This has been a transitional year for the Television Critics Associiation. It was finally acknowledged that the semi-annual press tour, or “the Bataan death march with cocktails” as veteran scribes called it, was, like late night television, viewed by the networks as no longer financially supportable. To paraphrase Tina Fey at one of our award
There were some terrific dramas on television in 2024. Shogun (FX Networks/Disney+ in Canada) was a big budget movie a week, an impressive, uber subtitled effort and an example of Vancouver crew work at its finest. Kudos as well to Golden Globe nominated Hiroyuki Sanada as lead actor. Franklin, on AppleTV+, was another international, historical
It seems as if I’ve been waiting years for two streaming favourites to return: The Diplomat (Netflix) and Somebody Somewhere (HBO/Crave). It has actually only been a year and a half. Those actors and writers strikes from 2023 contributed to the delays. Both shows feature intriguing leads at their best, surrounded by other interesting characters.