What are you binge watching? | Page 71 | The Boneyard

What are you binge watching?

I picked up Welcome to Wrexham season 3. This show is just really well done. Across one episode they wove in a tragic story of a played pulled off the field as his pregnant wife was in the hospital with severe pre-eclampsia. Emergency C-section and he faces losing both as she's in ICU and the very premature baby in NICU. Meanwhile there's a 100 year old fan sharing his experiences through the years. So they want to honor him in the stadium pre-match. Unrelated except that as he's walking out he's greeted by the now healthy wife holding the baby. It packed a real emotional punch but was subtly done.

Real people's real stories are just more compelling than fake TV. The show is just bursting with them.
 
Binged "The Veil" (Hulu). Got mixed reviews but I found it mostly a compelling story and well acted, at least till the sixth and final episode, which got mired is some bizarre stuff which could've easily been cut w/o affecting the story. The always interesting Elisabeth Moss is great, the woman playing her frenemy was believable, and I always enjoy what Josh Charles brings to whatever he's in. Found it an enjoyable watch, although it could've used more editing in the finale.
 
I finished season two of Reacher. I liked it, but I have a few quibbles about it. I am not a fan of the tendency of TV writers to decide to rewrite source material unnecessarily. In this case they decided to add the angry detective sub narrative. It's reasonably well done but a cliché.

Also, at the end of the book there is a touching scene (pun notintended, but recognized) where Neagley briefly reaches out and touches Reacher. It is well established by that time (Bad Luck and Trouble is book 11 in the Reacher series, more on that later) that Neagley does not like physical contact with other people, presumedly because of some trauma in her past. Her pushing past that to touch and hold that touch with Reacher is a tremendously poignant moment in the book that speaks to her own issues and her affection for Reacher. Moving that moment to the TV writer created detective was an OK TV moment (though it felt a little contrived to me) but it lacked the power of that moment in the novel and misses the way that touch helps define in expand upon the relationship between Reacher and Neagley, particularly coming after the Karla Dixon affair.

I felt that using Bad Luck and Trouble as the second season of the TV show was a mistake. As noted above, it is the 11th book in the series. By that time, Reacher is a well established character and adding his former 110th team expands what we know about him. in the TV version, it almost seem to take away his uniqueness. Instead there was a whole bunch of mini Reachers.

Also, the storyline that the 110th Special Investigations Unit existed briefly and was disbanded is different than the novels universe. Remember the movie Never go Back? Well, reacher is going back to the 110th. One of the funny subplots in the Reacher series Is the question of how he lost command of the 110th. We know that the answer involves a dent in his desk. In the book Never go Back we find out that the dent was created by Reacher slamming his CO's head against it. Waiting for that scene at the end of season two, but instead we got the "Party scene."

I could go through more stuff but this post is already way too long. I will say that the violence in the novels, and there's an awful lot of it, never seems contrived, mean spirited, or sadistic. It's always either necessary to advance a goal or justified pursuant to Reachers moral code. in the TV series it just seems to exist for its own sake. They did a better job with that in season one.

All that said, I enjoyed season two, but as a fan of the novel series, I wish the writers would stay closer to the source material.
 
CL82 said:
I finished season two of Reacher. I liked it, but I have a few quibbles about it. I am not a fan of the tendency of TV writers to decide to rewrite source material unnecessarily. In this case they decided to add the angry detective sub narrative. It's reasonably well done but a cliché.

Also, at the end of the book there is a touching scene (pun notintended, but recognized) where Neagley briefly reaches out and touches Reacher. It is well established by that time (Bad Luck and Trouble is book 11 in the Reacher series, more on that later) that Neagley does not like physical contact with other people, presumedly because of some trauma in her past. Her pushing past that to touch and hold that touch with Reacher is a tremendously poignant moment in the book that speaks to her own issues and her affection for Reacher. Moving that moment to the TV writer created detective was an OK TV moment (though it felt a little contrived to me) but it lacked the power of that moment in the novel and misses the way that touch helps define in expand upon the relationship between Reacher and Neagley, particularly coming after the Karla Dixon affair.

I felt that using Bad Luck and Trouble as the second season of the TV show was a mistake. As noted above, it is the 11th book in the series. By that time, Reacher is a well established character and adding his former 110th team expands what we know about him. in the TV version, it almost seem to take away his uniqueness. Instead there was a whole bunch of mini Reachers.

Also, the storyline that the 110th Special Investigations Unit existed briefly and was disbanded is different than the novels universe. Remember the movie Never go Back? Well, reacher is going back to the 110th. One of the funny subplots in the Reacher series Is the question of how he lost command of the 110th. We know that the answer involves a dent in his desk. In the book Never go Back we find out that the dent was created by Reacher slamming his CO's head against it. Waiting for that scene at the end of season two, but instead we got the "Party scene."

I could go through more stuff but this post is already way too long. I will say that the violence in the novels, and there's an awful lot of it, never seems contrived, mean spirited, or sadistic. It's always either necessary to advance a goal or justified pursuant to Reachers moral code. in the TV series it just seems to exist for its own sake. They did a better job with that in season one.

