# Series you've recently watched, are now watching or have given up on **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 9, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108 "2021-07-09T17:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 189
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3764 "2024-02-11T16:07:57Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Watched the first few episodes of _Mr. and Mrs. Smith_. It is a kind of strange, oddly paced show. Extremely slow paced awkward conversation for large stretches punctuated by murder and mayhem. It is like somebody shuffled together scripts for _Who’s Afraid of Virhinia Wolf_ and a Tarantino movie. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The new Mr.& Mrs. Smith series is too slow and weird for me. Gave it two episodes and dropped it, though I’m willing to give it another shot if folks convince me. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > First Episode of the [critically liked](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/mr_and_mrs_smith_2024/s01) **Mr. & Mrs. Smith** on #amazon-prime was really slow and boring. The pacing was poor and the extra dialogue wasn’t really additive to the story and I was left with no interest in watching an additional episode. Sad as I like Donald Glover, but this one is not for me. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The second episode got weird. I was hoping for a lot more action. My wife and I watched four eps before bailing. I think @Darren_Garrison has it right about being a mix, but is giving it way too much gravitas to compare it to _Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?_ and Tarantino. More like _Thirty Something_ meets _Get Smart_. The show is the ultimate “meet cute,” with two attractive people being thrown together and predictably falling in love, then negotiating their lives together. ISTM that the show runners think we’ll find the relationship part of the show as interesting as the action part, because they devote at least as much time to the talking as to the shooting. And I might have found it so, if the action part were in the slightest bit credible. But the Smiths’ spycraft is incredibly bad. From constantly turning to stare at someone they’re supposed to be surveiling to shooting and killing the abductors of another target, without knowing if the abduction was part of their own operation. The worst was becoming friends with a couple who claimed to be another “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” after a “random” meeting in public, without any kind of verification. All of these would be disqualifying violations of protocol in any sort of compartmented secret organization. And that brings us to the morality issue. Neither we nor the “Smiths” have any idea who they’re working for: government agency (it seems not, but if so, which government?), private organization, criminal mob, super villain? They blithely go about killing people (with no consequences for them) without asking any questions or giving any thought to why. And we’re supposed to like and identify with them anyway. I like the lead characters, and I could see this being a better show if at last some of the spycraft and morality issues were addressed, but as it is it’s too annoyingly unrealistic to sit through. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3765 "2024-02-15T04:30:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I just watched the 3 episode crime doc **American Nightmare** on Max. Luckily, I knew nothing of the case. The way the story was rolled out was brilliant allowing the viewer to try to figure out what’s true or not until the last episode. I can’t say anymore without spoiling it. I also watched this tonight (just 3 episodes makes it an easy one night binge, and you really want to keep watching!) on the recommendations here and Oh my God I had _no_ idea what was coming. I had never heard _anything_ about this case so it was all a complete surprise. It’s on Netflix, not MAX, for those who are looking. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3766 "2024-02-15T11:23:00Z")
Anime! **Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a starter town** - Dumb. The title is dumb, the premise is dumb, every single character in it is dumb, the protagonist is _exceptionally_ dumb, and the plot is dumb. Also, every single female character _immediately_ lusts after the dumb and clueless protagonist, including the one who looks like a nine-year-old girl (she’s actually hundreds of years old but this doesn’t make it any less creepy, particularly as the other women all refer to her as “loli grandma”). Did I mention it’s dumb? It’s dumb. Not anime: **The Brothers Sun** - Started watching this and was enjoying it, but the family complained it was too violent. Will have to wait until they’re not around to keep going, but it’s entertaining so far. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3767 "2024-02-15T11:57:10Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I had never heard _anything_ about this case so it was all a complete surprise. Same here, it was a shocking story, well put together in the doc. Spoiler… the way they kept the couple apart in episode 1 and 2, with his story and then hers, and brought them together for ep3 was very simple but extremely effective ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3768 "2024-02-15T12:54:35Z")
I just finished watching _Blue Eye Samurai_ on Netflix. Superb. It’s about a Samurai warrior in Japan who had a western father and was born with blue eyes, which makes them a hideous freak to others. They are on a mission to find their father. There is a twist at the end of the first episode. It’s not hard to guess (she is a woman), but they get it over with quickly. Great characters with a lot of depth, along with some more surprising twists. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3769 "2024-02-15T15:09:20Z")
Really enjoyed it too, but it stretched believability somewhat that no one clocked that the character was a woman ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3770 "2024-02-15T15:13:46Z")
