Ted Lasso is soooooooo good.

Nate's arc is one of the best I've seen in a television series.

Finished watching "The Rig" on Prime. Interesting premise about an ocean oil rig that disturbed some weird organism and it's payback time.

Not the best writing, acting or special effects but I enjoyed learning a little more about life on oil rigs. There were 6 episodes and it could have been easily condensed down to 5 if not 4.

But overall, a somewhat entertaining B-grade movie.

Good news that Strange New Worlds wasn't cancelled.

Anyone have a suggestion for a show I can watch while my wife is away? Needs to be something my 13 year old can be in the room for but not necessarily be watching

Zava is obviously Zlatan and it could be amazing.

Last week's Picard episode referenced Voyager. So re-watched the series finale.

I had forgotten how sudden the ending was. The episode was pretty good but the ending left a lot to be desired. I wish there was one more episode after that to show the "life after" stuff.

Going to have to also watch TNG, DS9, Enterprise series finales again.

I watched all of The Night Agent. It was about 3-4 episodes too long but was solidly entertaining. I’d probably rate The Recruit slightly higher because of brevity. Season 1 of The Flight Attendant was better than both.

Has anyone watched Industry on HBO Max? I keep seeing people either love it or hate it. Noticed Kit Harrington just signed on for season 3 and wondering if it's worth a try.

Seeing a lot of buzz about Tetris. Anyone seen it?

Just saw it and it's a really fun and interesting movie. Highly recommend, especially if you remember the old Gameboy.

Oh I remember it well. Wife is away for work tonight, Maybe after the mets game I'll tuck in with a few beers and some online poker and check it out.

Finished Netflix's "War Sailor".


I was expecting more action but it's about 2 good Norwegian friends (sailors) separated from family; and their & family's experiences during the war.

There was a U-Boat scene that was very memorable. Overall, not great but entertaining and you learn some history also.

My comment on the latest episode of "Succesion":



That was probably in the top ten best episodes of television in what is probably a top 5 series all-time.

Here we go. It is official. 7 seasons for all seven books. A more thorough on screen representation of the HP series. I just wonder how they hope to accomplish this without the children growing out of their parts.

Your Hogwarts letter is here.

Max has ordered the first ever #HarryPotter scripted television series, a faithful adaptation of the iconic books. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/3CgEHLYhch

— HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023

If they do one season a year then it should be easy right? Didn't each book cover roughly one calendar year in the story?

Yes, but hardly any cable/streaming television keeps that schedule anymore, especially ones that have the post-production of a fantasy series. If they can get seven seasons out in 12 years they might be pushing it.

dola: I'm not saying it can't be done. I hope they will. But it is probably a huge ask.

I don't see how they're going to have anywhere near the casting of the originals. It was tremendous casting - not perfect but really, really good (for instance, I think Dumbledore was never quite cast right but most everything else was). Isn't the middle section of every single review going to read something like "oh, they do a commendable job but they're not as good as Radcliffe or Watson or Rickman or Maggie Smith" or whatever? Even if they're very good, a whole generation, the generation who grew up reading that book (or reading it as an adult) has those faces imprinted on the work.

Similarly, the movies really are well done so the series is going to suffer a lot from comparisons to them. Like Columbus's 1 and 2 were great at introductions and the wonder of "everyday magic". Some of that gets lost, starting with 4 where the action really ramps up and there's just not as much time for that, but they still try like with the scenes with he Quidditch World Cup. Frankly, 3 could do a better job of stretching out a bit - though lots of people love Cuaron's take on it (I think it's one of the weaker movies despite being one of the better books but I'm in the minority). On the other hand, Yates did us all a favor but cutting a lot of the frustrating slog out of 5, as it was the hardest book to read. And, yeah, book 7 should never have been 2 movies but it was also hundreds of pages off diversion longer of a book than it should have been, too. I mean, in short - there's room to make some nips and tucks but it's going to make the first couple of books seem like not enough stuff while the latter movies did audiences a favor by cutting out some of the fluff.

