What are we watching?

Ted Lasso starts off great but then you realize that every episode is exactly the same. Good natured Ted runs into some mean people and by his sweet kindness he manages to overcome their nastiness. Great premise. Terrible execution.

The Last Kingdom is bloody but really well done -- beautifully filmed, well acted, and stars the extremely attractive Alexander Draymon, who often takes off all his clothes to reveal an amazing body -- although we only see it from the back.

I just finished The Queen's Gambit and loved it. Have you watched it?

Was the Undoing ok? I couldn't get past the first 25 minutes where NOTHING happens.

If you haven't seen Watchmen, it's jumped into my top 3 shows of all times after the second watching.

Marrowbone on Hulu.

[quote]A young man and his younger siblings who have concealed the death of their mother to remain together are plagued by a sinister presence in their home.

It's labeled as thriller, horror but it's more psychological.

I've been on an Agatha Christie kick lately and have been surprised to find some of the newer stuff on Hoopla or Kanopy (free sites) that are not on Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu (just one of the British pay services.)

Can you get Dynasty or Dallas anywhere? I'd so watch those camp-fests again.

R3, I haven't watched The Queen's Gambit, I'll give it a whirl.

R4, The Undoing was pretty craptastic. Should have been a lifetime movie. But the apartment interiors/clothes were fun. And I've heard GREAT things about The Watchmen from people I trust. That genre has never interested me in the past but I'll try it!

A few I liked recently. Some of these I arrived late to, they're not all fresh to the market, but assuming other people discover things in similar ways...

*Suburra* - Netflix: Italy, 3 season series. Crime drama set in Rome and nearby Ostia, with gypsies, mafia, a gay main character; beautiful locations and art direction, an interesting story, and good actors. Not the story I expected which is what held my interest.

*Dark* - Netflix, Germany, 2019, 3 season series. Extraordinarily good; complex and beautiful

*Los Favoritos de Midas* - Netflix, Spain, 2020 1 season series. Based around a Jack London story, it's a short mini-series; entertaining enough.

*Archer* - Netflix, 10 seasons animated series. Funny, smart, a very effective simple style of drawing, and about the only animated work that can hold my attention.

*The Rain* - Netflix, Danish, 2020, 3 season series. Survivors at the end of the world stuff, but more engaging than I expected, and a very different focus than if it had been made, say, by Americans

*Roberto Pérez Toledo (mividarueda)* - YouTube; Spain. A series of videos by a gay filmmaker, some.longer and plotted, some just short conversations or monologues of a minute or two or three; some are funny, some thoughtful and poignant, and short on "gay message" except at it's most elemental and personal. (In Spanish)

What is this obsession with TV? I imagine you guys sitting in big reclined recliners, a giant bowl of popcorn balanced on your protruding bellies, endlessly watching TV.

Des (3 part mini series. Homo murdering and dismembering other homos. Ignore the subject matter. David Tennant is BRILLIANT!)

Professor T (3 seasons, 13 episodes/season. Quirky, Flemish criminology professor with lots of personal issues. Impeccable writing/directing/acting.)

Trapped (Ófærð, 2 seasons, 10 episodes/season. Murder, mayhem and trying to catch the bad guy in 3 meters of snow on the ground and -20C Reykjavik.)

All available on free streaming sites with English subs.

I know I'm late to the party, but I just started watching "The Good Wife" on Prime and I LOVE it. Seven seasons of 23 episodes each, so it'll keep me going for a while.

I actually worked in reverse and watched the spin-off, "The Good Fight" (which I also enjoyed), first.

R10, thank you for that aggressively useless commentary. It's possible to be in great shape AND enjoy some tv.

[Quote] RNC's highest-paid vendor of the 2020 election:

Movie theaters were ailing. It's near dead now. The ones in NYC are opening on may 30.

And now for something completely different.

[quote]What is this obsession with TV? I imagine you guys sitting in big reclined recliners, a giant bowl of popcorn balanced on your protruding bellies, endlessly watching TV.

Yeah, how dare people discuss TV on a TV thread. Next you'll be discussing books on a book thread and music on a music thread. The nerve!

