Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Come on, man.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

The revolution will be supervised.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Not all heroes wear capes.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

After roe, women are no longer free.

This fight is for everything.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Amazon Prime Favorites

Reader Interactions

207Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    It is possible I will spend the entire Covid-19 crisis rewatching the entire original run of Dark Shadows.

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Thanks WaterGirl!  I love Bosch.  Season six starts … tomorrow.  They will end with season seven, next year.

    And now Bosch has a dog.  Name of Coltrane.  Don’t think the dog was in the books, but I am all for a dog living large, with a gazillion-dollar view.  (Bosch lives in a home, with a wall of glass, perched high above Los Angeles.)

    ETA:  Bosch is an LA homicide detective.  Series is filmed in and around LA, and they use some iconic architecture and landmarks.  Excellent casting.  (Lance Riddick is the chief of police.)

  5. 5.

    Origuy

    I like documentaries. I just finished Terry Jones’ Great Map Mystery. Yes, the Python. He made a lot of historical documentaries. This one is about the first road atlas, made in Britain during the reign of Charles II. He follows the routes through Wales. They discover that the routes often made no sense, until you understand the politics behind them.

  6. 6.

    sdhays

    Ophan Black is good.

    Good Omens was also good.

    I’ve enjoyed the “Suspicions or Mr. Whicher” movies as well.

  7. 7.

    Kelly

    We just finished “Tales of the Loop” on Amazon. Low key parallel universes story with a bit of Twilight Zone feel. Very well put together.

  11. 11.

    LesGS

    My husband likes The Expanse (science fiction, interplanetary conflict within our Solar system), and I agree with him that it is excellently done, but rather too intense for me. Even him, actually, at this particular time…

     

    We have watched Good Omens twice.

  13. 13.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @Citizen Alan: I was watching Dark Shadows in my early teen years.

    Both of my parents worked so us kids were by ourselves for a couple of hours after school.

    My sisters and I would run from the school bus stop to our house, change out of our school clothes into our play clothes, turn on the TV and watch Dark Shadows. Homework later of course.

    My poor brother would want to watch something else. We (my sisters and I) would vote and my brother lost every time.

    It started at 4:00 pm PST.

  14. 14.

    JOHN MANCHESTER

    Friends from the dog park, who we can now only email with, recommended The Durrells in Corfu. It’s based on Gerald Durrell’s memoir of growing up on the Greek island with his widowed mom and siblings, including novelist Lawrence Durrell.

    It’s way lighter than my usual fare, but maybe the perfect antidote for these times. My only complaint is the music—a combination of ethnic Greek and old-school BBC orchestral pap. But it’s easy enough to ignore.

  16. 16.

    schrodingers_cat

    Made in Heaven.
    Show about a wedding planning agency run by 2 friends, one of whom is a gay man. Each episode focuses on a wedding and shines a light on societal problems in India from misogyny, to casteism and everything in between.
    More than the weddings its the evolution of the main duo and their staff that I found interesting.

    Gorgeous wardrobe is another plus. The clothes are pretty.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    Thesis for some sociologist somewhere.  What makes Netflix peeps tend to share more about their shows than the Amazon Prime peeps?

    More verbal?
    Better at following directions?
    The first few people included more information, so everyone follows suite?

    Inquiring minds want to know!

  18. 18.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Man in the High Castle

    The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

    Agatha Christie: The Pale Horse

    The Grand Tour, a very guilty pleasure given Jeremy Clarkson is the host. Was recently canceled as a regular show. They’ll only do 1 hour specials from now on, which was the best part of the formula for both GT and TG anyway

  20. 20.

    SFBayAreaGal

    The ABC Murders, loved this.

     

    John Malkovich stars as an older but wiser Hercule Poirot as he investigates the source of a series of sinister letters written by a mysterious criminal in the early 1930s in England

  21. 21.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    We’ve been binging on reruns of 30 Rock.  The show is so quick and clever it was hard to process all of it the first time year ago.  It makes us laugh for at least an hour each night.

  23. 23.

    JimV

    “Killing Eve”

    I’m guessing the genre would be noir/spy/assassin/comedy. Based on a novel of the same name which I got after seeing the series and do not recommend. Good, off-beat actors can bring characters to life which didn’t interest me as much on paper. Often novels I was impressed with get butchered by Hollywood, but this case was the other way around, for me.

  24. 24.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: I agree some idea about the shows is needed. Mrs. Maisel is set in the 1950s and is a comedy, more or less, about an upper-class, wealthy, sheltered Jewish woman from New York who becomes a stand-up comedian. I know quite a few people who like it, but unfortunately I found virtually all the characters annoying and clueless.  But that may just be me.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    Howards End and Vanity Fair, miniseries based on great English novels. I also enjoyed Emma (2020), which I was able to rent via Prime.

