NBC's "The Blacklist" 5/8/20 ep.

[MarkBarrett]

No, Reddington was not killed. That would require the writers from ABC's The Good Doctor to make that kind of ridiculous move. What the episode did have was Tom "Luke Duke" Wopat as an evil warden, Jordan from MTV's "The Challenge" as a prisoner, and Al Roker not playing himself.

Next week's season finale should be unusual with part of it using graphic-novel style animation.

[Bob Juch]

Thanks for posting this. My TiVo didn't record it saying there was no signal. It was recording other shows at that time, maybe it was really that all four tuners were busy. I' can watch it online, porting it to my TV.

[silverscreenselect]

Next week's season finale should be unusual with part of it using graphic-novel style animation.

Next week's show is the 19th episode of what was supposed to be a 22-episode season. They hadn't finished filming it when they shut down. Since it features Brian Dennehy, who has since died, they wanted to preserve his performance rather than reshoot the episode with a different actor. So, the animation will be used in place of scenes that hadn't yet been filmed, and the remaining three episodes will air next season.

[silverscreenselect]

Next week's season finale should be unusual with part of it using graphic-novel style animation.

Next week's show is the 19th episode of what was supposed to be a 22-episode season. They hadn't finished filming it when they shut down. Since it features Brian Dennehy, who has since died, they wanted to preserve his performance rather than reshoot the episode with a different actor. So, the animation will be used in place of scenes that hadn't yet been filmed, and the remaining three episodes will air next season.

The animation wasn't great, but it was interesting. It was graphic novel style, including captions showing what characters were thinking announcing titles like "Act 1." And the animation scenes were scattered throughout the episode because they don't shoot scenes in script order sequence. When they would switch from live action to animation, they would do a dissolve from the live action to the animation.

This episode hadn't been planned as the season finale, but I'm guessing they did a hasty rewrite and inserted a couple of animated scenes at the end to leave off with a typical end-of-season cliffhanger. They filled the remaining time by having the cast talk for a minute or so at the beginning of the episode about how and why they filmed it the way they did, with another similar minute at the end featuring the behind the scenes crew. The biggest disappointment for me was Brian Dennehy's appearance. His character had been shot and was in a coma from an earlier episode, so they had a scene of him lying in bed with Elizabeth talking to him and a couple of other animated similar scenes. Those probably were outtakes with dialogue dubbed in. They did have a tribute card to him in the closing credits.

[silverscreenselect]

Tonight was the opening episode of what's going to be the final season of The Blacklist. It appears that the storyline involving Elizabeth, her mother, and her grandfather will wrap up in the next week or two, which would have been the finale last season if production hadn't stopped because of the pandemic.

Elizabeth's grandfather, Dom, who was played by Brian Dennehy previously is a central character in this storyline and has a good bit of dialogue, so they have cast another actor (Ron Raines) in the role.

[Bob78164]

Tonight was the opening episode of what's going to be the final season of The Blacklist. It appears that the storyline involving Elizabeth, her mother, and her grandfather will wrap up in the next week or two, which would have been the finale last season if production hadn't stopped because of the pandemic.

Elizabeth's grandfather, Dom, who was played by Brian Dennehy previously is a central character in this storyline and has a good bit of dialogue, so they have cast another actor (Ron Raines) in the role.

As of February there were no plans for this to be the final season. Have you seen something more recent? --Bob

[silverscreenselect]

Tonight was the opening episode of what's going to be the final season of The Blacklist. It appears that the storyline involving Elizabeth, her mother, and her grandfather will wrap up in the next week or two, which would have been the finale last season if production hadn't stopped because of the pandemic.

Elizabeth's grandfather, Dom, who was played by Brian Dennehy previously is a central character in this storyline and has a good bit of dialogue, so they have cast another actor (Ron Raines) in the role.

As of February there were no plans for this to be the final season. Have you seen something more recent? --Bob

There's nothing official, but there's been a lot of informed chatter to that effect. By the way, in addition to Brian Dennehy, the show lost another semi-regular during the offseason, Clark Middleton (Glen), one of the most instantly recognizable actors around.

[MarkBarrett]

Sorry to see the news about Clark Middleton (Glen).

TV seasons are weird these days. First This is Us does four eps. and then has six weeks off until Jan. 5th. Now this show returns for two episodes and then won't return until Jan. 22nd.