I mean, if it's at all remotely well reviewed, we'll probably watch it, which is what max (why get rid of the hbo name?) is banking on. But there's a good chance this doesn't do what they hope.

SI

As long as Benihoff and Weiss have nothing to do with it, it should be OK.

My daughter is past her Harry Potter phase, but she was interested but skeptical when I told her. Now I realized I'll be 50 and she'll be out of college by the time it's done.

Also, I feel like a book a season every year is gonna be tough based on child labor rules for SAG. They may have to film it in Arkansas off the books.

Dropping HBO from the name is going to go down with New Coke as an epic blunder. HBO is one of the most prestigious names on television. It is like throwing away capital.

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I may be wrong. I have heard this as 7 seasons, but some publications are saying 10 seasons.

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A "decade long series". My guess is a little makeup here & a little CGI there. Did wonders for Luke.

Personally, not interested in a re-telling of the story. I'd think it'll be more interesting explore other storylines in the Harry Potter world.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/har...ax-1235578295/

Yeah, I don't get that decision at all

SI

Welp. Justin Roiland was cleared of all charges for domestic violence. Yet he is still removed from his own show by adult swim, no longer running the show nor doing the voices which are said to be being recast. And there was never any indication he was going to be connected to the spinoff show "Rick and MOrty: THe Anime" on HBO Max. Soooo...what now? Are they going to let him back? I think he has good grounds to sue if they don't let him back.

To play devil's advocate... HBO is a big name, sure, but it clearly represents one thing in most peoples' minds - movies. This service is combining scripted shows and movies with a large amount of unscripted shows. And I think they wanted a name that was short and easy to remember.

I don't know of any streaming services that use the term Max aside from HBO. If there are, they certainly aren't big names or important. If you know the term "Max" from streaming, it's because you're familiar with HBO Max. So going with Max pulls in the familiarity of HBO without bringing in the limitations I would think of when I hear the name HBO.

I don't know if it's going to be successful, but I don't think it's that big a deal. Personally, I'm curious if my free HBO Max through AT&T is going to continue with Max.

You are saying HBO, the home of the HBO originals The Soprano's, The Wire, Game Of Thrones, Succession, on and on and on, the most important televison shows in the history of televison, is not known for television?

And "Max" means Cinemax to most people. So the service sounds like it is the host of 90's style soft-core porn.

Agreed. HBO used to be synonymous with movies, but that was decades ago. HBO has long been the flagship for prestige cable television shows. People subscribe to HBO for the shows, not the movies. The data strongly backs that up.

I guess. I have watched like two scripted series since the mid-00s so while I've heard of those shows, I had no idea they were on HBO (or didn't pay attention to who offered them). And I have a free subscription to HBO Max (which I rarely touch - obviously!).

This.

I subscribe to HBO in windows of time to watch their shows, then turn it off, and come back later to binge watch once content builds up again.

In those times I have had HBO I can't remember watching any movies. Even though each time I sign up I go in thinking I'll find one or two movies I'd like to see in addition to the HBO series' I am signing up to watch. I end up going through the movie list and come away "meh".

Yeah, having a subscription to Cinemax is like having a subscription to Playboy back in the day. IE I get Cinemax for the mainstream second run movies like I get Playboy for the articles :)

Max is definitely hooked to HBO, and in that context, to me, is synonymous with showing softcore porn. That's fine if that is what you are selling. If not? Probably not the best choice.

Then perhaps they no longer identify THEMSELVES as Home Box Office...?

But the brand is HBO. It is a brand people recognize and carries with it an expectation of quality televison.
"Max" carries with it: Soft core porn. Or the heavy flow product for women's hygiene, or your friends kid brother that always bugged you.
It takes years and billions of dollars to build a recognizable brand. But let's chuck it for something that is meaningless at best, confusing at worse.

