Those are just written by Gaiman though. Pratchett is entirely a humorous author (he wrote the Discworld series).

I don't know him or his style at all.

I remember watching HBO Big Love for a 2-3 seasons back in the oughts and then didn't keep up. Nowadays there is HBO Go at hotels so enjoyed the series finale tonight (just the finale, didn't have time to watch from approx season 4 onwards).

Still fond memories of Bill Paxton as a space marine in one of my all time favorites in Aliens. The ending seemed unsatisfying but at least it brought some closure (are you listening Sopranos?).

HBO did have two of the best finales ever with the Leftovers and Six Feet Under. They seek to either be great or really bad at them.

Cop Car (Netflix) was a really good movie. I didnt think it would be anything, and the 1st 15 minutes kind of fed that. But it turned out to be a really good ride.

A lot more then I expected.

Just got into Billions and I'm hooked. I don't know how I missed that one - right in my wheelhouse.

Murder Mystery was quite fun. Just a nice way to spend the evening!

I think the show actually gets better season to season. I mean it's kind of out there but definitely a fun show.

I noticed that this hasn't been mentioned, but Netflix released the latest season (#3) of Designated Survivor.

Enjoyed it a lot. They seemed to make it more like The West Wing, and less like The Blacklist.

Yeah, this was way better than it had any right to be. Grudgingly watched it with the wife, and we both ended up enjoying it.

In words I never thought I'd type, Zendaya is fantastic in Euphoria, but it's a scary fucking show for parents with a girl about to start high school.

I saw the first episode of Euphoria, but it was just lame to me. Also it tends to fly in the face of what is being reported - that GenZ is far less into drinking / doing drugs / having underage sex than previous generations.

Knowing a fair number of Gen Z'ers, I'd say they're still heavily into drinking, heavier into drugs than the gen before them, probably less into sex as a primary motivation (not to say they have it less, just saying they invest less effort into getting it / are less concerned about it if they don't)

It depends on what drugs, IME. Pot, sure. Harder stuff? Not really.

And granted, take the reporting with some grain of salt, but:

https://www.businessinsider.com/gene...g-study-2017-9

fwiw ... I think -- on the whole, individual situations vary, etc etc -- it's probably justifiably less scary than it would have been if you dropped a teenager from my era into the modern landscape.

Emerging HS'ers have generally been exposed to so much more than I was at that point that they're better prepared to make decisions/choices than I would have been if you timeshifted me. Basically they've been preparing for this all their lives & the world they face is the one they know.

(Not sure I was able to word this as clear as I'd like, hopefully it made sense)

YMMV I guess.

Pills are as about as common as aspirin in that world (more, probably, since they're an Advil / Tylenol generation)

And coke certainly made a helluva comeback (though anecdotally maybe less right now than say five years ago)

It does feel like culturally cocaine has shifted back from being considered a hard drug into something like a party/social drug in the last 5-10 years.

Hasn't it been that way since the 1980s? I mean it was a party/social drug when I was in college (1998-2002) and through the 00s.

When did it go back to being considered a hard drug?

According to my strictly annecdotal evidence I'd say kids of the 'just say no' era were taught that cocaine was a hard drug, for better or worse, and that attitude stuck around in US culture til around the turn of the millenium.

I suppose it comes down to how you define culture as well....twenty-year-olds have probably always considered cocaine a party drug, regardless of the era, but I dunno if that's the standard I'd use. In my mind I feel like there used to be ads and warnings about cocaine within pop-culture, whereas these days it seems like it's practically dropped entirely off of the public concern radar.

From my perspective locally, my generation (graduated HS in 2001) was a coke generation. That probably ran through the late 00's and then the opiates took over. Now opiates are thankfully on the decline and judging by the way my friend's little brother was grinding his teeth at my buddy's wedding, coke has made it's way back.

