2019 Media in Review: TV and Books

This was a weird year. In the past, TV and/or movies have dominated my media intake, but not only did I see comparatively few movies, I only finished one season of a non-current TV show (that I’d been slogging through for years), struggled mightily to keep up with my currently-airing shows, and didn’t finish reading any books. I guess I played a lot of Splatoon in between complicated apartment hunting and eventual moving.

Time to finish up the 2019 Media posts and look forward to a more robust 2020.

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All about the Arrowverse

CW’s Arrowverse kicks off its 2019 season tonight with the series premiere of Batwoman, and I could not be last-minuting this wrap-up of last season’s shows any harder. It turns out these shows that are usually my happy-place brain candy TV options really kind of let me down.

Legends of Tomorrow, mostly delivered a fine season but the landing was rough. The Flash was the opposite with the bulk of the season dragged down by elements I didn’t care for, but it pulled up before completely crashing.  And then there was Arrow. Poor Arrow that started it all. After years of defending it against criticism, it’s finally become something I just want to be over because I can’t imagine there’s any saving it. There might be a speck or two to look forward to in the shortened final season, but for the most part, it has failed me hard.

So let’s break it down.

2017-18 TV Wrap-up: The Beeboverse

Yeah, yeah. That trio of CW shows comprising DC’s Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow may officially still be known as the Arrowverse, But Cuddle Me Beebo, the lovable Elmo knockoff off that flew from the shelves, was a god for a little while and even sort of…you know, I can’t spoil it…but suffice to say that Beebo has made its presence known in two of the three series and has to exist in the third, since they’re all connected.

So, I’m calling it: The Arrowverse is now the Beeboverse, and I’ll fight you over it. But since it’s all so much better when we get along, let’s take a look at three shows that, even when they’re not perfect, never fail to entertain me.

Beebo loves you!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: That was fun!

Legends of Tomorrow was definitely one of my favorite shows this season, and I started thinking of things to say about it a couple episodes before its recent finale. And man, am I glad I waited.

TV Update: I am so far behind…

I was pretty hopeful when this season started that I’d be able to keep up with all my shows, but that hope was clearly misplaced. I fell behind pretty early, and things are just starting to come back from winter hiatuses — or in the case of Grimm, just getting going. But did I used that hiatus time to get caught up?

No. Instead I wrote some fanfic, went to work, watched a ton of Youtube videos (mostly of people skateboarding), binged on Microsoft solitaire games, had family Christmas, blogged a little and snuggled the most demanding of demanding snuggle buddies.

This is Buster.

TV Roundup: Everything’s the same; nothing will be the same

Well, my fall/spring TV season is officially over, and it’s pretty easy to say my three favorites of the year were The Flash, Agents of SHIELD and Arrow. In general, I felt like they all had strong seasons, and if I liked one, it’s easy to see how I’d like the other two, because they all had some awfully similar things going on. Spoilers here, obviously.

TV Roundup

I’ve got a lot of shows to talk about, but not a ton to say about any of them. So, roundup. Let’s start with what will apparently be my most talked about show of the season: Heroes Reborn.

Heroes Reborn airs Thursdays at 7 p.m. on NBC.

Fall TV is almost upon us

Last year I made this post ridiculously early, so I suppose its only fitting it comes ridiculously late this year. After perusing TV Guide’s fall schedule and premiere calendar, I’ve worked up my own weekly list of of things to watch. My eye is mostly on returning shows and those of a superheroic bent, but a few new comedies caught my attention, too.

2014 Media in Review: I watch way too much TV

So, I didn’t see many movies at the theater last year, I read even fewer books, and my movies on DVD/Instant have taken a massive hit from their 2011 high of 74. And it’s probably because over the course of 12 months I watched 26 seasons worth of old TV. Granted, some of those were really short seasons, but still. That’s a lot of TV. Let’s take a look in the last official Media in Review post before next year.

Premiere week is almost here….

With so many new shows premiering soon (and some not for a frustratingly long time), I’ve updated the list of Fall TV that caught my eye. You can check it out here.

While I hate the long wait on Grimm and Constantine, I’m a little hopeful that Supernatural and Arrow don’t start up until mid October. Because, I’m not saying I’m going to binge on seaason nine and two, respectively, once they hit Netflix…but I’m probably going to end up doing that. And the more time between the past season availability date and the current season premiere date, the fewer episodes will have passed by the time I’m current. I figure, if I can start no more than four episodes behind, I’ll try to catch up/keep up live.

Rewatch news

I’m about five years behind on Criminal Minds, but now that it’s streaming, I decided to start a re/watch. I’d only ever seen a handful of season one episodes anyway. Just starting the aftermath of the Tobias Hankel episodes in season two.

The Smallville rewatch is still lagging. I started a post after season four, but it’s hard writing about the tangled mess that is the Luthor family. I’m partway through season five, but endeavoring not to watch anymore until the season four post is done. Which means I’m not actually watching it, I’m just letting it eat two spaces in my DVD queue. Along with some Chris Pine rom com (Blind Date) that I’m also not watching, because OMG TV is my life right now, apparently.