#SpotlightSaga

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Kevin Cage of Spotlight Saga TV Reviews... Requiem (S01E01) Matilda Airdate: Feb 2, 2018 (UK) 3/19/18 (US) @TVTime Ratings: 4.84 Million (UK) @BBCOne @Netflix Score: 4/10 @SpotlightSaga @CulturePit **************SPOILER FREE**************** ‘Requiem’ doesn’t exactly suck you in from its first meticulous minutes that slowly plod along as the ‘Matilda’ episode sets up a mystery around every ‘Red Herring’ & ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ that the writer’s possibly can think of. It’s almost too much; and that doesn’t feel right to say; because, ultimately, the delivery all around is quite minimal. We’re not given much to go on with any character... Matilda Gray (Lydia Wilson) leads the cast to a remote village in Wales after her mother mysteriously pops up at the back of one of her concerts & suddenly (and very violently) pleadingly apologizes to her as she takes her own life. Matilda is left clues by her mother, who besides some antidepressants and general anxiety, was completely acting out sorts in her last moments. Matilda chases the generally placed clues around with her boyfriend Hal Fine (Joel Fry) only to uncover more & more mystery and people behaving slightly strange... But not really anymore than Matilda who, along with her boyfriend, resembles a modern Hipster version of a clairvoyant Scooby Doo... You know, but without the dog. If everything at every turn is a mystery, then it’s hard to get truly invested in any of the mysteries the Mini-Series is serving up. Right off the bat you get some excellent cinematography and traditional Welsh music of the Classical variety... I’m assuming the latter was a decision that links Matilda to her profession as a Cellist, which may or may not be connected to something else. It’s hard to say. Frankly, ‘Requiem’s opener is pretty damn boring... But it’s aesthetically pleasing enough to assure most casual Netflix Bingers to stay with the BBCOne collaboration for at least another episode or two. There’s only 6 episodes in total, so that may have an affect on viewers as well. People are more likely to stick out a series that doesn’t grab them right away if there isn’t 30-30 episodes in its season... And surely something this beautiful will go somewhere, right? We know you can’t really judge a book by its cover (that seems to be especially true when applied to the world of television & film), but there’s enough intrigue here to mix with the series’ intoxicating signature wide shots of lush green Welsh Countryside to at least stop you from grabbing the remote and admitting you made a mistake after just the first episode. Admittedly, that could be a real thought running through one’s head after watching this one. So far we’re right smack dab in the middle of the road.

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Young Sheldon /S01\/E01\ Pilot Airdate: September 25, 2017 @CBS Ratings: 16.57 Million :: 3.7 18-49 Demo Share Score: 6.75/10 @SpotlightSaga @CulturePit *************SPOILER FREE REVIEW************* Oh, what a shame... Did we miss the party? You know, I’m not really sure who the demographic is that is giving ‘The Big Bang Theory’ all of its monstrous numbers... Ok, well, I have an idea... But I’d hate to get ahead of myself like my other half, Cody Cole. Besides, everyone is allowed a handful of ‘Guilty Pleasures’, right? I sure as hell know that I’ve got mine. Even tho I don’t use the account anymore, I used to have a Spotify Playlist for songs that appeared on the UPN turned CW Series ‘One Tree Hill’. And yes, that’s embarrassing, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s very much true. I love ‘One Tree Hill’ and I cried like a little baby in S9 when (of course, you know I’m not going to reveal any spoilers, right?) the culmination of the main story arc that started the show off, came to one of the most tearful & satisfying conclusions ever on television. Yes, I love that show that fn’ much, ridiculous, I know... I pretend that S8 didn’t happen... But hey, when you run 9 Seasons of 20-25 Episodes, you’re bound to get some bad ideas some of the time. Now’s when you breathe your big sigh of relief... Judging by its pilot, ‘Young Sheldon’ doesn’t appear to fall in the category of ‘Guilty Pleasure’. Quite the opposite, actually. Remember how we all felt after the 1st Season of CBS ’Life In Pieces’. That hopeful, feel-good spirit was attached to something uniquely constructed with a powerhouse cast, something that didn’t normally happen on CBS, at least in such high quality... A Single Camera Sitcom. While ‘Young Sheldon’ may not look completely unique at first glance, its admittedly giving off a ‘Goldbergs-Mature’ vibe, and that’s hard to deny... But what originality it lacks within the walls of its narrative construct, it more than makes up in a fresh, restrained approach. The normal, tv-family chaos is still there, but at the epicenter of the organized madness, we have an observer... He’s not exactly a reliable narrator in theory, but he is in character. You see, Sheldon tells it like it is... And since this is something that pretty much all human children are known for... Famed Co-Creators & Co-Writers Chuck Lorre & Steven Molaro make sure that Little-Man, Iain Armitage (YS), turns up the awkward observations, just like his very own grown version and narrator, Big Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) from TBBT. I’m not so sure Young Sheldon is meant to be abnormally cute, or likable for that matter. The show approaches normal, southwestern families in the 80s with a pragmatic point of view. It’s existential in nature, and feels like a show that could also feel right at home on a Streaming Network like Amazon Prime. Lorre & Armitage also know that since this is from a child’s POV, the world is scary is nature... Even to the smartest, brightest minds around. Rarely do we cover CBS Sitcoms, although we’ve been known to indulge in Bear Claw Heaven with Kevin James on ‘Kevin Can Wait’, and we’re basically almost there with the aforementioned ‘Life In Pieces’... It just had a rough S2. You see, CBS has been gearing up; polishing up the CBS All Access Network, of course TBBT is always a Network Focus, reshooting entire episodes of Star Trek, and making sure Big Brother #768 (or whatever season its on) keeps steady numbers... It’s strange when you think of all the factors that can have some sort of snowball effect on the finished product of a Big 4 Network TV Series. It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that clearly the Network Giant’s focus has also very much been on this show as well. It’s clear, crystal clear, that CBS is very much behind ‘Young Sheldon’. To say this series was handled with care is an understatement. It’s polished, introspective, and brushes off chances to pull cheap laughs... Everything a normal CBS Sitcom doesn’t do. Even the placement of its pilot’s timeslot, garnering such big numbers off of the Season Premiere of its parent show, TBBT, has never really turned results in such spectacular fashion as it did here... Holding all 16.5 Live Million Viewers from the first half hour and keeping the mass majority of its coveted 18-49 demographic too. I guarantee they nurse this bad boy all the way through an ungodly amount of episodes. Why not? Honestly, it works. ‘The Goldbergs’ are growing up, right out of the 80s, and AMC’s ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ is heading into its 4th & final season. There’s a niche and it needs to be filled, and it looks like we have our first guest. Many of us have a deep connection to this era the show is set in, but none of us have seen it through this kind of lens. The big question isn’t the quality... You know CBS, it’s about money and longevity, because longevity not only brings in a steady supply of money, it also gives them something to brand... But that’s kind of why it’s so surprising that ‘Young Sheldon’ isn’t coming right out of the gate trying to push anything other than its own value. I have a strict policy when it comes to Sitcoms, whether they’re multi-cam or single-cam, doesn’t matter... Each series gets a fair shake... And a 21 Minute Episode built off a general idea will not tell you how far a show can go or how good a show will be.... Theres just no way! All kinds of shows out there start slow and then end up turning out relentless bangers on a regular basis, a few episodes, or even a season or 2 down the road... And then there is the exact opposite, where we see a show start out red hot and straight up fizzle out like a fading star right before our very eyes. I think it’s important for everyone to not judge this one too quickly... Maybe ‘Young Sheldon’ isn’t for that same ‘TBBT’ audience, maybe it’s meant to strike a different chord. It sure feels like it. ***************Written By Kevin Cage**************** TVTime/Letterboxd/FB/IG/Path/Pin/Tumblr/Twitter: @SpotlightSaga 📺 TVTime📺 http://www.tvtime.com ✅Spotlight Saga FB Page! Give us a like!✅ http://www.facebook.com/spotlightsaga 🚧Spotlight Saga's Main Page is Under Works🚧 http://www.spotlightsaga.com 🔥The Culture Pit FB Group🔥 http://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtsEntertainment @CulturePit Kevin Cage // Justin O'Malley // Cody Cole // Jerry Wilson // Kat Holiday // Carolyn Holt // Yackarette Borge // Carina Enered //

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Our journey to #iiiPoints gave us yet another chance to check out #bands, #producers, and #djs that aren’t regularly seen on #Miami soil... As a matter of fact, it’s been 4 years since #Thexx appeared in Miami and they DID NOT disappoint! #jamiexx had me #sweating! - #festival #miamilife #gorillaz #perfumegenius #theblackmadonna #festie #festivallife #like4like #livemusic #music #musicvideo #spotlightsaga #culturepit (at III Points Festival)