All that said, I enjoyed season two, but as a fan of the novel series, I wish the writers would stay closer to the source material.
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Gave up on it. Huge drop off from S1.
 
Got a word of mouth recommendation for Hell on Wheels, which was on AMC but is now available on Prime and Freevee.

Pretty good so far. Definitely a show for grownups in that there are lots of shades of gray.
 
Started watching The Rings of Power on prime. I'm only a few episodes in, but so far, I like it.
 
College Softball and Baseball Tournaments.
 
Our HOA board recently hired a new cable provider for all homes. It's taken a little time to go filter thru all the channels.

Part of the package is PlutoTV. So we are watching the following:
The Outer Limits
Perry Mason
Star Trek - the original series. Has all the other ones.
Hawaii Five-0 with Jack Lord
Mission: Impossible
Have Gun-Will Travel
Rawhide
Wanted: Dead or Alive

Plus Pluto has a Sci-Fi section with all 38 Godzilla movies!!
 
"The Iron Claw" was decent but not great. Covered a lot of territory, there was some time dilation. I was disappointed there was very little time spent showing the 3 Von Erichs wrestling together. Of course it was depressing. What got me the most wasn't any of the individual deaths, it was at the end when all his brothers were gone and Kevin was watching his 2 boys playing together, the way he and his brothers used to. That was a great scene.

I've seen a bit of commentary about casting. The one big miss--well huge actually--was Ric Flair. I don't know who the actor was, but missed by miles.
 
Oops sorry, posted in wrong thread, too late to delete.
 
Kolumbo said:
Justified
I am cruising through and almost done with season 3 of 6. I find it very entertaining. Great actors and the storyline in Season 3 is very interesting.
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Boyd Crowder is one of the all time great TV characters. Also, there is just something very appealing about Ava. She just does it for me. It also has one of the all time great opening scenes on that rooftop restaurant in Miami.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Boyd Crowder is one of the all time great TV characters. Also, there is just something very appealing about Ava. She just does it for me. It also has one of the all time great opening scenes on that rooftop restaurant in Miami.
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Ava? I’m more into the ex Mrs Givens.

Consistent with my preference for Mary Ann versus Ginger.
 
NEforceUConn said:
Ava? I’m more into the ex Mrs Givens.

Consistent with my preference for Mary Ann versus Ginger.
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Girl Why Dont We Have Both GIF
 
HuskyHawk said:
Boyd Crowder is one of the all time great TV characters. Also, there is just something very appealing about Ava. She just does it for me. It also has one of the all time great opening scenes on that rooftop restaurant in Miami.
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Agree about Ava and the ex Mrs. Givens. There are also many other guest appearances which rank very highly.

This show is great and I am almost finished. Boyd Crowder is definitely one of the coolest characters. balls and brains.

Wynn Duffy (I will always think of Kirk on Dear John): “Oh, the one wonton among the tortillas?”
Boyd Crowder: “I would have said, ‘kimchi in the salsa.’”
Mr. Yun: "That's good."
because Boyd knows Mr. Yun is Korean
 
I'm half of season one into American Rust (Amazon, but billed as a Showtime production), and I like it a lot so far. Jeff Daniels doesn't have a huge range, but he's always solid and has a kind of gravitas that's on display here. And his character is complicated. The rest of the cast is great also. Hopefully not a jinx for the remainder of the series.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Yeah, I’m watching it right now and there’s a lot to remember. Probably should have read a recap.
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We'll watch the last episode and then hit Season 2.
 
Deepster said:
Ted - I got Peacock for the KC playoff game and I’m stuck with it for a month so I started watching Ted. The prequel series to the Set McFarlane films about the crude teddy bear that came to life. Actually pretty funny. 4 episodes in. It’s light and low brow but classic McFarlane funny.
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It is funny. The plot is ridiculous, but it is supposed to be ridiculous. There are several laugh-out-loud moments in each of the first three episodes.
 
Kolumbo said:
Agree about Ava and the ex Mrs. Givens. There are also many other guest appearances which rank very highly.

This show is great and I am almost finished. Boyd Crowder is definitely one of the coolest characters. balls and brains.

Wynn Duffy (I will always think of Kirk on Dear John): “Oh, the one wonton among the tortillas?”
Boyd Crowder: “I would have said, ‘kimchi in the salsa.’”
Mr. Yun: "That's good."
because Boyd knows Mr. Yun is Korean
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Justified
I just finished and I am intrigued with the characters and the story. The final episode was very well done and still leaves some questions. I'm still reading about it online.
The show is based on the book "Fire In The Hole" by Elmore Leonard. Near the end Marshall Givens gives Marshall Gutterson (played by Jacob Rives Pitts, born in Weston, CT) a copy of the book "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" by George V. Higgins. May have to read it.

So many great lines by great characters in this show. Choo-Choo: "You want him slapped like a little girl, you do it, alright. You ask me, he gets Amtraked."
 
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