What are you binge watching?

[nelsonmuntz]

So I have Peacock channel for the next month getting it for the game and then I also recently watched the SNL movie on Netflix. Figured I’d get around to watching the original season of Saturday Night Live today and got through a bunch of the first episodes. Super cool to watch the beginning stages of that show, it really was a ground breaker. Some of the skits are kind of cheesy or dated or not really that funny, but you could see what they were trying to do with the show.

Comedy often doesn’t age well.

I think of those early seasons as almost a history lesson of a huge cultural break occurring in America. SNL and National Lampoon were revolutionary compared to the silly, and deeply misogynistic humor of shows like Laugh In that came right before it.

 

[Deepster]

Comedy often doesn’t age well.

I think of those early seasons as almost a history lesson of a huge cultural break occurring in America. SNL and National Lampoon were revolutionary compared to the silly, and deeply misogynistic humor of shows like Laugh In that came right before it.

Good call. I can’t say I laughed a ton at those episodes but I was still interested seeing how the show was put together originally. And highlighting someone like Andy Kaufman certainly pushed an envelope back then.

 

[ZooCougar]

The new Vietnam Doc on Apple is super. Episodes are short and they cover quite a few things that many people didn’t know about.

It’s mostly about the war’s impact on Americans but quite a few Vietnamese are interviewed.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Good call. I can’t say I laughed a ton at those episodes but I was still interested seeing how the show was put together originally. And highlighting someone like Andy Kaufman certainly pushed an envelope back then.

Michael O’Donoghue was crazier than Kaufman, if that is possible, and he was head writer. The show got more professional in Lorne Michaels 2.0, and I think it got more consistent.

 

[storrsroars]

I first discovered her in Life. An underrated show that starred Damien Lewis.

I hear your plot criticisms, but it's early enough in the series that I'm gonna let it play out. Without giving away any spoilers, we still don't know who else is around outside of their immediate community.

OK, this week's episode finally started to put some things into place. Although I still have to wonder about the decision to include a bunch of carnival equipment in the "must have" stuff for the new community. And what happens after all the booze is consumed?

 

[billythekid]

OK, this week's episode finally started to put some things into place. Although I still have to wonder about the decision to include a bunch of carnival equipment in the "must have" stuff for the new community. And what happens after all the booze is consumed?

It's definitely not a particularly memorable show, but it's entertaining enough to provide content. I'm pretty good at suspension of disbelief, just hope things don't get too preposterous.

And you're right, when they run out of free Poppy Van Winkle, there will riots.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Even though How I Met Your Mother was a Friends' rip off, I feel like HIMYM has aged better. It is still great for background if you are working late or doing something else but would like the TV on.

 

[ZooCougar]

I was pretty excited to watch American Primevel until I actually saw it.

It’s a Western with the music from Friday Night Lights. It has almost zero historical accuracy. And I just can’t excuse that because it was like Peter Berg decided that the original history was too boring. But there simply was no massacre of US Army Troops like that in the Utah War. The Meadow massacre took place hundreds and hundreds of miles from Fort Bridger and it comprised nearly all of the 150 casualties in the Utah War.

I branches off into to two stories. Some lady running from Bounty Hunters with Taylor Kitsch and Jim Bridger/Brigham Young/Utah War story.

Neither are very satisfying.

Peter Berg has been replaced by Taylor Sheridan.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Finished 1883. Now I need season 2 of 1923. Maybe a return to Yellowstone

1883 - Good stuff. The country singer husband and wife team of Tim McGraw & Faith Hill did just fine. Sam Elliot is perfect of course. Lamonica Garrett is aged up but is good (looks so much younger in Lioness). The real star is Isabel May, who is a brown eyed doppelganger for young Jennifer Lawrence. She narrates; it's her story really. Is it absurd at times? Yes, but an 18 year old girl living day to day with real peril is going to be volatile.

1923 - Arguably better. Reviewed previously.

Yellowstone - I didn't finish it. It went off the rails a little bit. I'll go back to it, but the backstory has made finishing it a bit more compelling.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I was pretty excited to watch American Primevel until I actually saw it.

