Yes. Not only is it similar in terms of being a "howcatchem" mystery of the week and the 70s style yellow block lettering style and such, but they borrowed several specific elements from certain Columbo episodes. It was kinda fun to do the Easter egg hunt in each episode.

Been watching 2011 Falling Skies. Neat series about an alien invasion & resistance.

Seasons 1-3 were decent. I'm on s4 and it's taken a noticeable drop off with mumbo jumbo magical powers. Too much Deus Machina. Hoping final s5 returns back to more "realistic" stuff.

I can't believe that was 2011. My mind had me thinking that was early 00s. Ugh, getting old.

Finished watching Falling Skies. Season 5 was an upgrade from s4 but lots of holes in the plot. The ending and reason why was pretty weak IMO. Overall s1-3 were the best, s5 and then the pitiful s4.

Planning to switch to Apple TV and start watching Silo soon.

Silo ep1 was great!

Misc thoughts.

I was surprised at all the concrete. I was expecting to see steel (and plastic) everywhere, especially in the stairwell. Not like Fallout silos.

Personal rooms/space are bigger than what I would have thought.

Never thought about it (and don't remember in the books) but does seem weird there's no elevators? Seems they have plenty of electricity. There are 120 floors.

Good News Everyone!

Caught up to date now. Still enjoying it greatly. Apple has a much better ratio of good vs bad content as compared to Netflix & Prime. I'm getting the urge to re-read the books.

I hate having to wait for the new episodes, too spoiled by being able to binge watch older series.

I wish the lighting was brighter, a little too dark for my liking.

I've found Apple shows and movies to be pretty good. Much better quality per show/movie than any streaming platform at the moment.


Season 3 of I Think You Should Leave is released on May 30th. Might have to restart Netflix for that.

Anyone gotten the Netflix PW sharing email yet? I haven't, but I've been in my account and don't see any explanation of who is and who is not considered to be in your "household." I do see that you can only add one extra member for $8.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel, but I'm trying to figure out if they are truly trying to force college students to pay, or if they are allowing them to be part of a household.

Seems like household is based on IP and/or device. So a kid in college would not be able to use the same account on their TV. Seems like there is some leeway with phones/tablets if you set it up at home first. Likely for those who travel a bit.

It's pretty vague so I'm guessing they just have an algorithm that can tell when someone is sharing and when someone is just out of town for a weekend.

From what I read a few months ago though, you have to validate each device at your home once a month.

I mean, fuck that. I'm not paying $30 for 3 people to watch Netflix, 2 of whom hardly ever watch it. If my parents want an account, they can get one. College kids are part of a household until on their own. That's just straight up BS. I'm not rewarding them for trying to take advantage of the situation.

Hell, all of us use Amazon Prime to ship things to multiple addresses and Amazon isn't cracking down (yet). But Netflix is going to tell me to pay extra for my 19 year old at college? FUCK NO.

Can’t wait for the Barry finale. Season had some slow spots but episode 7 was awesome.

I get them not wanting 10 people sharing a single account across the country. But I feel like sharing with your kid in college should be included. And that would be grounds for me to cancel if I was in that boat.

The whole thing seems like overkill that will backfire on them. Go after the people who are abusing it, not the person who travels a little or has a kid in college.

Please, someone tell me Better Call Saul gets better. I'm starting season three, and I just feel like this is a slow slogging bore so far.

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We bailed, despite insanely high hopes, after about two seasons. I found Michael McKean to be one of the most unwatchable performances I've ever tried to endure and he just killed the show for me.

If you're a Breaking Bad fan and that's more along the lines of what you are looking for, it does get better. I generally like Michael McKean but I also never loved the Chuck-Jimmy stuff or a lot of the storyline that centred around the Hamlin Hamlin McGill firm. There's about one more season of this stuff, you get a payoff and the latter three seasons move away from it.

If I recall, you are also moving into the territory where you start getting a lot more of Mike; Gus Fring also gets introduced and starts having a more prominent role. Nacho returns and develops into a great character and eventually you get Lalo Salamanca, who may be my favourite character in the Saul Goodman universe.

All said, the latter seasons move away from a lot of the HHM legal world toward the more criminal centric Breaking Bad type stuff.

