Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, October 6th, 2023

A few things to watch this weekend

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, October 6th, 2023.

PROGRAMMING NOTES
About an hour ago, AllYourScreens finally creaked back online after six days. So the site is live, albeit a week out of date. I have work to do.

A COUPLE OF THINGS TO WATCH THIS WEEK
Since the web site has been down, I haven’t been able to post any new reviews, but I did want to highlight a couple of new shows worth watching this weekend:

* Bargain (Paramount+)
I am no Nostradamus, but I predict many of the reviews this weekend will compare this show to Squid Games. Mostly because they were both produced in South Korea.
But what the two shows really have in common are distinctive, original stories mashed together with some startling visuals.

Bargain begins with a businessman negotiating with a young prostitute for her services at a hotel. But it quickly spins into a frantic story about harvesting organs, murder, an earthquake and a myriad of lies, deceit, robbery and desperation.

With six 37-minute episodes, Bargain is an easy binge. And while I can’t say it’s great TV, you’ll be hard-pressed to turn it off before your done.

The downside for me is that like many streaming shows produced outside the U.S., tracking down screeners and other info on the show was more than frustrating.

* Last Stop Larrimah (HBO)
If you enjoy true crime documentaries but have grown weary of the new streaming standard of 3-4 bloated hour-long episodes, Last Stop Larrimah is worth checking out when it premieres Sunday on HBO and Max.

Larrimah is an isolated Australian town of just 11 people. So when one of the residents disappears, it doesn’t take long for everyone to notice. While I don’t know much about that region of Australia, it’s fair to describe the people living in the town as being Australia’s living representations of “Florida Man.” Every person interviewed on camera is drinking and somehow the remaining ten resident are all angry with each other and randomly form into 3-4 revolving groups of opponents.

It’s a truly weird story populated by characters you wouldn’t believe if you read them in a novel. And at 117 minutes, it’s easy to get through in one setting.

Bering Sea Gold (Discovery)
There are times when I am not in the mood to watch some engaging scripted series. I just need to turn my brain off for awhile and let a few goofball episodes of some lightweight unscripted series wash over me. Bering Sea Gold returns tonight with a new season and while I’ve found myself dipping in and out of seasons over the years, it’s still a worthwhile mental palate cleanser.

It’s funny to look back at this 2013 interview I did with Bering Sea Gold star Emily Reidel, who was still splitting her life between pursuing a career in Opera while gold mining in the off-season. At the time, she said she couldn’t imagine still mining when she was fifty. And while she’s not there yet, she’s still doing it ten years later.

HOW QUICKLY THEY FORGET
If you are a fan of obscure classic TV, then the news that two episodes of the ABC series Turn-On will stream on YouTube with commentary by producer George Schlatter is a cool bit of news:

The half-hour first episode premiered on February 5th, 1969 at 8:30 PM on the east coast, where it took the place of the primetime soap opera Peyton Place. Tim Conway was recruited as the first celebrity guest and the writers included Albert Brooks.

The show seemed poised for success. But 10 minutes into the broadcast, between the first and second commercial breaks, a programmer at WEWS in Cleveland stated that the remainder of the program would “not be seen this evening….or ever.”

The rest of the Cleveland time slot was filled with a pitch-black screen. A local organist on a retainer was then called upon and filled the remaining airtime with sprightly organ music.

Cleveland’s action sparked an avalanche, and as word traveled of that cancellation, other programmers reacted and pulled Turn-On. The show never aired even once on the West coast.

ABC then officially canceled the show, buying out Schlatter’s contract with a clause that he not rerun Turn-On.

The story mentions the show received the “fastest cancellation in TV history,” but that’s not technically true.

My first TV-related job was on the 1979 comedy Co-Ed Fever, one of two network comedies that season inspired by the hit movie Animal House. The show was set in the fictional Brewster House, a dorm at a formerly all-girl college. It starred Heather Thomas and David Keith and it aired for the first time as a sneak preview following the broadcast premiere of Rocky. But it received such a bad reception, the show was almost immediately canceled before it even aired its official premiere episode.

One piece of weird TV trivia. The set of Brewster House was later reused as the girls’ dormitory for season one of The Facts Of Life.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* Netflix released a teaser today announcing the streamer had ordered a second season of the series Castlevania: Nocturne, which premiered last week. Given that season one had eight episodes, my hunch is that season two is actually just the back half of the original season one order. Netflix typically splits one season into fake multiple seasons or chapters in order to save money, since pay would ratchet up for additional seasons.

SEE YOU MONDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.