I liked it as well, but I kept comparing it to the BBC's Merlin as well and felt like it often fell short. So I guess what I'm saying is to watch BBC's Merlin series....it's 6 or 7 seasons long and very well made. Just finished The Outsider and really loved that...it's a dark, spooky series where nobody is innocent. If you watch it, be sure to keep rolling after the credits in the final episode...everything changes and I really enjoyed that surprise. Now I'm watching "The Last Dance" and it's good TV in seeing behind the scenes for Jordan's last year with the Bulls. Somehow it's made me like Pippen and Rodman more as people, plus gain an appreciation for what MJ had to go thru daily to be considered the best ever. I now fully understand why he quit when he did- their GM was a deplorable human. I'm also watching Shameless season 10...this is something I streamed while working and only halfway paid attention since it's a decent series and funny, but not one of my favorites or anything. I'm kinda over it in general...looking back, I think I watched it more to see Fiona naked and she hasn't been on the 1st two episodes so far. Also watching Perry Mason on HBO...it's not bad but not great either. There's so little on TV these days though I think it's the only series I look forward to each week. Recording NOS482 and watching as well, but I don't like it as much this season with all the spin-off story lines with much weaker writing than last season. Still definitely worth watching though if you liked season 1. "Trial by Media" on Netflix was another series I tried to make a "work show" to listen to in my cpu's background, but that turned out to be a super cool documentary series and I watched it all eagerly. I love documentaries that make you think about the world around you and how it's influence changes our outlooks. Moving forward, I'm excited to watch the latest "Last Chance U", but I'm going to finish The Last Dance before that. It seems I'm drawn to sports stories and documentaries a lot more this year since we don't actually have sports.
I have watched the first 4 episodes of Warrior Nun and I do not know if I can complete it. I hate the main character. I hate her. She is too stupid for words. I get being a reluctant hero, but takes it to an nth degree that annoys me. I don't want to see her cry about wanting to live a normal life. I want to see her Warrior Nun. It is called Warrior Nun, not whiney cry baby who doesn't want to be a warrior nun. Show me some warrior nunning. Spoiler: Mild Spoilers I am very agnostic and honestly pretty anti-Catholic. I just don't believe in that version of religion. Saying that if I got in a car accident, became quadriplegic and then died; Only to be brought back to life, have my body completely healed, get superpowers, AND see literal demons because someone put a halo in my back, I am going to be super Catholic of Catholictown. I am believing everything these people are telling me. I am doing everything these people ask of me. It is just unrealistic, Miss I'm Not Religious. You were brought back to ****ing life!
Just finished Umbrella Academy Season 2. I love the show. It is officially my favorite Netflix Original superhero series. Just love how the characters play off each other and how they are a dysfunctional family.
Just halfway through watching The Curse of Skinwalker Ranch documentary series. Wow, there's some weird **** happening there. Would love to go and spend a week there to experience it for myself though.
UA season 2 was great, better than the first by a fair bit imo. Characters really started to change and come alive and show greater personality. Luther's redemption arc was good, Five is just great, Klaus' cult, Allison joining the racial movement, the Kennedy assassination backdrop, all good. I did think the Swedes got a bad rap. They were an interesting character concept, but they absolutely sucked balls at their job in every way. After they Spoiler: SPOILER killed Hazel, but missed 5 it was just constant failure. Will be interesting to see what direction season 3 goes, if the Umbrella and Sparrows have to duke it out, work together, or something else entirely.
That Swedish "Hello" cover was baller though. The music choices were all great. Apparently the director chooses that first and has the writers write around the musical selections. Anyway, not NEW per se, but new to Netflix and wider viewing: Legend of Korra. I blitzed season one in one night and I don't get the hate. It was fun! It's a different show, somewhat more mature and advanced (though still a kid/teen show at heart) but it's good and I think appropriately advances everything. I guess if people simply wanted a formulaic sequel to Aang's story it may not be what they were looking for, but it's a good show in it's own right, at least through season 1.
I'm (kind of) watching Avatar for the first time now with my six year old daughter. She really enjoys it. Me not as much. Obviously, its aimed at kids and is fifteen years old, but I watch a crap ton of kids/family programs, and have seen a lot better. IMO, I think that the nostalgia from the generations who were kids when it was new props up its legacy more than maybe it should, but that happens with a lot of things. The same way my age group loves Transformers and GI Joe. We might end up watching Kora when we're through with it. From what I can tell, a lot of the hate is probably mysogany, and seems really similar to what happened with Captain Marvel.
Blasphemy. I generally disagree with your tastes, however, I have never disagreed with anything you have written more than that. I didn't watch Avatar The Last Airbender until I was an adult, I have watched through it three times. It is now the second-best American cartoon I have ever seen.
