Category: TV Reviews

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I Will Find You: Series Review

John Stark

I’m not a Harlan Coben fan. I think he’s highly overrated, or at least his television adaptations are. I’ve enjoyed very few of them. Previously, I would have said Shelter was the best adaptation of one of his books. However, this Sam Worthington-led limited series, running eight episodes, features a stacked cast, delivers a fairly thrilling ride, and even though I saw certain twists coming, it’s far better than I expected it to be. Sometimes Coben’s stories reach a little too far. They swing too wide, becoming increasingly nonsensical as they go. The adaptations I’ve liked the most are the … Continue reading I Will Find You: Series Review

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Man On Fire: Season 1

John Stark

Perhaps I should give the Tony Scott-directed Denzel Washington film Man on Fire another look, because after watching Netflix’s adaptation starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a recent Emmy nominee for Wonder Man, I’m reconsidering the entire concept. It’s possible there was something I missed more than 20 years ago when I watched the original film, which at the time didn’t resonate with me. I wasn’t much of a fan despite strong performances from both Denzel Washington and a very young Dakota Fanning. The Netflix series changes a number of things, mostly so that if they decide to continue Man on Fire … Continue reading Man On Fire: Season 1

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Vladimir: Season 1

John Stark

Vladimir is one of those shows where there’s something quirky and ambitious going on, and I’m not entirely sure it all works. For me at least, I actually think this limited series would have worked even better if it had been even more limited. Stay with me here, because I promise I’ll explain. The plot revolves around the Professor, played by Rachel Weisz, who is clearly sexually unfulfilled, even if she’d very much like not to be. When a younger professor named Vladimir, played by Leo Woodall, joins the faculty at her liberal arts college, she quickly becomes consumed by … Continue reading Vladimir: Season 1

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Not Suitable For Work: Season 1

John Stark

I enjoy Mindy Kaling. I like the things she’s produced so far. I like her as a talent. So whenever I hear she has a new show, I do admittedly have a piqued interest. Not Suitable for Work immediately hit a snag with advocates for people with allergies, since one of the episodes has a rather unfortunate take on someone having an allergic reaction, which admittedly is not the way I think anyone should present something like that. Granted, this isn’t a children’s television series, which would make it even worse if they were trying to sell that kind of … Continue reading Not Suitable For Work: Season 1

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Spider-Noir: Season 1

John Stark

Growing up as a kid, I could have probably never dreamed of the way nerd culture would become so widely accepted and break into the mainstream with all of these comic book adaptations constantly arriving. Not only did we get a Spider-Man film with Tobey Maguire in the early 2000s, but they kept making them. They followed with The Amazing Spider-Man, and when the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a reality, they introduced him all over again with Spider-Man: Homecoming. But they weren’t content with just Spider-Man. They expanded into the Spider-Man universe, making a trilogy of Venom films while trying, … Continue reading Spider-Noir: Season 1

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Scrubs: Season 10

John Stark

A lot of time has passed since the premiere of Scrubs, and yet still no one has taken Zach Braff up on the offer to be Superman, to bleed the irony from his role as J.D. in a show whose theme song is recognized for repeating, “I’m No Superman.” Zach Braff, of course, has gone on to have quite a career because of Scrubs, both in front of and behind the camera. And the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, has also found tremendous success, most recently with the Emmy darling Shrinking. The rest of the returning cast includes Donald Faison, Sarah … Continue reading Scrubs: Season 10

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The Wonderfully Weird World Of Gumball: Season 1

John Stark

When I first sat down to see what Hulu and Disney+ were doing with The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, I honestly didn’t expect to watch all 20 episodes of the first season. But I did. Every single one of them. I can’t say I remember every episode perfectly because I watched them over a stretch of time instead of binging the whole thing in one sitting, but next season I’ll probably do exactly that. At only about 11 minutes per episode, you’re really looking at around three and a half to four hours for the entire season, which makes … Continue reading The Wonderfully Weird World Of Gumball: Season 1

