TV Shows Thread

[Reciever]

On 2/6/2022 at 4:42 PM, Mr. Fox said:

I don't watch lots of TV, maybe 1 or 2 hours in the evening and a couple of hours on Newsmax on weekends. At other times I tend to binge watch. My wife and I enjoy action series and good sci-fi shows. We only do streaming on Roku, no cable or OTA. While the list could be much, much longer. Off the top of my head some of our favorites that come to mind have been:

• Yellowstone
• 1883
• Longmire
• Into the Badlands
• Virgin River
• The Sinner
• Hannah
• Blacklist
• Jack Ryan
• The Americans
• Grimm
• Gotham
• Justified
• Wu Assassins
• Lost in Space (remake)
• The Mandalorian
• Supernatural
• The Originals
• Legacies
• Vampire Diaries
• Van Helsing
• Wynonna Earp
• Sabrina
• Netflix Marvel Series (Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Arrow, Daredevil, etc.)
• Travelers
• Ragnarok
• Sweet Tooth
• Another Life

Looking forward to starting this one in the near future...

 

When you get some downtime be sure to add Punisher (Netflix) to that list. 

First episode is a bit of a slow burner, but I enjoyed the 2 seasons multiple times now. 

[Mr. Fox]

12 minutes ago, Reciever said:

When you get some downtime be sure to add Punisher (Netflix) to that list. 

First episode is a bit of a slow burner, but I enjoyed the 2 seasons multiple times now. 

That was definitely a good one. Totally forgot about it thanks for reminding me. For somebody that doesn't watch a lot of TV I've seen a lot of stuff LOL. Maybe I should qualify that by saying that it's less than most people.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Mr. Fox
Added Punisher and The Flash to my list.

[Reciever]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

That was definitely a good one. Totally forgot about it thanks for reminding me. For somebody that doesn't watch a lot of TV I've seen a lot of stuff LOL. Maybe I should qualify that by saying that it's less than most people.

We all have our vices! haha 

[Mr. Fox]

1 minute ago, Reciever said:

We all have our vices! haha 

It's a way of spending time with my wife and doing something we both enjoy together rather than staying at the keyboard and ignoring her. It is generally about 2 hours a day, sometimes less but seldom more. Updated list.

[Sandy Bridge]

I'm currently up-to-date on 1883, which I'd definitely recommend.  It does align with my outdoors/adventure interests, but it also does a good job of character development and writing.  Hoping it gets renewed for a second season, assuming the plot is intended to last more than one, which at this point I suspect it is.

 

Game of Thrones was the last drama I watched; I really don't watch much TV.  I liked it right up until the second half of season 8.  The geopolitics was right up my alley, and they did a great job for the first 7.5 seasons of the characters almost always having plausible motivations for their actions - not necessarily rational, but consistent with their personalities.

 

Although the Arya in Braavos plotline was weird, not having read the books that one never made a lot of sense and was always the most boring one in an episode where it appeared.  But aside from that and almost quitting in season 2 when it looked like it might be 6 seasons of Joffrey's antics, I really liked the first 7.5 seasons.

 

Haven't read the books for that one.  I did attempt to read the Lord of the Rings books and found them dreadfully boring, filled with so many adjectives trying to describe every aspect of a place that by the time you got back to the plot two pages later, you'd forgotten what was going on.  I made it to about half way through the second book before giving up, so it wasn't like I read 20 pages and concluded it was boring.  I've heard the movies are a lot better than the books, but haven't had much motivation to try them.

[Hertzian56]

Was watching some venture bros, first 3 seasons are great but like a lot of shows after that goes downhill. Same goes for archer s1 to s3 great. Also the classic mtv Aeon Flux it needed a few more seasons bc s3 was the only one with dialogue and the best imo.

[Nick]

Ask This Old House Classic. Free on Roku TV. 

[serpro69]

Watching 'The Good Place'. I saw it some years ago, but my wife never did, so decided she might like it and was spot on. Definitely recommend to watch for anyone who hasn't seen it before if you're looking for a light and funny comedy TV show.

