Yellowstone prequel 1883 starts its long journey westward as the final season of Claws premieres
Plus, Dexter: New Blood, Insecure, Yellowjackets, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and some Grinch-y holiday recommendations
TV Lists How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, December 19. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
1883 (Paramount+, series premiere): Taylor Sheridan continues his takeover of Paramount+ with this Yellowstone prequel, which explores the beginnings of the Dutton family. The drama stars Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sam Elliott, LaMonica Garrett, and Isabel May. Look for Terry Terrones’ review of the first three episodes on the site later this morning.
Claws (TNT, 9 p.m., season-four premiere): Eliot Laurence’s colorful crime drama about the many wild predicaments of the Nail Artisans clan returns tonight for its fourth and final season. As Shannon Miller writes in her review of season four, “We’ve encountered quite a few characters since we first stepped into Claws’ Nail Artisans of Manatee County over four years ago. Each figure has uniquely contributed to the chaos that underscores this neon-piped drama that has been classified by some of the show’s creatives as a “Florida noir.” Read the rest of the review here.
Regular coverage
Dexter: New Blood (Showtime, 9:00 p.m.)
Insecure (HBO, 10:00 p.m)
Yellowjackets (Showtime, 10 p.m.)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 10:30 p.m.)
Season’s streamings
Christmas Takes Flight (CBS, 8 p.m.): Just when you think you’ve seen every type of Christmas movie, you find one that truly surprises you. But sometimes, the surprise is in the suspension of belief. For example, in Christmas Takes Flight, Jenny (Katie Lowes, Scandal) is a pilot in her family’s regional airline, while Matt (Evan Williams, Awkward.) is the CEO that purchases it. Then apparently Matt decides to cut company costs by cancelling the airline’s annual holiday charitable benefit for underserved children. This man seems beyond hope; even the Grinch isn’t that terrible! Maybe this Christmas movie will finally end with corporate interests winning over all. But it’s more likely that Matt will fall in love with Jenny and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Incidentally, if you do want to watch a cinematic rendition of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch That Stole Christmas, you have a few options:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (live-action, starring Jim Carrey) and The Grinch (animated, starring Benedict Cumberbatch) are available to purchase on Amazon Prime, or can be seen via DirecTV. Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical (live-action, starring Matthew Morrison) is streaming on Peacock, as is the perfect How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated and narrated by Boris Karloff).
3 Comments
TUAYPCWThe Flash & Riverdale are good again? Is this a Christmas Beebo Day miracle? “Rivervale” finally made Riverdale as cuckoo
bananas as people erroneously said it was! It may legitimutantly be the
best the series has ever been. Now where are the videos of Rivervale
Cheryl set to the songs of the original The Wicker Man? You had one job, YouTube!
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/12/15/the-flash-brings-armageddon-to-rivervale/Spider-Man: No Way Home is a frustrating movie. I loved getting Dafoe & Molina back. I
hate the convoluted magic spell that facilitates this. Why do we need
this when Into The Spider-Verse already did multiversal Spidey crossovers better?https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/12/18/spider-man-has-no-way-home-from-nostalgia/
Tell US About Your Pop Culture Weekend I rewatched the penultimate episode of Wheel fo Time season 1, because of course I did. Some nerd friends have informed me that with a better, brighter TV I could see some secrets in The Ways, and I think they are maybe correct.I also watched the first episode of Creamery on Hulu, which is a show that feels a lot like The Last Man on Earth. I can’t decide if I’m likely to continue, but that’s just me not being super pumped about more virus ravaged fiction.My wife has made it further in Vampire Diaries, and every time she plays an episode when I’m in the room, I have no idea who any of the other characters are. I guess this is how my parents felt about all the shows I watched as a kid.
So far, I think Station Eleven is a decent adaptation of the book. There are a couple of fairly significant changes from the book, but nothing yet that knocks it off course. I do find myself thinking more about all the filler that has to be put in to make a TV show out of a quiet small story than I do with most other book to TV adaptations. Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Miranda, is fabulous & her character episode was the best of the show so far I thought. I think if you liked the book, you’ll enjoy the show and also get an uneasy feeling that it might not stick the landing when all is said & done. That’s where I’m at with it.How To with John Wilson continues to be the funniest yet most sincere and somehow thought provoking social commentary on TV.I don’t know how many other people are watching Young Justice this season, but I still think it’s the best DC show not named Doom Patrol. There are so many things going on that feel like they’re leading to something huge and epic, but it also spends a lot of time diving in to the heroes’ (and villains’) often broken emotional states and beautiful explorations of identity that Doom Patrol has perfected. I have no idea where it’s all going, but it’s been fascinating getting there, and it’s great getting to see characters we don’t see much on TV (Klarion, Zatanna, Traci Thirteen, Cassie Sandsmark, Mary Marvel).