Yahoo! Thanks for making me feel ok with abandoning this show. I got 3 episodes in and was still waiting for something to happen other than yelling and using the F bomb. I’m not going back in.
The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime. Kind of a muddled mess that’s bending over backwards to be PC. Entertaining enough to keep me around when I’m bored, I guess.
There’s a LOT of backstory in S3. Which is nice in itself, but it makes the season unbalanced in being far too backward-looking and not enough forward-moving.
Also: the one thing about these misery shows is that every now and then they need some goddamn wins. We got one at the end of S1…and that was pretty much the last unequivocal one.
If something positive doesn’t happen at some point in S4 (assuming there is one) I am going to be pissed. If I want to see perpetually miserable people I can do that in real life.
This is one of my most important gauges of whether I watch a show or not. Misery porn is so common in very popular series, and I am just too old to bother with that kind of nonsense anymore. I chose not to watch series like Breaking Bad, Game Of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and bunches more very highly regarded shows just because I got a sense that I’d just spend every episode very angry, indignant, or cringing awkwardly. That’s no fun, and I can’t be bothered with that anymore.
I agree. Perhaps because I got comfortable with the original group, but I lost interest as it changed (and I think it didn’t change all at once, but one or two characters changed at a time).
Yeah, the original group had real charisma together. The replacements didn’t bring it.
I can’t even remember the name of the series now… but I got one episode in on a series that featured yet another alienated teenager perpetually enraged at her well-meaning parent, and I thought: seen this too many times. I’m out.
We gave Rev. a try last night. British comedy with Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman. Amusing, if not laugh-out-loud funny. A small town vicar transfers to the big city to run a church with nearly zero parishioners.
With that casting, too bad it’s not a better show.
We just finished watching the first season (of only two, sob) of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. I freaking loved this series and was so bummed when it was cancelled. We found it ON DEMAND and will move on to season two tonight. I actually enjoyed it better than the book(s) – was it one book in two parts or two books? The books were less interesting and actually bored me a bit.
I’m going to sign on with Apple+ to see “Slow Horses”. I’ve read a couple of the books and they’re darkly funny. Basically, MI6 agents who have pissed off the powers are sent to a run-down building and given nothing to do, so they create their own missions. Starring Gary Oldman.
Wonderful show!
I loved the books, so I need to sign up with Apple+, too. I assume I can watch on my desktop? I have a nice sized monitor and don’t like watching stuff on my phone.
Note that the fourth series of Slow Horses just started on Apple TV+.
I would assume so. I don’t watch anything on a phone, so it will be on the tee-vee.
There is the Apple TV app available for both macOS and Windows to watch on your computer, but you should also be able to stream through your browser at https://tv.apple.com.
We just binged S1 of Slow Horses tonight, it was that engaging. Gary Oldman is a genius, and Kristin Scott Thomas keeps up with him.
I had the usual objections to improbable spy craft (If you’re going to send someone a computer in a flashbox, wouldn’t you let them know, so that if it doesn’t arrive in one, they’ll know something’s up? If there even is such a thing as a flash box.), and we’re all mightily tired of the scruffy computer whiz who can get into any secure system in a few minutes with a few keystrokes. But it was extremely watchable.
Nitpick: MI5. MI5 is domestic, the equivalent of the US FBI. MI6 is the counterpart of the CIA.
Brain fart.
I finished watching The Perfect Couple, the Netflix limited series murder mystery with Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber.
I liked it; it was short enough (6 episodes) that it didn’t feel padded, it kept me guessing, and it had quite a few funny moments to keep it from being too much of a downer.
I watched the first three episodes, and, so far, I’m pleased. I’m regrettably picky when movies/TV don’t match the image I have from the book, but this one is very close. The look of Slough House is perfect. I loved the Taverner/Lamb relationship in the books, and it’s as good here. My only minor niggle is with Roddy’s casting. He’s not as obnoxious as book-Roddy, and I think he’s better as a chubby slob. Maybe they couldn’t find any fat East Asian actors? But he’s one of the least important of the Slow Horses for me (except for the one book where he’s almost the protagonist), so it’s o.k.
My main quibble is the same as for a lot of UK shows/movies – the soundtrack (music and special effects sounds) are LOUD, and then the actors mumble under their breath. Have to keep adjusting the volume or keep it low and put on closed captions.
Dark Winds (Netflix, 2023), My wife and I put Evil on hold since this HBO series dropped on Netflix. I like Zahn McClernon and was looking forward to this Murder Mystery in Navajo country, but after two episodes I’m bored. The plot is fine if contrived, but I don’t connect with any of the characters they all seem wooden archetypes and I don’t care what happens to any of them. Contrast that with Reservation Dogs which I adored from minute one. It shouldn’t be this hard to like something new this early.
Went back to start season 3 of Evil, may or may not go back to this at all.