Heroic Mentions: “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Last Week Tonight” did their absolute best to wake up the people of this country–no small thing, and even harder to do while being entertaining, making their success even more Herculean. Also, “The Studio” was more hilarious and even more concerned with being entertaining, but still…
Category: TV Reviews
Best TV Characters of 2025
Best Trend: Three-dimensional animated characters…Some of the best, most well-rounded characters of the year could actually be found on animated series like Pixar’s underrated “Win or Lose,” the “King of the Hill” reboot that defied the trend for awful series continuations of long-ago shows, the squabbling family dynamics of “Long Story Short,” or the thrilling…
The Worst TV Characters of 2025
Since the beginning, I’ve done this annual countdown of the most irritating characters on otherwise good shows (so no “All’s Fair” since there’s nothing good about that show) or on series that really should’ve been better than they were, usually undermined by bad characters. 10. Ray Driscoll (Brian Tyree Henry) in “Dope Thief”…It’s pretty rare…
Best TV Moments or Episodes of 2025
These were some TV moments or episodes that I loved in 2025, with a special emphasis on series that were high quality, but may not appear in my overall “Best TV Shows of 2025” list that’ll be posted soon, making this something of a consolation prize… 10. Best Dance: Dance Mom (Julianne Nicholson) has a…
Now That the Best Shark (Mark Cuban) has Left, “Shark Tank” Needs a Total Cast Reboot
Alabama Liberal talks about watching “Shark Tank” from the first episode, why he enjoys the show, why Mark Cuban was the best shark, and the real limitations of the sharks left on the show from the remaining best shark “Queen of Plastic” (Lori Grenier) to Mr. Burns (Kevin O’Leary) who had to literally be bailed…
Disney “Star Wars” Accidental Masterpiece: “Rogue One” and “Andor”
Alabama Liberal describes how “Rogue One” accidentally became the only great “Star Wars” movie since the original trilogy, and how “Andor” (particularly in the second season that overlaps with the Trump regime) became the exact kind-of TV show or movie he HOPED Hollywood would be making right now, similar to the darker films of the…
“Gemstones” Finale Proved Danny McBride is the Greatest Living Depicter of the Southeast
Alabama Liberal is sad to see “The Righteous Gemstones” go, but describes WHY he’s such a Danny McBride (and Jody Hill) fan, the parallels between Southern and Irish people, how R-rated Christian themed movies and TV shows would be more realistic, and why he’s looking forward to whatever McBride, Hill, or Walton Goggins do next….
“The Conners” Finale: What Nostalgia TV Will Future Decades Have in Such a Fractured Media Landscape?
Due to powerful “Roseanne” nostalgia, I watched “The Conners” finale despite having never seen an episode of this spinoff and was struck by how much it leaned into a show that ended decades ago as if it hadn’t built new moments for fans to think fondly…Then wonder what the nostalgic reboots will be in the…
“‘The White Lotus’ is a Spiritual Thriller that Gets Better Every Season”
Note: Massive spoilers for the “White Lotus” season three finale, but after watching that, check out this video I made rebutting the critics that the third season was “slower” when it was actually darkly thrilling to push materialistic characters into philosophy, existentialism, and (scariest of all) introspection
“Severance” Became Apple+’s Best Show by Subverting Their Oppressive Product Formula”
In the first half of this video, Alabama Liberal explains why too many Apple+ shows feel as machine-made and interchangeable as Apple’s physical products. In the second half, he reveals that “Severance” became a great show by subverting their oppressive formula altogether–especially in the exhilarating second season finale.
The Best TV Shows of 2024
Honorable Mentions: “Bob Hearts Abishola” is probably the last laugh-track sitcom I’ll ever watch, and it’s true that many critics weren’t exactly wrong when they said the jokes were repetitive. However, I still feel compelled to have warm feelings towards one of the only TV shows I’ve ever seen that’s even remotely similar to my…
The Best TV Characters of 2024
Best character twist: John Sugar (Colin Farrell) in “Sugar”…Is the overall series “Sugar” very good? No, no it isn’t. But I admit I was genuinely surprised when the series abruptly changed genres in the middle of its first season. It’s a bold swing that I wish more series would attempt in this age of “we’ve…
The Worst TV Characters of 2024
Note: I do this countdown of the worst every year, and almost always do individual characters more than overall series, but this year I felt the problem was more systemic to the entire series. This list could almost double as “the most disappointing TV shows” of the year. As always, the 10th spot is not…