I hadn’t either. You can access MGM through Amazon Prime Video for a minimal charge.
Yes, that’s right. It’s their only real big show.
Get the subscription, watch the show in a month or so, cancel. Final season is next year. Might be even better to wait a year and watch the whole show.
I kind of love it.
I’ve been on a British binge (and needed something I didn’t need to pay strict attention to).
All Creatures Great and Small was a perfect choice to end the day on a good note.
Grantchester finally finished. It was past time for it to conclude, but I still feel like they managed to rush things a bit at the end. And they managed to repeat some prior plot points so it wasn’t the best season either.
And lastly, I started Clarkson’s Farm last night. I’ve never watched Top Gear or any of his other shows, so I’m only vaguely familiar with him, but the first episode proved amusing so I’ll probably continue to watch for a bit.
I’ve got 3 free months of Apple, so I need to check that out. I plan on watching Ted Lasso and For All Mankind. Any other recommendations are welcome!
May you be subjected to this show on repeat for eternity. This isn’t an “advice on how to change your watching habits” thread, so kindly take your advice somewhere else.
Maybe his spouse likes the show and he watches it with her out of love and companionship, but silently seethes (especially when it wins awards for comedy) and wants an outlet.
The first season of “The Morning Show” is very good. Later seasons not so much.
“Foundation” is excellent if you like sci-fi, and aren’t consumed by screenplay adaptations veering wildly from source material.
“Severence” is tremendous, so much so that you may end up resuscitating once the next season comes out.
“Silo” tremendous acting, writing and world-building.
“Hijack” I’ve only seen the first season, which was a solid standalone that’s a great weekend binge.
“Pluribus” one season, renewed for another. I enjoyed it a lot.
“Shrinking” if you like “Ted Lasso” this shares some writers and its sense of “let’s make an uplifting show about flawed people”.
“Masters of the Air” if you like “Band of Brothers” you’ll like this.
Also:
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed - it’s not what you think it’s going to be
Sugar - most definitely not what you think it’s going to be; the end of season one is a huge WTF?
Your Friends and Neighbors, with Jon Hamm
Shrinking, with Harrison Ford
Slow Horses - once of the best shows on television
Ah, Clarkson and Top Gear, now that IS something which is worth describing to non Brits (and some Brits). I’m sure some of you have your own Top Gears around the world, however they are doing them, and you might recognise something of this…
Originally Top Gear was a series from the late 70s to late 90s. They rebooted it in 2002 with Clarkson and Hammond (later May) with a blokey comedy feel, which became less about cars and more about comedy and stunts. It was a big success, bringing in people not interested in cars (to the dismay of the ones who wanted it about cars). They ran it for 22 series, in the good days it was genuinely funny. People looked forward to the specials where they went off abroad to do funny things.
Then the presenters started saying controversial things. It wasn’t always Clarkson, May and Hammond insulted a few countries. Apparently blokeyness changed into racism over time. It got less funny. It started becoming more about cars. And eventually Clarkson punched a producer at a hotel after a late running and frustrating day because Clarkson wasn’t getting served hot food. He was sacked. While the rest weren’t sacked, they followed.
I think the reality was the real talent, of the writers, researchers and directors, had long since left the show, and the presenters were flailing about and frustrated about that. Clarkson, May and Hammond went off to do a well paid show called “The Grand Tour” on amazon prime, it was very similar in format, without the names (they couldn’t call their mystery professional driver “The Stig” anymore). I watched some, it was boring and had all the problems of late Top Gear. It lasted six seasons and probably made the presenters quite rich.
Clarkson had become a controversial and not that well liked figure during that period. There was talk of him going into politics to become a Boris Johnson type, his opinions being quite right wing.
He bought a farm (probably as a tax dodge, as a loophole to avoid inheritance tax), and then did Clarksons farm off the back of that (probably wasn’t planned as that at first). This seems to have rebooted his reputation, and some people seem to like him nowadays. I’ve not watched it, I think I went past the point of no return on the Grand Tour. However, he does seem to march with protests of the farmers when the inheritance tax loophole was being closed, alongside Trump-like figures like Farage, because Farmers were special and didn’t have to pay that tax like the rest of us. So his political right wing side seems to be there still. Or his self-interest, really.
He did recently announce he’d become seriously ill with cancer.
Overall it might be worth knowing some of this toxic pre-appeal before starting on the likes of Clarkson farm. He’s got a lot of anti popularity to work off. Seems to be doing that though.
