Tag: Netflix

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/26/26

John Stark

Since it’s Sunday morning, let’s start by looking at a couple of shows coming up this week that you may be interested in. From what I can tell, one of the biggest premieres is War, the new HBO Max legal drama starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, which has a lot of buzz around it and drops on Thursday. That’s the same day as East of Eden, Zoe Kazan’s new adaptation starring Florence Pugh, which premieres on Netflix. We also have some returning favorites this week, including Scrubs on ABC, plus the Animation Domination block with The Simpsons, Grimsburg and … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/26/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/25/26

John Stark

Well, to start off my Friday, of course I watched the season finale of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe on HBO Max with audio description narrated by Elliot Schiff. The finale, “Spoiler: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience,” of course has people divided, but the one thing we shall not be divided on is the excellent audio description that Elliot has provided all season long. I actually liked this show way more than I thought I would when they conceptually announced that there would be yet another Big Bang Theory spinoff. I figured it would continue to deplete the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/25/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/24/26

John Stark

I think the biggest, and really only relevant, TV news to kick this off today is the fact that Netflix has once again proven the term “limited series” means absolutely nothing. They have picked up The Beast in Me for a second season. Originally billed as a limited series, the show is coming back with Claire Danes set to return as Aggie Wiggs following her Emmy-nominated work in the first season. We’ll see if this turns out to be a good decision for Netflix or not. In other TV news, only because I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, Disney+ … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/24/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/22/26

John Stark

Kicking off today, I continued with Furious, season one, episode two, which is available on Hulu and through Disney+ with Hulu, with audio description. This definitely is a winner. I can understand a bit more now as to why it has become a breakout hit. Lola Petticrew is still captivating here as this killer with a sympathetic angle, allowing you to follow her as a protagonist instead of purely as an antagonist. Sort of like the mysterious person in The Shards, it would be hard to justify everything that she does, but the way Furious shapes Petticrew’s mysterious character allows … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/22/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/21/26

John Stark

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

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/18/26

John Stark

Unfortunately, we have to start off the Small Screen Diary for today with a sad bit of news. Not really, because I gave up on the show after the first episode, but I’m sure someone out there cares. Netflix has canceled Sweet Magnolias, which really indicates to me, following the cancellation of Ransom Canyon, that there’s a very specific audience that has either abandoned Netflix or that Netflix is looking at abandoning. And if I was a fan of Virgin River, I would be afraid. I would be very afraid. I mean, I am casually a fan of Virgin River, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/18/26

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A Good Girls Guide To Murder: Season 2

John Stark

The biggest revelation coming out of streaming might be that there’s enough data now to show that shows filmed within a tighter window and released in a reasonable amount of time perform better and retain more of their audience from season to season than shows with longer breaks. I would say, especially for shows with large ensembles, difficult plot structures, and fantastical worlds we’re somehow supposed to remember years later, that has to be true. I definitely look at certain shows coming up where I know I saw the first season, and there’s a new season coming out, and I … Continue reading A Good Girls Guide To Murder: Season 2

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The Small Screen diaries: 09/13/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking dead: Dead city: S3E8 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E6 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, My brilliant Career: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, The Shards: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Have I Got News For you: S5E1 (HBO MAX) no audio description, jeopardy Masters: S4E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The paper: S2E1 (Peacock) with audio description Dead City- Already reviewed, but 1 of 8 episodes with audio description is not accessibility. If eight kids were dropped off at day care, and one survived, that daycare doesn’t remain open. Tomb Raider King- … Continue reading The Small Screen diaries: 09/13/26

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My Brilliant Career: Season 1

John Stark

I choose me. What a bold decision. Never before done by anyone in any film or television series, limited or otherwise. But those big, beautiful words, that power, and so many strong female leads, along with a few strong male leads, are becoming awfully redundant and more than a little derivative. Of course, it’s hard to call Netflix’s My Brilliant Career derivative when it’s adapted from a 1901 novel by Miles Franklin. A lot of the characters who have followed Sybylla Melvyn and had their own self-awakenings may, in fact, have knocked off this novel to begin with. It’s not … Continue reading My Brilliant Career: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/12/26

John Stark

A lot coming up this week for fans of returning shows. Not only do we kick off the week on Monday with The Emmys, but Dancing With The Stars (ABC), RJ Decker (ABC), The Voice (NBC), Masterchef (FOX), Kitchen Nightmares (FOX), Slow horses (Apple), South Park (Comedy), Mobland (Paramount plus), and Outlander Blood Of My Blood (Starz) all return, the latter of them may not have audio description. Netflix is also smashing the Lizzie Borden story with Eileen Wurnos for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but Ryan Murphy in Monster. Perhaps because there’s already a well known film titled Monster that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/12/26

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Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

John Stark

The benefit of having aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes is that you can find critics who come from all various walks of life, with different perspectives, approaching each film from a different angle, with a different background and a different subset of films that we’ve seen throughout our lifetimes. Different upbringings, different life struggles, so on and so forth. And in this regard, you have stumbled onto a review of a Tyler Perry movie. But not just any Tyler Perry movie. The third film in the Why Did I Get Married? franchise. And you get to read this from the perspective … Continue reading Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/10/26

John Stark

Never Forget. Yesterday, Netflix surprisingly axed Ransom canyon, which dipped over 40% from Season 1 to season 2. It is a recurring problem with streaming TV. The longer the wait, the bigger the drop. Despite feeling like it fit perfectly along Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias, with a dash of the Taylor Sheridan vibe, Ransom canyon couldn’t buy its audience back. Also, in blind news, sighted gamers are complaining about the existence of accessibility within the new Wolverine game, and Neon’s Hope topped Spider-Man: Brand New Day in its first day of release, despite not having an English Audio Description … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/10/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/08/26

John Stark

I’m still trapped in my own personal hell, so welcome back to Reinventing the Small Screen Diaries for the time being. I tried to watch some things today, and while my attention span wasn’t always willing to cooperate, I did manage to bounce among four very different shows. First up was the new Netflix series My Brilliant Career, which follows Sybylla Melvyn, a young Australian woman who wants to become a writer and has absolutely no interest in getting married. She doesn’t necessarily want to leave her family behind either, but they’re poor, have too many children to support, and … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/08/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/06/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E7 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Black Torch: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Elle: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description,Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: S4E7 (Netflix) with audio description, The Doomies: S1E2 (Disney Plus) with audio description Dead City- No audio description again. Only one episode this season dropped with it. Baffling. Also, this episode revealed the writers are still unable to write eight episode seasons. You did not earn this episode. Black Torch- Fairly easy to understand fantasy series about an aspiring ninja with the ability to talk to animals merging with an … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/06/26

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The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103: Series Review

John Stark

This is not the first adaptation of the Lockerbie bombing, but it might be the best. That’s a hard thing to say when I haven’t seen every other version of the story, but I don’t know how another dramatization could necessarily surpass this one. We have a tendency to sensationalize true stories, oftentimes almost embarrassingly so, completely rewriting history to fit a decidedly more audience-friendly narrative. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 does simplify things and admittedly features composite characters who are amalgamations of multiple people who worked across more than a decade to bring justice to the victims, but … Continue reading The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103: Series Review