Consortium of Seven: Year 4

        Back in the middle of April I noted that the final week of May would see me bidding farewell to several sets of variously endeared characters, as several series would have their finales. So it was, that since last time we got together, we've seen the close of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) a week ago today, Barry (HBO) this past Sunday, and Ted Lasso (Apple tv+) no Wednesday, the fuinal day of May.       Maisel went out on good notes, with the final season stretching into the future for most of the characters, emphasizing life lessons learned, growth, and the comfort of hard-forged friendship returning to provide comforts late in life. That's a good thing to achieve. Across its five, uneven, seasons, 43 episodes, beginning in 2017, Midge, Suzy, Abe, and many of the other characters became dear to me, and I'll inevitably get back around to rewatching it to take it in more as a complete, imperfect package. I'l...

      Here in the States, a great many of us are looking at a holiday weekend, with Memorial Day extending the time off by a day. Hypothetically, more time for whatever one wants to do, within one's budget of money and energy. Ideally a mix of activities, some indoor, some out, but hopefully with few to no workplace obligations until Tuesday, there may be more time to find something to watch.        Today sees the series finale for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, something I expect to get to before the day's out. This final season's incorporated a variety of flash-forwards, allowing us to see where key characters land decades later than the series' primary focus of the end of the '50s and early '60s. I'll be sad to see them go, but am more interested in seeing how the details work out for them than I am in artificially putting off the goodbyes.       This Sunday will see the series finale for Bill Hader...

        This past Friday Amazon Prime launched a new, British, science fiction drama series about a world whose power structure is suddenly and dramatically changed. A sudden development in teenage girls around the globe, that soon spreads to most older women.  What happens when men, for the first time, have to come to grips with women holding the quiet threat of violent menace in the world, having to be wary that they don't offend or upset a random woman for fear that she might take offense and lash out.       It's The Power       Good cast - including multiple actors likely to pop - and an engaging premise.        Based on Naomi Alderman's 2016 novel of the same name, it will run nine episodes. The first three landed last week - and I would advise watching those three more or less as a unit, as it introduces characters around the globe and gathers the story pitch. It starts, brie...

        This past week some smiles returned, as Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) arrived Wednesday to start its third and final season. This will be a 12-episode season (same as season 2), with a straight-through schedule, a new episode each Wednesday through May 31st.       This season picks up just before the start of the next football season, with some relationships in flux and the pre-season's anticipation and posturing becoming the focus for the sports press. We get to catch up with most of the main characters. Many moments of doubt and angst for several of them, but Ted ultimately remains Ted, and this pocket universe remains the better for it. These will be difficult characters to let go of, but ideally they'll be left in a good and hopeful places at the end. In my dotage I'm more desirous than ever for the notion of a happily ever after.       Bonus: I have/found the captions option, something to get switched on...

        I'll note - potentially apologize for? - this week's piece not having a real holiday theme... aside, I suppose, for anticipating more leisure time in the coming week for most of us. While we'll likely all be getting to spend some time with family and friends in here somewhere, there are at least three, big, viral infections out there, leaving me wondering how many people will either be out sick, or dragging their diseased selves back into the workplace to spread it all anew, when we step into the new year in about 11 days.     My slow, gradual move into Apple TV+ territory continues. Since last time, I completed the remainder of Ted Lasso 's second season - the most recent - and so have that behind me. The second season ended with much more emotional weight, but still much more in a good way than a threatening one. Much for fans to conjure with as they await season three, likely somewhere off in 2023, when the series will conclude. My...

        Particularly disjointed this week. No good reason to go into specifics, just the opening caution that these are disconnected bits that just happen to find themselves in this Friday piece.       Thanks to an old friend, I had access to Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso as of this past weekend, and happily binged through the 10-episode season one that weekend, and have since rolled into the 12-episode season two. I believe I have five or six episodes to go. I'm trying to savor them.       The foundational premise is that an American college football coach (the eponymous Ted, played by series co-creator Jason Sudeikis) is, to the international sports world's surprise, hired to coach a (fictional) English Premiere League football (which Americans would call soccer) club, despite his having no experience with the sport. The "why" of the job offer is also laid out, as I recall, within the first episode, but I don't wa...