# 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:** 254
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5068 "2024-11-18T13:09:03Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Funny, what threw me off about S1 is that it’s impossible (for me) for Tim Robbins to play anyone but Tim Robbins. He’s very Tim Robbins-y. Yeah, there’s that as well. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5069 "2024-11-18T15:55:13Z")
Watched the first episode of Dune: Prophecy last night. It is set ~10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides when the Bene Gesserit are only a few decades into their very long-term plans. I think that the average viewer will be lost if they have not read any of the books or watched the films. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5070 "2024-11-19T23:08:01Z")
Orange is the new Black. For some crazy reason it gets listed as a comedy. My Wife likes it, I will watch it with her. But it’s rather heart wrenching. I’d much rather watch Monk again. We sort of trade off. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5071 "2024-11-20T02:52:04Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > For some crazy reason it gets listed as a comedy. Same as The bear- and that is because “Drama” is hard to win, but comedy is not. It’s stupid. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2024, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5072 "2024-11-20T05:05:19Z")
I haven’t watched The Bear, but Orange Is The New Black had a lot of straight-up comedy in the first few seasons. There were many characters who started out as comic relief: Crazy Eyes, the Russian cook, the warden, Morello, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5073 "2024-11-20T12:31:40Z")
I binged **Cross** on Amazon Prime. I’ve read a bunch of the novels. Definitely prefer the books. The guy playing Alex was too damn intense. The kids, Damon and Janelle were great, very much like in the books, but NanaMama was too young or something. John Sampson was ok, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5074 "2024-11-20T12:48:07Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > There were many characters who started out as comic relief: Crazy Eyes, the Russian cook, the warden, Morello, etc. Wow. We have a different idea of what comedy is. I sort of know those characters, but don’t see comedy. It was disturbing. And to me Alien is a nice easy movie to watch. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5075 "2024-11-20T12:50:31Z")
Watching _Interior Chinatown_. Three episodes in and I still can’t figure out what I’m watching. It doesn’t appear to be a simple Walter Mittying, but I don’t know if it is more of a Wandavisioning or a Schmigadooning or some other level of weirdness that may never be explained. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5076 "2024-11-20T12:51:57Z")
We started _[Interior Chinatown](https://press.hulu.com/shows/interior-chinatown/)_ on Hulu last night, based on the novel by Charles Yu and directed by Taika Waititi, who I believe is also a producer. I’ve never heard of this book before and know nothing about it, but the trailer looked interesting, so we gave it a go. Only one episode in and I liked it a lot: it’s got a low-key style of humor and a classic “nobody/dreamer” storyline, but with a sort of magical realism/Law & Order satire layer thrown in that keeps you guessing about what’s really happening and what’s in the main character’s imagination. We’ll keep watching. ETA: Ninja’d! (Or, perhaps more appropriately for this show: Kung Fu’d!) ---
**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:** [November 20, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5077 "2024-11-20T13:06:26Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Wow. We have a different idea of what comedy is. I sort of know those characters, but don’t see comedy. It was disturbing. It was definitely a drama in later seasons, but I find it hard to believe you saw very little comedy in season 1 (whether it was to your taste or not). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5078 "2024-11-20T13:21:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Watching _Interior Chinatown_. Three episodes in and I still can’t figure out what I’m watching. It doesn’t appear to be a simple Walter Mittying, but I don’t know if it is more of a Wandavisioning or a Schmigadooning or some other level of weirdness that may never be explained. > [@ShadowFacts](#): > > We started _[Interior Chinatown](https://press.hulu.com/shows/interior-chinatown/)_ on Hulu last night…keeps you guessing about what’s really happening and what’s in the main character’s imagination. Wife and I watched the first ep last night and I wondered, too, exactly what was supposed to be happening. There’s definitely some meta stuff going on. _ **Was** _ some of the action only in the Willis Wu character’s imagination? Near as I can figure (minor spoiler speculation to follow), the Willis guy is a minor character inside a universe that’s a cross between a ‘Law & Order’ style police procedural and (I guess) a fung fu movie, who wants to ‘graduate’ to be a hero character. What’s more, the characters seem to understand and accept that they are in a fictional universe in which TV and movie tropes are part of the universe’s ‘natural law’. For example, after the gang fight in the restaurant, Willis asks his father “why do I always start out strong in a fight, but end up getting my ass kicked?” and the father replies something like “your role is to make the main fighters look better”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5079 "2024-11-20T13:38:22Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It was definitely a drama in later seasons, but I find it hard to believe you saw very little comedy in season 1 (whether it was to your taste or not). My wife didn’t either. And we are certainly not humorless. Our favorite is probably Young Frankenstein. Or the Office, or Seinfeld or Young Sheldon. That’s comedy. I find Orange is the new Black to be a bit heart wrenching for the situation that those women find themselves in. Perhaps that’s blocking the ‘comedy’ for me. And I understand subtle comedy and like it. I did not see all of season one I’m sure. So perhaps I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5080 "2024-11-20T13:49:00Z")
Based on reviews in this thread, I started watching The Diplomat last night. Only got through the first episode, but wow this looks like it could be quite the roller coaster ride. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5081 "2024-11-20T15:11:46Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Based on reviews in this thread, I started watching The Diplomat last night. Same here. Started two nights ago and finished Episode Two last night. Thoroughly enjoying it so far. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5082 "2024-11-20T20:16:29Z")
I’m on episode 9 of _Interior Chinatown_ and it keeps adding twists but I can’t say that it keeps getting better. It is a pretty boring slog to try to finish at this point and overall not a positive recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5083 "2024-11-20T20:49:18Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I haven’t watched The Bear, but Orange Is The New Black had a lot of straight-up comedy in the first few seasons. I am not saying those shows lack any comedy relief, but they are dramas. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5084 "2024-11-20T22:26:46Z")
Well, both shows had [Molly Gordon](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1094137/) as a guest star (plus some technical people and soundtrack artists). Her roles include comedies, “dark comedies” and dramas. It’s that second category that often doesn’t contain much humor. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5085 "2024-11-21T03:05:14Z")
We started watching _Matlock_ last night, and we’re quite enjoying it. It’s not Great Art, but it’s enjoyable and more intelligent than most shows like it (that _Elsbeth_ thing is unwatchable in comparison). I liked the twist at the end of the first episode, and that’ll keep me intrigued. I’m curious how long _every_body will be fooled. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5086 "2024-11-21T14:07:07Z")
I mentioned awhile back upthread that I started watching ‘Dark Winds’ based on some recommendations here, and I’m enjoying it a lot. Question for those of you who’ve seen the show and read the Tony Hillerman books that the show is based on: are the supernatural elements in the show also part of the book series? For example, in ep.3 that I just watched, an Indian woman puts a voodoo-style ‘curse’ on another woman using a personal belonging, causing the ‘cursed’ woman to be bit on the neck by a black widow spider and die. I read several of the books, and I don’t remember any of that-- I just remember the books being police procedural murder mysteries set on a Navaho reservation, without any supernatural hijinks. But it’s been awhile since I read any of them. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/5087 "2024-11-21T14:23:14Z")
My wife and I started watching _Matlock_ and turned it off after 10 minutes (first conference room scene where she asks to be hired) because it seemed so smarmy. Every single character was just chewing the scenery…like in middle school productions. It was like going back to 70s sitcoms. We had some hope that we could watch this regularly. Is there any possibility that we can tolerate a little more of it and get to a decent part of the show? Does it improve? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=253) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=255)