Hello STV Readers and welcome to the 34th Edition of WRT! I'm stepping in for Marko this week who's unable to format this WRT this week, but still provided us with some amazing questions! This week we talk about NBC's comedy schedule shift, Bottle Episodes and our recommendations for the Spring viewing season.
This week we are joined by Yon (SJ), Sam (SD), Bex (BX), Eve (EV), Jamie (JC), Claire (CS), Beth (BW), Milo (MJ) and Rachel(RW)!
NBC makes an abrupt schedule change! This coming Thursday AP Bio and Champions will premiere in each other's timeslots giving Champions the slightly better Will & Grace lead in.Thoughts?
Yon: Networks continues to make strange decisions. I can see why NBC are trying to give Champions a shot with Will & Grace as the lead in, but both it & AP Bio look like terrible shows, and I wouldn't be surprised if both of them are gone come May.
Bex: Having watched the first three episodes of AP Bio on the NBC app, perhaps the dark comedy aspect of this show, with its revenge plots and the main character's bitterness, is a little too dark to follow a lighter show like Will and Grace. If NBC has recognized this, then it may mean that Champions better fits that bill. Despite the sudden switch, I'm not sure how either are going to do this season, but with that boost Champions may just come away with the better of the ratings.
Eve: Well this could mean two things. NBC has decided AP BIO doesn't need the lead-in and it assumes Champions is the weaker show. Or they are already giving up on AP BIO.
Legends of Tomorrow delivered a very interesting "Bottle" episode this week. Are you a fan of these episodes? Can they serve the story or are they way too disruptive?
Yon: I like bottle episodes when they're done well. Legends of Tomorrow having Zari basically anchoring the episode enabled her to get a ton of character development, keep the story moving, and provide us with one of the most emotional, if not weirdest episodes of TV I've watched in a while. But sometimes they can go very badly wrong, with the focus on the wrong characters, drop in momentum storytelling wise from the previous episode (ie ending on a cliffhanger of someone's life being in danger, bottle episode focuses on something else & the week after you're back to finding out whether a person's lived) which can be confusing. So I think it's very much about getting the balance right.
Sam: It really depends on the writing of the bottle episode. Sometimes they can be good fun, but others feel like a waste of time. This Legends episode felt like something they kept in their back pockets until they needed some time to kill between the overarching plot and just decided to revolve it around Zari. I liked it, but I think I would have liked it more if it was around a seasoned character instead of Zari. Episodes like these tend to be better when they're around characters you are already invested in, and I'm not that invested in Zari yet which made this episode kind of drag for me. I'm not a fan of bottle episodes in general because they do usually take away from the main plot, but as long as they can make it really funny and entertaining, I'm alright with that.
Eve: I can't comment on the bottle episode of Legends of Tomorrow but usually bottle episodes are filler episodes that do not really add to the development of the story. I have yet to see a bottle episode that did not disrupt the on-going season. Bottle episodes usually happen when an alternative script has to be written short-notice. Sometimes deadlines like these result in genius writing, most times they do not.
Jamie: I'm usually not a fan of bottle episodes. I already feel like a lot of shows need to pick up their pace, and bottle episodes don't help that. But I did immensely enjoy this recent Legends of Tomorrow episode (even though I usually hate time loop episodes). I guess if it's well written like this one was, it doesn't really matter.
Beth: I used to be against bottle episodes, but lately I have been changing my mind. Grey's is amazing at doing these. Sure, some has been a miss but the majority of them have been awesome. I loved the the Legends bottle ep with Zari because it did what I have begun to appreciate, gave us some great insight into the characters. Now in highly serialized thrillers, they can be disruptive.
Milo: I love, love, love certain types of bottle episodes, especially time loop ones. They're nearly always really fun. Star Trek: Discovery did something similar with "Magic To Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" - hell, the Star Trek franchise itself is where the term "bottle episode" comes from if I recall correctly - earlier on in its season and it rocked, and it always adds an extra layer of humor to the show normally. Battlestar Galactica's Unfinished Business was a great way to do bottle episodes as well, condensing an entire season's worth of flashbacks down into one episode centered around a boxing match. And of course another great example is Breaking Bad's Fly. Doctor Who also does this very well when it can, as although you do occasionally get disasters like Season 2's Fear Her, all-timer episodes like Season 4's unnivering Midnight are definitely worth making a case as to why bottle episodes should be made.
With the Olympics over, we've got only 13 more weeks of the official season to go. What shows in the upcoming Spring-polooza will be your priority and will be, but shouldn't?
Yon: I have way too many shows on my watch list as it is, so some will be bumped to the summer or just taken off altogether, but I'm really intrigued to sample Life Sentence & Reverie. They both have great leads who have been in shows that I've watched before, and Reverie especially has a really interesting concept. Also looking forward to trying out Good Girls, Rise and Heathers, which looks like a really fun, trashy mess. Considering the amount of shows I have to catch up on, I'm actually shocked we only have 13 more weeks of the season to go. Time is very much flying by this season!
Sam: Too many to count, honestly. But I'll be putting my focus on the second season of the Good Fight, The Walking Dead coming back, and season 3 of UnReal, and checking out new shows like Good Girls, Rise and For The People. I don't know how many of these should be a priority for me, but I'll be making time for them anyway.
Bex: I'm intrigued by Life Sentence, but only because I recently fought my way into remission. It'll become a bit of a guilty pleasure type show for me more than anything, I think.
Mostly I'm looking forward to season two of Timeless kicking off on March 11. After being cancelled, and then uncancelled last year, I feel like they're going to really deliver with a stellar second season, and I can't wait to go on that journey to the past each week with Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus - even if we only get ten episodes this season.
Jamie: I'm been super good all season with keeping up with my ongoing shows. This is the first year that I haven't dropped anything yet so I'm hoping to continue that up until the finales. During the quiet weeks I have a list of shows to catch up on. Right now I'm trying to finish season 1 of the Expanse and Step Up High Water. Though my main priority will be my ongoing shows.
Claire: What Olympics? Just couldn’t get into them; even with Adam Rippon being from my hometown! But I’ll be happy when SNL is back on NBC, I’ve missed that. Most of my shows aren’t on broadcast so I haven’t been too misplaced. I’ve been loving The Alienist, Baskets, Channel Zero, Here and Now & Divorce. I’ll be happy to have the ABC comedies back: The Goldbergs, American Housewife & Speechless. Not The Middle though, I just think that this final season stinks! Also, can’t wait for Roseanne, Splitting Up Together and Good Girls; looks like a lot of great mid season replacements.
Beth: My priorities for live viewing are AOS, 9-1-1, Riverdale, LOT, B99, Lethal Weapon and Chicago Fire simply because I love watching them weekly and couldn't imagine pushing them.
Rachel: With the Olympics over, I'm seriously excited for the return of Fear The Walking Dead. Last season, we saw the Clark family torn apart (again). Will they be reunited? Will they ever be able to live in peace?? Then there's also 8b of The Walking Dead. Carl's eventual demise has a lot of people talking, and I'm definitely interested in seeing how they write off his character.
