What are you binge watching?

[8893]

Yes, there is a payoff at the end. But what kept me going was the absurdity of everything. Simply the idea that there's this publication that survives off of strange local stories that are either bizarre or mundane yet manages to generate enough ad revenue to pay several people, including a photographer who doesn't own professional equipment or have a professional approach and seems to take one photo a day and does nothing else. I just think that's hilarious.

The entire cast is unattractive misfits by TV standards, and "losers" by conventional capitalist society norms. The only pleasant thing to look at is Diane Morgan's boobage. The meetings on the park bench with the old lady are usually pretty good. Certainly every time Gervais looks at the tapes of his late wife it gets maudlin, but even with his negativity and apparent useless condition, he somehow gets you to root for him. He was good to his dog, so you knew it was in him.

Certainly not a favorite show of mine and it definitely shouldn't have gone beyond season 3, but it's different enough from everything else out there that I found it a good diversion.

The old lady on the bench is probably my favorite character in the show.

 

[8893]

Yes, there is a payoff at the end. But what kept me going was the absurdity of everything. Simply the idea that there's this publication that survives off of strange local stories that are either bizarre or mundane yet manages to generate enough ad revenue to pay several people, including a photographer who doesn't own professional equipment or have a professional approach and seems to take one photo a day and does nothing else. I just think that's hilarious.

The entire cast is unattractive misfits by TV standards, and "losers" by conventional capitalist society norms. The only pleasant thing to look at is Diane Morgan's boobage. The meetings on the park bench with the old lady are usually pretty good. Certainly every time Gervais looks at the tapes of his late wife it gets maudlin, but even with his negativity and apparent useless condition, he somehow gets you to root for him. He was good to his dog, so you knew it was in him.

Certainly not a favorite show of mine and it definitely shouldn't have gone beyond season 3, but it's different enough from everything else out there that I found it a good diversion.

Reflecting some more on your comments here, it's interesting that the absurdity of the whole situation is another thing that it shares with "Ted Lasso," as well as the "lovable misfits" cast. The situation is a little more absurd, and the misfits less attractive and less lovable, but the similarities still hold nonetheless imo.

Whereas the obvious theme of "Ted Lasso" is "believe," I would say that the theme of "After Life" is two-fold: "Life goes on...and love is what makes it worth living."

When I first started watching "After Life," my wife kept commenting on the rest of the cast and how much she loved them, e.g., "Don't you just love the postman?" For most of the first season I grunted and said they were fine, but I wasn't sure what there was to "love" about them. I will say that the show has since succeeded in showing me that there is something to love about at least most of them; still working on the hoarder and the fat kid. But I sense that that overall message--i.e., that there is something to love about everyone, even the misfits among us--is one that is central to the show.

 

[ZooCougar]

I started rewatching The Sopranos. Maybe you guys have heard of it?

 

[meyers7]

I started rewatching The Sopranos. Maybe you guys have heard of it?

My wife and I started watching them. She'd never seen them. I had seen a few here and there.

It's not bad.

Looking forward to the mini-series "The Offer" about the making of The Godfather. Going to be on Paramount+ the end of April.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Yes, there is a payoff at the end. But what kept me going was the absurdity of everything. Simply the idea that there's this publication that survives off of strange local stories that are either bizarre or mundane yet manages to generate enough ad revenue to pay several people, including a photographer who doesn't own professional equipment or have a professional approach and seems to take one photo a day and does nothing else. I just think that's hilarious.

The entire cast is unattractive misfits by TV standards, and "losers" by conventional capitalist society norms. The only pleasant thing to look at is Diane Morgan's boobage. The meetings on the park bench with the old lady are usually pretty good. Certainly every time Gervais looks at the tapes of his late wife it gets maudlin, but even with his negativity and apparent useless condition, he somehow gets you to root for him. He was good to his dog, so you knew it was in him.

Certainly not a favorite show of mine and it definitely shouldn't have gone beyond season 3, but it's different enough from everything else out there that I found it a good diversion.

I just finished season 3 and I agree three was enough. I was hoping for something different in season three and it was just more of the same. I always like the variety of characters on the show, and in season three I particularly liked the advertising woman (Kath) and her dates.

The ending was satisfying... possibly a little mundane. Curious what Gervais does next.

 

[Deepster]

My wife and I started watching them. She'd never seen them. I had seen a few here and there.

It's not bad.

Looking forward to the mini-series "The Offer" about the making of The Godfather. Going to be on Paramount+ the end of April.

Do you still watch The Walking Dead and are you still trying to sell it as having good ratings?

 

[ZooCougar]

The Walkind Dead is one of those Zombie shows that is never going to die.

