Joe Pickett Cancelled

 

It looks like Paramout+ was right a few months ago about the season two finale will be marked as a series finale. 

TVLine has reported that the Paramout+ series won't return for a third season. 

The series is adapted from the novel by the New York Times bestselling author C J. Box. It started with Michael Dorman as the titular Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett. Season one aired in December of 2021 on Spectrum, but not long after, it got picked up for season two. When Spectrum Originals closed up the shop, Paramoit+ picked up the streaming rights to both the first season and the unaired second season, both of which are available to watch.

In the finale season of the western neon crime drama, Joe discovered a hunter murdered in the mountains and then realized that it was just one of a series of gruesome murders. To solve the case, Joe deals with a radio anti-hunting activist, a creepy set of twins living off the grid, and his touted past. 

Back in July, Paramout+ made the hot-minute mistake of calling the season two finale a series finale instead of a season finale, calling it a "typo" and saying that the decision on the series future was still TBD. 

You can catch my thoughts on Joe Pickett from my 2023 Summer TV Binge. 

Are you shocked that Joe Pickett has been canceled even after it cheated death once? Leave a comment below! 

Chicago PD's Tracy Spiridakos Leaving After Season 11

 

Looks like the Intelligence team is losing another one of its own.

Special Ops: Lioness Season 1

 

Is Paramount+'s summer hit series, Special Opd: Lioness, worth watching? Here are my thoughts.

During the summer to early fall, there has been a heavy promotion for the latest Taylor Shedian series, Special Ops: Lioness, and while it's exciting to see and hear of a new series from Sheridan, it might not live up to all the hype. 

Lioness is about a CIA team led by Joe, played by Zoe Saldana, who recruits a rookie marine, played by Laysla De Oliveria, to help befriend the daughter of a terrorist they want to eliminate. 

The one thing I enjoyed about this series was the performance from the star-power ensemble cast from Saldana and De Oliveria, including Jill Wagner, Dave Annable, and Nicole Kidman. And there are some incredible action scenes, too.

But the issue is the story, mainly the secondary story with Joe balancing her job and her family drama. It seems generic, but Saldana and Annable do their best to make it work.  

Lioness is a fine series to watch. It's not great with what the ads have been saying, but there are more good things than bad. It's not Yellowstone, not Seal Team, or The Brave, but if I can watch all eight episodes, maybe you can also watch it.

Overall, I give it an 8/10. 

Have you seen Special Ops: Lioness? Leave a comment.

You can catch all eight episodes of Special Ops: Lioness available on Paramount+.

The Irrational "Pilot"

 

The new fall TV season started this past week, and one of the new shows to hit the fall season is NBC's The Irrational. And It's a series to check out. Here are my thoughts.

We meet Alec Mercer (played by Jessie L. Martin (Law & Order and The Flash), as a world-renowned professor of behavioral psychology with a unique insight into human nature. While getting pulled into a case that involves the murder of a viral celebrity, everything from the evidence points to the suspect, the ex-boyfriend, who also believes that he did it. But Mercer believes that the ex-boyfriend isn't the murderer and proves his point that ends him in the hospital. 

While investigating the case, we learn about our lead character's backstory of the scar burns that he suffered years ago from a bombing, not to mention that the suspect was up for parole but before he could ever clear his innocence, a mysterious person who's at the door gets a look at the suspect who happens to change his mind of not asking for early parole.

It's not a bad first episode, but it's okay. I think the police procedural style of the story is a bit stale. However, I do believe it still has the potential. But I hope writers can balance out the crime-solving with behavioral psychology science.  What comes to my mind as an example is the series Profiler, which added crime procedural with thrillers and science. Martin is perfect for what he's given, and I hope they can develop the character more. If you love Martin solving crime, you'll enjoy this series. 

Overall, I give this episode a 7.5/10.

Have you seen The Irrational? What did you think of the pilot? Leave a comment below!

You can catch The Irrational Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and Peacock.

My Summer TV Binge 2023 Part 2

 

Talk about the summer of catching up. Here's part two of my Summer TV Binge of 2023!

The Diplomat

Netflix's The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell, has to be the one everyone needs to watch. It's a true political thriller that works, but only with Russell. The series is about Kate Wyler, a newly appointed United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who is adjusting to the spotlight while dealing with an international crisis, making alliances all with a marriage that's about to collapse. 

I loved watching this series, as I couldn't stop until the end. While the writing has its primary storylines and one-dimensional characters like the President of the United States, it is played well by Michael McKean. It still works. Kerri Russell is a gem in this series, and I hope to see more in season two. I highly recommend this series. 

Overall, I give it a 9/10.

Primo

If there was ever a little gem of a TV show, I watched this summer, it would be Amazon Freevee's Primo. Created by Shea Serrano and Executive Produced by Mike Schur, this coming-of-age comedy is about Rafa, a 16-year-old high school junior who's navigating school, societal expectations, and a hectic home life that's anchored by his single mom, Drea, and his five uncles. 

If you are a fan of any of Mike Schur's comedies, you'll like this series. It's got plenty of humor, heart, and cultural representation of an American-Mexican family. Christina Vidal, as Drea, is one of the highlights of the series, along with Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, who plays the lead character, Rafa. With the first season containing only eight episodes, it goes quickly and leaves me wanting more. 

Overall, I give the first season a 9.5/10.

You can catch Primo on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee.

Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet was last season's new ABC comedy that stars Gina Rodriguez as Penelope "Nell" Serrano, a journalist who fell apart after a wedding failed and moved back to LA. She soon gets assigned to write obituaries by her new boss and soon begins to encounter ghosts of those whom she's writing their obituaries. 

As she can only see and hear them, she has conversations, and they offer her advice on rebuilding her life while helping her write their obits by telling her their stories. And soon after they get published, ed the ghosts disappear. 

If the premise seems a bit familiar, it's not. I thought the same thing when I heard about this series and quickly thought of Ghosts, but that's not true. This series has a good concept for what it is, even though the supernatural of talking to dead people is never explained, and it has a strong ensemble cast from Hannah Simone, Rick Glassman, and Lauren Ash, plus some stunning star guest stars. It has its moments with its life lessons. 

Overall, I give the first season a 7.5/10. 

Beef

This Netflix series has had some buzz when it premiered in April. It was my brother that had told me to watch it because I might enjoy it. Well, I finally watched it, and I immensely enjoyed it. The Netflix mini-series stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun play two people involved in a road rage incident. It takes you on a roller coaster ride from comedy-drama/psychological and tragicomedy to a thriller, and it works. 

Wong and Yeun are amazing and deservedly deserve Emmy nominations for this series. But I think this ten-episode series felt too long that it could be somewhere between a six and eight-episode series. There are some supporting characters that I didn't care for too much that made me lose interest. But after the ending, I'm up for a season two. 

 

Overall, I give this series an 8/10.

Those are some of my Summer binge-watching 2023. Here's to the fall!