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

Cafe Society
#461

Well, I binged season four. I almost gave up over the dreams/nightmares but the plot kept me watching and the weirdness became acceptable.

I then went back and rewatched the first season. I’m a big Billy Bob Thornton fan, maybe that’s why I really enjoyed the series.

#462

We started Catastrophe (Amazon Prime) last night. So far, it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. Basic plot: guy visiting London has a fling with a women who gets pregnant. Doesn’t sound like a basis for hilarity, but this has me laughing out loud in every episode so far. Warning: it’s also crude and has nudity. Hopefully, it maintains its edge through three seasons.

#463

Another recommendation for Catastrophe – we watched it when it first dropped.

We’ve enjoyed several Amazon Prime series in the past – Mozart in the Jungle, Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Catastrophe – but it’s been a long time since they’ve released something we’re interested in.

#464

American Crime Story: Impeachment (FX). Otherwise known as The Monica Lewinsky Story. (She’s listed as an executive producer, which I suppose gives credence that what we’re seeing actually happened.)

Sarah Paulson is unrecognizable in a fat suit as Linda Tripp, and will undoubtedly get an Emmy.

It’s compelling viewing (and makes Tripp and Clinton look pretty despicable). It has an annoying habit of name-checking current celebrities in minor roles: George (Lincoln Project) Conway, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham and Brett Kavanaugh all pop up.

#465

I watched the first season near when it first came out upon the recommendation of a co-worker, who LOVED it. I enjoyed it well enough, but felt the second season dropped in quality quite a bit, enough for me to abandon it mid-season. (That said, I don’t watch nearly as much TV as I used to, so I am much pickier these days).

#466

Gave the first episode of A Tale Dark and Grimm a shot. Liked it enough to binge all of them.

#467

I just watched the first ep of a new Netflix series, Pretty Smart, created by Jack Dolgen (from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). Weird experience, it has the exact look and feel of a 90’s sitcom, including a laugh track. I was waiting all the time for some kind of ironic recognition of their stylistic choice, but apparently they’re playing it straight.

If you’re in the mood for a sitcom of yore only set in the now, this is for you. It’s like eating stale popcorn: easy to keep going on, even if it is not good or satisfying.

#468

So it’s pretty accurate, then.

#469

Well, Lewinsky is executive producer. I’m sure I could guess who would look despicable if Tripp or Clinton were executive producer.

#470

I think I have a new record for giving up on a series.

I managed 1 minute and 45 seconds of “Star Trek the lower decks” the first female character introduced was utterly unbearable. Life is too short to persevere with such intense annoyance.

#471

What a contrast to the post that I read immediately before this one:

#472

Fincher. Crime drama. The late 1970s/early 1980s. The Atlanta child murders.

Why have I waited until this week to watch Mindhunter again? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

#473

Law and Order Criminal Minds

Its airing on Sundance channel. I watched several episodes and felt very uncomfortable. I like crime dramas but this one focuses too much on the criminal and the abuse of victims. I don’t need to see the victim taken, brutalized and killed minutes before the cops arrive to make the arrest.

I felt almost dirty after watching some of the episodes. Some were more investigation driven and that’s what I enjoy.

It’s creepy to see the victim taken and the scene shifts to the investigation team. Then it shifts back to the drooling, sadist and the terrified victim. Then back to the investigation team.

I love NCIS. The victim is introduced and quickly killed. The rest of the story focuses on the investigation and apprehension.

#474

Especially when the victims are women. It’s far too common in modern crime dramas for women to be brutalized, raped and then murdered. We steer clear of them in most cases.

#475

When did they merge Law & Order and Criminal Minds?

#476

My bad…there’s several shows in the Law and Order franchise.

I forgot Criminal Minds isn’t part of that franchise.

Mixed it up with Law and Order Criminal Intent. That’s my favorite in that franchise.

#477

yeah after the second season it gets very graphic so much os mandy patakin bailed on it saying it wasn’t what he signed up for and being on the show is his biggest regret

#478

Cancelled.

#479

I was just about to post a link saying that exact thing.

