Show Snob’s Premiere Review: Watch, Pass, Wait and See (December 4, 2023)

Several new shows appeared last week to keep Show Snob’s Premiere Review exciting. But the quality of the shows wasn’t as good as previous weeks.

Let’s look at last week’s reviews to see if any of the shows changed their fortunes.

• Fargo (Hulu): Continue to Watch. This show is only getting better.
• Obituary (Hulu): Upgrade to Watch. This is not a must-see, but if you are digging deep, this show is pretty funny in a pretty dark way.
• A Nearly Normal Family (Netflix): Continue to Not Watch.

Slow Horses: Apple TV+

Season 3 of Slow Horses kicked off this week.  The show stars Gary Oldman (Oppenheimer) as the team lead for a branch of MI5.

This branch consists of misfits who were essentially kicked out of MI5 for mistakes, idiocy, and incompetence. You don’t have to watch the first two seasons to be able to watch season 3.

This season, Catherine has been abducted for an unknown reason (though missing diamonds may be part of it), and the team is trying to track her down. Slow Horses is a decent combination of complex spy intrigue, laughs, and a small amount of action.

Slow Horses – Wait and See.

Obliterated: Netflix

Starring Shelley Hennig (The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window), Nick Zano (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), and Terrence Terrell (B Positive), Netflix released all episodes for Obliterated last week. Obliterated is the story of a special forces unit who stop a nuclear bomb sale in Las Vegas.

Thinking that the mission is over, the team throws a success party that includes hallucinogens and lots of alcohol. However, the mission is not over as they have been tricked and the deal is still going down.

High, drunk, and now far behind the bad guys, the team must rally to save Vegas. The show has some great action, quite a bit of sex and nudity, and some very funny scenes.

But the joke doesn’t make it through all eight hours. The show is solid, but not a must watch.

Obliterated – Pass.

Criminal Code: Netflix

In Portuguese, Criminal Code takes places in Brazil as well as the bordering countries like Paraguay. The show is about a criminal gang called The Organization, who commit bank robberies across the countries.

The federal police are trying to track and stop the robberies through the use of advanced DNA analysis and tracking. The lead investigator wants revenge because The Organization shot his partner.

His new partner is failing to balance her newfound motherhood with her love of her job. Undercover agents, double agents, bureaucrats, and informants run wild.

Criminal Code is action packed, with long gun fights and car chases. Though very watchable, the show doesn’t really push the boundaries on crime dramas or complex police mysteries.

Criminal Code – Pass.

The Artful Dodger: Hulu

Starring Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Pistol) and David Thewlis (Big Mouth), Hulu released all 8 episodes of this sequel to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. This show focuses on Jack Dawkins (Sangster), The Artful Dodger, who was a thief in Oliver Twist and is now a surgeon.

But when his father shows up, it is hard to not get back into the crime game. Consequently, Dawkins switches back and forth from 19th century medical researcher, thief, and conman.

Keeping the lies and stories straight is a full-time job. The Artful Dodger is charming, funny, exciting, sometimes goofy, sweet, and fairly unpredictable.

It successfully combines a good conman story, with a love story, with a medical drama, with a period piece.

The Artful Dodger – Watch 

Bookie: MAX

Starring standup comedian Sebastian Maniscalco with Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) and Ray Romano (Men of a Certain Age) as guest stars in just the first two episodes, Bookie is as straight forward as a comedy as it gets. Maniscalco plays a bookie in California where sports betting is about to get legalized.

He, and his partner, played by Omar J. Dorsey (Queen Sugar), are not very good at being bookies. They let gambling debts pile up, they don’t collect money that well, and have an antiquated tracking system.

Nonetheless, these scenarios lead to a long list of very funny scenes, one liners, and outrageous explanations.

Bookie – Watch.

Which of the following shows that we mentioned have you watched? Let us know in the comments below!