TV Shows

[Arkansasbear]

I think I'm going to start Mobland on Paramount + soon. It looks good.

[wab]

We have so many damn shows going at once right now, it's hard to keep up.

Final season of Righteous Gemstones has been bananas so far though.

[UOK]

We're going to finish up season 1 of The Pitt and season 3 of Yellowjackets later this week. The Pitt is phenomenal, btw.

[LacertineForest]

Just started watching "The Last of Us" , like it so far. Thought I better get it watched before Season 2 releases and someone spoils it all for me.

The wife and I binged watched "Only Murders in the Building" all four seasons. Quircky and goofy, but fun. I always liked Martin and Short, now am a fan of Gomez too.

TLoU is great. Can't wait for season 2 and see how they translate the game for the TV series - the story for the second game is pretty intense.

[Arkansasbear]

We're going to finish up season 1 of The Pitt and season 3 of Yellowjackets later this week. The Pitt is phenomenal, btw.

So I assume you like Yellowjackets if your on season three. Is it that good? It doesn't look like it would be.

[wab]

We're going to finish up season 1 of The Pitt and season 3 of Yellowjackets later this week. The Pitt is phenomenal, btw.

So I assume you like Yellowjackets if your on season three. Is it that good? It doesn't look like it would be.

It's pretty good, although we haven't started season three yet. It's a little weird, and most episodes leave you with more questions than answers, but it's pretty entertaining.

If you like shows like Lost, From, Severance... you will probably like Yellowjackets.

[Arkansasbear]

So I assume you like Yellowjackets if your on season three. Is it that good? It doesn't look like it would be.

It's pretty good, although we haven't started season three yet. It's a little weird, and most episodes leave you with more questions than answers, but it's pretty entertaining.

If you like shows like Lost, From, Severance... you will probably like Yellowjackets.

Thanks. That mean I likely don't need to waste my time. I hated Lost.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Thanks. That mean I likely don't need to waste my time. I hated Lost.

If I see the name JJ Abrams attached to a film or show then I automatically disregard it. The guy's a hack and I find it extraordinary he's been so successful. Any writer who relies on "mystery boxes" without bothering to figure out what's in said boxes is a complete timewaster. He's great at getting people intrigued and then always lets them down because he doesn't care about providing resolutions to the mysteries he sets up, let alone satisfying ones.

[LacertineForest]

Thanks. That mean I likely don't need to waste my time. I hated Lost.

If I see the name JJ Abrams attached to a film or show then I automatically disregard it. The guy's a hack and I find it extraordinary he's been so successful. Any writer who relies on "mystery boxes" without bothering to figure out what's in said boxes is a complete timewaster. He's great at getting people intrigued and then always lets them down because he doesn't care about providing resolutions to the mysteries he sets up, let alone satisfying ones.

I tend to agree, although I thought he did a good job with Fringe (he's credited as one of the creators, so maybe the other creators and writers had more to do with that). I do remember the final season wasn't as impactful to me as some of the middle-of-the-series episodes and finales. It's also a network TV show, so there's a lot of fat on the episodes to make sure they had enough for 20+ per season (save the last season, with just 13).

[dplank]

So I assume you like Yellowjackets if your on season three. Is it that good? It doesn't look like it would be.

It's pretty good, although we haven't started season three yet. It's a little weird, and most episodes leave you with more questions than answers, but it's pretty entertaining.

If you like shows like Lost, From, Severance... you will probably like Yellowjackets.

I have no idea why this is, but I liked Severance, Lost, and From quite a bit but am just absolutely bored by Yellowjackets. The first season was ok, then it was just a borefest for me. My wife watches while I doomscroll now lol....

[UOK]

So I assume you like Yellowjackets if your on season three. Is it that good? It doesn't look like it would be.

It's pretty good, although we haven't started season three yet. It's a little weird, and most episodes leave you with more questions than answers, but it's pretty entertaining.

