Which TV shows made Show Snob’s Weekly 10? (August 22, 2023)

Good Omens, Swagger, and The Witcher roll off Show Snob’s Weekly 10 to make room for….not much. Premiers are thin, but we do get Ragnarök, Who is Erin Carter, Invasion, and Ahsoka this week.

1. Foundation (Apple TV+)

This week we get a heavy dose of Sheldon’s back story and learn more about the telepaths that Gaal and Salvor are dealing with.

Did Hari actually die at the end of the episode? Doesn’t really matter because everything about this show is extremely interesting. Foundation is great science fiction.

2. Winning Time (MAX)

This week showed tension across the entire team. Magic is mad at Norm, Kareem is annoyed, Cooper is trying to play the diplomat, Paul is mad at Riley, and West is mad at Paul. Everyone is mad at Magic.

And they lose in the playoffs. It was a really great episode, but the lighter tone from last season has been somewhat replaced by this season’s more dramatic and dark tone.

3. Physical (Apple TV+)

Sheila (Rose Byrne) and Greta (Dierdre Friel) take a trip to a health and fitness conference. After a wild night full of booze with Kelly (Zooey Deschanel), Sheila’s first modeling gig goes very sidewise.

It is a possibility that the whole night was one of Sheila’s hallucinations which would turn a fairly funny episode extremely dark.

4. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Amazon Prime Video)

Starring Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey, this Australian show starts by tackling the very hard realities of domestic abuse. The show then focuses on how the matriarch (Weaver) of the Hart family attempts to control and keep her family safe through lies and deceit.

You won’t find an ounce of humor in this show, but you will find a very thought-provoking, in-depth look at family relationships and domestic abuse.

5. Swagger (Apple TV+)

Swagger’s season ended, just as Cedar Grove’s basketball season ended. They didn’t win a national championship, but all the kids got scholarships and seem to have a bright future ahead of them.

Swagger is a very good look at high school basketball and college recruiting while also putting a microscope on various social justice issues. It isn’t clear how a Season 3 might materialize, but you can envision Jace and Ike at Georgetown together.

6. Tacoma FD (TruTV)

It was picture day at the station and everyone handles the situation differently. Captain Penisi gets caught using Botox to improve his photograph.

Watch Tacoma FD to stop thinking and start laughing for 30 minutes.

7. Special Ops: Lioness

Cruz kisses Aaliyah which was strange and could potentially destroy her cover. We’ll have to wait until next week to see how Aaliyah reacts.

The show is in Week 7 so the hope is that the team starts making some progress on finding their target.

8. Miracle Workers (TNT)

This week we received a great Terminator-like episode with Tai going back in time to kill someone, but Tai and Scraps take a minute to try an Escape Room. Meanwhile, Sid and Freya are expecting a child and the baby shower goes horribly wrong.

Miracle Workers is one of the top comedies out there right now.

9. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Oliver (Martin Short) will do anything to keep his musical on track while Charles (Steve Martin) tries very clumsily to gather evidence. An episode without Paul Rudd was disappointing but Meryl Streep is very entertaining.

10. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)

The season ended with a nasty showdown with the Gorn. All hands were on deck and incredible feats of bravery and luck were on hand.

Strange New Worlds is a good throwback to the original series with some laughs, some action, some aliens, some planets, and a couple of klunker episodes, but mostly a good series. We know Jim Kirk takes over the Enterprise after Captain Pike has an accident. It will be interesting to see how and when they get to that storyline.

Other Great Shows for the Week of August 21 Not in Show Snob’s Weekly 10

Painkiller (Netflix). Starring Matthew Broderick, Uzo Aduba, and Taylor Kitsch, Painkiller is a fictionalized story about the Oxy crisis. Dopesick is still the gold standard for Oxy stories, but Painkiller does an adequate job.

I am not sure who thought we needed to retell the same story of the evil Sackler empire — even as a fictionalized retelling of events — but Painkiller does it with a little more humor, sometimes with a little more horror.

Billions (Paramount+). Paul Giamatti, Damien Lewis, Corey Stoll and the entire cast are back for the final season. Stoll’s Prince doesn’t deliver the lines like Lewis’ Axe used to (Prince tries several rock lyric lines in the season premiere that just don’t work out).

The show was kind of a caricature of itself, especially Giamatti, when Lewis was still involved, but the producers are obviously trying to see if they can bring some of the early energy and intrigue back with Lewis. This season, Prince wants to run for President, and everybody else will try to stop him. Since Axe decides not to help Wags, Wendy, and Taylor take down Prince, is he off the show? I hope not.

Shelter (Amazon Prime Video). Shelter is another conversion of a Harlan Coben novel. Usually, these are crime dramas based in the UK, France, and Denmark but Shelter is based in New Jersey.

The show is also more young adult than any of the other adaptations. Shelter is a combination of mystery, supernatural thriller, child disappearance, and holocaust survivor. The initial episodes were a decent start.

Justified: City Primeval (FX). The task force is again thwarted by Clement which is starting to make them look like complete buffoons. Clement goes on a killing spree after Sweety betrays him (by the way, how did he know?). Fans would sure like Raylan to get medieval on this guy shortly.

And Just Like That (MAX). This season is ending actually pretty well and gets promoted to likable. Real things were happening to characters which made sense and were funny. The show has been much better and more entertaining since Aidan got back. Anything about Miranda should just go away, though.

Warrior (MAX). The season ends with some action, violence, and blood which has been long-awaited. The season ended with two or three different cliffhangers (moderate cliffhangers) that seem to simply set up the next season. Warrior became more of a political drama than an action/drama which kind of ruined its season.

Dark Winds (AMC). The show continues on the path of mystery, murder, and distrust. Good acting and a good storyline keep viewers interested.

Wait and See

Afterparty (Apple TV+). The fun uncle (funcle) episode was one of the better ones in a while.