Channels and Networks

Unpopular opinion though it might be, I think Mayor Christie Holman has been my favourite character in Murder in a Small Town Season 2.

It would be a bit of a stretch to say that the East Hollywood DMV office has ever really felt like a team. It’s a designation that most of the employees would actively avoid in usual circumstances, but Episode 7 of the CBS sitcom, “There Is No I in DMV”, is not operating under usual circumstances.

Just in case you needed any more evidence that Watson works best as a straight-up medical drama that has nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes, look no further than “Giant Steps”, which is, by my count, the first and thus far only genuinely good episode of Season 2.

Ron did it. He finally found out what Tecca is up to. And, as predicted, Tecca are up to something.

Networking is a deliberately nebulous word, one typically used as an excuse for getting drunk with people whose company you stand to benefit from in one way or another.

It: Welcome to Derry has held off on leveraging the iconic smirking visage of Bill Skarsgård’s bulbous-headed Pennywise the Clown.

Talamasca: The Secret Order has one of those endings. You know the kind I mean. Episode 6 – in hindsight, six episodes were nowhere near...

Since DMV started, I’ve complained pretty consistently about the focus on Colette and the one-note mode the character generally operates in.

It’s pretty uncontroversial to describe John Watson as a bit of a do-gooder.

I know I’m always moaning about this show for reasons that it sometimes can’t even help, but “Masterpiece” – a provocative title in itself, I think – doesn’t really feel like Murder in a Small Town, you know what I mean?

I’m not the type to ever be caught in the heart of a scandal – unless there’s a group of people somewhere who really care...

The Chair Company isn’t getting worse in any meaningful sense, but I think Episode 6, “Happy Birthday, a friend”, is the point where it has reached the outer limit of how much great throwaways and weird juxtapositions alone can sustain it.

It’s hard to critique It: Welcome to Derry. It has been since the beginning, really. On the level of its broad storytelling, it leaves a lot to be desired, with two pretty ill-fitting concurrent storylines playing out simultaneously, and little overlap as yet.

When Talamasca: The Secret Order started, it was quite enjoyably serious.

People are sleeping on Sheriff Country. I’m not suggesting it’s secretly a prestige drama or anything, but as far as procedurals go, it’s really a very fine version of that oh-so-familiar format, and I think you can see it quite clearly in Episode 5, “Expecting Trouble”.

You see how much difference a bit of disagreement makes? For all its strengths as a procedural, this is the one area where Boston Blue...

When a show like Murder in a Small Town has an episode like “This, That, and the Other Thing” in its locker, it can sometimes make you wonder why it’s so content to be mediocre most of the time.

If nothing else, at least DMV seems to be listening to me. I've been crying out for the sitcom to give Colette something -- anything -- different to do, and in Episode 5, "Stick Shift", it just about manages it.