If you like shows like Lost, From, Severance... you will probably like Yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets = Lost + Lord of the Flies, more or less. It's fine. The showrunners claim that the story will cleanly tie itself up by the end of season 5, it definitely feels like it's running out of steam. I don't feel confident that they're just making shit up as they go along now, but who knows. It's also really lame that it's tucked away in Showtime for Paramount+.

We're going to save up all of our Apple TV+ shows so we can only pay for it for a month or two and binge it all. I'm exhausted at the amount of goddamn streaming services we have.

[wab]

Started a couple new shows last night. Mob Land with Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan is really good so far. The Bondsman with Kevin Bacon is pretty stupid, but it's fine for what it is. It's like RIPD if RIPD was trying to be serious.

Also - Surface on Apple TV is incredible.

[Arkansasbear]

Started a couple new shows last night. Mob Land with Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan is really good so far. The Bondsman with Kevin Bacon is pretty stupid, but it's fine for what it is. It's like RIPD if RIPD was trying to be serious.

Also - Surface on Apple TV is incredible.

Glad to hear that about Mob Land and sad about Bondsman. Both are on my list.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

If I see the name JJ Abrams attached to a film or show then I automatically disregard it. The guy's a hack and I find it extraordinary he's been so successful. Any writer who relies on "mystery boxes" without bothering to figure out what's in said boxes is a complete timewaster. He's great at getting people intrigued and then always lets them down because he doesn't care about providing resolutions to the mysteries he sets up, let alone satisfying ones.

I tend to agree, although I thought he did a good job with Fringe (he's credited as one of the creators, so maybe the other creators and writers had more to do with that). I do remember the final season wasn't as impactful to me as some of the middle-of-the-series episodes and finales. It's also a network TV show, so there's a lot of fat on the episodes to make sure they had enough for 20+ per season (save the last season, with just 13).

I seem to recall hearing that Abrams didn't have much to do with Fringe, which is probably why it was good. The last series was disappointing but at least it had an ending.

John Noble's Walter Bishop is one of the all-time great TV characters! So many wonderful lines of dialogue such as:

"The only thing better than a cow is a human! Unless you need milk. Then you really need a cow."

"I hope she doesn't notice the $2,000 for the baboon seminal fluid I ordered. I hope I can recall why I ordered it..."

"We're all victims of our own gene pool. Someone must have peed in yours."

"I just got an erection. Oh, fear not. It's nothing to do with your state of undress. I just simply need to urinate."

"She tricked my son with her carnal manipulation and he fell right into her vagenda."

[LacertineForest]

I tend to agree, although I thought he did a good job with Fringe (he's credited as one of the creators, so maybe the other creators and writers had more to do with that). I do remember the final season wasn't as impactful to me as some of the middle-of-the-series episodes and finales. It's also a network TV show, so there's a lot of fat on the episodes to make sure they had enough for 20+ per season (save the last season, with just 13).

I seem to recall hearing that Abrams didn't have much to do with Fringe, which is probably why it was good. The last series was disappointing but at least it had an ending.

John Noble's Walter Bishop is one of the all-time great TV characters! So many wonderful lines of dialogue such as:

"The only thing better than a cow is a human! Unless you need milk. Then you really need a cow."

"I hope she doesn't notice the $2,000 for the baboon seminal fluid I ordered. I hope I can recall why I ordered it..."

"We're all victims of our own gene pool. Someone must have peed in yours."

"I just got an erection. Oh, fear not. It's nothing to do with your state of undress. I just simply need to urinate."

"She tricked my son with her carnal manipulation and he fell right into her vagenda."

That makes sense, then (regarding Abrams and his involvement). At the time, Abrams was a hot name, so I'm sure just having him attached to the show in any capacity made it a draw for some people.

I completely on Walter Bishop being an all-time great character. It's always a delight when you have a great character married with an actor who really brings the character to life. You picked out some good quotes I'm sure it was really fun to write for his character.

[wab]

I tend to agree, although I thought he did a good job with Fringe (he's credited as one of the creators, so maybe the other creators and writers had more to do with that). I do remember the final season wasn't as impactful to me as some of the middle-of-the-series episodes and finales. It's also a network TV show, so there's a lot of fat on the episodes to make sure they had enough for 20+ per season (save the last season, with just 13).

