TV Corner's 2024 Summer TV Binge List, Part 1

 

With the new school year approaching and the cozy fall season approaching, I’m excited to share my list of TV shows I enjoyed this summer! It’s become a fun tradition for me over the past few years. 

I've certainly indulged in various shows this summer—some were a bit overstuffed, while others were thrilling, romantic, and action-packed. I even had a few second thoughts about some of my choices! So, here's part one of my 2024 summer TV binge list, and I can’t wait to share more with you! 

My 2020 Summer Watch-list

With fall just around the corner, I thought I would share my summer watchlist of shows I've watched these past five months. Here we go!

Station 19 Season 1 (ABC)

I will go into more detail in another post, but I finally had the chance to watch the first season of Station 19, the third spinoff of Grey's Anatomy. I was hesitant to watch this series from the start, but after watching the first season, I thought it was good but not great.

The one thing that kept me watching was the characters, while some of the stories felt a bit overly dramatic. The one thing I didn't like was just before the end of the scene; flashforward scenes of what was coming next ruined some of the surprising moments for me. Jaina Lee Ortiz (playing Andy Herrera) was excellent in this series (so far). I'm considering watching season two, as I give season one a 7/10.

Hunter Season 1 (Peacock Streaming Service)

This summer, I got to watch the new Peacock Streaming Service, and there have been a few new series I've got a chance to watch and a classic. One is the 80's cop series Hunter, starring Fred Dryer.

Dryer plays Hunter, a cop who goes with his instincts rather than what his boss wants him to do. It's the Los Angeles of Miami Vice, with Dryer co-starring with Stephanie Kramer as Dee Dee McCall. The first season was so filled with action, drama, and gritty scenes at times that I was all in for the next two days watching this series. I give this series an 8.5/10.

The Capture Season 1 (Peacock Streaming Service, BBC One)

I've already written my thoughts on this series, but I want to discuss it again. The Capture is another Peacock Streaming Service original, also a BBC series, that won me over in storytelling, characters, and the performance from Callum Turner, who steals the show. This series leaves you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to the end of the last episode and asks, "Did he deserve it?" 9.5/10.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix)

I must thank my brothers for getting me to watch this series from beginning to end. My brother grew up and loves Avatar the Last Airbender, so when Netflix finally gets to stream the complete series, he called me to sit and watch it.

I finished watching that series in four days, with season two done in one day. I loved it, loved it, loved it! The show has dark adult themes for a kid's series that aired on Nickelodeon. While Aang might be the popular character, I'm a fan of Katara, Toph, and Uncle, and I think water bending is the coolest bending in the Avatar world.  10/10.

Quarantine Quitchen (YouTube)

Since the pandemic of COVID-19 was hitting the United States, YouTube has had a lot of shows to distract from the overwhelming news coverage. There was one show that helped me through the stresses, and that was Quarantine Quitchen. 

It is hosted by Alton Brown and his wife, Elizabeth, as it's just a night with the Browns, including their dogs, while they cook up something on the spot. And yes, there will be cocktails to make as well. It's fun entertaining, and you learn to cook something, even a cocktail. 9/10.

America's Got Talent (NBC)

The show that I can rely on the most this year is America's Got Talent, for a lot of things. This hasn't been the best summer or year, no matter what's been going on, but America's Got Talent gives us hope and inspiration that in the darkness, there's always a light at the end, and it's been proven to be what this season has shown.

This season has been one of the strangest performances at home or on stage that have been taped; it has gone so well than I could have expected. And Simon Cowell's absence is missing after his accident, but the fill-in judges from Kelly Clarkson and Kenan Thompson have been excellent. Who will win? It's too early to call, but I expect it will be magical and extraordinary. 9/10.

My Summer TV Viewing of Throwback Crime Drama to Saving the World For The Good of The Students.

Summer is the time to take vacations, relax and either catch up on books, movies or even television shows that you've might have missed in the past year or so. Well, my summer didn't quite go the way that I had hoped it would and I have to blame that on the air conditioner unit for that and now I'm staying at my mother's house for the time being.

My plan this summer was to not only catch up on the shows that I've been behind on like Supergirl, Black Lightning and The Blacklist, just to name a few but to catch up on shows that were to come out this summer and a couple of throwbacks as well. Hell, I was going to hit Netflix hard this summer with their series and movies.

 Let me just say that I've pretty much gotten to see new and old shows and slowly began to catch up on the others. Here' are some thoughts on the show that have been my summer viewing.

Stranger Things 3

Yes, it was always on my radar to watch it once the hit Netflix sci-fi drama gets released. And even though it took me four days to complete, it was the best four days that I have ever had this summer. The third season was literally the best and I loved the first two seasons. The storyline in each episode kept me on the edge of my rocking chair. There were OMG moments and there were tissue moments.  I believe that David Harbour will get some award recognition within the next year for this season. I really hope that Netflix gives the show a Season 4. 9.5/10.

Mr. Iglesias 

It's probably one of the sleeper shows of the summer and one that I had doubts about when I first saw the first trailer. Seeing a comedian playing a high school teacher seemed to be a repeat of other shows like Mr. Robinson for example. That being said I freakin love this show and better yet it really has a strong message about teachers sticking up for their students. Not only does Gabriel Iglesias is hilarious, but the students in his character's class are amazing as well, especially Cree Cicchino. And the best part is that Netflix has renewed it the show for a second season. I highly recommend watching Mr. Iglesias. 9/10.

