What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Shellhead wrote:

n815e wrote: Starfleet is similar to the US Coast Guard. It’s a military force when it needs to be, it’s a support force, a police force, a search and rescue force, a scientific investigation force.

That makes sense. Still, consider what would happen if the Coast Guard had a captain who behaved like Kirk.

I think TOS especially emphasized just how far away the Enterprise was from Federation centers, thus they were out of communications range so Kirk (and Picard, probably Sisko, obviously Janeway) had a lot of autonomy. This is similar to age of sail (and even up to WW2) captains that had orders but couldn't just radio home for instructions like they can now so they were selected for and expected to exercise considerable personal judgement.

Modern Trek shows really don't focus on distance much, you get where you need to be as quickly as you need to, communications are basically universal, so a central command structure makes more sense though they then lose a lot of worldbuilding around a captain having to make the call on their own (or in the case of Pike, by committee vote on virtually everything).

Blue Eyed Samurai on Netflix is a quite surprising animation show about...wait for it...feudal Japan! Its a mature show with lots of decapitations and delimbing(?) as well as some sex and naked bodies but the animation is pretty good, a CG look but not 12 FPS like some of that cell shaded Netflix stuff. There are some unnecessary (so far, though I'm only on ep3) aspects of the main character IMHO but whatever, its basically a revenge tale so its mostly just about slicing and dicing. The side characters are charming and AFAICT it was made for english speakers so while it has a very japanese feel its not full japanese, if that makes sense, with respect to a lot of the animeisms those shows tend to have. So it feels more like Avatar the last airbender or Afro-samurai in that respect. No idea if this is based on anything other than a loose interpretation of the Edo period before Japan opened back up to the wider world.

I also thought Blue Eye Samurai was decent. After that one I went right into Onimusha, another feudal Japan tale, this time with magic and demons. It's also passable. Neither show is a must see, but your time won't be wasted, either.

I'm four episodes into Blue Eye Samurai and I've found it to be pretty solid. It is a pretty accurate depiction of Shogunate Japan and I appreciate the attention to detail; from dress to food to local customs. It is just a straightforward revenge tale and, of course, using the title for a lordless warrior isn't correct (the lead isn't a samurai, but rather a ronin), but that's what marketing often demands. Unlike a lot of things on Netflix, I'll probably watch this one to the end.

I finished Mr. Inbetween on Hulu. Overall I'd say it's a decent show, but season 1 was the best, when it was possible to still like the protagonist. It's quite a ride though, with more emotional parts than I expected for a crime drama.

My favorite part was learning all of the Australian lingo.

hotseatgames wrote: I finished Mr. Inbetween on Hulu. Overall I'd say it's a decent show, but season 1 was the best, when it was possible to still like the protagonist. It's quite a ride though, with more emotional parts than I expected for a crime drama.

My favorite part was learning all of the Australian lingo.

If you ever come to Sydney I'll shout you a dimmy

First two episodes of the new season of Fargo are quite good!

trif wrote: If you ever come to Sydney I'll shout you a dimmy

One question for you.... they never address why the show is called Mr. Inbetween. Is that a reference only an Australian would get?

A single time, someone calls him The Magician, which I felt was strange that it was only used once. I assume it's because he makes bodies disappear.

hotseatgames wrote:

trif wrote: If you ever come to Sydney I'll shout you a dimmy

One question for you.... they never address why the show is called Mr. Inbetween. Is that a reference only an Australian would get?

A single time, someone calls him The Magician, which I felt was strange that it was only used once. I assume it's because he makes bodies disappear.

The character was in an earlier short film called the Magician. It also works as a little hint that a guy like this might be a living legend in certain circles.
Since you mentioned it, was there a specific moment you stopped liking Ray?

Finished watching season one of Enterprise. It wasn't as bad as I expected, based on my reaction to watching the first several episodes when they originally aired. The writing and the acting is decent, and everything looks good, but I have concluded that I just don't like the main characters. They are not bad people, and they would be great people to have around in a crisis, but I wouldn't want to hang out with any of them on a regular basis. Which sounds highly improbable at best, except that I consider watching a tv show to be somewhat like hanging out with the characters every time I watch. But I am going to stick with it, especially knowing that I will get to watch Discovery season 2 and Strange New Worlds afterwards. My trivia team needs help, and I suspect that most of them have not been re-watching Enterprise. Also, I just went on a nice first date with a Star Trek fan yesterday.

Nodens wrote: Since you mentioned it, was there a specific moment you stopped liking Ray?

I can't remember the exact moment, but I think in season 2 he just really lets his anger get the best of him, beating people up on the sidewalk for the most trivial stuff. Just his explosive temper, much like Tony Soprano.

Yeah, OK, this season of Rick and Morty is just bad. Not even approaching the humor or edginess or bizarre quality of any of the rest of them. I watched episode 8 and didn't come close to laughing even once. There have been seasons that aren't as good as others, as with any show, but there's been one episode out of 8 that's been worth the watch and that was solely for story development. The dropoff here is similar to the difference between True Detective seasons 1 and 2 (I didn't finish watching the latter until years after it was initially broadcast when I had absolutely nothing to do one weekend.) I'm really kind of amazed at how utterly boring this is.

Been enjoying Slow Horses on AppleTV. Slough House is home to our heroes, the screwup and burnout MI5 agents who can’t just be fired. Just a lot of fun performances beginning with Gary Oldman as the anti-George Smiley as the most abrasive, slovenly agent in history. Other standouts include Kristin Scott Thomas’ steel security director, Jack Lowden’s legacy agent who is not nearly the James Bond he thinks he is and Saskia Reeves’ secretary.

Plotting is overly elaborate but always moving forward. I enjoy being in the world even if it’s not an all-timer.

I suspect that once they ran out of the Mick Herron novels Gary Oldman's going to pay for the show's production himself. He appears to be having a great time as Jackson Lamb.

(sigh - I do wish Apple TV would release their stuff on physical media. They're doing some great shows but you should be able to just lend discs of Ted Lasso / For All Mankind / Slow Horses etc rather than ask people to sign up themselves.)

I'm watching The Pacific, which is bloody awful. I tried to hate-watch my way through it but just gave up 15 minutes into episode 7.

Wallowing in mental illness.