The TV and Streaming Thread: Summer Re-reruns (it's always summer somewhere)

[uuuhhii]

 

next season of the boys may be coming soon

but it is getting more and more difficult for it to be more ridiculous than reality

[Raithe]

 

[ShadySands]

Almost finished with Family Matters. I watched it growing up but it's still surprising how much I remember considering it's been like 25 years since i saw it last. 

We also watched Avatar 2 on Disney over the course of like 3 days. No desire to ever see it again but I'll probably watch the next one when it's available to see for free at home.

[uuuhhii]

black mirror s06

did netflix just admit they are dystopian supervillain and hope that will make viewer like them

[BruceVC]

I am watching several very entertaining series that include

 

• 1883: this is the precursor to Yellowstone and its about the dangerous journey the Dutton family took to eventually end up in Montana. Its excellent and is one of the best Western series I have ever seen
• Weeds: I never watched this series and Im on season 2, its hilarious and very easy to watch and enjoy
• Better Call Saul : Its not bad, I am battling to really get into it but I heard it gets better 
• Tulsa King : Its a crime drama with Sylvester Stallone as a  mobster who just got released after 25 years in jail and starts creating a new crime empire in Tulsa , its got potential and so far so good 
• Blue Bloods S13: Police drama set in NY and its brilliant as usual
• Your Honor S2: An excellent crime drama set in New Orleans about the mob and a judges fall from grace. Its brilliant and highly recommended  

[ShadySands]

I remember liking the first few seasons of Weeds quite a bit but then it fell headfirst over a cliff 

[InsaneCommander]

 

[Lexx]

"From the creators of Game of Thrones" - funny how they don't mention the names.

[LadyCrimson]

I watched the Aaron Paul episode of the new season of Black Mirror.

Conceptually I liked it but it was very deliberately paced (eg, slow) and way too long. The acting was fine. The one thing I did like was I guessed at three different ending scenarios and I was wrong on all three counts. It wasn't a big shocker or anything, just the one angle my brain hadn't considered.

[Gromnir]

7 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

https://www.facebook.com/socientifica/videos/carl-sagan-escuridão/684624558370639/

carl sagan narration were the best part o' the trailer, which is not a criticism.

HA! Good Fun!

[Raithe]

https://deadline.com/2023/06/metropolis-tv-series-dead-writers-strike-sam-esmail-ucp-apple-tv-plus-production-costs-1235419899/

[Zoraptor]

Watched the new Walking Dead spin off and it was... ok. Possibly even more cliché than I expected and I expected it to be very cliché- eg opening scene: stealth zombie still manages to surprise someone after xx years- but also manages to add some surprises like, uh, Zeljko Ivanek playing against type as a scenery chewing foreign loony tuner with nary a bat in his belfry randomly killing people for the lulz.

The whole idea of the show is kind of bonkers but at least it leans into it instead of being deadly serious. Plus whatshername, the annoying one from Picard, gets eaten which is also a positive.

[majestic]

I was awash with joy when I found out today that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season two began airing last week, and I am currently enjoying episode one. Episode two is going to drop tomorrow, I think. I remain hopeful that everything will keep being as great as the first ten minutes of the first episode. I am positively ecstatic. So much that I had to pause after the cold opening to post about it.

Helpful summary of the first ten minutes:

Spoiler

Pike takes a shuttle to "cross the quadrant" in "three days" and Spock gets a raging boner looking at nurse Chapel, so he decides to show off by stealing the Enterprise from Spacedock 1 to go after La'An because clearly that is the best and logical course of action after Admiral Whoever McWhatshisface said no.

Look at the ol' horn dog.

You go Spock, mission accomplished.

Not very surprisingly, everyone of the teenage bridge crew gang is on board.

As I am unable to properly express my feelings, I will just let Beethoven speak for me:

 

Quote

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elisium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken
Himmlische, dein Heiligthum.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by majestic
Forgot to format the image captions.

[LadyCrimson]

YouTube's "Uncle Roger" introduced me to a movie called God of Cookery. Weirdest movie I've seen in ages and not 100% my "thing," but admittedly it's pretty funny.

I've heard of Kung Fu Hustle before but never watched, I might try it later.

[Keyrock]

On 6/22/2023 at 6:30 PM, LadyCrimson said:

I've heard of Kung Fu Hustle before but never watched, I might try it later.

