The TV and Streaming Thread: That's Entertainment!

[rjshae]

11 hours ago, kanisatha said:

This is true up to a point. Broadcast and cable networks now tend to have their current season available to watch for free anytime.

I think if we end up with a single source that supplies only what you want to watch, then we'll then have to worry about monopolistic tendencies from the supplier. I.e. sure we can watch anything, but at a higher cost. Also, with a monopoly, there's less incentive to release quality programming. I don't think there will be a net benefit for the consumer.

[LadyCrimson]

Hubby and I started watching Mickey17 last night.

Not exactly what I was expecting. One of those with deliberate slow pacing, including a lot of one chr's inner headspace monologue narrating. It's conceptually sort of interesting and did keep my attention for the most part but it's not, half-way through, all that compelling. Hubby wanted to go to bed so we stopped halfway. Not sure if either of us is super keen on finishing.

[LadyCrimson]

Hubby's been watching a series (I think via paramount+) called Tracker. I don't know much about it - one of those "guy with skills helps ppl in bad trouble, with a background team" type of shows. But I like that it's procedural, episodes largely self-contained, so sometimes I can randomly plop down next to him to watch an episode and not be lost. Seems fairly decent for that genre.

Mostly I'm waiting for the final Squid Game episodes.

[kanisatha]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Hubby's been watching a series (I think via paramount+) called Tracker. I don't know much about it - one of those "guy with skills helps ppl in bad trouble, with a background team" type of shows. But I like that it's procedural, episodes largely self-contained, so sometimes I can randomly plop down next to him to watch an episode and not be lost. Seems fairly decent for that genre.

I commented on Tracker some time ago. It's my favorite show these days. And it is one of the highest rated shows on broadcast networks.

[Sarex]

Murderbot. So far the show is carried by the robot and the rest of the cast is uninteresting to say the least.

[Hurlshort]

18 hours ago, Sarex said:

Murderbot. So far the show is carried by the robot and the rest of the cast is uninteresting to say the least.

So true to the book. Although I expect the sentient research ship in season 2 will challenge that.

[rjshae]

I decided to put together a list of my favorite series over the last decade or so to see what else might fall into the same pot. In no particular order:

• Fringe
• The X Files
• Firefly
• Picard*
• Psycho-Pass*
• Cowboy Bebop 
• Person of Interest
• Dollhouse
• Orphan Black
• Handmaid's Tale
• Andor*
• The Walking Dead
• The Good Wife
• ER
• Deadwood
• Hell on Wheels

*Recently watched or still watching.

For some reason I seem to like female protagonists, usually in some mix of sci-fi, western, or medical drama. I no longer enjoy procedurals, crime shows, or musicals. Any suggestions for future viewing?

[majestic]

4 hours ago, rjshae said:

Any suggestions?

Repeated application of blunt force trauma to the head for liking Picard. 

[Gromnir]

a few o' those go considerable past the last decade, so am not sure what the temporal range is if we are including x-files and firefly, which both had their final episodes over twenty years past, yes? example: pushing dasies and wonderfalls were broadcast after firefly and x-files, but they is a bit remote. 

fleabag, better call saul, hannibal, atlanta, true detective (season 1) and a few seasons of fargo all are near the top o' our favorite tv series from the last ~decade. 

a couple other notables:

mr robot had loads o' great performances, but... am curious ambivalent. not sure why we didn't like it more.

the bear. wth? how the heck is the bear categorized as a comedy? great show that makes us feel terrible. we watched the bear and thought it were fantastic, but maybe something resonated too much, 'cause we frequent were made uncomfortable on a physical level when watching the bear.

chernobyl, shogun and watchmen is miniseries we enjoyed. kinda surprised by shogun-- maybe we liked it more 'cause we were expecting so little? keep in mind, am old enough to have seen the original nbc shogun miniseries when it were first televised.

regardless, can't stress how much we approve of fleabag.

