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"Joan is Awful" is the first episode in the series after a four year hiatus. After three of the weaker episodes of the entire series aired in the previous season, I did not have sky-high hopes for this new season as many die-hard fans did.

But "Joan is Awful" was a welcome addition to the Black Mirror series. And a perfect introduction episode after a long time off as it was one of the more comical episodes of the show. It lets the audience dip their toes back into this universe without jarring us.

You can expect to hear rave reviews for Annie Murphy's performance. She had to run through virtually every emotion and mood in an actor's arsenal, and she did it seamlessly without overacting.

While Annie Murphy carries the episode on her back, there are still good performances all around. It helps that most of the roles were obviously written by Charlie Brooker for certain actors specifically. Salma Hayek does well; and comedy fans will appreciate cameos from Rich Fulcher (Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box) and Michael Cera.

A welcome return from Black Mirror.

If you aren't particularly funny or interesting or good looking, but you still want to make comedies, take a lesson from "God's Favorite Idiot" creator Ben Falcone. Just marry a talented and funny woman, wait six years for her breakout movie performance (which she will get you a role in), and then you can make anything you want - and get paid in giant briefcases stuffed with $100 bills!

I know what you're thinking. But what if the first movie I release is awful? It doesn't matter! Studios will give you at least four more chances in ten years no matter how uninspired and dull your ideas are. The movies can be so bad that they almost ruin your wife's career. If that happens it still doesn't matter because Netflix will still let you create a boring and unfunny limited series. It's win-win-win.

As far as I can see, this is another home run for Ben Falcone and his free-of-charge super agent Melissa McCarthy. Keep 'em coming!

A few months ago, Netflix released the true crime series "Worst Roommate Ever". I checked it out and it was okay, but it made me think of how there was already a program in the US with the same format called "Fear Thy Roommate" (a spin-off of another show on Discovery ID).

This week Netflix released a true crime series called "Web of Make Believe" and I immediately thought of Discovery ID's "Web of Lies". Even the first episode of the Netflix show had already been featured on ID.

With true crime becoming a bigger interest for many people in the past 5-10 years, I'm just hoping that crime shows don't get watered down or ripped off like a lot of other shows on Netflix that get greenlit with lazy writing and production. But to me, even the name of the show seems like a lazy rip-off. Web of Make Believe. That's not even a thing, I had heard the phrase "web of lies" before the show aired. Web of Make Believe? They could have just as easily called it Web of Not Not Lies.

Obviously, Netflix has a much bigger and worldwide audience it can reach compared to Discovery ID Network or Discovery+, which have always been for a niche audience. So, whatever the case may be, I'm glad the stories reach more people and the victims are compensated again.

Anyway, it IS the sort of watered-down Netflix show that didn't really need to get made. The type of true crime series that seems fine playing in the background while you're about to sleep or need to do some things on your phone.