🌅 a new horizon - sv.017

All the TV That’s Fit to Stream

Mar 14

this is streaming variability and I’m a jumbled mess

Little late getting this one out as there has been quite a bit on my mind lately.

For newer folks, you might be confused why this is coming from a Substack with a different name; for older subscribers you likely forgot and/or are wondering why it’s back under foofaraw. I’ll dive in a bit more at the end for those who actually care.

For people who only subscribed to streaming variability and don’t want anything else from me, unfortunately it doesn’t appear Substack allows me to adjust your subscription myself, but I encourage you to use the button below to update your subscription if that’s all you are interested in receiving (completely unsubscribing is an absolutely fair decision for this betrayal since I hate receiving stuff I never signed up for myself).

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On to the important stuff!

If there are any folks in Canada reading this, I have to point out the upcoming Essex County mini-series coming to CBC, this Sunday, March 19th. It won’t be included on The Schedule due to the fact (I believe) a U.S. release is imminent from a yet-to-be revealed service (at least to my limited knowledge).

Essex County is a new mini-series based on the graphic novel of the same name, written and drawn by Jeff Lemire, the same cartoonist behind the amazing Vertigo series Sweet Tooth, which was also turned into a show on Netflix and is coming back for season two soon! Lemire ended up show-running Essex County and given he is easily in the top three of my favorite cartoonists working in comics right now I’m psyched to see how he fared adapting his own material. With all that being said, when it hits U.S. airwaves, it will most definitely be added to The Schedule.

New Stuff

Ted Lasso is back this week (tonight actually!) for it’s third and final season. I don’t know if there is really much to be said. You either love it and are aleady aware or hate it and couldn’t care less. Doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground with this one.

And then their is the series premier of Lucky Hank, bringing us some real gems in the trailer:

Being an adult is 80% misery

and:

I'm concerned I might say something really consistent with my personality, but inconsistent with a modern college campus.

And it’s Bob Odenkirk so it’s basically a must watch (coming from the guy who has only watched one episode of Better Call Saul…).

Quick Reviews

The Last of Us ~ S1

What a killer season of TV. Easily the best thing on TV so far this year and probably the best new show HBO has put out since Succession. While I personally gave the season finale a 9/10, I thought it ended a bit with a whimper (as the world tends to do), but that one intense scene (you know what I’m talking about) was masterful, both as a hold-your-breathe “holy shit he’s doing it” moment, but also as a piece of storytelling, showing us who Joel is and what he is capable of, both physically and emotionally. And E3 is likely to be the best episode of television all year; I have a hard time imagining someone topping it.

Poker Face ~ S1

I guess I have to say it again, but: what a killer season of TV. Natasha Lyonne can do no wrong in my book and the episode she directed, The Orpheus Syndrome was absolutely top notch. While Rian Johnson set out to make an episodic TV show, a la Columbo, in an attempt to get away from all of the season long or even series long storylines TV is flooded with as of late, the wrap of season one made me roll my eyes a bit. It sets things up for season two essentially right back where we started in season one. Maybe that’s Johnson’s way of not doing season long arcs (in a tongue-in-cheek manner) by doing the same arc every season and letting the episodes tell their own stories, but it felt a bit “ughh” to me. Still an excellent season of TV and likely to make my top ten at the end of the year.

The History of the World Part II

While I was a bit worried this would be overly cheesy from an older auteur trying to make a comeback, I was pleasantly surprised to find 90% of this to be extremely enjoyable. There were a few sketches / storylines that got a bit tiresome and didn’t land with me, but for the most part, it was a super enjoyable way to spend a few hours. I have to give Mel Brooks credit for bringing in a lot of great people both for cameos, but more importantly, for writing and directing, seemingly handing over the keys to his creation and still having something enjoyable at the end of it. Nick Kroll was probably the MVP for me, but there were tons of hilarious performances through out.

That’s probably enough from me this week. I’ll try to touch on the premiers of Perry Mason, Rain Dogs, Ted Lasso, and Lucky Hank next week.

Monday

Perry Mason (HBO) 2:2

Rain Dogs (HBO) 1:2

Tuesday

Ted Lasso (Apple) 3:1

Wednesday

The Ark (Syfy) 1:7

South Park (HBO/Comedy Central) 26:5

The Mandalorian (Disney) 3:3

Thursday

Star Trek: Picard (Paramount) 3:5

Friday

Shrinking (Apple) 1:9

Hello Tomorrow! (Apple) 1:7

Liaison (Apple) 1:4

Party Down (Starz) 3:4

Daisy Jones & the Six (Amazon) 1:7-8

The Problem with John Stewart (Apple) 2:9

Sunday

Your Honor (Showtime) 2:10

Godfather of Harlem (MGM) 3:9

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) 10:5

The Circus (Showtime) 8:4

Lucky Hank (AMC) 1:1

Legend

Season/Series Premier: bold

Season/Series Finale: italic

If you are still here and wondering, what’s up with this foofaraw thing? Well, originally it was something I set-up to experiment in my own little corner of the Internet. Then it birthed streaming variability before sv graduated and moved on to it’s own publication on Substack.

So why bring them back together again? Well, there isn’t really a great short answer (I’m also terrible at being concise).

I’m trying to do a zine-like thing where I take some of my own money and pay people for contributions/submissions, which will then be published here as a newsletter, as a PDF/epub, and a (probably crappy) printed zine. Since the zine will, at most, be two issues a year (if I even get enough submissions to get one out the door), I didn’t want the site to sit stagnant in between issues. So sv will be that regular offering to fill the downtime. And given I’m sinking some money into getting contributions, I won’t be able to make foofaraw free.

While streaming variability will always be free, I’m introducing a paid tier to support the zine. I’ll be honest with you, until there is actually a zine, you won’t get much for your money (and my track record for following through is spotty at best). However, I will be keeping a journal about creating the zine (along with some other tidbits) here (behind the paywall) and I’ll also be bringing back the news (sometimes paywalled, sometimes not) to provide a modicum of value for your money, if you are so inclined and crazy enough to willingly support this thing with your hard earned cash. Subscribers will also get access to the zine through the newsletter, as well as PDF/epub copies, a discount on the printed zine when it’s ready, and full access to the archives.

Well that’s it. If you want to find out more about the zine or how you can participate, follow me down this dark hallway, right this way.

As always, stay sane.

-humdrum