What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Jackwraith wrote: On another board, someone suggested that part of the secret to its success was how hopeful and optimistic it was during a very bleak period (beginning of the COVID lockdown) so I can see that. I just usually need more of a hook than that and I'm not disturbed at all by bleak settings, as long as the story is good (this is the guy who will watch post-apoc anything.)

I don't think you can separate that first season of Ted Lasso from the time period in which it was released. That was during the darkest days of the pandemic. Real life was as bleak and depressing as any HBO prestige drama. Then out of nowhere comes this unabashedly hopeful and optimistic comedy about people being nice to either other. It's success was simply "right place, right time."

Season 2 was just frustrating. Nate's heel-turn was handled worse than Daenerys' in Game of Thrones. I was so irritated by the end of it, I've had no interest in watching season 3.

In other AppleTV+ news, I'm a few episodes into Silo. It's pretty cool so far. It's got great production design and I am always happy to watch Rebecca Ferguson do anything. I'm not familiar with the novels the show is based on, but the basic premise does remind me of a book I read my oldest daughter once called The City of Ember.

re: Ted Lasso season 3. The resolutions land really well for the last 4 episodes or so but only after 7 episodes of frustrating dawdlng. It's a very lumpy and unsatisfyingly paced season, which is extra annoying because the last 3-4 episodes are in excess of an hour so they had the material they could have paced better. Again, compare it to Shrinking, Lawrence's other showrun show on AppleTV+ that are pretty tightly paced 30 minutes or the first season of Ted Lasso and it's like you can see how off the rails this 30 minute good feels comedy is.

I don't think you need to see it.

Yeah, from everything that people have said, here and elsewhere, I think I'll let the average memories of Ted Lasso, season 1, fade into the distance.

Instead, I started watching Foundation because I'm a fan of the Asimov books. It started well, in that it's a relatively complex plot that they managed to squeeze into an hour-and-a-half while still maintaining some degree of dramatic tension (something that Asimov was not particularly famous for.) I'm happy to see where it goes, at the moment. Silo is also on my list, as is Severance.

My queue at Max remains problematic. Right before the switch from HBO Max to Max, I had 8 shows in my queue, in various stages of watching. After the switch, it dropped to 3 shows, and even when I retrieve one of the other shows and start watching again, it doesn't stay in my queue. I went looking for answers, and found that there is an astonishing list of bugs that have been identified in the last two weeks:

piunikaweb.com/2023/06/05/hbo-max-bug-tr...-development-status/

Scroll down to Update 122 (June 5, 2023) for the full list of bugs.

That makes sense. I can't even get Max to play sequential episodes of the Venture Bros correctly.

I liked Severence but it is not as smart as It thinks it is. Maybe S2 will 'fix' it but currently it has more of a mystery box feel and I have grave doubts they can coherently wrap it up.

I've been debating if I should step up and declare myself the one user here who doesn't identify as a cynical block of concrete. Hello, my name is Dave and I loved all of Ted Lasso. Even the weak spots.
Of course the bleakness of the pandemic helped, no argument there. But I think there is more to it. The show never was about the jokes to me. I found it smart and sometimes hilarious, but the fun was an important counterweight to the themes of toxic masculinity, emancipation and mental health. Without a joke here and there it would have been way too heavy, which IMO was the 'problem' that showed from the second season on. It was bursting at the seams.
Those weren't cardboard characters with unrealistic problems for me. The problems are real and normal stuff. The characters had to be cardboard to be able to utter the optimal sentence for any given awkward social situation, which happens so regularly even I noticed.
I found it annoying as hell but also uncomfortably realistic that I had to wait for months to find out more about Nate's (and every male character except Higgins) issues and think that most people got tired of waiting, because that's just not how most TV works. Even worse, I think that's a strong arc and am impressed how the actor made me like, hate, pity and then like Nate again.
I won't argue about it getting mushy and less focused, the episode length is a clear sign of lost focus, but it stuck the landing.
That said, if the first season didn't speak to you, you sure won't like the rest. But it ain't 'be more friendly the show.'

Nodens wrote: I've been debating if I should step up and declare myself the one user here who doesn't identify as a cynical block of concrete. Hello, my name is Dave and I loved all of Ted Lasso. Even the weak spots. Of course the bleakness of the pandemic helped, no argument there. But I think there is more to it.

I agree. The greatness of the show (at least Season 1 of the show) was that it starts out with a wholly ridiculous premise that makes your initial reaction: "This is dumb. This will never work." But gradually over the course of the season, it wins you over with its message of positivity through hardship, and you go from dismissing the guy to rooting for him. That is great TV.

