What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Shrinking was really good. Has the Ted Lasso vibe of struggling people being there for each other and making it better without the whimsy. Perhaps the shared influence of Brett Goldstein as a producer and writer?

Great character work. Feel like I should have hated a lot more of them, but between the writing and performances, I was pretty happy anytime any member of the cast appeared on screen.

Shrinking was really entertaining.

Binged Maniac with a flu and can't put my finger on why it didn't impress me more. It has Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Sally Field and tons more talent, the world it happens in is really interesting, great set design, brilliant and weird moments but it's also very long without significant payoff?
Enjoyable nonetheless.

DarthJoJo wrote: Shrinking was really good. Has the Ted Lasso vibe of struggling people being there for each other and making it better without the whimsy. Perhaps the shared influence of Brett Goldstein as a producer and writer?

Great character work. Feel like I should have hated a lot more of them, but between the writing and performances, I was pretty happy anytime any member of the cast appeared on screen.

Both of these are Bill Lawrence showrunner shows (see also scrubs) so that's the main tie.

Nodens wrote: Binged Maniac with a flu and can't put my finger on why it didn't impress me more. It has Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Sally Field and tons more talent, the world it happens in is really interesting, great set design, brilliant and weird moments but it's also very long without significant payoff?
Enjoyable nonetheless.

I liked that one. But then pretty much forgot about it until this post.

Finished Tokyo Vice recently, and it was great. The first season was interesting and did a great job of setting things up, and the second season delivered everything promised by the first, with rapidly escalating intensity. In theory, there could be a third season, but I don't think there is any way to top the second season and this probably a good place to stop. Now I need to read the real Jake Adelstein's book that inspired the show. I doubt that it will be as tightly plotted and exciting as the show, but the reality is probably also interesting and likely more complex.

I am in the process of rewatching Community, one YouTube clip at a time.

There was a show that I thought started out kind of ok and formulaic, but in its best seasons took some great risks and was so very creative.

I'm with Nodens on Maniac. I tried the first couple episdoes and am finding it simply uncompelling. There are some moments of interest, but nothing that makes me feel like I have to get back to it to see where the story is going.

Similarly, I was pretty underwhelmed by Fallout. I never played the games, so I don't have the nostalgia vibes that many others have. I'll watch anything that's post-apoc, so that's a selling point, but there were simply too many moments that felt staged throughout the entire series. The story was quite predictable and the "big reveals" in the last episode were likewise.

It wasn't bad and I'll probably at least look in on a second season. But I was expecting a lot more, especially in the wry humor department, that never really landed.

I mostly agree with Maniac. I saw it back when it came out, so I can't remember everything, but I recall it being pretty compelling but not quite able to go anywhere meaningful. It really had some neat setting elements and a solid premise, but then it kind of meandered.

I'm enjoying Fallout. I think it's a solid show that is a little overhyped. Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell are doing the heavy lifting. I think what's excellent about it, is that they really walked the tightrope of nailing the kitschy and wacky humor while still retaining a serious tone. It's one of the defining traits of the feel of the video games and it's a very difficult thing to do in a show. This feat alone is responsible for much of the praise, and I think it's something that is perhaps unimpressive (or irrelevant) if you're not a fan of the video games.

I agree with Charlie, Fallout is most impressive in how it's easy to say "yeah, that's what a Fallout tv show looks like".

I started season 3 of Warrior. I'll be sad when I'm done, but I also just saw that June 27 is season 3 of The Bear!

hotseatgames wrote: I started season 3 of Warrior. I'll be sad when I'm done, but I also just saw that June 27 is season 3 of The Bear!

!!!!

I finished Fallout season one and it wildly exceeded my modest expectations. Fine world-building that mostly managed to avoid heavy exposition, plus plenty of action and some vivid characters.

Amazon Prime is now carrying Hammer House of Horror, an anthology horror show that debuted on the BBC in 1980. The opening episode features a witch who escaped her hunters by fleeing to the present (1980), where she soon resumes her wicked ways. I really enjoyed the early scenes where a modern man is giving her a tour of his house and she is frightened by things that we take for granted, like lightbulbs. The overall episode was moderately good, featuring a supporting character who turns out to be more of a Final Girl type, and a slightly exciting ending. Twelve episodes to go.

Shellhead wrote: Amazon Prime is now carrying Hammer House of Horror, an anthology horror show that debuted on the BBC in 1980.

My god, a BBC genre show in 1980 must have had a budget of about 5 pounds and some shoestring! Going back to old TV is almost always a slap to the face seeing how cheap everything was compared to the lavish stuff we have today.

Near the end of Shogun and a previous poster was correct, they suddenly bring in a few women from very early in the show and there is a bit of "Who dis?" as the narrative pivots quite a bit from the more familiar characters.

I think the latter few eps are losing the razor focus of the first 5-6 eps. Blackthorne, for all his boorishness, was a strong hook for the show, particularly in his interactions with the STUNNING Anna Sawai. Word of a season 2 has me a bit worried as I'm not sure we will get more ep 1-6 versus just more of the meandering 7-8.

Plus the seeming obsession with seppuku just can't be real. I feel like it was a rare act totally mythologized and inflated in the japanese psyche. Granted, kamikaze suggests otherwise, but that's kinda like a desperation act much like suicide bombing rather than a cornerstone of culture. But the "sorry, I blocked the sunlight falling on your face for a second, allow me to disembowel myself" stuff must be exaggerated.

Still, perhaps, now free of the novel, season 2 will be more tawdry soap with added fights, "pillow time", and intrigue.

It's true that the first episode of Hammer Horror was a low-budget affair, but it did include some horseback riding and a practical effect that looked like a wardrobe ejecting all the clothes at once.

Japanese culture has an unhealthy fixation on suicide, and seppeku (rare or not) was just one specific form. There is a different word in Japanese for the suicide committed by lovers who are not allowed to be together. There is a different word for the murder-suicide committed by a parent who can't afford to feed the kids anymore. And there is yet another word for the suicide committed by a student who fails to pass the entrance exam to get into a university. And those are three specific examples.

I recently watched a movie called The Master Spearman. While I thought it was just “ok” as a movie, it’s considered a significant film because at the time it was made it was a challenge to the popular mythologies of Samurai culture.

This well known warrior is pressured by his family to kill himself in the wake of his master’s death. He doesn’t want to, but eventually relents and decides to make a public show of it. Lots of people gather to watch and his family is embarrassed by it. Just as he starts to do it, the new lord orders him not to. His family pressures him to follow the order, so as not to shame them by continuing to commit suicide, although he felt he had already committed himself to doing it thanks to them.

He becomes angrily disillusioned with the Samurai way of life and decides to become a farmer and get married. He lives very happily and peacefully.

When the lord who ordered him not to kill himself dies, his family finds him and tries, again, to get him to kill himself out of duty. He violently refuses and denies his life as a Samurai.

Eventually, he is drawn back to the warrior life and decides to serve a new lord in war, abandoning his pregnant wife and happy existence and gets killed.