# Series you've recently watched, are now watching or have given up on

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108>\
**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:** 382

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**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:** [October 18, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7628 "2025-10-18T23:13:43Z")

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> [@MacDoc](#):
>
> **The Diplomat Season 3**
> 
> Brilliant writing

And the cast is excellent, with Allison Janney bringing the best death stare ever.

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**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:** [October 19, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7629 "2025-10-19T08:17:06Z")

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There’s a new British series (Irish, in fact), a cosy sitcom called **Leonard and Hungry Paul**. It’s a fable about a nerdy young man and his friend, negotiating through life in their own quiet way. Only watched the first episode, where not a huge amount happens, but it’s got great potential to please me. It stars Alex Lawther (from _Alien Earth_ and _Andor_) and for some weird reason it is narrated by Julia Roberts.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7630 "2025-10-19T19:50:49Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> _Boston Blue_ on CBS
> 
> I enjoyed the premiere. It’s wonderful seeing Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan again. The plot device that brings him to Boston is well thought out.

The relationships etc of the Boston clan are a bit unbelievable. But otherwise, pretty good.

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**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:** [October 19, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7631 "2025-10-19T20:13:24Z")

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> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> > [@Chefguy](#):
> >
> > I thought I’d give \*\*Monster: The Ed Gein Story \*\* a try. It has the incomparable Laurie Metcalf in it, but it may be a bit too intense to continue. Pretty sure the Ms. wouldn’t like it.
> 
> I just finished the second episode and, at least up to the point where I am, the intensity continues to escalate. You were probably better off cutting your losses now than continuing on and not being able to finish it.

Another update. I just finished it and they continuously ramp up the intensity. So, yeah, it was good that you stopped if you didn’t like it.

For other’s that have watched it, I have two questions. What’s the deal with his voice? I don’t think he talked like that, but there’s not a lot of audio of him speaking. It reminds me of Sean Penn in This Must Be The Place. Secondly, and I think this can be asked/answered without spoiling anything…when they swapped out Salty for Roz, she was a no non-sense jail warden type character, but then softened up considerably. Was that meant to be due to the passage of time or was her behavior a figment of his imagination? I’m leaning towards the latter, especially based on what happened that night, but I’m not sure.

Also, they did a great job with Charlie’s makeup. Granted, he’s been off my radar since I watched the first few seasons of Sons of Anarchy, but still, great job aging him. And, of course, they couldn’t have picked a better mom than Laurie Metcalf. She really nails these types of rolls.

ETA, the next installment in the Monster series is Lizzie Borden.

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7632 "2025-10-19T23:54:51Z")

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> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> The relationships etc of the Boston clan are a bit unbelievable. But otherwise, pretty good.

They are an unusual substitute for the deeply Catholic New York family. But they have similar values and sense of family as the Reagans.

I’ll give Boston Blue a chance. See how the new characters develop.

I probably wouldn’t watch if Donnie Wahlberg wasn’t in the new show. I always liked his character on Blue Bloods.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7633 "2025-10-20T00:21:47Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> They are an unusual substitute for the deeply Catholic New York family. But they have similar values and sense of family as the Reagans.

The Police superintendent is very young for that rank. But yeah similar family values.

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**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:** [October 20, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7634 "2025-10-20T14:39:27Z")

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> [@LurkMeister](#):
>
> Halfway through DMV I started debating with myself about violating my standard policy about giving any new show a two-episode viewing before removing it from my watch list.

We watched the first ep the other day. It wasn’t really funny but seemed to have a _bit_ of potential. Maybe it’s just good will from the presence of Tim Meadows and the woman from ‘Colin from Accounts’, which we enjoyed (looking up her actual name-- Harriet Dyer. She was in another recent comedy series that I had high hopes for, but which disappointed-- ‘American Auto’).

We’ll give ep.2 a chance.

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**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:** [October 20, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7635 "2025-10-20T15:25:31Z")

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Really enjoying S3 of The Diplomat. Reminds me of the bad old days working at the State Department.

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**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:** [October 21, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7636 "2025-10-21T00:03:21Z")

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I’ve been hanging in there with _Servant_ on Apple, but season two is really trying my patience. I’m not sure I can finish it. A lot of scenes just make no sense and don’t lead anywhere.

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**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7637 "2025-10-21T00:41:05Z")

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_Justice on Trial_ (Amazon Prime) with Judge Judy

We’re all overfamiliar with a plaintiff outraged at their neighbor, whose dog killed their rosebush with pee; Judge Judy hectors one or both parties, and the TV show pays the disputed amount plus hotel bills as the defendant and plaintiff cohooted for at the onset.

But Justice on Trial pulls cases Judy herself oversaw or remembered as significant in her original career on the bench

In Ep 1, a UN foreign diplomat sends his young son to NYC public school, where the staff recognize the boy is severely abused. They report to CPS, who remove the boy into foster care. Everyone involved, including Judge Judy, knows this won’t survive diplomatic immunity, or the lawyer sent by the US State Department to represent the father, but they make the effort anyway in hope of buying time for the boy.

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**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:** [October 21, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7638 "2025-10-21T14:36:31Z")

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> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#):
>
> We watched the first ep of _Chad Powers_ and it was OK. Maybe it had to do a lot of lifting to get the premise and everything else in place but some of it felt very flimsy. I can’t see a washed up football player returning in disguise 8 years later getting away with it for more than a few hours if that.