I seem to recall hearing that Abrams didn't have much to do with Fringe, which is probably why it was good. The last series was disappointing but at least it had an ending.

John Noble's Walter Bishop is one of the all-time great TV characters! So many wonderful lines of dialogue such as:

"The only thing better than a cow is a human! Unless you need milk. Then you really need a cow."

"I hope she doesn't notice the $2,000 for the baboon seminal fluid I ordered. I hope I can recall why I ordered it..."

"We're all victims of our own gene pool. Someone must have peed in yours."

"I just got an erection. Oh, fear not. It's nothing to do with your state of undress. I just simply need to urinate."

"She tricked my son with her carnal manipulation and he fell right into her vagenda."

Fringe is low key one of the best science fiction-esq shows that have ever been made. It was so good.

[Arkansasbear]

I seem to recall hearing that Abrams didn't have much to do with Fringe, which is probably why it was good. The last series was disappointing but at least it had an ending.

John Noble's Walter Bishop is one of the all-time great TV characters! So many wonderful lines of dialogue such as:

"The only thing better than a cow is a human! Unless you need milk. Then you really need a cow."

"I hope she doesn't notice the $2,000 for the baboon seminal fluid I ordered. I hope I can recall why I ordered it..."

"We're all victims of our own gene pool. Someone must have peed in yours."

"I just got an erection. Oh, fear not. It's nothing to do with your state of undress. I just simply need to urinate."

"She tricked my son with her carnal manipulation and he fell right into her vagenda."

Fringe is low key one of the best science fiction-esq shows that have ever been made. It was so good.

Hadn't heard of it. Looked it up and it appear you can only get it on HULU (which I have) but you have to have the HULU, Disney Max Bundle (Have the bundle with ESPN) Watching some things is so freaking hard (and expensive now days).

[dplank]

I forgot all about that show and had to go look it up, I did watch it (I'm not sure I finished it), and it was damn good.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Fringe is low key one of the best science fiction-esq shows that have ever been made. It was so good.

I love me a bit of sci-fi. My personal all time favourites are:

Babylon 5
The granddaddy of US story arc TV and still the best. It's not just the epic 5 year story but the individual character arcs even for relatively minor characters too. It was groundbreaking in so many ways. It was the first to use CGI extensively (and it holds up remarkably well given the technology of the time, largely thanks to the fabulous ship designs) and it was filmed in 4:3 safe widescreen several years before 16:9 became the norm for broadcast. Unfortunately the effects shots were rendered in 4:3 due to cost and the original elements were lost so there's been quality issues with attempts to release it in 16:9. The foreshadowing is off the charts and JMS planned out "trapdoors" so if an actor left he could bring in a replacement character without it derailing the story, something he had to employ a couple of times. Oh and the performances of Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar and Peter Jurassic as Londo deserved to win awards, but of course it's not the sort of show that garners those for actors, especially when they're performing under a mountain of latex or with whacky looking hair cut.

Doctor Who
Not the Nu Who abomination, but the original that began in 1963. I just adored it as a kid and when you're young you don't notice all the obvious budget and technical limitations, you just get wrapped up in the thrill of the stories. The cliffhanger endings kept you gripped and desperate to tune in the next week. Some of my earliest memories are of episodes dating back to when I was only 3.

Farscape
A great show from the Jim Henson Company, with lots of their trademark puppets that somehow make you believe in them as characters. The cast are all excellent and it's refreshing to have a human character who is in no way superior to the aliens. It's all wonderfully creative and Scorpius is one of the great TV antagonists. Thank goodness they got the funding for The Peacekeeper Wars to finish off the story after the fourth season ended on a cliffhanger and the show was unexpectedly cancelled.

Fringe
As already said, the last season is a bit of a let down but it does have that all important ending. It began by giving off X-Files vibes but soon became more intriguing and unlike that show it did lead to answers. Walter Bishop steals the show, but the whole cast is good, and everything unfolds in a satisfying way.

