Life In Pieces Series Finale Review

It's hard to believe we've reached the final piece in the absolute gift that has been Life In Pieces. I never expected it to last for very long, certainly not this long, so I'm very grateful to have been given four seasons with the Short family. I won't lie, there were some rough points. I was pretty critical of the entire third season of the show. But this fourth and unfortunately final season recaptured the magic. I didn't review the show this season beyond the premiere, but I just had to return one last time.

Story 1:
Tyler and Clementine have a pregnancy scare, which leads to Tim and Heather discussing when they will become grandparents. Sam tells them that she never plans to have kids, and Sophia tells them that she plans to adopt, meaning that they will never have grandchildren that are biologically theirs. This prompts Tim to start talking about having another kid that can make them grandparents, despite the many challenges (including Heather's age and Tim's vasectomy). After Heather agrees to give it another go, Tim goes to the doctor to discuss getting his vasectomy reversed, but the doctor tells him that his vasectomy was badly botched and that it will be extremely painful to have it reversed. Tim decides to wait until after he finds out if Heather is even fertile. She is, which means he has to get that vasectomy reversed.

Story 2:
Matt & Colleen and Jen & Greg both stop by John & Joan's to ask Joan to babysit their kids. Despite a conflict over which kids she'll watch, they decide for Joan that she can watch them all. John had been planning to go to the theater, but Joan convinces him to stay and help out with the kids. The next day, Jen & Greg's kids are still there, and Heather also drops Sophia (who may have pink eye) off to "help" with the kids. During a therapy session, Joan falls asleep, and then Lark interrupts the session. Her patient was feeling ignored in the first place, and Joan does not help. She loses the patient, and then Matt & Colleen drop Lucas off. To top it all off, Joan is starting to develop pinkeye.

Story 3:
Jen and Greg have to pretend that Lark lives at John & Joan's, in order to get her into the good school district. Joan goes along with it easily, but their cover is immediately blown since the principal was in the living room the whole time with John and overheard their entire plan. Jen looks for private schools, but they're all extremely expensive. They decide to look for houses that are actually in good school districts. They don't like the first house they go to (well, Greg does but Jen doesn't and that's what matters), but their realtor takes them to a house that isn't on the market yet but the owners are considering offers. That house turns out to be John and Joan's home. John and Joan tell them that they were considering a single-floor home and wanted to see how much they could make on it. Greg is devastated and wants the house to stay in the family, and Joan also thinks that is a good idea and wants Greg and Jen to move in.

Story 4:
Matt tells Colleen that he heard back about a job in Germany, and it's good news. They don't want to tell the family until after his birthday party, which will be a problem because Colleen made Germany the theme of his party. Tim tells the family that they're having another child, John and Joan tell everyone that they're selling the house, and Greg and Jen tell everyone that they're buying it, even if John isn't completely sold on the idea. With that, Matt lets it spill that he got a new job, and everyone's mood is significantly brought down when he tells them they're moving to Germany. Colleen tells him that they can't take Lucas out of the country, and he won't be able to take the job. Colleen tells Matt to take the job anyway, because the job is too important to turn down. He decides to take the job and move to Germany.

Wrap-Up:

This wasn't a bad episode, but it's not the way I'd have liked to see this show go out. So much more could have been done with the show. As a regular season finale, it would have been very good. Mainly because I doubt Matt would have moved away for good, which was one of the biggest problems I had with the show. It was just a sad ending, one that didn't feel very in-character for this show or for Matt. After all that he went through to get his family, it just seems hard to believe that he could leave them, even if they would join him soon enough. The other stories were all fine, and two of them featured interesting developments that would have been fun to see where they went in season five. Even though we won't get to really have endings for those stories, I'm fine with that. I obviously want more of the show, but most of the characters on it got endings that I'm content with (aside from, of course, Matt and Colleen). So goodbye Jen, Greg, Lark, Tim, Heather, Matt, Colleen, Tyler, Clementine, Sophia, Sam, John, and Joan, who I think I'll miss most of all. And goodbye Life In Pieces. It's been a hell of a ride.

Grade: 7.5/10
Score: B-

Network - Episode 2.15 - Fight Club 3.0




Network
2x15 - “Fight Club 3.0”


Written By:
Jessica Boggs


INT. BLACK - NIGHT

SUPER: PREVIOUSLY ON NETWORK...

INT. JESSE'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON

SUPER: A FEW HOURS LATER

Jesse sighs and paces back and forth in his office. 

