Howard Blumstein

This is NOT for everyone. First, it helps if you find Peyton and Eli funny regardless of the setting. I enjoy their brotherly banter, their football acumen and I think they are really nice guys. Second, if you are super focused on every play of the game, forget it. Tune into the traditional cast. Third, their guests are top notch. However, some of the guests perform much better or much worse than you might expect. Ryan Fitzpatrick and John McEnroe were great. Tracey Morgan was horrible. The Mannings and their guests also talk over each other and talk over key plays in the game. All of the above make this a five star experience. It’s interesting, largely unscripted and completely unpredictable. It’s reality TV with wit and intelligence. Not going back to the traditional broadcast…..the Manning boys are the best.

Unforgotten Season 5. Solid acting yes….but a bunch of major issues with the show. First, DI Sunny Khan is brilliantly portrayed by Sanjeev Bhaskar. He is serious, good at his job, and eventually works his way through the sensitive relationship with DCI Jessica James. Sinèad Keenan is also a very solid actor although her very, very petite features and tailored business outfits are a bit miscast in this role. She doesn't feel like a police officer in my opinion. The other main character is Ebele Falade portrayed by Martina Laird. Her character is written to be somewhat unlikeable at times which unfortunately overshadows Martina’s emotional and brilliant acting. That being said, the real problems with this show are the scripts. The lead writer went about this project by designing the most elaborate and complicated plot trajectory. No spoilers… but the ending with all of the lies and alternative scenarios in the final episode was absurd. Many of the characters were not germane to the plot and seemed to be stuck in to confuse the viewer and distract from the important elements in solving the case. Take a note from Line of Duty. If you are going to introduce a bunch of characters, they should be critical or at least useful to the plot. This can be all be fixed but a new and smarter writing approach is needed for next year. A bit of a shame to bury all of this acting talent under a script that’s run amuck.

First, the positives. The lead FBI agent is played by Gabriel Basso. I had not heard of this under 30 y.o. actor before. He is a great pick for the role. He fits the character mold well and has the looks and persona of a Fed struggling to find himself, stop the bad guys, and come to grips with his father’ dealings. The action scenes are definitely action packed. The female heroine is portrayed nicely by Lucian’s Buchanan. Now the negatives. The writing in the series is not good. It’s trite and predictable. The banter between the characters is inane and cliche ridden. It’s a shame because with better writing, this series might have been more watchable. Hong Chau plays Chief of Staff Diane Farr. Her performance is delivered in a robotic and unconvincing manner. Her wooden acting combined with the laughably bad lines she has to read, is almost unbearable to watch. Overall, this show is a light and silly time waster with plenty of action, decent acting by the two leads and a weak and predictable script.