May 14th's Weekly TV Thoughts

 As I'm writing this on Thursday night, there were lots of cancellations today.  (We'll see if any come in after I schedule this.)  Honestly, I'm not sorry about Naomi, United States of Al, and How We Roll being cancelled.  As you'll see below, I was very underwhelmed by Naomi's finale on Tuesday, and I wasn't planning to be back next season.  And the sitcoms?  Very few laughs coming from them.  We'll see if there is much I'm super excited about watching next season, but so far, not too many shows have caught my attention.

But that's still a few months away.  Here's what I watched this week:

American Ninja Warrior – Yes, that was me you heard cheering when Jessie won.  I’m thrilled she and Megan were the final two again.  I really do like Megan.  But I want Jessie to get her pool.  Or a nice wedding.  (I thought she and Chris already got married, guess I was wrong.)  So many great competitors and performances overall.  Can’t wait for the new season next month.

Holey Moley – Oh, so the Muppet thing is a season long thread.  Or at least a few episodes.  Got it.  Stephen is certainly a good sport with what they are having him do, although as a executive producer, I’m sure he could have vetoed it.  Some impressive playing with quite a few amazing shots and a put off at the end.  Plus, how about neither golfer getting knocked in the mud at Hole Number 2?

Naomi – Not sure what I think of that twist at the end.  It felt forced and out of left field to me.  And not sure if I will continue even with that cliffhanger if it comes back.  We’ll have to see what else is on opposite it if that happens.  Elsewhere, when did Naomi decide to go back and get her friends to help?  Mind you, I did like the moment, but it also came out of left field.  I get it, they had to surprise us, but still, I expected something.  And the final confrontation seemed anticlimactic, mainly because they ran away.  Probably won’t be back, the more that I think about it.  (No, I didn’t edit this after the news of the cancellation came out.)

The Flash – Good character development, but an overall quiet episode.  I get it, a way to honor Frost.  The stories Iris got for her podcast were great.  I knew Caitlin was up to something, but doesn’t she know that these kinds of crazy schemes to bring someone back always go bad?  And I was wondering if they were going to ignore what was going on with Iris, but obviously not.

Survivor – Just like last season, the Do or Die challenge ultimate kept two people safe.  I feel like these twists to the game aren’t working out as the producers envisioned they would.  They’ve certainly been the same in both seasons.  Same with the steal the idol advantage.  Drea going out tonight was epic because of the twists and turns.  And I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much because of the person who was leaving than I did tonight.  She certainly took it well.

Domino Masters – My heart breaks for Mechanical Mavericks.  Honestly, I could see myself losing it like those team members did, blaming myself.  Especially after 24 hours with how tired they all were.  It was hard to watch, but I get it.  And, as always, my hat is off to the host and judges who found great things to say and were there to pick them up (if not their dominos) and encourage them.  That’s one of the things I have loved about this show.  I called it right last week – Dominerds won.  They were impressing me week after week, so I’m happy about it.  But I would have been happy with any of those teams.  They were all great and all deserved it.  Truly, a great show.  I hope it comes back.

United States of Al – When the show became about nothing but the character’s sex lives, it really went downhill.  Not that impressed with this episode as a result.  I hope they resolve things next week since that’s going to be the series finale, not just the season finale.

How We Roll – Maybe it was finding out this show was cancelled, so I was being more critical, but I found both of these episode more cringe inducing than laugh inducing.  Mind you, I never laugh much at the episodes, but these were both pretty bad.