Anyway, I've been checking out a lot of the foreign language series on HBO On Demand, the most recent one being The Secret Lives of Couples from Brazil. It's uneven, but actor Hugo Bonemer is pretty to look at.

Also watching some of the indie gay films on Pluto as well as some of the Latin American films on HBO On Demand.

Romancing the Stone on Amazon Prime

Has anyone seen Rent A Pal on Hulu?

I watched 3 bizarre horror/suspense movies yesterday, including the House that Jack Built with Matt Dillon.

They were all kinda disturbing, but if you like that genre, worth a watch. Rent A Pal alone for the old VHS references.

HBOMax. Sharp Objects. Finished The Flight Attendant and moved on to another alcoholic, fucked up lead character.

Have you seen the French series "The Returned"? Genuinely creepy and the French aren't afraid to show dick! Highly recommend.

I watched this last night.

HBO Max - I have binge watched (and recommend) Frayed, Search Party, Love Life and Pure.

Gave up on Two Weeks To Live.

Currently watching I May Destroy You and Beforeigners.

[quote] Have you seen the French series "The Returned"? Genuinely creepy and the French aren't afraid to show dick! Highly recommend.

The first season is so good. They didn’t seem to know where to take it in the second/final season though.

"Valley of Tears" on HBO Max is excellent.

Like most foreign series, it's much better with subtitles, the dubbing is awful.

HBO Max. All things Wonder Woman! Stream the Lynda Carter TV series then watch Wonder Woman 1984 tomorrow afternoon!

[quote] Was the Undoing ok? I couldn't get past the first 25 minutes where NOTHING happens.

I would avoid it then. I actually really enjoyed the first two episodes but was bored stiff after that.

My friend who pays for streaming services has been loving the Mandalorian, the Crown, Queen's Gambit, and The Great.

I buy a la carte and haven't watched anything new since last month when Google Play finally brought out Armando Iannuci's "The Personal History of David Copperfield," which I liked a lot. I'm still waiting for them to get "Hamilton." I am NOT signing up for Disney+ just for that, even for free.

[italic]Contagion[/italic] on HBO, because it's such a feel-good movie

I've been binge watching [italic]Peaky Blinders[/italic] on Netflix, but I needed a break from the violence and idiotic behavior.

I was going to watch [italic]Batman Returns[/italic] as part of my non-traditional Christmas movie binge, but balked at watching Danny DeVito eat fish again. Burton made that movie just a little too ugly for me.

New shows of The Good Doctor, Goldbergs & Days Of Our Lives.

Reruns of Hot In Cleveland, Golden Girls, Gilligan's Island & various Star Trek shows.

Also Fear The Walking Dead which has been great this year.

Sweet Home on Netflix. Scary crazy shit.

Seasons 1 & 2 of Fargo on Hulu. I've heard seasons 3 & 4 are less enjoyable so I've been dragging my feet starting those.

this one, if you don't mind subtitles, "The Bad Kids", one of the best international series I have watched this year.

HBO Max, Beforeigners. Loved it--really different.

Hulu, Devs. Also loved. You'll know after 2 episodes if it works for you.

Prime has largest, most eclectic selection.

I just binged the first four seasons of "Grantchester" on Amazon Prime. (Season 5 is not yet available--free, anyway.)

Before that, I watched all the episodes of "DCI Banks." Not sure which Brit series is next. Maybe "Law and Order UK."

If you have HBOMax I recommend the British series Murders at While House Farm. It’s great, based on an actual crime that I knew nothing about. Freddie Fox is fantastic.

On Prime:

Hunters

Trapped

Fortitude

Bosch

Goliath

Origins

Endeavour

Animal Kingdom

The Durrells in Corfu

Netflix:

The Ripper

The African Doctor

40 Year Old Version

Signs (Polish series)

Giri/Haji

The Five

Dating Around

The Repair Shop

Young Wallander

I've been on a Laura Linney kick: I binged [italic]The Big C[/italic] on Prime last month and I just finished the final (?) [italic]Tales of the City[/italic] series on Netflix. Is [italic]Ozark[/italic] any good?

