What TV SHOWS are you watching?

ChristopherMD wrote: 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.

Do NOT "read ahead" on Silo. For starters, the ending was, for me, a bit of a let down and B. in the current climate it is far too charged and will undoubtedly taint your enjoyment of the show. And C. I HIGHLY suspect they will change the ending anyway as it really was a mess.

But I did enjoy the books quite a bit till the end. Fergursons characters arc is really nice right up till it isn't. Though I don't think I ever read the spin off series, so maybe they retcon it a bit already.

I've watched the first two episodes of the new season of Black Mirror. This series has maintained such a high quality level across its entire run, it's very impressive. There are high points and low points, of course, but overall it's a very easy series to recommend.

Update: I tore through all 5 episodes. Only the last one fell flat for me. The one called Maisie Day really goes places.

I watched 8 episodes of Lovecraft Country back when it first came out. The first two episodes were thrilling and visually spectacular, and episode 7 was the best. Then I bailed, because the writing was not good in the other episodes, especially episode 8. Since I am currently running a Call of Cthulhu campaign, I decided to re-watch and finally finish all 10 episodes. Sadly, it turns out that my instincts were sound, and episodes 9 and 10 were not good. There were good moments here and there. but the utter obsession with racism became tedious. I agree that racism is bad and should be opposed, but I feel that racism is kind of a boring topic because racism is very stupid. Lovecraft Country also had a lot to say about discrimination against women, which is also stupid and therefore less interesting as a topic. I also felt that the sloppy writing off left gaping plot holes and required atrocious overacting from some of the main characters.

Ran through most of the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds this weekend. DAMN, it's as close to classic trek as I've seen in DECADES, edging out Orville (the Seth humor really torpedoes that series alas). It has some of the stink that turned me off of Discovery, primarily rushing the exploration plots, far too much emphasis on character pathos and trauma, and annoyingly elaborate sets that make the Enterprise feel like an opulent Love Boat rather than a vessel of science and (all too frequently) war, but it settles down after the first few eps and gets into some really nice stand alone plots that are quite good. The camera man doesn't run around the set like an ADHD afflicted monkey and at times smart characters ACT smart, not just announce that they "are a genius" as they boneheadedly do some dumb thing to prove a point.

sornars wrote: Any analysis of Zaslav's competence without taking into account the unit economics of streaming is incomplete. He may be making unpopular moves that are tantamount to creative robbery but that doesn't necessarily make them incorrect business decisions. HBO hits may generate talk in taste maker circles online but retaining users in streaming requires a lot of frequently refreshed filler content. I liked Succession well enough but the finale had ~3 million users while the average episode of NCIS has a viewership 5-6x that.

I personally prefer HBO's prestige content but I recognise that I'm only worth £15 a month to the company and only monetising users like me won't sustain a business in the modern entertainment era. That's without getting into the production pace and costs of prestige television vs Discovery's schlock. Framed another way, what's the value of a brand, to a CEO and its shareholders, if it can't be sustainably monetised?

deadline.com/2023/06/warner-bros-discove...-netflix-1235421444/

WB looking to make a quick buck at any cost doesn't surprise me. And they probably do have a lot of stuff that has lived out it's life on HBO/Max but might find a new audience elsewhere.

Game of Thrones, for example, could probably be distributed for a HUGE amount of $$$, and is it really a draw to Max? With streaming they have such good data on what, who, when, where folks are watching so it is probably easy to make these types of decisions.

Finished up Shiny Happy People, a documentary about the fundamentalist organization that most famously inspired the Duggar family ("19 Kids & Counting," or however many they are up to now).

Cycles repeatedly from weird to gross. The beliefs are pretty standard fundamentalist. Theologically and socially conservative; women should submit to their husbands, etc. Children should be obedient. But then there's this whole layer of organization around it where there's pseudo-paramilitary angle, and rigid control of everything by the guy at the top. And of course there's abuse of all kinds, because everyone is taught to obey the authority figures, who can cast anything bad as demonic attacks to destroy the Kingdom of the Lord.

Turns out there's been a generational project to get the kids who come up through this program into positions of leadership in the US government, so they can "return" the US to being a "Christian Nation." They've been working as congressional aides and court clerks for a few years; next steps are congress and then eventually a majority of seats of the SCOTUS. The first congressman didn't turn out so well (that'd be former rep Madison Cawthorn, who kind of spectacularly flamed out). But there will be more.

Went into a bit more detail on what we've been watching on Apple TV: dichotomouspurity.blogspot.com/2023/06/t...of-expectations.html

hotseatgames wrote: Black Mirror. Update: I tore through all 5 episodes. Only the last one fell flat for me. The one called Maisie Day really goes places.

