Guys, I think private detective shows are coming back into fashion. They’d been left in the land of re-runs for a long time, with the occasional attempt to revive the format such as Terriers struggling to find an audience.
But then CBS resurrected Magnum PI, which was like a breath of fresh air in a market stuffed full of police procedurals. And now, a year on, we have Stumptown, ABC’s effort.
I wonder how long it’ll be before the other networks have a go, too, because like Magnum PI,Stumptown ain’t half bad.
Smuldering
Stumptown is an example of another reasonably rare phenomenon – an adaptation of a graphic novel that isn’t about superheroes or the supernatural. Instead, it takes Greg Rucka (Wonder Woman, Queen & Country)’s Stumptown characters and fleshes them out into a woke combination of comedy and drama.
Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Avengers Assemble, Captain America: Winter Soldier) plays Dex Parios, a former marine with PTSD who now spends most of her time drinking her invalidity benefit and gambling in the local Portland reservation’s casino. She also has a younger brother with Down Syndrome whom she cares for.
When she loses big time again at the casino, its owner – and Dex’s almost mother-in-law – Sue Lynn Blackbird (Tantoo Cardinal) offers to clear her debt in exchange for Dex using her Marine hunting powers to locate her missing granddaughter.
Naturally, it’s not quite as simple as all that, leading Dex to come into conflict – and something a bit more pleasant – with the local police (Almost Human’s Michael Ealy).
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Netflix’s Criminal: France
This week’s reviews
Despite the launch of the Fall season in the US this week, it’s been a quiet one for TMINE, with just Netflix’s multi-country police interrogation show Criminal getting a Boxset Monday review.
Why so quiet? Well, I have been sad to discover that few have really been good enough so far to warrant a full review.
That means that after the jump, expect some brief rundowns on both Mondays and Tuesday’s new US shows: Bob ♥ Abishola (CBS), All Rise (CBS), Prodigal Son (Fox), Bluff City Law (NBC), Mixed-ish (ABC) and Emergence (ABC). None of them have been picked up UK networks yet, which suggests I’m not 100% wrong in my judgement of them.
However, that’s all four broadcast networks (that have viewers – sorry, CW) airing something new, and there are at least three keepers in there for now, one of which is really good. Which network produced the best ones? Find out after the jump – it might not be the one you’re expecting.
Netflix’s The Politician
What’s coming this week
With Fall in progress, I doubt I’ll be able to fit in an Orange Thursday, unfortunately, although I do have Netflix’s Between Two Ferns: The Movie pencilled in, in case of miracles.
But I should be able to do brief reviews at least before next WHYBW of the following shows: Stumptown (ABC), The Unicorn (CBS), Perfect Harmony (NBC), Carol’s Second Act (CBS), Sunnyside (NBC) and Evil (CBS).
Boxset Monday? Well, fingers crossed, it’ll be Netflix’s The Politician. But we’ll see. Could be anything.
DC Universe’s Titans
The regulars
It’s the usual usuals after the jump: כפולים (False Flag), Flateyjargátan (The Flatey Enigma), Glitch, Mr Inbetween and Titans. Unfortunately, my Pennyworth catch-up schedule has been hit by all the new shows, so that’ll have to wait for a bit. But I will get there in the end. Promise.