Chuck sucks. Gotta power past that part. Like I couldn’t do another second of that dude

Watching "For All Mankind" s3.5 so far and really enjoying this alternate reality series.

Just a tad too much personal drama but well written and acted, with a smidge of comedy. Love the race to Mars with the commercial twist (aka alternate Elon).

Oh, what could've been ...


EDIT: finished s3. Fantastic. A hint of "The Martian" and so much good drama. Ready for s4.

Late to the game on For All Mankind. I've found the first season to be hit or miss, but the opening on episode 1 is some of the best TV I've ever seen. The way they play with expectations while also setting time, place, and circumstances is just brilliant.

Been watching "Joe Pickett"' on Paramount. Above average series that has entertained me. s2 is coming up soon.

Game Warden in Wyoming that is investigating a mysterious death. Lots of good character building and some fantastic scenery.

I think I want to be a chief game warden one day. Get to ride a horse, drive a truck, have a state provided house, have a gun & rifle, enjoy nature & see a bunch of animals, speak to a bunch of different people etc. But one episode said game wardens have higher chance of getting shot on the job ... looked it up and found a stat that said 3x more likely to die of gunfire than a CHP police officer.

One thing caught my eye. Wife of protagonist kept shotgun and shells above a book case in the state provided house. They have 2 young girls. Although I do believe there are good reasons for folks out in the boonies to have weapons not in a gun safe/cabinet, I would have thought Paramount would be more PC and have them locked up especially since there were 2 kids in the house.

Flipping channels one night I ran across a program with real game wardens. One was looking into a felon that had done his time and been released. He could not legally have a gun and hunt, never mind poaching that he had reason to believe was happening, and here he was..

Approaching his place in the woods on foot (a car would probably be worse). No thanks, I'm not that brave. I don't know what kind of backup/team they have while filming these shows but so many things could have gone wrong.

So what did people think of the Ted Lasso "finale"?

The whole 3rd season was a disaster.

I liked the Amsterdam episode. The finale was pretty good also.

But am glad they've ended it. It had run its course.

I suspect its not over. Just Ted Lasso won't be in it.

I thought the third season of Ted Lasso was fine. The episodes were all a bit too long and they tried to have too many things going on. There were entire plots and characters that had no real purpose - looking at you Zava & Jack.

That being said, Ted Lasso is just what it is - a funny, feel good show. The first season was the best and the high watermark for the show, but I think due to it coming out during the pandemic and it's overall tone, it really caught fire and was raised to a level that it probably didn't deserve. That led to higher expectations and some negative pushback.

At the end of the day, the show made me laugh, largely made me feel good and introduced some really fantastic and enjoyable characters. Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt were worth the price of admission alone and there were several others.

I think there are a stretch of episodes in the middle of season 3 that were best the show ever was. Overall, season 1 was the strongest though.

My knock on the finale (even though they're still not clear if it was a season or series finale) is they waited too long to wrap up some loose ends and everything felt rushed in that last episode.

IMO, if this is indeed the last season, it goes down as an all time great show for me and I commend it for going out on top rather than milking as many seasons as they could.

With that said, I do think if they keep the same strong writing going they could get a couple more solid seasons out of it without Jason Sudeikis. I'm not sure I want that, but the rest of the cast is strong enough to keep it going, even if it isn't at the same quality the first 3 seasons were. The Roy Kent and Jamie Tart character growth was fantastic, particularly the Tart storyline. Nate was kind of hit or miss for me. Keeley was a surprisingly strong character as well. Oh, and Anthony Head played a villain role in this show brilliantly.

It's genuinely amazing what they pulled off with this show considering Brett Goldstein was a writer for the show that decided to audition for the Roy Kent role, Juno Temple wasn't sure she wanted to do the show because she had zero experience in comedy, Phil Dunster's character didn't exist in the original script and his role as the cocky striker was supposed to be played by Cristo Fernandez but they liked his audition so much they rewrote the character but still like Cristo Fernandez so they added a character to keep him on board.

Barry finale was great. Whole show is a quick watch(Approx 16 hours). Really dark and funny throughout. They really did a bunch of callbacks throughout that I only caught the second time thru the show.