#480

I’ve had a chance to do some hardcore TV watching.

Good Omens: A story about the armies of Heaven and Hell setting up to end the world and have their final battle. But meanwhile in England, those wacky Brits might mess it all up.

  • Fun but not as good as the book and possibly a little too close to the book to feel worth watching. I feel like the narrator felt like she was supposed to do one of those robot/AI sorts of voices rather than a “God” voice and, since most of the jokes were in the narration, that really dragged down most of it. I would watch a spin-off series of just Michael Sheen and Tennant playing their roles, doing just about anything, however. Solid green light from me on that.

Tales from the Loop: In a town centered on a superscience R&D institution, various sci-fi things happen to the local families.

  • A bit monotonous and one note. I was playing a solo card game campaign while watching and, since so much of the viewing time is dedicated to scenery and music and they’ve stretched out the stories to 2-3X necessary, I could basically watch it without having to focus and still keep track of everything happening. If I had to actually pay attention to it, fully, I think it would be a little too depressing and laborious to watch as a regular show or to binge. And given how much and how deeply the science kept screwing everyone’s lives, you really sort of had to wonder why anyone would stay in town - and the sheer implausibility of that begins to break down the world building as you go. Plus you realize that they’re more interested in individual tales than world building, so… There’s never going to be any real resolution to what’s going on more meaningful than in Eureka: Because, science!

The Tick (Amazon): An indestructible superhero who doesn’t know who he is forces himself on a mild mannered white collar worker, to gain his help in tracking down Evil, Wherever it Lurks.

  • Actually pretty good. So far, the winner of everything I’ve watched. My one complaint would be that I noticed one episode, somewhere in the middle, that was more filler-y, in a downtime between all the action and mystery, and it was just better and funnier than all the rest. Outside of that, I think I only really had a few laughs in the whole show and it was more like watching Agents of SHIELD - but taking itself less seriously - than something like most of the Tick material that I’ve seen before. Maybe if they’d been focused less on story and more on humor, they’d have been able to get a third season. Alas.

Mr. Robot: A hacker and a team of other hackers decide to take down Evil Corp.

  • I just decided to cut this about an episode and a half before the end of season 1. I had fairly high hopes going in, from reviews I’d seen, but it just kept being a bit ridiculous and over the top all while taking itself much too serious. Tyrell’s whole character just felt like the writers had been told to copy and paste someone out of Game of Thrones into the show, whether it made sense or not. When he started talking down the one lady’s husband to her - a woman who he has never met - in her living room, it was like, “Okay, he’s an ass. So be it.” And he did get taken down for it, so that was fine. But then Elliott gave the one, “You are a waste of humanity” speech to the guy at Steel Mountain out of the blue, just to flip back into a normal(ish) human again; then Angela went to see Colby and he tells her to suck his balls, switches to a normal human again, then offers her a job; etc. It’s hard to tell with all of this whether this is just how Elliott sees the world and imagines that everything works or the writers trying to be “cool”. I was willing to stick with it a bit to see if they were going to clear away the whole Evil Corp vs “heroes who are usually drugged out people who murder and blackmail strangers righteously and not because they’re crazy-delusional and might not really understand what’s going on around them” and finally put the story into a real world rather than The Purge world. Then they started to go all invisible friend on us and I just decided that if I want to watch a show as ridiculous and convoluted as this, I’d rather watch Spartacus or Agents of Shield. At least those know that they’re silly and throwing in spectacle for the sake of spectacle.

Jean-Claude Van Johnson: Jean-Claude Van Damme works as a secret agent while filming films. Teehee

  • Only watched the first episode and, I don’t know, the idea was cute for a moment but the character was just getting a bit cringe-y to watch, and especially if the whole thing was going to be him getting all creepy on a 20-something lady. The Hollywood/film industry in-jokes also all felt like the whole thing was more a gag for the people making the show than the people watching. Overall, if I had to watch the whole thing I suspect that I’d like it but after pounding through a number of mediocre shows in quick succession, it seemed time to cut it short and try to find something else.