The Grouchy Editor

TV Tripe

I’m not sure what’s worse, Netflix’s latest price hike, or its ongoing practice of ruining once-great TV shows. When Breaking Bad concluded its original run, Netflix cranked out El Camino. It was underwhelming. Netflix then picked up the wildly original Black Mirror from the Brits, and now it’s an underwhelming series. Last week Netflix premiered a Peaky Blinders epilogue-movie (pictured above) that is — you guessed it — underwhelming.

It’s the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything Netflix puts its paws on turns to shit.

OK, that’s a bit hyperbolic. El Camino, new Black Mirror, and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man are not bad; they were all well-produced. But they lost the originals’ magic.

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Against my better judgment, I’ve been enjoying Fox’s comedy-drama Best Medicine. It’s a redo of the incomparable British series Doc Martin, but for a network show, it’s pretty good.

However … “woke” warning lights are flashing.

The most recent episode featured apparently innocuous elements that, taken as a whole, make me nervous. The episode had:

One quick kiss on the lips between gay bar-owners (pictured above).

One gratuitous shot of an interracial couple toasting each other in the same bar.

One scene in which a woman’s boyfriend pledges 100 percent support to his girlfriend’s career aspirations — even if it threatens to separate them.

One scene in which a gay man pledges 100 percent support to a woman who wants to have a baby — with or without a father’s involvement.

Several scenes in which mindless promiscuity is played for laughs.

Other than that, there was nothing woke about the episode.

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Unsolicited advice to parents that they will never heed: Stop calling your little girls “princess.”

Too many of them believe it and then grow up to be Toxic Feminists.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Girl Power?

So Amazon’s Fallout has gotten pretty good buzz, both from critics and viewers. So I thought I’d check out the first episode.

So I had to quit watching about midway through it.

That was about the time our heroine, a pretty young thing but not exactly physically intimidating, got into a fight with her new husband, who was built like Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein. She, of course, made mincemeat of him.

That was enough for me. How many shows have we been force-fed in which some slender or frail or otherwise non-threatening chick takes on a biker gang or a football team or whatever, and dispatches them with ease?

It’s too bad, because Fallout otherwise seemed like it might be decent. But I’ve had enough with wokeness in general and “you go girl” feminism in particular.

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I was thinking Toxic Femininity might be a product of the 2020s, but then I stumbled upon … something … on an obscure channel. The movie was apparently a German comedy from the ’70s or ’80s but with subtitles and (Russian?) narration. When I tuned in, a hapless basketball coach was for some reason assaulted by his team of teenage players. But why should I explain when you can watch?

To recap, from screen caps:

Hapless coach

High school girls about to get an unexpected treat

Do they know what’s coming? Was it preplanned?

I don’t know what’s worse, teen boys hoping to impress girls by conducting small-penis-humiliation on their coach, or the poor actor hired to play the coach.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Ladies who helped Fox dominate cable news … in 2010

Aging Foxes

I haven’t regularly watched Fox News in years. Booting Tucker Carlson was the final straw for me.

But I did watch the channel from, roughly, 2010-2020. I suppose I shouldn’t admit this, but the draw for me wasn’t purely political. I am a straight male, and getting my daily dose of bad news and politics was more palatable when served with a side dish of eye candy. Fox had no shortage of cute blonde reporters and anchors.

The problem: Those ladies are still on Fox. But these days, releasing a woman who has gone from youthful peach to shriveled prune will get you sued for age discrimination. Hell hath no fury, and that sort of thing.

The bloom is off the rose

Fox News has two age problems. One is the loss of youthful eye candy; the other is, apparently, misguided loyalty to conservative voices of the past. I saw Karl Rove on a Fox show the other day. Yes, Karl Rove. I can’t imagine him being a guest on, say, Tim Pool’s podcast. Rove is a relic of the George Bush years. 

Other Republican dinosaurs who regularly appear on Fox — and seemingly nowhere else — include Lindsey Graham and Jim Jordan (not so old, but still). 

Fox’s male anchors are also a problem. I’ve never cared for jock-wannabe Sean Hannity or shrewish scold Laura Ingraham. The only primetime host I can stomach is Jesse Watters.

Oh, yeah. And Fox’s viewer demographic is also getting old.

Fox has an age problem — in more ways than one.

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This is old “news,” but it’s funny so I’m posting it:

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The Grouch is thinking of changing his avatar. To this:

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I don’t care if he has to kill the filibuster or kill his donors, this ass Thune needs to pass the SAVE Act:

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Trump Estrangement Syndrome

Donald Trump is famous/infamous for a couple of things: a) He has a tendency to boast, or exaggerate, which makes his supporters chuckle and his detractors pull the hair out of their collective head; and b) he tends to make assertions that, at the time, seem outrageous, but that later turn out to be true.

That’s why I give Trump the benefit of the doubt over this Iran war. My initial reaction was negative — “dammit, you promised no more wars!”

But just as with Trump’s controversial — to put it mildly — illegal-alien deportations, it’s too early to predict the endgame.

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Lionel Shriver

Two months ago, I’d never heard of this author. But she’s popping up everywhere in interviews to promote her new book, A Better Life. Apparently, Shriver is anti-woke. She is fighting back against the avalanche of (mostly female, mostly liberal) authors and publishers who dominate the book world.

