Your instinct on the headline hooks is right. I’d keep it on ‘Prisoner‘, ‘Citadel‘ Season 2, ‘Daredevil: Born Again‘ and TV Bloodbath Week, because that gives you one new drama, one returning big streamer show, one major Marvel talking point, and one broad industry hook. The transcript and notes also back that up pretty clearly.
This week on Geektown Radio, Dave is joined once again by Matt for an episode packed with superheroes, spy thrillers, TV bloodbaths and the sort of industry chaos that makes this time of year weirdly entertaining. Leading the charge are thoughts on ‘Prisoner’, the return of ‘Citadel’ for Season 2, a big spoiler-free chat about ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, and a full run through the annual network bloodbath as the US broadcasters start hacking away at their schedules.
Matt kicks things off by circling back to ‘Wonder Man‘, which he thinks never quite lives up to its full potential, even if it does manage to land its bigger swings and tee up a more interesting second season. It sounds like one of those Marvel shows that is arguably more important for what it is setting up than for what it fully achieves in its first run, which is not always ideal, but is at least better than being a total write-off.
The much bigger hit for him this week is ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2, which he absolutely loves. In fact, he reckons it is still the best comic book TV show around, and the way he talks about it, that is not just casual hype. What stands out most is how much bigger and bolder this season sounds compared to the first, with major character turns, properly weighty consequences, and a finale that apparently earns its impact rather than just coasting in on setup. Dave is similarly impressed, agreeing that the second season feels much more cohesive, much more confident, and far more certain of exactly what story it wants to tell.
Matt also wraps up ‘Invincible‘ Season 4, which continues to prove that there is apparently no limit to how much intergalactic trauma one animated superhero series can pack into a single run. The Viltrumite material clearly landed well for him, and it sounds like the show is still doing that very clever thing of being outrageously violent while also staying emotionally sharp. Which, to be fair, is a large part of why it keeps working.
On Dave’s side, the main new pick this week is ‘Prisoner’, the Sky thriller starring Tahar Rahim (The Serpent, A Prophet) and Izuka Hoyle (Big Boys, Boiling Point). The setup is gloriously tense from the off, with a prison transport officer escorting a high-value inmate to court when the convoy is attacked, leaving the pair on the run and, in classic thriller fashion, stuck together whether they like it or not. Dave is very high on this one, praising the writing, the twists, the pacing, and the fact it actually makes a fairly simple setup feel tense and properly substantial. It sounds like one of those lean, efficient thriller series that knows exactly what it is doing.
He has also started ‘Citadel’ Season 2, which picks up the gloriously silly spy chaos once again, complete with Richard Madden (Bodyguard, Game of Thrones), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Heads of State, Love Again) and a still unexpectedly badass Stanley Tucci (Conclave, The Devil Wears Prada). Dave seems to be enjoying the opening run of episodes, and while there are still question marks hanging over the long-term future of the franchise, it sounds like Season 2 is at least delivering on the action and over-the-top espionage fun.
There is also a mention this week of the latest ‘Geektown Talks To‘ interview, with cinematographer Hillary Fyfe Spera discussing how she shot ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, including all the lovely technical stuff that makes nerds like us very happy. And over on ‘Geekstorians‘, the new episode looks at how ‘Batman & Robin’, yes, that ‘Batman & Robin’, accidentally helped save Batman as a franchise. Which is exactly the sort of perversely fascinating pop culture history that show was built for.
Then we hit the big news section, and yes, it is absolutely Bloodbath Week. The US networks have been handing out renewals and cancellations as they lock in their schedules, but, as Dave points out, this year has actually been a bit less brutal than usual.
CBS has said goodbye to ‘DMV’, ‘Watson’ and ‘The Neighborhood’, while renewing a long list that includes ‘Elsbeth’, ‘FBI’, ‘Ghosts’, ‘Matlock’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Tracker’ and more. FOX has cancelled ‘Going Dutch’ and ‘The Great North’, while keeping things like ‘Animal Control’, ‘Doc’, ‘Family Guy’, ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Murder in a Small Town’ going. NBC has pulled the plug on ‘Brilliant Minds’ and ‘Stumble’, but renewed its ‘Chicago’ trio, ‘Law & Order’, ‘Law & Order: SVU’, ‘Happy’s Place’ and ‘St. Denis Medical’. ABC, meanwhile, has gone for the rare move of renewing every single one of its scripted shows, including ‘9-1-1’, ‘Abbott Elementary’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘High Potential’, ‘The Rookie’, ‘Scrubs’, ‘Will Trent’ and more.
Outside the US networks, there is UK news too. ‘Prey vs Predator: The Hunt’ has been axed by Channel 4, ‘Juice’ is ending after two series, ‘Film Club’ is not returning, and ‘The Bear’ has set its fifth and final season for June on Disney+ in the UK. On the happier side, ‘Secret Genius with Alan Carr’, ‘Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake’, ‘The 1% Club’ and ‘Saturday Night Live UK’ have all been renewed, while ‘Harry Potter’ has already landed a second season order before the first has even aired, which should surprise absolutely no one.
There is also a whole bundle of pilot and pickup news. NBC has ordered ‘Line of Fire‘ starring Peter Krause (9-1-1, Six Feet Under), a new ‘Rockford Files‘ reboot with David Boreanaz (SEAL Team, Bones), the sitcom ‘Newlyweds‘, and the private eye comedy ‘Sunset P.I.‘ starring Jake Johnson (New Girl, Spider-Verse). CBS has moved forward with ‘NCIS: New York’, ‘Cupertino’, ‘Eternally Yours’ and ‘Einstein’. FOX has ‘Baywatch’ and ‘The Interrogator’ on the way, while ABC has officially ordered ‘The Rookie: North‘ to series.
As usual, the episode also rounds up what is hitting screens next week, including ‘Good Omens’ for its final run, ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’, ‘From’ Season 4, ‘Rivals’ Season 2, ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Season 5, ‘Death Valley’ Season 2 and ‘Falling’ on Channel 4.
So if you want one podcast episode covering ‘Prisoner’, ‘Citadel’ Season 2, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, Bloodbath Week, plus a hefty stack of TV renewals, cancellations and pickups, Geektown Radio Episode 497 has you covered.
Listen below.
If you’re searching for the latest TV reviews, UK air dates, and streaming news, don’t forget to subscribe to the Geektown Radio podcast! If you want to listen to the latest episode, just click the link above, and if you like it, you can click here to subscribe to Geektown Radio on iTunes or click here for the RSS feed. If you want to support the show, you can now do that here via the Acast supporter’s link, and find us on Acast here.
Login to Geektown