Silent Witness, Season One

You know sometimes accidentally finding series to watch might be the best thing to do during the summer. One day as I was looking for a mini-series at Barnes and Noble, for which they didn't have, I stumble upon the BBC drama and mysteries series lineups. As a few caught my eye, there's one that quickly got me to purchase, Silent Witness Season One.

The first season on DVD contains four 90 minute episodes of which I was very much thrilled. Even though I didn't watch them all at once but separate to give each episode breathing room. It almost feels like that I'm watching a Sunday Night Movie of the Week meets Murder, She Wrote.

Amanda Burton (for the first eight seasons) played forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan, who helps solve cases with evidence that speaks out louder than just words. She can find the truth from calcified bones, decomposed and charred bodies to even the tales fingerprints. Burton plays the role so good, think of her the early versions of Jordan Cavanaugh from Crossing Jordan and Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones.

The writing is so good and the character development was as good too. The only thing that I might have an issue is that the series is still on the air and just finished it's 22 season this year with season 23 to air sometime next year. If you like a good crime thrilling mystery this series might be the one for you. During the summer with no football and all the Sunday programs are all reruns, I highly recommend putting this on.


Well, that's pretty much what I've been watching this summer that would be considered new. It still doesn't help that the fact is that I'm still behind on other shows from 2018-2019, for which I'll get done before the fall season starts. Hope you have an awesome final week of summer.

Shades of Blue Season 1 and 2 recap

We're just less than eight hours til the season premiere of the final season of Shades of Blue. If you haven't seen the last two seasons of the show, here's a quick recap.

In season one where it all started, we meet Detective Harlee Santos, who's a corrupt cop with the Street Crimes squad in the NYPD's 64th Precinct in Brooklyn, Just as things were going well with her, she gets caught by the FBI agent Robert Stahl. He makes a deal with her in exchange for shorten sentencing she turns in her Lieutenant, Matt Wozniak.

But Wozniak sense someone has been snitching in the group and tells Harlee about it in private, because he trust her. It not only drives Woz and Harlee crazy but it puts their team in a stressful time when a member of the team gets killed, because Woz thinks he was the one who's been talking with the FBI.

If that wasn't enough for Harlee, her ex-boyfriend and the father to her daughter comes back and gets release from jail due to bad evidence. He wants to meet with his daughter and Harlee as well. But Harlee pays him in cash to stay away but that wasn't going to happen at all.

It finally goes down with Stahl taking Woz, but the ending left a huge cliffhanger when Harlee confronts her ex's and he tries to rape her but she snaps his neck.

Season 2 was even more character driven than the first season with a whole lot of twist, turns and personal.

Just after Harlee snaps her ex's neck, she takes him out and digs his grave. But she gets a phone call and joins with Woz and explains to him that what she had to do was all for her kid. She asked him how he got away from Stahl and he tells her that he works for him now trying to get someone for him, who that would be seemed to be the Boss of New York, but that wasn't til Stahl tells them that he wants Councilwoman Julia Ayres, who killed his partner long ago.

It's been nothing but back and forth between Woz and Stahl til Stahl got the best of Woz and mailed his wife photos of his secret life as a bisexual.

As Harlee and Woz worked together to get Ayres the best they can, Stahl digs into Harlee's life, connecting with her daughter and searching for her father. He figures out that Harlee had killed her ex and tries blackmail her more and more, but she turned the tables on him when she informed the FBI of what he has been doing, for which he gets fired.

Things take a turn when Woz and the team get taken out with guns shots firing at them, hitting Woz's son. After things got really personal and Woz gets Ayres but not after she was elected Mayor. But it turns tragic twist when Woz gets shot point blank at the office and Stahl kidnaps Harlee, who happens to have a fetish for her, but she kicks his butt and tries to escape leaving with an intense cliffhanger.

Shades of Blue has been delivering week in and week out some of the best drama in the last two seasons on television. Not only does Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta gives great performances but the show's cast delivers too. With strong stories, it delivers with moments of character development and the twist and turns just leaves the audience stunned.

You can catch the season premiere of Shades of Blue tonight at 10/9c on NBC.

The Night Shift Cancelled

It looks like the time for The Night Shift has come to a closed.

TVLine.com has learn that NBC summer medical drama has been cancelled after four season

Eoin Macken posted a message on Instagram about the news.

Macken and Jill Flint lead the cast as ER doctors working the late shift at San Antonio Memorial Hospital, where many of the doctors had also served in the military. Also Part of Five alum, Scott Wolfe played trauma surgeon Dr. Scott Clemmens, who started as a recurring guest star and moved up to series regular for the third and four season. Ken Leung was also part of the series for the first three seasons of the show and made headlines when he departed the show before Season 4.

Season 4 averaged 3.85 million total viewers and a 0.7 demo rating,which is down 30 and 23 percent from it's Season 3 average. The season 4 finale, which aired August 31, served as the series finale. For which if you have watched it or not does serves a nice ending to the series with every character moving on in their lives and doing meaningful things.

Co-creator Gabe Sachs tweeted a message to fans of the news.

"We want to thank our amazing creators and executive producers, Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, for their dedication and stellar work; a cast and crew that were second to none; and the city of Albuquerque, N.M., which graciously opened its arms to us," NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke said in a statement. "For four seasons, The Night Shift gave audiences a window to heroic doctors, nurses and all-star medical workers who never hesitated to give their blood, sweat and time to help those most in need."