TV Superlatives: December, January, February – 2022/2023

Huh. I usually watch way more TV in winter, but . . . not this winter, apparently. Here’s the short list of everything I did end up watching (and, in many cases, abandoning):

Running Man (Episodes 89-101 and 631-645)
Star Trek: TOS (Season 3, Episodes 19-24)
Connect
Alice in Borderland (Season 2)
The Last of Us
Willow (abandoned, probably for good)
1899 (abandoned, probably for good)
Kaleidoscope (abandoned, probably for good)
Avenue 5 (Season 1)
Poker Face
Ticketing With Two Feet/Bros on Foot
Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special
Our Blooming Youth (abandoned, may return to)

Of the shows I’ve abandoned, I’m probably the least likely to return to Kaleidoscope. The structure really interests me—I’m fascinated by the idea of a heist show you can watch in any order—but I bounced off the first episode I tried and haven’t felt like going back, despite the excellent Giancarlo Esposito and my deep nostalgia for Bad Guy Rufus Sewell. I also probably won’t return to 1899, although I had originally planned to. I did find the first episode very intriguing, but then Netflix cancelled the show, those bastards, and I’m not sure I wanna pick it up again when it feels doomed for an unsatisfying conclusion. (I’m also less interested in returning to Willow, now that I know it’s been cancelled too, although I did enjoy the first episode well enough.) Then again. I did recently finish playing Return of the Obra Dinn and am VERY into ship based murder, weirdness, and horror right now. So, 1899 is still a possibility.

I’m most likely to give a second chance to Our Blooming Youth: I didn’t get into quite as much as I’d hoped, but there’s a lot to potentially to work with here: Park Hyung Sik, mysterious curses, murder investigations, female friendships, etc. I’m also happy to see more of Yoon Jong Seok, who I enjoyed in The Crowned Clown, but I’m already worried I’m not going to like where his character arc goes. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong!

As for the rest of what I’ve been watching . . .

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All My Favorite Books and Comics of 2022

Last week, I posted a list of all the novels, novellas, web comics, and graphic novels I read in 2022. Today, I’ll be discussing some of those books in more detail, with some normal categories like Favorite Nonfiction but mostly silly categories like Favorite Fluffy Zombie Apocalypse. It’s kinda like a Top Ten, except it’s really a Top Whatever Number I Arbitrarily End Up At—and then there are a bunch of honorable mentions, too, because, goddamnit, I couldn’t help myself.

As always, I’ll be discussing any books I loved reading in 2022, regardless of what year they were actually published. There actually are multiple things on this list from 2022—pretty rare for me, as I’m forever playing catchup—but still. I’m not just gonna ignore something I loved because it came out in 2021, like. Why?

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