What TV SHOWS are you watching?

That's a strong statement. But I'm intrigued.

Can confirm. Loved that show. The tone is a little different - a bit lighter, boy's own rollicking adventure - but that's true to the source material and it really pulls it off. It's pretty lavish for a BBC (I think? edit: it was ITV) production from the... 90s? Hornblower doesn't have a huge amount of depth but his relationships with the other characters - his underlings, contemporaries and superiors - are nicely done, and with a touch of humour.

I'm not a binge person but I'd happily make an exception for old Horatio and his crew.

And no guarantees, obviously, but if your mrs is a fan of PnP, she might enjoy it too (mine is a fan of both). (Edit: just realised Gary was the original poster there, sorry).

Jackwraith wrote: Was direly ill this weekend, so spent a lot of time watching Netflix and stumbled upon this docu-series called Cricket Fever. It covers one season of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League; the most prestigious (most $) cricket league in the world. It's only 8 episodes with each of them being 30-40 minutes, so it's a quick watch.

Lucky you! When I wanted to understand baseball I had to watch that Ken Burns doco that goes for 18 hours. O_O

Against my better judgment, I watched all of the first season of Hannibal in like two days.

Now, I usually don’t care for police procedurals or most TV crime shows (the first True Detective notwithstanding), but I thought this was quite good- it definitely hits some of the more baroque, upsetting themes of Harris’ books (the good ones at least) and the spectacularly baroque nature of the murders in it almost puts it in more Giallo territory. Casting Hannibal as an anti-antihero is compelling, and I actually think that Mads is a better and more compelling Dr. Lecter than Hopkins. He’s much less of an outright monster- more of an urbane, complex ubermensch. The show gets a little cute with referencing him as a good guy (I.e. comments like “there’s nobody I trust more than Dr. Lecter” ), but I’ve really enjoyed the more nuanced and coldly sophisticated take on the character.

I also really like Cowboy Curtis as Jack Crawford. But casting Eddie Izzard as an American serial killer was a big mistake. They make up for that by putting Gillian Anderson in the role of Dr. Lecter’s psychiatrist. Awesome.

The storyline has been good but lord have mercy is it just implausible. Don’t go to the midatlantic states, there are serial killers doing all kinds of totally bananas stuff up there. Dr. Lecter’s Moriarty-like machinations are cool and fun to track, but it goes well off into nowaysville.

I started watching because a friend said it gets really extreme and experimental as it goes on...so far, it’s pretty conventional aside from those crazy murders and way more gore than I’ve ever seen on network TV. Conventional but good. Guess I’ll slam the second season now.

Hannibal is one of the most gorgeous shows I've ever seen. And it's bonkers that it was on NBC. I agree, Mads plays a better Lecter than Hopkins. And my god, those suits.

Those. Suits.

Michael Barnes wrote: I started watching because a friend said it gets really extreme and experimental as it goes on...so far, it’s pretty conventional aside from those crazy murders and way more gore than I’ve ever seen on network TV. Conventional but good. Guess I’ll slam the second season now.

I loved Hannibal - it's very much in its own world (like other Bryan Fuller shows) and moves further and further away from the usual network serial killer show into something almost transcendent.

The last episode of season 3 is one of the most perfects ends to a tv show I've seen.

Finally! I was raving about how awesome Hannibal was a year ago, and I felt like I was the only crazy person in the room. Good to see there are other fans here. You're in for a treat, Michael, as I think the first season is the weakest.

trif wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: I started watching because a friend said it gets really extreme and experimental as it goes on...so far, it’s pretty conventional aside from those crazy murders and way more gore than I’ve ever seen on network TV. Conventional but good. Guess I’ll slam the second season now.

I loved Hannibal - it's very much in its own world (like other Bryan Fuller shows) and moves further and further away from the usual network serial killer show into something almost transcendent.

The last episode of season 3 is one of the most perfects ends to a tv show I've seen.

it's funny you say that, as I thought the finale was pretty weak. Not horrible, just weaker than I hoped it would be considering how much I enjoyed the entire course of the show.

But then again, I thought the last few minutes of Dexter was the perfect way to end it, after you give it some thought.

While overall, the last episode of Dexter was terrible, the final scene was great.

And the very final shot... I think it's my favorite of the entire series.

Tried watching the first two episodes of Britannia; an Amazon series based on the re-invasion of the largest of the British isles by the Romans in the first century CE. In truth, it's more about the mythical Druids and the Romans are present as the conceit that opens the door to show how magical the druids can be, in addition to some internecine warfare between the local Celtic tribes.

Yeah, I just can't... I love history. I especially love Roman history. I'm fine with venturing into the fantastical, too (obvsly.) But you have to be able to tell me a story that's a) at least moderately intelligent and b) written and acted out with some degree of honesty. When every third character is gushing with wonder at EVERYTHING that's happening, while every other character is cynical and worldly knowledgeable about everything that happens (a Celtic chieftain telling someone to "Sit the fuck down!" to open a negotiation), I'm going to lose my suspension of disbelief right quick. Plus, there aren't really any good actors in it, given that the lead Roman is the governor from The Walking Dead and one of the lead Celts is Kelly Reilly, whose job is apparently to look angsty at every opportunity, and I don't recognize any of the rest of them (likely for good reason.) I wanted to like it, but... nah.

This is a bit of a jag, but our era is one in which, despite the fact we are surrounded by low level everyday cooperation we don't even think about, our visual media (ESPECIALLY prestige TV) is intent on telling us that cooperation is impossible.

I finished Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on Netflix. Overall it's a fun show, and you could certainly do a lot worse if you want to watch an anime.

I think it's acceptable for kids, but there are two caveats that I'll be addressing with my kids if they watch it...

1. There is some misogyny. Lines like "even though you are just a woman", etc.
2. The only black character is literally named Smokie Brown. Sheesh.

I don't know how many episodes of Love, Death + Robots I have watched on Netflix. It's several. You see, there are a lot of them, and they range from 6 minutes long to about 18 minutes long. Watching them is like eating snack mix. Some parts are good, some are bad, but after you are done you don't remember anything specific.

I can definitely say that none of them have yet to be as good as the very first one. I can also say that from a purely visual standpoint, they are all very nice looking, with a variety of animation styles on display. Most of them are CG rendered and gorgeous. I had to keep studying one of them just to make sure it wasn't live action footage.

Most of them don't really "say" anything. Sci-fi is at its best when it is talking about the world in which we live, and I just don't think a lot of these are doing that. If they are, they are being extremely subtle.

This is popcorn television, but with such a short run time, the barrier to entry is low enough that you might want to watch a couple of them.

Last night I watched one involving an astronaut, and it truly made me cringe. It's the most I've "felt" while watching any of them.

I really have enjoyed the episodes of Love, Death and Robots that I've seen so far.

My favorites are the first one, The Witness (rear window kind of thing), and the space station one where the three astronauts go into cryosleep.

Agreed though that they're not really performing the function of sci-fi and commenting on social or cultural issues.

I feel Love Death + Robots fills a missing niche in our consumption of fictional media.

It's really is like reading an issue of Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal. Or maybe even Twisted Tales that brought in such luminaries like Bernie Wrightson.

Nothing truly important, but odd enough to be worthwhile. Along with the occasional star that sticks in your mind years later.

Because even if you don't recall it minutes later, they still meld into and become part of your subconscious. I'd rather have Love Death + Robots influencing me and the rest of society subconsciously than tripe like Keeping up with the Kardashians.

I'll continue watching it for the long haul, and covet them like I do my issues of the aforementioned periodicals from the 70's and 80's.