The first couple seasons were entertaining but then it kind of dragged on for me.

But not all series can be like the Mandalorian and its consistent quality!

I enjoyed The Good Place, but it is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

I loved it!

To be fair, the Mandalorian has only had two 8-season episodes so it's a little early to declare that.

SI

Watching Cobra Kai Season 3 and it's definitely not as good as Season 1 or 2. Kresse's Cobra Kai is way too cartoonish villians. In previous seasons you had Johnny trying to balance No Mercy with how he was treated which made the show interesting.

The Challenger documentary on Netflix was really good

Same. It's one of my favorite shows ever. I never thought it lagged at all (Season 3 is arguably the best season) and Mandalorian doesn't even come close to it's quality IMO.

Oh, that's weird - I thought season 3 was its weakest season. The initial premise was good but that show never let the premise grass grow under its feet (for good and for ill*). When they discover what's going in and the "soul squad" thing - I felt that was one of the worst sections of the entire show (season 4's "new group" 1st half was probably the other weakest part).

*I think the show's desire to constantly change was both good and bad. They always swept away the plot swords of Damocles, which was nice - things were tense but only for a few episodes at most and they moved on. But it also meant that dramatically the stakes weren't as high, which I guess is ok because, plot-wise, you could argue the stakes couldn't be higher, on the whole. It was the most fluid show I can ever remember watching. That meant that anything bad would be gone soon, but it also meant that anything good was not going to last either. Of course, the anchoring constant was that the main characters were mostly constant, but, even there, the repeated rebooting meant that some things you experienced through them were no longer true.

SI

I thought the jettisoning the intiail storyline of S3 when they did was a very good choice - they got out of it all they needed and moved towards something, IMO, deeper (one of the biggest strengths of The Good Place is it’s effeciency - they don’t draw things out, but move on when that part of the story is told). And it grew into something even more interesting (The “soul squad” thing is essential to entire theme of the show). Not to mention it includes two of the greatest episodes of the entire show: Jeremy Bearimy and Janet(s).

I love them both. They are very different shows that were doing vastly different things. They both succeed fantastically at what they are trying to accomplish and I would find it hard to compare them.

Just for the sake of the comparison, I enjoyed the good place and really thought it was special because of the writing & the setting, which were unlike any other TV show that came before it. On the other hand, the Mandalorian is the result of great, refined craft, but practically every single bit of plot & setting was openly 'inspired' by some other source material.

I'm looking forward to Lupin. I like "gentleman thief" type shows, and this one is getting good reviews.

Agreed. I like that they didn't go heavy on the teenage drama but the characters are just too cartoonish.

I did think the flashbacks to Kreese as a kid were interesting and they should have done more with it.

I haven't picked up season 3 of Kobra Kai & the shock cliffhanger ending of season 2 actually makes it pretty likely that I don't. Practically every single character got scattered in the opposite direction of where they had been previously headed, which makes for a pretty easy stopping point.

Wasn't really interested in how the cliff hanger played out. Was more interested in the additional reunions from the movies.

Finished s3 of Cobra Kai. Was the weakest season yet. Seemed far more into cameos than telling a good story. However, the last 15 mins of the finale was fantastic! And I'm actually really excited for Season 4.

Currently binging "Turn" on Netflix. I am on the last season and I just don't see how General Washington is going to win this war.

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Disenchantment part 3 is on. Good show made by the Simpsons guy, Groening (sp?). It is a fun show.

Watched "The Night Stalker" yesterday. I found I really didn't know as much about that case as I thought. That was one very sick dude. The thing that really got me is the women that became groupies after he was caught. I mean

I have that on my list. On a related note, I finally got around to watching the Mystery of DB Cooper on DVR (HBO) a couple of nights ago. I knew the general outline of the story, but considering it happened 3 months after I was born, I didn't know all of the specifics. And it was cool to see the coverage of it at the time.

It wove the story with profiles of the 4 likeliest suspects. Only 90 minutes long, so not much of an investment of time. Well worth it.

Got to catch that. I read a bunch theories on DB Cooper years ago, but I barely remember all of that. Of course, now we know for a fact it was Don Draper. :D

Enjoying the Expanse s5 but not as strong as earlier seasons.

Naomi's "whining" in the past 2 episodes are irritating to me. And before that, there was the mother-son dynamic that stretched way too long. And what the hell is Kamal & Draper doing ... much of nothing.

I want to see ship-to-ship combat damnit & more of the protomolecule. I really hope they resolve the Marco arc this season so we can go back to the gates/protomolecules in s6.

I do like the Amos/Timmy and Peaches storyline. Also enjoying Chrisjen but thought her comeback was too easy/convenient.

Watching https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Civil.../dp/B07M62BXTM and learning more about NA history before 1492.