Last season or not I'll still be watching.

[silverscreenselect]

Now this show returns for two episodes and then won't return until Jan. 22nd.

Season 7 was only 19 episodes long instead of the usual 22 due to the coronavirus that halted production. As it was, Episode 19 was partially animated to fill in the scenes that they couldn't film. So, those remaining three episodes, which were already written and supposed to wrap up the Dom-Katarina-Elizabeth storyline, are the two episodes this month plus the one of January 22.

This last episode sure felt like a season-ending cliffhanger, making me wonder if there will be another cliffhanger at the end of the January 22 episode. If so, we won't have long to wait to resolve that one.

[MarkBarrett]

From Marc Berman's "The Programming Insider"

NBC Renews "The Blacklist" for Season 9
NBC has announced a ninth season for veteran thriller "The Blacklist." Debuting in September, 2013, the series follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily surrenders to the FBI after eluding capture for decades. News of the pickup comes just three episodes into the current season, which was delayed due to COVID-19. While certainly not the attraction it was originally airing in the protected Monday 10 p.m. ET hour, "The Blacklist" ranks ninth among all acquired streaming series in 2020 (with a reported close to 14.5 billion minutes of viewing time on the streamer, according to Nielsen). It currently anchors Friday (at 8 p.m. ET) on NBC.

Netflix viewing must help the show and is probably the same reason that Good Girls has stuck around.

[silverscreenselect]

Tonight on The Blacklist, they paid tribute to Clark Middleton, the actor who played Glenn, one of Reddington's assistants. Middleton died during the offseason so they wrote his character's death into the storyline tonight. Rocker Huey Lewis played himself in the episode as one of the storylines involved Reddington's efforts to get Lewis to appear at the memorial service for Glenn.

[Bob Juch]

Tonight on The Blacklist, they paid tribute to Clark Middleton, the actor who played Glenn, one of Reddington's assistants. Middleton died during the offseason so they wrote his character's death into the storyline tonight. Rocker Huey Lewis played himself in the episode as one of the storylines involved Reddington's efforts to get Lewis to appear at the memorial service for Glenn.

I'm watching it right now. They even had his cause of death as West Nile Virus.

[silverscreenselect]

Rule of thumb on The Blacklist:

Anytime someone shows up you've never seen before and seems like a really, really nice person, ... they aren't.

Two examples of that on this week's show, one which may be a bit of a long game.

[silverscreenselect]

Bumping up the Blacklist thread after tonight's show. NBC had previously announced that Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth, would not be returning next season. Originally, last night's episode and next week's episode were scheduled as a two-hour season finale and would have played better as such. There's a caveat on this show about all "final" explanations of the show's backstory. They often are shown to be incorrect or incomplete a season or two later. Having said that, they did answer some big questions and teased that next week would provide answers to the biggest questions. I think there will be a huge reveal at the end of that episode.

This is what I think the big reveal is.

The "Raymond Reddington" played by James Spader is not Elizabeth's father but Elizabeth's mother after having undergone a sex change operation before Spader/Reddington began appearing in public.

[Bob78164]

Bumping up the Blacklist thread after tonight's show. NBC had previously announced that Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth, would not be returning next season. Originally, last night's episode and next week's episode were scheduled as a two-hour season finale and would have played better as such. There's a caveat on this show about all "final" explanations of the show's backstory. They often are shown to be incorrect or incomplete a season or two later. Having said that, they did answer some big questions and teased that next week would provide answers to the biggest questions. I think there will be a huge reveal at the end of that episode.

This is what I think the big reveal is.

The "Raymond Reddington" played by James Spader is not Elizabeth's father but Elizabeth's mother after having undergone a sex change operation before Spader/Reddington began appearing in public.

I'm pretty sure your guess was right. But I'm really pissed off that they let Liz die (assuming that she is, in fact, dead, and not just shuffled off to an off-screen location after an arduous off-screen recovery) without ever learning the truth, and left us hanging until next season. --Bob

[Estonut]

Bumping up the Blacklist thread after tonight's show. NBC had previously announced that Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth, would not be returning next season. Originally, last night's episode and next week's episode were scheduled as a two-hour season finale and would have played better as such. There's a caveat on this show about all "final" explanations of the show's backstory. They often are shown to be incorrect or incomplete a season or two later. Having said that, they did answer some big questions and teased that next week would provide answers to the biggest questions. I think there will be a huge reveal at the end of that episode.

