“Undercover” - Netflix We are near the end of the first season and its pretty good. I never thought I could watch a whole series that was subtitled (Flemish with English subtitles) but it became second nature pretty quickly. The story and acting is good and reminds me of the Sopranos for some reason. I’d give it an 8 out of 10 “Inspired” by real events, whatever that means.
Currently binging Yellowjackets (waited for the whole season to be out) and one of the actresses reminds me about an earlier series that she was on, Sweetbitter, about a young woman working as a waitress in a high-end NYC restaurant. What made it interesting to me was just how alien it was to me. There is not one element of the series that I related to, not one element of the series that I aspired to or found appealing, and not one character that I remotely liked. Apparently the target audience was supposed to like the characters, though (unlike, for instance with Seinfeld or Always Sunny in Philidelphia). It might as well have been a documentary about filter-feeders in the muck beneath the methane lakes of Titan for the amount it made me want me to visit that world.
I watched the first two episodes of How I Met Your Father. I didn’t hate it.
Do tell, because it looks awful. Is it related to How I Met Your Mother, other than the title?
We started Archive 81 yesterday. After the first two episodes it’s still really holding our attention.
Does anyone have current strong recommendations for a light-hearted comedy series on any of the following services?
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime
- HBO Max
Bonus points for something that has more than one season. I really need something light and frothy right now. For some things already mentioned in this thread, we’ve already seen Derry Girls, Hacks, and Travel Man. Would love something laugh out loud funny or just relaxing/community spirited. (Please don’t recommend things on Hulu or Apple TV. Don’t have 'em, not getting 'em right now).
Plebs on Amazon Prime. Several seasons with zero drama and quite a few good laughs.
Ghosts on HBO Max. Three series of, I think, six episodes each.
Ditto. And I’ll add: Never Have I Ever on Netflix.
Just finished Archive 81. The source material is a horror sci fi podcast of the same name which has had 3 seasons. It is my understanding that the TV series follows along with the 1st season of the podcast but they end differently. The TV show has been picked up for a second season.
All in all, good storyline, good acting. I enjoyed it…not emmy material, but good series.
“Episodes” on Prime. Five seasons, laugh-out-loud funny throughout.
“After Life” on Netflix, if you like Ricky Gervais.
“Detectorists” on Prime. It’s not guffaw funny, rather more subtle and gentle and a real gem. Three seasons.
Thanks, y’all. Looking forward to checking the recommendations out!
So far, only tangentially. Two of the main cast apparently managed to snag Marshall & Lilly’s old apartment (not named, just “an old married couple”). They apparently talked Marshall into leaving the swords mounted on the wall, which several online reviewers consider blasphemy.
I don’t like the English guy. But I’m going to give the rest of the case a shot for a few more episodes.
I’ve read a couple of reviews of How I Met Your Father (though I haven’t watch it yet) and they were not positive. The main criticism seemed to be that the original show had clever writing and a cast with good chemistry and that’s not happening here.
I’m trying to watch Stay Close on Netflix. It stars Cush Jumbo (of The Good Fight) as a woman who is trying to dodge her dodgy past. Unfortunately, the writers have her doing all manner of stupid things that a person trying to hide from public view would never do. I’ll stay with it a few more eps and hope it gets better.
For Netflix:
Archer - Starts off great, stays great for at least five seasons, and is never bad after that but changes a bit.
The Good Place - One of the best comedies of the last decade. And a nice intro to some philosophy.
Brooklyn Nine Nine - Hilarious cop show with a great cast
Schitt’s Creek - Affable Canadian Comedy featuring Eugene Levy and Catharine Ohara as fish-out-of-water rich peoole now broke and stuck in a small town.
The Santa Clarita Diet - Drew Barrymore is a lovable zombie. Nathan Fillion is missing his body. Timothy Olyphant takes it all in stride. Hilarious show.
Man, I tried twice with this one and just couldn’t stand all the mugging and predictable jokes. I have friends who are just wild about it, but it just fell flat for me.
I started this when it was first available and I had a similar reaction after the first two eps. Then many folks told me to stick with it, and so I tried again and it does get good. By the time of the winery episode in the first season I was howling.
I think it’s worth watching just to see what Dan Levy’s sweater and Catherine O’Hara’s wig will look like in each episode. And normally, I don’t care about that kind of thing.
I think Schitt’s Creek took until the second season to get good and it helps that the Roses (the formerly rich family) were never really obnoxious assholes. Just clueless sometimes. And I think it counts as light-hearted.