S1 & S2 were great. I do agree S3 went down somewhat but don't think it jumped the shark yet. The S3 finale had good tension.

I think the problem with binge watching 3-4-5 seasons of a show is it becomes repetitive. I think if you watched them a season at a time, or an episode once a week like old school, it seems less formulamatic. If thats a word

The final scene was great

Debating between these 4 choices (note the theme that I didn't have time before to invest but now have a LOT of time and they are all loved)...

Try Ozark again. (Gave up around mid-season 1, some say it gets better later)
Try Westworld again. (Gave up around mid-season 1, some say it gets better)
Try Mad Men again (Gave up pretty early on, but have heard it gets good in later seasons)
Try The Crown (I really enjoyed Downton Abbey)

Wasn't sure if I just wasn't into these or if they all did start out slow and got better. Favorite shows if this helps The Wire, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Succession, Treme...

The first two seasons of The Crown are great, the third is fine, but didn't have the season-long arc of the first two seasons.

I loved the first season of Westworld. The ending shows are great.

Westworld Season 1 is the best by far. Season 2 was terrible. Season 3 is better. It's been renewed for Season 4.

I love the Crown. It's fantastic stuff. I don't like the third season as much, but I think it's more because the new actress for the Queen isn't as good as the previous one (they basically have the same cast for 2 seasons and then recast, since they are moving through a bunch of decades). On the other hand, the new Prince Phillip is perfect (though I've always really liked Tobias Menzies).

Mad Men is excellent.

I'm just finishing Season 3 of The Crown. I also don't like the new actors as much as the ones in Seasons 1 and 2. What I don't get is why they changed actors. Season 2 ended in 1963 after JFK's assassination and Season 3 started in 1964. So they aged 20 years in 1 year?

And I like Michael C. Hall in Dexter and Six Feet Under but he was a horrible JFK. Didn't look or sound like him.

I was in this same boat, but with the lockdown and no sports, started watching again 6 weeks ago and finished all the episodes in about a week and really enjoyed it so I'd recommend going back to it.

Sounds like I can't go wrong with any of them. Probably go Crown (since I've never even seen it) and then Ozark/Westworld because they are shorter and finally Mad Men.

What's crazy is 10 years ago I could watch Lost, Breaking Bad, Dexter etc all at the same time (with the once a week episodes) but now I feel like I have to stream one show to it's completion at a time. Like I couldn't watch an episode of all 4 and then cycle. Does that make sense? (I don't even try the Hulu/Showtime/HBO once a week ones until they are done with their seasons) Am I crazy or do you guys feel the same way?

Season 3 went from 1964 to 1977. Claire Foy definitely didn't look like QE2 in the 70s. They are going through the 80s with these actors. Season 4 is going to have Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher.

It's because they are made for binging as opposed to airing every week. The pacing is different for shows based on how they are intended to be aired.

Have you tried Peaky Blinders?

5 seasons, 6 episodes per. Excellent acting and storylines and the music is amazing.

Had it in my queue but kept seeing the 5 seasons and never really thought that as a British show that would only be 30 episodes and not 100 like the US. Will definitely add that to my list!

I do recommend watching with subtitles. The accents are a bit thick.

Yeah and I get that for the newer shows but I even feel that way rewatching older shows like a Mad Men or Sopranos. I think streaming + my short attention span has changed how I watch tv.

Ahhh, that's interesting. When I watch older shows, usually I'm fine watching one or two shows a night and watching something else along with it. Like the wife and I have been watching Picard and Killing Eve back to back just about every weekend - KE was on cable and Picard kind of feels like it (with even strange cut to black between non-existent commercial breaks).

It's different watching something on Netflix or Amazon made for streaming, which just leads you into the next episode.

We just started our free trial for CBS to watch Picard. Enjoying it 3 eps in - kindof TNG meets Blade Runner. It's not super awesome but it's good enough that we'll easily watch it all the way through.

What's the consensus on Discovery?

SI

Personally, I thought Season 1 was very good - takes a while to get the story going but once it does it's great. Season 2 was terrible - a muddled mess with an incoherent plot.

Considering we have a 4 year old so we don't get to watch TV much, maybe just watching 1 season is the way to go. We'll see if we even get that far with only a month to watch.

SI

Yeah. If you don't like season 1, I doubt you'd like seasons 2 or 3.

Varies here.

Some things work better for straight binges, other stuff we do maybe 2 eps at a time & then come back after watching some other things in between before a couple more.