Battlestar Galactica (remake)
I'll admit I had my reservations about this one before I saw it. I remembered the original and the idea of sex-swapping characters like Starbuck and Boomer and having the Cylons look like humans didn't appeal. A friend recommended it though so I gave it a go and was glad I did. The mini series at the start was great, but the early episodes of the series were a bit of chore. Then it found its feet and the intrigue, twists and turns with the mystery of who were the Cylons became gripping.

Killjoys
I like the set up of this one. Set in The Quad, a solar system of 4 planets colonised at some point by humans, it's just good bonkers fun and has a satisfying story arc. It's also diversity done right. There are characters of various ethnicities and sexualities but it's never a big deal. Characters are not defined by these elements. There is no laboured messaging about racism, sexism or homophobia in any of the episodes.

The various Star Trek series are enjoyable, but I have no interest in the newer ones. The moment I saw clips of Star Trek Discovery (STD seriously?!) with f-bombs being dropped I was out. These imbeciles clearly have no idea what Star Trek is all about.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I've heard The Expanse is good.

One caveat, I have no interest in watching a show that doesn't have an ending. It's a complete waste of time.

[wab]

The Expanse is good, if not a little tedious. Raised by Wolves is great, and so is Foundation.

Other ones I'd recommend:
Fallout
Constellation
Dark Matter
Dune: Prophecy (only if you like the two Dune remakes)
3 Body Problem
The Peripheral (this was canceled after one season, but the one season is fantastic)

Silo is another one I'd recommend, although it's less space sci-fi and more post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

Also a big fan of Wheel of Time and His Dark Materials, but opinions vary on those. Severance is good too, but it's a little annoying.

Anyway, hope this is a decent start!

[wab]

Oh... some older ones that were on around the same time as Fringe:
- Heroes
- Revolution

[Grizzled]

Fringe is low key one of the best science fiction-esq shows that have ever been made. It was so good.

I love me a bit of sci-fi. My personal all time favourites are:

Babylon 5
The granddaddy of US story arc TV and still the best. It's not just the epic 5 year story but the individual character arcs even for relatively minor characters too. It was groundbreaking in so many ways. It was the first to use CGI extensively (and it holds up remarkably well given the technology of the time, largely thanks to the fabulous ship designs) and it was filmed in 4:3 safe widescreen several years before 16:9 became the norm for broadcast. Unfortunately the effects shots were rendered in 4:3 due to cost and the original elements were lost so there's been quality issues with attempts to release it in 16:9. The foreshadowing is off the charts and JMS planned out "trapdoors" so if an actor left he could bring in a replacement character without it derailing the story, something he had to employ a couple of times. Oh and the performances of Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar and Peter Jurassic as Londo deserved to win awards, but of course it's not the sort of show that garners those for actors, especially when they're performing under a mountain of latex or with whacky looking hair cut.

Loved Babylon 5. Although the resolution of the war between the Vorlons and the Shadows(?) was really anticlimatic.

Just re-watched 1883. I put it as the greatest Western ever filmed. Can smell the dust, the leather, etc.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Cheers wab.

I saw Dark Matter. It was a bit like an updated version of Blake's 7, but it was one of those shows that got cancelled without an ending. Consequently I regretted spending time on it. It happens so often that I now rarely watch shows until they've finished.

Heroes was the same. It was a worldwide phenomenon when it started then got hit by a writer's strike, completely lost its way and never recovered. There were some intriguing ideas, especially with the time travel teasers, but they were never resolved. The belated comeback did nothing to rectify its failings.

Both shows had great potential but never got close to realising it.

I've seen His Dark Materials. It was OK, but I wasn't that enamoured with it. I think I have the books somewhere, but I've not read them. (I have a lot of books!)

I've seen the first Dune movie and to be honest found it very slow and boring. It reminded my of another movie in that way and then I realised it was directed by Denis Villeneuve with music by Hans Zimmer and figured out it was Bladerunner 2049, the only movie I've ever fallen asleep watching in a cinema! I find Zimmer's recent soundtracks to be very oppressive and soporific. I might just read the Frank Herbert novels at some point instead.

