TV Wrap-Up October -- Lanterns, Dancing With The Stars, The Traitors, Survivor, The Challenge

More often than not, when it comes to my watching habits -- TV is king. But in October, with football rolling and college basketball on the horizon and a great slate of new movies having been released -- I've been well-behind on my TV watching. Plus, in my opinion -- there haven't been many scripted-series that have caught my attention. No shows are producing the type of buzz like the Widow's Bay's and Knight of the Seven Kingdom's and The Pitt's that get me so excited to start something new.

That being said, there was one scripted show that concluded in October that I really enjoyed -- and in a shocking turn of events for my television standards, there's been a wave of reality TV I'm finding myself locked into. If you've checked in on some Bean's Blog TV reviews -- you know competition reality is my jam. And October has been a particularly hot month for the genre -- so in today's blog, I'll break down what I've been watching, and whether or not I think you should too!

Lanterns

Streaming On: HBO Max

Creators: David Lindelhof, Chris Mundy, Seth Grahame-Smith

Starring: Aaron Pierre, Kyle Chandler, Kelly McDonald, Garrett Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nathan Fillion, Ulrich Thomson, Laura Linney

The one scripted-TV show I watched/finished this month was Lanterns on HBO Max. This is a DC-Universe project from James Gunn and company, but it was the showrunners that really got me excited for this show -- Lindelof is best known for his work on The Leftovers, Watchmen, and Lost.

The Green Lantern character has had a rocky history with on-screen portrayals. My only exposure was the Ryan Reynolds project, which even he will tell you was a disaster. But since Green Lantern is one of the most famous characters in all of DC comics, you knew it was only a matter of time before we'd see the new DCU take a crack at it.

Broadly, I thought this was a show that was successful, entertaining, and unique in the scope of comic book television shows we've seen in the last decade during or so. It puts the super powers on the back-burner so they can build the characters on a more grounded level. It's really more of a murder mystery/detective drama than a superhero show -- which I enjoy.

Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan is not only perfect casting, but a great reminder that he's one of the most underrated actors in the world. He's so compelling and plays the asshole better than anybody, but then turns around and makes you love him the next scene. Aaron Pierre is an excellent casting as John Stewart -- I've been a fan ever since Rebel Ridge a few years ago. It's really the dynamic between these two that makes the show work -- how they lock horns with each other then find ways to work together.

I have my nitpicks about certain things within the show, but as a whole, I found it very entertaining and unique. For comic book readers and haters alike, I think it's a worthwhile watch.

Survivor: Season 51

Streaming On: Paramount+

It's always tough to follow-up a massive, All-Star-type season Like Survivor 50 was -- how do you keep things fresh? How do you usher in the next Era of the game? How do you keep fans entertained?

5 episodes in (6 by the time you're reading this will be available to stream), I'm definitely enjoying the new "Open Era" of Survivor so far. I appreciate the effort being put forth and think it's a decent shtick they've come up with for this new Era -- "Permanent Uncertainty," and "Everything's on the Table" from past seasons. I like the fact that, instead of trying to implement major changes to the game -- they're attempting to go back and use advantages/aspects from the 50 seasons of the show they've built up to keep the islanders on their toes, and us fans as well.

The volatility of any season of Survivor is extremely high, because so much of the entertainment value relies on the cast. I'd say 90% of what makes a season enjoyable is the cast. If you have a group of unlikeable people that make it far (a complaint I had with Season 49), it takes the enjoyment out quick. If you assemble an All-Star cast, but the least interesting players make it the farthest (my biggest complaint about Season 50) -- it does the same thing

So while it's really early and things can change quickly as it goes -- I think this year's cast is a really interesting mix. 5 episodes in and the groups are forming for me:

• The "I'm rooting for them's" -- Carter, Lewis, Thien An, Ori, Kristin

• The "I'm rooting against them's" -- Eric, Devin, Maggie, Christian

• The "I hate you one episode and you flip me the next's" -- Kilby and Brady mostly

Everything can change if a bad group winds up being the Final 7 or Final 5 -- but I think there's a lot of interesting dynamics and players in this season. A good mix of gamers, social players, people that think they're smarter than they are. Episode 5 for example had something I haven't seen in a season of Survivor maybe ever -- or at least not in a super long time. So I'm excited to keep watching and see how things play out -- and I recommend it for any Competition Reality fans.

The Challenge: Season 42

Streaming On: Paramount+

You're going to see a trend here in what type of reality show I can stomach -- and that's reality competition. The Challenge is a show that's definitely well-past it's prime, but I still find it to be an entertaining watch. Whereas Survivor and Big Brother are constantly cast predominantly with Newbies -- looking for the next unknown star -- The Challenge has it's stars, loves to bring in people from other reality shows, and will field a handful of rookies each season.

