Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - Palm Royale - Season Two

Palm Royale is based on 2018 novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie. Originally set out as a miniseries, the Kristen Wiig lead comedy/drama just concluded it's second season. Apple TV usually has high standards, however this series is a little on the woeful side.

The second season continues to follow, Maxine Dellacorte (Wiig) in this wild romp. The cast is exceptional, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Carol Burnett, Amber Chardae Robinson, Jordan Bridges, Kaia Gerber, & Julia Duffy. Camp icon, Patti LuPone also plays, Marjorie Merriweather Post.

So with those names, it should be amazing right? Wrong! Very wrong. 

The season opens, in the aftermath of the disastrous Beach Ball, Maxine is temporarily institutionalised, believing she is at the Palm Royale. Linda is mistaken for the would-be assassin by Tom and arrested, but Virginia has her institutionalised to protect her, revealing she is an undercover FBI agent. 

Norma is restored as the grande dame of Palm Beach, and Evelyn reclaims the Rollins mansion with Eddie. With Linda's encouragement, Maxine escapes the facility and finds a comatose Robert at the hospital, hiding when Norma arrives. 

Realising that Norma wants her dead, Maxine is returned to the facility but warns Douglas. Discovering Mary hiding in the mansion's bootlegger tunnels, Evelyn promises to protect her, while Linda refuses to help Norma frame Maxine. Still in love with Perry, Dinah finds Axel dead, secretly murdered by Norma to conceal her own past, and Robert reawakens. 

Pressured by Norma to divorce Maxine and marry Mitzi — allowing their child to unlock the considerable Dellacorte generation-skipping trust — Douglas fails to bring Maxine home. She calls Evelyn instead, becoming unlikely allies against the rest of Palm Beach high society.

So if that sounds whack, you wouldn't be wrong. 

After all the other Bridesmaids alumni doing great things at Apple. Maya doing Loot, Rose doing Platonic. This is sadly just a fail.

Hopefully in the series finale, Maxine and Evelyn attempt to dispose of Jed's body, but when Douglas suggests waiting to reconcile until the baby turns 18, Maxine angrily reveals that he is not the father. 

Dinah discovers the fabergé egg among Norma's trophies, giving it to Marjorie in exchange for making Perry mayor. Realising the FBI have blackmailed Tom into assassinating the mole, who has framed Perry, Maxine and her friends trick Tom into shooting Jed's corpse instead. 

Douglas calls off his wedding to Mitzi, but Maxine refuses his furious demand to return to their old life. Making amends with Norma, Maxine generously marries Robert to help him gain custody of his son; Evelyn informs Eddie that she wants her independence; Dinah chooses to stay with Perry; Mitzi leaves with Eddie; and a grateful Norma disappears. 

With Rafael legally a Dellacorte born to a "legitimate marriage", Robert and Maxine win the trust and share the wealth with Eddie and Mitzi, who gives birth to her child. Marjorie, the real mole, remains at large, while Rafael may not be who he appears to be, and Evelyn and Maxine reopen the Palm Royale, as Linda and Norma reconnect in Paris.

Well its over for now. If I could stop watching shows I start. But I just need to know how it all ends.

Speaking of, this afternoon at 6pm, Power: Force ends.... for good. Another Power series wraps before we head into the final weeks of Spartacus: House of Ashur on Stan. So much nudity, so much gore! It's all there on the revival of the Spartacus franchise.

Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - Sunny Nights - Season One

An Aussie series, starring US leads Will Forte & D'Arcy Carden. That is Sunny Nights.

One of the latest series on Stan. Landing ahead of the brilliant Dear Life. However I just couldn't get into episode one, when I first jumped into this.

The comedic drama follows straight-laced Martin (Forte), who teams up with his loose cannon sister, Vicki (Carden), to set up a spray tan business in Sydney called Tansform. 

As Martin and Vicki attempt to turn their company from a start-up operating out of the back of a van into a multi-million-dollar empire, the siblings become tangled up in Sydney’s criminal underworld, and when a ruthless gangster begins to catch up with them, the two must figure out how to stay alive, out of prison, and in the black. 

Landing on Stan, back on Boxing Day,Sunny Nights also stars Willie Mason, yes the former Bulldog! Along with Rachel House as Mony, Jessica De Gouw as Susi, Miritana Hughes as Kash, Megan Wilding as Nova, George Mason as Dreadlock Pete & Ra Chapman.

Rachel House was a total standout for me. Willie Mason wasn't half bad too.

So to be honest, once I got into the second episode, I got a little more hooked.