I actually enjoyed the last episode, but not in the context of a Black Mirror episode. Yes, I realize that it is a back door pilot for a non-tech horror (Red Mirror) spin-off series, but for some reason it bothered me. Similarly, I didn't really enjoy Loch Henry or Mazey Day because it didn't really involve technology gone bad.

I watched the entire run of HBO's Succession within a couple of weeks. While a decent show, I don't think it's worthy of the praise that was heaped on it. The first two seasons are pretty good, the third stinks, and the fourth was alright, but not as good as the first two.

It's a well done drama, but it's really just the same tired "hyper rich patriarchy, who will take the reigns" story. It's no Arrested Development, I'll tell you that!

There are a couple of high points worth mentioning: Kieran Culkin is without a doubt the "Peter Dinklage" of the show, generally making every scene better if he's in it. But the real gem is the bromance between Tom, who has married into the family, and Greg, his assistant who is a nephew. Their dynamic is really neat to watch over the course of the four years.

Today, I watched the first three episodes of season one of Strange New Worlds. I plan to continue. I was raised on the original series, with a couple of my earliest memories of watching third season with my mom. I watched the syndicated reruns throughout the '70s and enjoyed the now-forgotten animated series. None of the movies ever recaptured the magic of the original series, but the pilot episode of Next Generation was so strong that it carried me though two lousy seasons before the show found its own strong identity. Everything Star Trek since then has disappointed me, and I bounced so hard off the purple Klingons that I stopped paying attention to each new show.

But I kept hearing good things about Strange New Worlds, and when I finally saw an image of Anson Mount sitting in the captain's chair with his swooshy pompadour, I swear that I heard the original theme song in my head.

Strange New Worlds doesn't quite give me the same feeling as the original series, but it is closer than anything else has been. I am very much in favor of diverse casting, but a bridge crew that seems to be 2/3 female does give a different vibe from the original series where it often seemed like a male-majority crew. This is not a bad thing. I re-watched the original series during the pandemic, and was struck by how many bland, middle-aged white men were on the crew, and how faceless they seemed to my modern sensibilities.

Another difference is the pacing. The original series really had nice, brisk pacing, covering a decent amount of story in every standalone episode. No faffing around with doubts or gaslighting... the second things went a little weird, Kirk would take decisive action. This series is pretty good about the pacing, but the modern writing is also focused on character development that doesn't necessarily help move the story along.

But these are matters of taste, and I think it's important that Strange New Worlds become its own thing and not get stuck in the orbit of the original series. A more troubling matter is Captain Pike's knowledge of his own future. It's one thing for the serious fans to happen to know his fate, which was unavoidable given the nature of this particular prequel series and the old pilot episode that inspired it. But by knowing the time and nature of his demise, Pike is actually free to take risks that would make even Jim Kirk flinch, because he is effectively protected by his own fate until it happens.

One more issue that I have is with Christine Chapel. Apparently she is going to suffer severe head trauma or commit major malpractice at some point, in order to get demoted from brilliant doctor to good nurse. It's unfortunate, because I do enjoy the way Jess Bush plays the character.

Overall, I enjoy the show. The theme song doesn't measure up to the original, but is better than most other Trek themes, especially the soft rock abomination of Enterprise. The production values are great, especially for a tv show. The stories evoke those of the old series, but not in a highly predictable way. I only have a few more days to finish first season for free on Prime, but I look forward to those viewings.

Shellhead wrote: I agree that racism is bad and should be opposed, but I feel that racism is kind of a boring topic because racism is very stupid. Lovecraft Country also had a lot to say about discrimination against women, which is also stupid and therefore less interesting as a topic.

I feel like racism and misogyny are important subjects for awareness, but a TV scene of a white woman transforming into a black woman and anally raping a department store manager with a high-heeled shoe isn't advancing the conversation much.

Strong starts to season 3 of Righteous Gemstones on Max (I don't like saying Max)

and season 2 of The Bear on Hulu.

The Last Kingdom - I binged this historical fiction show after a friend kept recommending it. Based on a book series that I read it deviates from a lot. I found the show enjoyable throughout. It covers the years 866-924 and multiple generations of families from different kingdoms as history leads towards a unified England. With lots of bloody battles as the main character is a warrior that has to avenge his father and take back his homeland yada yada. Other characters come out more interesting. If an epic story with basically an RPG adventuring party at the center of it interests you then you'll like this.

I liked The Last Kingdom, in general. It wasn't compelling TV, but it was good enough to follow throughout its lifespan. The movie that Netflix recently tacked on to the ending was less than, though. And now you can play it in a board game! www.kickstarter.com/projects/coe/the-las...d-game?ref=user_menu