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Ballers (S03E01) Seeds of Expansion Airdate: July 23, 2017 @hbo Ratings: 2.476 Million :: 1..22 18-49 Demo Share Score: 8/10 TVTime/FB/Twitter/Tumblr/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** 'Ballers' is back on HBO, planting its hyper-masculine seed wherever it can slide in. No really. It sounds crass, but the metaphor is woven beautifully throughout the S3 premiere of the sports-centric, premium cable dramedy. Ricky (John David Washington) is having a baby, it's not exactly what he had in mind until he was told it definitely WAS happening, after he was told it wasn't when he thought it could be a possibility. Ah, don't you just love the way irony tastes? Well, I hate to break it to you, but that's not exactly irony that's sticking to the sides of your tongue... No, no... Thats more or less manipulation, take it or leave it. Amber (Brittany S Hall) is playing the game that she must play, she knows exactly how Ricky feels about her and his 'Bad Boy' image precedes him. It's not that we think Amber is wrong for how she handled the situation, it's actually totally brilliant... It's just not exactly on the up and up, but when you're dealing with a Man-Child who's just now coming to a place in his life where he's starting to come to terms with his existential reality, then the best strategy is to give the quintessential player a game to play. All this fertility talk has got our favorite underdog Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson) spooked. He brags about his 'pull-out game being 100', and Ricky suggests that maybe it's 100 because his his loins aren't exactly producing the fruits of his loom. This cascades into a mini-obsession for 'The Rock's Spencer character and even compels him to mention it to his doc, Dr Robbins (Stacy Ann Rose), who at this point, knows way too much about his life. In true Spencer Strasmore fashion, when Dr Robbins immediately sets him up with an appointment to face the truth of his fertility matter head on, Spencer dips and throws all the 'swimmer' talk somewhere deep behind the walls of what we could probably consider a wall built with bricks laced with toxic masculinity. Besides, Spencer has other 'Seeds' to think about. He borrowed money from Ricky in S2, 5 Mill to be exact, and he needs to capitalize on his next big venture to make paying Ricky back a reality. We get a bit of a big name guest star as Steph Curry and his girl give Spencer a call and he attempts to seize the opportunity to break out of the world of the NFL & into the world of the NBA. Only, nothing in 'Ballers' ever goes the way it's planned... NOTHING. Remember that. Steph cancels on Spence, Mr Anderson (Richard Schliff) is pissed because he's depending on a high profile guest of honor at a big dinner party that night. In a desperation move and without a replacement, Spencer takes his ever-encouraging, chihuahua-esque, best friend's 'feel good' advice and treats himself as the 'Main Event' at Mr Anderson's private soirée where Spencer is to woo a potential massive client, Wayne Hastings (Steve Guttenberg - Can I get a fuck yeah?!). Wayne buys into Spencer's big speech and I gotta tell ya, so did I! Ever since I was a teen, watching 'The Rock' dropping 'The People's Elbow' & raising 'The People's Brow' while laying the smack down on opponents on WWF/WWE television, I knew Dwayne Johnson was a star. Seeing him truly embody the spirit, the ups and downs, the origins, just the tooth & nail of this character, Spencer Strasmore, throughout 3-seasons of 'Ballers' truly cements him as not just a real life, big time, Hollywood actor, as we've already seen him establish... But here in 'Ballers', he's a legitimate, respectable character actor who is a real contender to eventually plant serious awards on his mantle sometime in the near future. If Dwayne Johnson has yet to earn your respect, then you haven't been paying attention. He's the real deal. He's selling Guttenberg the dream of a potential NFL team in Vegas, and you can just feel the electricity in their back & forth. These are the times when the show truly comes alive and here again we see the theme of 'planting a seed' come full circle. Let's not forget about Charles (Omar Benson Miller). He has quickly become one of my favorite characters on the show. We've seen his struggle from out of work ex-football star to cheesy car salesman to rising star and major player on the Miami Dolphins coaching staff. The pressure is real for Charles. He's getting hives, he's being thrown to the wolves (and by wolves I mean media), and he's being tossed into a position he probably isn't exactly qualified for. I can't help but think that whatever experiment the coaching staff and owners are concocting behind the scenes, that Charles is the fall guy... Or could be easily thrown into that position if whatever they're going for turns sour. Another seed planted for S3... Plenty to grow on, and it looks like we're going to get much more than just the breathtaking camera work and cinematography in my beautiful city of Miami this season! Let her rip, y'all! Ballers gon' Ball!

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Mist (S01E03) Show and Tell Airdate: July 6, 2017 @spike @paramountpictures Ratings: 0.428 Million :: 0.12 18-49 Demo Share Score: 4.75/10 TVTime/FB/Twitter/IG/Path/Pin: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** 'The Mist' has literally been driving me crazy. It's a project that I've taken on, completely committed to, no matter what the outcome... Although, you know, I knew in my heart of hearts that this was going to be tough road to travel. TV is such a completely different vessel than film and writing, books, or in this case, short stories. You have your Film Fans, who are protective & rabid, and that's understandable... 'The Mist' that was released in 2007, was listed as #4 on Bloody Disgusting's 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', and it earned it, hardcore! We've already praised Marcia Gay Harden enough (or have we?), but it's really hard to argue that the film is anything but an unexpected gem that horror fans absolutely fell head over heels in love with, and rightfully so. The short story written by Stephen King has its own set of accolades and personal touches, and it all must be set on its own particular shelf. Despite the straight up 'mixed to negative' reviews that the television series has been getting, you're going to hear fans of the tv series avidly defend it... Ratings aren't exactly high, but they're steady. The same people who were watching it from the beginning are sticking with it, give or take a few minor down & upticks. Just like the film and the short story it's based upon, the show has it's own set of true blue fans. This is 'The Mist: The Series', its in its own realm, and we have to accept that. As hard as it is to stop yourself from compulsively comparing the three separate entities, you simply cannot give in... You have to look at each piece as its own room, with its own door, with its own individually made key... Each complete with its own decorative key caps, so that we know the exact door we're opening. So, when you get right down to it, I guess the most important question is what does a relatively low-budget television series have to present to a rebranding network on the dwindling eve of its 'end of the year' transition? What does it have to offer an already established franchise like 'The Mist', that a near $20 Million budget film and the infinite imagination of words on paper written by a world renowned author like Stephen King, within the pages of a collection of short stories have that has not already been offered up already? The answer is simple... Long term character work, but they must get it right to make this project stick it to its critics and it's overeager naysayers. Now here I go again, bringing up Marcia Gay Harden, but I have a good point. Harden was able to represent the opposite of what Thomas Jame represented in the film. The movie itself had limited time, but it made the most of its seconds on the clock... Separating the two complete opposite sides of a spectrum under extreme duress. It wasn't the monsters that buzzed about and added additional scares to the film that were so successfully frightening in the long run, it was the idea that under the weight of the world, two different sides of people emerge... One are heroes who do absolutely terrible things in the name of humanity, and the other are villains that think they are heroes because they are acting in the name of what they believe to be righteous. Pretty brilliant, right? That was the horror of 'The Mist', the film. We, as human beings, are the very things that go bump in the night... We are the bad guys, even if your intentions are pure. I've literally watched that film a gazillion times, so its extremely hard to get out of my head. It's only fair for me to judge the show without an extreme bias... And the only way to rid myself of that extreme bias is if I watch these episodes again and again and again. Four, y'all. I'm talking, I watched this specific episode 'Show and Tell' four times! Before you start sending me fruit baskets and letters of condolences, I started to notice that while many of these actors just aren't up to par, that the ones that are or are shaking up to be (Frances Conroy, Holly Deveaux, Danica Curcic *my breakout vote for the series*, Romaine Waite *step up, now, papo*, and even newcomers like Luke Cosgrove & Okezie Murro) are really attempting to step up and create some sort of magnetic character development for the audience to hold onto, to explore on a much more intense level, where time constraint that a film would face, really isn't a major issue. It's just that we have actors and actresses like Isiah Whitlock Jr and Alyssa Sutherland who simply didn't seem to get the memo that 'The Mist: The Series', needs them to tone down the cheese-factor. This is horror... And 'The Mist' (no matter the format) isn't a cheeky or B-Film Trip down a 'Full Moon' or 'Troma' like lane. I hate to rag on actresses, especially competent ones, but it's not always the actresses or actors that are to blame... It could be direction or something as simple as a horrible miscast... But Alyssa Sutherland (Eve) is not doing this series any favors. I'm a bit confused on her reactions in relation to her daughter Alex (Gus Birney) being trapped with the boy who 'supposedly' sexually assaulted her. It doesn't feel natural and it seems like the kid being accused is clearly innocent. After 4 viewing of this episode, I've developed an intricate theory, but I'll save it for later. The main issue is that the characters are all so separated right now, so until we start killing some off, thinning out the herd, and meeting important characters up somewhere in the middle, there's really no reason to dive too far into such a subplot. Honestly, and no disrespect to Sutherland, I just truly believe she was horribly miscast and unfortunately I feel like the young Gus Birney would fly better in the series if she had a different mother to play along side her. Hopefully their chemistry starts to percolate in the next few episodes, but for now it's not feeling conducive to the young actress trying to spread her wings. Speaking of spreading wings (oh, come on, you know I had to use that).... 'The Mist' shows off a different kind of horror than what we've come to expect from 'the brand' itself. It looks as if whatever is in The Mist is feeding off the psychological fears of each individual. This is where the show could not only get interesting, but use a completely new type of horror twist to attach to 'The Mist' name and flavor. The imagery was out of this world. Sure, the budget is low, but it looks like they are using good chunks of money on moments where it really counts, where they really need to capture their audiences attention... And believe you me, that scene where that boy sprouted wings in the murky fog of the dense mist was absolutely breathtakingly horrifying. Having Frances Conroy react to that scene was the best possible decision that the creators of the show could make. Although, 'Show and Tell' still shines down a mediocre light on 'The Mist' as a whole, this was the first episode where I didn't feel like it was such a chore to sit through. Sure, I had to watch it multiple times to truly find the things I appreciate about the episode the most, but not everyone will need that extra time to see what makes the positive side of the series pop. Like I said before, the cast is a bit too large in the numbers department, it's time to start killing these characters off, and if these are the type of innovative ways they plan on tackling this issue, then that's a pretty damn good reason to stay tuned in... At least for now!