Yup, really enjoyed The Crown. S3 not as much because different actors/actresses but thought the Charles story telling was pretty good.

Loved season 1 or Westworld, didn't enjoy season 2, and after 1 episode of season 3, wife is ready to give up. Me too, most likely.

Same here except we didn't even make it through season 2 before we bailed.

We watched Upload s1 this past week. I enjoyed it more than my wife. Its a neat concept and enjoyed the little "realism" with bugs, torrents, hacks etc.

I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a final season of a show as I was with Brockmire. It was just so out there. Other shows have had worse final seasons but you could see it coming. This one was just out of left field. Pun intended.

The Plot Against America is really good. It's a slow burn that leads up to an incredibly tense final episode. The casting is great. Amazing performances by Zoe Kazan, Morgan Spector, and John Turturro. I'm not sure how it compares to the book, but it made for a great series on HBO.

Anyone using Quibi? Some of these “shows” look kind of interesting

The clips I've seen from the Girl with the Golden Arm are amazingly awful.

Just finished the first season of "Sunderland Till I Die." Wow.

I really enjoyed this series. Both seasons were excellent (to watch). Would be tough to be a Sunderland fan.

lol

I also watched that over the past two weeks. I was trying to think of an American equivalent and I thought maybe Buffalo?

I agree, but I love the passion. Heck, it makes me want to be a Sunderland supporter. Lord knows, I am quite familiar with hard luck teams.

Watched season 1 of Into the Night, really enjoyed it. It's a french 6-part series disaster/post apocalypse movie set mostly in a passenger plane as a small group of survivors need to frantically keep a plane in the air as long as possible for reasons revealed in the first episode, however I won't spoil it.

I watched a handful of these recently, and enjoyed them.

I'm watching "A French Village" on hulu. WWII story about the German occupation of a small French town near the Vichy border. Almost through the second season, finding it pretty good.

Season 4 of Workin Moms has really delivered. Such a quality show and Reitmans daughter is phenomenal.

“Dave” on FXX is steaming on Hulu and is really raunchy funny. Created by the guy who created The League and Lil Dicky.

So a few weeks ago we were sitting around waiting to leave to go somewhere and threw Dave on to kill time. 4 episodes later we were leaving an hour later than originally intended.

On a side note, Barry is one of the few shows that starts off with a strong first season and then gets even better in season 2. It may be the best season of television I've watched this year.

Oh yeah. Barry is awesome. Def one of my faves.

Also watching “The Great”. It’s fairly decent.

I loved "The Great." It was crazy fun. Just don't go in expecting any kind of historical accuracy. I think the only thing accurate is they have most of the names right, and it was in Russia.

I would watch a series based on the movie "Dave"

I really hope the series turns out great.

Not exactly sure what is planned for the US Space Force (other than launching secret satellites). It may be premature right now but there will likely be a need in the future as China, India and others are ramping up.

The Netflix Show The Pentagon Can’t Stop Talking About - POLITICO

As a Newcastle fan, I agree! :devil:

But also as a Newcastle fan, I've been avoiding this one. I just don't know if I could watch a documentary about our most hated rival. But I'm missing sports so much I'm starting to consider it.

Been watching Netflix Van Helsing, currently at s1 ep8. Not zombies taking over the world but the next best thing with vampires. It isn't great acting but the story line is fun for me.

E Network has been showing reruns of Las Vegas. Such a great show

Unfortunately I've been reading early critiques that "Space Force" is a disappointment.

Been reading that about Space Force as well. But will try it.

Decided to get a free 7 day trial of HBO from Amazon because I wanted to watch Contagion.

I have been binging on some good movies. Hobbs and haw was really good. Finally watched the Deadwood movie. That was okay. Finally got to see Atomic Homefront which is absolutely chilling. I cannot believe the EPA is going to let that place do what it will eventually. And the clusters, oh my.
Joker was really good.

Those are the movies that stuck out. Good thing for Summer and having an excuse to stay at home.

Watch Chernobyl while you have HBO.

Just finished Space Force ep 1. Didn't think it was that bad. It has promise and may get better.

We watched the whole season last night. The family enjoyed it.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

+++++

I enjoyed space Force. If you thought it would be like the office, you will be disappointed. But it was a solid, fun show. I did struggle with the daughters character, but she got better as the season went on. I enjoyed it.

Yeah, we just finished ep 5 and it definitely isn't as bad as a review I read.

It does seem a little disjointed (e.g. daughter character so far doesn't fit IMO) and the distraction of wife in prison (e.g. no explanation yet). But hoping it gets better as the story-line develops. It's not The Office but think/hope it can stand on its own merits.