Started The Last of Us last night. Thought it was just ok. Maybe the hype machine was just too much. Hoping it gets a little more engaging.

Getting better. Really enjoyed episode 3

The Hype machine is at the end of Barbie memes now looking for its next thing

RIP Netflix. At least red-envelope Netflix.

It was 90% of my snailmail use in the 00's

Would have thought that ended years ago.

The Blind Side was the most requested DVD through the service which was kind of surprising.

Yeah. I didn’t see that one coming…

I'm sure the list would be very surprising. Probably a lot of items that aren't available on any streaming services today. Or movies that old people with no internet would still be interested in watching.

My vote would have been titanic.

Watched a couple episodes of the "Last of Us" and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Mandalorian seem to be everywhere nowadays.

The dystopian scenery is great. Alot of good character development (Ellie is annoying though, hope it gets better). Never played the game but I figured real early she was immune.

I am getting the "I Am Legend" vibes which is great.

The game has a wonderful isolated feel to it. You go all over the place in neighborhoods that could be your own, highways that could be your own. And... all of these homes are abaondoned. Cars for the taking. So open world do anything you want. And the mushroom people are scary as hell. And this nightmare reality really hits home because it feels like our own world. And against that the two main characters just have this wonderful codependent need for each other.

Watched a couple more episodes. No disappointing or weak episodes yet.

The scenery/sets are truly immersive. It does really feel like our own world.

Finished binge watching "Last of Us". Fantastic. Going to call it the best made for TV zombie-like series and definitely in my top-5 of zombie shows.

Whereas others are heavily weighted towards fighting & running away from zombies (Black Summer), bad acting (Z Nation), too overcrowded (TWD), too many weird antagonists (TWD), "Last of Us" is more weighted towards interesting stories and the Joel+Ellie relationship.

Learn additional stuff for my zombie apocalypse preparation. Need a truck preferably with a big snow plough attachment, need more flashlights, somehow need to buy/build a bunker, store more spices for gourmet dishes, and get a badass switch blade.

s2 has been approved and ...


The Steam port has gotten middling reviews. It's on my wishlist and will buy it if the discussions tell me they've fixed the problems.

I really enjoyed that show also. Wife and I stayed up late every night lst week watching it.

We moved on to Yellow Jackets. So far it is ok. Staying with it for the phenomenal cast.

There’s so much going on on Barry. I have a hard time remembering

The Witcher s3 is coming soon.

I'd like to see spin-offs also.

'The Witcher' Season 3 teaser previews end for Henry Cavill | CNN

This season or Ted Lasso is near perfection, specifically the last 2 episodes. Arguably the 2 best so far.

I haven't seen todays but this season has been fantastic. I am equal parts happy and sad they are ending it so it doesn't get stale.

It's starting to look like the password sharing restrictions are going to go into effect in July or August. Apparently it's been successful in other countries but I'm pretty sure if they attempt to charge me extra for my college student, I'm cancelling. And then I'll keep track of 4 or 5 things I want to watch, subscribe for a month around the holidays, watch it all, and cancel again. Fuck 'em.

Somehow my paramount plus got messed up and I can't cancel. But I've only been on free trials and never entered a card. So I'm getting it for free seemingly in perpetuity. Really only used it for Champions League, but if School Spirits was a fun little show. An enjoyable whodunnit.

Also, Schmigadoon on Apple TV is fun if you enjoy musicals. Fun sendup of the musicals I grew up on. I do have to watch it alone tho, my wife thinks my love of musicals is weird.

Finished watching the last season of "Better Call Saul".

I loved the first half. The second half and post-Laslo was still good but not as good as first half, and definitely more depressing.

All in all, a good ending to a great series. Just wish there was a happy ending.

I've watched a couple episodes of Netflix's "The Diplomat". Love Keri Russell.

