That is precisely what I find that show useful for.
I watched 1.5 episodes of the animated show “Strip Law” on Netflix. It’s about a regular-ish guy running an unsuccessful law firm in Las Vegas (which is full of craziness a la Idiocracy or Futurama).
The episodes I watched had maybe 100 jokes, out of which I found 2 or 3 funny. I couldn’t even do something else at the same time because a lot of the gags were visual (like funny signs or whatever). Maybe I’ll give it another shot, but it didn’t grab me despite the great cast (Adam Scott, Janelle James, Keith David, Stephen Root).
It didn’t always hit for me, but when it did I think it was some of the funniest things I’d seen on TV ever. I still sometimes think of Val…
One Piece (Live-Action adaptation on Netflix)
The new season just dropped and my Teen and I watched the first two episodes last night. This is such a fun show. It takes place in a weird, immersive world with fun and distinctive characters. Monkey D. Luffy is a great character and I really like how he tries to get the best out of his friends as well as try to solve problems with using his wits and compassion.
Am I oblivious to a scandal or two? I have no knowledge of him other than he wrote Yellowstone amongst many other things (plus he acts in it).
I don’t think there is any big scandal. He’s a controlling douche with a big ego. For the most part his shows are entertaining so I don’t care.
Ah ok, so he’s not really acting much in it then? 
Not yet (that I’m aware of) but I’m reasonably sure there will be. He just squicks me out because of his attitude as reflected in his writing/directing style with regard to women. There’s no better example of this than Landman, which is a compelling story that could easily be cut in half without subtracting from the story by removing the gratuitous T and A scenes. Not that I’m offended by this, it’s just way over the top. A quick search should yield several articles on this.
That’s interesting. I would say Beth Dutton is an utterly compelling character though. I really don’t like her as a person (she’s horrible!), but she’s a great character. The senator (John’s… well, not girlfriend but you know what I mean) is also a decent female character.
By the end I was hate watching Yellowstone. Beth was one of the main reasons why I started to hate it. They turned her more and more into a cartoon character as they went along. We could turn this entire thread into what I think Yellowstone should have been and could have been. So many plot points abandoned. But I won’t hijack like that.
Dark Winds this season is getting weird(er). I prefer them on the rez solving crimes.
Last couple of epis of NCIS have been so bad I just fast forwarded thru them.
Yeah, I’m still enjoying the show bc it’s beautifully made, but I think I’ve had my quota of mysterious fucked-up hitmen (not a spoiler). Like, sometimes Leaphorn and Chee just handle straight-up common or garden rez lawbreaking too! We used to get a petty criminal every other ep or so, and it filled out the setting and the community and the realities of NTP life for us! Not EVERYTHING has to be sinister!
I completely agree.
House of Guinness. Gave up after the first 20 minutes. Did not feel anything (like or hate) any of the characters. Did not give a shit about some wealthy twits burying their wealthy father. There also wasn’t enough to sustain my interest in what I can only infer might be an Irish Republican counter-plot (which I know, based on history, isn’t going to turn out well in anyone’s lifetime within the series).
AIUI, its conflict is supposed to be akin to Succession. Now that’s a fine example of a show with characters that I do not like, but who I at least feel something about (disdain, hatred) and which I keep (or rather kept) watching the same as I might a documentary about a slow-motion trainwreck just out of an interest in the technical or engineering details of how a slow-motion trainwreck develops and plays out. And you see, the thing about Succession is that the characters were immediately distinct from the very beginning. Both visually and with their personalities.
But House of Guinness? There’s, what, three sons? One of whom is a drunk, all of whom I think I are mustacheod? Honestly, just did not care enough to tell them apart.
And as a final comment on HoG, WTF was up with the soundtrack? I don’t object to using a contemporary/metal/rock soundtrack in a period drama, at least not in principle. Indeed, the first time they did it seemed effective enough, adding some weight/mood to the scene. But the second (or third? or fourth?) time just seemed pointless. And, again, I only watched 20 minutes of the first episode. How many times are they going to come back to this well?
Moving on, I recently finished Boardwalk Empire. Pretty good. The first three seasons were great. The fourth was a bit disjointed and just kind of “meh” (but not unwatchable). The fifth and final season was… better than the fourth, but only occasionally reached the heights of the first three. The flashbacks in the final season were also poorly done. I get why they had (some of) them, as it all eventually came full circle in an “original sin” or “deal with the devil” kind of way, but where and how they were inserted really just seemed to interrupt the flow and momentum of the main timeline. Most of the flashbacks were not interesting in and of themselves, and in some cases didn’t really seem to fit with or parallel the main timeline scenes they were inserted between (the flashbacks as a whole eventually added up to something, but they only occasionally seemed to provide new/meaningful insight into characters within the episode). I think they might have done better to save the flashback scenes (and have fewer of them) for the final episode, and tighten them up to have two compelling storylines running in parallel within that one episode, still arriving at the same final “punch.”
But overall, solid, would recommend (Boardwalk Empire). I’d put the first three seasons roughly on par with (but perhaps one step down from) Sopranos in terms of crime drama.
Oh, and also sadly topical, what with the Epstein files being (sort of, somewhat) released.
For me, the flashbacks really humanized Gillian. There isn’t too much we see in the flashbacks that we didn’t already know about her, but seeing the kind of kid she was then and then watching her get trapped (against the backdrop of the adult her being trapped in season 5) made her story arc more visceral.
Absolutely. And yet, that most of the flashbacks predate that and instead focus on Nucky. Not to no effect—they do show some parallels between them, and also setup the earlier Sheriff as a kind of foil—but for the most part the flashbacks are misplaced and bloated.
Sirens (Netflix) Only one episode into this Stepford Wives meets Odd Couple limited series. It’s good enough so far for me to keep going.
Based on the picture I see on the internet, I’m assuming you’re talking about the show with Julianne Moore, right?
I see Josh Segarra is in it. He was already in different show, also called Sirens, but about EMTs.
Highly recommended
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2484950/
I’m about halfway through How To Get To Heaven From Belfast. I’m really liking it, but I’m fully aware that I’m missing parts of it simply due to their accent and how fast they talk. I know it’s meant to be a somewhat complicated story, but I’m struggling to keep things like who we’re actually looking for, who’s dead, who’s missing, which names (outside of the main three) belong to which faces etc.
In any case, I still like it. The premise* of it feels very film noir-ish.
*Just the premise, I’m not talking about anything else that makes film noir film noir.
Just an interesting (to me) coincidence, I haven’t seen a discussion about Boardwalk Empire for a long time and I just so happen to be going to eat at a restaurant the real Nucky frequented this weekend. It was mentioned in the show once.
Yes, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast was complex, even ridiculously so. I saw the whole thing and I’m sure I don’t quite understand it.