Yeah, this whole thing where you're trying to hide a mistake from somebody is my least favorite form of dramatic tension. The earlier plot with the voicemail was tedious for me, and I kept hoping we would just find out that she had heard it and didn't care.
Agreed that Ava is very unlikeable overall so far. I'm intrigued, because usually I'd sympathize with that character over the older one, but in this show it's the opposite. Maybe that will give Ava room to grow once she's fully realized she's an asshole.
Yeah, this whole thing where you're trying to hide a mistake from somebody is my least favorite form of dramatic tension. The earlier plot with the voicemail was tedious for me, and I kept hoping we would just find out that she had heard it and didn't care.
On the Watch there was speculation the cliffhanger would be quickly resolved. I agree about the voicemail plot except the way she resolved it was pretty funny or at least unexpected.
Certainly Ava has room to grow, I just hope it mostly happens from self reflection after seeing the results of her actions instead of people pointing out how she could be better. "Comedy with a lesson at the end of the episode" is too formulaic even for this show.
My wife and I started watching SweetTooth on Netflix and we're really liking it so far. Really well made, cool concept, some of the pandemic stuff hits a bit to close to home but overall it's kindof like a more optimistic version of the Walking Dead without the graphic violence and gore (which I can often go without these days).
For those who maybe wrote it off because it looked like too much of a cheesy YA show I'd say give it a try!
Wife and I also watched and enjoyed Sweet Tooth, but I thought it was a one-off mini-series and it definitely isn't. The season ends with essentially a cliffhanger.
Wife and I also watched and enjoyed Sweet Tooth, but I thought it was a one-off mini-series and it definitely isn't. The season ends with essentially a cliffhanger.
Now that is just tempting fate when it is a Netflix show.
Just finished Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'll definitely have to watch through it once more before making my final verdict, but as of now it stands as a top 5 favorite show. I really loved it. Even the "cliffhanger" ending didn't bother me. I actually thought the main story line was wrapped up well enough. Answered a lot of questions, and didn't leave me unsatisfied. There are plenty of cons (bad acting at times, fast and loose writing, cheesy moments, etc.), but considering it was on Fox, I elected to overlook the majority of those. Besides, the pros far outweigh them. This show has a compelling story line with lots of great subplots and funny moments, but more importantly, it expands and explores the Terminator universe in a manner that goes beyond the entire movie franchise put together. Where as you get glimpses and interesting tidbits in the movies, the series makes it a point to really show you. It also has a ton of character growth. Despite only having a 31 episode run, I felt by the end that everyone's arc made sense, and their changes were well earned. Top this all off with a consistent barrage of absolutely hilarious "anti-apocalyptic terrorist cell meets regular society" slice of life moments, and you end up with a quirky show that rarely has a dull moment. Seriously, I can't count the number of times I laughed out loud at the main characters interacting with "regular" society, only for something to pop off and the scene instantly turn bonkers. The writers really leaned into it. They never waste an opportunity to show a citizen's shocked expression when the seemingly suburban single mom and her lily-white teenage posse go into paramilitary shoot out mode at the drop of a dime.
Just finished Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I watched this for the first time during the pandemic and mostly enjoyed it, though I kind of wanted Skynet to eliminate angsty teen John Conner just because he was so annoying. Still definitely worth a watch for all the show's good qualities.
Coincidentally, Lena Headey is in the action movie Gunpowder Milkshake coming out next week on Netflix.
We're watching Loki week to week and really enjoying it, but as far as binges go my wife and I have two going.
The better side of it is we're doing a wrap-around on Fringe (in essence we got all the way through and started right over), I fuckin love Fringe. One of my favorite cores of characters and I have nothing but the highest respect for the story management and for the most part, the writing in general. Fringe is amazing.
The lesser side of it is that we're working our way through Manifest. I am hooked into it, but a bit resentfully. I know my wife would drop out if I could let go of it, but god dammit I just have to know if they actually have a plan. I don't think they do, but I have to find out for sure. I fear it's Flash Forward and The Event (ironically, I don't believe the show actually knew what The Event meant) and the Following all over again. I hope I'm wrong and I will find out, but I don't have faith. Additionally the dialog is pretty suspect and I really wish they had casted better. I believe that the concept is incredibly strong, but in a lot of cases they didn't get the caliber of performer that they needed and not nearly the pool of writing talent. All that said, I am enjoying watching it. The concept truly is intriguing enough to forgive its shortcomings. It's also an interesting case because when and if they attend to land the plane, the effectiveness or lack thereof could swing every opinion of the show that I've formed very considerably. Also, credit where it is due, the show did "level up" between seasons 1 and 2. It is getting better.
