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

Top Row: The Chestnut Man (Netflix); DTF St. Louis (HBO); Fallout: Season Two (Prime Video).
Bottom Row: Ponies (Peacock); Rooster (HBO); Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (Netflix).

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.

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REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Tom Cruise as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in Joseph Kosinski’s TOP GUN: MAVERICK — Photo: Skydance Media / Paramount Pictures.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski — Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie.

If there is one thing that the release of Top Gun: Maverick has already proven, it is that Tom Cruise is still a real movie star capable of drawing a crowd even in the Post-COVID lockdown world. Although the 1986 original Tony Scott film, Top Gun, did leave a cultural imprint and is an iconic 1980s film, it isn’t like most people have been crying out for a sequel to the original film that, way back when, received mixed reviews. And yet, when I saw its sequel, people of all ages — including several people over the age of fifty — had such a need for speed that they had flocked to the theater to watch Tom Cruise as “Maverick” take another ride into the danger zone. I’m happy to tell you that — yes, it’s true — Top Gun: Maverick is every bit as awesome as you may have hoped. In fact, I think it’s a much better film than the 1980s classic.

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REVIEW: The Ranch – Season One (2016)

The Ranch Reviewed

The following is a quick review of the first season of The Ranch, a Netflix Original Series. The review is based on the ten episodes released on April 1st, 2016.

The Ranch is the newest ‘Netflix Original Series’, and it boasts a pretty stellar cast. Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson, who both appeared on That 70s Show, reunite as brothers who work on their father’s ranch, and that fact is what really got me interested in the sitcom. I had a lot of fun with That 70s Show, and wanted something just as good from The Ranch. But I’m not sure it is good enough to be in that type of comparative conversation.
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