Hi! This month I have a pretty full list of things to show ya; I was on the mend with my tooth/facial nerve problems for a little while, but mid-month it struck again and I was down for the count, so I had a little time to watch some programs. I also have a couple of shows that are actually rollovers from last month but didn't make the deadline for when I finish these posts, so I just stuck them in here. This post is longer than the WIBR (that was originally a typo but that's it, I'm changing the name of that series to What I've Been Reading LOL) you're going to see this evening so go on and get your snack now; you won't be needing it later. lol
Marcia Clark Investigates the First 48
Grace vs Abrams
Love After Lockup
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Wrestlemania XXXIV
Let's start with regular tv. The standout show by far for me this month is the new true crime drama Marcia Clark Investigates the First 48. It's based off of the A&E investigative homicide drama The First 48, which follows detectives of various precincts in the first 48 hours of their homicide investigations. The Marcia Clark version of this series revisits infamous homicide cases which captivated the country, with the goal of trying to see if the police missed any crucial steps in the first 2 days of their investigation into a case. So far, the show has revisited the Caylee Anthony, Stacy Peterson and Chandra Levy cases and while new information has been uncovered or revealed in each case, I don't think it does much really to change the outcome other than make us even angrier that these crimes could have been prevented, that these victims somehow could have been helped.
Grace v Abrams is the follow-up show to Marcia Clark Investigates, and this is much more of a debate show than anything else. Nancy Grace and Dan Abrams, while being friends, have hardly agreed on anything over the years they've butted heads on tv during her show, so they've made a show of it. They discuss the case Marcia Clark has just finished investigating, reviewing the evidence, bringing on witnesses connected to the case, and making their own inferences and conclusions as to what actually happened. It's not a show I could watch all the time, but when I want to hear other ideas about the case we all just finished watching, it's a good follow-up.
Even though Love After Lockup isn't a new show, it's new to me. I found it on We last month after an episode of Bridezillas, and thought it was great. It follows the lives of various couples, one of whom has just gotten released from prison, and watches the former inmate acclimate, with varying results, back to life on the outside. I went through this myself back when I was 17 and 18, so there's a part of me that relates to the unique struggle these couples are experiencing. I find the females to be a bit naggy and that can get annoying, like when they refuse to understand that their spouses need time to readjust, but I can also understand their desire to just forget it happened and try to move on as quickly as possible. Maturity is why I now understand the need and time required to adjust back to life on the outside, but honestly when I was going through this I was much more of a 'forget it and move on' person myself so I can understand both sides. It's a fine line to navigate and it requires communication on both ends, which I can see is a point of failure with the majority of the couples on the show. Each of the couples have a major point of contention between them, and it's been kinda cool getting to see it played out. It's an un-glamorous but painfully real scenario for many couples and I like that it's being included on tv.
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans came on the night before Wrestlemania and it was truly an amazing show. NXT has always impressed me; while there isn't a ton of focus on dialogue, shenanigans and ridiculous storylines, all the entertainment is saved for the ring. And these wrestlers (I will not call them sports entertainers--sorry, Vince LOL) bring it every time. The difference between the NXT roster and the main rosters is very obvious, and the word on the street about that is that the main rosters are still firmly in Vinny Mac's control, while this current iteration of NXT is Triple H's brainchild. Whether this is true or not, the difference in management and direction between the sets of rosters is obvious, as is the entertainment they provide. The main roster is about a story, whereas the NXT roster is about putting on a solid show.
Wrestlemania 34 was a couple of weeks ago, and even though it's supposed to be the show of the year, it didn't live up to the hype for me. Honestly, the show hasn't lived up to its hype for me personally for a few years now but it's trying. lol It wasn't terrible by any means and I can tell everyone involved busted their asses to put on a performance--and they did--but ultimately, it is individual matches that stood out to me rather than the show as a whole. I think the real culprit here is that it didn't meet my expectations, which were probably unrealistically high, but many of the actual matches were amazing.
Trump: An American Dream is a mini-series chronicling your president's rise to fame and fortune back during the '70s and '80s. It's a more personal look into the things that shaped him, his professional successes and failures, and for me, it was an eye-opening experience. I haven't admitted this to anyone other than my mom, but from a professional standpoint, I used Donald Trump as the blueprint of what I wanted to be when I was older. I even considered writing him a letter to ask how he did it. I didn't do much research on him or anything, I just looked at the image he represented, how many times he was name-dropped on tv shows, in movies, and in general. He was obviously someone important, someone people wanted to be around and associate with. Everyone mentioned his overwhelming success in business and since celebrities mentioned him all the time, I knew he'd done something to bridge the gap between the professional and celebrity worlds. I didn't want the latter world, but I wanted to be someone important, someone whose name preceded them and he represented that mentality. He seemed to epitomize wealth, success and business for me and this made complete sense when someone in the mini-doc said, "Donald Trump is a poor person's idea of what a rich person looks like." I grew up--and still am--extremely poor. For me, the image he represented was one as far away from my humble beginnings as you could get and it was everything I wanted. But then he opened his mouth. LOL To watch someone I'd admired as a youth turn out to be such a monster was an exercise in supreme disillusionment. The mini-doc showed me everything I didn't get to see about him before I was born, everything I was too young to understand, everything that wasn't portrayed on the multiple tv shows and movies that dropped his name between other important figures. And even though those days of using him as the prototype for my professional ambitions are looooooong gone, a little part of me was still....disappointed, I guess? to see what the situation really was. It also explained a hell of a lot.
