Grrr. "Hap and Leonard" is behind a paywall, which irks me because Amazon Prime already has a membership fee. Meh.
Finished S1 of "Black Sails" (and, again, am miffed that the other seasons are behind their own paywalls) and S3 of "Boardwalk Empire" (and ditto for S4-5, with respect to still more paywalls). So the only thing I'm watching that's already paid for is "Better Call Saul," with 1 episode left in Season 1. It looks like Season 2 is unavailable on Netflix and will doubtless be relegated to a "purchase episodes" deal on Amazon Prime when they finally release it, which will force me to scream.
I guess I need to start a thread for "Shows You're Actually Allowed To Watch One Netflix or Amazon Prime Without Having to Pay Extra."
Tsc... Every time I hear about stuff like this, it makes me wonder if these companies want people to torrent their shows.... -.-'
|
Netflix isn't too bad, really. You get shows when they come out on DVD at the latest, in full seasons, and often much earlier than that (ABC shows come out quick...they and Netflix are clearly quite friendly).
And there's not an intermediate paywall or anything. You either have access to all of Netflix's stuff...or you don't.
I can't speak to anything else, since I just have Netflix. Well, and cable, but that's a whole different discussion.
Of course I pay more for my cable than you do for your Amazon Prime + Netflix + whatever. But on the plus side pay walls aren't a thing.
So you get HBO, Showtime, STARZ, and all those channels for free with the basic cable package?
Cable TV largely invented the paywall.
So you get HBO, Showtime, STARZ, and all those channels for free with the basic cable package?
Cable TV largely invented the paywall.
Okay, you're not wrong. I don't get Showtime at all, and HBO was an add-on. I got Starz among many other additional channels with the cable package I chose, which wasn't Basic. Starz wasn't the reason I chose it. Offhand I don't remember which channels were the reason.
It's incorrect, but I tend not to think of these as paywalls in the sense you experience them, since it's just part of my normal monthly bill. When Black Sails S2 started, I didn't have to pony up extra $ before I could start watching it.
Again, I believe pay a lot more for mine than you pay for yours, but it's less hassle and less delay for me, so I try to think of it as a convenience charge rather than cable company price gouging.
Finished the first 3 episodes of Season 2 of True Detective. E1 was a huge disappointment, because the directing and acting were so much worse than in S1. But E2 was really nicely done, so the season finally hooked me in, and E3 was okay, if a little silly. Hopefully E4-6 are waiting in my mailbox!
|
Here to report that I have finished watching season 1 of Man In The High Castle, and am one episode short of finishing season 3 of Breaking Bad. Looking for a new show to watch with my father (last one was Man In The High Castle), I might trawl this thread for ideas.
The good stuff - great setting, some good characters, the occasional action scene is well done, and the storyline is intriguing.
The problematic stuff - the show is keeping it's cards very close to the chest, and that makes it hard to understand what's really going on. Almost all characters have hidden motivations that are either hard or impossible to figure out during most of the show, and I think the story would have benefited from bringing in the SF elements more prominently earlier to replace the mostly mediocre and generic resistance/thriller plot. Also, some annoying coincidences and some characters acting real stupid bring the thing down.
I would certainly be watching season 2, but with more guarded enthusiasm.
But where the show's bad, it's bad. It seems like the writer for BB are physically incapable of creating tension and moving the story without "cheating". Almost every pivotal moment in the season, and indeed moment on which the entire rest of the story is dependent, are a heap of impossible, absurd and unconvincing coincidences. Thing like three groups of people arriving at the same place at the same time completely independently on each other, or old plot threads popping back up under pretty impossible circumstances (So the kid who shot Jessi's friend last season has an attractive sister the same age as Jessi and they hooked up because they both went to the same support group...right...). I hate the way this takes me out of the story.
I will probably watch the whole show, but I will never be able to connect to it as fully as I want.
When you've finished with Breaking Bad, give Better Call Saul a try. That show is much better, mainly because it much more focussed and has a somewhat likable main character.
I suggest The Americans as replacement for The Man in the High Castle. No Nazis involved, but a couple of Soviet sleeper agents in the US of the 1980s.
I want to watch Vikings but I can't get past the horrendous costumes. When are producers going to realize that people didn't wear all leather and dark colors since ever? And not everything/everybody is covered in mud and dirt!
Lord Snow, thank you!
Finished the first 3 episodes of Season 2 of True Detective. E1 was a huge disappointment, because the directing and acting were so much worse than in S1. But E2 was really nicely done, so the season finally hooked me in, and E3 was okay, if a little silly. Hopefully E4-6 are waiting in my mailbox!
Good luck with the second season. I adored the first season, but increasingly disliked the second season, and couldn't even finish it.
S2 of True Detective turned out to be awesome. Ended up loving it, except for
S2 of Masha and the Bear was finally released, pleasing both me and Baby Gersen.