It’s a Western with the music from Friday Night Lights. It has almost zero historical accuracy. And I just can’t excuse that because it was like Peter Berg decided that the original history was too boring. But there simply was no massacre of US Army Troops like that in the Utah War. The Meadow massacre took place hundreds and hundreds of miles from Fort Bridger and it comprised nearly all of the 150 casualties in the Utah War.

I branches off into to two stories. Some lady running from Bounty Hunters with Taylor Kitsch and Jim Bridger/Brigham Young/Utah War story.

Neither are very satisfying.

Peter Berg has been replaced by Taylor Sheridan.

There were many liberties taken with individual facts in American Primeval, but I can live with that. The pre-Civil War west was really primitive and violent, and that is what Berg was trying to present.

My bigger issue is the portrayal of Brigham Young. Maybe it is because Kim Coates only knows how to come off like a demented psycho, but I thought the show turned one of the more interesting people of that era in the West into a one-dimensional villain. Brigham Young's behavior during that period was very strategic and ultimately successful. While it is not clear what the U.S. government's intentions were with the Mormons in the late 1850's, I think the Mormons were justified in fearing the American government and Buchanan did not do much to assuage those fears. As leader of the Utah settlers during that war, Young was ultimately successful in protecting his people, and did step down as Governor in return for a full pardon of all the Mormons and preservation of their effective, if not official, governance of Utah Territory. People of the time certainly felt that Young had won the Utah War, calling it "Buchanan's Blunder".

TV and movies will always make the old West more bloody and violent than it really was, but I do not think that was the problem with American Primeval. I think the show's stupid last 30 minutes of the last episode is a much bigger problem.

 

[ZooCougar]

There were many liberties taken with individual facts in American Primeval, but I can live with that. The pre-Civil War west was really primitive and violent, and that is what Berg was trying to present.

My bigger issue is the portrayal of Brigham Young. Maybe it is because Kim Coates only knows how to come off like a demented psycho, but I thought the show turned one of the more interesting people of that era in the West into a one-dimensional villain. Brigham Young's behavior during that period was very strategic and ultimately successful. While it is not clear what the U.S. government's intentions were with the Mormons in the late 1850's, I think the Mormons were justified in fearing the American government and Buchanan did not do much to assuage those fears. As leader of the Utah settlers during that war, Young was ultimately successful in protecting his people, and did step down as Governor in return for a full pardon of all the Mormons and preservation of their effective, if not official, governance of Utah Territory. People of the time certainly felt that Young had won the Utah War, calling it "Buchanan's Blunder".

TV and movies will always make the old West more bloody and violent than it really was, but I do not think that was the problem with American Primeval. I think the show's stupid last 30 minutes of the last episode is a much bigger problem.

The Mormons actually exercised a great deal of restraint in countering the US Army in that “war”. They basically waged a non kinetic guerrilla war by cutting off supplies and burning the land so that they couldn’t forage.

I get that he wanted to portray all the violence but the truth is actually much more interesting.

I kept thinking that I liked this show better when it was “The Revenant”.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Even though How I Met Your Mother was a Friends' rip off, I feel like HIMYM has aged better. It is still great for background if you are working late or doing something else but would like the TV on.

It's a basic formula that has been used repeatedly. Among others, "New Girl" is fun for a while but I get burned out on the main character eventually. But my favorite is "Happy Endings," probably the least well known of any of these types of shows. Only 3 seasons, I've watched it all the way thru probably at least 3 times.

 

[j66kicker]

Binged all 5 episodes of Season 6, Part 3 of Cobra Kai last night (released on Netflix yesterday). Still stupid unrealistic plot and bad martial arts (but so was Karate Kid). Fun nonetheless.

As part of the promotion the actors who play Sam (Daniel’s daughter) and Robbie (Johnny’s son) announced their engagement on the red carpet Wednesday night.

The story finally seems to be over, as in “NWIH they could continue it after this.” But it has a very large viewing audience, so I’m sure they’ll find a way…

 

[nwhoopfan]

A friend was just telling me about "Grimm.' Saw it's on Prime, so I started watching it. About halfway thru season 1. Entertaining so far.