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man As charmed as I always am by James Nesbitt, I’ve never bothered watching this because I assumed it was some MCU thing and they don’t interest me. But I read recently that Stan Lee just had the basic idea and doesn’t have anything to do with it aside from a cameo each season, so I decided to check it out.
It’s about a London cop (usual tropes - brilliant but reckless maverick, addiction issues, yada yada) who has a one night stand with a Romani woman and wakes up the next morning with a bracelet on his arm that he can’t remove. The bracelet gives him luck and other than that it’s basically a glossy, fast-paced police procedural, with the running story of a mysterious bad guy trying to get the bracelet from him.
I burned through S1 and now I’m into S2. They’ve introduced a new character in this season who is so far super annoying, so I’m not feeling it as much as the first season, but I’m still enjoying enough about it to keep going.
I've really been enjoying The WhiteLotus on HBO. It's a new show from Mike White, and really is well made with a great cast. Setting is a luxury Hawaiian resort, and it kindof has an Upstairs/Downstairs thing going on with the guests and staff. I mentioned it on Discord, but one thing that makes it really engaging to me is the sound design and score, which is pretty unique. Anyone who liked White's pervious show on HBO - Enlightened - should definitely check it out.
Limitless - There's only one season of 22 episodes. I can give it a marginal recommendation. Expands the universe of the excellent movie of the same name. The overall plot is appropriately twisty. Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan in Dexter) is the second lead and is used well. Unfortunately the main character is a little too lightweight/unengaging. There's a recurring subplot with his father which just does not work. The show is inventive and tries various gimmicks and gags, only some of which work. If you're a fan of the movie, it's worth trying the show.
It's another show which could be revived by a streaming service with different actors, maybe a different tone.
We're still on round 2 1/2 of Fringe, but it's been largely paused by Alone. I officially have a new favorite reality tv show, move over Making It. I know I'm pretty late to the party and all, but we just found out about it a week, week and a half ago and we're just eating that shit up like crazy. I love the variance in personalities and yet I end up rooting for almost everybody (we're in Season 3 and there is this one dude that was pretty insufferable, but they have an amazing batting average. Awesome show.
This is more of a guilty pleasure than binging but Cheaters. Man it’s so bad but so good. I love it when the cheated and the side piece join forces and kick the ass out of the cheater…
edit: 10 episodes alone this morning and it ended with them busting an orgy and the owner pulled out his strap..love it
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - Saw a ton of buzz on twitter now that this is streaming on Prime. Only six total episodes and the first two I've seen have been hilarious. Features a few recognizable faces from the IT Crowd and the Regular Human Bartender from What We Do In The Shadows. It sort of has a WWDITS vibe to the humor. A lot of intentionally bad production work which is an easy thing to make annoying but they ride the line so well it's always funny.
The Man in the High Castle - three episodes in and so far loving it. Not entirely sure what is going on but I'm suspecting a multiverse situation perhaps. Or maybe I'm on Marvel overload. Sadly I don't see a podcast from the fellas on this one.
The Shield - Just getting to S6...2nd best cop show (after The Wire) that I've seen. It tries to do some of the same social commentary stuff The Wire did, but not as elegantly. It's like it got held over from the Law & Order era, but didn't quite reach high enough. That said, it is a very guilty pleasure full of a lot of shock scenes. So enjoyable!
My only previous experience to Walton Goggins was on TWD (which didn't do him justice). After seeing him in The Shield and Justified, I have a new found respect for him as a powerful actor. Boyd Crowder may be one of my fav TV characters of all time. Has Goggins been in in anything good lately?
The Shield - Just getting to S6...2nd best cop show (after The Wire) that I've seen. It tries to do some of the same social commentary stuff The Wire did, but not as elegantly. It's like it got held over from the Law & Order era, but didn't quite reach high enough. That said, it is a very guilty pleasure full of a lot of shock scenes. So enjoyable!
My only previous experience to Walton Goggins was on TWD (which didn't do him justice). After seeing him in The Shield and Justified, I have a new found respect for him as a powerful actor. Boyd Crowder may be one of my fav TV characters of all time. Has Goggins been in in anything good lately?
The Shield was one of the first TV Series' i binged back in the day. a buddy of mine had all the seasons on DVD and flew through them. i actually did a re-watch last year during lockdown and i still enjoyed it. i had forgotten how many good acting performances there were though out, like Anthony Anderson (who i wasn't expecting), Forest Whitaker, and Glen Close.
Goggins was awesome in it too. those teeth and hairline ! i'm a fan of him. dude was hilarious in Vice Principals. dug him in the Tarantino westerns (Django and Hateful 8). was also in an episode of Community that cracked me up.
The Shield - Just getting to S6...2nd best cop show (after The Wire) that I've seen. It tries to do some of the same social commentary stuff The Wire did, but not as elegantly. It's like it got held over from the Law & Order era, but didn't quite reach high enough. That said, it is a very guilty pleasure full of a lot of shock scenes. So enjoyable!