This is what I think the big reveal is.

The "Raymond Reddington" played by James Spader is not Elizabeth's father but Elizabeth's mother after having undergone a sex change operation before Spader/Reddington began appearing in public.

I'm pretty sure your guess was right. But I'm really pissed off that they let Liz die (assuming that she is, in fact, dead, and not just shuffled off to an off-screen location after an arduous off-screen recovery) without ever learning the truth, and left us hanging until next season.

Awww, was this your first cliffhanger?

[Bob78164]

Bumping up the Blacklist thread after tonight's show. NBC had previously announced that Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth, would not be returning next season. Originally, last night's episode and next week's episode were scheduled as a two-hour season finale and would have played better as such. There's a caveat on this show about all "final" explanations of the show's backstory. They often are shown to be incorrect or incomplete a season or two later. Having said that, they did answer some big questions and teased that next week would provide answers to the biggest questions. I think there will be a huge reveal at the end of that episode.

This is what I think the big reveal is.

The "Raymond Reddington" played by James Spader is not Elizabeth's father but Elizabeth's mother after having undergone a sex change operation before Spader/Reddington began appearing in public.

I'm pretty sure your guess was right. But I'm really pissed off that they let Liz die (assuming that she is, in fact, dead, and not just shuffled off to an off-screen location after an arduous off-screen recovery) without ever learning the truth, and left us hanging until next season.

Awww, was this your first cliffhanger?

I don't understand your point. Are you trying to say that I'm not entitled to my feelings about this? --Bob

[silverscreenselect]

But I'm really pissed off that they let Liz die (assuming that she is, in fact, dead, and not just shuffled off to an off-screen location after an arduous off-screen recovery) without ever learning the truth, and left us hanging until next season. --Bob

It wouldn't surprise me if Liz is still alive. They faked the death of Liz's mother already. But if she is alive, she's not going to show up again until the end of next season, and I'm trying to figure out what they're going to do for storylines until then.

[silverscreenselect]

Series creator Jon Bokenkamp announced today that he is leaving the show. His longtime co-showrunner, John Eisendrath, will be the sole showrunner next season. Bokenkamp and Eisendrath wrote the screenplay for the last two episodes of this season.

[silverscreenselect]

Last night's season premiere of The Blacklist was just about what I expected, unfortunately. Dembe has joined the FBI and the rest of the unit has either retired or been reassigned (this isn't much of a spoiler because all this is revealed by the first commercial break). The logistics are a bit more complicated, but otherwise this episode could have been a script from just about any earlier season with a villain from just about any earlier season.

I don't see how they've got enough new material to get them through 22 episodes of by-the-numbers storylines.

[MarkBarrett]

It's hard to believe this show has made it to Season 9. Hat or not hat, James Spader/Red makes the show watchable and I went to it first ahead of Young Sheldon for viewing priority last night.

There will be some kind of season-long arc to go with baddie of the week and the formula is good enough for me to keep watching.

Also, if Elizabeth comes back I can't wait to see in which crazy way it happens.

[Beebs52]

Last night's season premiere of The Blacklist was just about what I expected, unfortunately. Dembe has joined the FBI and the rest of the unit has either retired or been reassigned (this isn't much of a spoiler because all this is revealed by the first commercial break). The logistics are a bit more complicated, but otherwise this episode could have been a script from just about any earlier season with a villain from just about any earlier season.

I don't see how they've got enough new material to get them through 22 episodes of by-the-numbers storylines.

I haven't seen recent episodes, but after watching maybe 4 or 5 I came to your same conclusion. Very formulaic.

[Vandal]

[silverscreenselect]

NBC has renewed The Blacklist for a tenth season. Since they are really struggling to find storylines for this current ninth season, I'm not sure what they'll do next season. The show will resume new episodes this Friday.

[MarkBarrett]

The 3/25 ep. was #13 while the upcoming April 1 ep. (no fooling) shows as #19 in my onscreen guide with #20 on the 8th. Why are they airing out of order? Some Russia/Ukraine arc? Some other controversial plots? The missing eps. will be Peacocked? It will be scrambled eggs, but all 22 will air?