Yeah, I watched Boob Itch a couple of days ago. Not openly terrible, but exceedingly forgettable.
Interesting typo.
Here’s what I think happened on The Bear, @Chefguy:
He needs about $800,000. $300k for the loanshark, $500k (minimum) to remodel The Beef into The Bear.
The writers, they’re writers. They have zero idea how a business like a restaurant makes money, there is no way in hell they’re capable of writing in a scenario where this sandwich shop profits to the tune of the $800k needed to satisfy the main characters story arc. So they cheated.
Which is fine. If you write it well enough, I don’t care if you cheat. But they didn’t write it well enough.
Tomato paste (or sauce). Tends to be acidic, easily goes bad, obviously an item which can be canned… but when you open an airtight, factory-sealed, uncontaminated can of tomato sauce, pour out 6 ounces so you can place a germ-ridden, saran-wrapped $50k in the middle of this mixture of sugar and acid, and reseal it, the over/under on that bad boy exploding is 2 months. 
And there were like, what, 20 cans? 30?
Then that’s the other thing(s): why the fuck did this undercapitalized restaurant have 30 cans of tomato paste which never got used in months? Did the show ever display a served dish which required tomato paste/sauce? If yes, then why weren’t the cans used in the months since the brothers death? If no, then why did he use this completely bizarre method of hiding cash? A careless employee and it’s all over.
Anyway, it looks like the writers enjoyed the characters, didn’t like the setting, and deus ex machina’d their way out of it.
Thanks.
We watched the most recent ep of Better Call Saul last night. I liked it, but they’ve really saturated these with commercials. Maybe I’ll wait until it’s done and binge it.
Tried to pick up on Killing Eve with S4, but it’s just gone off the rails, IMO. Too bad, as it was a fun watch in earlier seasons.
Dead End Paranormal Park on Netflix. Fun animated show about a haunted “Dollywood” theme park.
Just finished Stranger Things. For some reason, I never really got into it when season 1 came out, but my son has been re-watching the whole thing recently. Got pretty gripping.
He was riveted to The Squid Game. As I was often in the family room when he watched it, I saw quite a bit more than I liked. Bleh. Ick. I’m not into violence-as-entertainment.
I saw a handful of episodes of Breaking Bad and knew right up front I would not like it. I have not bothered with Better Call Saul.
I want to get back to The Orville, now that the new season is out.
God’s Favorite Idiot suffers from the “Smoochy Effect” (coinage pending). Like the film Death to Smoochy they cast a famous wacky comedian (Robin Williams in the film, Melissa McCarthy here) in a supporting role and basically let them do whatever they want as loudly and obnoxiously as they want. And the ultimate effect is like having a class clown in the room, desperately mugging for attention and distracting from what is supposed to be the focus of attention, in both cases the story of a quiet, likeable guy thrust into chaotic circumstances at the mercy of great and malevolent forces.
The show actually improves noticeably when McCarthy is either absent or just sitting quietly. I mean, I like her work in general (Spy is great, if you haven’t seen it), but sometimes less is more. And the first episode in particular has WAY too much of McCarthy.
If you like The Orville, check ou5 Star Trek Strange New Worlds. It’s old-school Star Trek like The Orville essentially is.
Late to the party as usual, we started Bosch a couple of weeks ago, we like it a lot.
But that Maddie character, Bosch’ daughter. To us, she’s the cringe factor in the ensemble. The actress (using the term loosely) can’t act, at least not anywhere even close near to the level of the rest of the crew, her dialogue is so often just stupid (“Can we talk about X? Well, if you’re going to be like that, I’m not talking to you about X.” pout, humph, walk out) Anyone else find her jarring in an otherwise terrific show?
Yeah, she’s a sour note in the series. I think it may be a generational thing, as I’ve noticed other actors of an age who do the same staring into space, supposedly bored with life thing.
We’re watching “The Split” on Hulu. A Brit series with some good actors playing divorce lawyers whose own lives are a total mess.
Us too. We just watched the first season, thought it very well done and plan to continue with it.
Regarding the daughter. Her acting ability aside, I find any dramatic show that leans too much on the sometimes-strained relationship of the main character with a teenage child to be a drag. The more an episode centers around that old, tired plot device, the more forgettable it is. Bosch isn’t exactly a very likeable guy, and I realize the purpose is to humanize the main character, but to me it’s just filler that gets in the way of him solving the case.
How long before she’s kidnapped and that takes over the show? That’s often where it all leads.
I just finished season 1 of Mad Men, and I feel this way about January Jones.
The whole detached-and-disaffected thing works for her character on that show, but I’ve seen her on other things, and I think that’s just her acting range.
Russian Doll
Ummm. . .
Finished Taxi Driver (the Korean series, not the film). As previously noted, it’s fine as long as you can ignore the various technical geniuses and the guy who gets beaten within an inch of his life and still beats up the bad guys and then is perfectly fine the next day apart from a small facial cut. Also, I may have a wee crush on Prosecutor Kang.
Also finished God’s Favorite Idiot, which as noted above gets better the less it focuses on McCarthy. Series ends on a cliffhanger of sorts - we shall see if it manages to earn another series.
And finally - binged D B Cooper: Where Are You?, which my wife liked and I found a bit dull. Turns out there are a lot of obsessed people out there willing to believe all sorts of weird shit.
We just finished watching Vigil. A 6-part series about Bad Stuff happening on a Royal Navy nuclear missle sub.
Stars Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie. “Wee” Martin Compston has a small role so it sort of feels like a Scott & Bailey crossover with Line of Duty set in Tom Clancy world.
First of all, this show has problems. Lots of problems. Why does the RN send a regular DCI onto a sub? Why not use their own police services? Of course Jones has a complicated back story that has to be shown in too short and at times incomprehensible flashbacks. You gotta see them all to sort of get the somewhat wrong idea. And they drag things out. And the show contradicts itself. And so on.
But … it is incredibly gripping, on the edge of your seat type entertainment. Just don’t think about it.
Having exhausted the available episodes of both 9-1-1 shows, I took Hulu’s suggestion and started on Station 19. I did not realize before I started it is a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy, which I gave up on years ago – too ridiculous. I don’t mind the frequent cross-overs.
I tried “Yellowstone” some time ago, but it didn’t appeal to me at first. I went back to it out of boredom and actually am liking it more now at five episodes in.
I’ve just finished season 3 of Atlanta (Disney+ in the UK). Still very good and watchable, though it has evolved to a state where pretty-much alternate episodes were standalone stories, not involving Paper Boi et al. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the finale, though admit I didn’t really understand it…
Nearly done eureka. That is one crazy town.