  27. 27.

    cain

    Psych – for all you GenXers out there :-)

    The Wire

    I saw the first episode of Good Omens, it was..ok? Maybe it gets better later.

  28. 28.

    zhena gogolia

    @dnfree:

    We made it through about three episodes. I enjoyed the first episode so much I watched it twice, but then it just kept doing the same thing over and over again.

  29. 29.

    Mo Salad

    Fleabag.

    The Paul Lynde Halloween Special. Just to remind me how bad television was in the ’70s. It also includes the first national television appearance of KISS.

  32. 32.

    Justin W

    @WaterGirl: Maisel is great. Comedic period piece about a Jewish housewife in 50s/60s NYC who discovers she is a really great stand-up comic. (There’s a lot more there than that, but that’s the main premise.) Just a fun show about a strong, hilarious woman.

    I also recommend Man in the High Castle, another period piece loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name. It takes place in an alternate version of reality where the Axis powers won WWII. But it also has parallel worlds and sci-fi stuff (eventually). Fun; dark; great set pieces and characters and costumes, etc.

  33. 33.

    Jebeelzabub

    @JimV:

    Zero Zero Zero!

    Long time lurker here, I had to delurk just to post this.
    Only person I recognized in it was Gabrielle Byrne. Anyway, seven part series about a drug shipment, Very moody, very well shot, great atmospheric music.

    Really reminded me of Michael Mann’s Heat. The story follows the mafia in Italy, the brokers (shippers), and the Mexican Cartel in Monterrey. All shot on location. I hadn’t heard about if anywhere, just stumbled upon it, but man, I really enjoyed it.

  35. 35.

    zhena gogolia

    We also really enjoyed Modern Love, based on New York Times columns. Half-hour episodes on, well, modern love. Great casts including Jane Alexander, Catherine Keener, Andy Garcia, etc.

  36. 36.

    Greenergood

    I will do everything I can to not use Amazon. Bezos is disgusting – pays no tax and expects the poors to be grateful that he’s ‘donated’ (probably yet another tax write-off) 0.1% of his ridiculous $150 billion of wealth.  And banks are raking in debts from the $1200 ‘stimulus’ cheques. And medics are being fired because their ‘health’ insurance companies are losing money cause they can’t do lucrative facelifts, elective surgery, etc. Best health care in the world – if you’re rich; worst, if you’re not

  37. 37.

    LuciaMia

    On Prime and in the Acorn subscription:

    ‘Pie InThe Sky.’

    A British detective series. Caught it only a few times on some local PBS stations years ago (by the clothes it looks from the late ’90s.) and was delighted to see it popped up there. Henry Crabbe is a retired police detective running his own dream restaurant  but keeps getting pulled in by his old bosses to consult on cases.

  38. 38.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Snowfall– If you loved The Wire or Narcos, check out this show.  It’s the story of the crack epidemic told from South Central Los Angeles.  And it tells the story from an unapologetically Black perspective (and Mexican too, for the cartel sub-plot).  Really some of John Singleton’s (RIP) finest work.  Maybe my favorite show on tv and one that way too many people have yet to discover.  The plot, acting, costumes, music, cinematography are all top notch.

    Tales From The Loop– we are REALLY loving this excellent sci-fi series with a Swedish flavor set in Ohio that asks lots of existential questions about life and humanity, relationships etc.  Kinda has an old-school Close Encounters kind of vibe.

    Detectorists– quirky comedy about British metal-detecting hobbyists.  It’s not hilarious, Imo, but it’s a good for some decent laughs and a nice getaway from everything.

    The Wire– Crime, policing, drugs, politics in early-Aughts Baltimore.  One of the best TV series’ ever made.

    Hunters– Jordan Peele’s series following a rag tag band of renegades hunting Nazis in 1970’s America.  Flawed and problematic at times, but overall still enjoyed it.

    Deadwood– Probably the best, grungiest, Western tv series out there.  Worth it just for the dialogue alone.  The finale (movie) was also great.

    Americans– Incredibly gripping series about Soviet spies living in the US in the 80’s.

    Queen Sugar– Ava DuVernay’s incredible series about Black farmers in Louisiana, Racism, Community Organizing etc.  As with anything DuVernay does, this series is just gorgeous (as is pretty much the entire cast, LOTS of eye candy) and tackles heavy but important topics for understanding Systemic Racism in America.

    Force Majeure (movie): Swedish film that is technically a comedy (though we rarely laughed) based on the extremely uncomfortable question about how we react in a moment of disaster/panic and how that reaction can forever effect our relationships/trust.  Note: this film will make you VERY uncomfortable, so have the Xanax ready for sure.  The director’s other movie, The Square, was also very good but super anxiety-raising.

