Which TV shows made Show Snob’s Weekly 10? (August 11, 2023)

August is always a tough time for TV (and Show Snob’s Weekly 10) as the streamers and networks gear up for their fall schedule. That wish may not come to fruition this year with the actors and writers’ strike.

For now, we have just enough content to come up with our Weekly Top 10. Here are the top shows to check out from the week!

1. Good Omens (Amazon Prime Video)

Season 2 ended in a wildly, biblical fashion. Throughout the season we received flashbacks describing Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship over the millennia. How they have saved lives, thwarted Heaven and Hell’s plans from time to time, and grown close as friends (and maybe more than friends).

Especially the last episode was action-packed with demons and angels fighting, magic, and the final reveal of what happened to Gabriel (Jon Hamm). Jon Hamm was fantastically goofy all season.

2. Foundation (Apple TV+)

This episode was mostly Empireless, but we do understand the queen is trying to investigate Empire to see what happened to her family. We didn’t get much love from Gaal and Salvor this week so no status on the second Foundation.

The show spent quite a bit of time with the Brothers Constant and Polly and their new friend Hober Mallow. We don’t exactly know Mallow’s mission yet, but getting to see inside the monument was pretty cool. Foundation is building toward something really interesting.

3. Winning Time (MAX)

John C Reilly (Boogie Nights), Jason Segal (Shrinking), and Adrian Brody (Poker Face) are back for the second season of the story of the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty. This basketball season has the Lakers trying to repeat a championship with Magic Johnson on the bench with a knee injury.

Winning Time is funny, has great basketball scenes, and can be pretty raunchy at times. The risk-taking Dr. Buss (Reilly) manages the business end with complete reckless abandon. The dynamic between Kareem Abdual-Jabar (Solomon Hughes) and Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) is intense.

4. Physical (Apple TV+)

Starring Rose Byrne (Platonic) and Paul Sparks (Joe Pickett), the final season of Physical kicked off last week. Since last season, Sheila (Byrne) has divorced, started a new business, and is currently working on her recovery from her eating disorder. Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) joins the cast as Sheila’s newest hallucination.

Byrne continues to be one of the funniest women on TV following her awesome performance on Platonic. Physical is a must-see. Though you could probably start with the final season, you should really watch the earlier seasons to get all the jokes. The show is 30 minutes so it is a breeze to back watch.

5. Swagger (Apple TV+)

Finally, back to basketball. Though CJ takes a bit of a side trip to see his dying grandfather, most of last week’s show focuses on basketball, college recruiting, and winning the playoffs. Sure, Jace wins the game, but he has trouble with the 3-pointer. Will that really keep him out of D1?

6. The Witcher (Netflix)

I was surprised that The Witcher didn’t try to tie up more loose ends at the end of Season 3. With Henry Cavill (Superman) being replaced by Liam Hemsworth (Most Dangerous Game), I thought they would have finished up the initial story in some way.

But it looks like they are just going to continue the story with Geralt having a new face, Hemsworth’s face. The season was action packed, tons of magic, crazy politics and maneuvering, and great revelations. Geralt got his ass kicked this season which means he will be unstoppable next season.

7. Tacoma FD (TruTV)

Ike will eat anything for money, but he learns a lesson by creating a profile on the Dark Web. The Penisi family has a shock, but it brings them closer together.

If you can stomach the nasty eating scenes, Tacoma pounded out another really funny episode.

8. Special Ops: Lioness (Paramount+)

Joe is in trouble because the operation in Texas went sideways. How does Cruz get ruffied and snatched by a civilian? Did they really need to put Joe’s daughter in a car accident…and pregnant at 14?

Not their best episode to date, but I think we’ll get back to some real spy stuff next week.

9. Miracle Workers (TNT)

They visit the warlord’s parents in a utopian sky city. But then the parents try to harvest Daniel Radcliffe’s organs. Just another episode of Miracle Worker.

10. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Steve Martin, Martin Short, Salena Gomez, Meryl Streep, and now Paul Rudd kick off Season 3. Rudd is wild as the insane, entitled, and arrogant lead actor in Short’s new Broadway show. Rudd is murdered twice in the first episode, but the second one looks like our murder of the season.

If Rudd is insane, Streep is downright wicked. We’ll see who gets the best lines this season.

Other Great Shows for the Week of August 7

Twisted Metal (Peacock). Mackie’s comedy gets a little better as the show gets on and the action is nicely mixed in.

Dark Winds (AMC). Dark Winds is a solid crime drama. You don’t need to watch season 1 to get the hang of season 2. The show takes place on a Navajo reservation in the 1970s in the Southwest. The characters consistently clash with the city folk as they try to solve crimes independently and collaboratively. This season they are investigating a murder revolving around a cult.

The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix). The second half of season 2 was released, and Mickey is recuperating after getting assaulted at the end of the first half. He is back to work very quickly and trying to get Lisa acquitted from her murder trial.

The final half goes through all the twists, stunts, and surprise witnesses. The Lincoln Lawyer is a good trial/crime series with some pretty decent sarcastic humor thrown in. It should be cleverer with the legal stunts and season 2 seems to end just like season 1 with a “surprise” about Mickey’s client.

Justified: City Primeval (FX). The show is picking up now that they shipped the daughter back home. Now we can focus on the bad guy and how violently we can kill him.

Warrior (MAX). The wedding ended in some violence. Not sure how you can stay married to the person who just killed your friends and mentors because she was “protecting” the two of you. I guess we’ll find out.

The show needs a better conflict to stage some better violent showdowns. Maybe they can rebound in the last few episodes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+). They warned us that this week would be a musical, and they didn’t lie. I applaud taking the chance. I think it would have been funnier, and more entertaining if they would have sung popular songs instead of original lyrics.

Wait and See

Afterparty (Apple TV+). This week’s story about Sebastian was one of the better ones. Still felt a little forced.

Don’t Wait and Don’t See

Cruel Summer (Freeform). Cruel Summer ended in a predictable, boring, and altogether cruel fashion. The person we thought that did it, didn’t do it, until they did. The Chambers are bad people, the weird tech guy kind of disappeared for no reason, and in this world, the story is doomed to repeat itself over and over again.

Hijack (Apple TV+). The season finale was last week, and we are thankful for putting us out of our misery. Why didn’t they shoot the plane down? Is Amanda’s family still being held hostage? Aren’t other riders’ families held hostage? The bad guys made a ton of money and some of them got away. Why didn’t the co-pilot go into the cockpit to help land the plane?

Hijack was insulting and manipulative.