Interesting plot. There are some really smart dialog & interesting twists. Definitely up there with some of Netflix's best. Well worth watching IMO.

I second that recommendation. I've also been a fan of Russell, especially her performance in "The Americans" miniseries. It's also good to see Michael McKean (Chuck McGill from "Better Call Saul") cast as the U.S. President. Then we've got Rufus Sewell (of "The Man in the High Castle" fame) cast as Keri's husband.

Finished watching it today. IMO the episodes got weaker but still pretty good.

Netflix hasn't approved a s2 yet so it'll be a while.

Didn't know they had Rufus Sewell in it. He's the best.

I'll have to give it a shot. Seems like Netflix has a lot of these kinds of shows lately (The Night Agent was decent). Saw The Diplomat getting some negative reviews so was holding off.

I found Aggretsuko Season 5 to be further charming and still love the world building. Dunno why they juist don't make it a typical 22 minute show and give it more than a 10 episode season. That way they could have more stories about the supporting cast too to further worldbuild. (and don't troll with "oh it's too expensive...")

Yeah, the "Night Agent" was ok. It would have been better if they had ended it at episode 8. The big reveal of the grand plot was a bit ridiculous.

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Ghosted was not good but Ana de Armas good God.

Looks like a Writers Guild strike may happen by tonight. Interesting issues that revolve around a bigger cut of streaming content (since they are often shorter seasons and more time between seasons) and safeguards about AI scriptwriting.

Finally watching Chernobyl on HBO Max. Depressing, and I can't imagine what some of those people went through. Talk about a shoot-me-now scenario.

Great show

Yellowjackets is really picking up some steam. Workin Moms season 7 also just dropped. Can't wait to watch, it ended on a great cliff hanger.

It's been renewed.

Is this generic movie talk too? Because I love these movies.

You know I have never actually seen any of these. I felt like the first movie seemed too much like "Man On Fire", which I absolutely loved. I just didn't care that much about seeing a remake so to speak. I can see now that it isn't exactly the same, but it still is a remake. Anyone remember the original tv show?

I don't remember the original show and haven't seen the new show either. You should definitely watch the movies. It's a more grounded John Wick with Denzel as the lead. Loved the first one and liked the second one.

Ted Lasso is such an unbelievably good show.

Wow, I'm a genius. Stephen King agrees with me on "The Diplomat" !!

Stephen King Says The #1 Thriller On Netflix Is "Just terrific"

Looking forward to Silo. The books are pretty good.

I watched the first couple of episodes last night, looks good. Just got to hope it doesnt lose it's way like Lost, or get canceled like 1899.

Been watching Fauda on Netflix. I've watched all the prior seasons and they're up to 4 now.

Israeli Mossad-like group. Team can speak and act like Palestinians etc. have shootouts, rescues, gun battles, spycraft etc.

Obviously slanted towards the Israeli POV, clear cut bad guys etc. but they also show Palestinian life like checkpoints, less than clear situations, things Palestinians have to deal with, Israelis doing things they probably shouldn't etc.

Not great acting but interesting stories, good action, gives some different perspectives. I'd give this series a solid B and maybe B+.

do you notice that the main networks don't produce good shows anymore? :)

Main networks still mainly create shows with a very old formulated style that mostly people to older people, who are the largest group of people that still watch network television. They still have few real hits that break the mold, like Abbot Elmentary. But most shows are hour long procedurals, that or either a cop show, hospital show, or a firehouse show. They just don't have the ability to really do anything risky.

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Network TV has collectively turned into Jay Leno's tonight show. Of course, I can count on 2 fingers how many scripted shows of any kind I've watched in about 20 years, but network TV has been bad/boring for a long time.

Paramount owns CBS. So if you consider Paramount a main network, think they are doing a pretty good job with the Star Trek franchise.

CBS by itself is eh. Multiple NCIS, FBI, CSI like shows. Equalizer was intriguing for first couple episodes but didn't hold my interest. Blue Bloods have been on for a while, I've not watched any but thinking about giving it a shot.

