Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Man – last week I realized how many good shows I’m streaming these days. Not too long ago I wrote this post about shows you should be streaming. And with almost no overlap (Bosch), I realized I could write one on the things I’m watching now.

You can click on this link to go to last week’s post, which included my thoughts on Halo, Outer Range, Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek: Picard: With a little more on one of those today. But let’s look at even more!

I’m gonna start with the biggest one for me. I have raved many a time about Anson Mount’s terrific performance as Cullen Bohannon in Hell on Wheels. Which you read about here at Black Gate, of course… Fantastic performance on a great show.

And then, Mount played Captain Christopher Pike on season two of Star Trek: Discovery. Pike, as played by Jeffrey Hunter, was the original captain of the Enterprise in the pilot, Caged. However, the part was recast with William Shatner, and Trek history would be made.

Mount was simply superb in the part. Season two of Discovery is my single favorite season of any Star Trek show. Mount delivered a tour de force. Bohannon was a man of honor, but not in a conventional sense. Mount was again a man of courage and conviction, but in a nobler way (I think). He was so stellar in the part that the powers that be decided to give him his own spin-off in the Trek-verse.

And so was created Strange New Worlds, which dropped the pilot on May 5. The intro is classic Trek, and I love it. The first episode laid the groundwork to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Ethan Peck (Spock) and Rebecca Romijn (Number One) reprise their roles from Discovery. The events of Discovery (and The Cage) have understandably shaken Pike, and he’s on self-imposed leave as the series begins. But he is reluctantly pulled back to duty to find a missing Star Fleet Officer, lost on a secret mission.

Mount is my favorite current actor (hopefully you know who my all-time favorite actor is – if not, you definitely don’t follow me on FB; or missed a couple posts here about him), and I’m certainly predisposed to liking this show. And the pilot worked for me.

Obviously, it has to work within the framework of Canon (Wild Ret-conning would be disappointing). And Pike’s history is certainly established. So, curious to see how they work through what is a tragic story. They already started exploring that (I don’t think I’d say ‘tinkering.’ Yet…) in this first episode.

I’ve been waiting for this show since they announced it. I’ll watch as much of Mount as Pike, as Paramount is willing to make. I’d love to see an untold adventure, as a two-hour movie. Give me Strange New Worlds, indeed.

And seeing him with a beard, on a horse, during the intro, was pretty cool for us Hell on Wheels fans.

Star Trek: Picard

I wrote about Picard here. Plus, last week’s post. I barely struggled through season one, which was SOOOOOO slow and plodding. I was actually bored until Jeri Ryan showed up. But as I said a few weeks ago, bringing in Q (my favorite Trek-verse character) completely sucked me in for season two.

SPOILER – Just move on to the next section on Bosch if you don’t want to know anything about season two.

Along with bringing back Jeri Ryan, season two gives us Brent Spiner, Whoopi Goldberg, and even (briefly) Wil Wheaton. And we had already gotten Jonathon Frakes and Marina Sirtis in season one. Some of those Next Generation veterans were different than the first time around, and that was a nice twist.

John de Lancie was terrific as an older, more experienced Q. He was always my favorite part of a TNG episode when he appeared, and it was great to get more of him, and his relationship with Picard. I was very happy with that story line. The Q Continuum was mentioned in the latest season of Discovery, though it didn’t actually play a part.

There will be a season three of Picard, though several of the regular cast members will not be returning. I quite liked season two, and will be back for more.

Bosch: Legacy

And I’ve written about Bosch here, and here. I’ve not read Michael Connolly’s best-selling books, but I thought that the series was absolutely terrific. Last year, they wrapped things up after seven seasons and sixty-eight episodes. It remained a strong show to the last, and it even ended with an unexpected humorous closing scene.

That scene set up a successor show. I don’t really feel like it’s a spin-off, because it’s a direct continuation of Bosch. Bosch (wonderfully played by Titus Welliver) leaves the force and goes into business as a private eye. That’s the premise of Legacy. If you’ve seen the trailer, he’s still a guy fighting for what’s right: Everyone matters, or no one matters. But he’s not constrained by all the rules he dealt with as a cop.

I’m reminded of a line from my favorite Western, Tombstone – “You tell ‘em I’m coming…and hell’s coming with me.” I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the new Bosch.

Mimi Rogers is back as Honey Chandler, and Bosch’s daughter Maddie is a rookie cop on the force. I was happy to see William Devane, as a client. He’s long been one of my favorite actors. And to address what has to be THE question on everyone’s minds: Yes, Crate and Barrel are back! Though, they only appear a few times, and are not regulars. But still – any sighting of them will be appreciated.

Season one will have ten episodes, and it certainly looks like Welliver is going to deliver another Bosch experience. He seems a little more human, dare I say, a teeny, tiny bit, more blasé. But he’s still Bosch. I’m very excited about this one.

It’s streaming on FreeeVee (formerly IMDB TV), and they dropped four episodes right out of the gate! I watched the first one, and it’s exactly what we want – more of Bosch being Bosch. It already picked up a season two before airing the first episode.