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Legends of Chamberlain Heights (S02E01) The G-Word Airdate: June 18, 2017 @comedycentral Ratings: 0.191 Million :: 0.10 18-49 Demo Share Score: 7.5/10 TVTime/FB/Twitter/Tumblr/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Let me be one of the first few at the burgeoning community of TVTime.com to say... Welcome Back, 'Legends of Chamberlain Heights'. I know that I'm a bit late, and most likely either Milk or Grover is going to give me a good slap, henny... But in keeping with tradition of the source material, let me put it this way... I've just been procrastinating. Even so, after watching 'The G-Word', I didn't include Jamal in my inaugural, well deserved belated S2 slap because frankly, Jamal just isn't fit to slap me after turning his back on his boys for a taste of that 'White Boy Fame'... ("Bro, Bro, Bro, Bro, Bro!") Going around slapping mother fuckers like white boys and shaving them stems, Pssssh! In the 'LegendsOfCH' S2 opener, the show takes on 'The G-Word'... No, not Gonorrhea. No, not Gonads, either. It's not Gilgamesh, Gandalf, Gay, Gooch, Guido, Gringo, GHB, Gook or any words of the kind that may ring offensive to sensitive ears... No, no, no. We're talking the dirtiest 'G-Word' of them all - Gentrification. Let's take just a slight moment to veer off the road from the lighthearted, '1+1-2 = No Fucks Given' tone of the hilariously raunchy, Comedy Central show that could even make the legendary 'King of Lowbrow' & 'God of Bad Taste', John Waters, blush, maybe, well, probably not... He is, after all, a god of all things below the belt. Let's get serious for a moment, because goddammit... There's more to 'Legends' than most fans, critics (besides some of our hardworking men & women over at 'BubbleBlabber' - I see y'all!), give the perfectly acceptable companion to 'South Park' credit for. Spotlight Saga has tackled Gentrification many times before, through the vessels of many different series... Including Dick Wolf's slightly butchered take of the very real and very tragic 'Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire' in Oakland. The very same 'Gentrification-Generated' fire that took the lives of 36 of our West Coast brothers and sisters. We don't need to make this one too heavy, but we do need to make a point. There are many critics of this show that dismiss 'Legends' place in this world, yet in one episode they collectively tackle Gentrification, how it can negatively affect our working class & poverty stricken neighborhoods, how 'Arcade Fire' ('Starcade Fire' in the show) can literally Gentrify a riot with a single song that shares the same name of some of their other songs but it is differentiated by a number at the end, always sticking by your friends even when they turn their back on you, Netflix & Chill/I mean FUCK, and how much fun it can be to piss on someone from a rooftop (obviously some lessons more important than others)... All while simultaneously and effectively breaking and reinforcing every racial stereotype known to man. In 'Legends' no one group safe or even remotely off limits. South Park does it and its funny, but creators and voice actors Josiah Johnson (Grover), Quinn Hawking (Jamal), and Michael Starrbury (Milk) of 'Legends of Chamberlain Heights' take it a step further and suddenly everybody is feeling uncomfortable, Fuck y'all! Not only is this animated series absolutely 'Laugh-Out-Loud' hilarious, but it's on the forefront of social commentary... And you can't beat that! What it is about 'Legends' that turns off comedy critics is beyond me. Oh wait, no it isn't. I've actually got a good handle on it. The reason is simple and is exactly why we need a show like 'Legends' on the air ruffling the mainstream, FAR left leaning, SJW members of AV Club and 'Sister Fisting' Lena Dunham clones drooling for a cause to pass in front of their noses like a visible, cartoonish waft of freshly baked, good ol' American Apple Pie stuffed with completely innocent self-deprecating humor that simultaneously makes fun of and champions every minority and their stereotypes, but also shattering them in the same breath. So truly, truly, there's no need for anyone to get riled up, we just need you to fucking laugh, alright? You have our permission! Even publications like 'The New York Times' are coming around to the show's no holds barred style humor, writing articles hailing S2 (where were they in S1?)... Besides the aforementioned show creators, writers, voice actors... Real legends like Erykah Badu lend their musical talents and voice. SNL veteran, actor & stand-up comedian Jay Pharoah sells weed and mentors his little brother as well as 'pseudo-brown' news anchors as the older, wiser, lost soul of Montrel. Breaking Bad star, stand-up comedian and established writer Lovell Crawford gives us the sexually sure, life-saving LaDante. Let's not forget 'The Carmichael Show' staple & television veteran Tiffany Haddish as well as a man who needs no introduction, Jamie Kennedy, both lend their voices to various characters on the show. It would be criminal to not also mention 'The Simpsons' animator, co-creator of MTV's 'Good Vibes', and director of marketing for Illumination Entertainment's 'Minions', Brad Ableson who is also listed as VIP and creator of 'Legends'. That's one helluva diverse group... And one that means no harm. They just want to make you laugh and feel a little somethin', somethin' every once in awhile when Medina isn't tracking down Jamal by the scent of his dick. Yeah, so 'Legends' isn't exactly classy, but it's so much fun... And you should be put on notice, the animated series has stepped up their game for S2. They're just one step closer to actually realizing their hood dreams of becoming.... 'Leeeeeeegennnnnds!'

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... F is For Family (S02E04) Night Shift Airdate: May 30, 2017 @Netflix @GaumontTV Ratings: Privatized @BillBurr @mikepriceinla Score: 8.75/10 @FYeahBill @FIFFNetflix TVTime/FB/Twitter/IG/Tumblr/Path/Pin: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** 'Is my house clean?' No seriously, I'm gonna look up and you take a look in. I need to know... Can't go trouncing about town, especially the notorious 'Cocaine Cowboy City' of Miami with powder around the edges of my nostrils. I wouldn't think anyone, in any decade of existence, would want an onlooker seeing them trading coke for anything right out in the open... Whether that's in a record store, yes they still exist & I'm sure they would love a visit, or a street corner... I'd suggest visiting the record store over the street corner. Just as walking, talking, 'Teenage Turmoil', 'Trepidation Tornado' (Yeah, I'm also a sucker for wordplay), Kevin Murphy (Justin Long) is looking to make it big in what he sees as almost a dream world of sorts as a bonafide rockstar, he spots his well connected, high rolling neighbor, who is very much a part of that dream world, bribing an aggressively apprehensive DJ to play a pop record with a picture of a 'Teen Heartthrob' holding an adorable puppy on the front... But hey this is where they are in their lives. Pretty sure I've been lower. Vic (Sam Rockwell), along with the rest of the cast, has so much more room to breathe now that the series has been extended from 6-Episodes to the nicely rounded off number of 10 entries for S2. However, this means that Vic can no longer simply be that hurricane of a character, representing the perfect storm of carefree 1970's hedonism and indulgence. Suddenly, there are consequences for his actions and we are peaking into a long, dark tunnel where Vic is on the verge of an 'existential crisis'. No, there are no immediate repercussions for any of Vic's self destructive behaviors quite yet anyway, but the forlorn fates are written all over his face. Right now he's much closer to what we would refer to the point of 'existential dread' than we would call a full blown 'existential crisis'. The writers are smart though, they're giving you a peak of his cards without letting you see his full hand and that will surely create a helluva payoff when it it's finally time to pay the piper. That's a stark difference from a character that was once a quick, in & out, 2-D slice of animated comic relief. When it comes to television, cinema, film, real life, whatever... 'Existential' and 'Crisis' are literally my two favorite words in the English language, not only because they are so beautiful when paired together, but more so the fact that it's one thing Im actually good at. I know that's a really weird thing to be proud of, excited to dive into, or even claim to be 'good at'... But with all the LSD & DMT I've consumed in my life, I believe I've had more self-induced existential crisis and egodeath(s) than most of the worlds population. It's not just hallucinogenics and weird dissociatives, or even a finely tuned education in psychology & sociology that have made me an expert and lover of all things 'existential', it's also real life experience in all things crisis... Inner, outer, dramatic, and otherwise... I've always been dramatic, I got it from my mother, and her adoptive Mother... They are whatever is slightly above the 'every southern woman' version of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Everything is a spectacle, darling. Anxiety attacks are full on broadway performances, complete with Tony Awards, a nice Southern 'Wink', and a long list of 'Thank You's at the end... Oh and trips to the mall that start out sweet & fruitful and end in sheer terror. My Step-Father is more like the American Cherokee version of a cross between Tim Allen & Jim Gaffigan, if that makes sense. He has a traditional, signature style of humor that is both clean & observational and masculine & sometimes surprisingly crass, mainly due to his dual nature and long hard road from the cesspool of a nasty rock bottom to the heights of being a pillar of his community. There was a time in my life where these attributes all made me angry, just like Kevin. At that rebellious teenage age, if someone says go, you stop and if they say stop, you go. If a parental figure or an adult influence that we look up to makes a mistake, as a young adult many times we hold them to it unfairly... As if they're supposed to be perfect because they are the adult. As kids, we want to meet them halfway with unrealistic expectations. Essentially that's because adults meet their children and particularly teenagers with unrealistic expectations, themselves. Can't expect a toddler not to touch a hot stove, can't expect a little kid not to pick their nose (or worse), can't expect a teenager not to do usual teenager stuff, and we can't expect our parents to always remember all of that in times of stress. Looking back now (and let's hope Kevin moves forward to this place soon), I know that I learned the most from watching my parents make mistakes and subsequently finding a way to fix it, by any means necessary. Kevin is already sick over his issues with his dad, so he's practically ready to give up when he sees Vic forking over line after line until DJ Howlin' Hank (Josh Adam Meyers) would say he loves any record Vic gave him to play (yes, that includes records with vinyl covers that feature kids holding puppies that look like they "fell out of Donnie Osmond's pussy"). When one reaches the epiphany that hard work, talent, and actually being cool isn't what gets them to top, a breakdown of some sort is to be expected. Personally I've had this specific epiphany more than once (complete with influential dramatic Hollywood Breakdown), so a nice soul searching, ego shattering session of smoking weed (or simply insert alternative mind expansion drug here) his friends refer to as 'Oregon Gold dipped in Columbia River Salmon Piss' out of a baby doll made into a pipe is just what Kevin needs to push him to a point where he's ready to face this new, harsher, cruel world to get their band's ultimate goal achieved... Being played on the radio, preferably by DJ Howlin' Hank... Because, you know, at least they are 100% sure what it takes to make 'Hank Howl' (thanks, Vic)! So off the clueless teenage trio goes to score some blow. This should be good. Kevin has currently written off his father, Frank (Bill Burr), for his inability to accept a certain kind of defeat... Or better yet, I should say... Face his humility for a greater good and 'bite the bullet' at the unemployment office. He sees his father's stubborn pride as a weakness, when really like any human attribute, it's technically both a positive and a negative. The fact that Frank is lying to Sue (Laura Dern) about it, makes it all 100x worse, though... Creating a mountain blocking any possible view to see the silver lining. Frank taking a humiliating, lower paid job, just to avoid a handout is silly and ultimately a bit insane, but at least Frank is trying to do something instead of curling up into a corner & folding. Still, the whole ironic arrangement is not lost on us. Don't think for a moment that we won't be on the lookout for bumper stickers being sold at 'Hot Topic or 'Urban Outfitters' that say "Ask me about my Loser Husband's shit job!" Frank's insecurities and paranoia are officially at an all time high. His new boss Smoky (Michael Kenneth Williams) shows Frank the restrictive ropes of the world of vending machines, its many perks, and how to "Shove it. Slam it. Twist the lock. Stick the key inside your sock." Why can't the key just be on the key ring? Simple. "Because the rhyme came first, system came later." Frank is killing it, but an accident with the lock on the back door (see how important those rhymes are), ends up with the bag of change they've been collecting falling out of the back of the truck and finding it's way all over the dirty urban street. Frank goes into survival mode, scouring the street like a hardworking crackhead to recover the change. As this is happening, Kevin is out looking to score $10 worth of coke in the same seedy downtown neighborhood. Last time I checked $10 won't get you a bag of coke, and I live in a city where cocaine is easier to get than the attention of a bartender, and cheaper to get than a simple single liquor cocktail. These three young clowns mistake a pimp for a drug dealer and one of the funniest scenes of the series commences when the 'white' they are all so ready to score turns out to be an obese, Caucasian, $10 prostitute that has difficulties keeping one of her titties inside of her blouse. As the trio scrambles to escape the low rent hooker who offers to 'fuck them all if they have a sandwich bag', they end up passing Frank digging for nickels on the side of the street. Ok, ok... This is obviously the worst possible scenario for Kevin, but his frustrations lead him to march into the radio station with his band's demo tape in hand, demanding to be heard. Fuck the system, right? Everything might be going to shit for the characters in the Netflix Original 'F is For Family', but when you are down on your luck and you don't even know why you're stuck in a meaningless, chaotic existence... Suddenly an existential crisis becomes your best friend. Frank's embarrassing dedication to picking up the change in the street leads him to secure the job of no one's dreams, Sue has a sudden idea for a product invention when going through the mundane process of drying out her lettuce while making dinner salads, and Kevin's frustration & desperation pay off after the boys tune in to hear Vic use a two syllable taste of their song to introduce the weather segment. To three young boys with a pipe dream that's like the equivalent of being featured on MTV's 'Total Request Live' in 1999. Recently I've watched a friend go through a horrible incident and face their mortality. Suddenly that person is trapped in an existential nightmare... 'What's any of this worth if it really doesn't lead to anything, if we are all biding our time on this earth until the Grim Reaper comes-a-knocking anyway?' And that's just the base of it. We've all got our existential and emotional baggage to deal with, but it's the unexpected moments when you're at your lowest point that suddenly remind us that even tho we might all just be going through the motions and repeating history over and over, sudden sparks of light can suddenly reignite your passion for life... Its as all as easy as that, or as difficult as that, whichever way you want to look at it. Like Frank said in the beginning of FIFF's 'Night Shift', "I woulda killed myself, but I don't want to haunt my own house." **********Written By: Kevin Cage********** Special Thx: TVTime, Bill Burr, Michael Price, Jerry Wilson, Kat Holiday, Chad Rigsby... Dedicated to: Denver G. Pratt http:://www.tvtime.com http://www.spotlightsaga.com http://www.facebook.com/SpotlightSaga http://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtsEntertainment

