Watched a few episodes of Pieces of Her, may not watch much more. What is it about writers that they have to make the stories so complicated and hard to follow?
One and done for us on God’s Favorite Idiot. Nearly as hard to watch as Call Me Kat. One would think that a comedy could get at least one laugh out of me in the first show but nope.
I worked my way through 9-1-1, so now I’m on season 2 of 9-1-1 Lone Star. My concern that I would not get involved with the characters here as I did with the first show were thankfully unfounded. And it’s taking the same Disaster Porn Highway as the first show, so it’s all good.
About halfway through the new series of The Umbrella Academy. I’m finding it as compelling and ridiculous as usual, although it’s been so long since the last series I’d completely forgotten who Lila was. Aiden Gallagher (who is still only 18!) remains deeply watchable as Number 5. And they’ve neatly worked in Eliot Page’s change from Vanya to Viktor without a bump.
Plus: bonus dance sequence!
Finally finished “The Staircase” (the movie, not the documentary). Pretty well done, but draggy at times. An outstanding cast makes it watchable.
I loved that show but it started to wear me out after a while. The comedy stylings are right in my wheelhouse, but it hit a point a few seasons in where every single line was a well-crafted zinger, and without any room to breathe, it got a bit numbing. As well, while it started off as a “comedy behind the scenes at an SNL-like show” they almost completely abandoned showing the creation/performance part of things and it became all about the Jenna/Tracy hijinks. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was brilliantly written, but they didn’t know when to dial it back.
A yes to The Old Man.
Getting used to switching gears as they do the flashbacks.
Been slowly watching The Lake and just finished. Perfectly passable light entertainment. I hadn’t seen Julia Styles in anything in around 20 years—she still looks great.
Been watching the Frankie Drake mysteries on PBS. Pretty fun, all the leading ladies are a hoot and I do like that 1930’s style.
A Very British Scandal (Amazon Prime). Only 3 episodes, so it’s not a major investment. Two loathsome rich people marry each other and do dreadful things to each other until they go through a nasty divorce. Kind of like War of the Roses, with no laughs.
The 2 people are the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, and it’s a quasi-true story. Played by Paul Bettany and Claire Foy (most famously the first Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.)
We watched episode 2 (of 3) of the latest “Endeavour” endeavor. It has everything I hate about some British telly: incomprehensible plotting, multiple red herrings, scenes that have no discernible relationship to the story, and a resolution out of left field.
We’re trying to finish off some series that we started before leaving Oregon. Had to resubscribe to HBO Max to pick up on them. First up is We Own This City, starring John Bernthal, who is so over the top he’s almost a caricature. There are also many familiar faces from “The Wire”, which is not surprising since the showrunners are the same two guys. The series (6 eps) is based on a true story about corruption in the Baltimore police department, and is as well done as you might expect.
Next up will either be to finish S2 of “Hacks” or S3 of “Barry”.
I’m three episodes in with Lincoln Lawyer. I’m loving it!
My wife and I just finished the 6 part miniseries Alias Grace, from the wiki:
a historical fiction novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood
The story fictionalizes the notorious 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Canada West. Two servants of the Kinnear household, Grace Marks and James McDermott, were convicted of the crime. McDermott was hanged and Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Although the novel is based on factual events, Atwood constructs a narrative with a fictional doctor, Simon Jordan, who researches the case. While Jordan is ostensibly conducting research into criminal behaviour, he slowly becomes personally involved in the Marks story and seeks to reconcile his perception of the mild-mannered woman he sees with the murder of which she has been convicted.
It started wonderfully. The lead actress is talented and the narrative jumps kept us interested. The first two episodes were solid, then the plot slowed and just generally rehashed bits. Then end was alright, it could certainly have been worse, but when it was over both my wife and I were disappointed. It just didn’t seem to be that compelling of a story to tell. I was thankful it was over and never need to see it again or even think about it.
Recommended I guess for people incredibly interested in period pieces featuring 1850’s Canada and also like The Handmaid’s Tale’s themes.
We are binge watching our way through The Blacklist, which we abandoned a few episodes in when it was first aired. Man, there’s a lot of episodes. We’re on season 5, and there are still a few seasons left at 22-23 episodes per. It’s light entertainment, made better than average by James Spader. I
We are watching Star Trek - Strange New Worlds, which I think is the best Star Trek since the original series. We loved Anson Mount in Hell on Wheels, and he does a great job as Captain Pike. Still, the plots and tropes are showing their age, and the technobabble gets old. But if you like Star Trek this and Lower Decks are the best of the bunch. Certainly way, way better than the awful Discovery and Picard.
We are also watching For All Mankind, which we absolutely loved for the first two seasons. As they veer away from history into completely new territory I am finding it a little less compelling, and some of the believability is being strained by how quickly they are approaching Expanse-level tech. And I could do with less of the soap opera aspects. Still compelling viewing, though.
Didn’t For All Mankind veer away from history from the beginning, with the Russians landing on the moon ahead of Armstrong and Aldrin?
Yes, but I see what Sam_Stone is saying. It started out as alternate history that closely tracked the real history – for example, the Russians landed first, followed soon after by Armstrong and Aldrin. As they got 10, 20 years out from those events the real and alternate history diverges more and more, and now it just seems like sci-fi instead of alternate history.
Yeah, pretty much. Last season they were still using tech that had a tually been planned by NASA but never realized: Sea Dragon, NERVA engines, etc. It was all still grounded in the near future with reasonable extrapolations of what the tech might have been in an alternate universe.
But now, only 10 years from then, we have:
A gigantic rotating space hotel with artificial gravity, heavily damaged but converted into a gigantic Mars spaceship in just two years.
A magic-engined space shuttle looking vehicle that lifts off vertically from the Moon and flies to Mars.
Orbital transport so common and safe that people fly up to orbit in business suits to attend weddings.
This is tech that might be 50 years in the future from now - it’s not realistic to have it in 1994, even in an alternate timeline.
I just watched the series finale of Ozark (Netflix), hanging in there for multiple years, seasons, plot threads, and so many hits of and by cartel members and redneck drug lords, and I have to say: meh.
It really lost its way, and wandered and meandered all over the place. Not a Lost level of badness, but definitely not what you’d call “tightly plotted”.
I didn’t love how Ozark graduated the Byrde’s to drug lord status. Certainly being in control of the cash makes them influential and important to keep alive, but it started to lose me a bit when they are simultaneously leading the cartel in Mexico and working with the FBI on even footing. Definitely not the cleanest landing, but far from the worst.
My wife and I have been watching Servant on Apple TV. It’s produced (but not created or written) by M. Night Shyamalan which is what lured by wife to it. We’ll bang out 2-3 episodes at a time when we have a gap. There’s 3 seasons so we’re definitely late on it. We finished season one and I’m guessing that’s as far as we’ll go. It’s moody and somewhat interesting but kind of slow moving without any real sympathetic characters. YMMV.
Confusingly, there’s also A Very English Scandal, about a real-life gay sex scandal in British politics, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. Which is, imho, excellent. And is also on Amazon Prime.