The what are you watching on TV? (or iplayer or 4od etc.) Thread

[beans & rice]

I only caught about 20 minutes of the end of the new Who, but right away I was struck by how much Whittaker reminded me of Tennant, which I'm sure was intentional. The new Dr. will develop into her own as they all do. Major points for the suspenders and duster at the end though. Looked rad.
As for the accent, nah. I'm good with most and hers was fine.

I was out last night during the first airing, and the next would've kept me up too late. I'll catch it On Demand or rerun soon. BBCAmerica plays the everloving shit out of certain shows and movies.


We made the mistake of watching the first episode of The Good Cop the other night. Netflix series with Josh Groban and Tony Danza. Gorban is a rigidly honest and nice police detective, Danza is his dad, an ex-cop who went to prison for something. Who cares what.
Anyway, it's not that it was bad, it was just so fucking saccharine. It's the kind of show that's for people who think Murder She Wrote is too intense. So, yeah, won't be sticking with that one at all.

ETA:

We made it through Maniac, with Emma Stone and Jonah Hill.
What a freaky trip! Visually it's such a feast. Both leads put on some superb performances, along with a pretty entertaining support cast. 80s tech and style fans will be overjoyed.

It's a convoluted and fractured storytelling, based around a very simple premise. So getting to the end is important to make all the seemingly absurd and random stuff come together.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Big Mouth on Netflix. This is so fucked up!

 

[everfreetree]

Slight tangent:
Have any of our Muricaland brethren watched the first episode of Dr Who Season 11 yet?
If you have, I’m wondering how you managed with the Yorkshire accents on display?
I fear that there may(?) be some communication *issues*...

I'm apparently pretty good with accents and languages, so I've been told, and I didn't have too much of a problem.
Rarely, I'll miss a word due to a new voice in a differing accent, but once I adjusted, all is well.
Then again, these are "proper" speaking folks, enough that they know to speak clearly on camera, so you don't get much mumbling and all, I suppose, so it's easy mode Yorkshire, heh.

 

[everfreetree]

Stuff I didn’t like:
The Doctor not appearing to give a shit about the train driver dying, the brother of the missing girl or the old bloke being murdered in the warehouse and crane yard respectively. Or that Tim Shaw’s planet had a trophy room of humans kept in a state between alive and dead. WTAF to all of those?
Grace dying? Genuinely felt unnecessary.

I’m not going to make my mind up either until I’ve seen a good few more episodes but I have to say, based on Episode One, I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes next.





.

[Disclaimer: Grumpy, ill-adjusting rant about "the little things" that bugged me. Episode was enjoyable. See TL;DR]

On this note, this feels like new writers trying to be edgy and killing off people at random, for the sake of shock value.
Lazy/amateur-esque writing.
Do not want.

It was alright, overall, but... honestly, even as far as "first episodes" and all go... it's my least favorite initial impression, so far (again, not The Doctor, the episode). Jodie wasn't bad or anything, she seemed to hold strong to her part, but the actual script didn't seem to hold up. I even noticed odd plot holes and accidental "Whoop! That's not supposed to be in the shot to fit the story!" bits (like a certain "return home" item being held in Ryan's hand when he touches the thing? Whoops... didn't happen, accidentally left that shot in.).

I'm not sold.
Just about sold on the new doctor, she's not the problem, but the writing is going to make her a problem, if they aren't careful (or don't get better writers...), as the most recent incarnation of The Doctor takes the heat for any bad writing, typically.


Keeping in mind, I HATED Peter Capaldi when I saw him and his "style" and such, and mostly just... stopped caring, before even seeing the first episode, and then didn't "catch up" until like 8 episodes in, when I finally decided to give him a fair shot (and then actually loved him, after not too long, despite trying to hate him for a bit).
I didn't have that experience with Jodie. I was annoyed that it seemed like a relatively "LET'S JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON" deal, with awkwardly shoving a female lead down everyone's throat, but they (mostly) managed to not make it anything like that, so far. They brushed it off, rather quickly, leaving it a simple, logical change, not an in-your-face bit of point-making and opinion-bashing or anything. I enjoyed this (and again, she's a great actor. No complaints).
I was actually EXCITED about the first episode, after seeing a few bits here and there, and, sadly, as I said, a bit disappointed by the writing, but otherwise, I AM curiously waiting for episode 2, so... they've got me for at least one more episode (assuming they tried a bit harder with episode 2 and didn't go for the cheap shocks and unnecessary BS), which is basically always how it goes, until "one more episode" becomes "Season Finale", so that's a good sign.


TL;DR - Fire/heavily critique the writer(s), keep Jodie, the rest are an alright lot, Yorkshire was a surprise and a hilariously solid location/theme(?) for it all. Enjoyable enough. Hoping for quick improvement in areas found lacking.

We shall see...
*tosses bits of salad at writers*

 

[Tankman]

Nothing. Better Call Saul is done. What next? Many people are suggesting Ozark.

 

[bad alice]

Nothing. Better Call Saul is done. What next? Many people are suggesting Ozark.

Ozark is terrific
Dark as FUCK.
But terrific nonetheless...

 

[SemiCullen]

I LOVED the new Doctor Who. I do think it will take a little time to find its proper footing, but I think it was a good start. Personally, I'm looking forward to a little darker writing. I think Moffat's run started to get a bit too maudlin and convoluted. Peter Capaldi is an amazing actor who I think brought an amazing take to Doctor Who and suffered from some terrible plots and Deus Ex Machina, or, as Terry Prachett called it -- make-it-up-as-you-go-alongium. I look forward to what Chibnall has to offer.

