The only thing both series have in common is the Philadelphia setting.
I just watched Volume IV of Love, Death & Robots.
It’s a fun show - it’s an animated anthology series and each episode is between 6 and 17 minutes. Some of the eps are very funny, some are tragic, but all of them are saying something. That is except the final episode (which is listed as the first episode of the season on Wikipedia); it is a performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as CGI marionettes singing “Can’t Stop.” I don’t hate the band but I couldn’t understand why this was included.
This has now run its 12-episode course and the answer is that it was neither truly tragic nor truly triumphant but rather bittersweet and poignant throughout. Some happy endings but none that can be assumed in advance nor necessarily the ones you’d expect.
More anime: currently watching Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san. Basically, this is what you get when someone who has worked in a big Japanese manga store writes about his experiences with customers, co-workers, management and other book industry people. Not sure why Honda-san is portrayed as a skeleton nor why so many of the other characters wear masks, but I’m finding it both educational (about the manga publishing and sales business) and amusing. Apparently a lot of manga fans are…terrifying.
I’m probably halfway through Abbot Elementary and really like it. Who’s the target audience for the show? The focus is on the adults, but it feels like it’s written for a much younger crowd. I was surprised when just about all the main characters mentioned they use THC in one form or another. Ava may have even said she ‘macro’ dosed mushrooms.
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.
Currently I’m on, my 4th or 5th watch of Life In Pieces and Pushing Daisies, but my daughter is watching them with me for the first time and she loves both of them. I’ve also been sneaking in a few episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show.
Does anyone watch “The Bear”? Is it mainly a comedy, mainly a drama, or just kind of a mix of both?
My wife and I started watching S.1 of ‘The Bear’. Having worked in the restaurant industry in my younger days, and being someone who loves to cook, it seemed right up my alley. But the first couple episodes just made my wife and me anxious, so she said I was on my own if I wanted to keep watching it. I found out online that we weren’t the only ones who reacted that way to the show, and one antidote is to watch the S.1 final, which had somewhat of a resolution to all the tension, and then go back and watch the rest of S.1. I tried that, and the S.1 end was OK, but I decided that was enough for me. Apparently the show won several awards for ‘Best Comedy’ but I didn’t see it as a comedy at all, even a dark comedy.
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. The only ‘name’ in the cast is Malcolm McDowell, playing the kid’s Grandpa, and he’s a hoot. Apparently based on a true-life memoir written by a guy named Mark Critch.
I’m watching The Bear. Note that the fourth season became available on Hulu last night and I believe they made the entire season available at once (rather than releasing one episode each week).
Why wife and I are both getting over a long illness, looks like it’s the flu, not covid. So we’re watching too much tv. We’ve started watching King of the Hill from the first episode. Not sure how I feel about the reboot.
Really liked The Bear. The acting is topnotch and the setting is gritty. It’s more drama than comedy, and the main character’s struggle between his obsession with food and having a real life is great.
Holy crap! Thanks for the news. I’ll have to reactivate my membership.
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.
And I have never even cracked a smile at this “comedy”.
Finished it last night. I agree with your observation, but I think it got back on the rails in Episode 7 and the too-long Episode 8. As you suggest, it should have been at least two episodes shorter.
And I had absolutely no clue whodunit. My money was on Jasmine, the assistant usher.
On MAX I’m watching Sherlock & Daughter
This is the first season I hope it returns. Holmes is in a depressive funk unable to gain any leads into the disappearances of Watson and Mrs Hudson. He suspects a vast criminal syndicate he calls the red thread society. The unexpected arrival of a young American woman convinces him to continue his quest with her help. There are Plot twists, quirky characters overall it’s a fun hour of tv watching.
I may have some bad news for you. It depends on your definition of “much younger.” It’s definitely written for adults.
FYI recreational use is still illegal in Pennsylvania but it’s not that difficult to get medical marijuana. And legal weed is a short trip over the bridge.
When it first started as a weekly show on The CW I wasn’t impressed with it, partly because it seemed to be taking a lot of liberties with the source material, but I gradually got hooked by the story line and the byplay between Sherlock and his Daughter. Now I’m hoping there will be a second season, if only to see what they do with the characters.
Did we actually get enough information to figure out who dunit during the first 7 episodes? After the first 2-3, it became pretty clear that each episode would be about one person of interest and how they probably didn’t do it.
Well, Detective Cupp certainly had enough info!
Yeah, it started out fun and then became a slog and there was no way to solve the case. Way too many flashbacks of the same scene, it might have been interesting if it was from a different person’s perspective and the whole scene with the nephew could have been cut. Save it for a sequel when you’ve earned a backstory. The brilliant cast carried a weak script.
ETA: I already forget who did it and I watched it last week.
The Bear is kind of a shit show. People hate it partially because the producers submit it as a comedy in the awards category even though it isn’t a comedy. And it wins, because it’s intense with some very good acting. But it denies the award to true comedies, which pisses people off.
Season 1 was very tense and intense, nothing really comedic about it. I told my wife I would literally murder half the people who were considered “friends” in this show because they were so incompetent and dipshitty.
Season 2 was full of growth which was really awesome.
Season 3 pretended like season 2 never happened as far as character growth, and absolutely fucking no story arc gets resolved in season three. It is a total kick in the dick.
We will watch some of season 4 to see how it ties up.
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.
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.