Having just cancelled Amazon Prime, the only streaming service I have now is Netflix. I know 3 Body Problem is on there, so I'll give that a go after I've watched The Recruit which you recommended recently. I started it last night and enjoyed the first episode.

If I recall correctly Wheel of Time is on Amazon. I don't know anything about that one but have heard some negative reviews because it deviates from the source material a lot.

Which platforms are your other recommendations on?

[Arkansasbear]

Cheers wab.

I saw Dark Matter. It was a bit like an updated version of Blake's 7, but it was one of those shows that got cancelled without an ending. Consequently I regretted spending time on it. It happens so often that I now rarely watch shows until they've finished.

Heroes was the same. It was a worldwide phenomenon when it started then got hit by a writer's strike, completely lost its way and never recovered. There were some intriguing ideas, especially with the time travel teasers, but they were never resolved. The belated comeback did nothing to rectify its failings.

Both shows had great potential but never got close to realising it.

I've seen His Dark Materials. It was OK, but I wasn't that enamoured with it. I think I have the books somewhere, but I've not read them. (I have a lot of books!)

I've seen the first Dune movie and to be honest found it very slow and boring. It reminded my of another movie in that way and then I realised it was directed by Denis Villeneuve with music by Hans Zimmer and figured out it was Bladerunner 2049, the only movie I've ever fallen asleep watching in a cinema! I find Zimmer's recent soundtracks to be very oppressive and soporific. I might just read the Frank Herbert novels at some point instead.

Having just cancelled Amazon Prime, the only streaming service I have now is Netflix. I know 3 Body Problem is on there, so I'll give that a go after I've watched The Recruit which you recommended recently. I started it last night and enjoyed the first episode.

If I recall correctly Wheel of Time is on Amazon. I don't know anything about that one but have heard some negative reviews because it deviates from the source material a lot.

Which platforms are your other recommendations on?

I've got HULU/Disney/ESPN bundle, Amazon (my wife orders too much crap not too), Paramount + (ordering crap from Wal-Mart by my wife), had my brother-in-laws Netflix until they started preventing that. The only other thing I have is the stuff included with Roku (although I've never watched single thing). Not a streaming service per se, but I do use Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) that lets you download all your digital movies into one platform. I like it because you can scan the bar code on your DVD/BluRays and pay $2 to add them to your library and get rid of the disc. I'll go online and find people selling the digital codes they have for $2-5 buck and download them. I've got about 1000 titles on there now.

[Grizzled]

I think I'm going to start Mobland on Paramount + soon. It looks good.

Saw the first 2 episodes, I'm enjoying it.

[Heinz D.]

I love me a bit of sci-fi. My personal all time favourites are...

Doctor Who
Not the Nu Who abomination, but the original that began in 1963. I just adored it as a kid and when you're young you don't notice all the obvious budget and technical limitations, you just get wrapped up in the thrill of the stories. The cliffhanger endings kept you gripped and desperate to tune in the next week. Some of my earliest memories are of episodes dating back to when I was only 3.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I've heard The Expanse is good.

One caveat, I have no interest in watching a show that doesn't have an ending. It's a complete waste of time.

The Boys. It's really wonderful. The third season had some small hiccups, but nothing that was buzzkill heavy. It has one more season left..but at this point it's pretty clear (IMHO) that the overall story stuff won't be resolved when the show ends. Which is fine.

It's a nasty watch at times, though. If you're turned of by a bit of the ultraviolence, or the old in-out-in-out, it might not be for you. But it's pretty brilliant.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I love me a bit of sci-fi. My personal all time favourites are...

Doctor Who
Not the Nu Who abomination, but the original that began in 1963. I just adored it as a kid and when you're young you don't notice all the obvious budget and technical limitations, you just get wrapped up in the thrill of the stories. The cliffhanger endings kept you gripped and desperate to tune in the next week. Some of my earliest memories are of episodes dating back to when I was only 3.

Absolutely serious. I tried to like Nu Who, I really did, but they just kept making more and more fundamental changes and it reached the point where all that was left of Doctor Who were a few surface trappings.