Unveiled is a show based out of Australia, I believe, and follows several brides who are seeking cosmetic procedures ahead of their weddings. Nothing super notable about it, I enjoyed it, wouldn't mind watching another season, and that's about it. lol Beauty and the Beach is a show in a similar vein; women from New Zealand and Australia book trips to a cosmetic retreat in Thailand, with the best cosmetic surgeons, to have long-awaited procedures. I think I like this one a bit more.
Seleccion Natural (Natural Selection) is the newest stand-up special by Sofia Nino de Rivera and it, much like her first special, was a riot. This special had her explaining why during arguments are the best time for men to propose, her trip to an African country, and her case for good vs bad first and last names. Per usual, she includes herself in her shtick and it's both dry and self-deprecating. She continues to give her audience shit during the show lol, and she hasn't changed her delivery from the last special to this one, which is partly why she's so funny to me. I'm glad she didn't tweak that. I think this show may be better than the first one but I'd watch both of them again. In case it wasn't already apparent, this special is in Spanish so put your subtitles on.
Moving on to YouTube, I'm rolling the last two together again since they're friends, frequently collaborate with each other and I found one from watching the other. Cody Ko and Noel Miller are former Viners who jumped to YouTube but I much prefer their videos over other former Viners who adapted their content for the 'Tube. Cody's more of a commentary roast channel; he's all about killing the obvious, 'relatable' brand of jokes through his explanations and sarcastic quips and a lot of times, that's funnier than the video he's roasting. Sometimes he's a bit of a wet blanket about things but when your sense of humor is different, I can understand that the rise of obvious 'relatable' comedy can be extremely annoying to have to see all the time. Noel's humor seems to be darker and more politically incorrect than Cody's; he does more satirical spoofs and sketches of things going on. They have a podcast together called Tiny Meat Gang, and while it doesn't seem to have much substance it is pretty funny. lol If you're sensitive to certain lines of jokes, however, then stay away.
Trump: An American Dream is a mini-series chronicling your president's rise to fame and fortune back during the '70s and '80s. It's a more personal look into the things that shaped him, his professional successes and failures, and for me, it was an eye-opening experience. I haven't admitted this to anyone other than my mom, but from a professional standpoint, I used Donald Trump as the blueprint of what I wanted to be when I was older. I even considered writing him a letter to ask how he did it. I didn't do much research on him or anything, I just looked at the image he represented, how many times he was name-dropped on tv shows, in movies, and in general. He was obviously someone important, someone people wanted to be around and associate with. Everyone mentioned his overwhelming success in business and since celebrities mentioned him all the time, I knew he'd done something to bridge the gap between the professional and celebrity worlds. I didn't want the latter world, but I wanted to be someone important, someone whose name preceded them and he represented that mentality. He seemed to epitomize wealth, success and business for me and this made complete sense when someone in the mini-doc said, "Donald Trump is a poor person's idea of what a rich person looks like." I grew up--and still am--extremely poor. For me, the image he represented was one as far away from my humble beginnings as you could get and it was everything I wanted. But then he opened his mouth. LOL To watch someone I'd admired as a youth turn out to be such a monster was an exercise in supreme disillusionment. The mini-doc showed me everything I didn't get to see about him before I was born, everything I was too young to understand, everything that wasn't portrayed on the multiple tv shows and movies that dropped his name between other important figures. And even though those days of using him as the prototype for my professional ambitions are looooooong gone, a little part of me was still....disappointed, I guess? to see what the situation really was. It also explained a hell of a lot.
Unveiled is a show based out of Australia, I believe, and follows several brides who are seeking cosmetic procedures ahead of their weddings. Nothing super notable about it, I enjoyed it, wouldn't mind watching another season, and that's about it. lol Beauty and the Beach is a show in a similar vein; women from New Zealand and Australia book trips to a cosmetic retreat in Thailand, with the best cosmetic surgeons, to have long-awaited procedures. I think I like this one a bit more.
Seleccion Natural (Natural Selection) is the newest stand-up special by Sofia Nino de Rivera and it, much like her first special, was a riot. This special had her explaining why during arguments are the best time for men to propose, her trip to an African country, and her case for good vs bad first and last names. Per usual, she includes herself in her shtick and it's both dry and self-deprecating. She continues to give her audience shit during the show lol, and she hasn't changed her delivery from the last special to this one, which is partly why she's so funny to me. I'm glad she didn't tweak that. I think this show may be better than the first one but I'd watch both of them again. In case it wasn't already apparent, this special is in Spanish so put your subtitles on.
Moving on to YouTube, I'm rolling the last two together again since they're friends, frequently collaborate with each other and I found one from watching the other. Cody Ko and Noel Miller are former Viners who jumped to YouTube but I much prefer their videos over other former Viners who adapted their content for the 'Tube. Cody's more of a commentary roast channel; he's all about killing the obvious, 'relatable' brand of jokes through his explanations and sarcastic quips and a lot of times, that's funnier than the video he's roasting. Sometimes he's a bit of a wet blanket about things but when your sense of humor is different, I can understand that the rise of obvious 'relatable' comedy can be extremely annoying to have to see all the time. Noel's humor seems to be darker and more politically incorrect than Cody's; he does more satirical spoofs and sketches of things going on. They have a podcast together called Tiny Meat Gang, and while it doesn't seem to have much substance it is pretty funny. lol If you're sensitive to certain lines of jokes, however, then stay away.
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