The Penguin Not Only Appears To Be A Good Comic Book Show, But It Has The Potential To Be A Great TV Show Worthy Of The 9 PM Sunday Time Slot On HBO
I'll admit that when I heard a show about The Penguin was being made on MAX, I rolled my eyes a bit because of the amount of comic book shows I've had to sleepwalk through on Disney+ so we could recap them on My Mom's Basement. DC has had some hits in that genre over the years, but I wasn't going to hold my breath about them pumping out a banger on MAX considering the amount of bonehead moves that company has made recently.
However, all that pessimism changed when I saw this tweet hit the internet.
I know both MAX and HBO are just a part of the gigantic Warner Bros. Discovery corporate monolith that has had their fair share of embarrassing headlines over the last couple of years. But seeing that The Penguin got the HBO tag made me feel like the show wasn't going to absolutely suck and may actually be good. Then when I saw the suits gave it the 9 PM Sunday time slot on HBO, I felt like the show could legitimately be great because that's a slot that usually goes to the filet mignon of HBO programming like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. I fully acknowledge that only the Olds still watch HBO on the actual channel instead of through the MAX app. But a show airing on that time slot and channel used to be like hitting cleanup for the Yankees before streaming started killing cable and sabermetrics started killing traditional baseball lineups.
Well I watched The Penguin on Thursday night (It starts airing on Sunday nights next weekend) and it fucking ruled from the jump. The acting was great, the writing was great, the music was great, and all the other fancy cinematography stuff I don't fully comprehend but unknowingly enjoy was top notch. The Penguin being part of one of the biggest superhero brands in the history of mankind is just a happy coincidence because the show would be perfectly fine as a standalone project about an evil yet likable mobster on HBO. Sound familiar?
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Marvel could learn a thing or two from DC about bringing their comics to the screen these days. I don't know where this series is heading, but I am stoked to see where it goes. And based on the reviews of some of the critics I trust, it's only gonna get better from here.
For MUCH more on the series premiere of The Penguin, check out this week's My Mom's Basement. I'll apologize now for my longwinded rant about the final season of How I Met Your Mother after being triggered by seeing the actress who played the (SPOILER) mother. But I stand by everything I said along with everything I wrote about the alternate ending being 9 billion times better than the dogshit they fed us on CBS.