  41. 41.

    cleek

    @WaterGirl:

    Fleabag – a very smart and very dry comedy=>tragedy about a woman who careens and explodes her way through life.

    Mrs Maisel – 50’s housewife becomes a standup comic. very funny, very nice to look at.

    Carnival Row – steampunk fairies vs cops in what appears to be a stylized version of Edinburgh.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    “Top Gear” with those three was a guilty pleasure and the better “Grand Tour” episodes recaptures the craziness, so generally worth a watch.

    The rebooted TG and especially the American TG are so weak the classic show acquires elevated status.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    Even if the original person who listed a show didn’t include information, but YOU know the show, it would be great if other commenters could help fill in the blanks.  Just be sure to include the name of the show you are explaining.  thank you!

  51. 51.

    Barbara

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: I think the first episode of 30 Rock is one of the funniest things I have ever seen on tv.  Unlike movies about movies, which with a few exceptions are DEADLY SERIOUS, tv shows about tv tend to be irreverent and all the funnier for it.

    We watched Far From the Madding Crowd on Prime a few weeks ago because my husband started reading it.  It was good enough, but the Belgian actor who played Gabriel really stood out and made the thing worth watching.

  53. 53.

    J_A

    The City and The City

    Originally from BBC, and four episodes long, , it is an alternate reality in which inhabitants of two cities, physically built next to each other, are required by law and trained by custom, from centuries, to ignore the existence of each other. There’s a murder of an American girl, and though the corpse was found in one city, it soon becomes clear that the girl was never in that city, so investigators have to consider that she came from the “other place”.

    it is quite riveting, comparing the two very distinct societies, the mental gymnastics the characters need  to not see their  surroundings, the politics involved in what is centuries old hatred and prejudice.

    Too much happens in each episode, so I couldn’t really binge it. But by the next day I couldn’t wait to go back to it

  58. 58.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Netflix – Criminal – UK, France, Spain and Germany.  Police procedural with the suspect under interrogation.  No chases, no guns, just one on one drama.  UK has David Tennant as the suspect.  Others are in their respective countries’ native tongues with subtitles.

  59. 59.

    delk

    Dream Home

    A Chinese home improvement show. The ‘homes’ are small, cramped, and often multigenerational. They get turned into pretty cool well thought out spaces. One episode takes place in an old office building in Shanghai. The people live in former one room office spaces and the kitchens are out in the hall. Both sides of the hall. Trippy.

  60. 60.

    Lavocat

    @Mo Salad: HOLY SHIT! I remember this! It was so unbelievably bad that YOU. COULD. NOT. LOOK. AWAY!

    You really made me laugh. As a kid, I just could NOT understand why a man would act like Paul Lynde. It’s like he was on acid all the time. To make things even more surreal, my parents loved him!

     

    Probably one of my earliest WTF moments.

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mo Salad: this may be what you meant, but the a taping of the original Fleabag stage show is airing on Prime as a fundraiser

    and god help me, you make me curious about the Paul Lynde Halloween Special> Sounds like it may be up there with the Star Wars Christmas special

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The second last season is a bore but other than that A+.

    Second to last? I still can’t believe Phillip got an Emmy and Elizabeth didn’t

  65. 65.

    mad citizen

    @UncleEbeneezer: We watched Force Majeure (Swedish movie) a couple weeks ago.  I also highly recommend if you can find it.  I have a dvd from my library, so no due dates (although I saw an email about them opening up their return drawers).  This movie was remade with Will Ferrell/Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and was recently out in the Before Time.  I think they went more for the comedy aspect, but have not seen it, only a review pointing out the original was one of the best films of that year (2015).

    We like Mrs Maisal and Fleabag.  I guess Mrs Maisal started in the late 1950s but season 3 is definitely in the early 1960s.  Lenny Bruce is an occasional character.

    Ok, one not mentioned yet is Mozart in the Jungle.  Based on a book, it’s about a young woman’s journey in the classical music world.  Great acting by all.  Wiki tells me amazon cancelled it after four seasons.  Bad Amazon, bad!

  67. 67.

    Keith P.

    The Expanse is easily my #1 Prime show.  I loved The Tick while it lasted. The Man in the High Castle was good, albeit a bit too dour.  I enjoyed Carnivale Row.

    I thought the first two seasons of Sneaky Pete were pretty good, and I even liked Goliath.  Every time I think about The Hunters, I dislike it more.  And Fleabag really grew on me, even though I normally don’t like 4th wall shows.