The last bit of Blasphemy reminded me. I have watched two seasons of Infinity Train on HBO Max. It is a really interesting morality tale for kids. Basically it is about an Infinite Train. Each box car is a different world. Kids find themselves on the train and do not know why. There is a number on their hand that goes up and down based on their action. One thing I enjoy is that season 2 has a different main character than season 1 but what happened in season 1 directly ties into season 2. I am waiting until season 3 is done so I can just binge it one weekend. Fun watch.
The Boys are back!!! Can't freaking WAIT to watch this tonight!! Amazon Prime. One of the greatest action shows of all time IMO!
Its funny. I've had Prime for about six months now, and I've never once watched one of their original shows. I do want to check out The Expanse at some point.
I just watched the first three episodes. Good start. They know how to make a villain that I can't wait to see die.
I finished with Sherlock last night, and I really enjoyed it. Unique for me to have a show where each episode is essentially a feature length film. I felt that the show really found itself at the end of season two, and from that point until early in season four it was absolutely fantastic. The final two episodes were extremely well written and done, but much less enjoyable for me. I've started watching an anime called Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars) thats a lot of fun. And I'm planning on starting the second season of Lost in Space soon
I'm watching The Vow and Hard Knocks. The Vow is incredible. The extent of some of these self-improvement cults is horrifying. Hard Knocks has been kind of boring this year especially with the switching of the two teams. I know that the main storylines for these things are the players on the fringe but I'd like for them to cover some stories concerning the middle-of-the-pack players but I guess there's no drama there.
I watched a show on the Science Chanel last night about building the new stadium in LA. It was really cool, and I have a ton more interest in that than I do watching Hard Knocks, lol.
I am watching the Boys season 2 and Handmaid's Tale season 3. The Boys is just as good as the first season. I love Aya Cash but I have a feelin we won't be seeing too much of her. Handmaids Tale was mostly boring the first season but it's starting to grow on me. Bradley Whitford's arrival towards the end of season 2 has really saved the show for me.
Boys Season 2 is really good. Just like in real world Corporations and Government are the real villains.
just binge watched Picard on CBS access. if this were a star trek movie, it would have been one of the better ones. the individual episodes are only about 40 minutes long. if you even remotely like TNG, this is a must watch. I signed up for the free 1 week trial and got through the 10 episodes < 1 week.
expanse was good, good enough to watch, but wasn't great. I lost interest in The Boys halfway through season 1 first season of Jack Ryan was very good, 2nd season, I lost interest
That reminds me. I watched Lower Decks. The first episode I hated it. Really hated it. Then I read an article by a critic I enjoy who is a big trekkie, so I gave it another chance. After the rough start, they find their stride. It is a really good Star Trek comedy kind of parity. The villain for the final episode of the season is a brilliant TNG call back that I love so much.
Just finished watching the 2nd season of Umbrella Academy on Netflix, it had been in my to-watch list for a while and finally got around to it. Enjoyed it even more than the 1st season. Was a fun watch, and the soundtrack is fantastic. It left it open for another season, which I have no idea when or if they'll get round to, but hopefully they do. Another show I watched a 2nd season of recently was Condor, but I had the opposite reaction to that. I enjoyed the 1st season, but the 2nd season was disappointing. Struggled to finish it, and even though I would probably watch a 3rd to see if it got any better, it's one of those shows that I'm not going to be too disappointed about if I find out it's cancelled.
I gave up on Umbrella Academy after three episodes in the first season. Just did not like it at all. Does it pretty much stay true to form throughout?
Pretty much so. The 2nd season is also a close copy of the 1st in terms of main storylines (stopping an apocalypse and dealing with their "family" issues). I deleted my original reply to your post, as have been watching Doom Patrol season 2 over the weekend and got the two mixed up in my reply
I am watching The Vow on HBO Max. Based on the Nxivm sex cult. It is well done, it is done by the What the Bleep? director. As someone who is and was really into the personal development scene, it is very interesting. Very messed up situation. People can really mess people up with cult like stuff.
I'm watching this too. I think I've watched 5 episodes so far. It's crazy the kind of things people can rationalize. I am also watching Lovecraft County and I will start the Mandalorian tonight!!
As someone who joined a NXIVM (God what a dumb name) type operation, I think it is very easy to see how people can rationalize those type of things. You go from feeling really bad to feeling really good, and this organization/person is a huge reason for it. You start out doing small things like a weekend. You feel great. The feeling after a workshop is intoxicating. You feel so connected to everyone and pure joy. It is like an amazing drug. Keep on going deeper, doing weirder and weirder things but in steps where the last time you did this you felt great and was safe. The problems that you felt were controling your life are not an issue. Then after a while after doing things that seem crazy that were safe and helpful, then it is hard to see when it becomes abusive. It is easy to look at the end and saying, "Wow, that is nuts." But just like an abusive relationship or fascism, it makes complete sense when you see the steps right before it goes crazy.
I'm very interested in The Mandalorian, but I'm still going to hold off until Disney+ has a MCU show to sign up. Covid has thrown a huge monkey wrench into all of it.
