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What is the last Television series you watched?


Jay

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1 hour ago, AC1 said:

Succession S1 E2

 

I didn't notice this during the first episode but I get it now, it's a comedy show! And it's precisely the comedy that balances out my previous concerns about the show. 

 

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Yup! And they strike an even better balance of that comedy in S2.

 

I've been watching Search Party after seeing @Jay's posts about here. Three seasons in, it's such blast! Such a weird little show that mixes up drama and laugh-out-loud comedy in delicious ways. The cast is fantastic.

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On 21/01/2022 at 11:53 AM, KK said:

I've been watching Search Party after seeing @Jay's posts about here. Three seasons in, it's such blast! Such a weird little show that mixes up drama and laugh-out-loud comedy in delicious ways. The cast is fantastic.

 

The cast is great, which makes every season work. What's really fun is that every season tackles a new genre, and it always feels valid because the cast is consistent across the genre changes. 

 

Were halfway through the final season now, and it's completely bonkers, I love it! 

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6 hours ago, AC1 said:

I didn't notice this during the first episode but I get it now, it's a comedy show!

 

Well it is created and co-written by one of the UK's finest comedy writers of the past 20 years.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Armstrong

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

This morning I'll start "Angels in America", mainly because of Thomas Newman's score.

 

I think it's not really a comedy?

I envy you, Bes.

ANGELS IN AMERICA is one of the finest pieces of television ever created. Newman's score is great, and the performances are uniformly excellent.

There are funny bits in it, but, no, it's not a comedy.

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Wow Pacino has a great role. Different from what he usually play.

 

I guess I'll never be tired of these series about the Reagan years, the begining of AIDS crisis, the ozone hole...... Those were hard years....

 

I was eleven in 1985. I already knew our adult life would not be the same as the ones of our parents and grandparents.

 

Don's ask why we eat antidepressant pills like candies!

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Yes our ancestors all died young, from the plague, cholera or the Spanish flu... But they were not depressed, they were believers!

 

Thomas Newman don't score turnips.

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On 21/01/2022 at 6:25 PM, Jay said:

What's really fun is that every season tackles a new genre, and it always feels valid because the cast is consistent across the genre changes. 

 


Is this comment about Succession? Wonderful show BTW!


How do you figure that it changes genre? It’s pretty much a drama throughout.

 

On 20/01/2022 at 11:34 AM, badbu said:

infiltration_808718.png

 

2726467A-CEAB-451B-9D91-9DD11DD03FA3.jpeg

 

Also, I didn’t know this show had been rebranded from Invasion to Infiltration in some countries. If possible, the new name would make the show even worse than it already is (it’s bad!) since it has zero to do with infiltration of any kind.

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4 hours ago, rough cut said:


Is this comment about Succession? Wonderful show BTW!


How do you figure that it changes genre? It’s pretty much a drama throughout.

 

My post you quoted was about Search Party, replying to KK's thoughts about it in the post immediately before mine.

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Ozark 4x01 The Beginning of the End

 

No spoilers here

 

Me and several coworkers have been looking forward to the return of this, and had a funny conversation at work recently where we collectively tried to remember where all the various characters and plot threads ended at the last season.  The one thing we all remembered very well was the very final thing that happened to the lawyer lady, but it was funny how we all struggled to remember what was going on with all the other characters and in some cases who was even still alive and who wasn't.

 

Luckily when you start this episode on Netflix, a nice recap automatically plays that really filled in a lot of gaps.  What was funny was half the stuff we remembered wasn't touched on in the recap, and half the stuff in the recap none of us mentioned at all :lol: 

 

I am happy to report that after being off the year for a little under 2 years, the shows has returned really like nothing changed.  I found it very easy to pick up what was going on with everyone, even the stuff that neither the recap nor my own memories touched on - there's enough context to get the gist of anything you don't remember.  And beyond that, it felt like the same show, didn't feel like the long delay, or covid, or the fact that this is the final season, really changed much.