I’m just disappointed with how much happened offscreen this season.
Ted decided to retire and told Rebecca. And the team. And beard. ALL OFFSCREEN
Roy and Keeley broke up. Offscreen.
The team decided to let Nate back and voted on it. Offscreen.

Really glad I caught back up with this. I let it fall by the wayside during Succession's final season, then binged Barry's final season this week. What a ride! So good, with the appropriate Coen-style humor as usual - walking through the Walmart near the end of the season had me going

I think BCS is one of the best shows ever made, and it definitely gets better after season 2. The later you go, the more it starts to resemble Breaking Bad, so if that's what you're looking for, stick it out.

I personally rate it as much better overall than Breaking Bad.

So here are my problems with season 3.

It was often unclear who was the protagonist. I mean the name is Ted Lasso and the ending as about him, but so much of the season wasn't. There were so many "important" stories that the main arc was never clear.

Because there wasn't a clear protagonist there wasn't a clear antagonist. Rupert was a villain, but who is he working against? He played the role well, but the role itself was too simplistically evil.

What happened to Roy? He was the second most important character for the first two seasons, maybe at times the most important character, but in season 3 he was mostly an afterthought.

Keely, originally presented as the soccer equivalent of a puck bunny, and her lesbian relationship had no justification. If there was even a hint of that prior to Jack I'd be fine, but there wasn't.

Colin's coming out story was just a one-dimensional stunt. I mean do we know anything about Colin besides that he's gay? And the way Isaac reacted made little sense and was more about tricking the audience than playing a realistic motivation.

The previously mentioned worthless characters that showed up and then disappeared.

The previously mentioned issues with important events happening off camera.

Nate's story made little sense. He was set up to be a great antagonist and then he just quit with very little indication that he was unhappy as a manager.

The Keely masturbation video was just too preachy.

Lots of lazy writing like how did Sam's dad not see the giant name on the restaurant before the light came on?

The super league stuff made no sense. Why would Richmond be a part of that? And what happened to cover everyone with soup? Did they all just sit there as they were splashed one by one?

For me it just wasn't nearly as clever and interesting as it had been in the first two seasons. It felt like they didn't know what to do, so they fell back on cliches and hot topics to fill the time.

Silo s1.6 was pretty good.

A little slow but enjoying how the mysteries are being peeled back bit-by-bit. I appreciated the reference to Georgia!

s2 has not been formally approved but everyone is betting it will be.

Nate went from the coach of a Premiership team, to assistant equipment manager at Richmond? Being portrayed as this genius character, he could have gotten a management job anywhere else.

Yeah, I agree. The Nate story line with personal demons was pretty good but back to Richmond is too unbelievable.

I mentioned above I thought the Nate stuff was hit and miss and I'd put it down as one of the weaker parts of this season. My read on the Nate thing, though, was he learned he didn't really want to be a head guy and the equipment manager thing was to buy back trust to get back on the staff.

If you're looking for realism, that's definitely not it. I think going back to Richmond made sense in this series for that character though.

It might have made more sense in a longer arc to see him have some early success at the other team, then struggle as he sees being a manager is more than just tactics, then he gets fired. Ted brings him back in, and over time he builds trust and maybe replaces Ted. But that would have required another season or two.

I’m really going to miss Noho Hank.

Mrs Davis on Peacock might be the craziest show I’ve seen.

As seen online:

“Mrs. Davis, the first four episodes of which have dropped on Peacock, is what you get when you toss Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Father Ted, The Good Place and Silicon Valley into a blender and hit purée.
But is it good?
As they say on social media, it’s complicated.”

Yep, that about sums it up

just got done binge watching a 7 episode show from Netflix called "Turn Of The Tide". It is a Portuguese show based on a real life event where a drug boat's load of coke washed up on the shores of an island in the Azores. Was a pretty good watch.

Just finished season 1 of Succession. Such a great show. I love how Kendall has basically become Reek.

I still have never seen Succession. I will at some point. Too many people whose opinions I really respect love the show.

I have been watching “Attack on Titan” on Hulu. I’m not really an anime guy, but I decided to give it a chance. It’s absolutely fucking bananas, but a ton of fun. I really enjoy it.

