We have reached the halfway point of our look at the offerings for the new fall season. The cupboard once again looks pretty bare for Wednesdays.
2026 New Fall Season – Tuesdays
Continuing our look at the new fall season, here are the offerings that I may find myself interested in for Tuesdays.
8:00
Doc – A surprise hit, Molly Parker returns for a third go-around, trying to regain her memories while regaining her life.
2026 New Fall Season – Mondays
We continue our annual look at the new fall season with Monday night’s offerings, another night that has nothing even halfway intriguing, a position that has held pretty steady since 2018.
You Ought To Be In (16) Pictures
Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime. The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since. Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 111 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of August 1.
We continue today with the five actors that have starred in exactly 16 movies that I have seen, even with three years ago.
Amy Adams
Amy Adams made her first appearance on my screen in 2001, when I watched the repurposed television pilot that became Cruel Intentions 2. She returned in 2008, starting a run of eight films in four years. After a five-year absence, she returned in 2022 to start another three-year run, ending with 2024’s Nightbitch.
Drew Barrymore
One of the most prolific actors on my radar in the 1990s and 2000s, she has disappeared since, with the most recent of her films that I’ve seen, Music And Lyrics, coming in 2008.
Jamie Lee Curtis
My first experience with the former teenage scream queen was likely one of the first two Halloween films, the franchise that is responsible for nearly 47% of the films on this list. After a seven-year lull, she returned with the latest reboot/continuation of the Halloween franchise, which culminated in 2022’s Halloween Ends. Her most recent appearance came in 2025, thanks to the sequel Freakier Friday.
Angelina Jolie
The first starring role of Angelina Jolie’s that I saw was 1995’s Hackers. 2005 was my most prolific Jolie year, when I took in three of her films, and she hit with two in 2000, 2004, and 2011. After an eleven-year absence, she returned to my screen was in 2023, when I saw her in 2021’s Those Who Wish Me Dead.
Brad Pitt
In 1994, I saw a little film called Kalifornia, which introduced me to Brad Pitt. While he would become a mega-star over the next few years, I was a bit of a late comer to his films. Other than watching A River Runs Through It in 1997 during the Sports in Literature class I took during my last semester of college, it was 2000 before I saw another Pitt film. Making up for lost time, I plowed through three films in 2000. He had a four-year streak between in 2010 and 2013, then entered a dry spell that ended in 2020, when he reappeared with two films. His most recent appearance was in 2022, thanks to that year’s Bullet Train.
2026 New Fall Season – Sundays
It is time once again to start our annual dive in to the new fall lineups for the upcoming television season. As has become normal in the last couple of years, there is nothing interesting among the networks’ Sunday night offerings, which means I might have some time to work through some of the streaming shows I’ve let pile up. Or work through the growing backlog on my DVR.
Falling Apart
The White Sox were 307-2 at home in the 21st Century when leading by six or more runs coming into yesterday’s game. Sadly, they are now 307-3. Blowing an 8-2 lead, the White Sox lost 11-8 to the Tigers last night, which, combined with a Guardians victory over the A’s earlier in the evening, pushed them back down to second place.
That leaves the White Sox with a tenuous single game lead over the Rangers for the third Wild Card spot as they struggle to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.
Back To First
After falling out of first place on Wednesday for the first time since early July, the White Sox rebounded yesterday, defeating the Tigers 3-1 and moving back into a tie for the AL Central lead with the Guardians. Since they won the season series, the White Sox do hold the tiebreaker. The White Sox continue their series with the Tigers tonight as the Guardians open a three-game tilt with the A’s in Cleveland. With just over a week to go in the regular season, things are coming down to the wire.
The 2026 White Sox sit with 78 wins, the most in MLB history for a team coming off of at least three straight 100-loss seasons. They are looking to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.
Falling Out Of First
After holding, at least, a share of the AL Central lead since July 4, the White Sox lost the division lead yesterday, losing to the Guardians 6-3 and falling a half game behind. On the plus side, they are still tied in the loss column and do hold the tiebreaker with the Guardians, so it is not completely bleak. With just ten games remaining in the regular season, they will look to turn around a losing trend that has lasted over a month now, going 19-24 since the start of August. They start a four-game series at home against the Tigers tonight, while the Guardians start a three-game set at home against the A’s on Friday.
Book 50 (of 52) – The Waiting
The Waiting – Michael Connelly
When a petty thief steals Ballard’s badge and gun from her van while she’s surfing, she turns to her friend Harry Bosch to help her get them back. When the trail leads them to a group of domestic terrorists who plan to shoot up Santa Monica pier on a busy holiday weekend, they turn to the FBI for help, but the blowback puts Ballard in hot water with her captain. Meanwhile, a recent arrest collected DNA that puts Ballard’s Open-Unsolved Unit on the track of a serial rapist from 20 years earlier and Bosch’s daughter joins the team with a hot lead, the identity of the Black Dahlia’s killer.
The sixth, and, to date, final entry of Michael Connelly’s Renée Ballard series, The Waiting continues with the changes introduced in the last book that helped to land the Ballard series on Amazon Prime. Bosch plays a lesser role in this go around, though his daughter joins the team to help pick up some of the slack. I’m not sure if this is the end of the road or, having just been released in 2024, I’ve just caught up to the current release cycle, but I hope there is more to come. If not, I may be forced to go backwards and start the Bosch series at the beginning.
Taking Charge
In danger of falling out of first place with a loss, the White Sox struck first in their crucial series with the Guardians last night, winning 7-3 and dropping their magic number to clinch the AL Central division to eleven. The victory also gave the White Sox the season series, meaning they also have the advantage should the two teams end the season in a tie. The series continues this afternoon in Cleveland for game two.
The 2026 White Sox sit with 77 wins, the most in MLB history for a team coming off of at least three straight 100-loss seasons. They are looking to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.