Orark is the best of them all.

Mindhunter on Netflix

Ozark is excellent

"Unbelievable" on Netflix. The scripts are great and Merritt Wever gives her career-best performance. Kaitlyn Dever as a teenage rape victim is pretty astonishing as well.

If you're looking for something specific, but don't know which streaming service, if any, has it, check out JustWatch Streaming Guide. You can search for a movie or tv show and it will list all of the steaming services, both free and paid, that has it. It also keeps a running list of new release on each platform.

Oops. Screwed up the link.

Thanks! That’s a great resource!

R10: Ya know, I'm 68 years old, and dragging a bag around these days. Also sex is a physical impossibility, and my mind is slowly going too. Ya know what I think? I think I'll shut this fucking thing off and GO WATCH SOME TV!!!

And thanks up above for all the suggestions, very helpful. Happy holidays to you all. Also, I watched The Midnight Sky and part of Love & Anarchy, (both Netflix) and they were all right. The Clooney was very grim, and the Swedes were very odd, but entertaining.

I’ve been bingeing Netflix’s “La casa de las flores”, a madly deranged and spoofy Mexican almost madcap take on telenovelas. It’s a bit Almodovar, a bit pomo meta-soap, with a great array of characters. It’s dark and funny and screwball. And most of the men are drop-dead gorgeous.

Two good night time soap operas from other countries:

The Restaurant (Sweden) A Place to Call Home (Australia)

But my favorite show is The Last Knigdom, which stars the amazing Alexander Draymon.

I know this peaked awhile ago, but did you ever watch 'Abducted in Plain Sight' on Netflix? That was a strip.

ID channel

I was watching Showtime's "The Affair" which I enjoyed for two seasons. But, it's just too much in Season 3 (part of that is that I probably watched too much too quickly), so I stopped.

The Affair was fantastic for two seasons and the third sucked and everything after was ridiculous.

Fat Actress on Showtime is hilarious! Shameless is good. The Whites Queen and Princess are also good via Starz. That will be all.

Hulu: “Uncle” and “GameFace” (both U.K. comedies)

HBO Max: “Doom Patrol” and “Raised by Wolves”

Emily in Paris on Netflix was surprisingly not awful. Not exactly good either...but it was a good watch toay.

What's all the hoopla over The Queen's Gambit? Why is a woman playing chess even appealing?

If you like science fiction, I also recommend Raised by Wolves on HBO Max. Then there's The Expanse on Primetime. It's epic, like GOT but in outer space. The first season is kind of slow but it picks up towards the end.

R50 - I [italic]love[/italic] A Place to Call Home.

And this character needs to die a long, horrible death . . .

R55, I've watched Fat Actress three or four times over the years. Christ, it's funny.

Just watched the documentary The Ripper, about the Yorkshire Ripper of the mid 70s/early 80s on Netflix. I loved it! Didn’t know anything about the case before watching. So much gorgeous film footage from the time, maybe more of that than the digital video (which looks great in its own right but doesn’t have the charm of 16mm)—a feast for the eyes, a real time capsule.

I felt very cozy watching it.

The Expanse (Prime, series)

Futureman (Hulu, series)

Travelers (Netflix, series)

The Old Guard (Netflix, movie)

Evil (Netflix, series)

The Good Place (Netflix)

Raised By Wolves (HBOMax)

His Dark Materials (HBOMax)

The Mandelorian (Disney+)

Star Trek: Discovery (CBSAllAccess)

The Stand (CBSAllAccess)

If you liked “Fleabag”, I highly recommend “This Way Up” (Hulu). The main character is so likable. I am hoping for a Season 2 one day.

The Bureau, sort of a French Homeland but so much more. Season 1 is on Amazon Prime and seasons 2-5 on Sundance Now.

Recently finished & loved Ozark & Mandalorian; been going back & forth b/w: Castlevania (great anime), The Expanse (slow burn), The Stand (testing patience w/jarring time jumps), Cobra Kai (more of same as prev seasons), Americans (just started); and gave up on Witcher, Bridgerton, Barbarians, HDM & Umbrella