August 2nd's Weekly TV Thoughts

I was out of town last week, so I have two weeks to talk about.  Including a couple of season finales and a season premier.  Yes, this was a lot to get through in a week.

American Ninja Warrior (7/21) – Proving yet again that age is becoming a factor.  Yes, I get that some of my favorites are going to age out, but getting the teens on there earlier is forcing them out sooner.  So I’m always happy when one of the older Ninjas does well like Sean did.  And, I do have to say that there were some impressive runs by the youngsters tonight.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate them, it’s just that I miss those I’ve rooted for for years.

Lego Masters (7/21) – The wrong team went home.  It’s rare for me to feel that way, but the two teams that had issues had issues because of their ambition and storytelling.  The brother and sister team’s build was pretty safe.  Yes, they had the one hiccup, but seriously?  I could have done that.  I was really hoping no one was going to be eliminated.  But I can’t wait to see what the teams build for the finale.

Quiz with Balls (7/21) – I wish I could have heard what the rest of those questions were at the end.  But I knew he wouldn’t get very far based on how much time was left in the episode.  Most of those questions completely threw me, but there were a couple of questions I knew, which made me happy.  As to this week’s rivalry, I couldn’t decide who to root for since I grew up near San Francisco but now live near Los Angeles.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (7/21) – Anyone surprised by the revelation of the family connection?  I thought not.  Not sure I liked what they did to the Round Table, either.  But there were some things I enjoyed in the episode overall.  A time travel episode that built in the paradox, too.

The Snake (7/22) – Nice to see the bro trio get broken up.  It will be interesting to see how things play out now with the power trio no more.  I couldn’t believe how much everyone was running and jumping for that rope.  Makes sense, but wow they were fast.

Destination X (7/22) – For some reason, I was thinking this was the finale.  But I’ll get there soon.  Not sure how I feel about gambling to move players and yourself around.  And I sure didn’t pick up on those clues.

The Challenge (7/23) – Kind of a wasted episode since I can’t remember who people are until half way through the episode and most of the point was to introduce the cast, especially the newbies.  But I guess next week is the official premiere.

Match Game (7/23) – It’s always interesting to see what everyone comes up with and if I would have thought of those answers at all.  I think I would have matched with more celebs this week, but that’s not always the case.

Press Your Luck (7/24) – Whammie was so good during the first round, but man he made up for it at the end.  Still, considering how much she won, it’s hard to feel sorry for him.

American Ninja Warrior (7/28) – I was really worried when they put Joe in the middle of the episode instead of at the end.  Yes, it was tough to see him not hit a buzzer, but I was glad he still made it past this round.  Some impressive finishes overall.  And I loved the shout out to the celebs, especially Stephen Amell.

Lego Masters (7/28) – I got spoiled for who the winners were, and obviously, based on my comments above, I wasn’t thrilled.  Yes, I would have preferred to see the brothers win since I’ve been rooting for them all season.  But Sage and Ian had a better build.  I can’t fault the judges for their choice.

Quiz with Balls (7/28) – I was impressed with how well the guy who won did as a whole.  He really did seem to know quite a bit on things.  I felt like the final questions were relatively easy.  I mean, I knew them all without any second guessing, which usually means they are easy.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (7/28) – I feel like the character development has been fairly predictable, which has made it hard for me to truly care about the characters.  Still, they are continuing to grow on me.  I did like the team aspect of the story.  And that fight?  Completely silly but still so much fun.  I couldn’t keep myself from grinning as I was watching the cartoonishness of it all.

The Snake (7/29) – I seriously don’t see what Kathryn thinks she is doing.  If you literally lie to everyone in the game, they are going to figure it out, stop trusting you, and send you home.  I think she is on very thin ice, and I’m not sure how she can keep from being sent home next.  It will be interesting to see if she squirms her way out of it or not.

Destination X (7/29) – I was rooting for Peter, but I’m okay with Rick winning.  I felt so badly for Biggy.  I mean, he was so close.  Who knows if he would have really been a threat or not, but that really hurt watching what happened to him tonight.