We finished Saul last week, and then watched Ted Lasso over the weekend. Saul was ok. It wasn't nearly as good as BB, and not even a top 10 recent series to me. It did improve once we no longer dealt with Chuck, but really it is just the nature of prequel that it rakes away most of the elements of surprise and wonder. I basically knew who was going to die because, well, they weren't in BB. The only bright spot was Kim. Great character, interesting character arc, and she was the only one that I really wondered where she would end up. The show even made Gus less interesting to me, and I felt like that was one of the greatest characters of all time. At least Mike was still Mike.
Ted Lasso: I love that series so much. I had watched the first two seasons before, and I had originally felt like the second season was a bit of a let down. But binging it all together, I love everything about all the seasons (except the Beard episode, that I just skipped). I was expecting to be bawling at the end, but I actually didn't shed a tear. It just felt like it all ended just right.

Some decent TV coming up ...


I've started re-watching Foundation s1 and it's only eh (boring). Starting to re-watch Witcher s1 and it's been great, as entertaining as the first time.

You forgot Futurama on July 24th!

I'm (way) past that stage in life ...

Just worked my way through season 6 of Black Mirror on Netflix, it was released yesterday.

My very brief, no spoiler, reviews for the 5 episodes:
Episode 1 - Joan is Awful - Good
Episode 2 - Loch Henry - Good, but with some very bad attempts at Scottish accents. Not as bad as the guy on the Scotts Lawn Care advert, but still bad.
Episode 3 - Beyond the Sea - Good. Aaron Paul was good. Hasn't he got old?
Episode 4 - Mazey Day - Not good. Not worst ever Black Mirror (the Miley Cirus one or The Waldo Moment from series 2) but not good.
Episode 5 - Demon 79 - Good, particularly the guy who plays the demon. Might have been my favorite.

Overall, a good series, a return to form, much better than most of series 4 and 5.

This weeks episode of Silo was okay. More weighted towards backstory than furthering the plot but still decent. Glad its coming to a conclusion.

And Silo s2 has been approved, so more goodness in 1-2 years.

I just finished watching Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.

WTF. WTF. WTF.

Shrinking on Apple TV is so much better than it has any right to be. I legit didn't know Harrison Ford was actually a very good actor.

I found a series of The Full Monty (THe movie from 1998) on hulu. The entire cast returned for their roles. It's not a reboot it's a sequel series of them all these years later.

All 6 of the guys are in it plus Dave's wife too!

It's so amazing.

Wife and I just finished Witcher s2.3 (in anticipation of s3 on Jun 29).

I do find myself reading reviews after each episode to get a better understanding or catch things I may have missed. And there's been lots.

Something I didn't quite appreciate the first time around was how great the monsters look!

Cunk on Earth on Netflix makes me laugh out loud more than anything I can remember.

Sometimes something just clicks with you.

Roman invented or improved

"Anal Bleaching"

"I don't know"

"You have to pick one"

"Pass"

"You can't pass"

Binged watched The Witcher s3. Currently only 5 episodes released.

IMO s2 was better and (other than for the stupid timeline back-and-forth with no help with dates) s1 was also better.

But overall - very enjoyable, well made, good story lines, fantastic fight scenes, and fantastic monsters! I like how they are developing Ciri. The Elven arc is still a little slow going but okay. Going to miss Cavill, I think he's perfectly cast.

(... and thank God they didn't go with the writers, show runners, director & special effects from the disasterous prequel with Michelle Yeoh)

Silo s1 ended with a strong episode. It finished before the actual book did (which revealed more). I decided to refresh my memory on wiki (and also on books 2 & 3).

Really a strong first season. There were a couple middling episodes that I thought dragged on but nothing too disappointing.

Strange New Worlds s2.3 was a time travel episode. I typically hate those but this one was okay. It lacked plausibility on how things came together but it did some further character development (2 of them) which I enjoyed. They need to get back to s2.1 formula now.

About halfway thought and I am really enjoying it. The right blend of comedy and serious subjects.

Watched the first 2 episodes of Idris Elba's "Hijack" on Apple. Enjoying it and like the premise of a ME "kingdom" plane being hijacked on the way to London.