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Mist (S01E02) Withdrawal Airdate: June 29, 2017 @spike Ratings: 0.496 Million :: 0.15 18-49 Demo Share Score: 5/10 @paramountpictures TVTime/FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** There is something in The Mist, we can be 100% sure of that, and so can all of these characters now, right? No more playing stupid... No more rash decisions outside of the norm of idiosyncratic human behaviors (which leaves a wide gap of opportunities anyway)... And despite the show's flaws, 'The Mist' seems to know that... Not that there's just something in The Mist, but a whole lotta something in there lurking about. We've established that the budget isn't exactly high, there are few decent special effects, but mostly the majority of money was probably spent on Frances Conroy's salary (unless she owed someone a favor). Honestly that's not a dig, or us trying to throw shade, it just feels like a cold hard fact. 'The Mist' is low-budget, but that's not necessarily something that will keep it from engaging its audience... SyFy and The CW have made entire armies of viewers that are faithful to their respective networks on series that aren't exactly paid for with top dollar. To make a successful season with the ingredients that they have at their disposal, it will ultimately fall back onto the building of tension through storylines that are familiar to the audience, but packing slight unexpected twists in small, subtle ways that pack heavy punches. Most of us have read the story and seen the film, (and without giving away spoilers to those that haven't) we KNOW things and its clear that 'The Mist' isn't necessarily deviating from that core narrative, the heart of the story that gives this specific tale it's own unique identity... But that doesn't mean they can't toss some screwballs here & there to throw us for a loop. Capitalizing on periods of extreme anxiety will also be of upmost importance and 'Withdrawal' does a better job at framing cinematic style camera shots to help accentuate the tone & atmosphere than what we saw originally executed in the 'Pilot' episode. David Boyd is directing this second installment of the serial horror drama and he lends his eye for award winning cinematography and camera work, but he doesn't exactly lead the cast past weak running dialogue in what is an otherwise decent teleplay, written by Peter Macmanus, a man who's still honing his chops in the industry as a writer... Most recently on USA Network's 2-Season ode to paid marital affairs, 'Satisfaction'. Keep in mind that 'Satisfaction' is the only other series that Peter Macmanus has ever worked on. We're just not going to get explosive dialogue and fiercely staged friction from the man at this point in his career (and it wouldn't be fair to expect that), even though Boyd does his best at exploiting those moments that Macmanus left wide open in writing. That's not to say the rest of the teleplay doesn't do it's job and serve its purpose to the degree that it's needed to keep the audience right there with it. If 'Withdrawal' is anything, it's proof that 'The Mist' does have what it takes to overcome its own handicaps... Eventually. It stumbles through the episode, but ultimately comes out as a catalyst to further the core narrative in a respectable and visually somber, but glossy manner. 'The Mist' is known for its over-the-top characters. Marcia Gay Harden turned up the volume on her version of the religious fanatic turned prophet, Mrs Carmody in the 11-times nominated, 2007 film adaptation. The character is iconic and won Harden both a Saturn & Fright Meter Award, literally taking home a prize in every category she was nominated for. However 'The Mist' is very different as a film compared to the tv series when it comes to characters, which isn't necessarily a bad thing... Essentially we want something new from 'The Mist', and even tho there are echoes of familiarity, the show is certainly bouncing to the beat of its own drum. We still have what seems to be a strong military tie-in as Eve (Alyssa Sutherland) found out on her short, but violent expedition with the soldier that she quite literally drew the short end of the stick to go on in a chance game of drawing straws that the group should be grateful didn't end badly. Of course they know it wasn't pretty but Eve hides the details from her fellow mall-mates. Why? Possibly to not make matters worse & tensions run even higher... Alyssa Sutherland is just fine in her role, but her fellow top-billed cast mate, Isaiah Whitlock Jr, feels like a strange fit for Mall Manager, Gus Bradley. He plays out the the 'timid manager' schtick well. There's some nuance in there that may ring a bell with certain people who have similar bosses or work with people that desperately want to be in charge, but don't want the responsibility and 'risk vs reward' factor that goes hand-in-hand with the position. We've all seen Isiah Whitlock used to his best potential in shows like 'Veep', 'The Wire' and even several of Dick Wolf's 'Law & Order' entries, but here it seems like either he is having a hard time finding a balance between cartoonish caricature and 'true to life' pseudo-tweener, with a deep base in reality or simply not blending in well with the rest of the greener cast. However, if he's gearing up for a brutal death scene, then he's in the right zone, at least. Since Whitlock is a veteran and proven to be a great asset as an actor in the past, let's not count out that he's just been given aimless direction. This is entirely possible, especially considering the man behind the lens, David Boyd, normally focuses on exactly what that lens shows it's audience instead of taking on the much different, but equally as respectable role as Director. I also don't want to take away from Boyd, as his eye truly lends a fresh feel to the series that just wasn't there in the 'Pilot'. Ultimately, 'The Mist' doesn't make great strides as a series in 'Withdrawal', or even fully explore its episode's namesake through its chemically dependent character, Mia (Danica Curcic), who will hopefully lend as much as she possibly can in the show's future. Mia has a lot to give the show as a character, especially when it comes to uncertainty and a neurotic headspace that will surely add to the tv series' atmosphere... And Curcic appears to be more than up for the task, giving us small but impactful glimpses into what she can do if handed the reigns. AMC's 'Fear The Walking Dead' took its character Nick through hell and back, spotlighting his addiction issues in a slowly crumbling post-apocalyptic world during its freshman season. This could've been 'The Mist's chance to give 'FearTWD' a run for its money with Mia, but instead it bounces back and forth through different sets of characters, making sure leads like Alyssa Sutherland and Frances Conroy (who just so happen to be in two separate places) grab the most screen-time. 'Withdrawal' is beautifully shot... It's foreboding, dismal, brooding, and morose... And even though we are unable to call it successful overall (as of yet), it's easy to see where the potential of 'The Mist' hides in untapped pockets of germinating steam, waiting for the right team of creative minds to bring the show to life.

