10 best shows to watch this week (August 1, 2023)

The Witcher returned this week to Show Snob’s Weekly 10 and several shows had their season finale including The Crowded Room, Full Circle, Righteous Gemstones, and Secret Invasion. With the writer/actor strike, we should start seeing the impact on premiers in August.

1. Full Circle (MAX)

Full Circle finished up this week with a final double episode. The show neatly tied up all loose ends. Good guys died, bad guys died, mediocre guys died. The entire explanation of how the different characters were all connected was fairly well explained but left something to the imagination.

Full Circle was a better-than-average thriller with a complicated storyline, complicated characters, and complicated explanations.

2. Righteous Gemstones (MAX)

The two-episode finale showed the kids working together, the militia being arrested, and Kelvin and Keef kissing. Just when you think this show can’t get crazier, locusts attack the church during Baby Billie’s Bible Bunkers.

Righteous Gemstones is now a good binge with a season full of monster trucks, kidnappings, preaching, and Baby Billie.

3. Foundation (Apple TV+)

To say that there is a lot going on in this show would be an extreme understatement. Empire is searching for the Foundation. The Foundation is searching for a specific trader. Harry is not just a projection any longer. They are trying to start a second Foundation.

Foundation is interesting, exciting, and a thought-provoking big-time science fiction show.

4. Swagger (Apple TV+)

Crystal and Jace are back together and the team is back together. Crystal is McDonald’s All-American but not Jace.

I would still like to see a little more focus on basketball and college recruiting, but this is still a good high school basketball show.

5. The Crowded Room (Apple TV+)

The season ended, and guess what, Danny is insane. We kind of figured that.

At times this show was a good crime thriller, other times kind of a supernatural look inside the mind of multiple personalities, and other times a commentary on mental wellness and the evolution of the justice system’s recognition of mental illness.

The schizophrenic nature of the show, like its lead character, softened its effectiveness, but the show was entertaining,

6. Tacoma FD (TruTV)

The new probie joins the squad to take over for Andy (because he was filming Loki). He was hired because he had a funny name, Mickleberry.

Being stung by murder hornets didn’t look like much fun, but very funny TV.

7. Miracle Workers (TNT)

This week, the team puts on a play from one of the master playwrights, Jim Carrey. Geraldine Viswanathan plays Ace Ventura in a production of Pet Detective. She channels all the best Carrey lines like “Don’t Go In There” and “Alrighty Then.” This show is outrageous.

8. The Witcher

The final three episodes of the season were released which ends Geralt’s and Ciri’s journey to save the continent and unite the land.

The first episode is an action-packed, wild ride of swordplay, magic, and complete chaos.

9. Special Ops: Lioness

When Cruz is invited to Maryland with Aailyah her undercover skills are put to the test. I am not sure what the boondoggle to Texas to recover a CIA asset had to do with anything.

This show is well made, but I’d like to see the main story progress a little further.

10. Good Omens (Amazon Prime Video)

Season 2 has been released in full. You don’t need to watch Season 1, but it will help you with some of the backstory. David Tenant (Doctor Who) is the demon Crowley, Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex) is the angel Aziraphale, and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) is the archangel Gabriel.

The show is funny for many reasons, but some of the best parts are their depiction of Heaven and Hell and how they communicate with each other. This season, Gabriel has amnesia and Crowley and Aziraphale need to figure out what “bad thing” was going to happen that Gabriel was trying to stop.

Other Great Shows for the Week of July 31

Twisted Metal (Peacock) – Starring Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Twisted Metal is a video game turned series. Similar to a Road Warrior apocalypse type of show, Mackie is a delivery man who drives fast, shoots people that are shooting at him, and evades death. He doesn’t have great comedic timing, but the show is light and action-packed at the same time.

Praise Petey (Freeform) – This adult animated cartoon stars Annie Murphy (Kevin Can F*** Himself) as a daughter who moves from Manhattan to a small rural town to resurrect her father’s cult. The show contains definite laughs but doesn’t really put together a whole show just yet.

Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC) –  It was a bit of an abrupt ending to the series, but we are left with how Negan is going to handle the opportunity in the cliffhanger. Will he decide to help lead the takeover of Manhattan? Or something else? Dead City was mountains above Fear the Walking Dead’s final season and breathes a little life into the Walking Dead universe.

Justified: City Primeval (FX) – The show seems to be focused on father/daughter relations rather than a gritty crime drama. The bad guy is really bad and the Detroit cops are really bad, but something about the writing and the storyline is just not clicking yet.

Warrior (MAX) –  Warrior is really starting to slow down. With the lack of action this week, and the focus on politics and romantic relationships, the show is getting harder to sit all the way through.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) – We know we won’t like Klingons until Star Trek: Next Generation. This week’s episode was no fun as we relive parts of the Klingon war because the Enterprise has to entertain a Klingon defector. Of course, not everybody can forget what the Klingons have done.

Wait and See

The Rising (CW) – After several weeks, the CW issued the final episodes of The Rising. The show only paid a little attention to the supernatural aspects of the show, which were probably the best parts. We do find other dead people in Neve’s predicament, but they just don’t go into a real explanation or even exploration of what is happening to them. Instead, they tended to focus on the overly dramatic family relationships at play. Unless you are desperate, The Rising is not a must-see despite a great start to the season.

Secret Invasion (Disney) –  We received at least a little superhero stuff in the finale when some of the Skrulls use the Harvest to gain all the Avengers’ powers. Mostly, it was a yawn as no new information was provided, the season ended the way you thought it would, and they showed a path to Season 2. Secret Invasion is probably a pass unless you want to make sure you don’t miss a piece of the Marvel Universe story.

Afterparty (Apple TV+) –  This week we learn that the sister and the finance were having an affair behind Edgar’s back. It was a better episode, but I am still waiting for this to get much funnier.

Don’t Wait and Don’t See

Cruel Summer (Freeform) – This show has deteriorated fast and now moves to a Don’t Watch designation. The more than obvious lies and weak non-twists have made this show a bore. The season ends next week. If you have been watching the entire time, you have to finish. If you haven’t started, don’t.

Hijack (Apple TV+) –  Hijack continues to disappoint. In this episode, there was supposed to be this flyer revolt, but it was just Alba again and nobody really came to help him. They did introduce a new hijacker, or maybe somebody else, but we won’t know until next week as they keep leaving us with these aggravating cliffhangers week after week.