 

[Deepster]

Not sure if this should be here or in the recently watched movies thread but this one seems more suited to discussion over just a review.

Just watched the first "episode" of Get Back on Disney+. I just hadn't got around to signing up for that streaming option with the zillion other ones I already subscribe to.

• Initial thoughts are it's amazing seeing them work through songs together.
• George is more glue to that process than I probably gave him credit for being.
• Ringo is fascinating to watch and seems equal parts goofy and genius. Sometimes you can literally see the wheels turning in his head.
• Yoko Ono is the absolute worst. I would love to see how the media would have treated her in this day and age.

 

[8893]

Not sure if this should be here or in the recently watched movies thread but this one seems more suited to discussion over just a review.

Just watched the first "episode" of Get Back on Disney+. I just hadn't got around to signing up for that streaming option with the zillion other ones I already subscribe to.

• Initial thoughts are it's amazing seeing them work through songs together.
• George is more glue to that process than I probably gave him credit for being.
• Ringo is fascinating to watch and seems equal parts goofy and genius. Sometimes you can literally see the wheels turning in his head.
• Yoko Ono is the absolute worst. I would love to see how the media would have treated her in this day and age.

The Beatles: Get Back

A 3-episode, nearly 8 hour documentary directed by Peter Jackson featuring in-studio audio and video that was shot in early 1969 for the 1970 film "Let It Be." So much more than that though, including a lot of raw material that became songs on Abbey Road. I thought this was an a incredible...

the-boneyard.com

 

[Kolumbo]

Manifest. The acting is perhaps just a few notches up from Lifetime level, but it's intriguing nevertheless.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Last Kingdom, Season 5. I like this show, although it definitely lost something when Alfred died in season 3. Watching the first episode of Season 5, I have no idea who these people are or what is happening. I will have to search around for a site to explain it to me.

 

[storrsroars]

Knocked off 11.22.63 over last couple of days. Was better than I expected as Franco was pretty decent in the lead. Never read the book, but I found King's time travel parameters interesting. And after reading some of the background on how King researched this, I'm now really interested in how much Doris Kearns Goodwin contributed to the alternate universe.

 

[8893]

Yes, there is a payoff at the end. But what kept me going was the absurdity of everything. Simply the idea that there's this publication that survives off of strange local stories that are either bizarre or mundane yet manages to generate enough ad revenue to pay several people, including a photographer who doesn't own professional equipment or have a professional approach and seems to take one photo a day and does nothing else. I just think that's hilarious.

The entire cast is unattractive misfits by TV standards, and "losers" by conventional capitalist society norms. The only pleasant thing to look at is Diane Morgan's boobage. The meetings on the park bench with the old lady are usually pretty good. Certainly every time Gervais looks at the tapes of his late wife it gets maudlin, but even with his negativity and apparent useless condition, he somehow gets you to root for him. He was good to his dog, so you knew it was in him.

Certainly not a favorite show of mine and it definitely shouldn't have gone beyond season 3, but it's different enough from everything else out there that I found it a good diversion.

I just finished season 3 and I agree three was enough. I was hoping for something different in season three and it was just more of the same. I always like the variety of characters on the show, and in season three I particularly liked the advertising woman (Kath) and her dates.

The ending was satisfying... possibly a little mundane. Curious what Gervais does next.

Just finished season three last night. Not totally satisfying to me but not bad. My wife, who was watching it for the second time, loved it; but I think she took something different away from it than I did.

Spoiler: Spoiler

She thought he was “giving up his seat” on the carnival ride to the next person in line, like he had discussed previously when talking about his father’s take on life. I thought it was intentionally ambiguous and wanted something more, and more uplifting or hopeful. Then I read this morning that he intended it to be hopeful, in that he had accepted Lisa’s death, and the notion that life goes on, and his (and the dog’s) will end someday, too, but not today. I can see that now and like it a bit better with that perspective. But I wanted him to find someone, too; the nurse or someone else.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

WeCrashed (AppleTV) is very good. When AppleTV leans in to a prestige show, they generally do it right. The show is very polished and well produced, and Jared Leto is an amazing actor. It is about the excess and crash of a Silicon Valley unicorn, so it covers similar ground to Dropout, but with more energy. I like Dropout more because the story is more interesting, but this one is definitely worth the watch.

Only complaint is that the pacing is a bit inconsistent, and in particular the story gets dragged down in flashbacks with Hathaway's character. It is important stuff, but it was as if the Producers forgot to edit the flashbacks.

