Whatcha bingeing?

Cafe Society
1

As a retired night owl, I’m always looking for new stuff to binge on while the world sleeps.

Just finished Broadchurch on Netflix, and I can’t say enough good about it. It begins with a female police officer whose anticipated promotion is given to an male outsider. The body of her friend’s sons is found on the shore and 24 episodes are devoted to resolving the case. The culprit turns out to be someone quite unexpected. Season 3 is about a rape, and oh-so-sadly, there will be no more seasons. Damn. It’s very well written and acted. I’m starting to think the Brits do TV better than we do.

I also really liked Nurse Jackie, The Killing, Happy Valley, and the usual thumbs up for Breaking Bad. I found Stranger Things and 13 Reasons to be watchable, but not terrific. The OA is the strangest thing I’ve ever watched in my life. I like all of the zombie ones, except I Zombie left me kinda cold.

Got any recommendations for me and series to stream that you loved and would like to tell me about? I’ve got Netflix, Hulu, and Prime.

2

I recommend:

Fringe
Chuck
Farscape
Battlestar Galactica(2004)

3

The first season of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is only 8 episodes long. I binged the first season in one night because once I saw the first episode, I could not stop until I watched them all.

4

That sounds promising! What’s it on? Don’t see it on Netflix.

5

Bosch, on Prime
Wallander
**Prime Suspect **(with Helen Mirren)
Longmire (Netflix)
Case Histories (from the excellent Jackson Brodie books)

6

I watched it on Hulu, which is strange since it is a BBC America /Netflix production. But season one is there.

7

Justified is on Prime. Olyphant and Goggins are great as former Kentucky coal miners who end up on opposite sides of the law.

8

We don’t. One swallow does not make a summer.

Ok, so there’s been a couple of decent ones recently, but for a long time ITV didn’t make any dramas, Downtown convinced them otherwise. and BBC chucked out a CSI knockoff about a forensic examiner every so often. Took a long time to get things like Luther (and there’s been a few others recently I’ve not watched but heard were good). Even Peaky Blinders walks a fine line between utterly ludicrous and vaguely historical… It’s as if its brainstormed by a bunch of drunk people.

Compare that to the US Drama’s I’ve watched in last 10 years, and its nothing. The Sopranos, The Wire, The Shield, Fringe, Alias, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Justified, Deadwood, Game of thrones, Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire, Arrested Development, It’s always sunny in Philadelphia, Hannibal and recently Westworld, Stranger things and many more I can’t recall (*).

But recently for me, it’s been Mindhunter, Snowfall, American Gods, Master of None and Sneaky Pete. I might give the new Twin Peaks a go. I’ve never watched it before, I did first season of it, and went “Meh” but friends are suggesting jumping to the third season and loved it so much.

(I’m not counting “just ok stuff” like Orange is the new black, Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead and Dexter, which were still better than most Uk TV of that time)

9

Couple of weeks ago we binged on Shameless. Had never seen it before that.

Jebus Aitch Cripes! If you think Nurse Jackie did some shitty things wait until you watch this family of white trash. Unbelievable.

10

I don’t know if these shows are available to you, but I have recently binged:

Bosch
19-2*
Westworld
GLOW*
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man
Agatha Raisin
Detectorists*

I particularly recommend the asterisked.

11

Listen to this yellow-haired bear.

I am really enjoying The Good Place–smart, absurd comedy with thoughtful discussions on ethics, Ted Danson is as always wonderful, and it’s so very pretty (and not only because of Kristen Bell, but she helps a lot).

12

Was that the US version or the UK one? The UK one was quite entertaining for two seasons till it lost its main stars to go off and be successful in films, mainly James Macvoy and less successfully Anne-Marie Duff (Suffragette), and then it became unbearable… Put me off ever watching the US version. If it is the US one, is it funny?

13

A couple i recentlybinged on Hulu:
Black Adder (I skipped the first season)
Mom

14

Any reason why you skipped the first season?

While a lot of people seem to think its the worst. I think its the best.

Indeed, I can barely watch some episodes of second and third season when Elton went the way of fart jokes. The first season was a wonderful satire on history, but the next two were just puerile. At least the satirical aspect of the series returned on the fourth season…

The problem some people have is that Edmund is the idiot in the first season, and Baldrick clever. Which works really well, the fact they reversed this later, well, that’s their loss…

15

I’m watching Longmire on Netflix. I’m about half way through it. Enjoyable even if everyone is a stereotype.

16

Just finished Godless on Netflix. It was good, got better after the first two episodes. By the end I was fully invested in some of the characters and how it was going to end. Now watching The Punisher.

17

I’m working my way through Blindspot and I’m about halfway through season 2. I dunno if you can count it as bingeing, but I watched all four eps f the new Runaways show this week too. I’m iffy on that - it seems better than Gifted but the writing is awkward. One character has mentioned three times that she has super-strength, and it’s been either ignored or dropped without comment.

18

I can’t speak for pk, but the U.S. version is on Netflix, all the way up through season 6 IIRC, and has maintained pretty much the same cast all the way through; the main cast, at least.

19

Just finished Longmire and the Dectorists.

Season two of Glitch just came out, but I decided to watch season one again first.

Also still working my way through The Sopranos.

20

No you haven’t. A third season is airing right now. Episode 4 of 6 came on this past Wednesday.

Detectorists is on my list of recentish binge watches I can recommend. The list also includes:

American Vandal (comedy)Bojack Horseman (Animated drama/comedy)BrainDead (SF drama/comedy)
Fargo (drama)
Future Man (SF comedy)
Humans (SF drama)
The Man in the High Castle (SF drama)
Orphan Black (SF drama)
People of Earth (SF comedy)
Rick and Morty (Animated SF comedy)

The one that I’m currently currently binging is The Shannara Chronicles. It really isn’t that much to write home about, but has some really nice eye candy. (Of the female persuasion, but the males are probably suitable to those who lean in that direction, too.)