“Married… with Children” s1e1 (1987)
It really only gets going in the second half, when Steve and Marcy show up. There are plenty of laughs in the first half, of course—and Katey Sagal and Ed O'Neill are superb—but the show only really opens up full throttle when there’s a second couple in the mix. Then, more than before, you get a sense of what the show is.
9/10
“Bakersfield P.D.” 05 (1993)
Diane Delano.
Two really quirky storylines, and big laughs in both. Paul and Wade are split up, with Paul working with the captain while Wade fights with Boyer for his sister’s honour. Chris Mulkey gets lots to do and is great. It’s fair to say that, in this show, everyone except Paul is crazy.
8/10
“Colin from Accounts” s2e2 (2024)
Very funny indeed. Even better than last week. It had a much stronger story - a story that felt significant - and it was well told.
9/10
“Colin from Accounts” s2e1 (2024)
Kevin Bacon.
Strong season opener, with a good storyline. Plenty of funny moments. Also, while Ashley and Gordon are ridiculously obsessed with getting their dog back it’s always very clear that their underlying insecurities are what’s actually driving them to do what they are doing.
Loved the reveal at the very end.
8/10
“The Rockford Files” s7e7 (1997)
Weakest of the reunion TV movies. So far.
It has a good story but there isn’t enough of it for two hours, so it takes a while to get going and several scenes too long. Also, a lot of the humour feels forced.
A pity because there’s a good cast: John Amos, Conrad Janis, Eugene Roche, Dan Lauria.
6/10
“Bakersfield P.D.” 04 (1993)
Another winner. The joy in this one is seeing two unrelated storylines be revealed - at the mid-point -as different facets of the exact same storyline.
Laura Innes is great as the (unpaid) sketch artist, who just draws celebrities no matter what people tell her. The line-up of celebrity lookalikes is comedy gold.
8/10
“Starsky & Hutch” 60 (1978)
“Starsky & Hutch” 60 (1978)
Average episode with good guest cast.
While undercover on the docks, S&H befriend a boxer who refused to take a dive and is now in serious trouble with his shady manager. Lots of familiar storytelling tropes on display.
Susan Buckner, Gary Lockwood, Bernard Behrens, Whitman Mayo.
6/10
“Resident Alien” s4e2 (2025)
Crazy amount of stuff happened in this one episode. For instance, I’m surprised they didn’t do a full episode in Las Vegas with Bruce. Nope. They shoved it in here, near the end. It worked. But it was rushed.
Mike turned a corner. Joseph came into his own. Meanwhile the Mantid barely appeared. Likewise, Kate barely appeared.
My 300th TV episode of 2025. Averaging 1h8m of TV per day.
8/10
“Murderbot” s1e5 (2025)
Wow. This show does cliffhangers very well.
This is the first episode with Anna Konkle as Leebeebee. She’s hilarious. I hope she doesn’t turn out to be a villain. It would be fun to have her around.
10/10
“Peanuts” 20 (1980)
Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown
Average entry in the series where Snoopy runs away with the circus. (There is a lady poodle involved.) We follow his misadventures. At first, he’s useless but he gets very good and becomes a star. Beyond that, there’s not much else to this one. It’s not as touching and/or profound as most of the ones before this. Fine, but feels like a missed opportunity.
6/10
