This is So Old

So it's not Mr. Kaplan. But once again, the writers of The Blacklist can't think of any new or original storylines, but to make another one of Red Reddington's closest allies into a hated enemy. 

So it seems the Mr. Kaplan angle was a hoax, as I hoped, but that didn't make it any better. Instead, it's his oldest friend and attorney, Marvin, who had betrayed him. And he's the one who had Lizzy killed, and he's the one who was framing Harold. I was so disappointed because I have been criticizing this show for a long time, years even, that I was so tired of the same old storyline of Red's closest friends betraying him and becoming his enemies. From his closest friend, (and who better be his daughter,) Lizzy to his other close friends, and now it's Marvin.

Why can't they create a new foe? A real foe? Or at least stop rehashing the same storyline over and over again. Will they ever get back to that Skinner story? I was thinking they had a good concept there. But it was a one and done deal. At least so far. Once this Marvin story is over, I would very much like to see the Skinner story resumed. I hope they won't make me wait until next season. But they probably will.

Mr. Kaplan? Again? WTF?

 I really hate to continue this seemingly never ending criticism of what used to be my favorite show. Yes, The Blacklist. But once again it is failing to entertain. And once again I am on the verge of quitting that show. As the title of this post suggests, it's about Mr. Kaplan...again.

I used to like Kate Kaplan. (She was called Mr. Kaplan by a tormentor in her past, a mocking of her being gay, and the name stuck.) I liked her character because she was a loyal ally of Red Reddington. Until she wasn't. See the pattern here?

I never liked it when a man as good and generous and loyal as Red has been, is betrayed by those same people that he had been so generous and loyal to. It's like the writers of this show can't think of any other storyline. So they find Red's closest allies and turn them into enemies.

And a few years ago that was the storyline and I hated it. It went like this: Mr. Kaplan, who was a close friend and ally of Red's, suddenly becomes his rival and near equal in crime. And of course bent on DESTROYING him. (Caps deliberate.)

It lasted an entire season, until she jumped from a bridge into the Potomac River. Now it seems these lousy writers are expecting us to believe that a frail old woman survived the fall (and the drowning) to once again torment Red Reddington. No! I've had enough of that. So it better be a scam, meaning it better be an imposter and it better get resolved in this next episode. I don't want another long drawn out battle with this kind of tired storyline.

Actually, the storyline was supposed to be finding Lizzy's killer. Or are we going to have to suffer through a resurrection of Lizzy next?  And going by what we've been seeing, I'm betting she will rise again vowing to DESTROY Red Reddington, the man who saved her life no less than three times. 

Oh wait, she'll blame him for being shot. And oh yeah he had a secret, (which was the reason she wanted to DESTROY him the last time. (Even though he had saved her life maybe four times or more, (I lost count.) But yeah, that's how it will pan out. Just watch. And if it does, that will be the nail in the coffin for me. Pardon the pun. 

I'm No Reviewer

I may not be a reviewer, but that doesn't mean I don't have opinions of what I think is good writing and what isn't. And what I think is a good idea, and what isn't.

TV shows have been sinking in quality, imo, for the last several decades. I'm referring to the years since what I call the golden age of TV, which was the 60s. Back then, you had great TV shows. Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Wild, Wild West, Lost in Space, Star Trek, and even The Time Machine. Of course, the list goes on and on. I can't even count the number of great shows from the 60s.

The TV shows back then were great ideas for shows. The characters were great, and the casting for the characters was spot on. I mean James Arness as Matt Dillon was spot on. Lorne Green as Ben Cartwright was spot on. Robert Conrad as James West was spot on. Guy Williams as Professor John Robinson was spot on. And William Shatner as Captain Kirk was spot on. Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock was spot on. It seemed that the 60s was the golden age of TV.

I might concede that TV was okay in the 70s, but I was not sitting in front of a TV during that decade. Unless it was a football game. And that continued through the 80s too. Of course had there been a show worth watching, I would like to think that I would have. Alas, to me, at least, there weren't. Not even the return of Star Trek, (as in TNG) made me interested again. I'll admit I gave it a chance. At first I thought the older captain of a larger starship with a larger crew made sense. But at about half way through season one, I realized this new version of Star Trek sucked.

To be clear, I still had a deep affection for Star Trek TOS. And I had high hopes for TNG version. But those hopes were dashed by the portrayal of a starship captain who was always second-guessing himself, and who always needed the counseling of a much younger woman who actually had a position on the bridge as part of the command crew... It was like....what?

Can you imagine a captain of a battleship in our modern navy having to consult with a younger man or woman sitting next to him before he made command decisions? I don't think so... And so I stopped watching Star Trek, TNG before season one even concluded. I was glad I did. As for the subsequent editions of Star Trek shows, I'll admit I watched them on and off, with mixed opinions.

Which brought me into the 90s. Those shows were a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. There was the Babylon 5 show which I thought was pretty good. I never got into Cheers or Seinfeld, or any of those sitcoms. I wasn't much of a sitcom type of person. I didn't even appreciate All in the Family from the 70s. I thought it sucked actually. Which is my overall opinion of all sitcoms.

And now, in the 21st century, things aren't much better for me, as my most watched TV remains football games. The NFL in particular, and even that has suffered with the kneeling protests and the racially motivated lawsuits and such. It's a distraction and a detriment, imo.

