Don't Always Disagree

The first episode of ‘The Endgame’ aired February 21, 2022, at 10:00pm Eastern on the NBC network.   It was developed by Jake Coburn and Nicholas Wootton, who also wrote the pilot, and was directed by Justin Lin.   It starred Morena Baccarin as Elena Fedorova and Ryan Michelle Bathe as Val Fitzgerald.   Its overnight ratings were around 3.3 million viewers with a .46 share in the 18-49 demographic.   It ranked fourth overall for broadcast television for the night.   It was a production of Universal Television LLC, a direct subsidiary of NBCUniversal, as well as My So-Called Company productions, know for ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘Roswell,’ and Perfect Storm Entertainment, which is associated with Justin Lin. Not gonna criticize a temp title for the pilot.               The involvement of Julie Piec and Justin Lin as executive producers is interesting, but this entire show is the brainchild of Cob...

                ‘Blind Date’ was written and directed by Nico Mastorakis, an independent Greek filmmaker who’s had a fascinating life story.   He started as a journalist in the late 50’s, his career culminating with sneaking aboard Aristotle Onassis’ yacht in 1968 disguised as a bouzouki player and subsequently breaking the news of the impending marriage of Onassis and Jackie Kennedy.   He was also heavily involved in the development of Greek television and radio, directing and hosting a number of shows throughout the 60’s and into the 70’s.   He had minor clashes with the military junta which ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 but never suffered more than some incidental arrests and being taken off the air a couple of times, always ultimately returning.   He was sufficiently cozy with the military that after it was finally overthrown he was seen as unhireable by Greek television and radio. The title n...