In Australia they released some numbers taken from wastewater samples in different cities earlier this year, and Sydney was the coke capital of Australia (not surprising), with weed/meth/heroin coming out on top of our other major cities. I say not surprising because, especially not all that long ago when I was actually going out at night in Sydney as opposed to being in bed watching true crime shows on Netflix, coke was so prevalent that it would have been difficult going to go to any half-decent night spot in Sydney without seeing people doing it openly. Definitely viewed as a recreational/soft drug socially here. Very expensive however, and the odds of it being cut with something nasty are high.

Yeah, I was gonna say that the waves & cycles of popularity/usage are also probably very regional, on macro & micro levels. For instance, Portland has always had a culture built around lots of young creative folks, burning both ends at high-stress service jobs trying to fuel whatever their dreams may be, and in those circles of folks like strippers and late-night restaurant workers coke is practically currency and has likely never gone out of style.

The problem with Euphoria is that it feels to extreme in trying to show kids today. I remember when that movie Kids came out when I was in high school and it scared every parent. Watched it and it was almost comical to see their idea of average teenagers.

Like I'm sure there are kids like that but to me it felt like some 30 and 40 year old writers trying to hard to go for shock value.

I'm on ep 2 of Stranger Things 3 and its not quite grabbed my attention yet. Still enjoyable but not quite 1 & 2. Hope it gets better.

My wife and I are feeling the same way.

I re-watched the 4th season of Bosch over the last few days and I have to say it was a great season. I think it goes on my list as one of the greatest seasons of any show.

Only watched episode 1 thus far (stranger things), been busy. I'm with you, it didn't make me immediately queue up the next episode.

Same here.Two episodes in and it's not hooking me. It feels like the first two episodes were spent 90% on subplots, and has barely started the main plot of the season. Makes me pessimistic about the rest of the season.

Also watched the latest season of Black Mirror. Not great, but I think I still liked it more than most. The 3 episodes this season are on par with the bottom 3 episodes of the previous seasons, IMO.

Edit: Just watched episode 3 for Stranger Things 3 and it's now picking up steam. Much better than the first two episodes.

Anyone have a recommendation on a good site to use for Stranger Things S3 episode recaps that discuss easter eggs but are also spoiler free?

I thought Striking Vipers was a really, really weak episode but I thought the acting and some of the underlying storylines in Smithereens made it a much better watch than a lot of the reviews I've read. I haven't been able to muster up the desire to watch the Miley episode as it sounds awful.

Totally opposite. Best season of the show IMO. I love ti development of subplots and the exchanges between the characters.

Finally watched Ricky Gervais's Life on the Road.

The BBC Office is maybe my favorite show of all time. There wasn't a lot of good buzz around Life on the Road so I put off watching it. The criticisms were that it was 90% solid David Brent cringe, but without the charm and humanity and emotion of the series (perhaps because Gervais did it solo without Stephen Merchant).

I had a different experience watching it. I thought it added a lot to the David Brent character. Yes, it was sad, (and often hilariously cringey) that this character was unable to build on the self improvements he seemed to make at the end of the Office. But he had slightly more moments of self-awareness here, which made it even more sad. And I'm not sure if this was intended, but at the end, I felt like everyone around him was being a dick and that I'd much rather be friends with David Brent than any of the tools around him any day. And he does get a little redemption. In the end, I don't think this character ever really wanted to be a rock star, he just sadly thought that was the only way for him to gain the comradery and acceptance he longed for. When he had that, as an office manager, he was able to let the rock star dreams go. Without that job, he found no other way to get those things other than literally paying people to hang out with him. So the whole thing was uncomfortably dark, which made it a compelling watch. Just like the BBC Office, the movie plays much better if you see it as a sad story, rather than a pure pointing as someone and laughing at them kind of comedy.

And some of his songs were catchy. I'd like to karaoke this one someday.

Please Don't Make Fun Of The Disableds by David Brent - YouTube

I'm 4 episodes into Stranger Things 3. I've really been enjoying it and shit definitely starts getting real in Episode 4.

