House of the Dragon – Season Three (2026) | TV REVIEW

The following is a review of the eight-episode third season of HBO’s House of the Dragon — Series created by Ryan Condal and George R. R. Martin.

Nowadays, it can be difficult to remember just how big Game of Thrones was back when it aired, especially since the show is most often mentioned online for how frustrated fans were with the final season. But the continued success of the first spin-off show, House of the Dragon, is a testament to the fact that the original adaptation still holds a strong place in the hearts and minds of fantasy nerds (said and meant lovingly) around the world. I remember being wowed by the first season of the spin-off because it made me fall back in love with the world of the show that I had watched for so many years. When the second season finished in 2024, I wasn’t burnt out on it, but I noted the online frustrations and agreed with some of them. It did feel repetitive. It did feel rushed. It did feel like it didn’t actually have a proper season finale. Still, I was hopeful that the third season could win back some of the goodwill that the sensational first season had earned. Having recently finished the third season finale just last night, I can say that while I do think it is, in some respects, still suffering from some of the same issues that plagued it last season, the highest highs of the show keep me hooked. It is a show that can still wow you. It just doesn’t have as steady a hand as the early seasons of the original show did when it comes to building characters patiently, or when it comes to making story build-up feel purposeful rather than laborious. At its worst, it feels like the show is stalling. At its best, it feels like the show is not only delivering on the action but capable of doing something interesting with character focus.

Continue reading →

Interview with the Vampire – The Vampire Lestat (2026) | TV REVIEW

The following is a review of the third season of Interview with the Vampire — Series created by Rolin Jones.

Given my nostalgia for the 1994 Neil Jordan adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and, in general, my fascination with narratives about vampires (I have opinions on everything from CW’s The Vampire Diaries to Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, and beyond), it probably won’t surprise anyone that I fell head over heels in love with the Rolin Jones and AMC adaptation of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles once I finally got to see it. The first two seasons of the show are impressively sumptuous but also written and acted in ways that change your relationship with the iconic characters at its center. It is an all-around rich-feeling show that I cannot recommend enough to fans of the various subgenres it contains. At the center of the entire series, we have performances from Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid that are genuinely among the best acting on television I’ve seen in quite some time. Given the fact that I am particularly spellbound by Aussie actor Sam Reid’s devilishly complex portrayal of Lestat de Lioncourt, a larger-than-life French vampire that is older than the United States of America, I was so excited to find out what exactly a season all about him would be like, and that is exactly what the third season — titled The Vampire Lestat — was.

Continue reading →

Widow’s Bay – Season One (2026) | TV REVIEW

The following is a review of the complete first season of Apple TV’s WIDOW’S BAY — Show created by Katie Dippold.

Katie Dippold’s Widow’s Bay is a comedy-horror series that follows Tom Loftis (played by Matthew Rhys), the ambitious but nervous mayor of the titular island location, as he tries to get more tourists to visit the place that he and his troublesome son, Evan (played by Kingston Rumi Southwick), call home. Despite evidence to the contrary, Tom is skeptical of the locals who insist that the island is cursed. Chief among the local believers is Wyck Crawford (played by Stephen Root), who is a constant thorn in Loftis’ side. When Tom starts experiencing supernatural events firsthand, he, however, must team up with Wyck and his own assistant, Patricia (played by Kate O’Flynn), a spirited social outcast whose own prior history with the island’s legends becomes the focal point of some of the season’s best episodes.

Continue reading →

2026 TV Review Catch-Up, June Update | Bite-Sized Reviews

We’re right around halfway through 2026, and there have been so many shows to watch that I almost feel a little bit overwhelmed at times. Therefore, I like to do these TV Review Catch-Ups, so as to get my thoughts out there on a wide variety of shows that I watched and perhaps enjoyed, but which didn’t really inspire me to dedicate entire solo reviews for. So, instead, here I’ve collected my thoughts in bite-sized form in a review compilation. This time around, I’m giving you my thoughts on 1) a returning Danish Netflix series, 2) a very odd HBO dramedy, 3) a video-game adaptation whose second season may not have fully blown me away, 4) an underseen period piece spy-dramedy, 5) another Bill Lawrence comedy, and 6) an unsettling Netflix original series from earlier this year.

Continue reading →

The Pitt – Season Two (2026) | TV REVIEW

One of the biggest new TV hits of 2025 was HBO Max’s The Pitt, an American medical drama. Given its central star, Noah Wyle, and its creator, R. Scott Gemmill, both having worked on Michael Crichton’s medical drama classic ER, the ER parallels were unmistakable. The show was praised for a great many things, including a focus on realism, its 24-esque real-time season formula, and for how it felt like a return to a TV-season model that many of us are nostalgic for. Only eight months after the final episode of season one aired, the second season debuted in January 2026. It was a quick turnaround for the show, which, as the second season was being rolled out, had awards from multiple ceremonies thrown its way. Although the second season took some bold swings concerning challenging our relationship with its central character, the second season was largely more of the same (albeit with new cases and storylines), and, in the case of a television show executed at this high a level, that was mostly a welcome sight. It wasn’t without some notable missteps, though, and some of these were directly tied to the nature of its formula.