I can't recall the last time I watch anything on network TV aside from local/national news, Jeopardy/Wheel and live sporting events. Has to go back to one of the first few seasons of American Idol (I think I gave up after Steven Tyler's 1st year as judge).

If you count CW, I guess we watch Whose Line Is It Anyway.

The only shows I've watched on network TV in the last ten or so years have been a handful of comedies - Parks & Rec, Brooklyn 99, Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat, The Good Place, Abbot Elementary and the very, very occasional episode of SNL.

I think that's about it.

Tonights Ted LAsso was the best yet. Chills multiple times. This show is so unbelievably well done

‘Beetlejuice 2’ To Open Fall 2024 In Theaters – Deadline

Prep Michael Keaton's oscar

ooh, the show was good stuff, I don't think we've watched S4 though, might be some summer viewing while the kid is home.

Is Fauda in another language? I've been intrigued seeing videos popping up for it from time to time but not sure I want to dig through 4 seasons of a shot with subtitles.

Dubbed in English.

Not bad, unlike some of the horrendous Asian shows.

"Air" (Prime) is a very fun romp of a movie. A bit cringy at times (heavy use of 'hindsight-expectations' of us knowing what Jordan went on to do) but overall quite fun. Jason Bateman steals every scene and the soundtrack/use of music is great

Am watching Get Back on Disney Plus (the beatles thing) Holy fuck I wish I'd watched it sooner. The contents of it are the let it be sessions. I had no idea some of that shit, esp why they were there doing it. Fantstic stuff. Yeah you can really see they were finished before this. Paul always wanted to force them to do shit that wasn't just making an album.
You can tell John's mind is anywhere but there. Dude has zero attention span. Everything is a wise crack.
I don't blame George for getting fed up with paul because George was just trying to make contributions to songs and paul would stop him every time with lots of abstract lecture bullshit which always translated into "I want you to play it specifically how I want you to play it but I'm not going to tell you what that is...but rest assured I do not want you coming up with your own guitar parts". And seriously f- yoko. Hate clingy annoying people like that, even moreso the people they cling to.
It's amazing now as I look back at the movie "Let it be" that was also from these sessions...it tweaked and screwed with the order of some things and meshed some things together that weren't. It's also interesting that no actul footage from Let It Be was in this series. Probably because of rights. However some of the same stuff was used from other camera angles. Neat trick!

Love this thing...and I thought I was done watching and hearing beatles stuff.

Telly I The biggest thing to happen to TV since color.

Saw this in my news feed and it seems interesting. Reminds me of NetZero or Juno internet from back in the day, or when they offered free computers if you would just have ads around the screen.

Personally, I wouldn't mind having it as an extra screen in the office since I'm in there most of the day. Need to upgrade my old 42" 1080p anyway and free seems good. If it wants to listen in on my day to day life, it would just hear me farting and telling the dog to stop humping my leg.

Sounds awful. A privacy nightmare.

I'm really liking the first 3 episodes of Silo. I don't really know anything about the books so I'm excited to see where this goes.

Great to hear. I'll be re-subscribing to Apple soon, primarily for Silo.

I loved the first book. I'm interested in seeing how they made the silo, environment look (e.g. also a Fallout fan).

Has anybody binged a classic TV show from before their time, or maybe that was big with adults when they were kids? Like the Honeymooners or L.A. Law or something?

LA Law? You can just go walk yourself downstairs to hell, young man. :D

I have binged the entirety of classic Hawaii 5-0 and the Rockford Files a couple times over, if that counts.

My wife has done several, but none of them have really interested me.

How does Rockford Files hold up? It was a favorite when I was a kid, though I probably only really understood half of it.

I've been more or less binge-watching Columbo for about 30 years.

I think it still holds up great!

Did you check out Poker Face? Pretty good homage to Columbo.