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Fosters (S05E01) Resist Airdate: July 11, 2017 @freeform @thefostersseries Ratings: 0.872 Million :: 0.33 18-49 Demo Share Score: 5.75/10 TVTime/FB/Tumblr/IG/Twitter: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Annnnnd we're back. I want to say it's a miracle that I'm still here, trucking along, keeping up with a Freeform tv series in its 5th Season... But who am I kidding? This isn't the only one I've stuck with on this network even recently... And when it comes to 'The Fosters', it's less about 'a job', or a fan request, than it is about just kind of being stuck in the middle of the Adams Foster drama. Not all the arcs, storylines, or subplots are all that compelling, but even on a bad day there's that one angle on 'The Fosters' that feels at least worthy enough to check in on. Even in its 5th Season, 'The Fosters' has managed to stick its landings more than the network's prized pig (that's literally alive by the grace of God, tho finally completing its 7th & final season) 'Pretty Little Liars', the once critically hailed, now meandering series who only got a final season because of what it did for the network in its beginning stages before creator and Showrunner Lizzy Weiss lost her damn mind, 'Switched at Birth', and tween-teen, action/adventure, fantasy cheese sensation 'Shadowhunters' all combined. If it sounds like I'm being harsh, that's because I am. When you've watched as many hours of ABC Family, now Freeform TV, as I have... At my age... I earn the right to call a spade a spade. 'The Fosters' may not be taking in oodles and oodles of live ratings (not that any tv show aimed at younger audiences is in 2017), but it's the only show on Freeform that didn't show massive losses recently. PLL dropped another 35% in both live viewers & the 18-49 demo, as did 'Shadowhunters', and 'Switched at Birth', a show that ended on an almost unrecognizable note, saw losses of over 50% in both categories. The Fosters averaging out just 4% loss in both, not too bad right... Considering! That's tells me that 'The Fosters', even when making mistakes, isn't driving off their audience in droves. There's something about this show that people sincerely like... And like I said, I honestly like 'The Fosters'. For what it is, this can be one helluva compelling family drama and when it's firing on all cylinders, it's one that is definitely worth your time. Not that 'The Fosters' doesn't have its downbeats. Callie's (Maia Mitchell) storyline with Diamond (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her pimp, Russel 'Daddy' Ortega (Joseph Julian Soria) was truly head shaking, teeth grinding, cringe-tastic nonsense. Truly. But with 'The Fosters', and especially with the character of Callie, it's often less about the angle at hand, than it is about the big picture. Maia Mitchell is young, talented, and capable. The 23 year old Australian Native has a bright future ahead of her, and Showrunner, Writer, and Director Peter Paige is building an epic storyline that's been bubbling to the surface for pretty much the entirety of the show. Whether it's jumping in last second and swapping places with lost girl Christina, or taking on cold murder cases (technically one that is already solved, however poorly done) that are literally none of her business to begin with, to running away at the first sign of trouble when her dreams of officially being in a family start to rear its ugly head, Callie is ALWAYS pressing that 'self-destruct' button. Sometimes it's over the top, but at its core, its continuously relatable... Addicts, those living with depression, purveyors of the human condition; Almost everyone understands what it is to not value their life at one point or another. Poor Stef (Teri Polo) is always there, rushing to clean up Callie's messes... And seeing her break down in the car and finally relay the toll that it's taking on her & the rest of the family and at the same time expressing how much she truly cares about Callie, is one of those extremely honest & vulnerable moments of the show... Special moments like that surprisingly do come often, but they are almost always fleeting. Fosters Fans continue to watch faithfully, because those moments are captured so well and pack such an emotive force, that we're left watching them, deep in our feelings, as they slip through our fingers like sand, leaving us eager for the next one to peak around the corner. Then we have Jesus Adams Foster (now played by Noah Centineo, since S03E10 in August 17, 2015). As a collective, Fosters viewers were all a bit skiddish by the mid-series casting change from former 'Jesus', bad boy Jake T. Austin, as any fan of any series that recasts a major character midway through would be. Slowly but surely, not only has Centineo won our hearts, he's truly become the real Jesus Adams Foster. I honestly couldn't even imagine Jake T Austin in this role anymore, let alone packing the emotional weight and overall nuance that Centineo brings effortlessly to the character, and in a mentally diminished state at that! How impressive! There are times when I don't believe certain characters would make the decisions we're led to believe by the writers that they would make, but Centineo always brings a believability to the Jesus character that acting craft and series veterans, Stef and Lena (Sherri Saum) consistently bring to the table... That's saying something. The kid is good, period, and he's only getting better as the family & teen drama progresses. Paige clearly sees that Centineo has that 'it factor' and that fans are responding because he appears to be taking on a larger role heading into S5. He has storylines and arcs literally circling him, pouring out from every direction. His issues with Brandon (David Lambert) are clearly not over. He's just getting started with live-in biological dad, Gabriel (Brandon Quinn, who's also appearing to step into center stage)... Not to mention whatever breathes naturally from those storylines as everyone in 'The Fosters' tends to affect everyone else somehow, someway. Jude (Hayden Byerly) was literally a footnote in the episode. Although fans tend to enjoy storylines he's involved in (particularly in the relationship category), he's technically the most green actor of the main cast... But he's young and has plenty of time to hone his craft. He's just simply not ready to take the majority of the camera's time. Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) lent him a bit of her spotlight through her fight with privatizing Anchor Beach, another storyline that's clearly just warming up. I never thought I'd say this, but besides my obvious enthusiasm for 'Everything coming up Jesus' in S5, I'm really excited to see what road is taken with Callie's character. She clearly had some type of epiphany in the S5 opener, 'Resist', and I'm really hoping that instead of continuously pressing that self-destruct button like she's been doing for the entirety of the series, she finally blossoms as a character and learns that you can't help others if you can't help yourself. Cheers guys, by the end of S5 'The Fosters' will be hitting 100-102 episodes... If you're still with us at this point, you better not be going anywhere!

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... GLOW (S01E09) The Liberal Chokehold Airdate: June 23, 2017 Ratings: @Netflix Original // Privatized Ratings Score: 7.5/10 // GIVEAWAY CONTEST WITHIN!!! TVTime/FB/Twitter/Tumblr/Path/Pin: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** 'GLOW just released two of the best episodes of 2017 w/E7 'Live Studio Audience' and E8 'Maybe Its All the Disco', and by no means was 'The Liberal Chokehold' anything but a great episode, but it didn't quite achieve the greatness that the two that preceded it did. Bash (Chris Lowell) finally returns for his & Sam's big pitch to the Network Executives. Apparently he'd been on a big bender for 2-Weeks, explaining his sudden absence. Not surprising considering his sudden money issues that he's really only shared with Carmen during her freakout at their first show. Bash is a good guy, he really wants to realize this dream, not just for him but for everyone involved. At this point he's let people down and he's feeling the pressure... But his rich, trust fund life, and card carrying privilege coming to a sudden halt, led to the one thing he knows how to do best... Self destruction. Arriving at the meeting late, sweaty, and tweaked out of his mind... He sure as hell fits the part. Talk about a mess, this guy looked like me after a bender at on tweak at the age of 19... Not exactly picture ready, if you know what I mean. When Sam Sylvia (Marc Marlon) is embarrassed and shocked at your mess, you're beyond a simple jittery 2-Day, drug spree. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I hammer this quote home like a fn' Anti-Anti NA Slogan, a 'Harm Reduction' specialists mantra to live by, 'If you're going to be a mess, at least be an organized mess. And if you can't do that, then don't be a mess at all.' All out, bender babies like Bash are always the ones that almost achieve something great and then flush it down the toilet at the last second. Luckily for Bash (and Sam too), he has some of the most determined women to stand by his side. These women have worked hard to get where they are and they will be damned if 9 Grand & a comes out rich bitch is what takes it all away from them. They hold a car wash, but that's a bust. $287 is a long way from a near 10k goal. Bash's Mom, Birdie (Elizabeth Perkins) is the shining bitch of the episode. With all the love and camaraderie brewing & bubbling within the ranks of the women of GLOW, it was definitely time to introduce a villain of sorts. Then again, Birdie really isn't a villain in the truest sense of the word... She's more like a bitchy, Reagan-worshiping, LA socialite, who's stuck in the past with a stick up her ass. However, she's got money and she's got friends... And she's throwing one helluva fundraising soirée. Hell or high water, Bash and the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are going to find a way to take advantage of Birdies high end, West Coast, check book challenge! Creators Liz Flahive & Carly Mensch take over the writers room and create some excellent comedy through Birdie's hilariously transparent 'mission' to end the 'crack epidemic' amongst the 'poor, unfortunate minorities' (as if no one else was affected)... And Lynn Shelton, one of my favorite tv directors as of late (popping up heavily on shows like Netflix's 'Love', NBC's 'The Good Place', & Hulu's 'Casual') makes sure the episode flows into a cascade of crazy. Bash sneaks in all the GLOW Girls to the Gala by convincing the door man (who he clearly knows very well & vice versa), that the women are part of a fictional group called 'W.A.D.' (Wrestlers Against Drugs - specifically Crack, you know, to fit the theme). He has each of them take center stage, talking about their completely fabricated experiences with Crack-Cocaine & how the worlds greatest Sports Entertainment acronym & pro-wrestling saved their lives, before introducing his increasingly impatient mother, Birdie. All the women give it a great go, but it's Jenny aka Fortune Cookie (Ellen Wong) who delivers her entire speech in the rare language of 'Khmer', except for the word 'Crack', that's used at just the right times to ring the great vibrating gong of comedy. For a good juxtaposition, Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie) goes last and delivers a speech straight from the heart. She's really talking about her recent transgressions with Debbie (Betty Gilpin) and Debbie's husband, Mark (Rich Sommer). Clearly it's something she's been needing to get off her chest. And even though she replaces key words with 'Crack', Debbie hears the message loud and clear and the speech kills at Birdie's Right-Wing, Reagan-inspired, Anti-Crack Rally. The whole thing has Liz Flahive's fingerprints all over it, and that's a good thing. It's signature feel may not take 'GLOW' to the great heights the previous episode did, but it really assists in defining the show... Cementing its core identity as a tv series. Bash's takeover is successful, but Birdie isn't having it. She takes back all the checks that the crew earned for W.A.D, but gives Bash a much better gift... A venue... 'Annnd you can't beat that!' Btw, WWE fans, I've been using that quote for several GLOW reviews and no one has caught it yet. I'm shocked really. Take out 'beat' and replace it with 'teach'... And what's that spell... S...A...W...F...T... SAAAAAAWWWWWFT! Meh, fahget about it. Though, for the first person who gives us the correct answer on TVTime in the comments section and then likes our Facebook page @SpotlightSaga, giving us the correct answer as to where that quote comes from *on both pages* (so I know you're listening), I'll send you a lil' something, something in the mail. Facebook fans, same goes for you, if you beat TVTime'rs and post the correct answer on @SpotlightSaga's FB page in the comment section on this article, then join TVTime and give us the correct answer in the comment section for this episode via @SpotlightSaga on TVTime.com ... Then you get the goods! Consider it our first Spotlight Saga giveaway, and yes it will be wrestling related! Before we get all 'giveaway happy', which I'm totally excited and eager to do, we've got one massive story arc that blindsided a whole lot of Glow Netflix fans. Spoiler Alert, though we should be far past those by now... As these are simply companion pieces. Justine (Britt Baron) is not in love or infatuated with Sam, despite what Sam's inflated ego led him, and tricked most of us, into believing! Justine walked in on Sam's 'One-Man Pity Party' and decided it was time to drop the truth bomb. Justine is Sam's daughter and now suddenly all the 'jealousy' and 'weird obsessions' with Justine attempting to get close to Sam make total sense. Not only is Sam terribly embarrassed over what just went down with Justine, but he's also under the impression that GLOW was all for nothing, and his film 'Mothers and Lovers' was already made... A PG version called 'Back to the Future', and double spoiler alert for Sam; there's 2 sequels, making three total films & a cartoon series in the same vein of what he thought was an original idea! Well, it either wasn't original or someone jacked his time traveling brainchild, and took out all the John Waters inspired smut. And really, that's totally possible considering he'd been trying to make the film for an entire decade. Gotta be careful throwing around ideas in Hollywood! But that's not the real problem is it? You got a heartbroken daughter and a deadbeat dad. Well isn't that just the story of all of our lives?