The Challenge (7/30) – Nice to see the UK alliance take the first hit.  Especially when he got who he asked for.  I’m surprised they are changing teams already.  I honestly figured they’d go a few weeks before they did that.  It will be interesting to see how the politics plays out next week.  And when I start fast forwarding through the politics part.

Press Your Luck (7/31) – Wow, I thought the Whammie was active last week.  Ruined the bonus round again, although I get why she kept going.  I would have as well.  But so many in the first half, too.  Got to admit, I thought the winner might go into labor from all her jumping, but she made it.

Movie Review: Diagnosis: Murder - Without Warning

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: A few scenes of fun with characters we love

Cons: Depressing, some poor plotting, but plenty of lectures

The Bottom Line:

Last diagnosis

Gets more wrong than it does right

Fans should skip this one

“I Wouldn’t Want to Give You Readers the Impression That Bodies Just Wash Up At My Feet.”

I was hoping.  I really was.  Even though the first of the Diagnosis: Murder reunion movies was as bad as my memory of it had been, I was truly hoping that Without Warning, the second post series movie and final outing for these characters, was going to be better.  Sadly, it isn’t.

The premise this time involves a woman who washes ashore in the beach.  Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) is present when her body is found.  As his son, Steve (real life son Barry Van Dyke) starts investigating, the trail leads him to a migrant camp and a deadly disease that could become a pandemic.  With all that medical drama, there’s plenty of story for Amanda Bentley (Victoria Rowell) and Jessie Travis (Charlie Schlatter).  We also get the return of young resident doctor Alex Smith (Barry’s son Shane Van Dyke) who had been in a handful of episodes of seasons 7 and 8.  Plus, there’s reporter Ellen Sharp (Kimberly Quinn) who reappears from a season 8 episode.

Obviously, this storyline is going to hit differently today than it did in 2002 thanks to Covid.  However, I remember not really liking it even back then.  It’s pretty stressful no matter when you watch it, and I was sure someone we knew was going to get sick.  Yes, watching them figure it out did make for a good medical mystery.

However, if that were the only problem with the movie, I could mostly move on.  Sadly, it is far from the only problem.

There’s way too much story for the hour and a half running time.  As a result, we get some resolution to storylines dumped on us in act three with no buildup.  Honestly, I’d forgotten about that storyline.  But when they just dropped that on us, it bothered me again.  There’s some interesting stuff in the other mystery storyline, with some deducting I enjoyed.  But it wasn’t enough to make up for the other short comings.

If you thought the last movie had lectures, wait until you get a load of this one.  We’ve got racism (again) in spades.  Then there’s the ethics of medical testing and new drug development.  And migrants/farm workers.  Yes, racism could cover that one, but it really needs its own category.  The result is this gives Mark Sloan a chance to lecture multiple characters.  Some of these issues are things that might be interesting to address, but not with the strawmen that are set up here.  And, it was time that could have been used to better develop the mystery.

We do get more lighthearted scenes in this movie than the last one, but most of them come at the expense of Steve.  Yes, he’s been the target of jokes in the past, but it wasn’t nearly as painful as it was here.  It didn’t help that they made him a complete idiot when it comes to detecting.  Yes, Mark is always the one solving the cases on the show, but Steve was never this clueless.

And the less said about the romance of this movie the better.

We do get some scenes with the characters together and in familiar sets, which I appreciated.  And the actors are all fine at bringing those characters to life.

It’s a shame to see the legacy of this show ruined by these extremely poor follow up films.  If you are a fan who wants to see a much better continuation, track down the tie-in novels.  There are eight of them, and they were written by one of the show’s former writers and producers.  Lee Goldberg picked up the novels after season six of the show, which was when he left.  But they actually feel like Diagnosis: Murder stories.  My only critic is that, after the first book, they focus a bit more on Mark than the ensemble.  But it’s a minor complaint.

If you are a fan of Diagnosis: Murder, I’m warning you away from Without Warning.  It’s sad that such a fun series has to go out on this note.

This movie is part of the Diagnosis: Murder Movie Collection.