Kung Fu Hustle is GOD TIER. I can't recommend it enough.

I'm watching Forbidden Door 2: Rasslin Boogaloo. Awesome show so far, as expected. Props to the folks in Toronto tonight, a hot crowd makes a big difference for a wrestling show and these fans are going NUCLEAR.

It will never happen, definitely not while Vince is alive, but a WWE, AEW, NJPW, and Stardom supershow would be the greatest thing ever.

Edit: Orange Cassidy vs Katsuyori Shibata vs Zack Sabre Jr vs Daniel Garcia was so ****ing awesome that I had to put a pillow on my lap to hide my erection.

Edit 2: Holy **** what a fantastic show that was. The only criticism I have is that it was too long, 5 hours is a bit much. Now that I'm done complaining about too much of a good thing, holy smokes that main event. Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada, talk about a dream match. The ending was stunning.

 

Okada tapped out. Clean. No run in, no shenanigans. The American Dragon just straight up beat him and made him submit. No one had made The Rainmaker tap in 8 years.

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Got around to watching that Tom Hanks movie (via Netflix) A Man Called Otto.

I liked it more than I thought I would since it wasn't quite the direction I expected from the trailer. Tom Hanks makes a good grumpy old man, the pacing between heartwarming (wasn't overwhelming/overdone) and codger humor was a good mix. Just a light and decent feel good.

[ShadySands]

FUBAR - we finished the series even though it didn't pull us in and was pretty bad in parts but it was easier to finish watching than find the remote. If that isn't a ringing endorsement then I don't know what is.

[Keyrock]

I broke my own rule about not watching anything that has Alex Kurtzman's fingerprints on it and attempted to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I made it about halfway through season 1 when I lost the will to continue, for now, anyway, which I think is further than I made it with Discovery. I'll give it this, it's not the horrific nightmare that was what I saw of Discovery and at no point was I seriously considering throwing my TV out of the window. Anson Mount is good as Pike and the show does have that hopeful vibe that I'm looking for with Star Trek. It's got it's moments and the melodrama is not quite as ridiculous as in Discovery. But man, they get so ****ing proud of themselves. There are those moments at the ends of the episodes where I can see the writers patting themselves on the back and I guess I'm supposed to get teary eyed and maybe I should stand up and clap or pump my fist in the air, I think that's the reaction they thought I'd have. This is me instead:

[ShadySands]

I have similar feelings about the show. I think it's the best of Kurtzman Trek by a wide margin but it still has that stank on it. My wife loves the show, though not as much as The Orville, as all the things that bother me, she either doesn't notice or it doesn't bother her as much.

Have they announced any new Trek shows since STD, Picard, and Prodigy are done? I haven't been paying attention. Though I suppose I am on the interwebs and could look it up instead of typing all this out.

*Looks like maybe Star Star Trek Fleet Academy.

Edited June 29, 2023 by ShadySands

[majestic]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season two, episode two.

We do have an idiom that literally translates to "even a blind chicken sometimes finds some grain", the meaning of which should be clear and which applies rather aptly to this episode, because this was the best Star Trek episode of nuTrek by a very fair margin. Never had to pause, never facepalmed and never felt like venting. If I had to name something negative, it was that the episode was derivative. The complaint that the episode plot has been done before is rather minor considering that it made good use of all the characters and their backgrounds, and was thankfully almost completely free of the jovial teenage crew dialogue that I despise so much about this series.

It even took current social issues and highlighted them without being obnoxious about them, and even though they prominently feature the Federation, it does so while staying well within the Star Trek canon. Dare I say it, this was not just a good episode of Strange New Worlds, nay, it was a good Star Trek episode. Good sci-fi. Color me orange and call me sunkist, never thought I would ever say that about anything called Star Trek after 2009.

Guess all it took was writing a writer who worked on Once Upon A Time, of all things. Now make her write all the other episodes too.

[Zoraptor]

Once Upon a Time was actually pretty good within the limitations of a US network TV show; ie went on far too long, kept characters way after their sell by date so all the plots felt recycled pretty quickly and used up all the good ideas in the first couple of seasons etc. But that's what happens when you're trying to write 22 episodes a year for 7 years or whatever it was. OTOH, Fear the Walking Dead went right down the toilet when its OUaT writers/ showrunners joined, so mileage obviously varies more than a Volkswagon.