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga Reviews... Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (S03E06) Kimmy is a Feminist! Airdate: May 19, 2017 Ratings: @netflix original Score: 5.75/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** I believe I'm going to need Ms Kimmy Schmidt to step it up a bit, and I don't mean Ellie Kemper. The actress herself gives us all she can in every facet of her sweet-cheeked, 90's bubbled, hyperactive portrayal of the breakout mole-woman character... But there is definitely something about this season that isn't clicking quite yet. Tina Fey seems to have taken on more of an absent producer type role... So the writers room is Fey-less for the most part until E8 (sans a co-writing credit in E2) and you can truly feel that. The first two episodes of the season were all about Titus Andromedon and his separation from Mikey, freeing his character up so that he could move wherever it is that they needed to move him around to. It was almost a shame because of course I want Titus to be happy, but Titus is at his best when he isn't tied down to anyone... So poor, sweet, newly outed Mikey was cut off as quick as a newborn's umbilical cord. Titus' freedom to move about was completely taken to task by Director Dan Scardino and Writers Grace Edwards & Sam Means. He's called upon by Jacqueline who requests his presence through a phone call to Kimmy who refers to him as that 'flamboyant friend of yours'. And Titus is off... answering Jacqueline's call for help as she's stuck at home with Russ' brother, Duke (Josh Charles). She later admits that she doesn't trust herself around him, so Titus is being used to run interference on both sides as he poses as flailing, fiery flamboyant 'Flouncey Magoo'. I giggle just saying the name, but Titus isn't amused by it whatsoever... So when Duke discovers Titus' bag of sex lubes and edible panties he's actually using for Vitamin C to help cure his Scurvy, Titus seizes the moment, takes on a straight persona and changes his name to Chadwick. If it wasn't for Tituss Burgess most of these scenes would've been duds... And that's saying something because Burgess, Charles, and Jane Krakowski are all absolute scene stealers for the most part... Well, more Burgess & Krakowski, but you get my drift. It's fun seeing Charles in this role and he's giving it his all, I just don't think the material is all it should be... At least not yet. While insanity ensues at Jacqueline's and they end up drugging Duke and recording him talking about the dangers of concussions in the NFL (again, this isn't the best material, someone call HBO's writing team for 'Ballers', pls), Kimmy prepares herself for her first college party. Here's where things get dodgy for a lot of people. I just carried on a conversation with a fellow friend & @TVTime'r @RoxxxieManeater and we talked a bit about the controversy of the heavy political notes that Fey and her merry band of writers are attempting to satire. Some people believe that it's 'mean spirited', and I get that. Hell, even Vice Magazine wrote an article about it, no shit... But I thought the '7th Wave Feminism' jokes were all pretty damn funny and could've been taken to another level. But see... That's the problem here, and I think that's why people are so polarized by it... In comedy, going all in would be better than just dipping your toes, because essentially the more over-the-top you go, the more it falls into 'John Waters' type kitsch or campy self-deprecating humor. It's hard to deny that it just doesn't feel right when the humor only goes halfway in... 'Go hard or go home', right? It feels a bit like the writers are mocking in a way, and I know even tho all people might not share those same values, everyone on this planet can identify with not wanting their core belief system ridiculed. It's just much easier to laugh if comedy takes bits to the extreme, it's easier to identify that it's comedy and not the aforementioned 'mean spirited' nature we discussed. Putting this take of comedy on what is most likely meant to be ironically funny into an equation like that makes the issues people are having with S3 a lot more clear-cut. I've been told by pretty much everyone that the show does get more cohesive and begins to focus it's blurry lines of what's been a bit daunting in its execution so far, but some of those people have told me this will be the last season for them. I don't mind if UKS hits some serious notes and slides in some political satire... But when I watch UKS, I want to have a good time... Not be thrown in a position where instead of laughing along I'm having to analyze the way the show rounds its bases. I'm basically calling in the guards... Go all in and give it to them rough like a roast or pull back because it's making us a bit uncomfortable instead of making us laugh.

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Handmaid's Tale (S01E01) Offred Airdate: April 26, 2017 @hulu Ratings: Privatized Ratings Score: 9.25/10 @handmaidsonhulu TVTime/FB/Twitter/Tumblr/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** You ever worked somewhere, walked in a room, or just experienced a piece of life in general where you were made to feel so insignificant, so small, so... caged? Maybe your boss had a bad day and took everything they were feeling in that very moment out on you... But you need that job, without it you can't survive. Your boss knows that, therefore you are forced to take that treatment and your boss happily exploits that. Ever walk into a room and you were the only person like yourself, everyone looking at you like you were less than a human... It could be because of your gender, sexual orientation, skin color, freckles, red hair, it doesn't matter, anything that makes you different from others. Have you ever felt violated? Oppressed? That feeling in that millisecond... That empty free-falling pit in the bottom of your stomach, it's absolute hell, right? All you want to do is scream, violently lash out, return that feeling of insignificance... Because you know what it feels like to be free. You know what it feels like to love yourself, for someone to love you, for you to love another. And here someone is trying to take that feeling away from you. Those feelings that you may feel from time to time or even on a daily basis... Magnify them, literally like a magnifying glass catching a beam of sun and frying a small insect, magnify those feelings by a million, and then burn them to the ground. No longer is the world you once knew 'your world'. No longer are the daily problems you face 'your problems'. A new world has emerged, along with a whole new set of rules, issues, and social constructs. Your voice is gone. Those moments where you were able to vent about that fleeting feeling that sometimes felt like it would never go away, that's gone too. You no longer have the right to yourself. It doesn't matter the world you once knew, because that world is gone. Say hello to 'Offred' (Elizabeth Moss), once upon a time she was June. Once upon a time she had moments where she swam in the ocean with her husband, Luke (O-T Fagbenle). Once upon a time she held her child, Hannah (Jordana Blake), in her arms. It doesn't matter what had happened to get to this point or what was going on behind the scenes as 'Offted', then June, stumbled into this new reality, because her old one no longer exists. She no longer has the right to have those moments. She is now a prisoner in a world run by obedience, a world without self-expression, a world that centers around her 'Commander' (Joseph Fiennes), a man who rules his little world where Offred is just a speck of dust... Not even a woman, a reproductive tool to spread his seed. He has a wife, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), but she is not enough... She is barren. She may have rule over the other Handmaid's, like Offred, but she holds them in her lap while her husband fucks them, rapes them, ritualistically. Serena takes her anger out on The Handmaids. She is oppressed in this new world order as well, but she is much higher ranking than Offred, and gladly uses Offred and the others as her punching bag. The other Handmaid's, like Offred, are reissued a type of education, more like reprogramming, that is led by the tyrannical 'Aunt Lydia', played by the omnipresent and always memorable Ann Dowd. Aunt Lydia rules with an iron fist, but clearly that is because that is what is expected of her. There is an order to everything in the world of 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Samira Wiley plays Moira, a woman who Offred appears to have known before this changing of worlds, before this new way of life suddenly became 'the ordinary'. It is not easy to adjust, especially since these women, now reduced to 'Handmaids', once knew a life beyond this world where they are treated like livestock. They are given partners to walk with, to accompany them everywhere so they are always walking in two's. Offred explains that this is not for safety, as they would have them to believe, but so that everyone has their own spy. Offred's companion is Ofglen (Alexis Bledel). She doesn't like her at first, she's... Suspicious... But after awhile, you can feel them both warming up to each other. There are secrets to be shared, but neither of them are sure it's safe to talk. 'The Handmaid's Tale' is based on a book by Margaret Atwood... One that I imagine many people will rush to read after watching this disturbing, engrossing series. What we see here, this world that is portrayed... It's not an easy world to take in. It's a very cold world... A sad world. Misery, rape, oppression, all drowning in a pool of hopelessness. Bruce Miller is the showrunner for the frigid, dystopian, tv series made directly as a Hulu Original. Miller also writes and has his hand on many of the tv show's lenses, in turn the series has a tighter focus. Reed Moreno directs and we only see this world through Offred's eyes... Just as in the book, Offred's is orally recounting events, some of which she is not entirely sure of, making her an 'unreliable narrator', yet we must trust her detailed accounts of experiences, her unique perspective, it's all we have to go by. Moreno clearly knows this and exploits it to perfection. Like 'The Handmaids', we are given little freedom as a viewer, the scope is as narrow as the world they live in. Still, this world is as fascinating as it is confusing and that makes it one that the viewer will be begging to dive into almost immediately. The Handmaid's first hour delivers all the tension, fear, and intense anger that Offred and the other Handmaid's associate with their newfound conditions, and asks all the right questions... I can't imagine anyone not instantly reaching for the next episode. I know that's exactly what I'll be doing!