 

With two exceptions.  The first is hilarious and I hope people see it before Netflix fixes it: There is a scene where the camera holds on a 2-shot of Marty and Wendy, and at some point Marty completely freezes while Wendy delivers a bunch of lines. I found a clip of it on reddit (minor spoiler in the clip if you haven't seen the first episode).  I have to imagine Netflix will fix that and replace it with a shot that Marty actually moves during!

 

The other difference is, eveything seemed really dark?  Like every shot in the Byrde household was dark, even when they are eating dinner and stuff.  Was that like that before?  

 

Overall, looking forward to watching the remaining 6 episodes over the next week or two

 

Some spoiler thoughts / questions

 

Spoiler

Why did Jonah bring Ben's ashes to Ruth?  He indicated Ben and Ruth were close, but I don't remember any of that at all!

 

Navarro wanting to get out of the business seems like a contrivance invented for this season that was never a thing before, but it's as good enough of a thing to pile on top of the Byrdes along with the Snell thing and the private investigator and everything else

 

The new nephew guy (Javi) is a decen enough new wildcard character, always need one of those

 

It did not surprise me at all that Jonah is going to be the launderer for the Snells and Ruth, and I expect it to go poorly by the end of the 7 episode first half of the season

 

That opening flash-forward to a car crash was weird.  I thought it was gonna end up being someone's dream, until the crash.

 

 

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Station Eleven

IMDB

 

Overall: good

 

Spoiler

The parts that cover the outbreak and how people/governments react is - in light of covid - a little bit unbelievable, but is fine as a piece of entertainment, I guess.

 

Even though the show is released post pandemic, and the book it is based on was written in 2014 and I guess production on this began before the pandemic began, so that’s an excuse as good as any for why it feels “unreal”.

 

But Station Eleven is science fiction, so I guess some suspension of reality is called for non the less, and it doesn’t bother me too much. It certainly doesn’t big the story down - if anything it accelerates it.

 

But you’d think that anyone writing a story about a humanity-killing virus would research viruses enough to know that the lost successful viruses doesn’t kill so quickly. They need time to incubate and spread to do damage on the scale that is suggested here, which to the author’s credit, she has acknowledged in recent interviews (post covid).

 

But - whatever - characters are engaging enough, even though nothing is really surprising throughout the story.

 

It’s well made: acting, music and direction is good.

 

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Maybe, depending on how you internalize what you watch.

 

Spoiler

Since it’s a worst case scenario of a virus - 99,99 % of everybody dies - so in light of the pandemic and how it could evolve, I guess it could be depressing.

 

But at the same time, it’s clearly science fiction, and the individual story threads wrap up in a kind of “happy ending”, so all things good, I guess.

 

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So I haven't opened either of your spoiler blocks because I haven't seen the show, so was looking for a spoiler-free answer :P 

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The short answer from me is, no, it’s not depressing.

 

But that’s my opinion which is subjective. In terms of what you will take away from the show, who knows, but Station Eleven is not Modern Family, that’s objective at least.

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Watch The Great - Season 01 | Prime Video

 

The Great (Season 1)

 

Another recently discovered little gem.  I hadn't heard of it all at, but my wife wanted to check it out, and I was in after seeing the trailer.  The first couple episodes didn't wow me, but I was happy I stuck with it because somewhere around episode 3 or 4 it really falls into a good groove it maintains for the whole rest of the season.

 

The head showrunner is Tony McNamara, who wrote The Favourite and Cruella, and has some flair of execution in common with those (especially The Favourite).  It is about Catherine The Great, with the first episode starting with her arrival in Russia and marriage to Emperor Peter - but plays fast and loose with the real history in order to tell the story they want to tell.  There are lots of other main characters who all get interesting characterizations and storylines eventually too.


But the whole show hangs on the two leads - Elle Fanning as Catherine and Nicholas Hoult as Peter - and they both NAIL it.  These are two of the best TV performances I've seen in a while, absolutely deserving of Emmy nominations (it seems from looking it up they've been shafted so far - hopefully that changes in the future).