And Justified is back on Amazon Prime, giving me something to watch if I ever get an evening with the house to myself.
|
I really enjoy Killjoys. I like the banter among the main characters, and the backstory is being revealed at a good pace.
Dark Matter had an interesting premise, but the backstory is revealed at a glacial pace, and there's not much humor to distract you from how very slow it is.
I haven't read The Expanse, but I enjoyed Season One quite a lot. I hope Season Two gets even better.
For something that's completed, try Falling Skies. Post-apocalyptic family drama meets military sci-fi.
|
S2 of True Detective turned out to be awesome. Ended up loving it, except for ** spoiler omitted **.
S2 of Masha and the Bear was finally released, pleasing both me and Baby Gersen.
And Justified is back on Amazon Prime, giving me something to watch if I ever get an evening with the house to myself.
Overall, I thought it was watchable. I think the bar was set too high with S1 and S2 certainly had some writing problems. Too bad thats it for TD.
**If you havent checked out West World on HBO yet, well, you ought to.
If you havent checked out West World on HBO yet, well, you ought to.
I loved the movie but despised the sequel -- and it looks like the TV show is a lot more like the sequel. Still, it's getting great reviews and I'll probably end up checking it out when it's available on either Netflix or A'.
S1 of "Hap and Leonard" is finally available on Netflix streaming! And it was good, mostly because of the three stars -- Hap is played by the guy who played Marc Anthony in S2 of "Rome;" Leonard is Omar from "The Wire"/Chalkey White from "Boardwalk Empire"; and Trudy, Hap's sociopath hippy trailer-trash ex-wife, is played by Christina Hendricks (from "Mad Men") -- all three of them are absolutely fantastic.
The bad guys are over-the-top ridiculous, and the ending goofy and forced -- both of these are to be expected by any fan of author Joe Lansdale -- but the show is quite enjoyable. (And in fact it reminds me of Justified, in some ways.)
Apparently each season is an adaptation of one of the novels. S1 was Savage Season, and apparently s2 based on Mucho Mojo) is underway -- I look forward to seeing it.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I heard that season 3 of True Detective isn't in the cold ground just yet. If there is enough will there is a way back!
Finished Black sails season 4. This was probably the right amount of seasons to tell this story. Obviously it aligns well with Treasure Island. Wasn't as satisfying as Id hoped, but it was a good wrap up on an excellent series. As always, the exposition was killer in the final episodes.
Havent dove into much lately, so little news to report.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Also, while this thread was quiescent, I finally got to see S1 of "Ash vs. Evil Dead." Let me start out by saying that I'm a big fan of the original Evil Dead trilogy, and expected the show not to come close to living up to it.
I was wildly wrong in that expectation.
The show was everything a sequel to the movies should have been -- in that regard, I liken it to Max Max IV (which I also thought would be a letdown but instead ended up being one of my favorite movies of the decade).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Midnight Texas coming this summer on NBC is based on a book series, not a comic book, and it looks like it could be fun.
Unfortunately, I didn't like "True Blood" at all, so more from the same author is more stuff I'll avoid.
With the joys of Netflix, I've been watching:
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (rewatching the earlier seasons, the more recent episodes that I hadn't seen I found stale and losing steam);
Archer (whose latest private detective season seems to be hitting all of the notes from all the classic film noirs that I've been showing Mr. Comrade recently ("I bet they get Chinatowned" I said as soon as I saw the fake "Mrs. Mulwray" character and, of course, the opening where Archer is in the swimming pool, a la Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard);
and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (whose theme song I can't get out of my head).
Mr. Comrade keeps shaking his head at (my choice) IASIP's satirical hipster racism and I keep pointing out (his choice) Archer is just as bad; meanwhile, I finally understand why Tina Fey keeps showing up on those "White Feminist Racists" lists alongside Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer.
They all make me laugh, though.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (whose theme song I can't get out of my head).
I cant in good conscious allow anyone to endorse kimmy Schmidt. God it should be called unbearable kimmy sh!@.....
I like it so far (only three or four episodes in).
I think Carol Kane might have been training her whole life for that role.
|
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
Midnight Texas coming this summer on NBC is based on a book series, not a comic book, and it looks like it could be fun.Unfortunately, I didn't like "True Blood" at all, so more from the same author is more stuff I'll avoid.
I don't know the books or how much the True Blood tv show differed from them, but considering that this is an NBC show and not an HBO show, I expect there will be some differences in tone. Plus, summer is dry for TV, so I know I'll try shows in the summer that might not quite make the cut the rest of the year as long as they're not bad. But to each their own.
True Blood (TV) differed quite a bit from the books. Example: I liked Lafayette as a continuing character in the show, but in the books he was strictly background and one of the first to die. He gets murdered by members of a secret sex club in Book 2 (of 13.)
I cant in good conscious allow anyone to endorse kimmy Schmidt. God it should be called unbearable kimmy sh!@.....
and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (whose theme song I can't get out of my head).