[Hertzian56]

On 3/17/2022 at 3:56 AM, serpro69 said:

Watching 'The Good Place'. I saw it some years ago, but my wife never did, so decided she might like it and was spot on. Definitely recommend to watch for anyone who hasn't seen it before if you're looking for a light and funny comedy TV show.

Worked on the first season or two as an extra on that show, met ted danson lol town square etc was all at universal studios.

 

Watched a bit of the old english soap opera from the early 70,s called Upstairs, Downstairs. Only 5 seasons I think, they were going to do a spinoff but the lady who played Mrs Bridges died suddenly.

[Eban]

Just finished watching this. Not my usual but I thought it was very sad.

 

[Hertzian56]

Was watching a mix of the attenborough nature docs, a few of my fav planet earths, living planet, life, trials of life. Interesting, great photography and relaxing, to wind down with at night. Planet Earth 2 and beyond have too much cgi/whiplash camera movements and shrill dramatic music etc in them for my taste, granted all of them have out of context stuff that is deceptive ie for a lot of the so called wild plant time lapse shots they actually setup a greenhouse indoors(they show all this in the optional featurettes etc), various forms of ant farm that are presented as wild footage etc I think some of the cloud/tornado/dust/flood/storm shots in all of them are also composite images with cgi to enhance the drama but it gets out of hand around PE2. Life on Earth 1979 and Living Planet 1984 are the most honest ones, less enhancement tech available.

[ryan]

nature shows are epic....relaxing and very chill....can learn a thing or two without getting a headache

[Hertzian56]

Yeah recommend the BBC South Pacific doco too, stunning views, truly remote part of the planet with some really unique geography and nice underwater stuff. It's narrated by Cumberbatch I think. Only downside to me for many of them though is the adding on of how they filmed it onto the end of each episode. I'd rather have more show and less of the story of the filming, which is just fluff filler most of the time. Make those optional featurettes like in some of the nature series. Blue Planet 1 is also an all time fav, need to fire that up.

[Eban]

10 hours ago, ryan said:

nature shows are epic....relaxing and very chill....can learn a thing or two without getting a headache

 

Are we watching the same nature shows? 

 

 

[Hertzian56]

Lol yeah and DON'T watch any of those while eating unless you have a strong stomach, lots of animals eating each other etc

[ryan]

lol wow intense....no def not im more into love peace and calmness lol......time to chill out im scared.

[serpro69]

Started watching Halo.

2 episodes in so far. Can't say I'm impressed or anything, the acting is anything but great, and some characters don't seem to make much sense at all. But the action scenes make this show fun enough to watch anyways.

I have to say I haven't played the game, read the books or anything, so I can't really judge the accuracy compared to the "source". The reviews on IMDB are horrible though But I'll probably keep watching - for me it's good enough for a one-time thing.

 

I also enjoy nature documentaries a lot :) Nice to see I'm not the only one. It's a really nice way to relax while watching the beautiful planet we live on. My favorites are probably Blue Planet and Planet Earth.

[Mr. Fox]

Mrs. Fox and I am enjoying watching Blindspot. Good series.

 

I watched the first episode of Halo and liked it. I prefer to binge watch things, so I will wait until a month or two passes so I can do it that way.

 

All caught up on 1883 and Yellowstone, so waiting for the next season on each of those to surface.

 

I am waiting for more episodes of Blacklist so I can return to binge through season 9. That has been an awesome series, but I think season 9 might be a good place to end it. It is starting to lose its shine now, with Elizabeth dead and Dembe and Reddington going different directions. Enough is enough.

[Mr. Fox]

18 hours ago, serpro69 said:

The reviews on IMDB are horrible though 

I honestly use that as a barometer in the exact opposite manner intended. The chance that I will like a movie with positive reviews is very slim. The possibility I will love, purchase and re-watch something "professional" reviewers do not like is huge... probably 98% chance I will love it, because movie reviewers are just weirdos that I have nothing in common with.

 

Come to think of it, that kind of applies to PC tech reviewers as well.  The selection of likable things in PC tech is a lot smaller, with a much higher disappointment and failure rate than movies though. But, the failure rate of reviewer opinions is probably about the same as it relates to their inability to discern the difference between good and garbage. 

