Matt's Musings

We're nearly to September, which means the fall TV Season. But before we get there, we have a few more weeks of summer, and that includes more new TV shows. In these weekly posts I look at the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this summer. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks. Tuesday Nights: Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on HBO (Premiered August 8) About: This sports anthology series is in its 12th season, but each year is new because it follows a different team. We have had two other sports documentaries air this summer ("All or Nothing" on Amazon and "Last Chance U" on Netflix), but "Hard Knocks" is always the most anticipated lead-in to the NFL season. But it can be made or broken on how interesting the players and coaches are. Unfortunately in the season premier, it looks like there isn't much to work with in Tampa Bay. Dirk Koetter is by all accounts a good c...

We have just two episodes left in this season seven before we settle in for the long night, and it’s fair to say things haven’t exactly gone the way I thought prior to the start of this season. Episode six will be 75 minutes, and episode seven will be the longest in the history of the series so far, but it might be more of a prologue of what’s to come than a wrap up of anything. After the close of season six, it seemed clear there were two battles left to be fought. On was for control of Westeros, with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) sailing for home and Cersei (Lena Headey) having taken control of King’s Landing. The other was the battle for humanity, as the army of the dead was marching on the living. My suspicion, with 13 episodes left, was that season seven would be that battle for Westeros and, when the dust settled, season eight would be the battle against the Night King. The first four episodes of the season seemed to bear that out. After the premier set things in motion, episodes two ...

"Orphan Black," the long-running sci-fi series on BBC America, wrapped up last night. The show spanned five seasons and 50 episodes, and became something of a cult favorite. And many wondered how it would end. For me, the first season was an engrossing and nearly perfect mystery. The second season was solid, too, then I felt the show got a little lost. I stuck with it to see where it would go, but I thought the latter seasons waned in quality. Still, it was interesting to see how the series would wrap up. The finale, like the last few seasons, was uneven. The first half hour was the climactic battle between Sarah and her creators and Neolution. Then, the final 30 minutes was a sort of personal wrap up on the characters that felt like it wanted to be more emotional than it was for me. It was OK, but it was a sort of quiet-open-ended, life goes on kind of feel. In this day and age of shows getting a second life, maybe that's for the best. But here's my take aways from t...

The Pre-Season began on Thursday, but much is left to do. I continue my look at position groups with tight ends. The Broncos completed 17 passes on Thursday night, but not a single one went to a tight end. In fact, as a unit, tight ends were only targeted two times. That continues the struggle in determining what to do with this position group. On The Roster: * Virgil Green * AJ Derby * Jeff Heuerman * Jake Butt (Rookie) * Steve Scheu * Austin Traylor A Look Back at 2016: The Broncos' offense wasn't great as a unit in 2016, but particularly disappointing was the tight end unit. The Broncos had expected greater production when the season began, and even made and in-season trade to acquire AJ Derby, hoping for more pass production. But it didn't really materialize. Virgil Green has never developed into a reliable receiver, and Jeff Heuerman, after missing his rookie year with a knee injury, played in 12 games in 2016 but recorded just nine receptions on 17 targets. Derby, ac...

The 2017 NFL Season has officially begun. The Broncos have finally played an actual game (a pre-season game, but still a game). Pre-Season Week 1 : Broncos 24, Chicago Bears 17 Pre-Season Record: 1-0 (0-0 Home) Key Play: In the fourth quarter, knotted at 17-17 with time running down and facing a third and 22 from the 41-yard-line, the Broncos handed the ball to rookie running back DeAngelo Henderson, who took the ball to the end zone for the lead. That proved the difference in the game. Recap: Well, we've seen this before. A defensive score. Offensive ineptitude. Some trouble stopping the run. Penalties on the offensive line. Struggles on Special Teams. And just enough plays to squeak out a win. We've seen this formula before. Some of the faces have changed, and the coaches are new, but the Broncos looked an awful lot like the 2016 version last night. The defense is still great (Chris Harris, Jr. started the game off with a pick-six), but the offense isn't great. We conti...

Here's a look at the new movies I saw this week. The Dark Tower Starring: Tom Taylor, Idris Elba, and Matthew McCounaghey Synopsis:  Stephen King is a master storyteller who has a legion of fans. And his “Dark Tower” books have been among his most popular and highly anticipated as a film. On Friday, August 4, fans got that film. But judging by reviews and Box Office receipts, it might not be what they expected. The novel series is eight books, many quite dense. This first film, a 95-minute action story, was meant to serve as a franchise starter, but it also tries to pack a lot of dense mythology into a tight package. The result is something less than stellar. My biggest issue with this film, as a non book reader, is that it was a story that was hard to follow. The narrative, due in part to collapsing so much story into such a compact running time, cuts some corners. That led to more than a few questions. At the same time, the film is boring at parts. That’s also a problem. It’s sho...

Over the next 3 weeks I'll be taking a look at some of my favorite TV series, broken down into three groups (Limited Run Series, Comedies, and Dramas). In my post on March 1 I laid out the ground rules for these categories and this exploration, the biggest of which is no series that are currently airing. To read the whole thing, check out the post "Best of the Small Screen" from March 1. Today  I continue my countdown with a delightful sci-fi gem. Fringe (2008-2013) Number of Seasons/Episodes: 5/100 Network: FOX Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nichole, Lance Reddick, and Blair Brown Creator:  J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Favorite Season/Episodes: Season two; 1.20 "There's More Than One of Everything," 2.16 "Peter," 2.18 "The White Tulip," 2.20 "Brown Betty," 3.08 "Entrada," 3.15 "Subject 13," 4.06 "And Those We've Left Behind" Synopsis: Of all the shows...