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The Boroughs: Season 1

John Stark

I still can’t imagine a world in which The Burrows doesn’t get another season. I mean, what is going on at Netflix? Why was this show canceled so quickly? How do you land a science fiction series starring Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Clark Peters, Denis O’Hare, and Bill Pullman and not have audiences flock to it? If I were running Netflix, I’d chalk it up to some strange anomaly and keep promoting The Burrows, figuring maybe May just wasn’t the right month for its premiere. The funniest part is that the animated Stranger Things series got picked up … Continue reading The Boroughs: Season 1

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The Dinosaurs (2026): Series Review

John Stark

Netflix is never at a loss for new content. Between documentaries, reality shows, docu-series, international programming, and just about every other genre you can think of, there’s always something new arriving every week. That’s admirable in its own way, even if I sometimes wish the focus was a little less on quantity and a little more on making sure the best projects stick around for multiple seasons. Then again, considering how many wildly popular reality shows prove audiences will happily consume almost anything, maybe Netflix knows exactly what it’s doing. So who’s to say we don’t need another dinosaur documentary? … Continue reading The Dinosaurs (2026): Series Review

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Matlock: Season 2

John Stark

When we first heard CBS was rebooting Matlock with Kathy Bates, I think most of us assumed it was just going to be another gender-swapped remake. We figured it would play out a lot like the old Andy Griffith classic, with Bates simply stepping into the role of a kindly Southern lawyer who just happened to be extraordinarily good at practicing law. That’s partly true, except somebody had the genuinely brilliant idea of capitalizing on the Matlock name and all of its brand recognition while creating an entirely new series around it. I’m actually surprised more studios haven’t tried this … Continue reading Matlock: Season 2

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Young Sherlock: Season 1

John Stark

I remember when I first saw that Prime Video had a hot new series called Young Sherlock, and I rolled my eyes. Do we really need one more Sherlock Holmes adaptation? Is that what the world has been asking for? One more person’s take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective? Apparently the answer is yes, because Young Sherlock is far better than it has any right to be. A big part of that comes down to Guy Ritchie. I don’t say that nearly as often as I used to. Back when he burst onto the scene with Lock, Stock … Continue reading Young Sherlock: Season 1

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The Madison: Season 1

John Stark

Taylor Sheridan has always had an interesting relationship with critics. He seems to delight in thumbing his nose at the people who insist they just don’t understand what he’s doing, and to a certain extent, I get it. I enjoy most of his shows. At the same time, enjoying something and believing it belongs in the conversation for the year’s best television are two different things. Awards are about narrowing the field to the very best, and that inevitably leaves a lot of good, even great, television on the outside looking in. Sheridan doesn’t always clear that bar for me, … Continue reading The Madison: Season 1

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Amadeus: Series Review

John Stark

I can’t really remember how many times I’ve seen the Academy Award-winning Amadeus, directed by Miloš Forman. It was used so frequently throughout my education, sometimes in fragments and sometimes in whole, depending on how old I was at the time. For years, I think I just assumed it was a fairly strong historical account of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Of course, Amadeus is based on the play by Peter Shaffer, which was adapted into the 1984 film, and now that play has been adapted again into a five-episode limited series starring Paul Bettany and Will Sharpe, stepping into … Continue reading Amadeus: Series Review

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The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 4

John Stark

I’m more than happy to finally jump in and add my thoughts on The Lincoln Lawyer now that I’m on the Tomatometer. It’s a show I’ve enjoyed watching for four seasons now, and even though it’s heading into its fifth and final season, it’s remained one of Netflix’s most consistently entertaining dramas. Season 4 picks up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Season 3, with Mickey Haller becoming the prime suspect in a murder after a body is found in the trunk of his Lincoln. That storyline dominates the entire season, forcing Mickey to defend himself against all odds, first … Continue reading The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 4

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From: Season 4

John Stark

I came to From a little later than most people, but that wasn’t my fault. It was MGM+‘s. When the series premiered, it wasn’t available with audio description, and that’s the kind of show where audio description isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Between the relentless violence, the constantly shifting mysteries, and the sheer number of visual clues, I can’t imagine trying to follow what’s happening without it. Once MGM+ finally added audio description, I binged the first three seasons, reviewed season three, and this time I was able to experience season four the same way everyone else did, week after … Continue reading From: Season 4