What TV SHOWS are you watching?

We are latecomers to Chef's Table, but have been enjoying it quite a bit. I'm still not entirely sold on throwing down serious green for one of these supremely fancy and artistic dinners, but I'm close. We may pony up for a dinner at Alinea when we reach a new normal down the road.


On the subject of The Boys,

dysjunct wrote: Latest series of GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW dropped on Netflix and I am always down for some wholesome laid-back semi-competition. It’s all predictable at this point but it feels cozy rather than tired.

Netflix has started doing the “one episode a week” thing. I don’t like this.

For GBBO they're doing it because they're putting them up as they air in England.

Dragon's Dogma on netflix isn't bad. I've never played the game it is based on so I'm not sure if the show spoils anything or is even really related. It has a weird off-putting animation style with obviously CGI monsters and hand-drawn looking everything else. The main character is also SHREDDED, like he belongs in Fist of the North Star or something, which may be intentional. Anyway, after a few episodes it settles into a semi-episodic format of pretty cool little parable type stories based around the seven deadly sins.
Show has lots of gore and nudity so it isn't kid friendly. But if you liked netflix's Castlevania then this will scratch a similar itch.

I agree, Dragon's Dogma was okay. Not quite as good as Castlevania.

I watched the season finale of Raised By Wolves. This is the best new show I have seen in some time. HBO should be pushing this over their other stuff. Just a cool, different sci-fi story.

The 100 - Just finished its final season. This show was quite the rollercoaster of the unexpected throughout its run. Overall I think it'll be long remembered/recommended as a solid post-apoc story. I'd certainly put it over the Hunger Games and all those half-finished YA novel adaptation franchises.
Major Spoiler:

Started watching Utopia on Amazon. Wow, they really nailed the con vibe. Even have a Rio Grande Games booth in the background! Hard to say where it is going this early but I have heard it is really gruesome (tis is not apparent at all 30 min in) so I am excited to see where it goes. Fun casting so far and interesting premise (unknown follow up comic to an underground comic that appears to predict plague outbreaks).

As a big fan of the original UK Utopia show I couldn't even get past the Amazon trailer.

Good god this show is violent (Utopia). Pretty much every character has been killed or almost killed about 3-4 eps in. Still no idea what is going on. It is very much like Preacher (minus most of the humor).

jason10mm wrote: Started watching Utopia on Amazon. Wow, they really nailed the con vibe. Even have a Rio Grande Games booth in the background! Hard to say where it is going this early but I have heard it is really gruesome (tis is not apparent at all 30 min in) so I am excited to see where it goes. Fun casting so far and interesting premise (unknown follow up comic to an underground comic that appears to predict plague outbreaks).

We got about two and a quarter episodes in before we gave up. As a huge fan of the UK original, I found the remake to be complete nonsense. So far there is no sense whatsoever of the plot, there is just a series of action scenes and scene setters.

Still have no idea what the plot is after two whole episodes, and far too much pointless action. There was one scene in particular where:
My problem isn't with the scene, it's that the scene doesn't accomplish anything whatsoever plot-wise.

I also have a problem with:

I'm too old and a curmudgeon, I need my shows to attempt to make a little sense and have a plot in between jokes or action sequences.

For our viewing pleasure we are watching Manifest. Two episodes in and it's interesting. My only worry is that it is trying to sneak in a heavy handed Christian "God works in mysterious ways" explanation for everything when there is no need to inject it with that nonsense.

Watched the Netflix doc The Social Dilemma which is an expose on billion dollar social media corporations monetising users and (gasp) not exactly having the purest of motives at heart. It has a mix of industry-leading talking heads who are all doing an Oppenheimer and ruing their creation, and a far weaker dramatised story that is well-meaning but corny. It does a really good job of explaining the dangers of the social media opinion-funnel that is pushing the polarisation of opinions, and highlighting how the industry abuses users by providing addictive content and selling the subsequent page-views as billions of micro-transactions.

For me personally it was preaching to the converted as I ditched all social media around a decade ago, but our teenage kids found it a real eye opener. Well worth a watch, especially if you can't manage to put your freakin' phone down for a few hours without being asleep.

In the eclectic corner I have also been enjoying a fascinating subtitled Hindi-language series on the food culture of India called Raja, Rasoi aur anya Kahaniyaan, recently made available on Netflix. It's a mix of travelogue, history, culture and how those traditions weave into food as both sustenance and a source of conviviality. Because it is unafraid to go super-niche it is filled with some superb interview pieces spanning all levels of society and culture, and by not having a leading host it presents its subjects in an honest and authentic manner. The only thing I wish it dwelled on more would be some actual recipes.

Many of the subjects switch between English and Hindi and I'm often wondering which words are archaic Hindi terms that worked their way into the English language and which ones are modern expressions that have become a part of global language culture.

I am still watching new episodes of The Boys and Lovecraft Country as they become available. But I need a show that I can slowly work through over a longer period of time, something where I can watch maybe one episode a day, or even just part of an episode, with somewhat lower engagement in the show. And so I started watching Deep Space Nine. When it was originally on the air, I half-heartedly watch a random first season episode, and then later watched a few more random episodes in later seasons. While it was nice to see Worf and O'Brien again, I was too busy with so many other things in my life and didn't have much time for tv. The first episode is okay, but I have heard that there are quite a few weak episodes in the first season.

I mentioned it earlier, but it's good enough to repeat. Apple TV's Ted Lasso is great. The season finale dropped last week, and it absolutely stuck the landing. Despite the title, it is an ensemble comedy with every major character having their own meaningful arc. It's hilarious. It feels good, but the relationships are earned through real challenges and adversity.

And I want to highlight the writing. Little, offhand comments like Ted's belief in ghosts, his preferred means of eating peanut butter and need to make things right in dreams, return in later episodes. It's not like Seinfeld or Arrested Development where they build up to episode-ending punchlines. They're not miniature mysteries and clues like Watchmen. They just make the characters feel complete, like the writers actually read their earlier scripts. Well done.

Shellhead wrote: The first episode is okay, but I have heard that there are quite a few weak episodes in the first season.

Yeah, I think you can pretty safely skip the whole first season.

I finished the MMA centered drama, Kingdom on Netflix. A fantastic show that nobody knows about it seems. Realistic, flawed characters and there is an authenticity in the setting and dialog. There are plotlines that could be wrapped up in a fourth season, but it also ends in a way that you can decide the fate of the characters. I know that sounds absurd since why have a tv show at all then, but that is the only way I can explain it.

The ending of Raised by Wolves was bonkers.