 

Oh, and on top of everything else - it's a bloody comedy, and is hilarious at times.  It isn't perfect - it can fall into some Handmaid's Tale-esque issues of storylines seeming cyclical - but overall, this season of telly was very good!

 

It's on Hulu, which also has a second season - and a third has been ordered

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We finished all of Ghosts from the BBC.

Its surprisingly touching. On the other side of the pond last weeks Ghost had a very funny ending.

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Ozark 4x02 Let the Great World Spin

 

Since it's now fallen to the previous page, here's a link to my thoughts on episode 1, including a mention of a very funny production error that people might find amusing.

 

On to episode 2

 

Spoiler

Ah, so Ben and Ruth used to date?  I honestly have no memory of that whatsoever!

 

Javi having Marty clean the lawyer lady's house was honestly kinda laughable.  In reality they'd both never go near that house again once he got her body out of there!

 

So Wendy wants to rig politics not just for the local Ozarks area, but the entire midwest.... sounds about right for how this show amps things up every year lol

 

I find the scenes surrounding the Ruth/Snell heroin operation to be pretty comical (in a good way)

 

The FBI lady having to go meet Navarro alone was a well done end of episode

 

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Succession is done...for now.

 

Wow that was a season finale.

The 1st half was strong. Very comedic.

 

But the moment Shiv discovers what's going on the whole episode changes. It was very tense and the twist at the end was incredible.

 

Jeremy Strong is an amazing actor. 3 episodes ago I hated Kendall and now I almost cried for him.

Sarah Snook might have done her best work on the series this episode. Her eyes said so much! I think Shiv is my favorite character.

Kieran Culkin was also great. Glad he got some more emotional scenes to work on and he did them amazingly.

 

Lastly Brian Cox. What a role, what a performance. The way he imitated Shiv at the end was so cruel. And it's to Cox's credit that such an unlikable person can be so enjoyable to watch.

 

Spoiler

I thought the twist at the end was amazing. That their mother sold them out because Tom told Logan about their plans was incredible.

 

I'm happy the kids are finally on one side. It'll be a very interesting dynamic to see next season.

And I'll be curious to see which way Tom & Greg are going. 

Personally I think Shiv won't forgive Tom for this.

Great show! One of my top 3 shows of all time. 

Can't wait for Season 4!

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I am so far behind and just now realizing "Friends" is so damn funny.  I am lame.  I've never watched an episode before and assume in 10 years from now, I'll discover Big Bang Theory is hilarious. 

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I started out generally liking TBBT. Penny is hot, the pals do fun stuff, looks like a good time. 

 

But the show wore out its welcome and basically uses nerd culture to tell unfunny jokes and be mean to each other. 

 

I watched Jay's vid and my mouth didn't even quiver. 

 

This explains it very well. And makes me just want to binge Futurama instead. 

 

 

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Yellowjackets on Showtime/Paramount+ is an excellent, hidden gem of a series. Christina Ricci gives one of the best performances of her career.

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23 minutes ago, Jay said:

@Disco Stu what are your thoughts on Amy Schneider’s Jeopardy run

 

Amazing player!  Although I think often the challengers have been a bit too cautious with their daily doubles/final jeopardy.  At this point, the streak is long enough that they know who they're up against (meaning show tapings are now happening while the streak is airing) and the only play that makes sense is to go full reckless.  Especially since Jeopardy, unlike Wheel of Fortune, does not actually award you the amount you earned in play unless you win.

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Terra Nova

Watched it just because Spielberg was involved. Well it's okay and has its moments.

The show has however two strong points: Tyler music which is really good probably the best one I've heard from him and Stephen Lang who's the best GI you could hired for a movie/show

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I remember watching that when it was on the air, and liking it.  Yea, Stephen Lang was a memorable character for sure.  IIRC it ends on a big cliffhanger that left me disappointed it wasn't renewed

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8 hours ago, Jay said:

@Disco Stu what are your thoughts on Amy Schneider’s Jeopardy run


So uh, I was behind on this week’s episodes when I replied earlier…. and I just caught up to last night’s episode LOL

 

But I was right!  The dethroner made a gutsy true daily double in the double jeopardy that put him in contention.