Finished Space Force. Not the best but enough where I want to watch s2. It's definitely got potential IMO.

I thought the wife was Terri Garr and when I looked her up I said "wait a minute, she's too old". Anyone else think Lisa Kudrow looks like Terri Garr way back when?

Just watched the wild and wonderful whites of west virginia. Holy shit

here's a feel good story amid the chaos

7-year-old throws personal prom for babysitter after hers was canceled

Gonna take this opportunity to recommend The Plot Against America again.

Anyone else watched "Upload" in Prime?

I was looking for something a little easier on the brain and this turn out to be just the ticket. Something light, fairly simple and not entirely depressing.

Yes, fun concept and show.

Seems like they dumped a million anime shows on Netflix at once, and I'm not an anime person by any means, but I am bored and just kept scrolling through page after page, until I was drawn to 'Backstreet Girls':

'To pay for an epic blunder, three yakuza brothers are forced to alter their genders, form a girl group and break into the underground J-Pop idol scene.'

It is so batshit stupid, in the best of ways. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed it. Great concept.

Im afraid if I dont see a commercial for the 2nd seson it will be gone from my mind though.

I liked it, but it was just a show.

Finished s2. It's definitely subpar writing with TWD early seasons but think it is on par with recent seasons. There's some pretty good special effects and makeup also. s2 was dominated by "Sam", he's a great actor but unfortunately the protagonist woman is pretty lame.

started The Morning Show last night, so far really good and it is great to see Mark Duplass in something else. He was great in The League

There is a movie for rent on Amazon Prime called Float Trip. It is $1.99.

Now I bring this up because it was filmed in my Wife's hometown, Steelville, MO.

It is 48 minutes long and very low budget. It is a cross between Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance. But is funny in its low budgetness.

They start at Birds Nest Lodge which is about a mile from my in laws house. And my daughters just happened to float the exact stretch of river the movie was filmed on, Saturday.

Good stuff. And funny.

Started The Leftovers last night, watched the first episode. I hope it gets better quick or my wife may lose interest

It is one of my top 5 shows of all time. The first season is really depressing (as you may imagine). It really gets excellent around Ep 3 or 4 (the one that follows the Pastor around). Season 2 goes in a slightly different direction (that a lot of people liked more - a bit more humor involved). Season 1 covered the entire book fwiw, and the book did not have a lot of humor in it.

For what it's worth, I consider the 8th episode of Season 2 (International Assassin) the second greatest episode in TV history (after Ozymandius from Breaking Bad).

The Leftovers is a great show but very bleak and depressing. Definitely worth sticking with though. Carrie Coon is amazing. I also like the actress who plays Patti, who also plays Aunt Lydia in the Handmaid's Tale, another bleak show.

Come to think of it - a rewatch of The Leftovers during a pandemic would be a very interesting experience. Sure it's not the same as the Sudden Disappearance, but there are some common beats.

Add me to the list as a huge Leftovers fan though my tastes tend to be "out there" meaning if I were ranking HBO shows I prefer Leftovers, Carnivale, & The Deuce to shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. Not that I didn't enjoy the others as well but kind of like ones that don't follow a standard script/set-up.

I would think though once you are a few episodes in you will probably know whether you are going to like it or not.

The Leftovers might be the most acquired taste show I've ever watched. I don't know that I would recommend it to most. But if you're still in after the first 5 episodes, then it is one of the best shows of all time

Re-watching The Witcher. Currently at episode 4 w/"Law of Surprise". Not as good as episode 3 w/"Striga" but still very entertaining.

They have starting filming s2 with a release date sometime in 2021. Can't wait.

Watched Robin Williams: Come inside my mind
a documentary about him

so much I didn't know about him.
He hung out with David Letterman and Jay Leno
He was married three times, his second marriage was to his nanny that his first wife hired. FIrst wife divorced him because he would never stay home. Was always off doing other projects and screwing other women.
He was with John Belushi the night he died.
He was a bigtime drug addict.
His entire career was because of star wars.
Garry Marshall's son had just seen star wars and when the director of happy days marshall asked him what he wanted to see, he said a spaceman.
Thus Williams became Mork from Ork.
One of Williams' earliest inspirations was Jonathan Winters. Who later became his son on Mork and Mindy.
Both really had the same style. They played improv theatre games, specifically freezetag and props...but with no need for any audience suggestions...their brains created the suggestions from minute to minute.