I’m a fan of Robert B. Parker’s Western novels featuring Cole and Hitch. There was a very good movie (Appaloosa) starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson. You can read my thoughts on that here. Harris was a good Virgil Cole. It’s too bad they didn’t make a couple more with those two.

Welliver read the first several audibooks in the series. And he is superb. Hollywood is TOTALLY missing out on a great opportunity here.

Death in Paradise

Let’s head on over to BritBox for one of my favorite shows. Back in December, I talked about this show and the next one, (along with a few others), as I dug into my BritBox sub through Prime. Go ahead and read that. It’s not very long.

There was a first-ever Christmas episode (including the return of a beloved character), and then an eight episode season 11, wrapping up on February 25 of this year. The show only dropped on BritBox for us Americans, last week. And only two so far, at that. But hey – it’s back! From my prior post:

The basic premise is that Scotland Yard assigns a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) to duty on the island of Saint Marie (pronounced ‘San Marie’), located in the Lesser Antilles. Saint Marie was turned over to the British by the French roughly forty years before the show starts. So, it still has a French-Caribbean culture.

So, you’ve got the classic ‘fish out-of-water scenario. It’s an amusing show, with complex plots. More than any show I’ve ever watched, this one turns over main cast members. Among the four-person police unit at Honore, (not counting the big boss), there have been nearly a dozen cast changes. That’s a LOT of turnover! With one notable exception, I’ve liked all the characters, so they do a nice job with the changes. But don’t get TOO attached to anybody!

Season eleven had yet another change, which wasn’t a surprise, given prior events. Fortunately, the same DCI is back, so that’s good.

Sometimes, it seems like they are stretching things a bit to make an hour-long episode, and they ‘suddenly’ solve the crime near the end. But it works. And the show keeps your interest throughout. Watching the police do their jobs, and interact throughout the episode, is entertaining. I really enjoyed the Christmas special, so I’m excited we’ve finally got the new season here.

Back when season eleven was green-lit, they went ahead and committed to a twelfth season as well, so there’s more to come!

While I’m a big fan of the next show; and I really enjoyed the Doctor Blake Mysteries before the star was blackballed, I recommend Death in Paradise over any other BritBox show I watch. It’s just a treat, season after season.

Shakespeare & Hathaway

In that same post I mentioned above, I talked about this show. Man, do I enjoy Shakespeare & Hathaway. Go ahead and read the short piece I wrote on it back in December. Here’s the basic set-up:

Mark Benton is Frank Hathaway, a former cop who retired and became a private eye. He’s a big, mildly sloppy guy. I think that Benton would be an ideal Falstaff, and I like the way he plays Hathaway.

Luella Shakespeare (Jo Joyner) is a hairdresser whose fiance is murdered on their wedding day, and she’s the chief suspect. She helps solve the crime and ends up buying in to the perpetually under-funded Hathaway’s business.

Season four is slowly dropping on BritBox. There have been 40 episodes of this one so far, and it hasn’t yet received a pickup for season five. I certainly hope it does so. This show has a charm unlike anything else I watch. The interaction between the two is a treat. There’s one police chief, who is a total jerk and frankly, drags down the episodes. He’s completely one-dimensional. It was better when he was the junior partner in a duo. But that’s quibbling.

I don’t really watch any other show that is fun in the way which this one is. There’s almost always a murder, but every episode has a light tone. It never devolves into parody or farce, though. This one just feels refreshing. I’ve really come to like Benton, who I think would clean up very nicely into a British Nero Wolfe.

Along with the other shows I mentioned in the open, an awful lot of streaming out there. I’m also working through the most recent season of ST: Discovery, and nearing the end of my first watch of White Collar (great show!).

Some previous entries on things to watch:

What I’m Been Watching:- April 2022 (Outer Range, Halo, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, and more)

When USA Network was Kicking Major Butt (Monk, Psych, Burn Notice)

You Should be Streaming These Shows (Corba Kai, The Expanse, Bosch, and more)

What I’m BritBoxing – December 2021 (Death in Paradise, Shakespeare & Hathaway, The Blake Mysteries, and more)

To Boldly Go – Star Treking – (Various Star Trek incarnations)

What I’ve Been Watching – August 2021 (Monk, The Tomorrow War, In Plain Sight, and more)

What I’m Watching – June 2021 (Get Shorty, Con Man, Thunder in Paradise, and more)

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

What I’ve Been Watching – June 2021 (Relic Hunter, Burn Notice, Space Force, and more)

Appaloosa

Psych of the Dead

The Mandalorian

What I’m Watching: 2020 – Part Two (My Name is Bruce, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Isle of Fury, and more)

What I’m Watching 2020: Part One (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Poirot, Burn Notice, and more)

Philip Marlowe: Private Eye

Leverage

Nero Wolfe – The Lost Pilot

David Suchet’s ‘Poirot’

Sherlock Holmes (over two dozen TV shows and movies)

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in the summer of 2018 and will be back yet again in 2022.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’) and blogs about Holmes and other mystery matters at Almost Holmes.

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series.

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Parts III, IV, V, VI and XXI.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.