Thanks, I won’t waste time on it then. 
There’s only so much time.
I warmed to The “new” Wonder Years with last week’s episode (take your child to work).
I was a big fan of The Wonder Years back in the day and so far I’m a fan of the reboot. Very good casting.
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I was so-so on the first episodes - good actors, good premise with enough to explore, but, at first I missed Kevin Arnold I also wasn’t sure you would really do a good show about nostalgia when we’re talking about Black lives in 1960s Alabama – I figured it wouldn’t be cringe-worthy due to the people involved but I worried… and finally the characters and the setting didn’t quite gel at first for me. Since episode 4 ( “bring your child to work”) I’m really liking it, the mix of silliness and seriousness I guess. I admit I laughed hen the good kids ended up in the pool 
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To be sure there are going to have to be some uncomfortable situations we are likely to have to sit through in the reboot - I want them to do that. I want us all to feel that. Really.
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Yes: I worried they would avoid it… but so far they haven’t.
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Both the original and the reboot of The Wonder Years are based on the experiences of a young boy born in 1956, so 12 years old in 1968. I am one year younger than that, so the original resonated quite a bit for me. I expect the reboot to make me view that time from a different perspective and it has to some degree. Some experiences, however, are common across gender, race and other differences. The one that was SO strikingly similar to my growing up this week was when Dean’s dad knocked on his door and said I’m going to need you to take your bike to the store to get me some smokes. I can’t remember how many times my mother sent me off to purchase cigarettes when I was in elementary school. The drug store where she sent me was about 4 blocks away and I had to cross one busy street, but when she started charging me with this errand we only had one car and my brother was still “napping age.” The owner of the drug store was a family friend and she had cleared it with him that they would sell me the cigarettes, so off I would go with 26 cents to take care of her errand.
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Wow. 
Ha, I am a bit younger than you and that scene made me laugh too. I remember my grandmother sending me to the store in the 80s for smokes too. No one batted an eye.
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I mentioned What We Do in the Shadows earlier. I think its an entertaining show with great characters and great writing that is like nothing else on TV, and this season has been living up to its usual high standards. A good part of what makes the show so entertaining is the chemistry in the way the different characters interact with each other. They all have unique personalities that are often out of place with others, including the normal outsider population.
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Colin Robinson (What We Do in the Shadows | Colin Robinson: Energy Vampire | FX - YouTube ) in particular stands out of being especially bright point of the show in his interactions as a balding middle-aged energy vampire that “came with the house”, and is the only character who is always referenced by full name (both first and last).
They’ve been foreshadowing Colin Robinson leaving for awhile, and last night’s episode was titled “a farewell”, so Colin Robinson appearing to die shouldn’t be too surprising. However, it’s also not the final episode of the season, so there is time for him to return. I’m thinking they may recover one of the duplicate Colin Robinsons that were buried in season 2 when Colin Robinson became overpowered with his promotion to middle management. Or perhaps the real Colin Robinson is living with the siren with whom he appeared to have a secret relationship, and a duplicate is what appeared to die in the house. The siren + Colin Robinson may have visited the nearby Plum Island and discovered more about the origin of energy vampires (lots of questions remain to be answered on the show) and how to avoid the lifespan limit.
When I was 5 I was sent to the store almost daily to get my grandfather
2 packs of Pall Malls, the red pack, a “4 star Item” (the last edition of the paper and I knew to look for the **** at the top of the paper before I could even read) and quite often a quart of ice cream, hand packed at the drug store. If there was extra money, I was allowed to buy penny candy.
To get there I went across the street, under the rail road trussel, and across a BIG street.
I can’t imagine letting my kids do that errand. Daily.
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I did that in the Aughts. Even better, the closest place to buy cigs was in a corner bar and you had to get a token from the bartender to operate the vending machine. 
ok, that is scary
I’m 1958 born, so the show is my world all over again. I used to go to the drug store up the street and lie, telling them the smokes were for my mom, I would have been 12, they were 35c in the store, and when I couldn’t get them there (rarely) there was a machine at a department store about 8 blocks away, that charged 75c(!) and I could always get them there…if I had the $.
Anyone’s watched 4400 yet (the “The 4400” reboot)?
I really liked the original and have good hopes for this one.
Anyone watching Baptiste on PBS? Not enjoying S2 as much as I liked S1. IIRC, in S1 the story was told linearly–the flashback/present day back and forth flip-flops this season make the story more difficult to follow, especially in the earlier episodes of the season. Starting to make a little more sense now, though.
Although it may just be that we haven’t been to Budapest as yet (S2), but thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Amsterdam (S1)!
I watched the first episode yesterday. It’s an interesting premise, with a potential to be a great show, but unfortunately as of the first episode, it was executed poorly. A comparison of the first sentence official description of the show between the 2004 and 2021 versions is below. In the 2021 show, are there aliens that only abduct “overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people”?
4400 (2004) - “What appears to be a comet slows, hovers and stops, then bursts forth to reveal 4,400 people who were presumed dead or missing over the past 50 years.”
4400 (2021) – “In an instant, at least 4,400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who had vanished without a trace over the past century are returned to Detroit,”
Some CW shows seem to compete with the other bigger networks by targeting a minority demographic that typically has lesser representation on the big networks. An example is the show Batwoman. It was executed horribly compared to most superhero shows, but still seems to maintain enough of the audience to avoid cancellation (Season 1 audience goes from 1.9M → 0.7M, Season 2 audience goes from 0.7M → 0.4M) . I suspect their emphasis on minority demographics contributes – Batwoman vs Batwoman’s sister + Alice in Wonderland gang instead of Batman vs the usual Gotham rogues, and the show claimed to have the first openly gay lead superhero (not accurate claim). You can watch plenty of other better superhero shows, including ones in the Batman/DC universe, but few that have the same degree of targeting minority demographics.
Unfortunately 4400 seems to be following a similar pattern – rather than get an audience by making a quality show… get an audience by making an underlying political statement about “overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people” being victimized. For example, there are White cop like authorities wearing masks against protesters composed of the largely Black 4400 group. One of the White cop-like persons hits a Black woman hard enough to bleed. I can guess during what period this episode was written. While trying to be woke, some of the dialogue can give a hard-to-ignore racist vibe. I enjoy a cast with a variety of demographics and don’t mind a subtle underlying message, but this is too noticeable and takes away from what could be a really entertaining story. Otherwise the show quality is nothing special – just a low budget sci-fi type show. I will probably watch the 2nd episode and see if things improve. If not , I don’t plan to continue with the show.
I’m going to try the first 2 episodes. I’m on the fence but I really like time travelling shows, and the idea of making most characters Black can be interesting as way to mark more subtle changes (or lack thereof) than the usual adaptation to new technology. However, I hope the whole show isn’t just about that.
I didn’t watch Baptiste, but checking out the trailer, I seem to remember the main character - doesn’t the show start with something gruesome?
Season 1 started with a missing woman working as a prostitute in Amsterdam. Season 2 started with the murder of an ambassador’s husband and kidnapping of her sons.
I don’t like cross over episodes but what in the world was the point of that Station 19/Grey’s cross over?
I’m still watching La Brea in spite of my best intentions not to. AmI the only one?
Really liking Ghosts and Wonder Years.
Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. I don’t watch Station 19, so I had no knowledge or interest in the character who died. Maybe to enhance Bailey’s future story arcs?
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