31 Days of Halloween: The Inevitable TV Insert

There is always some TV watching to be had at this time of year, shows that emerge just before, that are thematically connected to what we watch at this time of the year. Remember, its not just horror movies. I have been leaving most of my TV writeups to the now adopted Kent format, and only posting them once seasons complete, but for this thing, I may just use the series as inserts for bad nights. We shall see. Also, giving that I am not using the Watching format, I will just muse on the shows for now. Maybe they will each get their own segment post-Halloween. We shall see.

Agatha All Along, 2024 - Disney+
Grotesquerie, 2024 - Disney+
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, 2018 - Netflix
Teacup, 2024 - Download

If witches aren't Halloween, I am not sure what is. Buut admittedly, I am not sure about this show, and I guess I am kind of playing into the, "Who wanted this?" camp. I didn't find her all that compelling of a "villain" in the Wandavision show, which I didn't write about for some reason. But the show was there, and I guess we are solidly in the "watch everything MCU" camp.

The first episode amused me in its campy nod to Mare of Easttown and a genre of TV we watch a lot of. But as Agatha (Kathryn Hahn, Glass Onion) emerged from the character imposed upon her by Wanda, I lost interest. BUT once the rest of the coven were added in, and they went on their warped & twisted version of the Yellow Brick Road, I was caught again... and then very soon after, lost again. I guess I should have stayed on The Road?

Of note, later on in the show, we see the "Mare" bit from another character's viewpoint and its hilarious.

Meanwhile on Grotesquerie the new horror/thriller/murdery show from American Horror Story (which also has an anthology series I might check out, American Horror Stories) creator Ryan Murphy seems to want to embrace that sub-genre of murder-mystery focused on grotesque scenes of murders, shows like Hannibal or True Detective. But the underlying aspect is the simultaneous grotesque nature present in real, mundane life.

Sure, the religiously symbolic murders are horrific, but that doesn't seem to bother Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash, The Rookie: Feds) as much as it should. But like all these shows, she has her own shit to deal with, including a husband in a coma and a daughter prepping to be a contestant on a reality TV show I think was about morbidly obese people? Pop culture always seems to be caught in a swinging pendulum of how it feels about being fat -- either they embrace all bodies and shapes, or its on display as body horror. And there is the weird nun insinuating herself into the crime scene investigation, who has all the background details on the religious symbology used to stage the murder scenes.

We only watched one episode and I might have returned to it if I hadn't been spoiled as to an aspect of the show that eliminates the whole point of watching such a show. Even so, it might be interesting to see the production values of how they play it out.

We returned to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina after having dropped it. Riverdale did not interest me and this show is ostensibly a spin-off of that teen drama show, but it is also an adaptation of a horror-based comic version of the "Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch" comics (from "Archie") by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, under the Archie comics own horror line. Just writing that is weird but I do remember when I would read those digest comics of Archie, there was a fondness for campy horror.

Anywayz, we dropped it (again) for one reason or another, likely tiring of the teen drama, the same way I did with Riverdale, but more likely Oct 1st coming up. But in this rewatch/continuance, which we started in September I noticed a different reaction, as in one of amazement that the Satanic aspect of the witches in the series is so obvious, blatant and embraced. Maybe its the climate of the last few years, but I cannot believe it was greenlit. Would such happen in 2024, and since this show only started in 2018, what has changed so much in four years that makes me wonder if the world would accept a show where teens literally worship Satan would make it.

Either way, I still found the base idea of Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka, Totally Killer), a half-witch (its blood based), trying to find her way in the world ... charming? I hope I can push past the stuff I don't like and watch it for what it was.

Finally, the Robert R McCammon adaptation of his book Stinger is from Peacock and I am enjoying it immensely, not in spite of but probably because it is by the books horror-scifi. Its Under the Dome without a dome. A family is trapped inside a circle around the land, that captures their farm and a few others. If you cross over, your body does horrific things to itself. Inside the circle the family is dealing with family drama, as all horror TV usually depicts, and the discovery of what is going on.

Excceeeept, as the show went deeper, and things started being explained I was less enthused. The "not knowing WTF is going on" was a strong part of what caught my attention and once we knew (SPOILER !!) it was aliens, good aliens vs bad aliens, my keen interest faded. Oh, I will finish, but the gloss of the first few episodes become duller. 

We also have Sweetpea in the hopper, and Hysteria but likely they will get their own "Watching" posts.