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Ozark 4x03 City on the Make

 

Spoiler

Characters referencing more stuff I don't remember at all - Jonah got kidnapped by the Snell lady at some point?  No memory of that!

 

Wendy's shrine to Ben felt cynical to me - she's not actually that torn up about him, just wants to win Jonah back. I loved her shutting off the basement power on him.  Things keep better for the Ruth/Snell operation between Jonah doing the laundering, Ruth finding the celebrity chef, and Snell finally agreeing to Ruth's plans

 

I like the family's trip to Chicago - Charlotte talking to the lawyer lady's daughter was good, as was the meeting with the pharmaceutical company CEO, and of course the dinner with Javi.  I get Lalo Salamancia vibes from this guy, and I think he immediately knew Marty was behind the guns getting confiscated - but have no idea what he'll do about it.

 

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The Leftovers. I'd seen the first season when it came out (or perhaps shortly afterwards), but had missed the rest. Amazon.fr had the complete series for €25, so I could finally watch it in full.

Spoiler

Season 1: Pretty much as I remembered, a quite gripping examination of grief and loss of stability. The Departure itself is a one-off event and the only clearly unexplained/supernatural phenomenon. The rest is quite grounded, and rather than the mystery aspect, the focus is always on the characters and the psychological consequences.

 

Season 2: Interesting change of scenery, intriguing new characters. Even more focus on the religious/esoteric outgrowths of the Departure, thanks to Miracle being spared and people finding all kinds of reasoning and meaning for it. I like the strict focus on individual characters per episode. But the focus seems to shift increasingly towards the mystery… and suddenly Kevin becomes immortal? His afterlife experiences are part grippingly surreal, part oddly goofy. So far the show had always remained pretty grounded in reality, with all the supernatural bits (except for the Departure) amounting to not much more than people being confused, deluded, or wilfully deceiving. While Kevin's afterlife stuff isn't explicitly "real", at least some of it seems to actually happen, and he is clearly killed, buried, and at least seriously wounded before coming back to life and considerable health.

 

Season 3: Say what now? It's close to 7 years after the Departure, and suddenly the whole world is going crazy and almost everybody is convinced that the apocalypse/great flood/end of the world is coming on the 7th anniversary? Where did that come from? Apparently, most people have their own ideas what's going to happen, so French submarine crew members nuke volcanoes (in yet another sequence that's somewhere between dramatically surrealistic and seemingly played for laughs) and whatnot - but all of our main characters seem to think it'll happen in Australia (although apparently for all kinds of different reasons), and several of them believe themselves of each other to be Jesus and have an obligation to save the world (again in all kinds of different ways). Except for Matt, who has always been happy to interpret anything as a sign or prophecy, much of it seems to rather come out of the blue. It would be one thing to assume that people are just getting increasingly deluded (although why now all of a sudden it still unclear), but it also keeps tying into Kevin's apparently real power of coming back from the dead, and his adventures in the afterlife (now played mainly for laughs and often hilarious) also clearly being at least partially real. Nora's journey is fascinating from a character POV, but again drives the plot quite a bit into mystery territory. In the end, there is no apocalypse, but while we get a sweet and emotionally satisfying epilogue for the two main characters, what happens to all of the others when whatever each of them believes in just fails to take place is pretty much ignored.

