Will Mister ever get lost during ‘Found’? Plus: dwindling sitcoms, “Jeopardy!” Tournaments and more

Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic Matt Roush, also known to some TV fans as their “TV Therapist,” who will try to tackle everything you love, hate, confused, frustrated or excited about today’s vast TV landscape. (We know the background music is too loud, this is the most common complaint, but there are always subtitles. Check it out this story for more tips.)

One warning: this is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t delve into upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Send your questions and comments to (email protected)). Look for the Ask Matt columns most Tuesdays.

To the gentleman with not much love

Ask: Do you think so? NBC‘S Found will follow a similar approach ABC‘S Big sky when it comes to defeating the main villain? Retrospective spoiler alert, obviously, but in Big skyMidway through season two, big bad Ronald was finally hunted down and killed by co-main character Cassie. Could this be an idea? Found some time, assuming the show’s not-so-good ratings don’t lead to the show’s demise this season? The ‘Sir’ story has to end at some point to keep the show fresh, and I doubt they’ll keep it until the end of the show if it continues for several more years. So if the show were to continue for a few more seasons, do you think they would say goodbye to Sir via a shocking catch-and-kill and continue the show, possibly introducing different serialized plots similar to how Big sky introduced the Reba McEntire camping story in season 3 in the post-Ronald world? I just don’t know how long the show can keep the Sir story going, it’s already getting a bit tired. — Shirley

Matt Roush: Not knowing where Found goes (as I remind you once again that this is not a spoiler column), I will speculate with some confidence that as long as Found running, sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) will likely be part of the show, though perhaps not always in general and probably not destined for another extended stint stuck in Gabi’s basement.

Big sky was a very different show, with long arcs (sometimes spanning an entire season or more) that introduced new sets of villains, many inspired by CJ Box’s great books, for the female heroes to take down. If the show had gone on, I expect they would have tried to find another high-profile star like Reba to move in. Found has a number of ongoing storylines (Margaret’s missing son, most notably), it is primarily a missing persons procedural distinguished by Gabi’s (Shanola Hampton) bizarre Clarice/Hannibal Lecter-esque connection to her former captor (who became her own prisoner for a while). Wherever the show takes the Sir storyline, I’d be surprised if even his arrest removes him from the show entirely. I could be wrong, but he seems ingrained in it Found‘s DNA, whether you like it or not.

The incredibly cringeworthy sitcom

Ask: I have a quick question that’s bothering me. I watch all my television via streaming and noticed this recently Georgie and Mandy’s first marriage is only 18 minutes without commercials! The segments are so quick and short that it’s hard to get emotionally involved in the story. How long will it be before commercial TV broadcasts a program that is 50% content and 50% advertising? We are now only three minutes away from that! — Steve

Matt Roush: “Quick question,” I see what you did there. I don’t have much to add to this observation, other than that while original episodes for premium cable and streaming are getting longer – Dune: Prophecy episodes are usually longer than an hour, at least from what I’ve seen so far – on broadcast television’s financially stressed platforms, the commercial load has increased over the years, and this seems to be an extreme case of that . I tend to applaud shows these days that don’t exhaust us with excess length, believing that less can be more in the right hands, but there are limits. Or are there?

Danger!’s Obsession with tournaments

Ask: In a recent one In danger! podcast, Danger! executive producer Michael Davies said there will be 10 to 11 weeks of tournaments this year, what they call the post-season. This includes the Second Chance for non-winners, Champions Wildcard for winners who did not automatically qualify, the Tournament of Champions and the Invitational. Producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss admitted that “some people are less excited” by the surplus of tournaments, while Michael made it clear that it will be fewer weeks than last year, and that “10 to 11 weeks is what we want” each season moving forward. Apparently they have learned nothing from the negative reactions to last year’s tournaments. Remember when the ToC only lasted a few weeks and was a special event worth looking forward to? Now it just seems like an annoyance. — Jake

Matt Roush: One of the reasons we’ve probably soured on this overreliance on tournaments is because of the frustration so many fans felt last year when it took forever to get back to regular play (due to the strikes and other scheduling considerations). At least this season the show was able to start with new competitors, and we’ve already found some new favorites that we’d like to see again, although perhaps not in as many different tournament formats. It’s hard to believe that they can’t realize that they’ve diminished the impact of the Tournament of Champions by hosting so many other tournaments that give former players (and past winners) more exposure at the expense of regular day-to-day play.

Let our new favorites stand alone

Remark: Absolutely loved Matlock. I’m old enough to remember Andy Griffith‘s version, but never seen. Kathy Bates is perfect in the lead role of this version. I never saw that twist coming in the pilot episode. That’s a good thing. I’m also a fan of it Will Trent. I don’t like it when people feel it necessary to compare one show to another (like Will Trent Unpleasant Columbus). I think it’s human nature. I hope both Matlock And Will Trent both enjoy a long run. — Sharon

Matt Roush: If you’re not familiar with Andy Griffith’s original, then you should at least be able to understand how much of a departure this version is, with Bates’ Matty essentially taking on this persona as a cover for an undercover crusade. Regarding Will TrentI still get a lot of questions wondering why the show isn’t currently airing, and this show (as well The Rookie) will be back mid-season, starting January 7. As for the comparison with ColumbusI guess because of their quirkiness masking their genius, the analogy is much better suited to shows like Elsbeth And Peacock‘S Poker face where you almost always know whodunnit at the top of the episode and then wait to see how the unorthodox hero figures it out.

And finally…

Remark: I think any show that uses a lot of text messages in their plots should include subtitles for the text. I’m tired of having to back up a show and stand right in front of the TV to read the text on a character’s phone! — Tina T., Cape Cod, MA

Remark: I would have enjoyed it AMC‘S Mr. Spade many more if the subtitles were on the screen long enough to read! It also drives me crazy when subtitles blend into the background and you can’t read them at all. Can’t they do better? – Clarkie

Matt Roush: Let these complaints (fairly common in my mailbag) remind the producers that if you’re going to put written text on the screen, whether it’s phone texts or emails, or foreign language subtitles or hard-to-decipher accents, make them readable and give us time to read them! A larger font helps, and placing subtitles against contrasting backgrounds so they stand out against the landscape is just common sense.

That’s all for now. We can’t do this without your participation, so please continue to send questions and comments about TV to (email protected). (Please include a first name with your question.)