Not binging because it's on network tv and airing weekly episodes, but somewhat interested in "The Hunting Party" so far. Formula may get tiresome but I'm giving it a go for now.

 

[HuskyHawk]

A friend was just telling me about "Grimm.' Saw it's on Prime, so I started watching it. About halfway thru season 1. Entertaining so far.

Not binging because it's on network tv and airing weekly episodes, but somewhat interested in "The Hunting Party" so far. Formula may get tiresome but I'm giving it a go for now.

I watched Grimm when it was on Network. Liked it quite a bit. By the way the lead husband and wife got married and had a child.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I watched Grimm when it was on Network. Liked it quite a bit. By the way the lead husband and wife got married and had a child.

It's set in Portland, OR. I can't tell for sure while watching if it was actually filmed there. But the end of one episode they were definitely at Multnomah Falls, east of the city. One of the tallest falls in the U.S. I've been there many many times.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Mixing in some realism with the fantasy elements of Grimm, I've also started C.B. Strike. British detective series.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I was behind on White Lotus so I don't know if they've always released them 1 episode at a time rather than making the whole season available to stream. Ep.1 of Season 3 just debuted. Looks like a 3 horse race for the biggest jerk between Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Walton Goggins.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Started one of the most compelling shows I've seen in a long time. Rogue Heroes. Set in WWII during the North Africa campaign, it tells the mostly true story of the formation of the SAS. The tag line on the show is “the events depicted which seem most unbelievable… are mostly true“. This comes from the creators of Peaky Blinders and it's really good. The story itself, the true story is barely believable. The guys who formed the unit are excentric and a bit mad. Very human, very fallible, but also very brave. I won't bother listing the cast because it's huge. The overall approach reminds me a little of Guy Ritchie, it blends humor with outrageous characters and the pace just pushes it all along. Streaming on MGM+ and maybe other places, it originally aired on BBC One. Strong recommendation.

 

[storrsroars]

Started one of the most compelling shows I've seen in a long time. Rogue Heroes. Set in WWII during the North Africa campaign, it tells the mostly true story of the formation of the SAS. The tag line on the show is “the events depicted which seem most unbelievable… are mostly true“. This comes from the creators of Peaky Blinders and it's really good. The story itself, the true story is barely believable. The guys who formed the unit are excentric and a bit mad. Very human, very fallible, but also very brave. I won't bother listing the cast because it's huge. The overall approach reminds me a little of Guy Ritchie, it blends humor with outrageous characters and the pace just pushes it all along. Streaming on MGM+ and maybe other places, it originally aired on BBC One. Strong recommendation.

There's also a recent doc streaming somewhere, and the physical resemblance of the real guys to the actors playing them is at time uncanny, especially Paddy Mayne. The doc gets a lot more into things that went wrong instead of just focusing on the heroics.I'm not signing up for MGM+ until after hoops season when I can cancel something else, but the first season is available on Prime. I thought the first season was good, but I wasn't as enthused about it as you were.

 

[Deepster]

The Bookie on HBO.

The scene with a character on 'shrooms reliving his time as a fetus still has me cracking up.

I'm 7 episodes in and it's entertaining. Sebastian Maniscalco and his sidekick have decent chemistry and it's got an Elmore Leonard, "Get Shorty" vibe.

 

[temery]

I was behind on White Lotus so I don't know if they've always released them 1 episode at a time rather than making the whole season available to stream. Ep.1 of Season 3 just debuted. Looks like a 3 horse race for the biggest jerk between Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Walton Goggins.

season three hasn't started out very well.

 

[superjohn]

The Penguin was good. Colin Farrell eats up the screen and some nods to the Sopranos but Oswald is a lot darker than Tony.

 

[ZooCougar]

The Penguin was good. Colin Farrell eats up the screen and some nods to the Sopranos but Oswald is a lot darker than Tony.

That ending though. Damn.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Penguin was good. Colin Farrell eats up the screen and some nods to the Sopranos but Oswald is a lot darker than Tony.

That ending though. Damn.

I found Cristin Milioti his equal as Sofia. She's just captivating. Such a well fleshed out character. Kudos on the writing.