A work in progress.
Television
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- Billionaire’s Bunker: We begin 2026 with mediocrity. The premise is great and we absolutely loved Money Heist (Casa de Papel). But perhaps that was creator Álex Pina’s peak. This was a soap opera with too many stories and such melodrama! Painful.
- Stranger Things, Season 5: I actually skipped Season 4. Seeing the kids bickering and whining just felt too much, even though I’d watched the first three seasons. I sort of felt: Ugh. Teenagers. But I wanted to check this season out and I did enjoy how they wound things up, for the most part. The special effects are spectacular and Will’s coming out was wonderfully done. Some things didn’t make sense and I think it would have been better to make clear that Elle really did die at the end.
- The Pitt, Season 1: I didn’t expect how much I’d love this. Life and death decisions and situations every episode anchored by an incredible team of actors.
- The Beast in Me: Stressful.
- The Muppet Show (2026 special). I think Sabrina Carpenter is pretty great, as is Seth Rogan. The jokes are classic slapstick Muppets humour, and we actually found it slightly more dated than nostalgic.
- The Pitt, Season 2: Just as good as Season 1 so far … And in the end, I liked it as much, I think. The characters are so engaging.
- The Killing (Danish version), Season 1: We missed this when it came out, and watching it now, we can see that it birthed two series we liked very much, the Bridge, and Borgen (Parliament). So, 20 episodes of an hour each. This was such a different experience and the writing and acting were amazing. The story didn’t seem to hold together in the end, but I was willing to forgive this when the rest was such good TV.
- Starfleet Academy, Season 1: I think that they managed to redeem themselves with two strong last episodes, as some of the earlier ones were terrible. Just really junior, like Harry Potter meets Star Trek. That lead Sandro Costa is very, very genetically gifted and it was great to see Tatiana Maslany on the screens again, reminding me of how amazing she was in Orphan Black.
- The Testaments. Looks pretty good so far. But in the end, I thought that it was poor in comparison to Handmaid’s Tale and didn’t grab me in the end (with plot points that I didn’t buy).
- Legion, Season 1. This was a surprise. I thought the storytelling and acting were very strong, and we’ll watch the other seasons. Strange to see such familiar landscape (as it was filmed in Vancouver) and also to see Jean Smart in such a different role when I’ve only seen her in Hacks!
- Legion, Season 2. What an interesting experiment. Such a non-linear narrative, and did it make any sense? I was drawn into it by the acting, visual effects and storytelling, nonetheless, and I’m impressed. Hang onto one large theme and you don’t have to coddle the viewers. Or was that why it was cancelled?
- Forbrydelsen II (The Killing II): We bought the box set from JB Hifi since we couldn’t find this online. With only 10 episodes, this was sharper than the first season, and has some of the same narrative techniques. But we really do love them.
- Legends: I enjoyed this show a lot. The tension was amped up, knowing it was based on a true story. Great actors. Gripping, gritty story.
- The Bear, Season 5: I’ve always loved this show. It has a different rhythm and feel to others, and I have fallen in love with the characters (maybe not the Faks). It’s poetic, dreamy and emotional. And surprisingly gripping and stressful. Through in the food porn, and this was one of my favourite series.
- Widow’s Bay: Why the award nominations and rave reviews? It’s not terrible but after two episodes (and that’s enough for us), I don’t see the appeal.
- Bodies: Not sure how we missed this one, but we’re finding it so inventive and compelling, a great mixture of sci-fi and historical thriller.
- Beef, Season 2: I read that it wasn’t as good as Season 1 so avoided it for a while, but we’re really loving it.
- 100 Years of Solitude: As epic and beautiful (and complex) as the first season.
Documentaries and Reality Television
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- Great Pottery Throw Down, Season 9. Yup, we’re still watching. For some reason, I didn’t love this season as much as some, but it was still good.
- Great British Bake Off, Season 6. Because I have loved the latest seasons so much, and having only discovered it recently, I thought we’d return to one of their most famous seasons, that discovered Nadiya. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see the fuss about Mary Berry, who is a national treasure.
- Survivor, Season 50. Starting to watch this series, entirely of returning cast members (fan favourites, all of them), we realised that we had somehow missed Season 49. Oops. In the end, we loved it!
- Survivor, Season 49. We’re watching! Oh. We watched it. It was OK, though not my favourite season.
- Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. I’d caught episodes of this show during the decade or so it was on air. It was a guilty pleasure. There was something so trashy and juicy about it, I wasn’t sure why I liked it. But now, years later, it really has aged badly and this documentary shows how bad it was, and how Tyra Banks is … a monster, really. She takes no responsibility for her part in this, and the worst is watching a young, innocent woman, abroad for the first time who was basically sexually assaulted (being too drunk to give consent) and then had her story, framed as ‘cheating on her boyfriend back home’ exploited and blown up. Wow, what a clusterfuck. The ugly birth of the most ugly parts of reality TV.
- Masterchef Australia, Series 18. In the end, this was a great series. I loved the cast: so talented and while they were beyond my expertise, I was still inspired by them in my own cooking. I like when they’re all new contestants instead of returnees.
- Project Runway, Season 22. I barely made it through the last season and made it through two episodes of this one. But there’s no fashion commentary, it’s all drama. Law Roach is repugnant and mean. Tyra. Why Tyra? And the cliff-hanger endings are annoying. And so many awful contestants, perhaps chosen just for the drama. I won’t finish this one.