What is the last Television series you watched?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I like the still. It has a Victorian/penny dreadful flavour.

 

Before I had to go to work, for a late shift, I used to watch BABY JAKE, and RASTAMOUSE.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Homeland, Season 5

 

Oh noes! What's gonna happen to Peter Quinn? Will Carrie have to care for him all brain damaged? Yeesh. Best bit was when Quinn emptied a piss bottle into a toilet – I do that all the time!

[A24 4,327]

Watchmen

 

Finally completed watching the series. To be honest, I liked the first 3 episodes but the more the story began to focus on Dr. Manhattan and Lady Trieu, the more boring it became (IMO). The last episode (while not exactly boring) almost felt like a comedy action thingy, nothing felt dangerous or real. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the show ends up leaving not much of a mental impression. 5/10

 

Spoiler

 

[crocodile 7,990]

46 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Watchmen

 

Finally completed watching the series. To be honest, I liked the first 3 episodes but the more the story began to focus on Dr. Manhattan and Lady Trieu, the more boring it became (IMO). The last episode (while not exactly boring) almost felt like a comedy action thingy, nothing felt dangerous or real. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the show ends up leaving not much of a mental impression. 5/10

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Lindelophobe!

 

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

The Boys maintained more than just an edge then. Although, it's only Alex.

[crocodile 7,990]

22 minutes ago, Quintus said:

The Boys maintained more than just an edge then. Although, it's only Alex.

I am interested in watching it. Does it offer anything beyond shock and violence?

 

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

The on-screen brutality is just a small aspect of The Boys. But I highly doubt you'll enjoy it as much as everyone else.

[A24 4,327]

12 minutes ago, crocodile said:

I am interested in watching it. Does it offer anything beyond shock and violence?

 

Karol

 

If you look for it - and you don't always have to dig deep - there's always some analogy to be found 'underneath the surface'. Both Watchmen and The Boys can be viewed as commentaries on the Trump era. 

[crocodile 7,990]

2 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

If you look for it - and you don't always have to dig deep - there's always some analogy to be found 'underneath the surface'. Both Watchmen and The Boys can be viewed as commentaries on the Trump era. 

Is there going to anything left once Trump is gone?

 

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

That's too broad and blatantly apparent though. Anything even mildly political which is out at the moment can very readily be viewed as a Trump era commentary. In the case of The Boys, powerful social media obsession and public perception of celebrities were far more prevalent themes, at least for me. That's the surface stuff, anyhow. There's also some things about child neglect in there too, among other layers of interest.

 

But the main thing is that it's just really fucking cool, badass and funny.

[crocodile 7,990]

Thanks. I will give it a go.

 

I've started watching The Handmaid's Tale the other night. It's good and well made.. Elisabeth Moss is fantastic...but it can end up being very pandering and on-the-nose. Which is not necessarily specific to this series but to all allegorical politically-involved s-f. These things are often not terribly subtle or, quite frankly, astute. At this moment, after 3 episodes, it feels like it can go either way. Too early to say. I am intrigued by the visual style and concept and basic human drama. We'll see where it goes...

 

Karol

[A24 4,327]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

...on-the-nose

 

Yes.

 

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

I am intrigued by the visual style ..

 

Yes.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

3 hours ago, Quintus said:

The on-screen brutality is just a small aspect of The Boys. But I highly doubt you'll enjoy it as much as everyone else.

the Boys was a waste of time. 

[KK 3,307]

3 hours ago, crocodile said:

Thanks. I will give it a go.

 

I've started watching The Handmaid's Tale the other night. It's good and well made.. Elisabeth Moss is fantastic...but it can end up being very pandering and on-the-nose. Which is not necessarily specific to this series but to all allegorical politically-involved s-f. These things are often not terribly subtle or, quite frankly, astute. At this moment, after 3 episodes, it feels like it can go either way. Too early to say. I am intrigued by the visual style and concept and basic human drama. We'll see where it goes...

 

Karol

 

Avoid the second season. The Handmaid's Tale is anything but subtle...

[Quintus 5,399]

53 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

the Boys was a waste of time. 

 

That's how I feel about the MCU stuff. The Boys felt like the antidote to all that. The first superhero themed entertainment to garner my interest in years.

[Jay 37,322]

4 hours ago, crocodile said:

I've started watching The Handmaid's Tale the other night. It's good and well made.. Elisabeth Moss is fantastic...but it can end up being very pandering and on-the-nose. Which is not necessarily specific to this series but to all allegorical politically-involved s-f. These things are often not terribly subtle or, quite frankly, astute. At this moment, after 3 episodes, it feels like it can go either way. Too early to say. I am intrigued by the visual style and concept and basic human drama. We'll see where it goes...

 

It doesn't really go anywhere.  The cyclical nature of the show starts to reveal itself pretty swiftly; Every episode eventually becomes, more or less:  Things are bad for June.  Ah, a ray of hope, things will get better for June!  Nope, hopes crushed, she's now in an even worse spot than before.  Then repeat again next episode.