Episode one was a little dull, not a strong start. But the series did really pick up the pace. It also leaves it open for a second season. Nothing is confirmed. Much like the rest of Stan's ongoing dramas. No word on Black Snow, co-pro, Ten Pound Poms, the surprisingly good, C*A*U*G*H*T, Scrublands, Population 11, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Critical Incident, Invisible Boys and finally The CW co-pro Good Cop/Bad Cop.

Sunny Nights was a good little summer watch. Honestly there is some strong Aussie content right now. I just took a look at Run, that also looks decent. The F Ward, Co-pro also on Stan, Lord of the Flies & Gnomes.

Next up the dreadful finale of Palm Royale. Seeya!

Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - Dept. Q - Season One

From the writer and director of The Queen's Gambit, Matthew Goode stars as DCI Carl Morck - a brash, but brilliant detective leading a cold case unit in Edinburgh. 

Dept. Q , a nine-part crime procedural series, created by Scott Frank and Chandni Lakhani, based on the book series Department Q by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen. 

Another May 2025 series I missed when it originally streamed on Netflix.

Last August, it was renewed for a second season. Thank gosh, cause hot damn, season one was Scottish fire!

Top-rated detective Carl Morck is returning to police work. He has recently been involved in an ambush shooting, in which he was badly wounded, his colleague and friend James Hardy was paralysed and a young uniformed police officer was killed. 

Morck receives a muted welcome since his colleagues generally regard him as arrogant and asocial (which he is). Morck is also required (against his will) to attend therapy sessions for the after-effects of the shooting.

The Scottish government has decided to temporarily concentrate on unsolved crimes, believing that successful outcomes will generate good headlines that improve public opinion regarding the police force. Morck's hard-pressed and under-resourced commander, Moira Jacobson, is offered a substantial budget to set up a new unsolved crimes unit. 

Preferring to use most of the budget for her own department and current cases, she assigns Morck as the sole officer dealing with a large number of cold cases. Morck is given a semi-derelict basement office/bathroom to work in, the former Shower Quarters of the police station, thus the Q in the series title.

Civilian employee Akram Salim, a Syrian former policeman looking for more challenging work, quietly insinuates himself into Morck's basement and is tasked with organising case files. 

While doing that, he suggests investigating the missing Crown Office solicitor Merritt Lingard. Joined by a recovering Hardy and young constable Rose Dickson, the misfit team begin looking into Lingard's disappearance – the main case investigated during the first season of the series.

This season was totally addictive. A number of people recommended this to me, so now is my time to finally catch up!

If like me you are late to the Dept. Q party. Do NOT read on.....

In the ninth (and final episode) a video of the deeply disturbed Lyle's youth counselling sessions reveals that his unstable mother often locked her sons in the chamber. 

Cunningham, who always believed that Lyle killed Merritt, finds her and is furious to discover they have kept her in a hyperbaric chamber for four years. 

When Cunningham says he cannot let this go, Lyle bludgeons him to death. Dept. Q questions William, who identifies Lyle both as his attacker and the man in the cap. 

The real Sam found Lyle to make amends, but Lyle killed him, staged his death as a climbing accident, and assumed his identity. 

Lyle and his mother abandon Merritt in the chamber with rising pressure, but Carl and Akram return to Mhòr and search the Jennings' property. Finding Cunningham's body and the chamber, they are ambushed by Lyle, and Carl is shot protecting Akram, who disarms and kills Lyle. 

Merritt is rescued and reunited with William, while Ailsa shoots herself to escape police on the ferry.

Three months later: In return for his silence on Burns' corruption, Carl blackmails him into increased funding for Dept. Q, a new car, and making Akram an official detective. 

Carl meets Merritt, choosing not to reveal his identity to her. James returns to work, now walking on crutches, as Moira considers assigning him to the still unsolved Leith Park shooting.

So bring on season two. I haven't watched many Scottish series before, but this was fire! Tomorrow Palm Royale wraps its disappointing second season, while Power: Force concludes Tommy's Power tale. Then Sunday, Landman wraps its brilliant second season. With more Demi Moore, this season has had it all. Great!

See you soon besties.

Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - It's Florida, Man - Season Two

Come here on vacation, stay on probation, that's a tagline for the second season of HBO's original comedy series It's Florida, Man .

Season two started late November on HBO Max, concluding a Friday or so ago. The second season guest stars an all-star line up across six episodes Adam DeVine, Edi Patterson, Tiffany Haddish, Haley Joel Osment, Bert Kreischer, Nick Swardson, Johnny Knoxville, Shea Whigham, Taika Waititi, Rita Ora, Holmes, David Koechner, Joel Kim Booster, Chet Hanks, Milan Carter, Nick Thune, Swoozie Kurtz, Johnny Pemberton, Ryan Mirvis, Brian Sacca, Ping Wu, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Frankie Quiñones, Hassie Harrison, Joseph Ruud, and Michael McDonald.