Continue reading →

Industry – Season Four (2026) | TV REVIEW

Myha’la and Marisa Abela in INDUSTRY (Season 4 – Episode 8) — Photograph by Simon Ridgway/HBO.

I don’t like to be out of the loop when it comes to great, big HBO shows, so one of the goals I set for myself in the first few months of 2026 was catching up on HBO’s Industry, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s acclaimed financial thriller-drama. which started way back in 2020 and has changed shape over the years. Back in the day, I tried to get into the show, but despite liking the first episode, I didn’t manage to make time for it then. The fourth season of the show, which I recently learned was going to be the penultimate season, premiered in January of this year, and I managed to catch up to it two weeks before the final episode hit in early March. I was really happy I made it a goal to find time for it, because this is a show that is much more than the ‘new Succession‘ that some have branded it. Although I see the comparison and acknowledge there are certain comparable elements (e.g., a race to the top of the ladder of one’s field, complex characters, and a focus on corporations, wealthy customers, and wealth management), it is very much its own thing entirely.

Continue reading →

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Season One (2026) | TV REVIEW

Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell in A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS — Photograph by Steffan Hill/HBO.

The internet has not been kind to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire in recent years. The long wait for new novels has frustrated fans all over the world, as Game of Thrones eventually outpaced the George R. R. Martin books they were adapting and thus told an ending to the story before the creator did. Then that ending got so much criticism from critics and fans alike — in my review of the final season, I wrote that the show limped across the finish line — that it has tarnished the memory of that iconic fantasy series, despite it still being one of the biggest achievements of television entertainment this century. Then there’s the case of House of the Dragon, the spin-off show, which got off to a strong start, but which also threw away a lot of the goodwill due to how unsatisfyingly the second season concluded. Although I knew how popular the Tales of Dunk and Egg stories from George R. R. Martin were to book readers, I didn’t sense a lot of optimism from the TV-only audience when an adaptation of them was announced as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Then I saw the, in some way, quite different new Game of Thrones spin-off (compared to the other shows) a few months ago, and I was delighted. Here was a show that had all the ingredients needed for the kind of storytelling that could revive the brand. It’s one of the best new shows I’ve seen thus far this year.

Continue reading →

TV Review Catch-Up – 2025, pt. II of II | Bite-Sized Reviews

*Top Row: The White Lotus: Season Three (HBO); Dexter: Resurrection (Paramount+ / Showtime).*
*Bottom Row: Smoke (Apple TV+); MONSTER: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix).*

Just like list time: It does what it says on the tin, as one might say. This is the second part of my TV review catch-up for 2025, which includes some of my thoughts on TV shows in bite-sized portions. There are still two other shows that I want to review from last year, but they’ll get their own full individual reviews sometime soon. Anyway, in this article, you’ll find my thoughts on an Apple show I had mixed feelings on, a Netflix anthology series that didn’t work for me this season, a show about a strong return for an iconic character, and a season of one of HBO’s most popular shows over the last few years.

Continue reading →

TV Review Catch-Up – 2025, pt. I of II | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row: Poker Face Season Two (Peacock); The Pitt Season One (HBO); The Studio (Apple TV+).
Bottom Row: Peacemaker Season Two (HBO); Severance Season Two (Apple TV+); Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV+).

It does what it says on the tin, as one might say. Look, in 2025, I was particularly pressed for time, and so I prioritized posting film reviews. That said, I saw a lot of television shows in 2025 (so many!), and I have a lot of thoughts on shows and seasons that I loved, liked, or was underwhelmed by, which I want to get out there before I post my list of the best television shows of that year. Do note that shows which are not referenced or listed in this collection of reviews or bite-sized reviews can still appear on the aforementioned future list, and that I did, in fact, review other television shows from this year, so please do seek them out on my all-time TV season review overview by clicking here.

Continue reading →

Stranger Things – Season Five (2025) | TV REVIEW

Gaten Matarazzo as ‘Dustin’ in Stranger Things: Season Five — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from trailers).

Regardless of what you think about the show or this season, I think you have to admire the gusto of the release strategy for the final season of Stranger Things, of which the first volume (episodes one to four) was released early in December, the second volume on Christmas, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day (depending on your region). Stranger Things really took over a huge chunk of the online entertainment focus in December, despite the fact that massive trailers for huge films were released alongside a new Avatar film in theaters around the world. They really made the three-part release of the show into events. But did the series finale of the most popular US-based Netflix original series, or the season as a whole, live up to the hype it created for itself? Well, let’s talk about it, because it’s not a straightforward answer.

Continue reading →

	House of the Dragon… on 2024 TV Highlights Thus Far, P…
	House of the Dragon… on REVIEW: House of the Dragon…
	House of the Dragon… on REVIEW: Game of Thrones…
	The Last House (2026… on REVIEW: Grimsby (2016)
	The Last House (2026… on RETRO REVIEW: The Incredible H…