# 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:** 340
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6788 "2025-06-26T21:08:25Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Said it before and will say it again: the resolution to the cash flow issue in S1 of _The Bear_ was some of the dumbest shit on TV since the invention of the Teletubbies. I have never seen the show, but that is an awesome burn. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6789 "2025-06-26T21:16:15Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I _really_ dislike The Bear despite having seen every episode. Ditto, except that I gave up after the 2nd season. I realized that I liked nearly every character more than the main guy, and that’s not saying a lot. It also kind of annoyed me that rather than not using regional accents at all if they weren’t going to do Chicago accents, one of the characters used a NY accent - I no longer remember which character that was. > [@JohnT](#): > > Said it before and will say it again: the resolution to the cash flow issue in S1 of _The Bear_ was some of the dumbest shit on TV since the invention of the Teletubbies Agreed! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6790 "2025-06-27T00:10:54Z")
Based on some of the things I’d heard about _The Bear_ I’d been thinking about giving it a try. Now it sounds like it’s not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6791 "2025-06-27T00:17:12Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > There is a subplot in one episode where they show her helping out a kid who needs a pair of pants and it was a great piece that showed that she had some depth. I wish they would do a little more of that for her. That was actually the one of the specific scenes I was thinking of when I mentioned that they gave her some redeeming qualities. It was entirely out of character for her, almost to the point of being jarring, but at least they’re not trying to make her selfish _all_ the time. Having said that, I’ve really warmed up to her since I started and actually like her character now. > [@jsc1953](#): > > I _really_ dislike The Bear despite having seen every episode. There are episodes where literally nothing happens. There are episodes that consist entirely of characters shouting F-bombs at each other. I’m the opposite, I really like it. I think part of that has to do with growing up in a family business. A lot of what I see on the show hits close to home. My job has always had a handful of my relatives working there. Currently it’s my mom, dad, daughter, two sisters and an aunt. Home drama gets dragged into work. Work drama gets dragged back to home. People dig their heels in when they don’t need to, there’s too much micromanaging of each other, throw in a bit of sibling rivalry and we have days where everyone is on edge just waiting for someone to say or do the wrong thing and there’s days where nothing much is going on at all. And, in a family business like that, conversations can quickly escalate to yelling at each other or telling someone to fuck off and storming out. When no one (at least WRT to the family members) is putting their job in jeopardy by telling someone how they really feel…that’s exactly what happens. To be fair, we do all get along just fine, but we spend _a lot_ of time together, so sometimes tempers boil over. Anyways, I’m two episodes into the current season and still liking it. I wouldn’t have minded a recap though. It’s been so long I don’t remember some of the details. I was really thrown by Carmine talking to Mikey about their dad and opening a second restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6792 "2025-06-27T00:18:47Z")
I’ve started watching **Murderbot** and I’m not sure if I like it. The narration is so incessant it just annoys me, and so far, two episodes in, I can’t detect a storyline. Or a likeable character. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6793 "2025-06-27T00:28:25Z")
**The Residence** Recommended. My wife and I enjoyed this all the way through to the end. I actually had correctly picked the murderer pretty early in the show, but I admit there is a lot of luck in that. Fun mystery, fun characters. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6794 "2025-06-27T00:50:45Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I actually had correctly picked the murderer pretty early in the show As I posted earlier today, I had no clue who the actual murderer was…I thought it was the assistant usher. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6795 "2025-06-27T00:58:19Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve started watching **Murderbot** and I’m not sure if I like it. The 30 minute episodes once a week format is really aggravating. It kinda seems like nothing is really happening except learning more about some, frankly, uninteresting characters. The one intriguing thread with the character from the other expedition was ended too quickly. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6796 "2025-06-27T05:45:41Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Based on some of the things I’d heard about _The Bear_ I’d been thinking about giving it a try. Now it sounds like it’s not worth it You might give it a try and judge for yourself. Plenty of people really like it. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6797 "2025-06-27T09:31:27Z")
Really enjoying _Touch of Cloth_, a British parody of gritty British detective shows. The tone, style, plot, tropes and characters are note perfect imitations of the genre, such that with the sound off you would almost always think you were watching a searing, harrowing drama about a troubled detective, his haunted past, and the killer who taunts him. The dialogue is pure jokes. Utter silliness, lampooning all the above with a mix of puns, pastiche and physical comedy. I enjoy a gritty corpse-a-thon as much as the next man, but it’s very refreshing to see it sent up. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6798 "2025-06-27T10:57:42Z")