They really went jumbo on season two with the stars! Unlike most HBO series, this one has not yet been renewed.

Today Industry returns, next Monday, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms commences and here are the remaining new titles to drop in 2026. DTF St. Louis, Half Man, Lanterns, Rooster & War.  That's a stacked line up right! 

So hopefully, they have room on their late Friday night slot for more It's Florida, Man! Come on HBO, you just renewed more Bill Maher.

So how does the Joel Kim Booster starring finale wrap? After traveling to Orlando to meet her online goth prince, a sheltered Jacksonville girl narrowly survives a chilling mishap. Alongside Kim Booster, Frankie Quiñones, Ping Wu, Taika Waititi, & Rita Ora also appear.

This was a funny look at how real life is sometimes way madder than what Hollywood can come up with.

No wonder Netflix and Paramount want to buy Warner Brothers (which includes HBO) 

Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - The Better Sister - Miniseries

The Better Sister is my last Fiji catch up series.

The limited series created by Olivia Milch, starring Jessica Biel & Elizabeth Banks, is on the 2019 novel by Alafair Burke.

This eight episode murder mystery, landed last May. Also starring, Corey Stoll, Bobby Naderi, Kim Dickens & Maxwell Acee Donovan.

So what's the series about? Well the terrible things that drive sisters apart and ultimately bring them back together. Chloe (Biel), a high-profile media executive, lives a picturesque life with her handsome lawyer husband Adam (Stoll) & teenage son Ethan (Acee Donovan) by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Banks) struggles to make ends meet and stay clean. 

When Adam is brutally murdered, the prime suspect sends shockwaves through the family, reuniting the two sisters, as they try to untangle a complicated family history to discover the truth behind his death.

It gets a little sister wives realness, with the two estranged sisters, one married to and the other divorced from the same man, are forced together after he is murdered. However there is a positive score to report on, Rotten Tomatoes. So far it has reported a 70% approval rating! Not bad. Albo, Ley or the mad redhead from QLD would love that approval rating in the polls.

So if you have watched a Liane Moriarty series, you would possibly be able to see where this series is headed. Even early on it gives Big Little Lies and other recent miniseries vibes early on.

However Biel and Banks are great as the two, very different sisters!

I am not sure why my May was so busy that I let this one slide past me. However, like all the series I caught up on in Fiji, this was a good, easy watch. Down Cemetery Road was possibly my favourite series of my Fiji binge period.

Well it's back to reality tomorrow. I do however have HBO's whacky series, It's Florida, Man second season to catch up on. The finale for the second season streamed recently. Ahead of HBO's stacked January line up. Industry returns, whilst a new Game of Thrones spin-off commences shortly. News that a second season of Mare of Eastown is set to be filmed in 2027, shows HBO not only have a strong 2026 planned, but next year is stacked too.

Thus far True Detective, The Last of Us and possibly The White Lotus heading to France, will all stream in 2027. Alongside Mare of Eastown, that's a solid ass line up!

See you soon. BYE!

Scorchin' Summer Streamin' 26 - Down Cemetery Road - Season One

Down Cemetery Road is a British show so many people talked about last last year on Apple TV, which I have now managed to smash out in Fiji.

Based on the 2003 novel by Mick Herron, adapted by Morwenna Banks. The series launched on the fruity streamer (killing it with award noms this season) last October.

Last month, the second season was announced. Season one however is starts off as a woman hires an investigator after an explosion occurs and a girl goes missing on the same night in a quiet suburban neighbourhood.

The series comes from the team behind the Emmy-winning series Slow Horses comes a brand new mystery to solve. 

Down Cemetery Road, starring and executive produced by Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe & Emmy Award-winner Emma Thompson, & also starring Golden Globe and two-time Olivier Award winner Ruth Wilson.

Following the house explosion in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbour Sarah Tucker (Wilson) becomes obsessed with finding her and enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm (Thompson). Zoë and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.

Alongside the terrific Wilson & Thompson, BAFTA Award winner Adeel Akhtar, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Emmy Award nominee Tom Goodman-Hill, BAFTA Award winner Darren Boyd, Tom Riley, SAG Award nominee Adam Godley, Sinead Matthews, Ken Nwosu, Fehinti Balogun & Aiysha Hart.