That’s refreshing. I might have to buy her book.

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Two questions for Republicans in D.C.

Why the hell isn’t E-Verify the law of the land, so that we can start punishing ALL employers who hire illegal aliens?

What the hell is the congressional holdup on the SAVE Act?

Is Trump-hating, fossilized tortoise Mitch McConnell behind these logjams?

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

State of the Disunion

I didn’t watch the entire State of the Union address. Even Trump can’t keep me glued to a 107-minute speech. But I heard (and later read) about enough of it to make me think, Trump still doesn’t get it. People don’t care about economic indicators or the Dow Jones average or tariffs or whatever. They care about how much they had to spend five or ten years ago, and how much they have now.

Inflation was largely Biden’s fault, not Trump’s. But people are justifiably angry and it makes them angrier to hear you talk about how “great” the economy is when they can no longer afford rent or fresh meat at the grocery store. It’s that simple.

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Erika Kirk really, really needs to stop with the handkerchief-to-her-eyes crying routine. I don’t think even her fans are buying it.

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Why isn’t Ilhan Omar already deported?

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Will any Big Shots in this country — whether because of the Epstein files, Minnesota fraud, or any number of other crimes — ever face justice?

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Yes, the controversy over the guy with Tourette syndrome at the BAFTA ceremony was unfortunate. But it was also hilarious. Also hilarious was this scene from a season 3 episode of Rescue Me, featuring another guy with Tourette syndrome.

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This is what I’ve been saying about Minnesota (I’m from there). “Minnesota Nice” is a misnomer; it’s actually “Minnesota Polite” covering some not-so-nice hostility.

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Note:  I just heard about the Iran event an hour ago. I’ll have to ruminate before I have a strong opinion. My initial thought: “Oh, no. Here we go again.”

Let’s hope I’m wrong about that.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

They found a fucking glove! That’s top-of-the-page news for the New York Post.

I am so fucking sick of this fucking story.

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“May you live in interesting times” — British phrase based on a Chinese adage. Maybe.

OK, but these last ten years have been ridiculous.

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Watching Europe destroy itself, I have to wonder if we Americans, across the pond, will learn anything from it. Or is it already too late?

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On a lighter note, here is what Netflix is recommending to me. I’ve watched at least part of them all, and added a few notes:

Bottom line: The good shows are all old. The more recent the show, the more likely it’s junk.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Dawson’s Creek

I know, I know. I was already too old to watch this show when it aired 25-30 years ago. 

My excuse for watching the teen drama, as I recall, was that I had learned it was created by Kevin Williamson, who was also responsible for writing Scream. I liked Scream, so I thought I’d check out his new show.

As fans know, Dawson’s Creek is soap opera. It features high school kids talking like adults. But I got hooked on it.

So I was sad to learn that James Van Der Beek (front-center above with the show’s main gang), who played Dawson, died earlier this week at age 48.

Maybe I’ll go back and watch an episode or two, see if I still like it — or if I should have had my head examined.

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Body Bitching

How and when did we allow the insulting word “skinny” to describe women who are slender or in good shape? Popeye’s Olive Oyl was skinny. Women like Melania Trump are not.

I’m old so I didn’t know who Nicki Minaj (above) is. She seems funny and OK. But her ass is too fat.

Notice I said fat; not “plus-size.”

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

TV Tidbits

Best Medicine

After a blah first episode, this new comedy-drama might be growing on me. It’s a redo of Doc Martin, a long-running British show that I adore. It airs on Fox. I can’t recall the last new network show that I liked. Episode one did not feel promising. However ….

Maybe it’s because I live just a few miles from where ICE and protestors are clashing on a daily basis, but I’ve been craving something old-fashioned and wholesome. I’ve seen three episodes of Best Medicine now and … it’s still not in Doc Martin’s league, but it is growing on me.

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The Rip

Perhaps it’s because I’m an old fart now, but what I liked and disliked about this Netflix movie are the inverse of what I would have liked and disliked about it 30 years ago. Or even 20 years ago. 

A coworker watched this Ben Affleck-Matt Damon action-drama and told me it gets better in the second half. This coworker is 20 years younger than me. He enjoyed the chases and shootouts in The Rip’s second half. I preferred the first half, which was more about tension and suspense.

Bottom line: I can recommend half of The Rip. Which half probably depends on your age.

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I had the Olympics on this morning, but the way I watch the Olympics these days is by not watching; it’s just background noise on the television while I do something else. But I suddenly heard something I did not expect: the name Lollobrigida.

If you’re male and old enough, the name probably rings a bell. Gina Lollobrigida, pictured above, sometimes called “the most beautiful woman in the world” (per Grok), was a famous Italian actress. Every teenage boy in the United States knew about her sixty years ago.

Gina’s great-grandniece Francesca Lollobrigida won the gold for Italy in speed skating today. I don’t care about that. I’m just surprised because I never expected to hear that name again. And isn’t it a great name?

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I am not a big fan of Lindsey Vonn. I think that’s because with her, everything seems to be about Lindsey Vonn.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)