What was the last TV show you watched?

[Edward]

Started the girls watching The Walking Dead. So funny to go back to season one, and see Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus as after the opening credits "guest stars"! And Daryl, PLEASE go back to the short hair!

Three episodes into season one, girls loving it so far. And early on, they HATE Andrea! Can't understand why. I liked her...

IT'd be interesting, in due course, to get them on the (recently concluded) comic book. THe broad story arcs are all the same, but the characters vary to some greater or lesser extent; Carol, for example, on the page is a very minor character, quickly dispensed with, while Andrea is much more like the Carol of the TV show. There's been enough character divergence now that it's gonig to be interesting to see where they choose to end things. I have a feeling they'll run on for a few more arcs then the source material, especially as they've now established to expanded world via Fear, and that the main series can continue with or without Rick.

In a similar vein, I watched the first episode of the recently released fifth season of Zombie Nation. While it was never as slick as TWD, this SyFy offering quickly surpassed its schlocky / low budget campiness, and has progressively matured into a much more serious offering. They're now donig their own thing with 'evolving' zombies in a way that Romero has hinted at once or twice (first with Bub in Day, then Big Daddy in Land), but taking it further. Interesting stuff.

 

[Zombie_61]

Running out of things to watch on Netflix...

We've had this problem as well. I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth continuing to pay for.

I had this problem almost immediately. We signed up with Netflix back in 2015 because at that time it was the only way to see the documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence. After I had watched that I browsed their listings and was surprised not by how little content they hosted, but by how little content they hosted that was worth watching. Being kind, at least 90% of their listings were, in my opinion, rubbish they must have obtained on the cheap simply because no one else wanted it. There must be an audience for it out there somewhere, but even at $8-9 a month (or whatever we're paying for it) I wonder if we aren't wasting our money because we turn to Netflix for entertainment so infrequently.

 

[belfastboy]

I had this problem almost immediately. We signed up with Netflix back in 2015 because at that time it was the only way to see the documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence. After I had watched that I browsed their listings and was surprised not by how little content they hosted, but by how little content they hosted that was worth watching. Being kind, at least 90% of their listings were, in my opinion, rubbish they must have obtained on the cheap simply because no one else wanted it. There must be an audience for it out there somewhere, but even at $8-9 a month (or whatever we're paying for it) I wonder if we aren't wasting our money because we turn to Netflix for entertainment so infrequently.

It is even sadder scenario up here in Canada as our Netflix content is much skinnier than yours.

 

[Edward]

We have Netflix and Prime both - UK/EU version - and the only problem I've ever had is finding enougth time to watch everything I want to see on it! It's going to be interesting ognig forward, though, as more competing services are launched - Britbox, Disney.... There surely must come a point where people who have already invested in one or two services just don't want to know about another, even if they have the monopoly on specific content. My guess is that most of them will go the route of amazon and also offer individual episodes on a one-of payment basis; then there's DVD. For now.... sadly, I think we're now seeing a culture so ephemeral that few are interested in the physical artefact nowadays.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I had this problem almost immediately. We signed up with Netflix back in 2015 because at that time it was the only way to see the documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence. After I had watched that I browsed their listings and was surprised not by how little content they hosted, but by how little content they hosted that was worth watching. Being kind, at least 90% of their listings were, in my opinion, rubbish they must have obtained on the cheap simply because no one else wanted it. There must be an audience for it out there somewhere, but even at $8-9 a month (or whatever we're paying for it) I wonder if we aren't wasting our money because we turn to Netflix for entertainment so infrequently.

Ditto

 

[MisterCairo]

I have now completed season three, and thus apparently the entire series, of Frontier. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and while it appears it has been cancelled (though no official announcement has been made I can find), it was worthwhile. I will even see if it is available on disk. There are not many Canadian productions I am that keen on, and so few with any connection (though I love the use of Nootka Sound in Taboo, and will be getting the first season of The Terror about, well, HMS Terror if available!

 

[Touchofevil]

Stumbled across His Dark Materials and was sucked in by its cast and visuals. Thinking about giving it a try from the beginning.

 

[Touchofevil]

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik on ESPN.

 

[Fading Fast]

Proving that style and smart, fast dialogue can carry a TV show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is back for a third season.

It might be more accurate to say "over stylized," but in a good way. The late '50s probably never looked this beautiful (except in this show). The clothes, cars, architecture and every single tiny detail are iconically perfect and gorgeously coordinated.