The show is a serious hit from Apple. Much like Slow Horses, there is comedy, crime and drama! I loved all eight episodes. The comedic shift around episodes two and three, were mentioned to me. However I enjoyed the team of Thompson and Wilson, slaying in this government crime/conspiracy.

If you are like me and behind maybe don't read on, as the below contains a summary of the finale, What Will Survive.

Sarah & Dinah leave the island using Amos's boat, Amos finds Downey's boat and leaves and Zoe travels back to harbour on the Scottish captain's boat. Zoe, Sarah and Dinah leave the village on a bus to avoid the police hunt for Zoe but realise that Hamza has hijacked the bus. 

He crashes it into a church and takes Zoe, Dinah and Sarah hostages while he calls C for instructions. C says backup is on the way and calls Amos to eliminate everyone in the church. Amos throws in a grenade which destroys a lot of the church but Sarah and Dinah escape leaving Zoe and Amos to fight until Amos is killed. 

Hamza confronts Sarah and fires her shotgun which explodes in his hand leaving Zoe, Sarah and Dinah to leave Scotland on a sleeper train. 

On the train Wayne is told to publish on social media and the defence secretary is grilled on a TV interview about the testing on soldiers. Dinah is reunited with her cousins and C resigns and moves into the private sector.

I strongly recommend you getting into this series. Particularly if you are fan of Slow Horses. Apple TV had a seriously good year in 2025. The Studio, Pluribus, Severance & Platonic's second seasons, with Shrinking, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Hijack all launching in Q1, 2026, Apple TV is killing it right now!

Actor Awards 2026 (foremly the SAG Awards) - My Picks

This morning the Actor Awards 2026 nominations were announced. My tradition of "My Picks" in Red + BOLD continues with as the SAG Awards, get renamed to the Actor Awards in 2026.

TV CATEGORIES

ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES

"The Diplomat"

"Landman"

"The Pitt"

"Severance"

"The White Lotus"

FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Britt Lower, "Severance"

Parker Posey, "The White Lotus"

Keri Russell, "The Diplomat"

Rhea Seehorn, "Pluribus"

Aimee Lou Wood, "The White Lotus"

MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Sterling K. Brown, "Paradise"

Billy Crudup, "The Morning Show"

Walton Goggins, "The White Lotus"

Gary Oldman, "Slow Horses"

Noah Wyle, "The Pitt"

ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES

"Abbott Elementary"

"The Bear"

"Hacks"

"Only Murders in the Building"

"The Studio"

FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Kathryn Hahn, "The Studio"

Catherine O'Hara, "The Studio"

Jenna Ortega, "Wednesday"

Jean Smart, "Hacks"

Kristen Wiig, "Palm Royale"

MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Ike Barinholtz, "The Studio"

Adam Brody, "Nobody Wants This"

Ted Danson, "A Man on the Inside"

Seth Rogen, "The Studio"

Martin Short, "Only Murders in the Building"

FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Claire Danes, "The Beast in Me"

Erin Doherty, "Adolescence"

Sarah Snook, "All Her Fault"

Christine Tremarco, "Adolescence"

Michelle Williams, "Dying for Sex"

MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Jason Bateman, "Black Rabbit"

Owen Cooper, "Adolescence"

Stephen Graham, "Adolescence"

Charlie Hunnam, "Monster: The Ed Gein Story"

Matthew Rhys, "The Beast in Me"

STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES

"Andor"

"Landman"

"The Last of Us"

"Squid Game"

"Stranger Things"

FILM CATEGORIES

CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

"Frankenstein"

"Hamnet"

"Marty Supreme"

"One Battle After Another"

"Sinners"

FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Jessie Buckley, "Hamnet"

Rose Byrne, "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"

Kate Hudson, "Song Sung Blue"

Chase Infiniti, "One Battle After Another"

Emma Stone, "Bugonia"

MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Timothée Chalamet, "Marty Supreme"

Leonardo DiCaprio, "One Battle After Another"

Ethan Hawke, "Blue Moon"

Michael B. Jordan, "Sinners"

Jesse Plemons, "Bugonia"

FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Odessa A'zion, "Marty Supreme"

Ariana Grande, "Wicked: For Good"

Amy Madigan, "Weapons"

Wunmi Mosaku, "Sinners"

Teyana Taylor, "One Battle After Another"

MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Miles Caton, "Sinners"

Benicio del Toro, "One Battle After Another"

Jacob Elordi, "Frankenstein"

Paul Mescal, "Hamnet"

Sean Penn, "One Battle After Another"

STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

"F1"

"Frankenstein"

"Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning"

"One Battle After Another"

"Sinners"