 

The first season overall just gets gets by despite that repetition by having a decent enough engaging story to carry through.  But it's also the only season that adapts the book; After that they had to start making their own story up, and in season 2 the writers attempt some world building, IE, actually trying to explain how the world got to where it is, and frankly the writer's just aren't up to the task of making that either believable or compelling.  The original book wisely avoiding digging into how the world got that way and just tell's you June's story, but I guess the writers felt if it was going to be an ongoing show they kinda had to, and they kinda failed at it.  They also gave June a completely uncompelling story to go through in season 2 that is like a the mini-cycle of each episode spread over a whole season.  It's pretty bad. 

 

I gave up after season 2 and didn't even bother watching season 3, and it seems the shows has stopped getting Emmy love as well.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

10 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

That's how I feel about the MCU stuff. The Boys felt like the antidote to all that. The first superhero themed entertainment to garner my interest in years.

It was so badly acted and cheap looking. It is irrelevant to the latest and greatest  MCU. It openly stole from the grade b horror film Brightburn, the what if Superman was evil from birth film. 

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

33 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

It was so badly acted and cheap looking. It is irrelevant to the latest and greatest  MCU. It openly stole from the grade b horror film Brightburn, the what if Superman was evil from birth film. 

 

The Boys is based on a comic that predates Brightburn by over a decade.

[Quintus 5,399]

It's pretty faithful too. I watched The Boys in 4K HDR on Amazon and thought it looked slick as hell. Considering the first season budget, I thought they showed great economy with the production. Of course, after the success it had, it's gonna receive a nice upgrade for its second season, so it's all good.

 

Anyway, what I liked most about it was the writing and characters.

[Edmilson 7,398]

Lost in Space - Season 2

 

When the original Lost in Space aired on the 60s, it was one of these fantasy/sci-fi shows that families could watch together: fun for kids, entertaining for adults. For most of American TV's history, there used to be simple, fun shows like that.

 

Then came the era of fucking pEaK Tv, and then every drama series that wanted to be respected had to be dark, depressing, nihilistic, violent, filled with disturbing imagery, sex and nude scenes, morally grey protagonists that are usually assholes with their friends and families, no fun at all and with methaphors to current politics situation. Basically, everyone wanted to be The Sopranos, and even sci-fi/fantasy shows became dark and depressing as well: Lost, Heroes, Game of Thrones, Vikings...

 

The consequence of it is that people now don't watch the same shows with their families. Parents watch their dark, depressing Emmy nominated peak TV shows, teens watch their CW crap like Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and those horrible DC shows, and kids of course watch cartoons and these Nickelodeon kiddie sitcoms.

 

So, in the era of peak TV, it's a relief that we have a show like the Lost in Space reboot, which is this wholesome family entertainment, funny for kids and not insultingly dumb for adults. Nostalgic older people can remember watching their original shows or even stuff like Star Trek and BSG, while the kids can have their first introduction to sci-fi, space adventures and, who knows, maybe even astronomy itself?

 

The staff did a great job updating this 60s shows with a very simple, silly concept in a way that is recognizable to younger audiences, but not in an alienating way. Of course, the show also takes inspiration in the (dark, depressing, disturbing, etc, etc) 2004 BSG, but without becoming too gritty and violent, always remembering that is intent is always to have fun. Not win Emmys for its depressed characters and Trump metaphors. There is this Robinson family that is united and they overcame challenges together, and this makes for some great popcorn entertainment.

 

The Robinsons themselves are very likable and you can root for them. But Parker Posey's Dr Smith is my favorite character. She is this villain you love to hate and so entertaining in her machinations that you can't help but root for her as well.

 

Spoiler

Apparently, she got killed on the season finale, but I hope she returns somehow, the character is simply too great and funny to be left out of the show!

 

Also, the VFX are amazing, theatrical level of quality. It's simply incredible CGI that puts to shame most big budget shows out there - case in point, The Witcher, which probably received a much bigger budget from Netflix.

 

Season 2 is better than the (already good) season 1. There was some dull episodes on the middle, when they get stranded on a Mars-like planet, but the beginning and the ending of the season are pretty great, specially the final 3 episodes, which are very tense and filled with great action scenes.

 

I don't know why Crapflix decided to release it alongside with the much more hyped The Witcher, since the latter clearly obscured the former. But I really hope they get renewed for season 3, even if it is its final season, because the cliffhanger on the season finale is great!

 

4/5

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The finale was amazing.

[Quintus 5,399]

I wonder if it'll hold my kids' attentions. How many episodes in a season?

[Jay 37,322]

10 each

[JoeinAR 1,949]

13 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

 

The Boys is based on a comic that predates Brightburn by over a decade.

So Brightburn made it to the screen first. 