I think it's a brilliant show.
I agree Doodlebug, Carol Kane is excellent in it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I was driving to work and thinking about it some more and Boom! it hit me.
Carol Kane is my fave part of Unbreakable and Danny DeVito is my fave part of IASIP.
I wonder if I actually do like these shows, or if it's just Taxi nostalgia. In retrospect, it seems like Taxi was on every weeknight during my childhood.
Jesus, there was 13 True Crud books.....
Well, don't judge them by the show.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fargo!!!!!!
New season started Wednesday.
Super awesome!
Archer: Dreamland started a few weeks ago. I love the '20s vibe and bringing back Len Trexeler and Barry Dillon has been a lot of fun.
Jeffrey Tambor needs to be recognized as the national treasure that he is. :-)
Better Call Saul is another great show.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I watched all of Fargo Season 1 with my wife and we loved it. We watched the first Episode of Season 2 together and we loved it, but because we have like 1987219 shows we watch together and a finite amount of time after the kids go to bed, we just left Season 2 sitting on the DVR. Well, I started watching Season 2 last week, and wow...its awesome. I'm on EP. 3 (I watch them at a rate of 1EP/2 days between 830 and 9pm). I'm seeing all the promos for Season 3 and that looks good. The main character is also in another show my wife and I watch The Leftovers.
TLDR: Fargo is amazingly done Television.
First episode of third season was free on ITunes yesterday. Might still be free.
It's fantastic!
Came back here to listen to the Kimmy theme and realized I accidentally linked The Pogues instead. Woops.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Archer: Dreamland started a few weeks ago. I love the '20s vibe and bringing back Len Trexeler and Barry Dillon has been a lot of fun.
I've had Lana singing Fever stuck in my head ever since! I love noir-style torch singers. (Dark City is another movie that has a great torch singer scene, which suggests that I should watch some actual noir, some day, and not just genre stuff or comedy stuff...)
I watched the two-part clown episode last night and, continuing the show's reflection of my movie-watching of late, was kind of weirded out when Archer namechecked "Attica," which I took as a reference to Dog Day Afternoon.
Mr. Comrade has moved on to watching BoJack Horseman. I tried to resist for a while, but admit to having been sucked in.
Last night, he put on the first episode of Maron which I was kind of meh about, but, in case you haven't heard, it is about, among other things, Marc Maron getting enraged at a twitterfeed shiznit-posting about, doxxing him online, and then tracking him down to a D&D session at a FLGS for a confrontation that goes all wrong. Includes David Foley.
Also watched the first four or so episodes from the first season of Daredevil but I guess that's for another thread.
The ol lady never saw Twin Peaks so we are catching the originals now.
I have them on my streaming list, but Mrs Gersen told me "Why would I want to watch a really old show like that when there are new shows that are probably better?"
I'd apply really old to "Howdie Doodie" before I would to "Twin Peaks," but I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
Twin Peaks is really something everyone ought to experience. In this case you are watching the "old" show in prep for the new one. I guarantee Twin Peaks will blow any supers tv show out of your lineup :)
I've heard the legends of Twin Peaks for years, so tried to watch it on Netflix.... I got through the first season and just felt underwhelmed after all the hype... the second season was supposed to get all crazy weird, but about 2-3 episodes in I just lost interest and never went back...
Sure not everyone likes Twin Peaks, but you gotta admit its pretty unique. Especially, for the time in which it aired.
Definitely for it's time. I was pretty disappointed that it didn't hook me. Everythign I heard it was EXACTLY the type of show that I would love... but something about it was too dry or something... I can't put my finger on it.
I've been watching The Leftovers. I went into it figuring I'd treat it like "LOST" but knowing ahead of time there would be no answer to the mystery of the departed. It's just be a character study of loss and adaptation with a quasi-mystical backdrop.
But they kept bringing more pot-Departure Day weirdness in, emphasizing the possibly mystical weirdness of it call, and with this season's finale, I just feel they went too far, and didn't think things through.
In the season finale, "The Book of Nora", we find out that the 2% of the world's population that departed from Earth
It's strongly implied that this other world is identical to our own except that the 2% are the only ones there. Nora talks about walking through an empty town, mentioned the severe shortage of pilots over there, taking a very long time to get from Australia back to her home town, even to her old house.
Ultimately she decides her family has moved on without her in the seven years since the Departure, so she has no place over there. She tracks down the actual inventor of the machine, who had been the first to use it, convinces him to build another one, and returns to Earth-Prime.
Now, here's the thing: if Earth-2 is empty except for our departed 2%, where did 100% of that Earth's population go? Because someone had to build all those deserted stores and houses, and the surplus of airplanes there weren't enough pilots to fly. Exact parallel development on two worlds until one of those worlds is completely depopulated and 2% of another world shifts over there? WTF?!?