Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Monday, December 23. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
His Dark Materials (HBO, 9 p.m., first season finale): The first season of HBO and BBC’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s acclaimed fantasy trilogy has been a bit of a mixed bag. The cast’s performances—especially Ruth Wilson’s chilling portrayal of Mrs. Coulter—have been consistently great, but it can’t seem to overcome some clunky story beats. From Myles McNutt’s experts recap of last week’s episode:
Take, for example, the scene where Lyra and Roger reunite after her time with the armored bears. As Roger emerges from the cave, he doesn’t rush to embrace Lyra: instead, he spouts a bunch of exposition from a distance, before then sharing a moment with Lyra. It’s a bizarre staging of a scene that, if you invert those two events, becomes so much more logical: during their embrace, Roger excitedly tells her of the adventure he had in her absence, while she only cares that he’s okay. The show is filled with scenes like this where you feel like even a cursory set of notes could have dramatically improved the storytelling function of the scenes, as opposed to the scene’s cursory role in the story.
We’ll see if Jack Thorne and company can at least stick the landing when the first season comes to a close tonight. McNutt and Lisa Weidenfeld are on hand for our experts and newbies recaps, respectively.
Regular coverage
Wild card
The Price Is Right At Night: A Holiday Extravaganza With Seth Rogen (CBS, 8 p.m.): The second of two Price Is Right holiday specials—the first being Sunday’s The Price Is Right At Night: A Holiday Extravaganza With The Cast Of SEAL Team—Seth Rogen plays to benefit the Alzheimer’s nonprofit, Hilarity For Charity, he founded with his wife.
5 Comments
I think I’m super ready to see if they can stick this landing. I’ve mostly liked the season, but there have been a bunch of moments of “huh, why did they do this?” That those moments have come loudly at the end of episodes has left a bigger impression than that they exist at all.
Yeah, I really wanted to like this season more than I do. It also makes me wonder if they have this much trouble with the relatively action oriented Golden Compass/Northern Lights, how will they manage the more esoteric Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass?
I’m very proud of my son, who read these books last summer, for getting super pissed at this show and refusing to watch it anymore after a couple episodes.
Having a real hard time wanting to like this series. I did like the movie (I’m alone among the masses) and truly liked the books. This series tries to walk that line between both but it is too damn frustrating. This Lyra has no charisma or charm or rogue attraction … she’s not good. This Coulter runs hot & cold — truly frightening and icy in her cunnig and demeanor but then flips to mindless feral rage. I think I like her monkey more than her.The Magisterium do not invoke fear … they look & act like a bureaucratic multilevel marketing cult rather than a world leading religion. And this Lord Boreal is plodding empty filler — he is neither scary, threatening, or effective … I’m ready for his arc to be over.
The more I consider & ponder the more I realize this is just NOT good HBO.
So I got a month of HBO so I’d have something to watch over the holiday broadcast dead zone. Saw “Watchmen” and “Barry” and finished the first season of “Westworld” last night. I’ve heard mixed things about the 2nd season so I’m not sure if I should bother or move on to something else. Any suggestions?