[A24 4,327]

 

Please, Brightburn has nothing to do with The Boys and vice versa.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

ALEX the Boys copied a murder that occured on Brightburn. Intentionally or not it was a direct copy.

[Quintus 5,399]

Lol nobody cares Joey (probably because nobody saw Brightburn).

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Enough saw it the a sequel will be coming. The Boys wasn't exactly all that and a bag of chips either.

[Quintus 5,399]

Dunno, I heard it was Amazon's highest rated hit last year. Or maybe it was ever, I can't remember.

[A24 4,327]

15 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

ALEX the Boys copied a murder that occured on Brightburn. Intentionally or not it was a direct copy.

 

The Boys is more or less the Watchmen of the new age and that's why you hate it, Joe. It's full of despicable people

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I love dispicable characters. 

[Edmilson 7,398]

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Alex I watched Criminal Mind Sesson 15 ep 8 last night. Two more episodes and the show you call awful ends. Of course to call it awful you must have watched more than a handful to have a valid opinion. Serial Killers are the bomb.

[A24 4,327]

12 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

I love dispicable characters. 

 

But you hate despicable protagonists. It's why you hate antiheroes.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

3 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

But you hate despicable protagonists. It's why you hate antiheroes.

I love Lecter and Gumb. Hate Walter White. I am not very good with cheap grace.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

[A24 4,327]

I really hate her in that crazy mode.

 

 

[Alex 2,833]

I watched “The Act”, with Patricia Arquette and Joey King. It’s really well acted, but it’s disturbing as hell.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

13 hours ago, Alex said:

I watched “The Act”, with Patricia Arquette and Joey King. It’s really well acted, but it’s disturbing as hell.

 

Great show! It gets even more disturbing when her weirdo loser boyfriend is introduced.

 

 

~~~~

 

 

Homeland, Season 6

 

Out of the post-Brody seasons, this has been the best one so far, especially thanks to Rupert Friend's powerful performance of a brain damaged Peter Quinn. You think the duplicitous Salieri is a baddie, but he might know something about the President-elect that our heros don't? With a single shift in demeanour, she turns out scarier than any terrorist Carrie's faught. I'm liking the turns this show is making. Jay was wrong to dismiss these later seasons.

[KK 3,307]

Just got through the first episode of The Witcher. It's kind of a slog isn't it? I presume it gets better, but after 2 decades of LOTR and GOT, all this stuff just looks and sounds like self-parody at this point.

[Jay 37,322]

We watched the first episode a month or so ago and I thought it was fine, but we haven't gone back

 

Now that I've finished Sucession maybe I'll dig back in without her

[publicist 4,643]

 

I wouldn't think i would see in my lifetime Al Pacino in a comic-book re-imagining of the Holocaust, but there you have it, complete with shrill production design and glossy filters. Had to turn it off after one episode.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Anyone else watching Homeland Season 8?

[Wojo 2,453]

We finished The Witcher yesterday. Now looking for a new show. 

[rough cut 1,714]

I started watching The Outsider (HBO), based on a recommendation that it is good. I read the book about a year ago - but didn’t really much enjoy it (it was “ok”) - and after five minutes into the show, I realized I already knew exactly how everything was going to pan out, leaving me with zero interest to keep watching.

 

I mean, what’d be the point?

 

I hear good things about the show though, and the first couple of minutes looked good if you’re interested in a supernatural thriller.

 

I don’t think many viewers realize this is a Stephen King story.

[A24 4,327]

24 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I realized I already knew exactly how everything was going to pan out, leaving me with zero interest to keep watching.

 

I mean, what’d be the point?

 

 

 

 

Everything else except for the ending. 

[Wojo 2,453]

We're watching The Good Place, which is just Lost without the island bullshit and a much smaller cast of characters. 

[A24 4,327]

13 hours ago, woj said:

We're watching The Good Place, which is just Lost without the island bullshit and a much smaller cast of characters. 

 

In that case, we need to inform Koray.

[Quintus 5,399]

Starts out top tier, especially after that reveal at the end of S1; tapers off a bit in S2 but still decent, then continues a downhill trend into S3, eventually CRASHING AND BURNING in S4. I didn't finish it.

 

The first two are totally worth watching though.

 

Meanwhile, I'm still watching The Office and Michael Scott just left Dunder Mifflin. I hear I'm about to hit a major rut in that series too. But it doesn't matter: I had seven seasons worth of absolute bliss. This is without a doubt one of the greatest comedy series ever made, putting to bed any sort of quaint comparisons with the UK original. The only lasting similarity really is the setting.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

On 2/22/2020 at 4:23 PM, publicist said:

 

I wouldn't think i would see in my lifetime Al Pacino in a comic-book re-imagining of the Holocaust, but there you have it, complete with shrill production design and glossy filters. Had to turn it off after one episode.

Quite by a fluke, I've also watched this, and I agree with Pub, in every respect.

JWfaners, save you time, money, and effort, and watch THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL; it's more entertaining, it's shorter, and it has a better score.