What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Having watched the first 2 Dune Prophecy episodes, I have no desire to get back into it. Good to know it "gets good" but demanding another hour of me before it does that might be a bridge too far.

I've watched No Good Deed, created by the same person who did Dead To Me. It's a good show, and Linda Cardellini is in it. If it's a Netflix show and she's in it, it's worth watching.

I've watched the first two episodes of The Madness. It's pretty exciting, and I'm interested to see where the story goes. A CNN personality ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now has people after him. CONSPIRACY??????!!!

And I can't believe I forgot Dexter: Original Sin! The idea of a Dexter prequel sounds ridiculous, and Dexter New Blood sucked. So it's surprising as hell that this show is actually PRETTY GOOD. Some of the writing is a bit hacky, but having Michael C. Hall as the voice in Dexter's head works amazingly, and the new Dexter is good. Christian Slater as Harry Morgan is also good, except for when they go back in time, de-aging him in just a shitty, cheap way. He looks ridiculous. Anyway, I'm 3 episodes in and am shocked that I'm enjoying it.

I've now finished the season. It is better in the second half, but I don't recommend it if you're already weary. I ended up finding the constant changes between the younger and older versions of the characters to be annoying. Pick a time period and stick with it.

I'm two episodes into Squid Game season 2, and am so thrilled to say it's fucking awesome! They took their time, and it shows.

ChristopherMD wrote: I've now finished the season. It is better in the second half, but I don't recommend it if you're already weary. I ended up finding the constant changes between the younger and older versions of the characters to be annoying. Pick a time period and stick with it.

God I am so fucking tired of non linear storytelling. Fuck flashbacks.

I finished all 7 episodes of Squid Game season 2. It is very good, very different than the first season, and well worth your time.

There have been some excellent scary movies and tv shows relying on a combination of darkness and extreme cold to set the tone. The Thing. The Shining. 30 Days of Night. The Terror. Season 4 of True Detective. And now there is The Head, a new tv show on HBO. It is a horrifying murder mystery at a research station in Antarctica. I just watched the first two episodes, and it has quickly ramped up into an enthralling and suspenseful viewing. The primary language is fluent English, but there is also a fair amount of Danish being spoken, so this might be a movie that was made in Denmark. No big names in the cast, which means that anybody might die next.

While my GF and I were both off during the holidays, we binged our way through Clarkson's Farm. I'm not a reality TV fan, as I find most of them to be a single gimmick extrapolated out into a storyline that, rather than reflect what's actually happening, is clearly written beforehand. (Watching a couple of the Storage Wars-type shows when I was sick one day reinforced that. How is there always a rival/"villain" character in every town that the leads come to buy in?) I knew who Jeremy Clarkson was before this only by reputation, since I didn't watch either Grand Tour or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but this show was really good. Not only did I learn a ton about how modern farming actually functions, but Clarkson's acerbic relationship with one of his contractors (Kaleb) and odd friendship with another (Gerry) whose local dialect was borderline unintelligible, made the show genuinely funny, as well as informative. There are three seasons of 8 episodes each on Amazon Prime and a fourth coming in May. Highly recommended.

In contrast, after we finished that, we were looking for something else to get into and found Goliath, also on Prime, which is a legal drama helmed by Billy Bob Thornton. Billy is Billy McBride (convenient) who apparently founded a legal firm that became high-powered enough in the span of 20 years to be in bed with major defense contractors but then lost his taste for the big show and drank himself to near-oblivion. He now lives in a motel on the beach in California and gets recruited to be the front man for a wrongful death case where the original litigator wants to do a quick settlement. It, of course, morphs into this vast conspiracy as what is apparently the main reason to make it a series, rather than movie. The cast is relatively star-studded (William Hurt, Maria Bello, Molly Parker) but the writing is... not. We made it through 3.5 episodes and the last .5 was under duress because I was already pointing out that a) no one in the series is interesting other than Billy; b) nothing in the plot even graces the concept of what legal work is actually like; and c) said plot is completely paint-by-numbers. In all three episodes, there was a setup for a crisis, the crisis, and then the resolution of said crisis, usually ascribed to Billy's panache and encyclopedic knowledge of the law, which everyone already knows and predicts will happen and, yet, it happens, anyway.. He makes no mistakes, because the plot doesn't allow room for mistakes. It has to propel you forward, probably not least because every character except Billy is incidental to that plot, which is why none of them are interesting. It's like watching early seasons of Star Trek: TNG where you could watch the script points happen at each commercial break in every episode. Despite having drank himself to seeming ruin, Billy lives in the most nicely-appointed motel room(s; two of them) you'll ever see and is also completely on top of every situation at all times, whereas everyone else struggles to keep up. It's like watching Deus Ex Machina, the Series. Do not bother.