 

[storrsroars]

WeCrashed (AppleTV) is very good. When AppleTV leans in to a prestige show, they generally do it right. The show is very polished and well produced, and Jared Leto is an amazing actor. It is about the excess and crash of a Silicon Valley unicorn, so it covers similar ground to Dropout, but with more energy. I like Dropout more because the story is more interesting, but this one is definitely worth the watch.

Only complaint is that the pacing is a bit inconsistent, and in particular the story gets dragged down in flashbacks with Hathaway's character. It is important stuff, but it was as if the Producers forgot to edit the flashbacks.

I don't have Apple TV, but I tried watching the Hulu documentary on WeWork and couldn't stand it. How employees could be so gullible to fall for Neumann's BS and rationalize the egos of him and his wife was a disturbing indictment on the values of modern society. I wanted to garrote Neumann 10 minutes into the thing as he was so obnoxious and odious. Yet it went on for another 90 minutes, most of which will remain unwatched by me.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't have Apple TV, but I tried watching the Hulu documentary on WeWork and couldn't stand it. How employees could be so gullible to fall for Neumann's BS and rationalize the egos of him and his wife was a disturbing indictment on the values of modern society. I wanted to garrote Neumann 10 minutes into the thing as he was so obnoxious and odious. Yet it went on for another 90 minutes, most of which will remain unwatched by me.

I haven't seen the documentary on it, although I have read a bit about the company. The idea that a co-working company should get a unicorn tech valuation was ridiculous from the start and anyone that fell for it deserved what happened to them. There are virtually no barriers to entry to a business like that.

Spoiler

Neumann is a salesman and a hustler, and is mostly full of bs. Most unicorn CEOs are. The show is fairly gentle on him, but is brutal on the wife and on Masayoshi Son, the Softbank investor that wrote the $4.4 billion check. She comes off as a mousy, pathetic, insecure idiot. Masa comes off as an enabler of Neumann's worst insanity. It is one thing to wail on Rebekah Neumann, who is a nobody. It is quite another to make Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank and worth $25 billion dollars, look like a doofus.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I can't recall who recommended it, maybe ZooCougar, but I binged several episodes of Mythic Quest last night. Was saving it to watch with my daughter, but that seems less likely. They made two bridge episodes between the first and second season, like Ted Lasso did. One of them was Pandemic specific and with a show focused on a workplace, it was hilarious. Video calls, people not showering, it was quite well done. Show has gotten better as it has progressed. I still can't help but find Poppy oddly attractive. Nerdy, lopsided smile, big glasses, Aussie accent.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Just finished watching ZeroZeroZero an Italian series on Amazon on a coworkers request. It is a cartel/'Ndrangheta based storyline not much different than any other narco related show but I enjoyed it. I cannot see it coming back for another season though.

Continuing with the Italian series, I am two episodes in to Gomorrah, which you guessed is based around the Camorra in Campania, on HBO Max. Pretty standard so far, a power struggle is brewing in the Camorra, but I am intrigued as there are 5 seasons so let's see where it goes.

If you do not like subtitles these shows are definitely not for you. ZeroZeroZero has one storyline in English, but the other two storylines are in Spanish and Italian. Gomorrah is entirely in Italian.

 

[EnochRoot]

Just finished Season One of Severance (AppleTV). Easily one of the most entertaining and mystifying shows in a long time.

 

[Mano]

Agreed. Gonna be a long wait for S2.

On to Tokyo Vice.

 

[CL82]

Just finished Season One of Severance (AppleTV). Easily one of the most entertaining and mystifying shows in a long time.

I watched the first two or three and found it to be pretty dull. I guess things pick up?

 

[EnochRoot]

I watched the first two or three and found it to be pretty dull. I guess things pick up?

I don't think dull is the right word at all. While it is a slow build (and burn), the premise of what the severance procedure actually is sets the tone. IMO, you can't be folding laundry, surfing on your laptop or be otherwise distracted. Sit down and rewatch the first few episodes.

 

[CL82]

I don't think dull is the right word at all. While it is a slow build (and burn), the premise of what the severance procedure actually is sets the tone. IMO, you can't be folding laundry, surfing on your laptop or be otherwise distracted. Sit down and rewatch the first few episodes.

I was paying attention when I watched… And that laundry isn’t going to fold itself my friend.

 

[EnochRoot]

I was paying attention when I watched… And that laundry isn’t going to fold itself my friend.

If you paid full attention, yet found the first few episodes to be dull, then I guess this show just isn't for you? ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Just finished the rest of season 1 of Gomorrah and it is definitely worth watching. Fantastic show, not sure how I have not heard of this show until last week seeing as it has been on for five seasons. Excited to continue on and see how the storyline evolves.