HA! Good Fun!

ps the 80s was a good time for broadcast miniseries, and only about half of them starred richard chamberlain. in fact, richard chamberlain was jason bourne back in the late 80s. 'bout a year after nbc's shogun, masada, with peter o'toole (we kid you not) and peter strauss were released by abc... think it were abc. am realizing that with times being what they are, there is 0% chance o' a masada remake, which is too bad. 1989, at the end o' the decade, we got lonesome dove. was a whole lotta not good miniseries, but following rich man, poor man and roots, they became expected annual occurrences for the networks, and a few o' those miniseries were justifiably memorable even when they weren't fantastic.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Gromnir said:

a few o' those go considerable past the last decade, so am not sure what the temporal range is if we are including x-files and firefly, which both had their final episodes over twenty years past, yes? example: pushing dasies and wonderfalls were broadcast after firefly and x-files, but they is a bit remote. 

X-Files had a small revival with two new seasons airing in 2016 and 2018, in case you missed it. Had some pretty good episodes. Well worth watching for old fans of the series, probably no real appeal for new viewers. The overarching storyline remains silly and pointless, as it was beyond season six (or probably earlier, depending on how much you liked the alien rebellion). 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:19 AM by majestic

[rjshae]

4 hours ago, Gromnir said:

a few o' those go considerable past the last decade, so am not sure what the temporal range is if we are including x-files and firefly, which both had their final episodes over twenty years past, yes? example: pushing dasies and wonderfalls were broadcast after firefly and x-files, but they is a bit remote. 

fleabag, better call saul, hannibal, atlanta, true detective (season 1) and a few seasons of fargo all are near the top o' our favorite tv series from the last ~decade. 

a couple other notables:

mr robot had loads o' great performances, but... am curious ambivalent. not sure why we didn't like it more.

chernobyl, shogun and watchmen is miniseries we enjoyed. kinda surprised by shogun-- maybe we liked it more 'cause we were expecting so little? keep in mind, am old enough to have seen the original nbc shogun miniseries when it were first televised.

Yes I did enjoy Mr. Robot and Fargo. Although I'm not fond of crime series, non-procedural detective series can be fun to watch. In the case of X-Files, I only watched it long after the series had run its course, so for me it feels more recent. Shogun was excellent, but I'm not sure I'd watch it again. Another series I just remembered was Legion, which I'll add to my list.

[rjshae]

7 hours ago, majestic said:

Repeated application of blunt force trauma to the head for liking Picard. 

Well a swift kick in the nether regions for implying the need for violence.

[LadyCrimson]

Started watching some k-drama/rom-com, via Netflix, called The Potato Lab.

The first episode was meh to ok, but then around 45 minutes there was this total camp scene of the stoic male lead running from a bird and falling/rolling down a field - yes it was stupid but I laughed. After that, typical kdrama romcom tropes/plot. Although, sometimes purposely self-aware tropes, which is a bit amusing.  I'll likely lose interest rapidly but at least that scene gave me a giggle. And I can get it off my watch list. Heh.

[LadyCrimson]

Man, why couldn't Netflix have been so k-drama content focused when I was just getting into/really into k-drama content and not totally jaded, years ago?
--Trigger - silly sounding but social-commentary what-if premise but Kim Nam Gil has yet to disappoint me re: projects he's selected/been prominent in. I've liked every single one of his series (10 years). I will watch.
--Wall to Wall - Kang Ha- Neul as an actor has yet to disappoint me - some of his series I wasn't into. But mystery/thriller/horror is a genre I often like (10 years). I will watch.
--And for now - SQUID GAME is on. Please be a good conclusion! Pretty please!

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:40 PM by LadyCrimson

[Lexx]

Finished Squid Game season 3. Generally not bad, but...

 

the ending is meh. I thought they would wrap it up, but now it still feels like just another cliff hanger. Even worse, it looks like they are turning this into some global franchise, like how John Wick got bigger and bigger with every movie.

I mean, I'm not hating the ending. Just don't really have any clear feelings about it. Guess I just don't like that it doesn't actually end like they said. It's open and now Netflix can do a ****ton of spin-offs from which one is worse than the other.

They didn't even deal with those rich people. I get it, it's kinda realistic how the rich fks get away with everything, but still.. feels like wasted potential. 

Edited 23 hours ago by Lexx

[Sarex]

Standard Korean ending.