Speaking of legal dramas, I have been watching the new Matlock, via Paramount Plus (though also on CBS). Kathy Bates is outstanding as an old attorney who has come out of retirement for an interesting reason. The first episode ends with an amazing plot twist that sets up the rest of the show. I am 9 episodes deep into this show and still enjoying it.

And I am also watching Girls. It didn't seem even remotely interesting to me when it came out in 2012, but I subsequently learned that Judd Apatow was involved, and I am a big fan of his first two shows, Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared. Girls features a group of four young female friends trying to figure out their lives while navigating the daily challenges presented by New York City. It's slightly weird and occasionally funny, and every episode features at least one non-pornographic sex scene that often seems very unsatisfactory for both participants. Adam Driver also plays a steady, regular character, and his character is reliably unpredictable. The show reminds me a bit of my own chaotic 20s.

Shellhead wrote: ... And now there is The Head, a new tv show on HBO. ...

I thought your description sounded good, so I started the first episode. I immediately realized I had already watched this show and completely forgot about it. It was not a bad show, but I guess it just got shoved out of memory for all sorts of reasons I don't wish to theorize about.

Earth Abides - Based on the novel, which I've never read. After a ridiculous premise, a guy wakes up after most people are dead from a pandemic. He mostly continues to hang out at home as over the course of the series more and more people join him. Sort of the lazy man's post-apoc fantasy. It was very middle-of-the-road altogether. Slow-paced with years hand-waved by.

hotseatgames wrote:

Shellhead wrote: ... And now there is The Head, a new tv show on HBO. ...

I thought your description sounded good, so I started the first episode. I immediately realized I had already watched this show and completely forgot about it. It was not a bad show, but I guess it just got shoved out of memory for all sorts of reasons I don't wish to theorize about.

You're right. The first season was in 2020, and there were a total of three seasons. The seasons are short at six episodes each. I have now finished the first two seasons.

The Head is a very good show except for the faint-hearted. The mood is often either foreboding or tense, as each season is effectively a murder mystery involving an unfolding series of related murders. The characters tend to be in an isolated location where there is no chance for intervention from law enforcement, at least for a critical time period of days or weeks. The writing is good, though the story sometimes plays a little fast and loose with the ideas in order to hit the emotional beats hard. Because the seasons are short, the pace of the action is brisk, though there is still time to let the characters react and for more suspense to build. If you were ever a fan of the writing of Alistair MacLean, or any of the movies based on his writing (especially Breakheart Pass or Ice Station Zebra), you will definitely enjoy The Head.

Started watching Cross on Prime. This is a detective show based on novels I have not read, and is pretty decent. Some of the writing is a bit hacky, but the characters are enjoyable and the story is good.

Aldis Hodge plays Alex Cross, and I had first seen him in Turn: Washington's Spies. He's very good.

American Primeval - I burned right through this over the weekend. A Western series based around Fort Bridger - one of those places you'd stop to die playing Oregon Trail. Gunfights/battles are fast and brutal, while the acting was good all around.

Creature Commandos is a fun but extremely violent DC cartoon on Max. Just seven episodes long, which was just about right. If you enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, you will probably enjoy this latest work by James Gunn. If you loved the second Suicide Squad movie (2021), you definitely should see Creature Commandos, which is a direct sequel. Suicide Squad featured a U.S. government black ops team made up mostly of supervillains hoping to get time shaved off their prison sentences. Creature Commandos is similar, except that these operatives are actual monsters instead of super-villains.

Each episode reveals the back story of one of the Commandos. Though some are irredeemably awful, they all have relatable elements in their origins that might strike a chord with viewers. A couple of those back stories are heartbreaking.

The pacing is great, alternating between brisk action and strong character moments. The soundtrack is wonderful, emphasizing Gypsy punk and other eastern European influences, especially Gogol Bordello. They even played a song by one of my obscure favorites, Firewater. The voice acting is very good, and fan favorite Alan Tudyk plays one of the main characters. The animation from European studio Bobbypills is decent, but definitely influenced by anime.