What TV SHOWS are you watching?

I lost my job slightly more than two weeks ago, so I have been binge-watching tv shows while still spending at least 40 hours a week on the job search.

Ash vs. Evil Dead, season 3: If you liked the first two seasons, you should watch season three. It isn't great television, but there is a lot of action, the occasional good song, and sometimes a mildly amusing moment.

Hap and Leonard, season 1: Hap is a straight white guy and Leonard is a gay black man. They are best friends working a shit job in Texas together, when Hap hears about an interesting get-rich scheme from his ex-wife. The pacing starts out languid, almost slower than anything I've ever seen on tv. And yet I binge-watched all six episodes in a single day because it went from slow burn to intense. I was already a fan of these characters from the series by Joe R. Lansdale, and season one is a decent adaptation of the first book, Savage Season. There was also some nice moments to set up the second season, which definitely looks like it will be based on the second book, Mucho Mojo. The music was appropriate to the characters and the setting, though I'm not much into country music, even old country music. The actor playing Hap is okay, but Michael K. Williams (Leonard) and Christina Hendricks (the ex) steal every scene. Williams played Omar on The Wire, and Hendricks is best known from Mad Men.

Night Stalker, season 1 of 1: I picked this up for $2 at a big clearance sale, thinking that it was the old tv show from the '70s that I loved as a kid. Instead, it turned out to be the modern reboot of the show. Though lacking the corny charm of the original Carl Kolchak, this show was superior in almost every way. Kolchak is a very intrepid reporter with a particular interest in the supernatural. The original Kolchak constantly stumbled onto supernatural activity, but the modern version was constantly seeking it out due to a weird incident that resulted in his wife's death. The show captures the essence of all the good one-shot X-Files episodes that dealt with the supernatural instead of a vast UFO conspiracy, but eventually this show also veers into conspiracy territory, around the time it got canceled. This dvd set has four additional episodes that never aired. The show is okay but not great, but is still a bargain at $2.

Watched all of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. It's very good, with some good scares now and then. I'm not sure it entirely sticks the landing, but it's worth a watch. It also does a fantastic job of transitioning between past and present, never making you wonder what character you are watching.

This season of Doctor Who continues to be really good. Latest episode with them in 1950's Alabama gave me a Quantum Leap vibe too. I wonder if protecting history will be a recurring theme this season.

ChristopherMD wrote: This season of Doctor Who continues to be really good. Latest episode with them in 1950's Alabama gave me a Quantum Leap vibe too. I wonder if protecting history will be a recurring theme this season.

You have to think both of the baddies from the episodes so far will be back later this season. It's been hinted at pretty clearly.

hotseatgames wrote: Watched all of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. It's very good, with some good scares now and then. I'm not sure it entirely sticks the landing, but it's worth a watch. It also does a fantastic job of transitioning between past and present, never making you wonder what character you are watching.

I’m in the middle of it. So far, I think it’s excellent- sophisticated, intelligent horror with some great moments. Maybe a little too family drama for my taste, but the characters are good and the story is compelling. I really like that it’s very respectful of the story while diverting from it completely. It’s very much about the long-term psychological damage that this family deals with after Hill House.

The part with Luke seeing the floating man was BRILLIANT, one of the coolest horror scenes in recent years.

They’ve also done something interesting- there are “hidden” ghosts all over the place- faces behind clocks, figures barely visible in the shadows...Friedkin did some of this “subliminal” stuff in The Exorcist. Don’t know if it actually works per se, but it’s neat.

Count me in as another fan of the new season of Doctor Who. The cast has been terrific so far, and as much as you can get to know four new actors in only three episodes, I really like this TARDIS crew. I think this last week's episode was the first that has genuinely impressed me from a story standpoint. It wasn't perfect, but taking on a very recent historical figure, and facing relevant topics like racism head-on, is new material for the show. They generally did a great job with it.

The thing that has stood out to me especially has been the new aesthetic of the show. The look of it is far more cinematic and epic. It feels like it is trusting in its visuals to carry more storytelling, which is great. I also am a big fan of the music, from the new opening theme to the incidental music. I liked Murray Gold well enough, but it's a far moodier and more understated sound now, and I love it.

Wow, I’ve never seen a show crash and burn over the course of one season like The Haunting of Hill House. It peaks at episode 6- a stunningly shot and written episode...that also sort of suggests that the show is venturing off into bickering family melodrama. The remaining 4 episodes, although they have a couple of great horror moments, may as well be shit like This is Us with lots of sad piano to tug at the heartstrings. It all ends with a treacly acoustic pop song over a montage of everybody forgiving everybody and characters deliver their on-the-nose speeches about family, love, and death. Whoop de fucking do.

Time to go watch The Legend of Hell House to cleanse the palate.

This is very disappointing. We are only 4 episodes in and had high hopes.

I thought it was more important to enjoy TV episodes rather than entire seasons.

Even with movies, I can enjoy Darth Maul's saber fight and not like The Phantom Menace, but this seems like it would be even easier with TV shows.

I'm sure I could enjoy a walk in the woods until I hit a briar patch. Knowing that I'm heading to towards the briar patch ahead of time lessens the enjoyment of the walk beforehand.

Watch up to the end of episode 6 then stop.

Less than 12 hours after finishing it...I can’t believe I watched something like that. The high quality supernatural material tricked me into watching a sappy family drama.

I will say this though. If you know the story and Robert Wise’s The Haunting...it actually does an excellent job of touching base with key elements even if they are smothered by This Is Us stupid ass shit that we are all supposed to relate to.

But it’s almost shocking how sharply even the character writing just plummets through the floor. It becomes unbelievably predictable, and the maudlin proselytizing about life is just about one step above a “Footprints in the Sand” poster.

That piece in Shelly’s spoiler was pretty good though...but by that point I was painting while it was on, wondering why I was continuing on with it.

I watched the Rosa Parks episode of Doctor Who. It was VERY Quantum Leap. Which I kind of liked. But what was best about it was that The Doctor and her companions don’t actually help her, inspire her, or otherwise act in such a way that they impact HER history. She does it all on her own. The “fixing” is all in making sure the adversarial elements are in place because that is what got messed with. I thought it was really smart how they could only watch it happen without doing anything. A good episode- Jodie Whittaker is on track to be a lot of people’s favorite Doctor. I love the positivity, the “together we’re stronger” message...love that line- “these are my new best friends”.

“The Ghost Monument” was really good...it felt like vintage Who in a lot of ways. And a reference to Venutian Aikido, calling back to the Third Doctor.

"The Ghost Monument" has so far been my least favorite. It could well end up being a setup for later in the season, but on its own it just kind of stops. It ultimately doesn't build to very much at all.

the_jake_1973 wrote: I'm sure I could enjoy a walk in the woods until I hit a briar patch. Knowing that I'm heading to towards the briar patch ahead of time lessens the enjoyment of the walk beforehand.

Jakey, most religions have stuff in there that try to get you to enjoy the walk in the woods. I’d like to think that I’d still enjoy that walk in the woods (as long as there are no bugs) even if ultimately I get turned around in the end

You gotta live in the moment. Life’s way too short to not enjoy that kind of stuff.

Daredevil S3 was really good. Definitely better than S2 and possibly on par with S1. They kept the story simple and stuck to it. Every scene that happens in the church was great and there's a lot of them. Some good fights as usual and Bullseye's style of just throwing random objects was fun. Fisk always one step ahead of everyone else shows why he's the Kingpin. Karen Page's character was better this season but they wasted half an episode on her family history. Fortunately the second half of that episode was mostly a big fight so not a complete loss.