(Top Gear is currently on hiatus, having rebooted with presenters such as Matt Leblanc and various cricketing and rugby celebrities I’ve never heard of)
Yes, I liked it. Not a great show, but good.
Yeah, I read a collection of Roger Eberts one and two star reviews 9and a couple of no star) and it is hilarious.
And when a show inexplicably starts getting fans and awards (I watched a couple epis of The Bear, and altho I didnt hate it, I could not see what others were raving about), negative reviews are a Good Thing.
Makes sense to me.
I watched some but the books were so much better, I saw no real reason to keep watching. Mind you- the show wasnt bad or anything.
I am of two minds about that show- I watch it on YouTube- I like it when they are joking around but doing real stuff, but the so called “practical jokes” were sad and depressing, and Clarksons hate of anything American gets boring fast.
Thank you, that is some very helpful context. He does come across as a bit… I’m not sure boorish is the right word but I can’t think of what fits better. Basically he’s solicited a bunch of advice from professionals and only follows the bits that seem convenient to him, resulting in some mildly humorous screw ups. One episode isn’t enough to tell if it’s going to be humorous or infuriating going forward. If it gets too political/“controversial” then I’m out - I’m watching for a bit of fun entertainment, I get enough of that other crap during the day.
Thanks @Munch and @Chefguy - those all look like worth checking out! I’m finding myself rather surprised at the apparently high quality of the Apple produced shows.
I’m not sure about Hammond, but May (who seems like the one I’d like to have a pint with, having seen some of his other stuff which is pretty good) and Clarkson make a proper ‘odd couple’; they really are polar opposites. May is apparently a bit of a liberal leftie and Clarkson, at least plays up to being, a rightie ****. But it worked, as you say, for several years and really was very funny. But not the programme to watch if you wanted anything serious about cars.
If you like musicals in general, I strongly recommend Schmigadoon. And S2 is better than S1.
I’m about ready to give up on watching Adam-12 repeats while treadmilling. Even though the show went for something like 7 years I’ve probably seen all the episodes by now, including one of my favorites where Malloy and Reed bust a pair of armed robbers who dodged the draft to avoid the Vietnam war, because of course trying to avoid going to Vietnam demonstrates a criminal mindset.*
*almost as good as the Dragnet episode where a dope-smoking young suburban couple zone out at a neighborhood pot party, leaving their toddler unattended upstairs in the bathtub, with predictable results. 
Huh? Is that directed at me?
(Pssst: no, I think @crazyjoe is referring to himself in the omniscient-narrator-third-person there. He’s telling us why he has watched the whole freaking run of The Bear even though he hates it quite a lot.)
The second season of X-Men '97 dropped, so I guess we’re doing that now. My husband has been obsessed with X-Men since as long as I’ve known him. There’s no way I’m getting out of this.
I like X-Men pretty well and everything vaguely reminds me of the comics. It’s a very well done animated show. It’s loyal to the characters and the stories. The only real issue I have with it, and my husband shares this, is the stories go by at a breakneck pace. How about giving each one a chance to breathe? There are a lot of dramatic moments that would have hit harder if there was more of a buildup.
The most recent outstanding show on Apple is Widow’s Bay It’s very funny and very scarey.
There seems to be a bit of a trend towards comedy/horror films or series of late. The Bride on Netflix is one that I really enjoyed. And Spider Noir is another.
I don’t know about scary, but definitely funny as far as the horror genre goes. Will second that recommendation.
Also most of what @Munch recommended. I haven’t seen all the shows listed, but I’ve seen most and enjoyed them (with the exception of Shrinking—I fought my way to the end of season one and I’m done).
I’ll add The Studio as one to watch, although I’d rank it below—in no particular order—Ted Lasso, Pluribus, Silo, and Severance. It’s a crowded field and it’s at least in contention, but by no means head of the pack, even in its genre (for comedy, I’d put Ted Lasso in first). Ditto with Foundation (which I see was recommended): it’s pretty good, but if your time is limited, I’d put it after Ted Lasso, Pluribus, Silo, and Severance.
The Night Of. I’m not even through the first episode, and already I am wondering how in the hell this not-even-based-on-a-true-story contrivance of a police procedural won five Emmys. The accused (protagonist?) is a total moron and I don’t even care if he did it. He’s too stupid to be a free man and might as well be in prison.