[serpro69]

6 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I honestly use that as a barometer in the exact opposite manner intended.

 

Haha, I like that approach  
My own opinion probably matches about 50% the time with an average score on IMDB. Sometimes I completely disagree with the overrated ratings for the cr*p that's been coming out past years, other times it's more or less spot on. My main use-case for IMDB though is not to decide whether to watch something or not, but to keep track of the stuff that I've watched.

[Mr. Fox]

14 minutes ago, serpro69 said:

Haha, I like that approach  
My own opinion probably matches about 50% the time with an average score on IMDB. Sometimes I completely disagree with the overrated ratings for the cr*p that's been coming out past years, other times it's more or less spot on. My main use-case for IMDB though is not to decide whether to watch something or not, but to keep track of the stuff that I've watched.

The ones difficult to identify are the shows/movies with an overtly biased subliminal message. Some folks are susceptible to brainwashing, while others simply want to know what garbage to avoid to inflict financial deprivation and hinder success of the creators releasing their woke agenda/green crap propaganda. The reviewers seem to intentionally avoid calling attention to those bits, either because they share the dimwitted point of view or they are afraid of the cancel culture thought police coming after them.

[Hertzian56]

Yeah I usually regret researching personalities involved in the shows I watch, for instance Attenborough, because it usually is very disappointing. Not usually surprising though based on the themes and world views displayed in the shows, easy to see really if you have the aptitude. It used to be subtle but the last 20+ years and especially the last few years it's blatant. I mean old atty comes from the BBC and its "culture" and other high sounding places. Still like a lot of junk type shows I watch it's really for the photography which they for the most part don't mess with. Like I said earlier the older nature docs by the BBC are my favorites especially Life On Earth, Living Planet and Trials of Life, much more low key calm, honest photography,  narration is mostly of observations of the footage rather than fantasy stuff and cgi deftly mixed in, "staged" nature presented as real etc The Life of "n" ones are also pretty good, not as big budget and simpler but focus on mammals, birds, plants, insects etc and were still in that era before it got blown up into a megabusiness a la cable, internet etc

[Sandy Bridge]

I'm now caught up on 1883, through the end of the season.  It had a pretty great combination of things to make me like it.  Adventure galore.  Romance.  Danger.  Great writing, as well as acting and setting.  Not to mention Sam Elliott in a western.  And it really succeeded in making your care about the characters, and have an emotional connection to the events.  The characters aren't just cowboys.

 

It's pretty much everything I could want in a series about the Oregon Trail.

 

I find the audience reviews to often be a more reliable indicator of whether I'll like a film or show than critical ones, although the recommendations of friends who know me are even better.  The wildcard I watch out for are classics.  Sometimes they're legitimately good, but other times they seem to get good reviews because people think they should like them because some critics decided they were classics.  2001 is one of those, IMO - it's just not good if the artistry of it isn't to your fancy.  Or maybe the graphics made it good in 1968, but they aren't enough now that graphics alone usually just results in a forgettable film, if there isn't also plot.  But the key reason professional reviews differ, IMO, is that they over-emphasize the artistry and uniqueness of a film.

 

But I also have to consider what types of films I like.  For me, things like genre are the determining factors.  Politics, I like to say I'm a die-hard moderate, even though that's really just relative to today's often polarized politics, not because I'm 100% in the middle.  But I can't think of a film that I've watched where I disliked it because of politics.  Instead, it's keeping in mind that I'm unlikely to enjoy even the best-reviewed horror film, or raunchy comedy.  And that if a superhero movie or sci-fi film dispenses with reality too much, it's going to break plausible deniability and I'm not going to be able to enjoy it, even if most people do.

[Hertzian56]

Still into the nature docos, the life of birds is a really great one, so interesting to see they move so fast and robotically a lot of the time and the range like going from huge ostriches to tiny hummingbirds. Also checked out a bit of the Johnny Quest 60's cartoons since I've been watching a lot of The Venture Bros which is partially based on that, weird how relatively innocent and straight forward it is compared to how shows are now, it's kind of jarring really.

[serpro69]

Started watching Tokyo Vice, 2 episodes in and pretty good so far.