The Boys is excellent watched both season back to back and IMO the quality doesnt drop Umbrella Academy I just cant get into for some reason. Everything seems to say its good but I dont know what it is thats putting me off it. The Expanse is amazing , Season 5 due very soon. Very much worth the watch The Mandalorian - best series on TV at the moment.
I'm watching the US version of Utopia on Amazon at the moment. I absolutely loved the original UK version, which was cruelly cut short at the end of season 2, and had some trepidation that the new version wouldn't live up to the original, even though I wanted to see if they would be able to complete the storyline. If you have seen the original, this new one doesn't live up to it so you may well be disappointed. However...if you've not seen the original, or can put aside having viewed it and just watch the new one on it's own merit, then it's still a very good show. It doesn't quite have the same impact, and the likes of Arby and Jessica Hyde aren't as well acted or as brilliant characters. But I have to say that the reviews/scores on IMDB for it are heavily influenced by people writing it off after comparing to the original. It's still a good show, and I hope Amazon stick with it and manage to finish the whole story (Dennis Kelly and Gillian Flynn, who created the original show, are involved in the new version, so would expect they will want to be able to finish it this time).
I watched the trailer a few days ago, and it looks much, much darker than what I go with. But thanks for the insight.
Just finished the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit, and it was pretty solid. Was surprised they could make a show ostensibly about chess fairly interesting and compelling, but the writing and acting were well done and the score was excellent (very reminiscent of Westworld in style imo). Worth watching if you like dramas.
How far have you gotten in Umbrella Academy? I didn't come in until like halfway through season 1 (my wife was watching it on her own) and I mostly like it, but season 2 was better. Could be an issue finding it's footing over the first few episodes maybe?
I watch Anime and it is television. Two animes I am very much liking this season. Talentless Nana: Do you like the idea of My Hero Academia but with someone being a secret murderer from the murderer's perspective? Then this is the show for you. I am very much enjoying the mind games the murderer does and how she is able to deal with each kid's different superpower. Not the best animation but I find it amazingly entertaining. Moriarty the Patriot: Do you like class struggles where Moriarty has the dream of creating a worker's utopia by bringing the light the evilness of the aristocrats while getting sweet justice for their crimes against the lower class? Then this show is for you. I am on episode 9 and they finally introduced a Japanese version of Sherlock Holmes. I am enjoying this one a lot. JUJUTSU KAISEN: The Shoshen anime. Basically a fun anime with cool fights where a group of people kill demons and the main super power protagonist is the only person who can hold the container of one of the most evil demon. Great fights and interesting characters. A few animes I am enjoying but not enough to watch every week. Akudama Drive: Oceans 11 if there were 6 of them and 4 of them were evil people with insane super powers. One was a dunce low level thug that got caught up in this mess. The protagonist is a regular nice human being who now has to pretend to be evil and go along with the heist or be brutally murdered. Amazing animation. Worth it for the fights alone. Very fun to watch. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: By far the best show about a princess in a demon castle who all she wants is just a good night sleep. Every episode has 3 or 4 missions where she has make a pillow, or make a bigger bed or make some draps. It has some good laughs. One of the type of animes I love to explain to people about how weird is anime.
Showtime has one too, called Seduced, that is also good. It's a pseudo-sequel. Only 4 parts. I'm watching the Heaven's Gate documentary on HBO Max if you're into the cult documentaries. I've watched nearly all of them. I watched Wild Wild Country, another one about a yoga master that was a sexual abuser, and also about the guy that had people sweat under a tarp tent which lead to death. I can never remember the titles but they're all pretty good.
James Arthur Ray. I really enjoyed his stuff. Stopped listening after that incident. I still use one of his quotes in my daily life, "Pay attention or you pay in pain." Mostly when I accidentally burn myself while cooking.
For some reason, I've been watching a few non-English language shows on Netflix recently. Never really noticed too many before, but maybe they're getting a higher profile due to not so many shows being made at the moment. Anyway, I've quite enjoyed the 3 I've watched so far. Lupin - French show about a "gentleman thief" that's loosely based on books that are hugely popular in France. It reminds me a bit of Sherlock. Only 5 episodes available so far, but I've read there's another 5 ready to be dropped but no timeline from Netflix on when. To The Lake - didn't think I'd ever find myself watching a Russian show and enjoying it so much. This one's about a highly virulent and deadly pandemic (made before this actual one) and the breakdown of society. Bit like the Walking Dead, but without zombies. Invisible City - a Brazilian show about legendary Brazilian folklore creatures that live amongst us. Bit like the TV show Grimm, although it's more one story rather than a monster of the week show. I watched all 3 with subtitles, as prefer watching that way instead of dubbed speech although, as with all Netflix shows, that is available.
For me, dubbing vs subtitles really depends on the show. I find that I prefer it both ways, depending on what I'm watching. Sometimes you really lose the flavor of the show when its dubbed and the whole vibe is different, but other times its so hard to try and read it and enjoy it at the same time that dubbing is almost necessary.