There is a knock on the door. 

JESSE
What now?

The door opens to reveal Kasey. 

KASEY
Something bad is happening. 

JESSE
What now?

Kasey grabs Jesse and they flee the scene. 

BACK TO PRESENT EPISODE.

INT. BUSINESS HALLWAY - DAY

After Kasey and Jesse walk out of the office, commotion ensues. 

Getting closer to the scene, a woman reveals to be Carolyn. She has her fists clenched. 

Charlie faces her with her eyebrows lowered and (you guessed it!) a baseball bat on both hands.

She swings as if she is getting ready for war. 

Kasey and Jesse enter the scene of the commotion. 

Kasey’s eyes widen. She pushes Charlie. 

Charlie shakes in confusion. 

KASEY 
Charlie! What the f*** are you doing? 

Carolyn snickers. 

CAROLYN
Well well. Look who dragged the pregnant lady. 

KASEY
Don’t you f****** dare! 

Kasey attempts to throw a punch when Jesse catches her arm. 

JESSE
Stop this. 

CAROLYN
You think you can defend your honor, you skinny s***?

Charlie then swings her bat. The bat then hits and knocks Carolyn down to the floor. 

CHARLIE
How about you stop stirring up s*** and causing people misery, you stupid b****?

CAROLYN
Make me. 

Carolyn gets up and punches Charlie, pushes Jesse to the floor, and nearly swings and misses at Kasey. 

Kasey darts to the water fountain. 

Charlie then gets up and takes her baseball bat. 

Charlie then whacks Carolyn. 

Carolyn then takes the baseball bat and smashes the bat on the water fountain while Kasey ducks. 

Charlie body slams onto Carolyn. 

They pull each other’s hair. 

CAROLYN
You are going to get it, b****! 

A MYSTERIOUS VOICE lurks in the distance. 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE
Not so fast. Citizen’s arrest! I got you, Charlie!

Carolyn gets off Charlie. 

Everyone turns around. 

The woman behind the mysterious voice reveals herself to be HOLLY in a security guard uniform.  

Jesse gives out a horrified look. 

JESSE
Holly?!? How did you even get here? I haven’t seen you in months!

HOLLY
Cut the semantics, Meadows. I’m one of the newest security personnel in network headquarters. 

KASEY
We thought you were in school. 

HOLLY
I am. I interned at the FBI, got a background check, and the rest is history. Citizen’s arrest!

Carolyn shakes in fear. 

Holly holds Carolyn down. 

HOLLY (CONT'D)
As for you, Carolyn, I already reported you to the New York Police Department for violating the terms of your restraining order. 

CAROLYN
Are you f****** kidding me? I had no idea I even had a restraining order. 

Charlie chuckles. 

CHARLIE
No idea? Really? That is b******* and you know it. 

HOLLY
Charlie, let me handle this, okay? 

She turns back to Carolyn. 

HOLLY (CONT'D)
Carolyn, listen up. You were not to go within five hundred feet of the premises of network headquarters. Now that you violated the terms of the restraining order, you will be placed under arrest. 

Carolyn wiggles but to no avail. 

Holly turns towards everyone else. 

HOLLY (CONT'D)
She’s not going to come around here anymore. If you need anything else, just whistle. 

Holly and Carolyn leave the scene. 

Charlie, Jesse, and Kasey leave. 

FADE OUT

NETWORK is written and executive produced by Jessica Boggs and production is overseen by TVRG Originals and Boggs Productions.


NETWORK is one of The TV Ratings Guide's first ORIGINAL SERIES, an exclusive feature of  The TV Ratings Guide.





COPYRIGHT TV RATINGS GUIDE, TVRATINGSGUIDEORIGINALS, TVRGO 2019

Cable Renew/Cancel - AMC, FX & USA: NOS4A2 To Scare Up Season 2, Baskets On the Bubble

It's been a few months since the last update to the AMC/FX/USA Renew/Cancel, and there's been a decent amount of action at the networks since then. Stay tuned for initial predictions on Fear the Walking Dead, NOS4A2, Baskets, and more! Plus, you can now click the name of any show with its title in blue to see the full ratings for its most recent season!