Haven't seen either SNW episode yet due to time constraints.

Watched the 2nd episode of Dead City though. Not bad at all, and a lot more my sort of thing than either the main show or Fear had given in years. Mostly due to Jeffrey Dean Morgan I think, who has 5 minutes of the best scenery chewing I've seen anywhere in years.

[Zoraptor]

OK, seen the first two SNW episodes now.

First one is... ok. Dragged down a bit by the very silly framing used to get the Enterprise there and has some pretty overt nuTrek tropes too, but still, ok despite that. It's not going to be an episode anyone remembers in a few weeks/ months time though.

Spoiler

We're back to 'proper' looking Klingons now after whatever I've spent the last 5 years trying to forget was on Discovery. Apart from the rather silly framing of stealing the Enterprise we also have La'an immediately reappearing after an indeterminate leave of absence and rejoining Starfleet which probably stretches credulity somewhat. As does the overarching plot of suicidal extremist but conveniently moronically stupid- utterly braindead stupid, drooling in the corner blowing raspberries at the wall- Klingons trying to restart the war. Garak they most definitely were not. Indeed, Garak's nail clippings would have done a better job.

Second one is, yeah, well written- probably even very well written- for the vast majority. Got to say though, it has a lot of the same Trek flaws that a lot of otherwise good episodes have. Note, not specifically nuTrek flaws in this case, since the same thing tends to happen a lot in every Trek show except (to an extent) DS9 with its more rigid narrative. So not an absolutely top tier episode in my eyes because some of the consequences don't ring true, but not far off.

Spoiler

That stretching credulity part is ultimately the one thing I didn't like about the 2nd episode too. Yes, very nice and well executed 'gotcha' type moment at the end to save Una, and a far more nuanced take on currentyear issues than most. Well, all, probably. But, the problem remains that even if Pike could offer asylum it doesn't mean she could stay as 2nd in command of a ship in Starfleet having spent years lying. Indeed, it's very difficult to see a realistic way she could. This is, of course, a problem with just about every single Trek show to a greater or lesser extent; you have to go back to status quo ante because [character] is needed in basically the same role for the next episode. Narratively, there's also the problem that (and I could be wrong here, but don't think I am) the gun used in the final act was not put on the mantel earlier, ie there was no hint of that law/ reg existing prior to it being quoted to us. That is not the problem it could be in other circumstances- it's a logical reg for SF to have, after all- but its application as allowing Una to continue her role... well I cannot see it happening in reality and I wish they could have found a slightly more believable way to keep her around.

 

[Gfted1]

On 6/29/2023 at 6:27 PM, Zoraptor said:

Mostly due to Jeffrey Dean Morgan I think, who has 5 minutes of the best scenery chewing I've seen anywhere in years.

Based entirely on this sentence, I watched the first two episodes of Dead City, and it was so worth it for that scene alone. We havent watched any of the Walking Dead or its spinoffs but Im enjoying this one so far. Extra points for headbutting zombies with a spike helmet.

[bugarup]

Black Mirror season 5-6 mix and Bandersnatch. Latter was kinda useful as a component of Netflixverse that 'flix seems to be building, but hoo boy was it dull. And no, Netflix, just because you know it's dull too does not make it better. 

Season six episodes 1 and 2, Netflix is really serious about meta, isn't it? Anyway, I liked 1 and not just because some part of my brain is forever 12 and I was delighted about the church scene.  Episode 2, totally called it, but otherwise forgettable. Aaron Paul episode was good but horribly depressing and I am so glad I chose to watch the Miley Cyrus one next because I really needed something positive and fluffy to counter  that one. The one with gamer bros horny for each other characters was too serious for such a silly premise, the Andrew Scott one had sweet summer child energy now, when we can see an actual war on social media, and Season six's episodes 5 and 6 I think I already forgot. 

[LadyCrimson]

Ooooodles of noodles!  Thanks KQED for uploading many of Yan's episodes. I used to love the way he chopped things and his humor. He's still alive and doing stuff, too.

I wonder if this episode is when I started using "oodles". I mean, I'm sure the word usage existed for ages before this show but I refer to me personally. It was either this, a book I read, or my mother. I know not which.