Season 42 was a prime example of this strategy -- there was no complete "unknown" in the cast (depending on your reality-TV-watching). The cast was made up of Challenge Legends -- Johnny Bananas, CT, Tori, Cara Maria, Nelson, Cory, etc. Returning young guns -- Sydney, Cedric, Justin, Will, Izzy, Nurys.  And all sorts of other reality show contestants -- Chris, Keanu, Josh, Cassidy, Deb, Reilly, Anna Leigh, Lete. They let their show make stars -- then cast breakouts from other shows that could pop on The Challenge.

Season 42 was dubbed: Cutthroat. The last Cutthroat season they did was in 2010 -- which was Season 20 of the show. This was far from my favorite season, as I was not a huge fan of the format -- they broke the cast into 3 teams, the winning team from a daily was safe while the other two would have players go in to elimination. This led to one team being so stacked that 3 of their players never saw an elimination by the Final. There were also a family situation that took one player out of the game -- an injury took out another -- and a whopping THREE players were removed with no real explanation, other than they "broke conduct rules."

There were some breakout stars from this season -- especially on the female side, which is where the show has been lacking fresh talent in a major way. Lete, Anna Leigh, and Deb Chubb were three women in this season that I think should get the call for every upcoming season. Overall, I just didn't find this to be a very compelling season. It lacked competition drama -- though it had plenty of house and inter-personal drama. I think it lacked a lot of strategy as well because of the format. Not bad, but far from great -- and this may just be where we're at with this show 42 seasons in.

Dancing With The Stars: Season 35

Streaming On: Disney+ and Hulu next day

I've been dreading writing this section, because it means I finally have to confront the fact that I've been more locked in on Dancing with the Stars than I ever wanted to admit. I don't know, nor am I particularly fond of, dancing. The techniques and forms are completely over my head. But I have to admit that there is some innate quality about this show that has truly reeled me in.

I think one factor is the cast in general -- in the next paragraph spoilers will be on the table, so skip ahead now if you aren't caught up. But I was genuinely interested in seeing how some of the stars that were cast would do -- Connor Wood and Ciara are two people I've learned about through Emily that I've become a fan of. Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmell? Sign me up to see that guy dance. Maura and Mark Ballas running back the Traitors duo? Yeah I tink I'll be voting.

But as the weeks have gone on, I've started rooting for some people I didn't even know going into this. Ezra is an absolute baller -- a paralympian out there showing people up with his prosthetic leg on, and he just seems like a super good dude. Amber is a monster out there, I actually thought she was the pro of the group early on. Tatyana has been crushing it as well, big fan of the Uncle Phil tribute.

There's also some folks I'm certainly NOT rooting for -- and it's not because they are bad people or are doing a poor job, it's quite the opposite. Harry Shum is probably the best dancer on the show (of the "stars" that is), and if he isn't, it's Jenna Dewan. The problem is their both basically professional dancers -- Jenna was a backup dancer for Christina Aguilera and was in Step Up, Harry was in Glee. And I learned that both of their partners are married in real life? Val and Jenna? Also kinda weird that Val's married to a Jenna then is dancing with a different Jenna and sucking her neck mid-dance? I'm all the way out on these groups.

Halloween week was pretty good -- my boy Connor showed out and easily moved on. He gets absolutely shredded by the judgers every single week (especially Carie Ann -- who sucks with a capital UCKS) while they praise Julia Styles every week when she's consistently been worse than him. Connor's gotta be #1 in fan voting now that Guillermo's gone, and hopefully he keeps improving and those fan votes continue carrying him on -- because I might be checking out once he's eliminated.

The Traitors: New Blood (Season 5)

Streaming On: Peacock

Keeping the train rolling with my favorite new Competition Reality series -- The Traitors. I've been watching with my girlfriend since Season 1 and have been a huge fan ever since. (By the way, Rob is the best Traitor of all time don't @ me). But I thought the biggest reason I was a fan of the show was because they pulled in famous people to play -- I may not watch much reality TV, but I'm familiar enough with the Housewives and Love Island people, plus all the Survivor and Big Brother people, and there's usually a handful of B-list celebs brought in.

But the newest season -- New Blood -- was going to be a different experience: all unknown, regular people entering the castle. My excitement wasn't quite as high, but I gotta admit, I really don't think there's been any drop-off from the previous 4 seasons. There's been some good twists added for this season -- which is a compliment I have every year for this show is that they're constantly keeping the game fresh and different. Still early, but excited for where it's going.

If you've been watching anything good lately -- from scripted to reality -- let me know if it's worth checking out!