On December 13th, fellow writer Jean Henegan published Pop Culture Maniacs‘ annual Top Ten TV shows list. I decided to put together my own list of my top ten animated series for 2023. I’ll be focusing only on Western animated series, not anime or films. Like Jean pointed out, this year, for television, was tumultuous, […]
TV
The Family Circumstances of the Imbalanced Witch Review
The Family Circumstances of the Imbalanced Witch, also known as Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijō, is a fantasy comedy and family-friendly anime based on Piroya’s manga of the same name. Series director Masahiro Takata and writer Gyro Knuckle were joined by A-Real Studio, an anime production company. This review has spoilers. Content warning for discussion […]
The Crown Season Six (Part Two) Review
When discussing the final batch of episodes in The Crown’s sixth and final season with a friend, he mentioned something that got me thinking about how the series slowly, over the course of the last four seasons, fell apart. He lamented that the latter seasons of the series couldn’t manage to capture the heart and […]
Rick and Morty – Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie Review
“Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie” attempts an extraordinary experiment by being a Rick and Morty episode without Rick. Water-T has returned from exile to his home planet just as it gets attacked by the Numbericons. The only hope for The Alphbetrians is a pendant called the ‘I of Harmony.’ To open it, Water-T must see his […]
Top Ten TV Shows of 2023
It’s that time of year again. The temperature is dropping, the days are growing shorter, and 2023 is drawing to a close. Which can only mean one thing: It’s time for Pop Culture Maniacs’ annual TV Top Ten list! This year in television was a tumultuous one, as it was for all of Hollywood, with […]
Doctor Who – The Giggle Review
“The Giggle,” the last of the three 60th Anniversary Doctor Who specials was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, we got to see another clash with the Toymaker – and see a stellar guest starring turn from Neil Patrick Harris. On the other, Russel T. Davies opted to play fast and […]
Rick and Morty – Wet Kuat Amortican Summer Review
Sometimes Summer is involved in Rick and Morty’s adventures and with “Wet Kuat Amortican Summer” she has her first episode named after her. As a reward for completing her chores for Rick, Summer gets an attribute slider. When Morty finds out he becomes jealous, which starts a chain of events that includes Summer and Morty […]
Culprits Review
Culprits, a new British thriller, isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a show that knows the story it is telling isn’t particularly novel – we’ve all seen stories like this one before – but it’s determined to provide us with exceptional performances, great direction, strong fight choreography, and compelling characters in order to take […]
Doctor Who – Wild Blue Yonder Review
What a wonderful surprise at the close of the episode – Wilf (the late, great Bernard Cribbins) reunited with the Doctor once more! Sure, we knew Cribbins would be appearing this season, but I hadn’t expected him to be around at this stage of the game (with hopefully another appearance in the finale of these […]
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Spoiler-Filled Review
Star Trek: Lower Decks is a mature animation which combines elements of the adventure, comedy, and sci-fi genres. Series creator Mike McMahan is known as a co-creator of Solar Opposites, a producer on Rick and Morty and as a consulting producer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This is the ninth series in the Star […]