Also watched Nico the Unicorn. A very YOUNG Elisha Cuthbert and tvmovie and second fiddles Michael Ontkean and Anne Archer

Finished watching the 4 seasons of Rectify. I enjoyed it but there were many parts that dragged on too much. I'd say give it a shot if you like slower paced mysteries with a lot of character development.

Finished season 1 of Hunters last night. Really enjoyed it in a sort of Tarantino-lite kind of way. A bit over the top and I can see why some folks online didn't like the finale (I on the other hand thought it was great).

Any classical music affionados here?

I watched a documentary called "The Curse of The Gothic"

about a brisbane, Ayustralia sympphony orchestra and its many attempts to put on one of the most challenging pieces ever.

"The Gothic" requires like 150 musicians and 400 choral singers and is apparently quite complicated.

Waco....{thumbs up | thumbs up}

Trying to burn thru the rest of the last few seasons of Orange is the new Black. Finding myself fast forwarding thru a lot of characters now. I think they definitely overestimated how much we cared about certain characters. Season 4-5 taking place over what seems like a couple days is definitely a drag for a show that did well with new blood.

Easily one of my favorite shows ever. Just brilliant.

Season 5 is terrible. It gets better after that and I really enjoyed the last season.

We burnt through 2 seasons of Bosch on Prime in a week and a half, and started on season 3 last night. I'd only heard of it because it kept Titus Welliver out of the Deadwood movie and we threw it only semi-randomly based on RT scores. Completely loving it, Titus is great in the lead role but the whole cast is excellent.

Yeah Bosch is a great show, the partner (Marlo from the Wire) is really good in it as well. I like Jack Ryan a lot also on prime. Forget if that is in season 2 or 3 but I think it's safe to say if you like Bosch you will like Jack Ryan.

Thanks i'll give it a shot - Prime advertised it before the episode of Bosch we watched last night, so seems like they agree with you. :)

Haven't seen the Wire (one of those shows thats been on my list forever but isn't on any streaming services here in Australia), I'm actually shocked the actor that plays his partner is in his early 40s in season 3, I thought he was like 30/early 30s max.

Watching Dusk Till Dawn and holy crap Eiza González is sexy.

Anyone got any reviews of The 5 Bloods, yet?

I watched like 20 minutes and was not impressed. It feels slapdash. They did not appear to adjust the age any of the actors for their flashbacks to the war era for example, they just like put them in different hats.

What a show! Absolutely amazing television.

Leftovers is still weird

My wife and I are watching Queen of the South. Basic rags to riches story about a young lady rising up the ranks of a drug cartel and becoming the largest drug cartle in the Western Hemisphere.

Pretty good show. Characters are good to really good. Some of the side stories I didnt really like. But overall we are enjoying it.

Yeah he played a really young drug kingpin in the Wire. Think his character was supposed to be in his early 20's but I guess he would have been in his 30's already on that! A complete 180 from J Edgar.

Irving is also a huge character on the Wire. Plays a pretty similar role actually on both shows.

I’m like 45 minutes in and legit this could be one of the worst movies I can remember watching. I’m sure it’ll come around I hope. I also hated Miracle at St. Anna I think.

I didn't even know it was Spike Lee until about an hour ago. That makes so much sense. I also hated Miracle at St. Anna....I think mostly because that was a really bad movie.

The dialog is definitely Spike Lee clunky and heavy handed. In that 20 minutes I watched I think there were 3 different instances of characters blurting out the name of some obscure soldier and then flatly rattling off their Wikipedia introduction in the middle of unrelated conversations.

The choice of using 70ish year old actors as 20 year old soldiers in different hats is just absolutely fucking laughable.

I watched it today.

A lot of the stuff that you're complaining about was done on purpose. They weren't trying to pass them off as the younger actors. That was totally done as an artistic choice.

My issue with it was that it drug hard in the middle. Spike got quite heavy handed with the plot options here, and really felt like he was cramming 50 pounds of shit into a 20lb bag. I understand the point that they are making. He wanted to emphasize the impact and importance of the black experience in Vietnam. It's just that he felt like he needed to cram every trope from that into the movie.

My kids liked it. It was alright. It was no Blackkklansman or anything.

There was like 20-30 minutes of plot drug out to 140-150 minutes. I loved BlacKkKlansman. This was ass.

Delightfully and wonderfully so. The episode that takes place in the afterlife hotel remains one of my favorite episodes of television of all time.

It's weird the whole way through. You just gotta decide if you're in or out.

We are in at this point...

Good. It’s worth sticking with.

still weird