Really fascinating stuff.

Where native Americans came from, what they ate, tools they used, paintings they did ... we all kinda knew this.

But I learn about the civilizations that existed (hint: along the Mississippi from LA to Ohio), cities they built, legends they told, earthen pyramids and burial mounds they built (including 2 on LSU campus) etc.

If you like ancient history and NA was just a black hole of knowledge, check it out.

Did they talk about Cahokia? That is right across the river from St. Louis and was a huge metropolis.

I've been to the mounds!

SI

They did. And Poverty Point.

Apparently there are eras/periods in NA ancient history. The Mississippian period was when the Spanish came.

The remaining "structures" don't look as amazing as South America and other well known ancient places but man, wished I learn all of this in US History. There's an Etowah burial mound relatively close by me that I want to visit.

I expect they talked about serpent mound, which is in the area where I grew up.

This show is incredibly interesting. Thanks for pointing it out. Amazing.

s5 ep10 was fantastic. Lots of ship-to-ship, protomolecule showed up, nice crew reunion (-1). Marco didn't get resolved but still a very good episode.

Looking forward to s6.

I loved the last episode of Expanse, but thought the season really dragged. I think they could have had one rocks episode, one Naomi/Amos episode, and last night's episode and then used the rest of the season for the war.

I know it's based on the books, but I got tired of another episode of Naomi in distress.

I just happened to be distracted & paying half-attention during Alex's whole moment (and I wasn't up on any of the real world news) so I had to rewind it like 3 or 4 times to understand what the fuck just happened.


..and I'll echo that Naomi's plotline has been an absolute slog.

Yeah, that was pretty shocking. I was thinking WTF happened ... and then the next Holden-Naomi scene explained it.

I liked his character but this season he didn't do much other than pilot the Razorback (like that name btw!). It wasn't a bad way to go.

Is anyone watching Warrior on HBO Max? Incredible stuff if you liked Banshee.

I have not, but I did love Banshee.

gay sex tube for all tastes and ages https://tubegay.name/en/

Lots of interesting casting news yesterday.

Gina Carano out of The Mandalorian and any other future Star Wars projects due to continued idiocy. Actions have consequences. Hopefully, Cara Dune will be recast.

Speaking of The Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal has been cast Joel and Bella Ramsey (who killed it as young Lyana Mormont in Game of Thrones) as Ellie in HBO’s upcoming series the “Last of Us” based on the amazing video game. One of the best games I’ve ever played.

Just saw that about Carano. The right wing freedom of speech morons are out in full force when she was really fired for being unable to control herself on twitter. Imagine ruining a very lucrative career so you could tweet drivel. She likely would have gotten a spin off.

Yeah. This isn’t cancelling, this is consequences. If I spouted off the same stuff on social media and it was brought to the attention of my employer, I’d be fired, too. And I’m not a public figure by stretch.

I’m sure she’ll manage to carve out some kind of career making shitty straight-to-DVD movies with Kevin Sorbo or Scott Baio or something.

The thing is she wasn't a good actress. She got the job because of the look she gave the role, and I admit that look did a little something for me. She should be easily replaced, though. Probably by someone not so wooden.

Agreed on all accounts.

If anyone wants to watch a really interesting, fun show The Food That Built America is really good. Deep dive in to some of our most iconic brands and how they came about. We are really enjoying it.

expecting something truly awful tho...like all video game to movie translations...

I remain hopeful! The game itself is more an interactive movie than a video game, it's incredibly cinematic. The dude who did Chernobyl is helming it and the casting seems great so far.

Speaking of video game to movie translations, isn't there a new Mortal Kombat coming out this year on HBO Max?

yeah but instwead of just doing the script of the video game they always write some other complete garbage.

As I mentioned in the Video Game thread, I was very underwhelmed by The Last of Us. The story just seems very generic zombie movie/show at least to me. So... I’m not sure how great its actually going to be.

Oof. Great, great game. Top 5 ever. Great game play. Super tense and visceral. Fantastic story telling, great characters, deep emotional depth. The tutorial, alone, is a work of art. I don't think there's ever been an video that evoked more emotion from me than this one. It resonated with me.

Can't wait for the show!

Totally agree.

Agreed. Great game. Really enjoyed both 1 & 2.

And I found it a slog to get through. Had to force my way to finish. Was the one misstep in my PS5 playthrough of PS4 hits - God of War and Ghost of Tsushima were fantastic. TLOU was a thud. It actually made me change my plans and play Rachet & Clank next because I wanted something just pure fun. And it was. Now playing Nier Automata and enjoying it.

I'll be skipping TLOU show...

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Ratchet and Clank is always fun. My daughter and I played through the PS4 version together.