Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Fall TV 2020 – More Shows

I was particularly looking forward to catching new episodes of Netflix’s The Crown this past week as new and returning shows debut into the late fall and early winter. The pandemic-hobbled TV season continues sadly, with a lot of recent new shows having been disappointing and uninspiring. In a time when I could really use…

Fall TV 2020 – Second wave

Thanks to COVID-19, the fall TV season is in a very odd shape, but shows have continued to trickle out over the last few weeks. A lot of stuff comes from the streamers (who apparently have a healthy backlog), but even the broadcast networks are trying to stay in the game as a few shows…

Fall TV 2020 – Genre Series Fun!

In a normal year, I might be getting ready for the new fall TV season soon. But it’s no small understatement to say that this is not a normal year. Since all production was halted a while ago due to the ongoing pandemic, we won’t be expecting much from the networks. Streaming channels have built…

TV Universes Keep Expanding, part 2 – Marvel

Continued from part 1, about Star Trek/Star Wars Last, but far from least is the multi-billion-dollar mega-franchise of Marvel’s cinematic universe. Unlike the others, where expanding the universe means coming up with new characters and new stories (backstories) around existing characters, Marvel Comics already has a decades-long backlog of some of the most epic characters…

TV Universes Keep Expanding

One of the best things about streaming TV is that it’s giving media companies a channel to expand their cinematic universes. For us fans, it means there is no end in sight to the new shows being announced, at least for three of the biggest sci-fi properties around: Star Trek, Star Wars, and Marvel (MCU)….

What I Watched in Quarantine – 10 Shows

While it’s far from the most important problem of the current pandemic (and its accompanying prolonged global shut-down), one of the side-effects will be that pretty soon (especially by the time the fall TV season is regularly scheduled to begin) TV networks and streaming services will run out of new content. That is a trivial…

What I Watched in Quarantine – 10 Movies

Wow! It’s been a long while since I last posted (90 days ago) to my blog. At a time when we’ve been indoors more than ever (for me only marginally so), everyone shared all the things that they watched to keep themselves entertained while in quarantine. I too watched all kinds of stuff, but with…

Spring TV 2020 – Amazing Stories & Tales from the Loop

While self-isolation has everyone binge-watching TV and movies to pass the time, I’ve probably been watching less than I used to. Rather than finding relief from the anxiety of the outside world, I find myself reminded of the things that we have temporarily lost. Nevertheless, even with my gloomy demeanor, I can be uplifted by…

Oscar Schmoscar 2020

After a few years off, I’m back trying to catch some nominees for this year’s Academy Awards before the show on Sunday. Traditionally I have had a love-hate relationship with Oscar films: I want to love them (like the world does), but I find myself lacking appreciation for those movies that get everyone’s votes. This…