There’s a German comedy on Netflix called Crap Happens about a failed 40 year old rapper who returns to his weird hometown when his mom dies exactly as she wished (rescuing a duck from a tree). We watched one episode and didn’t hate it, which is surprising because the hero is such a miserable sad sack and the comedy is rather broad.
I’d been watching Monarch of the Glen on Prime. I made it thru 3 of the 7 seasons when I had to quit. They had the much overdone plot line where one of the staff lied to his pen pal about being the laird, and when said pen pal was coming to visit, they convinced the laird to switch places with his underling and hilarity ensued. yeah.
How many variations on that theme have been used over the years? How many have actually been clever or funny? No matter - after than, I wasn’t interested in the series any longer. I’ve moved on.
Following up on a comment I made in another thread:
Ok, so, during a multi-platform lull in new releases that interested me (new releases that interested me, anyway), I went head and tried Shrinking. Just pushed on through, and as of a few minutes ago, have finished season one.
Did not care for it. Never got into it. Was so unimpressed that around episode 6 (give or take) I took a several month hiatus. I only came back to it to “finish it” hoping that things might finally come together in the end, but they did not (for me, anyway—I get that there’s some resolution to or significant progression of certain plot points, I just never got invested). And even my attempt at a concerted push to see the season through at least saw me spending weeks between episode. Really, it was like pulling teeth to watch.
I don’t believe I laughed even once during the season finale, and I care even less about the characters. At its peak this season, I vaguely recall being mildly amused once or twice in the first five (?) episodes, but that’s about it.
I understand some people like this show. Fair enough. But word of advice to anyone who isn’t drawn in after episode one: it’s not a slow burn. It does not get any better. If it doesn’t click in episode one, don’t expect it to by episode 10. You’re better off with something else.
In other news, the live action One Piece isn’t half bad (I’ve been watching a couple episodes a week of season one, and plan to continue with season two when it drops next week).
Last night I watched episode 1 of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast on NetFlix. Quite quirky, and I think I’m going to enjoy it.
Anybody else watched it yet?
We liked it, though it sags for a bit midseason. It has an exciting and satisfying end, though.
Shrinking is one of my favorite shows of all time. I had a visceral reaction to how bad One Piece is. Go figure.
Dozens, and afaik- never, except maybe by a great cast in the early days. And- it never works, after a while you’d think they know that.
I’m trying to watch the show You, but after going through season 1 I’m certain the next 4 seasons will be exactly the same.
Me too. I prefer it to Scrubs
I wouldn’t say so and I’ve seen the whole thing.
Recently my current late night after the wife goes to bed watch has been Best Medicine. It’s not a great show but it’s pleasant and easy to watch when you don’t want to put too much effort in. I see now that the latest episode will guest star the original Doc Martin, Martin Clunes as the father of the main character played by Josh Charles.
We’ve been watching Crime on Britbox. We’ve made it to E5 and have decided we just can’t do it anymore. This is a Scottish police drama about a cop’s obsessive search for a serial child killer. Okay so far. But the pointless subplots are distracting and somewhat unintelligible. They keep introducing characters that haven’t been seen before and don’t explain who they are or what they have to do with the primary plotline. The brogue is almost completely unintelligible to my ears and the subtitles can’t keep up. I think the show runners were aiming for noir and got annoying instead. And the arch criminal, who of course knows and sees all, is a poor imitation of Hannibal Lector. Don’t bother.
Paradise (season 1)
Recommended.
Great beginning to this show, slow dip in the middle(eps 4-6), but then it improves again and episodes 7 and 8 are terrific.
My wife and I are lucky because season 2 just dropped.
Go in blind. A good show to not even know the premise before viewing.
I agree with all of that. I watched episode 1 of season 2 and it was good in a different way. I decided to hold off on watching more. All of season 2 should drop by the end of March.
I would just say that everything about One Piece (the characters, the setting, the plot, and especially the costumes) is clearly ridiculous. But the show-runners know that and they lean into it, to overall good effect. I am in fact often wowed by how committed they are to rendering what originated as clearly (and literally) cartoonish elements faithfully rendered with characters seemingly straight-faced in live-action (has an element of dead pan to it, I suppose).
By contrast, Shrinking tries both too hard and not hard enough to be taken seriously as a heartwarming dramedy—something funny but often serious like MASH. I know what they want me to feel, but I just don’t feel it. And this may seem small, but to me one of the most ridiculous elements was supposed to be one of their most touching/revealing scenes. The one where the not at all stereotypical (but totally stereotypical) ticking time bomb veteran who just needs someone to Good Will Hunting him back to life gets his framed “medals” from his dad. Like, clearly we were supposed to go “Oh, wow! What a hero…” but I just went “Where did they even get those? A children’s costume store?” I mean, the medals themselves look like the Distinguished Service Cross and the Bronze Star, but the ribbons? They look like they came off the kind of medals cub scouts get for placing in the pinewood derby (or else the kind that go on JROTC awards that the kids get for things like learning how to tie knots or having perfect attendance—or so I imagine, I was never a JROTC kid). It’s a little thing, but it’s to my mind representative of how the show clearly wants to be talen seriously, but then also doesn’t quite manage to put in the effort for me to actually take it as such. It’s pretentious at best, and utterly ridiculous at worst (and not in the intentional and self-aware sense that One Piece is).
I loved the original Doc Martin so I was excited when I heard about this show. At first, I had a hard time getting into it. Everyone should have had an English accent! I also had a hard time with Sheriff Mark. He’s way over the top. But after a few episodes in, I’m liking it more. I DVR it, so I’m a bit behind. I’m looking forward to seeing the Doc Martin episode.
I liked it. I also liked the live action versions of Cowboy Bebop and Avatar: The Last Airbender. I assume I would have hated all 3 if I had watched the animated version.
As for Shrinking, I thought it was mildly amusing but the “woe is me, I’m a sad white guy” segments were just kind of meh.
Avatar’s live action was great, but incredibly redundant. Zero purpose.
Cowboy Bebop was fun. I wish it had continued and maybe made some original content. Nope, cancelled.
Personally, I find real humans doing stunts often more interesting than animated characters doing stunts. But YMMV.
Interesting, thanks. Yeah I rate this show as pleasant. We record it, but of course Fox cut off part by trumps speach-a-thon.
Yes, I have watched it, but the last season seemed phoned it.