Dueling Reviews Best of 2016: Director vs. Weatherman. Part of an occasional series.

Director: 2016 is done and gone so we’re changing it up! Weatherman’s got the small screen, I got the big screen. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still have an epic duel to the death over who’s the hauttest tryna jaun this year.

Weatherman: 2016. Wow, what a year. Dave got married. Per got Facebook official. I turned 30 and got engaged. Skip continues to create offspring. God bless us all. It was such an amazing and busy year that I also, in fact, watched zero new movies. Unless of course you count the real-life comedy/drama/horror of Donald Trump winning the presidential election.

But I’m not going to do that.

So, sadly, there are no movies, actors, or actresses in consideration for my awards list this year. However, I did watch a bunch of TV/streaming programs. As I’ve said in years past, there’s better stuff on TV and online anyway. (I also cut the cable cord this year and am now streaming TV with a combo Roku/Playstation Vue. Who would have thought Playstation would make a comeback?)

Keeping with the times – this may be a watershed moment for the Per/Weatherman dueling reviews – here goes my awards, dedicated to the small screen space…

Best in Show
Pardon the Interruption
This show has been on ESPN for 16 years, unbelievable, and I still love to watch old Tony and Mike – two former sports writing bloody journos – talk sports every day. It’s probably the only show on ESPN worth watching anymore.

[Director here, I’d like to give a big shout out to the spy thriller Night Manager on Netflix, and possible mancrush Tom Hiddleston]

Worst in Show
Real Housewives
There is a lot of bad TV, but the Real Housewives franchise – L.A., New York, Atlanta, wherever – takes the cake for me. Now, I don’t actually watch these shows, but they are often on in the background when my other half watches TV. So I’ll just go and read a book or something, or reallocate my 401(k).

[damn Weatherman, you are getting old]

Best Actor
Lamorne Morris
Honestly, I didn’t know his name until I Googled it a few seconds ago, but this is the guy who plays Winston Bishop in New Girl. I’m not sure at all what type of actor is he is otherwise, but he’s got his current character down really well, and it makes me laugh.

[I agree, Winston is the best]

Worst Actor
Any of the male characters on E! or Bravo.

Best Actress
Zooey Deschanel This is a lukewarm pick for me and kind of by default. She’s aiight as Jess in New Girl, but I don’t really have any other options from the shows I’ve watched regularly this year.

[I’d like to nominate Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown]

Worst Actress
Ramona from Real Housewives on New York
The embodiment of all I despise. Is that too harsh?

[no]

Best Comedy
New Girl
Love this show. Funny and very Millennial-like.

[I would submit Broad City as runner-up Best Comedy]

Show I’m Happy Is Still On
60 Minutes
I still love a good journalism story and these guys still do a good job, though I think the quality and depth of stories fell of a bit this year.

Show(s) I Wish Followed Through on Their Potential
I always get hooked by the titles of some of the shows on History channel or NatGeo and the like. They’ve got so much potential to be interesting, but they often lack credibility and are way overdramatized. Like shows about Jesus that show the dramatizations about him in the Red Sea, etc.. Stuff like that. Oh well. There’s bigger fish to fry.

[The docu-drama genre can’t die soon enough]

Most Underrated
This Old House
I know what you’re thinking, both from this pick and many others on this list: What are you 50 years old?! Well, sort of. While I don’t own a house yet, I love watching this long-running fix-it-up program on PBS. It really is a pioneering show when you consider all of the HGTV and DIY shows that have started since This Old House debuted in 1979. Classic Boston accents from the show’s crew too.

Most Disappointing
CNN
Really hit a new low this year in many ways, but it’s been a long time coming too. Somewhat related, I now go to CBS for most of my news, when I feel like watching it.

Most Mediocre
Broadchurch
This is Netflix show I’m currently watching that I hadn’t heard of until about two weeks ago. A murder mystery rocks a small town in England, a flawed detective is involved and you’ll never guess who did it! Season 1 is good, but the start of Season 2 is a bit over-the-top and not making much logical sense, but you could watch Season 1 and be just fine. It’s Most Mediocre because of Season 2.

[I have a similar beef with Daredevil. Got half-way through Season 2 and now it’s sitting on my “continue watching” list]

Most Tryna Jaun
Connie Britton
Coach Taylor’s wife/Julie Taylor’s mom from Friday Night Lights is an MFTJ that is like a fine wine. See below.