Equaling the lush set details and the wonderful cinematography is the rapid-fire and witty dialogue delivered as if every character is a stand-up comedian. And being a show about a female comedian trying to break into the almost all-male world of '50s stand-up comedy, while also pushing the envelop of allowed material, the machine-gun delivery of verbal ripostes makes sense (even if, like the verisimilitude of those that they style, no one consistently talks that fast or is on point all the time).

We're only one episode into season three, but so far, TMMM hasn't lost a step. Sure, some of the story lines, especially the non-core family drama ones can seem a bit forced, but you don't tune in for that anyway. You tune in to see a prettier-than-reality 1950s populated by good-looking people firing verbal smackdown after verbal smackdown while occasionally making a - sometimes-smug, sometimes-not-smug - bigger point about the limits and prejudices of '50s America.

 

[Edward]

Very much looking forward to hitting Maisel 3 when I have some time off next week; I adored the first two series. I've been constantly impressed by the quality of the writing - not least with how they have kept the ex-husband a regular and interesting character without (so far, anyhow) going down the lazy route of a reconciliation.

 

[MisterCairo]

As I remain a teacher's widower, I find myself looking for something fun in the late hours now and again.

I have FINALLY started watching Mad Men! Eight episodes so far and completely hooked. This will help fill gaps for some time. So far, the characters seem far more interesting than the superficial descriptions I'd read about in the past.

 

[3fingers]

Mad Men was absolutely wonderful. Right up until it went completely off the rails and became absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

As I remain a teacher's widower, I find myself looking for something fun in the late hours now and again.

I have FINALLY started watching Mad Men! Eight episodes so far and completely hooked. This will help fill gaps for some time. So far, the characters seem far more interesting than the superficial descriptions I'd read about in the past.

I feel it caught a lot of heat out of spite, not out of lack of merit. People got tired of hearing how good it was. It was that good. Personally, I loved it from first to last note. It's unfortunate that Basket of Kisses doesn't have a complete archive of the conversations that happened when it was airing. They were as brilliant as the series. For a new viewer, it would have been a huge asset to the show.

 

[MisterCairo]

Mad Men was absolutely wonderful. Right up until it went completely off the rails and became absolutely ridiculous.

I will judge for myself.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I feel it caught a lot of heat out of spite, not out of lack of merit. People got tired of hearing how good it was. It was that good. Personally, I loved it from first to last note. It's unfortunate that Basket of Kisses doesn't have a complete archive of the conversations that happened when it was airing. They were as brilliant as the series. For a new viewer, it would have been a huge asset to the show.

I saw a couple of seasons of Mad Men - I remember liking the first episodes but I gradually grew weary of the tone and characters. Like much long form TV it felt like a high end soap opera with an interminable narrative trajectory that might only come to a resolution when the ratings flagged.

 

[belfastboy]

I will judge for myself.

I have avoided it ...I think because it was a network tv offering. But I think it is time to give it a go and see for myself. My wife started to watch Scandal, loves it and keeps encouraging me to join her in the watching......unconvinced as yet.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I saw a couple of seasons of Mad Men - I remember liking the first episodes but I gradually grew weary of the tone and characters. Like much long form TV it felt like a high end soap opera with an interminable narrative trajectory that might only come to a resolution when the ratings flagged.

The writer, Matthew Weiner, knew the entire story and ending before it started. It was only manipulated by AMC, the network, by messing with season lengths and airing. He controlled that ship. The financials played a much smaller role than normal in the production of Mad Men.

 

[Fading Fast]

Sometimes I think "Mad Men" went a little off the rails at the end; other times, I think the entire show was about Don being an insane man who was able to present normal enough to succeed, in part, do to his brilliance and, in part, his looks.

Hence, while I sometimes think of "Mad Men" being the story of the advertising business - and American culture - in the '50s/'60s - perhaps the real story Weiner wanted to tell was of Don as a traumatized child (mother a whore, father and stepmother mentally and physically abusive) and disturbed war vet (illegally swapped identities with the officer he accidentally killed to shorten his service time and, thus, received a Purple Heart he didn't deserve) who was brilliant, damaged and mentally unbalanced, but still able to reach high levels in American business and society.

In this view, it would make sense that he basically broke his own success time and again and would get pulled into the counter culture '60s. Also, possibly, as with any good work, there are angles and levels in it that even the author didn't envision.

 

[MisterCairo]

Let's avoid the spoilers please!

 

[Fading Fast]

Let's avoid the spoilers please!

My apologies - not intentional as the shows been off the air awhile I didn't think about it in terms of spoilers.