My only previous experience to Walton Goggins was on TWD (which didn't do him justice). After seeing him in The Shield and Justified, I have a new found respect for him as a powerful actor. Boyd Crowder may be one of my fav TV characters of all time. Has Goggins been in in anything good lately?
The Shield was one of the first TV Series' i binged back in the day. a buddy of mine had all the seasons on DVD and flew through them. i actually did a re-watch last year during lockdown and i still enjoyed it. i had forgotten how many good acting performances there were though out, like Anthony Anderson (who i wasn't expecting), Forest Whitaker, and Glen Close.
Goggins was awesome in it too. those teeth and hairline ! i'm a fan of him. dude was hilarious in Vice Principals. dug him in the Tarantino westerns (Django and Hateful 8). was also in an episode of Community that cracked me up.
You know...I completely forgot he was in Django and Hateful 8. I can see his face (and teeth) now that I think about it. I have seen Community, but don't remember him. I may go rewatch Justified again just to watch Boyd.
And yes, the casting in The Shield is awesome. I remember watching Anthony Anderson and Forest Whitaker in a scene together, and thinking that it was phenomenal. For that period in TV, having those two caliber performers face off was amazing. I have new found respect for Glenn Close, as well. Even seeing Gina Torres pop up was kinda cool. CCH Pounder is also great.
There are a few actors (Dutch, Julien, Danny) that I liked that I haven't seen too often, and I keep wondering what happened. I will wait until the show to research so I don't get spoiled.
The Shield - Just getting to S6...2nd best cop show (after The Wire) that I've seen. It tries to do some of the same social commentary stuff The Wire did, but not as elegantly. It's like it got held over from the Law & Order era, but didn't quite reach high enough. That said, it is a very guilty pleasure full of a lot of shock scenes. So enjoyable!
My only previous experience to Walton Goggins was on TWD (which didn't do him justice). After seeing him in The Shield and Justified, I have a new found respect for him as a powerful actor. Boyd Crowder may be one of my fav TV characters of all time. Has Goggins been in in anything good lately?
The Shield was one of the first TV Series' i binged back in the day. a buddy of mine had all the seasons on DVD and flew through them. i actually did a re-watch last year during lockdown and i still enjoyed it. i had forgotten how many good acting performances there were though out, like Anthony Anderson (who i wasn't expecting), Forest Whitaker, and Glen Close.
Goggins was awesome in it too. those teeth and hairline ! i'm a fan of him. dude was hilarious in Vice Principals. dug him in the Tarantino westerns (Django and Hateful 8). was also in an episode of Community that cracked me up.
You know...I completely forgot he was in Django and Hateful 8. I can see his face (and teeth) now that I think about it. I have seen Community, but don't remember him. I may go rewatch Justified again just to watch Boyd.
And yes, the casting in The Shield is awesome. I remember watching Anthony Anderson and Forest Whitaker in a scene together, and thinking that it was phenomenal. For that period in TV, having those two caliber performers face off was amazing. I have new found respect for Glenn Close, as well. Even seeing Gina Torres pop up was kinda cool. CCH Pounder is also great.
There are a few actors (Dutch, Julien, Danny) that I liked that I haven't seen too often, and I keep wondering what happened. I will wait until the show to research so I don't get spoiled.
Well, the actor that played Julien (Michael Jace) went to jail for 40 years for the murder of his wife. So that will explain the absence of him in other shows/movies.
I think the actual event happened in like 2014 and the conviction a couple years later.
Well, the actor that played Julien (Michael Jace) went to jail for 40 years for the murder of his wife. So that will explain the absence of him in other shows/movies.
I think the actual event happened in like 2014 and the conviction a couple years later.
Whoa!! Damn!
I do like the writing in the show, though. They get the characters in impossible predictions, but then come up with plausible but believable ways to get them out of the jam.
Well, the actor that played Julien (Michael Jace) went to jail for 40 years for the murder of his wife. So that will explain the absence of him in other shows/movies.
I think the actual event happened in like 2014 and the conviction a couple years later.
Whoa!! Damn!
I do like the writing in the show, though. They get the characters in impossible predictions, but then come up with plausible but believable ways to get them out of the jam.
I know right?!
The story weirdly broke right around the time I had finished binging the show and I had liked his acting/character a lot. But damn it was weird.
have seen Community, but don't remember him. I may go rewatch Justified again just to watch Boyd.
I just watched it recently, season 5 episode 4 the episode with Pierces funeral and he comes in to interrogate them about his death. He's great in it.
last year during lockdown they did a virtual table read for that episode, and Pedro Pascal read Goggin's part. kinda funny to watch that in comparison to the actual episode and seeing when they went off script.
have seen Community, but don't remember him. I may go rewatch Justified again just to watch Boyd.
