Genre: TV Series              

Grade: B+/B

Notable People:  James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Sela, Ashton Holmes, Josh Helman, Created by: Bruce McKenna

Title: The Pacific

Review This mini series is a companion piece to the highly awarded HBO 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, but is focused on the much lesser known Pacific theater (interesting r?) of WWII. The sheer brutally of the endless battles from Iwo Jima to Okinawa through a hundred tiny and remote islands is staggering. The story is derived from the post-war books written by two of the three main characters and is generally a true story. The endless battle scenes can be bit much at times- very realistic and you feel like you are there dodging pieces of flying human flesh. The back stories are more accessible. Well done, well shot, and very informative- the utter horror of this war makes for more sympathy of why we dropped the bomb.

Genre: TV Series            

Grade: B+

Notable People:  David Oyelowo, Lauren Banks, Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Forrest Goodluck, Created by: Chad Feehan

Title: Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Review: The latest of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone related franchise is the true story of Bass Reeves–  a former slave who became an American lawman. He was the first African-American US Marshall west of the Mississippi River and became a folk hero for his fight against ongoing post-civil war slavery practices. Sheridan is clearly the master of the modern day western and Oyelowo is compelling as the main a character, but the show felt a bit stiff and somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the cast is sterling and the cinematography and attention to period detail is wonderful. Banks excels as the long suffering frontier wife. This is a major statement about the role of African -Americans in the settling of the West-one we have seen little of before. The “Lawmen” franchise is scheduled to continue with different historical protagonists each season- but this is one and done for Bass.

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A+

Notable People:  Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Ricky Schroder, Mark -Paul Gossalaar, James McDaniel, Gordon Clapp, Henry Rollins, Sharon Lawrence, Kim Delaney, Amy Brenneman, Nicholas Turturro, Charlotte Ross, Bill Brochtrup, Jacqueline Obradors, Esai Morales, Created by Steven Bochco and David Milch

Title: NYPD Blue

Review: From THE VAULT. We always a have a show that we watch while eating dinner on TV tray table several nights a week, re-creating our 50s-60s childhoods- and NYPD Blue had been it for most of the last five years-took that long to get thru 12 seasons and over 250 episodes. The show ran from 1993 thru 2005, and may genuinely be the forerunner of what the art of streaming TV has become. Brilliantly shot and conceived, dark, gritty, funny and covering a virtual landmine of social issues week after week that stand up yet today. The cast was beyond perfect; Franz so well defined as the alcoholic curmudgeon, Andy Sipowitz, that he was hard put to find another role after this one. His four partners over 12 years, Caruso, Smits, Schroder and Gossalaar were a parade of primo matches. The supporting cast of the 15^th precinct featured a who’s who of fine character actors and many of the show’s guest stars went on to great fame and fortune after the NYPD stepping stone. Captivating, hard hitting and the original must-see hour of television. If you have never watched, take the plunge. If like us, you are looking to revisit a classic, it was even better the second time around. I wept at the ending of season 12- episode 20 as Sipowitz fades away into the background. Brilliant.

Genre: TV Series                         

Grade: A

Notable People:  Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Created by Jen Statsky and Paul Downs

Title: Hacks

Review: Brilliantly written and conceived dark comedy about a dark mentorship formed between Deborah Vance, a legendary, and fading, Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer. Smart, of Designing Women fame, is flat out THE Bomb on this eccentric and sleeper of a show. Th supporting cast is great and the capture of both Vegas fade and LA posh- fake seems dead on and ridiculously funny. Alternating between great one liners and really complicated relationships , this is a unique show, well worth the half hour investments of time. The chemistry between the two mains is shockingly good.

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: B+

Notable People:  Aria Maria Loberti, Louis Hoffman, Lars Derringer, Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, Created by Shawn Levy

Title: All the Light We Cannot See

Review: The four part limited series is an ambitious attempt to follow the wonderful and complex 2014 bestselling novel by Anthony Doerr about a blind French girl broadcasting coded Allied secrets from a remote town shortwave radio at the defining moments of the second world war. Set in the Nazi stronghold of St. Malo, France as it is being overrun by the advancing allied army, it is a powerful tale of perseverance and redemption. Loberti shines in the meaty main role and Ruffalo and Laurie are excellent as her father and great uncle. A poignant portrait of the heroism of the French resistance that dos not quite do justice to the elaborately conceived masterful novel, but is certainly worth consideration its own merit.

Genre: TV Series                            

Grade: B+

Notable People:  Samantha Morton, Barry Atsma, Kiruna Stamel, Senia Nenua, Created by Justin Haythe

Title: The Serpent Queen

Review: The series follows the story of Catherine de’ Medici, who marries into the French court as a fourteen-year-old teenager expected to bring in a fortune in dowry and produce heirs. Despite many challenges, a lifetime of clever political maneuvering allows her to rule France as queen for 30 years. Morton is devilishly devious in the title role and surrounded by treachery and deceit. Chilling portrayal of the lust for power and the non-flinching sacrifice of those in the way. Good cast. Good plot. Drags at times. Second season has been renewed.