Idris is a business negotiator and he's playing careful & methodical 3D chess with the hijackers. Fun to see it play out (even though I don't buy it).

The one thing I really appreciate is the authentic passenger cabins/seating. I hate how we see extra "wide/space" aisles & rows in movies. The one thing I hate is all the hijackers have their finger literally on the trigger, all the time. Highly unrealistic IMO

Considering how many series are not renewed and abruptly ends, I think all these frakkers should have some halfway decent conclusion at each season finale.

I tried watching Netflix's Gloria but couldn't get through ep1.


Way too much smoking. I get adding some smoking for realism in the period, and the amount shown is probably accurate, but it made me feel a little nauseous.

I know at one time smoking in movies were discouraged. Not sure when it started back up again but I've noticed an uptick in the US shows.

I take it you never watched Mad Men...

I did but don't remember it being as bad as Gloria. Check it out when you get a chance, the first 30-40 min is all I could stomach.

wow. I felt like I would die from ither lung cancer or cirrhosis of the liver from watching that show.

Nothing will top Peaky Blinders.

Started re-watching The Expanse. Currently on episode 2.5.

I much better understand what's going on now and appreciate noticing some stuff I missed the first time around. My biggest beef so far is its darker, less lighting than it should be, especially in those ship-to-ship battles. I read somewhere that movies do this to cut down on special effects costs.

The series ends on Book 6 and have gotten Kindle Book 7 for my next plane trip. I've always struggled re-watching BSG because I found the "lore" very confusing (even after reading up on it). The Expanse is much more straight forward.

Just watched "Creed 3" on Amazon Prime. Not bad, but not up to par with the first two, IMO.

One of the most bizarre things about the Creed trilogy is that Apollo and Mary Anne Creed's two biological children are barely mentioned, and they don't even attend Mary Anne's funeral. The writers definitely left a big hole in the storyline.

I found the new episode of Futurama most amusing.

Finished The Expanse s6. It only had 6 episodes so felt a little rushed vs the other seasons with 10-12. But considering everyone knew Amazon funding was drying up, they still did a great job with concluding the series.

There were some plot lines left open but in reading s6 reviews, basically have to start reading Book 7 which is 30 years later.

If you're a sci-fi fan and you haven't watched this yet, do it.

Yes, The Expanse is absolutely the best scifi series in recent memory. If you're a fan of the genre, it must be watched,

I have been obsessed with Painting With John recently. I think it's on max/hbo. It's pleasantly weird, but not modern over-the top intentionally weird, like 80s late night cable/Night Flight kind of weird. Very mild and absurd, the intimate weirdness of one creative person (John Lurie) given all too much rope in their own space, rather than calculated comedy from some production machine. Having said that, it's the kind of thing that is so mild that giving it any praise feels like it might ruin it from even the slightest expectations.

They Cloned Tyrone

First movie I've watched (aside from random old stuff on YouTube) in I literally don't remember when, based on a very strong recommendation from an old friend.

I have to admit I didn't find it as funny as he did, at least not in terms of quantity. The jokes that did hit were at times quite good -- and there weren't any that notably missed that I recall -- but I was actually more impressed by some of the camera angle & lighting choices than anything else.

I thought it hit its vibe well, mixing genres successfully. I'm not ready to hand out any awards or anything but perfectly fine piece of work. And I'll admit that the identity of "The Reverend" was completely lost on me until looking at the cast after the fact, I absolutely didn't spot who it was.

I watched The Out-Laws so you don’t have to. It’s complete trash with a Joey Gallo contact rate on the jokes. I don’t really hate any of the main actors but it was a shit movie made on a low budget.

I thought this exact thing. Movie was fine but whoever was doing the camerawork needs to be doing some bigger stuff.

Has anyone watched the American Gladiators docuseries? Seemed interesting as I was a big fan as a kid, but was surprised it's 5 parts. Hoping it's not one of those Netflix docs that is a few episodes too many.

I am watching it now, but I also recommend you watch the ESPN two parter, told mostly through the eyes of the 'creator' of the show before watching this one.

Finished watching Witcher s3 part II.