I agree that it was a great series which I also finished watching not that long ago. It should be noted that this series is very much for mature audiences as it not only has explicit violence, as you would expect with a samurai as the protagonist but also sex. I did not feel that any of it was particularly gratuitous; however, it is not your typical anime fare. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3771 "2024-02-15T16:56:30Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > Really enjoyed it too, but it stretched believability somewhat that no one clocked that the character was a woman I didn’t have a problem with that. I’ve heard the example of a group of women coal miners in Pennsylvania. They wore men’s clothing and no one realized they werew female by just looking at them. I’ve seen a photo and it’s clear that they are women, but people in the day used different cues – probably clothing – to determine gender. That would probably would have been the case in Japan of the era. (Note that this wouldn’t be an issue in England, since female coal miners there went topless in the mines.) ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3772 "2024-02-15T17:09:39Z")
Interesting! I guess it was challenging my preconceptions a bit maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3773 "2024-02-15T17:25:51Z")
We finished season 3 of Evil, and are now waiting for season 4. It’s creepy, but interesting. We’re still watching Fargo. Not enjoying the last few episodes as much as the first few. The latest season of The Blacklist dropped, so we’ll,probably pick that up next. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3774 "2024-02-16T00:35:18Z")
There’s apparently a 2023 Netflix documentary series on the Murdaugh family murders and other shenanigans, of which a second season seems to have recently dropped? I think what I watched recently was the 2023 Netflix series Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal rather than the 2022 Max series Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty, but tbh I am not 100% sure of the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3775 "2024-02-17T22:09:15Z")
I’ve started watching (and like) a Russian dark comedy/drama about vampires called _Vampires of Midland_ or _Central Russia’s Vampires_. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yIWXaVBzsbo/maxresdefault.jpg "The Vampires of Midland | Trailer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIWXaVBzsbo) The trailer doesn’t really do a good job of giving the feel for it. It isn’t as dark/gritty as the first half of the trailer makes it look. The police procedural part is similar to the standard _Law and Order_ type show. The vampire part isn’t as zany as _What We Do in the Shadows_, more something like iZombie mixed with some 1980s British show about poor working class people. There doesn’t appear to be any of the big US streaming services carrying it, and I’m not sure about the international legal status of it streaming on Plex, so I won’t link to anything and will let Google be your friend. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3776 "2024-02-18T04:05:20Z")
I’m halfway through watching the Korean series **Marry My Husband** on Amazon Prime. A woman ends up dead at the hands of her selfish impulsive husband and her toxic undermining best friend, only to find herself alive again 10 years earlier. She tries to make better choices the second time around, but there’s a catch: it seems the only way she can avoid the bad things that happened to her is by making them happen to someone else instead. I wasn’t expecting too much, but it’s a decent mix of romantic comedy, thriller and sci fi/fantasy so far. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3777 "2024-02-18T09:14:34Z")
Have been seeing that 80s ABC/CBS action cop procedural _T.J. Hooker_ (w/William Shatner in the title role, et al.) from Shout! Factory’s all-in-one DVD, and I gotta say it-- from what I’ve seen, it’s far better than I ever gave it credit for. I used to think it was a case of great opening (and end title) music, bad show, but I’ve seen the last three seasons of it, and am finishing it up with the second one, and from what I’ve seen, it’s practically (IMO) _Masterpiece Theatre_ compared to (also IMO) that true _junk_ that was _Walker Texas Ranger_ (that 90s Norris abomination set in Dallas is one I wouldn’t touch with a 20-ft. pole, let alone a 10-ft. one). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3778 "2024-02-18T16:21:49Z")
Just watched the latest Grand Tour episode, _Sand Job_. As usual it’s full of stupid car tricks (and in Jeremy’s case, stupid human tricks). I really enjoyed seeing the trio bumble their way across the Sahara. It’s the next-to-last episode and I’ll be sad to see the series end. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3779 "2024-02-18T21:40:22Z")
We finally started on the last season of “The Blacklist”. Two episodes in, it remains watchable only because of James Spader. The rest of it is silly. We are watching the Indian action movie ‘RRR’. It’s a hoot. Not even remotely realistic, but man the action, cinematography and production are amazing. Some of the CGI is very obvious, but the show is basically a cartoon, so who cares? Watch it for the spectacle. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3780 "2024-02-18T21:41:07Z")
The cars of Nouakchott was the best part. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3781 "2024-02-18T21:59:14Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > We are watching the Indian action movie ‘RRR’. It’s a hoot. Not even remotely realistic, but man the action, cinematography and production are amazing. Some of the CGI is very obvious, but the show is basically a cartoon, so who cares? Watch it for the spectacle. The final sequence in the forest is simply amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3782 "2024-02-19T10:13:13Z")
More anime, but of a very different kind: **Ghost Stories** (English Gag Dub). Bunch of kids battling ridiculous ghosts in a haunted school, there’s a demon cat, yadda yadda yadda, but the selling point here is that the English voice cast were basically told that they had to keep the character names and basic plot but otherwise they had free reign over the dialogue. And boy howdy, do they deliver. Since the plot stays the same it doesn’t go off the rails, but often some throwaway comment out of the blue will absolutely blindside you, often because they’re startlingly rude or bizarre. And anything an actor throws into the mix has to be kept and built on. It had me crying with laughter at certain points. It’s on Crunchyroll; I don’t know where else it can be found. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/3783 "2024-02-19T11:13:19Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s on Crunchyroll; I don’t know where else it can be found. It is on [archive.org](http://archive.org). See the link that I posted shortly after my long Crunchyroll recommendation post to you in this thread on June 29th last year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=188) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=190)