Maniac was terrific. It reminded somewhat of Legion in that it was a heavy mindfuck. Really good show.

 

[bad alice]

Marcella (Netflix) was pretty good - thanks for the head’s up @Wade Garrett
My only complaint was that EVERY SINGLE bloke in it was a twat to some degree.
Gender bias like that not only sucks balls it detracts from what was otherwise a great twisty turny detective whodunit...

 

[beans & rice]

Made it through 4 episodes of Haunting of Hill House.
It's fucking grim.

It's a slow burn, but it's been satisfying so far. Has a nice overarching sense of dread. The kids they got to play the younger versions of the characters are all pretty dang good at conveying the adults' characteristics.

Henry Thomas (Elliot from E.T.) plays the dad in the flashbacks, with Timothy Hutton as the present version.
I noticed they got cheeky in one flashback scene. The two boys were in their treehouse, and there was a closeup of a drawing one of them had done. He kept his crayons in an E.T. lunchbox, and they got a nice close shot of the side panel with the 3 kids from the movie.

Good story so far. I hope it stays as strong as it started.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Made it through 4 episodes of Haunting of Hill House.
It's fucking grim.

It's a slow burn, but it's been satisfying so far. Has a nice overarching sense of dread. The kids they got to play the younger versions of the characters are all pretty dang good at conveying the adults' characteristics.

Henry Thomas (Elliot from E.T.) plays the dad in the flashbacks, with Timothy Hutton as the present version.
I noticed they got cheeky in one flashback scene. The two boys were in their treehouse, and there was a closeup of a drawing one of them had done. He kept his crayons in an E.T. lunchbox, and they got a nice close shot of the side panel with the 3 kids from the movie.

Good story so far. I hope it stays as strong as it started.

I'm watching it right now, it's creepy as hell!

 

[Wade Garrett]

The Curious Creations Of Christine McConnell.

I only watched a little (Netflix), it left me thinking "what the hell am I watching"? It's a strange, creepy cooking programme with puppets. I might try it again if I get drunk one of these days, I have a feeling it's the type of thing you'd enjoy more when you've had a few.

 

[bad alice]

The Curious Creations Of Christine McConnell.

I only watched a little (Netflix), it left me thinking "what the hell am I watching"? It's a strange, creepy cooking programme with puppets. I might try it again if I get drunk one of these days, I have a feeling it's the type of thing you'd enjoy more when you've had a few.

Kind of like 80s power ballads then?
What?
WHAAAAAT?!!

 

[Sustainerplayer]

The Curious Creations Of Christine McConnell.

I only watched a little (Netflix), it left me thinking "what the hell am I watching"? It's a strange, creepy cooking programme with puppets. I might try it again if I get drunk one of these days, I have a feeling it's the type of thing you'd enjoy more when you've had a few.

Yeah - We saw one episode. Even my wife thought it was too weird ...

 

[Sustainerplayer]

The Haunting Of Hill House.

Full disclosure. I'm missing a gene which makes me good and well immune to standard film scares. So ... it was a long boring episode filmed with the worst Instagram filter ever seen.

Scare me? Real people scare me.

 

[beans & rice]

Finished Hill House the other day, been chewing on it a little.
I liked it. It leaves you with lots to ponder on your own, and just accept or dismiss as you want. It wasn't unsatisfying, it just wasn't immediately cinched up. As a series I'm okay with that. Since it required the time to watch I'll invest a little time thinking about it. If it had just been a movie I probably wouldn't have been happy about things.

Started S3 of Daredevil last night.
I'm really fucking bummed that Netflix cancelled Luke Cage AND Iron Fist. I wanted a Heroes For Hire series with the two of them. But with the expenses, writers fighting about episodes being reduced, and the upcoming shift of everything Marvel to the Disney premium channel starting next year, it made better sense to all of the execs. Damn.
Also, Orange is the New Black will be ending after their next season. I'm okay with that.

 

[Chili Hobbes]

I also watched Daredevil season 3. The first episode or 2 were forgettable, but it really picked up speed.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Punisher survives the cull. Regarding the Disney streaming channel, I haven't heard anything about it for ages but they seemed to suggest that because Netflix funded their MCU shows, they'd retain the rights to them.

Either way, I'm not paying for a Disney channel.

 

[Wade Garrett]

We've started watching the new version of Sabrina The Teenage Witch. It's pretty dark, I think I need to see a couple more episodes to see how much I like it.

 

[bad alice]

Just started Daredevil Season 3 and The Cry (BBC) and enjoying both so far.

 

[beans & rice]

We're working through all the network series episodes we've missed the last few weeks. Usually do that rather than catch them when they're originally aired, so we can have big chunks to watch over an evening.

You'll have to let me know about Sabrina, @Wade Garrett Wasn't sure what to think of that one after I watched an ad for it.

 

[beans & rice]

Totally forgot about House of Cards coming. Watched the first 2 eps of the new season, and it's great. There's a strong familiarity, but at the same time it's also quite different in feel. Obviously writing Kevin Spacey out as dead changed the landscape dramatically, but it's more than that. There's a really deep conspiracy playing out that wasn't part of the other seasons. The machinations were all Frank's before, but now it's Claire who has things lined up against her.

I love Claire, and Robin Wright's measured, deliberate portrayal. So her getting the whole spotlight is working. It's the final season, so you know it's gonna get bonkers.