What TV SHOWS are you watching?

n815e wrote: One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Rick and Morty is that every episode references other things, but you don’t need to get the references to enjoy the episodes.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about Archer is that every episode references other episodes, but you don't need to get the references to enjoy the show. Adam Reed is a master of the running joke.

Archer is one of the other greatest cartoons of the modern era. It's one of the few shows that had me laughing so hard I fell off the couch I was lying on (along with Veep.)

Watched the first two episodes of the 5th season of The Handmaid's Tale tonight. I've continued to watch the show because I appreciate its messaging about the modern era in the US and I also enjoyed Atwood's novel and the film from the late 80s. However, I'm wondering if the show hasn't outstayed its welcome a bit. These episodes were directed by Elisabeth Moss and they were both very heavy-handed and spent an inordinate amount of time focused on Moss' face. I mean, it's called "The Handmaid's Tale" for a reason. This is June's story. I get that. But, man, you're really not advancing that story by spending so long on every flicker of her eyes in grief/rage/joy/whatever the emotion of the moment happens to be. There really has to be more than this. She does the same with almost every other major character, just to a lesser degree than June. You can almost hear her direction in every shot: "OK. Linger, linger, linger, cut to X other character and... linger, linger, linger..." Certainly, the actions of the finale of the 4th season deserved to have some impact on everyone involved. But carrying this same approach into and through the next hour of episode 2 is stretching it. I really hope a ball starts rolling in some other direction next week.

So The Imperfects ends strong. The show has a great balance between serialized plot and an episodic "monster of the week" ensemble feel, something that tends to be very lacking in a lot of streaming shows that know they can just be a long 8 hour movie and ignore intra-episodic structure. They set it up for a second season but only with a little 1 minute stinger that you could choose to forget if it ends up being a single season story. Worth your time.

EUPHORIA for some reason, heard it was critically acclaimed I guess. It made me feel old. I am okay with hinting at characters getting it on; I don’t need nor want to see dicks and actual coitus. Is that really what the Kids These Days are getting up to? When I was the age of the characters, I sure as hell wasn’t getting laid, nor doing drugs of any kind. It seems sensationalized. I would have hoped, with the ubiquity of actual porn, that writers would realize that there’s no reason to titillate audiences with pseudo-porn, as the real thing is just a click away. Instead, it looks like the cultural conservatives were right: the ubiquity has led to a general coarsening of culture where nothing is shocking and everything once taboo is banal.

Stopped watching after a few episodes; I don’t want to see naked teenagers, even if the actors are adults.

Maybe you want to have a look at Sex Education. It's what the kids are getting up to these days. Some of them get it on, a few of them do drugs, but most of them are just teenagers: horribly clueless, bumbling around. And all that porn and the cell phones aren't really helping to make personal connections.
Beautifully shot (Wales), exceptionally good writing, great acting, brilliant humour. I am hooked. I told my teenage daughter she HAD to see this, she said: 'saw it a year ago, it's good', so: also real teenager-approved.
The level this show is operating on is crazy high, hope they managed to keep it in the second season.
Mind you: it's got various forms of intercourse, frequently. Says so in the title. The occasional nudity is normal, it's an educational show .

The latest episode of House of the Dragon ended with a shocking, violent scene that wouldn't have been out of place in Game of Thrones. But I didn't enjoy it because it required a likeable character to do a bloody awful and stupid thing in front of the entire court because of his feelings.

To cheer up, I watched an episode of Samurai Jack (I'm deep into season four), but that didn't help. The episode was an homage to Blade Runner. Cyberpunk, jazz, noir, rain, a flying car, all featuring a robot with feelings who dresses like a hardboiled detective and has a pensive narrative. He was a highly skilled killer, but he retired when he adopted a stray dog name Lulu who loved him unconditionally. One day, the villainous Aku heard about him and kidnapped his dog, forcing him to come out of retirement for one last job: kill Samurai Jack. It ends as expected, and the viewer is left feeling sad about a villain who tried to kill a hero.

I've watched 2 of the 6 episodes of Narco-Saint on Netflix. This is a Korean show about a guy who gets wrapped up in drug smuggling while trying to provide for his family. One of the Squid Game actors (so far) shows up.

I have a propensity for drug shows so I'm hanging in there, but I can't wholeheartedly recommend it yet. I will say it's not what I expected, so that can always be nice.

That Cyberpunk Edgerunners cartoon on Netflix is pretty good. I played a f'ton of Cyberpunk 2020 or whatever it is was back in the day and was a HUGE cyberpunk lit fan, even wrote some myself in the old chatsubo newsgroup back in the day, so this show is like mainlining the early 90's right into my veins. I've not played the CD project red game but now I really gotta carve out some time to do so. Anyone down for a second pandemic lock down?

Can't remember if I mentioned on here or not, we're still semi regularly watching some X-Files episodes and working our way through (when it doesn't put me to sleep.... just something about the pacing!). I forgot (or didn't realise at the time)

a) how much of a dick Mulder can be
b) how goofy it got sometimes. Just watched that one in black and white with the deformed scientific experiment where the villain is Peterman from Seinfeld. What the hell. But it's... not alone. I didn't remember this kind of stuff. Maybe I just missed these episodes (I wasn't a regular watcher).

Years ago I tried to re-watch The X-Files and didn't make it far. It has not aged well, despite there still being some nice bits to it. 9/11, Sandy Hook, and QAnon have demolished the idea of "conspiracy theory" being wild, fun entertainment. The show also lost no time in burning through its own goodwill.

People complain about how the "mytharc" eventually went off the rails but it is hot nonsense almost from the jump. As early as season one the conspiracy episodes make no sense, even within themselves, and contradict each other in ways that go beyond just obfuscating the mystery. It's very clear that there was no plan and that these writers were not good at just making it up as they went along.

Mulder and Scully are a lot of fun, and the show deserves credit for keeping them as partners and friends, pushing back at the demand to have them be a couple. It's a strength of the show and more could learn from that aspect.

The top-notch episodes that have remained so are stand-alones, but once the mytharc caught fire most of those were clearly seen as "filler" and not paid much attention to. And some of them are just downright dopey.

Finally, TXF comes from the days of 24-episode seasons and I am here to say that 24 episode seasons are nuts. The only way to re-approach this show is with HEAVY curation. I tried that and even then there was just too damn much of it.

jason10mm wrote: That Cyberpunk Edgerunners cartoon on Netflix is pretty good. I played a f'ton of Cyberpunk 2020 or whatever it is was back in the day and was a HUGE cyberpunk lit fan, even wrote some myself in the old chatsubo newsgroup back in the day, so this show is like mainlining the early 90's right into my veins. I've not played the CD project red game but now I really gotta carve out some time to do so. Anyone down for a second pandemic lock down?

A lot of the art is straight out of the game. For example, when the kid gets 20,000 Eddies on his first big job.

As for the game, if you liked Witcher III you'll probably like CP2077, although IMO Witcher III's story holds together a little better.

I really liked Edgerunners, and the best compliment I can give is that it felt like watching a side story from Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners looks exactly like a generic anime, and nothing like the rpg.

Currently enjoying Bee and Puppycat. It makes SOME sense, but the whole landscape and art style is something out of the Beatles animated movie. My wife says, "What in the hell is even going on?" but she still watches it with me.

Legomancer wrote: \
The top-notch episodes that have remained so are stand-alones, but once the mytharc caught fire most of those were clearly seen as "filler" and not paid much attention to. And some of them are just downright dopey.

Completely agree with you here. Those are the ones that have held up.