 

Ultimately, a rather odd and incongruent experience. In many ways, it reminded me of Lost - starting out with a mystery that's just the motor for an almost entirely character focused first season, but then gradually turning more and more towards the mystery aspect. But where Lost keeps the story going by answering a few of the questions it raises and twisting more of them into further questions and mysteries (and in the end leaving probably not more unresolved threads than is to be expected), Leftovers keeps bringing up new questions out of the blue and then mostly just dropping them unceremoniously. Some (or perhaps much) of it is clearly intentional and amounts to a fittingly bleak and nihilistic view of the Departure and what it "means", and some things are successfully kept ambivalent throughout - but much of that is rather compromised by more and more mystery and supernatural stuff creeping into the main plot. To the point where it doesn't seem feasible anymore to write it all off as delusions and characters going astray, and even if it were, it would reduce most of the questions raised by the show (even the "serious" ones) to mere MacGuffins, driving a plot that no longer focuses on just the characters, but ultimately amounts to nothing on that front. The whole serious starts out as a reasonably profound elaboration on loss (of people, of meaning, of security) and grows into a big mystery comedy that tries to be so many contrasting things at once that they cancel each other out. Films and series have been written of as pretentious for much less.

 

Still, the whole thing is entertaining throughout, enough so that I watched it in just one week. The serious aspects, especially in the first and much of the second seasons, are convincing and gripping (and the view on religion/cults, conspiracy delusions, and radicalisation in a post-traumatic world seems strikingly (and rather eerily) spot on during the pandemic). The comedy, while I think often at odds with everything else, is often hilarious. The characters are strong, and the cast is mostly very good - personal favourites are Carrie Coon and Scott Glenn. I just can't say that I ultimately find it all half as convincing as I did halfway through.

 

 

Afterwards, I moved straight on to Mr Robot. Loving it so far, I binged the entire first season in two days.

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Anybody else watching Righteous Gemstones season 2??

 

We loved the first season, and while the second season is still extremely funny (which, to be fair, is maybe all that really matters)... boy, I really think the directing and production quality has taken a big dive.  The episodes have almost all been oddly paced and structured.  It almost felt like they filmed a bunch of different subplots and then tried to find a way to edit things together after the fact.  Usually none of this stuff really matters much in a comedy show, but Season 1 was a funny show that also told a dramatic story in a really good way.  This season it seems like the 2 1/2 years off caused so much rust they haven't yet shaken it off after 4 episodes.  Maybe next week's flashback episode will right the ship for me

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After watching the first episode of AHS 9: 1984, I wanted to revisit some 70-80s classics, because this season is really an hommage to all these movies!

 

The Night Stalker (1989)
Shocker (1989)
Heathers (1988)
Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Friday the 13th (1980)

Halloween (1978)
Carrie (1976)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

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Just finished Ozark S4.1

 

It started great and promising, but the final two episodes of the first part of the season weren't that good. The last ep had some huge things happening, but it all felt random and not earned, which is pretty unusual for Ozark.

 

But I still think it's the best drama show Netflix ever produced and I want to watch the second part of the season as soon as possible!

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Ozark 4x04 Ace Deuce

 

Spoiler

Wendy is so messed up making up a drug addiction her brother had - no doubt the consequences she faced for it in this episode are only the start!

 

Why is the private investigator guy investigator Ben now, when he was hired to look for the lawyer lady?


The celebrity chef ODing was kind of a funny way to end that subplot and get the Byrdes tied into the Snell/Ruth operation by needing their heroin

 

Javi continues to be a very similar to Lalo Salamancia character basically figuring everything out and even that Marty makes the most sense - he just can't fathom the final step that it's because his uncle wants out

 

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Ozark 4x05 Ellie

 

Spoiler

So the PI guy has a dirty past too.  What a shock!  He sort of became this episode's wildcard character, since we didn't see Javi

 

Pretty funny coincidence that Snell sells off all her heroin before Ruth had a chance to tell her about the deal with Marty (which she probably would have accepted considering how much money it was and how easily it would be obtained), but this way lead to an episode-long detour to straighten everything out.  I'm not really sure what Ruth said to the video game playing guy off-screen to get him to change his mind, and I guess we'll never find out

 

The wanted posters for Ben, and the offiicial missing persons report... all of this is gonna bite Wendy in the ass I'm sure....

 

Pretty good confrontation between Darlene and Wendy at the end!

 

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