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Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Chicago PD (S04E20) Gasping for Salvation Airdate: April 26, 2017 @nbctv @nbcchicagopd Ratings: 6.270 Million :: 1.18 18-49 Demo Share Score: 3.75/10 TVTime/FB/IG/Tumblr/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********* If one thing stands out in any episode of 'Chicago PD', it's any character (long or short term) coming through and threatening Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). Simply put, it is NOT a good idea! Whenever it happens, which isn't too often, I expect fireworks or some kind of eruption coming from Hank's general direction. Maybe his eyes will pop out like a cartoon character and flames & steam will rise from the top of his head. When any resistance or backtalk towards Voight is met with pure silence, the perpetrator may just be in more danger than if Hank Voight slammed them up against the intake wall or gave them a good piece of his mind... Something so intense that it's hard to wish on the scummiest of bad guys. Whatever it is, they should probably wish for a quick punch in the face over a cool, calm, collected, and secretly enraged Hank Voight. In Chicago PD 4x20, 'Gasping for Salvation', it's a fellow police officer, Denny Woods (Mykelti Williamson)... A cop from way back in Hank's past that makes this fatal mistake. You'd think someone who's been around Hank Voight and is aware of his reputation as long as Woods has been would know better, but there's always somebody putting ol' Hank to the test. Woods is Voight's superior, so maybe that had something to do with Woods' cocky behavior... That and the fact that Woods was involved in a cover-up that helped send an innocent man to prison for 17 years, so there is some desperation mixed in there as well that accounts for some of that ballsy attitude towards one of Chicago's most menacing and fearless Intelligence Officers. Something about the whole dynamic between the two men feels empty, the normal fireworks aren't there. It's not the issue in the story being told, but how it's being told. As we've mentioned many a time since NBC and everyone who works within the 'One Chicago' realm took on the third spinoff and 4th Chicago Franchise television series, Chicago Justice, there has been a noticeable drop-off in the quality of writing within not only these episodes but the story arcs that are the foundation and backbone of the seasons at hand. I had originally started with PD, then went back and fervently caught up on Chicago Fire so that I could watch the series and episode order the way they were meant to be watched. Then came Chicago Med... Then Chicago Justice. Suddenly the main emphasis fell on the big crossovers, the arcs that jumped from Chicago Series to Series, which in turn puts a strain on the individual series as a whole. For instance... Just who the hell is Denny Woods? Well, we're told facts about who he is within this singular, standalone episode and we're given a quick rundown as to the history between Woods and Voight. We are told what connects the two, besides sharing a job in the past, is the fact there is this sloppy arrest that put an innocent man away for such a large amount of time that Netflix could have easily picked up the story for a docuseries like 'Making a Murderer' if it had all actually happened in real life. If these writers and creators of One Chicago and particularly Chicago PD had the best interest of PD in mind, Woods would have been introduced many episodes ago... Maybe even several seasons, who knows... Whatever it took to build a proper compelling storyline that would have given this Voight vs Woods face off a much more epic feel, and made it actually mean something more than a 'one-and-done' throwaway ending, culminating to a moment where a door is being rightfully slammed in Vought's face. Of course, these people don't want anything to do with Voight. I personally wouldn't want to even see the man groveling at my feet for a genuine apology because, hello, you were part of a crew that took 17 years of my life away! That's 17 years of freedom, 17 years without a family, 17 years without being touched in a truly loving and meaningful way. No amount of money that could be awarded from the state for wrongful imprisonment would make up for those 17 hellacious years... That's near 2 freaking decades! And if the man had brushed up on his Netflix, he'd know to stay far away from any more police or strangers that came knocking around the door because as soon as that check hit he may be charged again and throwing all that money right back into the system! Good thing he had the common sense to anyway! Now just for a minute take all that background between Woods and Voight away. We're still left with a shaky foundation of a storyline that just so happens to involve a gun that supposedly matched a murder weapon from a case that was solved and closed ages & ages ago. They mean to tell me that because this man, Mark Scalise (Dana Ashbrook), the father of the murdererous son of this current case, Eric Scalise (Nickolas Loquercio), was a heroin addict and therefore kept the gun he used to murder someone and get away with it all those years ago? WHAT?! Writer Tiller Russell must be extremely tired or simply just not give a damn, because that is just straight lazy. Are we really supposed be shaking our heads and nodding in agreement to this asinine connection... 'Like father, like son!' Puh-lease!!! I simply cannot buy it. I simply will not buy it... Because I've seen this simple, straight forward Big 4 Network Procedural knock me down with some heavy hitting episodes, some of which were written by Tiller Russell himself! For me, that's just proof that everyone over at NBC working within this One Chicago Universe is tired, out of ideas, and simply over it. Can you blame them? There are literally 3 episodes of S4 left at this point, the writers should be making heavy strides towards creating a gripping story arc that captivates CPD's faithful audience to the end of the series, leaving them salivating for the series to return. I've been there with Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, I know it's possible. It's officially way past time to kick this tv series into overdrive. Sure, at its core CPD is an episodic procedural, but in the past 2-3 seasons we've seen the show take on serial elements that really connect each episode in a way that keeps the show fresh and engaging as possible. Unfortunately, all the show's across the board plainly feel like they've lost their mojo, their magic... It might be true that Chicago Med has always struggled to capture that magic, tho it has dramatically caught lightning in s bottle from time to time and walked away with some emotionally triumphant pieces... And it might be true that Chicago Justice never proved it had even an ounce of what it took to keep its claws in its audience, but this is no longer our show. Hopefully the cancellation of Justice will reinvigorate the franchise and NBC & Dick Wolf will have learned a valuable lesson... Don't beat your cash cow, nurture it, cradle it, and tuck it in at night. You don't want to end up with a full deck of faded out playing cards and massive waves of lost audience members, especially when it's the cornerstone of your network's median ratings.

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Mick (S01E14) The Heater Airdate: April 4, 2017 @foxtv Ratings: 2.092 Million :: 0.84 18-49 Demo Share Score: 6.25/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Ah, Mickey.... Growing tired of responsibility forced on you, eh? I'm actually a bit surprised this hasn't happened sooner. We are all entitled to 'sick days' from life... Days where we take off from work, hide away from everyone we know, and do whatever we want... Hell, I did it yesterday! I think that we can all agree that Mickey (Kaitlin Olson) has stepped up to the plate. She's not batting .300, but she's trying... And for someone who was dropped the responsibility of raising three kids right into her lap out of nowhere, she really isn't doing too bad... Not that The Pemberton kids don't come with plenty of perks. Cuz they soooo do... Mansions, Black Cards, freaking Alba (Carla Jimenez)! Mickey is caught hiding in the bathroom eating, no not eating out of the toilet, eating via sitting on the toilet... You know, like a normal person! Everyone has disputes to settle, mainly with Ben (Jack Stanton) who was tasked to create a solar system for Science Class. Part of the directions of the project was to find items from around the house to create the solar system... And he's taken a little bit of everything from everyone, including a bunch of casino chips that the found in his parent's closet. Being the lady of fate the she is, the 'Gambling Addict' in Mickey sees Ben's newly scored casino chips as 'a sign' and decides to head to the casino. She literally passes the proverbial & figurative baton, which is really just a pepper shaker (and yes she pulled it out of the tiny downstairs bathroom that she just so happened to be camped out in), to Alba who is now in charge, seeing as how she is holding the baton aka all important pepper shaker... A duty she takes very seriously until Jimmy (Scott MacArthur) shows up and tells her that Mickey is a Gambling Addict. And this is where the usual insanity of 'The Mick' truly starts. Alba runs off to the casino to attempt to retrieve Mickey, hands off the 'baton' to Sabrina (Sofia Black-D'Elia), who ties Ben up with a leash... Because what better way to keep a kid on a 'tight leash', ammirite? Too literal? Jimmy sets Ben free when he convinces Jimmy that he has to poop... Jimmy, being the sucker that he is, sets Ben free. Big mistake. Ben goes missing, escaping from the closet he was safely tucked away in after gathering up more casino chips and even passing up his parent's drug stash, which was mainly an ungodly amount of cocaine (we've all been there, right?). He even leaves on a bus to head to the casino, meeting an extremely friendly bus driver who makes sure that he gets to his destination safely. That's why they make the big bucks, kids! Sabrina and Chip (Thomas Barbusca) attempt to find him, but Jimmy shows up and scolds them for losing him, taking the baton (pepper shaker), thus becoming the temporary head of the household. They quickly find out that Jimmy was the one who unleashed him when Jimmy finds The Pemberton coke stash and gets emotional and a wee bit too talkative. Insanity all around... Wouldn't be 'The Mick' if it wasn't! The subplot of Mickey's gambling addiction spirals out of control at the casino almost immediately. Now that I think about it, she spiraled as soon as she eyed those chips dangling from Ben's makeshift project. I've been to my fair share of casinos and I've never seen someone go through so much money so fast... And believe me, I've tried... With other people's money. I'm not so liberal when it comes to gambling with my own money. Mickey is literally at the craps tables, and anywhere they'll allow her, making bets at hyper speed! Alba, who's already joined the insanity instead of retrieving Mickey like originally planned, even wins a free night in a suite, a temptation that Mickey easily sways her into taking. Eventually both women are kicked out of the casino and Mickey breaks down and admits she has a problem... But when Ben shows up at the bus stop with casino chips in hand., Mickey retracts everything because she feels a heater coming on. And anyway, isn't that like a sign of fate or something? Later she returns home in a limo that she's turned into Ben's science project, her luck has finally turned. Moral of the story? Sometimes your up, sometimes your down. Welcome to life with Mickey! 'The Heater' isn't one of 'The Mick's best episodes, but it's still entertaining as always. I prefer the darker, existential, layered comedy it usually displays... But the signature 'Snowball Effect' comedy is still intact, and is pretty much always a sure-fire bet for a good laugh. I'm literally re-editing this review for our website and FB, months after it originally aired and this piece was written... And still to this day, 'The Mick' is the Best New Sitcom on Network Television in 2017 and I have to give props to everyone at FOX for protecting this investment and treating the show right.