[Runnerup: the great Italian beauty Monica Bellucci in the fun Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.]

Best Show Seen This Year Not From 2016
Friday Night Lights.
I re-watched all five seasons of this show this year and I’m happy I did. I still can’t decide if I like Seasons 1-3 (The Dillon Panthers days), or the last two seasons (East Dillon) better. That’s a good thing.

Shows I Need to Catch Up On
Homeland, Real Sports, Feherty, Charlie Rose
There’s a few shows that I didn’t watch as much this year, thus no nominations in these awards. But I’m sure Homeland would grab a few had I watched the new season. I still love the interview shows too.

That’s all from me. Here’s to a great 2017.

Director’s Best Films of 2016:

Best Film
The Nice Guys
A fun and funny 70s film noir in which two unlikely heroes must team up to solve a murder. Russel Crowe plays the muscle, Ryan Gosling is the sarcastic private eye who can’t ever do things right.

[You spelled Russell incorrect, Per.]

Worst Film
Hail Caesar
I have a love/hate relationship with the Coen Brothers, and this film represents the hate side of that equation. It’s indulgent, it’s boring, and even though I was trapped on a plane to Europe I still turned it off (so that I could watch X-Men: Apocalypse [mostly bad] and Deadpool [good]).

[This is about what I expected from watching the commercials about it.]

Best Action
Logan
I know it came out last month and technically doesn’t count, but the sheer joy of watching a 10-year old girl murdering so many bad guys, right next to Wolverine, just put a smile on my face. It’s too bad that it took three Wolverine movies to get it right. One of the best superhero films to date.

Best Comedy
Deadpool
In a seemingly neverending lineup of superhero movies, finally one that’s refreshing, that’s fun, that’s violent, and that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

[Sounds worth a try.]

Best Actor
Amy Adams – Arrival
Although she’s been great in more comedic roles, this is the first time I’ve seen her sink her teeth into a drama. Her nuanced emotions really sell this alien first-contact story.

[This last sentence is one I never thought I’d read.]

Worst Actor
Jesse Eisenberg – Lex Luther – Batman v Superman I actually like Jesse Eisenberg but I hated his take on Lex Luthor. He took all the annoying qualities of a rich Silicon Valley billionaire, but didn’t add any menace.

[Jesse Eisenberg … are you talking about the Facebook movie?]

[Nope]

Most Mediocre
Ghostbusters
Forget all the hype and hoopla. This version of the Ghostbusters just wasn’t funny. These ladies are funny in other things, so I’m not sure what went so horribly wrong.

Most Overrated
Captain America: Civil War
Yes it was fun and engaging, but haven’t we had enough of these formulaic Marvel movies?

[Yes.]

Most Underrated
Hell or High Water
This film had almost no press or publicity… But it turns out it’s a great little modern-day western in which brothers Ben Foster and Chris Pine rob small town texas banks to pay back evil bank loans, while old cop Jeff Bridges tries to track them down.

[Clint would destroy them all!]

Most Uplifting Double Feature
Hidden Figures + Loving
Want to see two very different and very good films about sticking it to the man that also happen to be about civil rights? Loving is an unusual almost-indie film about the pioneering biracial couple in Georgia, just trying to live their lives. Hidden Figures makes you want to kick butt and launch rockets.

Films to look forward to:
Colossal: Anne Hathaway discovers that she can control a giant monster when she’s drunk???
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: I can’t stress enough that we need more of these fun superhero movies.
Alien Convenant: Can Ridley Scott finally break his streak of shitty movies?
War for the Planet of the Apes: Woody Harrelson vs Apes!?
Atomic Blonde: The co-director of John Wick directs Charlize Theron as a kick-ass spy?
Blade Runner 2049: Denis Villeneuve, director of Arrivaland Sicario, is the only man I trust with Blade Runner—and no, I don’t trust Ridley Scott himself after he botched Prometheus.
Murder on the Orient Express: Can this modern star-studded film by Kenneth Branaugh--based on the classic Agatha Christy whodunit--rival Sidney Lumet’s star-studded 1974 film?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Apparently we’ll be getting a new Star Wars every year from now until the end of eternity.