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.