I just watched it recently, season 5 episode 4 the episode with Pierces funeral and he comes in to interrogate them about his death. He's great in it.
last year during lockdown they did a virtual table read for that episode, and Pedro Pascal read Goggin's part. kinda funny to watch that in comparison to the actual episode and seeing when they went off script.
I'm gonna really rewatch it. But damn, some of the real life quotes about Jace (Julien) are so fucked up! I hope his kids and family got everything they needed.
We just had a 7 day lockdown so I watched a lot of telly.
Kevin Can F***Himself I love the concept - that a sitcom wife is bitterly unhappy and wants to kill her self-absorbed manbaby husband - but I don’t know that it can sustain itself. If there’s a S2 I am definitely watching, though.
This Way Up S2 I love both Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan, so of course I was always going to be on to this. I felt like this season didn’t hold together quite as well as the first, which was much more focussed on the relationship between the sisters. I assume due to Covid issues, they seem to be separate most of the time, having their own stories and doing their own things. Also, I think maybe there was too large of a gap between the time where S1 ended and where S2 started (again prob due to Covid and the growth spurt of the boy who plays Etienne). Events that were being hinted at at the end of S1 had happened and were over by the start of S2, or were on their way to being over. Things just didn’t seem to entirely gel.
Dr Death The podcast was revealing but infuriating - I remember being angry about it for so long after listening. The show gives you similar rage, but also makes it a little bit clearer why so many who could have stopped Christopher Duntsch didn’t (not an excuse - they still suck). I never watched Dawson’s Creek so I have no opinions on Joshua Jackson. He was fine. The standouts were Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater as the two doctors who relentlessly pursued avenues to try to stop him. They had this weird funny buddy cop thing going on that - especially given the subject matter - shouldn’t have worked but did.
Kevin Can F***Himself I love the concept - that a sitcom wife is bitterly unhappy and wants to kill her self-absorbed manbaby husband - but I don’t know that it can sustain itself. If there’s a S2 I am definitely watching, though.
i remember watching the trailer for this awhile back and being intrigued. i didn't know it was out already so i'll be checking out. thanks for the heads up!
Comments
Agreed that Ava is very unlikeable overall so far. I'm intrigued, because usually I'd sympathize with that character over the older one, but in this show it's the opposite. Maybe that will give Ava room to grow once she's fully realized she's an asshole.
We're watching Loki week to week and really enjoying it, but as far as binges go my wife and I have two going.
The better side of it is we're doing a wrap-around on Fringe (in essence we got all the way through and started right over), I fuckin love Fringe. One of my favorite cores of characters and I have nothing but the highest respect for the story management and for the most part, the writing in general. Fringe is amazing.
The lesser side of it is that we're working our way through Manifest. I am hooked into it, but a bit resentfully. I know my wife would drop out if I could let go of it, but god dammit I just have to know if they actually have a plan. I don't think they do, but I have to find out for sure. I fear it's Flash Forward and The Event (ironically, I don't believe the show actually knew what The Event meant) and the Following all over again. I hope I'm wrong and I will find out, but I don't have faith.
Additionally the dialog is pretty suspect and I really wish they had casted better. I believe that the concept is incredibly strong, but in a lot of cases they didn't get the caliber of performer that they needed and not nearly the pool of writing talent.
All that said, I am enjoying watching it. The concept truly is intriguing enough to forgive its shortcomings. It's also an interesting case because when and if they attend to land the plane, the effectiveness or lack thereof could swing every opinion of the show that I've formed very considerably. Also, credit where it is due, the show did "level up" between seasons 1 and 2. It is getting better.
edit: 10 episodes alone this morning and it ended with them busting an orgy and the owner pulled out his strap..love it
My only previous experience to Walton Goggins was on TWD (which didn't do him justice). After seeing him in The Shield and Justified, I have a new found respect for him as a powerful actor. Boyd Crowder may be one of my fav TV characters of all time. Has Goggins been in in anything good lately?
And yes, the casting in The Shield is awesome. I remember watching Anthony Anderson and Forest Whitaker in a scene together, and thinking that it was phenomenal. For that period in TV, having those two caliber performers face off was amazing. I have new found respect for Glenn Close, as well. Even seeing Gina Torres pop up was kinda cool. CCH Pounder is also great.
There are a few actors (Dutch, Julien, Danny) that I liked that I haven't seen too often, and I keep wondering what happened. I will wait until the show to research so I don't get spoiled.
Whoa!! Damn!
I do like the writing in the show, though. They get the characters in impossible predictions, but then come up with plausible but believable ways to get them out of the jam.
The story weirdly broke right around the time I had finished binging the show and I had liked his acting/character a lot. But damn it was weird.
of telly.