...that was some kinda turn of events.
An almost zero comedy episode too.

Part 2 of ^that^.
Holy shit...what a great two parter, and locks in something I have (among many others) been saying for a while now - This show honestly IS the new Star Trek.
It's gone completely there at this stage.

I mean not only does Brannon Braga of Trek Godhood work on the show...
We have one regular cast member played by Penny Johnson (Cassidy Yates - DS9)
We've had Johnathan Frakes (Riker - TNG)
and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris - Voyager)
both guest direct...
We've had appearances by Robert Picardo (The holo Doctor - Voyager)
James Horan (er...Star Trek EVERYTHING), and an upcoming appearance of Marina Sirtis (Troi - TNG) as well.

Johnathan Frakes has directed/produced some damn quality episodes in this show and the various Trek shows alike, and continues to.
Seth McFarlane himself has appeared on Star Trek, and has been a Trek freak as well...there's even some student film with him and another guy starring in their own Star Trek story. He's clearly got some passion here, and this might be the show that has been waiting for him.

Not that all this means anything too much outside a bit of fandom...but it's nice to see and I don't believe many of the ST folks would take part in something they weren't behind in terms of quality sci-fi, so it's also something of an assurance.

See...I like Discovery...but this show, feels much more like home to my TNG/DS9/VOY level "upbringing" on Star Trek shows.
It's not "lesson of the week" but it does touch on social issues and delve into some thought provoking subject matter - not to mention the many nods and Trek-isms in the episodes, all done well and without being on the nose.

At this point, the shift away from comedy for the last two episodes especially...has worked fucking wonders on the show. It got like...impossibly dark.

It's honestly one I look forward to week after week.

Last night we caught up on a few episodes and "leftover half watched" episodes.

Gotham - I like what they've been doing, though my interest in the show is currently waning. Just got past the episode where *someone* has blown up the "sanctuary". I saw some trailer with ?Bane? in it earlier, could be interesting. Penguin still steals the show.

The Good Doctor - Same old same old. His friend is dying. Few eps behind. Solid enough show, better than I thought it'd be.

Star Trek: Discovery - I like Pike, and that they've finally given us more of a look-in at this long standing character and some of his adventures. This season hasn't quite grabbed me like the last one did but it's still a very watchable show to me, and yeah I'm just glad to be watching Star Trek again...no matter what the nitpicky nerds say.

Russian Doll - This is...a pretty fun show actually. Almost like elements of Groundhog Day and Final Destination mixed in. Unravelling mystery. Started off a bit shallow (but fun) but it's getting a bit into the deep end now. I'm enjoying it.

Just started on this over the weekend been enjoying it so far. A lot better than I thought it would be I just chucked it on to fall asleep to but got sucked into it.

Umbrella Academy was a well made mystery. The end was a bit predictable, but after 8 eps one probably should be figuring things out anyway.

Every time I see commercials for The Orville it reminds me of that knock off Star Trek movie with the actor that was playing a Captain but it turned out that the ship or something about it was real.

Yeah the one with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell?
Galaxy Quest.
I actually loved that myself, and I think it's both a good piss-take on relevance/ego and sci-fi shows we've all seen.
It was maybe...one of the best spoofs I've ever seen.
Simple. Entertaining.
I guess if it's along similar lines, that could be part of the appeal, for me at least.

In my mind, the "funny" part of Orville, that being most of the first season, probably isn't as good as Galaxy Quest was. It could be just me, but...bit of a high bar.

The "non-funny/darker" part of the show that seems to be striving to just be a competent sci-fi show with occasional laughs, I'd say is...hmm...I really loved Galaxy Quest...maybe not just as good? But good.

Galaxy Quest was a real surprise. Really liked it. I think it's one of the best 'spoofs' too. Allen has actually done a lot of surprisingly good films. I was impressed with Santa Clause as well.

I think I saw all or half of Orville's first ep, and it didn't grab me. When the Cpt reviewed his new lined-up crew, especially the odd/funny alien, I was turned off. Looked like it was going to be what I disliked most about the Star Trek spinoffs, it seemed very cliche and I didn't really find anything particularly funny. So I didn't give it much of a chance, but you go with your tastes.