AMC:
Show
Status
Talking Dead
Certain Renewal
Certain Renewal
Likely Renewal
Returns In August
Returns In August
Returns In October
Returns In 2020
McMafia
Returns TBA
Ride with Norman Reedus
Returns TBA
Ending, Returns In August
Canceled
Canceled
Canceled
The Little Drummer Girl
Miniseries
Eli Roth’s History of Horror
Miniseries

Fear The Walking Dead: Not much needs to be said here. It's down a decent amount, but is still one of the better cable performers on the air right now. Its 0.52 average is higher than anything else on AMC, and that's enough to make it a CERTAIN RENEWAL.

NOS4A2: AMC's newest series is no big hit. However, it's still a pretty solid performer. Even though it has Fear The Walking Dead as its lead-in, its 0.25 average is relatively impressive. Sure, it's still posting less than 50% retention, but at this point, just about any cable network is going to be happy to renew a show performing at that level. Looking at some of AMC's previous renewals, Preacher, The Terror, and Lodge 49 were all renewed at or below the level NOS4A2 is performing at. It's not as safe as FTWD, but it's still a LIKELY RENEWAL.

Humans: Since our last update, this low-rated third-season sci-fi drama was canceled in its native United Kingdom. While the show was probably cheap since it was a foreign import, AMC is probably glad to be rid of it, at least based on their treatment of it during the final season. This is a correct prediction.

FX:
Show
Status
Leans Renewal
The Weekly
Leans Renewal
Certain Cancellation
Returning July
Returns In September
Mr. Inbetween
Returns In September
Renewed, Returns In September
Fargo
Returns In 2020
Taboo
Returns TBA
Returns TBA
Returns TBA
Final Season
Renewed
Renewed
Renewed
Feud
In Limbo
Miniseries
A Christmas Carol
Premieres In December
Devs
Premieres In 2019
Mrs. America
Premieres In 2020
Y
Premieres In 2020

Baskets: It's hard to predict what FX will do with their comedies sometimes, because their ratings are just so low. However, they are all acclaimed by critics and almost all of them have received Emmys attention, which FX seems to value. Working in favor of Baskets is that Louie Anderson has consistently been nominated for his role. Working heavily against it is that it's only averaging a 0.1 this season. A 0.1 should be a pretty clear cancel, but for a long-running veteran that has reliably earned Emmy attention, I don't expect a cancellation. It's not like the show was that stronger last season, so I think it can get a fifth season if the creative teams wants it. It LEANS RENEWAL for now.

What We Do In The Shadows: FX renewed this vampire comedy for a second season. It had strong critical support over the season and posted decent ratings, better than the other FX comedies. It was a correct prediction.

Pose: Even before I could release a prediction for it, FX renewed their critically acclaimed period drama for a third season. The show has been a decent performer this season and isn't down much at all. Coupled with the acclaim from critics and it was a pretty easy renewal choice.

USA:
Show
Status
Certain Renewal
Chrisley Knows Best
Certain Renewal
The Cromarties
Likely Renewal
American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja
Leans Renewal
The Radkes
Leans Renewal
Likely Cancellation
Certain Cancellation
Returns TBA
Returns TBA
Temptation Island
Returns TBA
Ending, Returns In July
Ending in 2019
Miz & Mrs.
Renewed
Growing Up Chrisley
Renewed
Big Star Little Star
Canceled
Pearson
Premieres In July

Queen of the South: It's been one of Summer's quietest success stories, but Queen of the South has certainly been a very reliable player for USA. It's a bit weaker this season, down 22% to a 0.29 average, but that still puts it ahead of most of USA's scripted content. Only The Purge has been noticeably stronger in L+SD ratings. Fans have no need to worry, Queen of the South is a CERTAIN RENEWAL.

Growing Up Chrisley: Since our last update, USA renewed this reality show for another season. This was a correct prediction.

What do you think of these predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote in the poll below!

Saturday TV Ratings 6/29/19: ABC Game Show Encores Improve on Last Week’s Lineup, Weaker Dateline Ties MLB and Wins the Night (UPDATED)

Finals Update: MLB (+0.1) adjusted up.
Time
Show
18-49 Ratings
Viewers (mil)
Channel
8 PMPress Your Luck (R)0.3/21.97ABC

MLB Baseball0.4/22.86Fox

Songland (R)0.2/11.16NBC

Magnum PI (R)0.2/12.07CBS
9 PMDateline NBC (R)0.4/22.46NBC

Card Sharks (R)0.3/21.74ABC

48 Hours (R)0.2/12.22CBS
10 PMMatch Game (R)0.3/21.82ABC

48 Hours (R)0.2/12.38CBS