Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic — also known to some TV fans as their “TV therapist” — Matt Roush, who’ll try to address whatever you love, loathe, are confused or frustrated or thrilled by in today’s vast TV landscape. (We know background music is too loud, it’s the most frequent complaint, but there’s always closed-captioning. Check out this story for more tips.)
One caution: This is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t be addressing upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected]). Look for Ask Matt columns on most Tuesdays.
To Sir With Not Much Love
Question: Do you think NBC’s Found will take a similar approach to ABC’s Big Sky when it comes to defeating its main villain? Retroactive spoiler alert, obviously, but in Big Sky, halfway through season two, big-bad Ronald was finally hunted and killed by co-protagonist Cassie. Could this be an idea Found adopts some time, assuming that the show’s not-so-great ratings don’t lead to the show’s demise this season? The “Sir” story has to end sometime in order to keep the show fresh, and I doubt they’ll keep him to the end of the show if it runs for multiple more years. So if the show were to continue for various more seasons, do you think they’d say goodbye to Sir through a shocking catch-and-kill and continue the show, potentially introducing different serialized plots similar to how Big Sky introduced the Reba McEntire campsite story in Season 3 in its post-Ronald world? I just don’t know how long the show can keep the Sir story going, it’s already getting a wee bit tired. — Shirley
Matt Roush: Not knowing where Found is heading (because, I will remind you again, this is not a spoiler column), I’ll speculate with some confidence that for as long as Found runs, Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) will likely be part of the show, though maybe not always at large and probably not destined for another long spell trapped in Gabi’s basement.
Big Sky was a very different show, with long arcs (sometimes spanning an entire season or beyond) introducing new sets of villains, many inspired by C.J. Box’s terrific books, for its female heroes to take down. If the show had continued, I expect they’d have tried to find another high-profile star like Reba to move in. Whereas while Found has some continuing storylines (Margaret’s missing son, most notably), it’s primarily a missing-persons procedural distinguished by Gabi’s (Shanola Hampton) bizarre Clarice/Hannibal Lecter-style connection to her former captor (who became her own prisoner for a while). Wherever the show takes the Sir storyline, I’d be surprised if even his capture removes him from the show entirely. I could be wrong, but he seems baked into Found’s DNA, like it or not.
The Incredible Shrinking Sitcom
Question: I have a short question that I’ve been wondering about. I watch all my television through streaming and noticed recently that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is only 18 minutes without commercials! The segments are so fast and brief now it is hard to get emotionally involved with the story. How much longer will it be before commercial TV airs a show that is 50% content and 50% commercials? We’re only three minutes away from that now! — Steve
Matt Roush: “Short question,” I see what you did there. I don’t have much to add to this observation except to note that while original episodes for premium cable and streaming just keep getting longer – Dune: Prophecy episodes tend to clock in at over an hour, at least what I’ve seen so far – on the financially challenged platforms of broadcast TV, the commercial load has increased over the years, and this seems to be an extreme case of that. I tend to applaud shows these days that don’t exhaust us with overlength, believing that less can be more in the right hands, but there are limits. Or are there?
Jeopardy!’s Obsession with Tournaments
Question: In a recent Inside Jeopardy! podcast, Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies said there will be 10 to 11 weeks of tournaments this year, which they are calling the “post-season.” This includes Second Chance for non-winners, Champions Wildcard for winners who didn’t automatically qualify, the Tournament of Champions, and the Invitational. Producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss admitted that “some people are less excited” by the surplus of tournaments, while Michael made a point of saying that it is going to be fewer weeks than last year, and that “10 to 11 weeks is what we want” going forward every season. So apparently they didn’t learn from the negative response to the tournaments last year. Remember when it was just the ToC that took just a few weeks and was a special event worth looking forward to? Now it just seems like an annoyance. — Jake
Matt Roush: One of the reasons we’ve probably soured on this overreliance on tournaments is because of the frustration so many fans felt last year when it took forever to return to regular play (because of the strikes and other scheduling considerations). At least this season the show was able to start with new contestants, and we’ve already found some new favorites we look forward to seeing again—though maybe not in so many different tournament formats. It’s hard to believe that they can’t realize that they’ve cheapened the impact of the Tournament of Champions by having so many other tournaments giving former players (and past winners) more exposure at the expense of the regular daily game.
Let Our New Favorites Stand on Their Own
Comment: Absolutely loved Matlock. I’m old enough to remember Andy Griffith‘s version but never watched it. Kathy Bates is perfect in the lead of this version. Never saw that twist coming in the pilot episode. That’s a good thing. I’m also a fan of Will Trent. I don’t like when people feel it’s necessary to compare a show to another (like Will Trent to Columbo). I guess it’s human nature. I hope both Matlock and Will Trent both enjoy a long run. — Sharon
Matt Roush: If you’re not familiar with the Andy Griffith original, then you should at least be able to appreciate how much of a departure this version is, with Bates’ Matty basically adopting this persona as a cover for an undercover crusade. Regarding Will Trent, I still get a lot of questions wondering why it’s currently not airing, and this show (as well as The Rookie) will be back at midseason, starting Jan. 7. As for the comparison to Columbo, I’m assuming because of their quirkiness masking their brilliance, the analogy is much better suited to shows like Elsbeth and Peacock’s Poker Face where you almost always know whodunit at the top of the episode and then wait to see how the unorthodox hero figures it out.
And Finally …
Comment: I think any show that uses a lot of texting in their plots should include captions for the text. I am tired of having to back up a show and go stand right in front of the TV to read the text on a character’s phone! — Tina T., Cape Cod, MA
Comment: I would have enjoyed AMC’s Monsieur Spade a lot more if the subtitles were on the screen long enough to read! Also, it drives me crazy when subtitles blend in with the background and you cannot read them at all. Can’t they do a better job? – Clarkie
Matt Roush: Let these gripes (fairly frequent in my mailbag) be a reminder to producers that if you’re going to include written text on screen, whether it be in phone texts or e-mails, or subtitling foreign languages or hard-to-decipher accents, make them legible and give us time to read them! Larger type helps, and putting subtitles against contrasting backgrounds so they stand out from the scenery just makes common sense.
That’s all for now. We can’t do this without your participation, so please keep sending questions and comments about TV to [email protected]. (Please include a first name with your question.)