This is on tonight.

Just finished Stranger Things season 3. Easily my favorite. Was really a coming of age tale with awesome action and sci fi. Easier to follow than the first 2. My wife and I both cried a lot the last few minutes. Hoppers letter was amazing.

Now that I've finished the season, I'm revising my opinion to Really Good. I still think the first season was the best, but this is very close.

Turn around. Look at what you seeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

An actress I went to grad school with is spending the next couple of months shooting the new season of Ozark. She's supposed to be an FBI agent investigating the casino. Jessica Dukes is her name.

I'm 8 episodes in to the current season of Handmaid's tale and it feels well and truly like it's time to wrap it up.

Also watched episode 1 of Chernobyl last night finally. Took me about 10 mins to figure out why there are so many Brits working and living in the Soviet Union, but once I got over that I really enjoyed it. It's interesting how little I actual know about the accident, so I'm resisting the temptation to do any reading and just watch the rest of the series.

I actually really like Nicolas Winding Refn but his Amazon show Too Old To Die Young is the slowest slow that ever slowed.

So a bit of a redux as I finally watched the Ashley O episode, while I can definitely think it covered a lot of ground they've covered over and over again (consciousness, what is a real experience in the digital age) and the story was a bit all over the place, I really didn't hate it. I don't think it would be close to my least favorite of the three episodes of this season, or in my top 5 weakest episodes overall.

That would be a hell of a fun exercise if we had enough interested in it, btw. Elimination tournament to see what Black Mirror episode stands as FOFC's favorite all time.

Finished watching Madam Secretary S3.

If things were only that simple to resolve. Enjoyed it but wish it was more "complex" by spanning multiple episodes.

Yeah I would be interested in this. Was a little late to the game after season 1 so I "triaged" based on several websites rankings of best to worst and thought 2 of the ones almost always on their worst (Metalhead and Shut Up and Dance) were two of my favorite. Ended up watching all of them and couldn't figure out some of their favorites and least favorites. There were only a couple (Bandersnatch, Black Museum) that I couldn't bother finishing.

Either an elimination tournament or a top 25 ranking depending on the interest.

How who would you rank The National Anthem?

Would you say it was good because it was so well done in making you feel the most uncomfortable watching TV ever? Or the worst for the same reason?

I couldnt make it through this one the 1st time and quit watching the show. But I went back and plowed through it (No pun intended) and am glad I did.

I think that's probably the most fascinating question of all - on it's own merits as a standalone episode that I'd want to watch? Definitely in the bottom quarter I would say. Definitely horrendously uncomfortable watching and IMO more than a bit gimmicky.

But as a groundbreaking episode that set the tone and the one that got all the controversy and buzz that made people watch and probably made the rest possible, it may well be the most important episode they ever made.

Season 2 of Workin Moms drops 7/25. Super excited for it.

just re-watched "justified" on amazon prime w timothy olyphant.... i never see that show mentioned, but definitely one of my favorites... great collection of characters.... winn duffie, boyd crowder, dewey crowe, dickie bennett, lol...

also rewatching "from the earth to the moon", an HBO miniseries about the apollo program.. this one has been unavailable for years, but just recently showed up again.... executive produced by tom hanks... still good....

Justified is in my top 5 list of shows. Great characters like you said, great writing, and it ended when it should have. If you like Olyphant in that type of role, check out Deadwood as well, if you haven't already.

There was a thread for the show that covered many seasons here while it was running. Probably not in my top 5 favorite shows but definitely top 10. Season 2 of Justified with Margo Martindale as the big bad is one of the best single seasons of any TV drama ever imo.

endorsed

I started Justified years back off the back of the thread here, enjoyed it a lot, but got distracted by something else before watching season 2 and never came back to it. Maybe it's time now, outside of Stranger Things and a few episodes of Chernobyl I have zilch on my binge watch list.