Top Row: Scrubs: Season 10 (ABC/Hulu); The Boroughs (Netflix); Your Friends & Neighbors: Season 2 (Apple TV+). Bottom Row: The Boys: Season 5 (Amazon Prime Video); The Dark Wizard (HBO).
In this edition of TV-Review Catch-Up, I’m giving you my thoughts on 1) the return of one of my favorite shows of all-time, 2) an entertaining, now-cancelled Netflix sci-fi series, 3) the second season of an Apple series with some relatively big stars, 4) the final season of a major superhero series, and, finally, 5) my favorite documentary thus far this year.
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.
Television has never been better than right now in the New Golden Age of Television. 2017 continued that age, or trend, in which television was as effective as, or even more so than, cinema. For some, peak television in 2017 is described best by the return of Twin Peaks, and for others it is best described by shows that are not as iconic as Lynch’s famous show — at least not yet. Continue reading “Top Ten TV-Shows of 2017”→