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Playing House (S03E01) Cookie Jar Airdate: June 23, 2017 @usanetwork Ratings: 0.381 Million :: 0.15 18-49 Demo Share Score: 8/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Listen, I know scheduling can be stressful, invasive, turbulent entity to tackle in the world of the multi-project, hustle & bustle of Hollywood... But, USA Network, if you ever make me wait 2 years between seasons of Jessica St Clair & Lennon Parham's sleeper comic goldmine hit, 'Playing House', me and youse... We gonna have problems! Not like the kind of white-washed, Pinebrook aging human condition, relationship problems... But more like the lethal takedown Cookie Jar problems. Oh yeah, I'll be snapping 'solar-plexus'! Nah, USA Network, I'm just kidding... We're all good. The fact that USA continues to give these two incredibly talented, insightful and funny strong women a platform for this type of show, tells you exactly what USA Network is made out of. This could've been a show that was tossed to the wolves or the cancellation bear in a matter of seconds, especially with all the insanity going on behind the scene, but here we are over 3 years later starting the third season. As new character and bad ass self-defense instructor, Cookie (Lauren Weedman), brings the extra laughs with the absence of our beloved 'Bird Bones' (Lindsay Sloane - who will return btw, don't worry), showing us takedown moves, debilitating holds & submissions, and praising Maggie (Parham) as a lead student... Only to show up as the new boo thing of Maggie's ex-husband and German live cam, internet porn, addict Bruce Caruso (Brad Morris)... Well, it still feels as if we never left our two favorite women... Just as the series' pillowy, emotionally charged theme song, Say HI's - 'Back Before We Were Brittle', would suggest, 'Hey, remember when all of time stood still'. Yup, it's like we never left... And man does I feel blessed to have my two favorite existential, funny ladies back in action! But in fact, we did leave, and there were some very real things going down while we were all away from the show, as I mentioned before. The almost two year hiatus was particularly jarring for fans, but it wasn't due to scheduling, as I joked at the beginning of the article. Those in the know, yes, I was joking! Just as recent as the past few months you may have heard Jessica St Clair's voice in HBO's 'out-of-the-box' animated 'Duplass Brothers' hit, 'Animals', IFC's 'Portlandia', FOX's 'Bob's Burgers'... Or you have even seen her recently in physical form in appearances and stints on Comedy Central's 'Review', SeeSo's 'Bajillion Dollar Properties', TBS Network's 'Angie Tribeca', TV Land's 'Teachers', or one of my personal faves, ABC's 'American Housewife' (I love you Chloe Brown Mueller, you bitch!)... But those were only recent shoots, within the 2017 timeframe. During an eye opening moment after sensing something just wasn't right back in 2015, St Clair headed to a specialist and was told life changing news... She had Stage 2B Estrogen Positive Breast Cancer. St Clair was so adamant about keeping this all a secret not to upset her 2 year old child, who is still a baby (not even 5), that she scoured the internet and searched for any kind of cancer hack she could do that she could possibly keep her hair intact throughout her chemo treatments. 'Playing House' is already a beautiful story of friendship and strong women who are able to come together and lean on each other in the toughest of times. I think this real-life story only strengthens that bond between these two women, and the reality that these women are literally unstoppable female forces who do whatever it takes to keep each other up off the ground. Didn't mean to dampen then mood, I know that everyone is excited to have one of our favorite shows back... But I felt like this was a story that needed to be told. Jessica St Clair, I'm so proud of you.... It's amazing and truly inspiring how you faced cancer the way that you did and were able to come out on top, get right back to work, and do what you do best... Making us laugh, making us feel, making us cry. It's events like these that really put things into perspective and truly make us appreciate what we have today, because you never know what tomorrow can bring. So thank you, Jessica St Clair. Thank you, Lennon Parham... Zach Woods... Brad Morris... Keegan-Michael Key... Lindsay Sloane... Jane Kaczmarek... Everyone at Universal Cable Productions, A24 Films, and of course NBC Universal and USA Network for recognizing how special this project is and how truly special these women are. We need them on television! This is the type show that sticks with you, and I think that things will only continue to get better from here. ❤️💯

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Orange is the New Black (S05E06) Flaming Hot Cheetos Airdate: June 9, 2017 @oitnb Ratings: @netflix original Score: 8.75/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** How fitting that the episode we finally get a glimpse of the woman who left us all in emotional turmoil at the end of S4, is actually written by the wife and longtime partner of Samira Wiley (we love you Poussey Washington!), the incredibly talented, Lauren Morelli. In our last review of OITNB5, we focused a lot on perspective... When it comes to the loss and grieving of the very character that inspired the women of Litchfield Prison to take control of their prison, who better to give us a perspective as to the woman who is literally married to her in real life! Just thinking about life without my significant other sends complete and total perplexing, dramatic psychological turmoil surging through my entire being. No way. But if someone had to write what it would be like to move towards a place where moving on, and simultaneously holding on & letting go of even the character my significant other was playing... I guess the best person for the job would be me. There's a bit of added emotion that I've talked about being missing before, turning this episode from great to one helluva good time! 'Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally' gives us more than just Soso & Taystee coming to terms with the loss of Poussey, though admittedly these two have had the most dramatically effective storyline in S5. We also get to see how the riot is changing the prison... Not just Litchfield, but the world of Litchfield and everyone's own little world that makes up the sum of its parts. It's easy to laugh when Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) comes in dressed to the nines, playing her 'Law & Order' theme music, claiming 'due process', and telling '2007 Britney Spears on Steroids' Helen (Francesca Curran) to 'best step out of her way' so she can talk to Pensatucky (Taryn Manning)... But the outcome is way more revealing of the heart and human side of these inmates. You see, these inmates who now have control have all been moved aside and dropped into a system where they are lost in privatized, overcrowded prisons... For the most part they may gravitate towards self-segregation, but they all have very key things in common. Boo plays her role well, pushing the women to 'be better than they are'... And she's right. You get locked up in a cage for so long and you start feeling like the animals that you are being treated as... But all these people are human beings and long prison sentences have proven not to work. So what does Boo suggest? A little bit of what my fellow TVTime'r and friend precisely called out as 'Restorative Justice'. In the whole process we get a bit more of the incredibly natural dynamic between Doggett and Boo. They are an incredible force together. The entire scene where Boo is counseling and directing Pensatucky as to how she needs to act, what she needs to say and do... Its just magic. Doggett responds so naturally, rattling off a story about how her mom used to coach her in case of getting caught shoplifting. It's these little scenes that continue to grow these original characters that really stick with me. Same with Soso (Kimiko Glenn) and Janae, the very unlikely duo. They are both grieving and instead of carrying that chip on her shoulder, Janae has a rare moment with Soso where she leaves her heart on her sleeve. I tear up just thinking about it. Janae has seen and felt so much prejudice and racial injustice... And the fact that she's so intelligent sometimes works against her. It's like being too smart for your own good. But with the prison now a barbed wired, locked down 'land of the free', Janae can parallel her feelings towards her racial injustices to her feelings about simply losing a friend... And let go, while still holding on to what makes her, her. Janae has always been a favorite of mine and while she's done questionable things, as we all have, it's easy to understand why. Deep down Janae is exploding with love, she has so much to give, but her intellect and her principles hold her back from sharing that love with all of those around her... That and of course the fact that she's in prison and must keep a certain air about her. With Taystee & Soso and now Boo & Doggett really stealing the show, it's nice to see Janae snag that spotlight because Vicky Jeudy deserves it... She gives so many dimensions to Janae that sometimes I think the writers don't even realize that the character has, that you simply can't ignore her. You can't ignore her plight. Janae is simply such a beautiful character, etched in pain, achievements, and a massive leap where she almost was able to grab the stars... Almost. As you know, 'almost doesn't count'. Speaking of not being able to ignore... Nita Reddy (Gita Reddy, isn't that funny?) has been tasked to help quell the riot. Unfortunately she's only meeting a few of the demands, the shallow ones, the 'Takis' and the 'Flaming Hot Cheetos', and one very necessary one (just not in the big picture), tampons! At first it feels like a win for Taystee and her 'Heads of Litchfield State' but after a phone call with a pushy Nita later on, it's clear that the rest of the demands aren't being taken seriously. Taystee is the last person in Litchfield who should be taken with a grain of salt. She has no ties to the outside, and her flashback gives us an in depth look at why she ended up wrapped tight in Vee's clutches. I've never met my biological father, but I often think about how it would go. Wonder if I'll ever even get an email or call... I think maybe there's a huge part of me that just wants to know that he acknowledges me. Taystee' story shows how that could all go horribly wrong when she is young and ready to be embraced by her real mother, who ends up having second thoughts because she has already started another life with another family. This killed me... I'm rewatching the scene now and I'm completely teared up. My biological father has since moved on from whatever the circumstances were surrounding my birth as my mother was a very young teenager, as was he. He has another son and a daughter. I wonder if they know who I am, I doubt it. In my head, this is more close to reality. There's a great shame in Taystee's mother's soul... She can't bring herself to overcome it and it crushes Taystee. Mia Jefferson (Tiffany Mann) plays this character right, there's a lot of us out there who never have met one or more of our birth parents. The first thing Taystee asks is 'Why didn't you want me?' The first thing I would ask is, 'Why have waited so long to reach out?' Taystee's situation is more difficult than mine, she has no one. I had a mother who beat incredible odds at a young age and a step-father who earned the title of 'Dad'. Still, there will always be a void until that man says something to me, and if he's too afraid to say something or complacent enough in his own life to never reach out, then I'll die with that void... But that will be on him, and I hope it weighs heavy. Little does he probably know that I am one of the most understanding and forgiving people in this world... And that's because I have people to fall back on. It breaks my heart that Taystee doesn't. I understand it, but to know this pain and imagine it multiplied wrecks me, truly. Andrew McCarthy seems to be given the most chaotic episodes. There is so much happening here... The Litchfield Trial of Tiffany Doggett, the arrival and subsequent removal of Hot Cheetos & Takis, Taystee's backstory with her biological mother, Janae & Soso running their pain away together, Lorna (Yael Stone) & Nicky (Natasha Lyons) finally giving in to sexual tensions and then facing the repercussions, Aleida Diaz (Elizabeth Rodriguez) being rushed into prime time news to give her exclusive take on Litchfield and being taken advantage of by a shady producer (Megumi Haggerty), Bayley (Alan Aisenberg) considering suicide because no one will listen to him or arrest the upper-middle class white boy who's in a 'bad place', Piper leaving Alex's backyard sit-in to take a stand, Freida leading all the 'elders' to her giant survivalist utopia, as well as Taystee meeting Poussey for the first time in the library that was always very close to her heart... And let's not forget the 'blaze of glory' finale where our fan favorites and 'Woke' Litchfield Leaders burn those mother fucking Flaming Hot Cheetos and Takis to the ground! Cindy starts the party... 'Flamin Cheetos, y'all!' Janae keeps the energy going, 'Yo, T... Tell this woman what we want!' Taystee plays off her hype women, 'We want to be mother fucking taken serious!' Chaos reigns supreme here, but McCarthy is masterful at balancing it all out. Who knew... Right? Oh wait, we all did! That's why McCarthy is given the tough ones!