Football was always a place, for me, at least, where race did not matter. First of all, skin color to me never mattered. Not when I was a kid growing up, not when I was a teenager and not now as an adult. A man was a man no matter what color was his skin, or what country was his origin. And a woman was a woman, regardless of any ethnic background.

But in the 21st century, race seems to be the issue that is on everyone's mind. Most people anyway, since it's always in the news and in TV shows and in the movies. Race and LGBTQ issues. It seems like TV and the movies are force-feeding these issues down our throats. And I don't appreciate that. I don't need Hollywood preaching to me. I don't need anyone preaching to me. Never did.

So I write what I like. Meaning I write my own books, I write my own music, I create my own art and my own stories. I don't expect anyone to appreciate what I write, nor do I need them to. If they have an opinion, even a bad one, that's their right. But life is too short to care about petty things like that. It's like I said many times, it doesn't matter to me. I have better things to do. 

Not Canceled

 So the Blacklist TV show is not cancelled apparently. And the rift between Red and Dembe seems to be mended. I thought it was stupid anyway. And even more stupid was when Dembe was going to betray Red for his daughter. Not that his daughter wasn't worth it. But the last time we saw his daughter she was like five years old, and now she's a grown up, like thirty something. It's lousy writing. And speaking of daughters, when will they confirm that Lizzy was Red's daughter?

I had said that I thought the show was going in the right direction because Red was now the leader of some ages-old secret organization called the Skinners. But since then, nothing has happened in terms of that.  It's suddenly all about who killed Lizzy, or who hired the guy that killed her. Okay. But I would like to see that secret organization return to the storyline. 

Just have to wait and see. At least Red's friends have stopped betraying him. For now.

Forget Blacklist

 I posted a lot about the TV show Blacklist. I did that because it had become my favorite TV show. I didn't even watch the show when it first came out. I think I started watching after it was on for over three years. Then I binged watched it with my wife, and I quickly declared it my all time favorite TV show. But after the third season, I was disappointed it was falling short of the already established level of greatness it had achieved. And for the next five years, I did not enjoy it much at all.

In short, the writing sucked. This current season, which is the 9th season, had made a slight rebound, but I read recently that the show will be cancelled. And that is all right with me. Because, even though I liked the direction it was going, it keeps on going back to the same old storylines of Red Reddington's closest allies conspiring against him. Even Dembe. Twice now.

The last episode that aired seemed to rectify that idiotic plotline, but there's another thing that bothers me about what these writers are doing. Using topical issues that include real life people in their fictional show. Another episode that disgusted me was the one about abortion. More specifically, it was about some lunatic who was transplanting pregnant women's uteruses into men who were against abortion and then daring them to get an abortion.

Not only was that disgusting, it was plain ridiculous. I almost quit the show at that point. But I kept on watching anyway, but with a reduced enthusiasm. So if it's true that Blacklist is being cancelled, I say Good Riddance. It was a once great show that turned into crap. It's not uncommon.

Blacklist - Here we go again

So The Blacklist has returned to being a good show. I like the direction it is going with Red being the top man in that Skinner organization. And I even like his new bodyguard...that Cuban woman...  And I can appreciate her skill with  a gun. I don't believe she could beat up four dudes, though.

What I don't like is here we go again...another rift between Red and Dembe. It's like, haven't we been here before?  Yes we have. And it's a place I don't appreciate. What really bothers me about these writers is that they are clutching at straws for plotlines. I hate it when they turn Red's closest friends into antagonists. It's like the writers can't think of anything better.

It all started with Mr. Kaplan. That was painful to watch. Not to mention the constant feuding with Lizzy. Then we had to watch the first rift with Dembe. They got over it fast enough, but I thought even then it was idiotic. Now we have to go through that again? No, please no.

What I liked about Blacklist was the allies Red had. His trusted friends. And then the next thing you know, his friends are not as trustworthy as he thought. I can see it happening once. But over and over again, with one friend after another, and now his closest and most trusted friend? Please...

If they can resolve this latest rift, like they did the first time with Dembe, then okay. But we'll have to wait until after the holidays to find out. Okay. I'll wait...and I'll find out.

Blacklist Season 9 -- Looking Good

 

I started watching The Blacklist Season 9 and just finished the two-part premiere and I actually liked it. So, hurray. The Blacklist has made a comeback! I really liked the way they laid out the new premise. It seems that once the show's main creators left the show, the new guys in charge are doing a much better job. It makes me think I was right about what I had said in an earlier post. To reiterate, I had said that I believed the show's creators and/or producers probably didn't think the show would last much past its third season, and so they didn't have a clue as to how to proceed beyond that.

It seemed like they were clutching at straws for storylines and/or story arcs, and the show suffered for that reason. But now, with the Lizzy Keen premise eliminated, which was a premise that had bogged down the show's progress, there's a new freshness about the show and it's working!

I thought this new criminal organization, The Skinners, is a great idea. I don't much care for the name "Skinners"  but the idea behind it is great. And Red Reddington as their new leader makes it even better. I loved how Red infiltrated the home of that lady senator, and arranged for the old FBI team to get back together, and continue their good work. Even if it's all in the name and memory of Lizzy, I have no problem with that. It's all good. And I'm on board for the ride!