The Small Screen Diaries: 09/21/26

I feel like I consistently come in here with bad news all the time, and apparently we’re opening with bad news again. Ride or Die, the Prime Video series starring Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, has been inexplicably canceled after one season. This is particularly surprising considering it outperformed other Prime Video shows that have already been renewed. I’ve seen the trades breaking down the viewership data that is available and lining it up against shows like Off Campus, Elle, and some of the other younger-skewing series Amazon has picked up, and Ride or Die was ahead of several of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/21/26

The Small Screen Diaries: 08/24/26

Yesterday… was nuts. I’m amazed I watched anything. TV Shows Watched: Lanterns: S1E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Solar Opposites: S6E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Strip Law: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description Lanterns- Did we just learn in this episode that Zoey is black? Probably could have gotten that piece of info earlier. I don’t think her intro at the bar in Episode 1 described her, so it forced me into defaulting her into redneck white lady, which she apparently is not. If studios don’t want ethnic description in the AD track, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/24/26

Matlock: Season 2

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

‘Raising Deon’ Cut Short At Netflix

After a two season run, with a pronounced sabbatical between Seasons 1 and 2 due to Covid filming, Raising Deon was unceremoniously axed by Netflix, without a resolution to the storyline. Unlike Wu Assassins, which got a movie, there are currently no plans to move forward with anything that would see Deon get his final shot to put the Crooked man to bed once and for all. And all of this happened when the show was just getting good. We saw how Deon and his friends continued to operate as a mini Justice League, Deon got a new mentor in … Continue reading ‘Raising Deon’ Cut Short At Netflix