I enjoyed the few bad reviews it got, because the angry people exhibited the exact same attitudes that the show itself was addressing & overcoming. Like the show came to life via the salty (and often politically motivated) dismissive reviews.

p.s.
And speaking of Apple TV prestige shows, Severance was great in Season 1, but since it won't have Season 2 air until next year that makes a 2-year gap where I'm not sure folks will care as much when it shows up again. And I don't think they can pull off explaining the shadowy plot without it coming off like a second-rate Bioshock. The first season is really good though, but by the end when the mysteries get filled in, you're ready for it to be over.

With a young child in the house, we tend towards watching kid friendly stuff, “wholesome” entertainment or more positive things.

It’s honestly a breath of fresh air and I am really enjoying it.
The world needs more positivity.

Nodens wrote: I've been debating if I should step up and declare myself the one user here who doesn't identify as a cynical block of concrete. Hello, my name is Dave and I loved all of Ted Lasso. Even the weak spots.

So, here's the thing, and it's exactly the same thing that I was talking to Gregarius about in the Movies thread: Why do I have to be cynical to have not enjoyed Ted Lasso? Why do I have to be declared something implicitly negative because I didn't like something that you liked? Could it not possibly be that we just have different tastes? Do I have to declare you to be stupid or weak or effeminate or simple-minded because you enjoyed Ted Lasso? Why would I do that? I don't think that of you any more than I think Gregarius or hotseat or any of the other people who enjoyed the D&D movie are somehow lesser people because they did. And, yet, because I found Ted Lasso to be not funny and extremely obvious in its approach, I'm a "cynical block of concrete" and implicitly "angry" or "politically motivated."

You liked it. Fine. A lot of people did. I thought it was completely forgettable on an artistic level except for one inside joke in one episode (the one where they talk about Tony Pulis, Alan Curbishley, and Harry Redknapp already calling to replace Ted as manager; a joke that I guarantee you 95% of the American audience was utterly oblivious to; am I a cynical football fan or just "dismissive" about Harry Redknapp?) I have a couple friends who think the whole thing- all three seasons -is one of their top 10 shows of all time. I don't think they're a couple of saps who read Hallmark cards for enlightenment. They're just entertained by different stuff than I am. That's it.

Been watching Silo. Its a bit of a mystery box show but no sign of any supernatural stuff which makes me optimistic. More about characters trying to learn the Silos history except researching the past is forbidden. Its been good and I can see a lot of potential for future story possibilities. But I can also see it getting cancelled on some lame cliffhanger.


Edit: Its based on a book series and has a graphic novel. So I guess cancellation wouldn't stop me from learning the ending.

It's unlikely that I will ever watch Ted Lasso.

1. I don't watch sports anymore, so shows about sports are inherently less interesting to me.
2. I bounced off the name "Ted Lasso," which I find esthetically displeasing on a visceral level. It's just a name, but it suggests the guiding influence of someone that doesn't share my tastes.
3. It's on Apple TV, and I am not an Apple cultist.
4. I only allow myself to pay for two streaming channels at a time, and I already have Amazon Prime and Max.

Yep, that's what I asked for. It's friday after all.
Of course your assessment on Ted Lasso 'just' being not 'funny' and 'cute' but definitely not 'smart' rubbed me the wrong way (and insulted anyone who liked it in a not at all subtle way).
As I've written above, TO ME it wasn't about the fun parts. I don't care if anyone 'gets it', there surely are different valid ways of 'getting' any type of media. That's what I tried to convey when I wrote 'spoke to you'.
In my defense, I really thought being called 'cynical' would elicit more of a knowing chuckle from hardened forum veterans than the rage I got.
It's obvious to me we have different views of what that show was trying to do. It worked for me and didn't for you. Which continues to be fine.
On a personal note, I'm in Europe, so this whole 'political' angle goes right over my head. Sorry about that. I appreciate ya.

Shellhead wrote: 3. It's on Apple TV, and I am not an Apple cultist.

That joke would have killed in 1995 when it was last relevant. Apple is the most successful, profitable company in human history. They're as mainstream as it gets.

Joebot wrote:

Shellhead wrote: 3. It's on Apple TV, and I am not an Apple cultist.

That joke would have killed in 1995 when it was last relevant. Apple is the most successful, profitable company in human history.

That's exactly what an Apple cultist would say.