My wife and I are several episodes in, and I still don’t quite know what to make of the show, or if I even like it or not. It’s not really funny enough to be a comedy, but it’s too goofy to be a straight-up drama. It’s kind of a shaggy dog of a show. Yeah, the basic premise is ridiculous-- that he’d be able to keep up the deception after ‘going viral’ with his tryout performance and the resulting media scrutiny after he becomes the starter, turning out star performances. Also, I gotta believe those silly prosthetics would not survive a single hit by the defense. The first time he eats turf he’s going to come up with his fake nose literally out of joint.

But, I don’t know, it’s got a likable quality to it, so we’ll probably keep watching.

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**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7639 "2025-10-21T14:48:59Z")

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> [@solost](#):
>
> But, I don’t know, it’s got a likable quality to it, so we’ll probably keep watching.

We’re still watching it as well and the reason above is why. Everything you’ve said is true, but I think at this point we’ll just remember the MST3K Mantra as we watch it.

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**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:** [October 21, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7640 "2025-10-21T23:52:16Z")

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Season 2 of _Watson_ has started. The series was never actually good, but I finally gave up on it after about 5 minutes of 2x02, which was especially terrible (for 5 minutes, at least).

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7641 "2025-10-22T00:03:29Z")

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> [@ASL\_v2.0](#):
>
> Watch s6e9 to its conclusion, then watch Breaking Bad. But be ready to be repeatedly kicked in the nuts by how miserable and joyless Breaking Bad is.

We started this the day after we returned from our ABQ/Grand Canyon trip (October 11th) and are on S3E3 tonight. Inna really enjoys BB but noted that she may not have made it through the first couple of episodes were it not for us watching BCS first.

We both agree that the biggest flaw in BB so far is that almost no time is spent developing Walt’s character before he decided to break bad. We understand, story-wise, why Hank is dismissive of Walt, but we don’t really understand character-wise why.

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7642 "2025-10-22T02:32:32Z")

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Halfway through The Pitt season 1. It’s amazing but it’s bringing me a little too close to mortality for my own comfort. I’ve had a marked increase in anxiety related to personal health and death.

It’s also really tough if you have young children. I’m crying basically every episode now. Tonight they hit you with the drowned girl and the organ donor son in one episode.

I had a real issue with one episode, I’m not sure where to put it, but the arrogant intern threatening the life of a patient she _suspects_ is abusing his daughter is so not okay. Also, are Pennsylvania’s mandated reporting laws so different from Michigan? Because that would absolutely be a mandated report here. It was highly innapropriate to interrogate the girl and threaten the Dad but it was also totally pointless because the police were going to investigate Mom anyway.

I don’t know how the writers want me to feel about that moment, like am I supposed to be on her side? Because I am not. I’m really quite pissed about it. Between this and her other bullshit I am ready to boot her out of the ER.

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**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:** [October 22, 2025, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7643 "2025-10-22T06:02:15Z")

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\*BCS’\*s character development is definitely better than _BB’s._ Jimmy’s descent to Saul is a lot more nuanced. For Walt it really does hinge on one scene at the end of s2 with the inaction during Jane’s death

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**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:** [October 22, 2025, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7644 "2025-10-22T07:09:03Z")

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> [@Spice\_Weasel](#):
>
> I don’t know how the writers want me to feel about that moment, like am I supposed to be on her side?

My opinion is that the writers are very, very good, and they intended for you to feel exactly as you’re feeling.

After you finish the season, check out the dedicated thread here about the show.

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7645 "2025-10-22T08:20:54Z")

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Surprised to hear that. I absolutely loved that show. It was funny, had a lot of heart and reflected some of the real challenges that cattle folk have to deal with. I thought I would hate Kutcher, but he worked well in the role. And Sam Elliot is a gem.

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**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:** [October 22, 2025, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7646 "2025-10-22T11:40:09Z")

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> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Has anyone watched Wayward yet?  
> […]  
> When I looked it up to see if it was related to Wayward Pines\*, which it isn’t, I saw a bunch of “Wayward, the ending explained” type articles.

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Finished “Wayward”. It was. . .stupid.

> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Then I’m glad I stopped 5 minutes in.

> [@Railer13](#):
>
> I started watching **Wayward** on NetFlix last night. Made it halfway through Epi 1 before I gave up. Unless somebody can convince me that it’s get better, I won’t resume.

Finally finished ‘Wayward’. Yeah, WTF was that ending? I’m going to have to look up a couple of those “Wayward, the ending explained” type articles that @Joey_P mentioned. And so many plot holes that you could drive a blue prison van through.

So the cult leader lady, as she was dying and being given ‘The Leap’ treatment, was that whole thing with all the doors an actual supernatural happening, or just her dying hallucinations? My wife thought, since they were intercutting that scene with her looking at the doors with the scenes of the baby being born, that she was going to walk through one of those metaphysical doors and become reincarnated in the baby being birthed. Which makes as much sense as any explanation, I guess. And what was up with all the frogs / toads- purely symbolic, or what?

ETA: Just skimmed a couple ‘explained’ articles. So I guess the Evelyn character was tripping on an overdose of a hallucinogenic drug they used in the ‘Leap’ sessions, and there was no actual supernatural stuff. I…think?

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**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:** [October 22, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7647 "2025-10-22T12:41:54Z")

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Started up the latest season of **Slow Horses** last night. Love this show.

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