Ep 6 was fairly decent. Ep 7 & 8 were below par. It wasn't bad acting, it was IMO bad writing. I really hope, when we look back, that part II wasn't the "Jumping the Shark".

Here's to a great s4 with Liam Helmsworth.

I think the author is too optimistic but it'll be great if it came out late 2023.

The Fallout TV show casting details and news | PC Gamer

Anyone tried Twisted Metal yet? Saw some clips that made it look kind of fun.

Is It confirmed that Hemsworth will be Gerat?. I’ll tune in, but that’s going to be a rough transition. Would’ve like to have seen Henry have a bigger send off.

Yes, its confirmed.

Not sure why it took me so long, but I finally watched the four part 30 for 30 on Oscar Pistorius. My mind was very hazy on the details of that whole saga even though it was barely 10 years ago. Worth a watch, even if it drags on at times. That dude was a character.

I should watch that. The only thing I can remember recently is Jim Jeffries stand-up bit about that whole thing.

Reservation Dogs is so damned good.

No idea how long the writer's strike will be but assume it'll be a while before new stuff is written for movies, streaming etc.

Last time this happened, didn't we get a lot of reality shows?

Pretty sure Netflix will increase foreign stuff. I'm okay with it, but they really need to tone down their Korean shows (except for their zombie stuff) and give others more shelf space.

I'm thinking 2024 will suck for new stuff.

Enjoying the hell out of I Think You Should Leave on Netflix. Absurdist, repetitive comedy usually grates on me so I don't know why I love this so much but I find myself belly laughing even when I'm in a bad mood.

Was very intrigued by From on MGM, but I tapped out early in season 2. It's an idea that feels better suited to mini series or limited run show. I just felt like it was never gonna really get anywhere and was being drawn out to an exasperating degree.

Agreed 100%. It has been my favorite series the last three years. Consistently funny and deeply emotion.

I was just saying to my wife yesterday that I am surprised they are still filming around here. Not as much, and I know from some of my customers in the industry that they are prepping for a long shutdown. There are still some productions going somehow. They also are continuing to expand one of the bigger studios here, doubling the size yet again. It might be reality TV. Netflix does much of their production here and it wouldn't surprise me if they start some reality shooting locally.

If you don't mind me asking (for my daughter really), who are your customers and who is "one of the bigger studios"?

One of my good friends owns a card and memorabilia shop in GA and he says the shutdown has hurt his business, believe it or not. He said pretty everyone makes good money and he gets a ton of repeat business and big spenders from the studios.

No actors if that is what she is asking. Set makers, production staff, etc. There are lots of blue collar workers that have moved to movie production around here. Cinelease Studios is the big one I was talking about, and then Three Horse is the one that has been around since the "Heat of the Night" days. I think much of "Vampire Diaries" was done there. Cinelease is more recent. It was the home for "First Lady", and I believe "Steel Magnolias" is produced there. Cinelease also has a big studio next town over where "The Resident" and "Doom Patrol" is filmed. They also filmed "Hat and Catch Fire" there.

I think Trilith is a biggie on the south side of Atlanta. My buddy's shop is in PTC and I'm pretty sure that studio is in Fayette County as well.

That's in Senoia, right at the edge of Fayetteville. It is where "Walking Dead" and all the Marvel shows are filmed. They literally have their own Home Depot on the lot.

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If you like ITYSL, then check out Detroiters on Paramount+. I love it.

It is on the list.

The hunting episode in season 1 is one of the best things I've seen on TV.

Nobody spoiler me or anything 'cause we've got a couple episodes left before the kid heads back to Miami but ... daaaaaamn S4 of Fauda has been a rough one.

I've got a good idea where the season ends & that's tough enough but getting there has been harsh.

I'm mostly talking about the story & the drama and such but also there's moments where I feel like more suspension of disbelief has been required than in past seasons.

Season completed.

Fuck me.

edit to add: I think I came up with the phrase to describe my feelings big picture: the shark hasn't been jumped or anything but it might now be in the water somewhere

The Great on Hulu was cancelled after 3 seasons. Bummer

Everything feels tenuous with the cutbacks and strikes, even Emmy-nominated stuff.

That was such a great show. I feel like we have watched the end of the Golden age of television.