_Touch of Cloth_ was co-written by Charlie Brooker (or _Black Mirror_ fame) and it very much has his style to it. Brooker also wrote a zombie-themed _Big Brother_ parody miniseries called _Dead Set_ which I recommend, although it may land better with UK audiences as it’s parodying the UK BB show (and features the UK BB host Davina McCall in it). But it’s much darker and not as overtly comedic as _Touch of Cloth_. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6799 "2025-06-27T13:04:20Z")
I also really liked _A Touch of Cloth_, but the last series was not my favourite. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6800 "2025-06-27T13:31:25Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > I’m glad I stuck with it. I almost gave up a few episodes in because of Ava’s character. She got under my skin in a ‘why would these people still work for her and why hasn’t the district fired her’ way. I’m glad dialed that back a bit and gave her some redeeming qualities. It seems they gave her character the Michael Scott treatment. > > Ava is definitely a grating character but my wife says that she’s not too far off from the craziest principals that she has worked for. > > There is a subplot in one episode where they show her helping out a kid who needs a pair of pants and it was a great piece that showed that she had some depth. I wish they would do a little more of that for her. I’ve watched Abbott Elementary and wondered about the character of Ava as principal, since she seems too immature for the role. It seemed to me that Barbara Howard, the older, religious kindergarten teacher seemed better suited (in terms of emotional maturity) than Ava for the role. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6801 "2025-06-27T14:04:13Z")
_Anyone_ would be better than Ava. I don’t know how much of the show you watched, but the job should have gone to Gregory, but Ava was blackmailing the superintendent after she caught him having an affair. I don’t know if that subplot was known (to the writers) from the beginning or if they had to find a way to explain why she’s allowed to run a school. The writers may have started giving Ava some redeeming qualities around the same she found out she no longer has any leverage over him since he’s now married to the person he was having the affair with. Unrelated, but one of the writer’s names is Ava Coleman. As far as I know it’s a coincidence since she came on after the show had already started. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6802 "2025-06-27T14:09:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve watched Abbott Elementary and wondered about the character of Ava as principal, since she seems too immature for the role. It seemed to me that Barbara Howard, the older, religious kindergarten teacher seemed better suited (in terms of emotional maturity) than Ava for the role. The trope (with no small foothold in reality) is that a dedicated teacher would never lower themselves to become a principal or administrator. Principals are essentially burned out teachers just looking out for number one. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6803 "2025-06-27T15:04:36Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Speaking of comedies (_actual_ comedies), we started watching ‘Son of a Critch’ on Netflix. It’s about an awkward 12 year old kid growing up in Newfoundland in the 80s. Sort of a Canadian ‘Wonder Years’ with a bit of ‘A Christmas Story’ vibe thrown in. Maybe just a wee dash of ‘Derry Girls’ too? Lots of scary nuns. A couple episodes in, I like it a lot. Never heard of it and just watched the trailer. This is up my ally and exactly the content I come here for. Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6804 "2025-06-27T15:12:50Z")
Thought to myself, maybe it’s like _Moone Boy._ Watched the trailer. Yep, it is very much like _Moone Boy._ ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6805 "2025-06-27T15:24:34Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Never heard of it and just watched the trailer. This is up my ally and exactly the content I come here for. > > Cheers! Glad to hear it! If you feel like it, report back after a couple eps and let us know how you like it. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6806 "2025-06-27T15:25:26Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Now I’m hoping there will be a second season, if only to see what they do with the characters. I’m on episode 6, and I suspect the telephone installer among others of gathering intel on Holmes movements. To keep up the suspense I think I’ll have to delay e7 for a few days. Time to tune into S3 of The Gilded Age. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/6807 "2025-06-27T15:34:30Z")
> [@chela](#): > > I’m on episode 6, and I suspect the telephone installer among others of gathering intel on Holmes movements. To keep up the suspense I think I’ll have to delay e7 for a few days. Time to tune into S3 of The Gilded Age. I just watched the first episode of S3 of _The Gilded Age_ and am pleased to say the quality has kept up with that of the first two seasons. Be warned: the episode ends with a cliffhanger that had me screaming, “I have to wait a week to find out what happens!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=339) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=341)