The biggest spoiler in “Succession” is from this past Sunday: Logan is dead.

Well, he’s still in the room and present as ever in Episode 4. All the talk is about him, good and bad. Mostly bad. The man is not in his grave yet but his memory and reputation are being used as ping pong balls and bargaining in chips at the board of Waystar comes to pay its respects in his lavish Park Avenue apartment.

The whole episode should be titled “Sitting Shiva, with Swords.”

Everyone who should be in this episode appears or is mentioned except for Logan’s brother, Greg’s father, played by James Cromwell.

There are many revelations and plot twists. The conversation seems more raw and brutal as characters appear to be telling each other off in more unguarded ways than ever. Tom and Greg are particular targets, which leads to Geri giving my favorite line of the show to Tom, who has just taken an hors d’oeuvres from a tray: “You might want to put down that fish taco. You’re getting your melancholy everywhere.”

Shiv gets a few surprises, Kendall gets one, and special kudos go to Peter Friedman, who is quite touching, and Zoe Winters, very moving work.

Much more cannot be said til Sunday. But if this is a foreshadowing, the funeral episode — presumably a week from Sunday — should be titled “Monster’s Ball.”

PS This year HBO should bring back their Emmy party. They’re going to have truckloads of them when you factor in “House of the Dragon,” “Hacks,” “Barry,” and “The Last of Us.”

This is quite surprising: “Saturday Night Live” was DOWN this week, to 4.1 million viewers.

Huh? Show vet Molly Shannon made her first appearance in 16 years. The Jonas Brothers were the musical guests. The cold open with James Austin Johnson as Trump fronting the Last Supper was superb.

So that’s a head scratcher. The previous brought about 100,000 more viewers, and that itself was a little of the year’s average. I thought for sure I’d be reporting an increase to 4.4 million, or something like that.

This week’s host is Ana de Armas with musical guest Karol G. Will that do better? Can anything at this point? Frustrating!

The sudden and surprise death of Logan Roy on Sunday night’s “Succession” energized the show’s ratings.

Numbers were up 23% from last week as word spread to the other time zones from the East, social media went crazy, and even east coasters tuned in for the second showing at 10pm.

Imagine what the numbers might have been if HBO had given a clue about what was going to happen. But there were no previews, and no press screenings. This Sunday, the numbers should be up substantially for Logan’s funeral and the repercussions of his death. This should be the will reading of all time!

HBO will announce higher numbers from Sunday drawing on HBO Max and other platforms. These numbers are the actual ratings from the HBO main channel.

The episode was titled “Connor’s Wedding.” Remember it in July when it picks up Emmy nods for Best Drama, writing, directing, and all the actors.

Da dum!
“Law & Order” and all its configurations has been renewed by NBC. But regular orders only for classic “L&O” and “SVU.” Chris Meloni’s “Organized Crime,” with low ratings and four showrunners gone, is only guaranteed 13 weeks. Maybe after that, Meloni will only guest on “SVU.”

At the same time, NBC will bring back the “Chicago” shows — all three of them.

Add those to Wolf’s “FBI” shows on CBS, and it’s a 1000% victory. Dick Wolf will continue his hold on three different nights again next season: Tuesdays with three “FBI” shows.

Of them all, “Law & Order SVU” is the senior player, coming into its 25th season. Mariska Hargitay is the single longest running nighttime star on television. Now if only they’ll bring back Kelli Giddish– I watched it the other night and is really missed.