It had the occasional good episode early on like the The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances two-parter in Eccleston's season and Blink with Tennant, but they were few and far between and far too many stories disappeared up their own backsides.

During Moffet's stint as showrunner it often seemed like every episode was built around a single visual idea from a brainstorming session that they all sat around and erroneously thought "Ooh yes, that will look cool", so we ended up with the Doctor riding a motorbike up the side of The Shard, the Doctor riding on the back of a dinosaur, the Doctor entering a medieval hall on tank wearing sunglasses and playing a Strat, the moon being a giant egg and other complete bollocks like that. Truly, truly dreadful stuff.

I was already on the brink of giving up on it when they turned him into a woman at which point I checked out completely. I understand they've now completely retconned him being a Time Lord and that William Hartnell was the first Doctor. Screw 'em!

[dplank]

Cheers wab.

I saw Dark Matter. It was a bit like an updated version of Blake's 7, but it was one of those shows that got cancelled without an ending. Consequently I regretted spending time on it. It happens so often that I now rarely watch shows until they've finished.

Heroes was the same. It was a worldwide phenomenon when it started then got hit by a writer's strike, completely lost its way and never recovered. There were some intriguing ideas, especially with the time travel teasers, but they were never resolved. The belated comeback did nothing to rectify its failings.

Both shows had great potential but never got close to realising it.

I've seen His Dark Materials. It was OK, but I wasn't that enamoured with it. I think I have the books somewhere, but I've not read them. (I have a lot of books!)

I've seen the first Dune movie and to be honest found it very slow and boring. It reminded my of another movie in that way and then I realised it was directed by Denis Villeneuve with music by Hans Zimmer and figured out it was Bladerunner 2049, the only movie I've ever fallen asleep watching in a cinema! I find Zimmer's recent soundtracks to be very oppressive and soporific. I might just read the Frank Herbert novels at some point instead.

Having just cancelled Amazon Prime, the only streaming service I have now is Netflix. I know 3 Body Problem is on there, so I'll give that a go after I've watched The Recruit which you recommended recently. I started it last night and enjoyed the first episode.

If I recall correctly Wheel of Time is on Amazon. I don't know anything about that one but have heard some negative reviews because it deviates from the source material a lot.

Which platforms are your other recommendations on?

I've got HULU/Disney/ESPN bundle, Amazon (my wife orders too much crap not too), Paramount + (ordering crap from Wal-Mart by my wife), had my brother-in-laws Netflix until they started preventing that. The only other thing I have is the stuff included with Roku (although I've never watched single thing). Not a streaming service per se, but I do use Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) that lets you download all your digital movies into one platform. I like it because you can scan the bar code on your DVD/BluRays and pay $2 to add them to your library and get rid of the disc. I'll go online and find people selling the digital codes they have for $2-5 buck and download them. I've got about 1000 titles on there now.

Holy shit I had no idea you could scan the bar code and do that! Thanks!

[Arkansasbear]

I've got HULU/Disney/ESPN bundle, Amazon (my wife orders too much crap not too), Paramount + (ordering crap from Wal-Mart by my wife), had my brother-in-laws Netflix until they started preventing that. The only other thing I have is the stuff included with Roku (although I've never watched single thing). Not a streaming service per se, but I do use Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) that lets you download all your digital movies into one platform. I like it because you can scan the bar code on your DVD/BluRays and pay $2 to add them to your library and get rid of the disc. I'll go online and find people selling the digital codes they have for $2-5 buck and download them. I've got about 1000 titles on there now.

Holy shit I had no idea you could scan the bar code and do that! Thanks!

It's the best. I was constantly buying movies and had a huge collection. I've been able to convert many of them to my digital library and trash the disc. Not all titles will transfer over though. But I've hunted eBay and other places to find where people were selling digital codes and get rid of the disc. Really makes my wife happy that the closet in my "man-cave" doesn't have bunch of discs in it (not sure why but it's a big deal to her).

[Shadow]

I really only liked Dr. Who when the Doktor was Tom Baker. He was the Doktor when I first saw the show. Special effect looked like they were produced by a High School Drama Club. But I still liked it.