Joseph Mallozzi's Blog

Alright.  I checked out all eight shows.  Here’s how I rank them…

S TIER

Weak Hero: Class 2 – The second season is just as great as the first.  A ragtag group of outsiders at a boy’s high school must battle a hierarchy of bullies.  Humor, melodrama, and fight sequences galore.  Hits all the right notes.  And, occasionally, faces.

A TIER

Deadloch season 2 – Love these kooky characters, the frenetic pacing, and Aussie humor.  Not as much as season 1, mainly owing to a reveal in Eddie’s backstory, but still a blast.

B TIER

Snake Killer – This Danish crime thriller follows in the steps of shows like The Shield and Braquo, and even if it doesn’t quite hit their lofty heights, it’s still a very enjoyable, gritty, character-forward watch.

C TIER

The Girlfriend – Highly watchable and compelling but pretty damn ludicrous.  Great performances though.

D TIER

Shades – While also highly watchable, this high concept series is packed with cliches and spectacularly fails to stick the landing in its far-fetched finale.

DNF

Detective Hole – I just felt like I’d seen countless versions of this show and this character.

Hot to Get to Heaven from Belfast – Really wanted to like this one but it was just too irritatingly quirky.

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen – Yes, this cliche-ridden nonsensical horror show.

The post April 21, 2026: The Crime Binge resumes! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

Has Alexa gotten dumber?

I ask because it seems she has.  I suspect that, while we were away in L.A., there was some sort of “upgrade” that resulted in a subtle change in her voice as well as a not-so-subtle change in her ability to understand and respond.  Half the times now, she doesn’t hear (or simply chooses to ignore) our questions.  And it now takes a good 3-5 seconds for her to answer.  It’s as if she’s regressed.

Speaking of regression, are any of you making use of AI agents?  And if so, what for?  I’ve been mainly using them for research and stock market purposes.  Yes, I’m well aware of their propensity to hallucinate which is why I reference across three different models – Grok, Gemini, and Claude.  Initially, I thought Gemini far superior but, over the past few weeks, Claude seems to have surpassed it.  Grok I find amusingly testy at times.  I’m looking to inform and educate myself but have been overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. If you’re using, what has been your experience so far?

The post April 20, 2026: AI appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

After you…

Guard dog on duty –

Hungry boy –

Jumping for treats –

The Old Lady in L.A. –

Playing with dad –

The Sharky spin…

The post April 19, 2026: Sharky Sunday! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

Choose!

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Choose!

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Choose!

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Choose!

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My picks: Spock, Yaphit, Jonas Quinn and….Ooooh, this one is very, very, very tough.  What do you think?

The post April 18, 2026: The search for our ship’s Resident Alien begins! The Thrilling Thirty-Two+! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

We have a ship, a Captain, a First Officer, a Science Officer, a Chief Medical Officer, a Chief Engineer, an Ace Pilot, a Negotiator, an AI, a Security Chief, an Away Team Leader, a Helmsman, an Enforcer and a Techie. Next, the search for our Resident Alien begins!

Watching – Weak Hero Class 2…

Loved season one and six episodes in, loving season 2.

The post April 17, 2026: We got our ship Techie! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

It has all come down to this!

Choose –

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What do you think?

Blog regular Gilder sent me this article on the decreasing film and television production in California as studios look elsewhere – out of state and out of country – where the lure of tax incentives offer the promise of bigger bang for your bucks.  The article lists four popular regions – the U.K., Canada, Eastern Europe, and Ireland.  I find the last two especially appealing, partly owing to the fact that I’ve always wanted to visit Hungary and Ireland, but also because we were looking into shooting a show in the former as well as potentially show running a series in the latter at some point last year.  Of course as is often the case in this business, the promise of shooting overseas (at one point, Portugal and Czechoslovakia were in the mix) went the way of Citadel: Honey Bunny season 2.

Given the prospect of shooting anywhere in the world, my first choice would be, unsurprisingly, Japan.  My second choice would actually be Portugal, a place I researched while developing that supernatural surf mystery series.  Third choice?  Honestly, after my recent two and a half month stay, I would say Los Angles.

What about you?  Where are you shooting your dream show?

The post April 16, 2026: The search for our ship’s techie concludes! And tell me your dream show destination! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

A few that caught my eye this week…

Catwoman #86 – cover art by Sebastian Fiumara

Catwoman #86 – cover art by W. Scott Forbes

Nightwing #137 – cover art by Jorge Fornes

Wonder Woman #32 – cover art by Daniel Sampere

Wonder Woman #32 – cover art by David Nakayama

Fine Print, vol. 3 – cover art by Stjepan Šejić

Maid Cafe #2 – cover art by Todd Skull

So, which were YOUR favorites?

The post April 15, 2026: Amazing Covers! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

Choose!

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Choose!

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Tougher and tougher.  I’m going FIVE and McKay.  You?

The post April 14, 2026: The search for our ship Techie continues! The Final Four! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

Looking forward to the California gubernatorial debate!

Rooting for Skeletor but, in the end, anyone but James Corden.

Things I miss about L.A.: The weather, in-person writer’s room, the Grove neighborhood, Andante Coffee Shop, Sugarfish, Republique Bakery, Trader Joe’s, Waymo, the Melrose Place farmer’s market, California fruit, the oven at our L.A. place.

Things I don’t miss about L.A.: The obnoxiously loud vacuum cleaner that came with the rental.

Dennit.  Netflix passed on my android murder-mystery pilot and the option has expired on my cozy mystery series.  Meanwhile, am impatiently running out the clock on the option on my action-adventure series given one of the partners is…pretty fucking flakey.  Need to do a pass on my fixer series as that is likely the next one to go out.

The post April 13, 2026: The Monday Report! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

Riding the bus…

Treats, please…

Sharky meets Enzo…

The post April 12, 2026: Sharky Sunday! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.