  68. 68.

    senyordave

    If we are talking about anything on Prime, here goes:

    The Wire – I live just south of Baltimore, really got me hooked.  Have been binge watching the last three months (I’m a slow binge watcher), I think it might be the best show ever.

    The Man in the High Castle – interesting concept that the Axis powers won WW2, and carved up the US.  In the age of Trump it makes you think (yes, in an alternate world I could imagine Trump being a full-fledged Nazi, KellyAnne Conway has already gone full Goebbels on us)

    Father Ted – Hands down one of the funniest shows ever.  Watch Season 3, episode 1, where Ted, after getting caught doing something racist, spends the remainder of the show trying to prove he’s not a racist.  Part of the show includes a bit they must have borrowed from Seinfeld, but they manage to improve on the original.

    Bosch – Kind of your basic, gritty police drama, with Bosch as the almost superhuman cop.  I like the fact that each season has one big story line, but there are several other story lines intertwined.  Very good acting.

    Black Books – can be spotty, but also funny as hell.

    Oz – First two seasons are as good as any drama ever, noticeable drop off afterwards.  Some very memorable scenes, including one prisoner serving a very interesting home-cooked meal.

    Curb Your Enthusiasm – Most people either love it or hate, I’m in the former group.  Watch “The Grand Opening”, Season 3, Episode 10.  IMO the funniest single sitcom episode ever.

    The Sopranos – Another love or hate show, but James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano might be the best dramatic character ever.  And the supporting cast is dead on.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @Keith P.:

    I loved The Tick while it lasted. The Man in the High Castle was good, albeit a bit too glour.  I enjoyed Carnivale Row.

    I thought the first two seasons of Sneaky Pete were pretty good, and I even liked Goliath.  Every time I think about The Hunters, I dislike it more.  And Fleabag really grew on me, even though I normally don’t like 4th wall shows.

    Can you say more about Sneaky Pete, Goliath and Hunters, if no one else has explained them above?

  70. 70.

    les

    Lovejoy–a 60’s sorta mystery with Ian McShane as an antiques divvy, expert, forger, general lovable scoundrel.  Everything about it is well done–characters, actors, settings, music, and on.  A swell time indeed.

  72. 72.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jebeelzabub: That sounds cool.  Check out Snowfall for something in a similar vein (the birth of crack epidemic in LA, kingpin/drug empire, Mexican cartels and CIA involvement).

  73. 73.

    FelonyGovt

    Bosch- based on Michael Connelly’s books about an L.A. police detective. IMO the actor nails the character I was familiar with from the books.
    Fleabag- brilliant British series about a young woman dealing with relationships and loss. Season 2 in particular is incredible and I plan to re-watch it all. Don’t be put off by the rather graphic talk about sex in the first episode or 2 of Season 1.

  74. 74.

    LuciaMia

    @tomtofa: He mentions some require a second subscription, but a lot of the movies turn out to be rental only.

    (And he really recommends Ishtar and Hudson Hawk? I guess time heals all wounds.)

  77. 77.

    satby

    @SFBayAreaGal: it got panned by Christie purists, but I thought that the Malkovitch interpretation of Poirot was excellent, and the cinematography was beautifully done.

    other people have mentioned favorites like Fleabag and Good Omens.

    I really liked a Very British Scandal too, High Grant as a closeted, abusive, skeevy politician trying to hide his affair with a man.

    Also, some British series first seasons are running on Prime now and I’ve been rewatching the entire Foyle’s War series: a detective solving crimes in the southern coast of England during WWII. It’s really resonating with me during this pandemic.

  78. 78.

    MuckJagger

    Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or whatever number we’re on now recommendation for Bosch.

    Really looking forward to this weekend.

  79. 79.

    satby

    @zhena gogolia: I liked those two and was debating whether the new Emma was worth $19, or if I could just wait.

    Almost forgot, Ordeal by Innocence with Bill Nighy and that hunky guy who played the lead in Poldark. Love Bill Nighy!

  80. 80.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    Time Team – An older British educational series (90’s to 2010’s) which is where a team of archaeologists has 3 days to perform an preliminary survey of various sites around Great Britain.  Very interesting, and you get to see real archaeology in the raw.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    @satby: I think Very British Scandal was based on a book that told the real life history of how anti-gay legislation was ultimately repealed in England.  A fascinating book, and I will watch the show either way, but the book is really worth reading.

  83. 83.

    Anotherlurker

    @Constance Reader: Hello, fellow Nerd!  I love “Time Team”!

    I can also recommend “Plants Behaving Badly”. It is 2 episodes, narrated by David Attenborough. The first episode deals with carnivorous plants (Venus flytraps, Sundews and Pitcherplants). The 2nd episode deals with Orchids.

  84. 84.

    mad citizen

    @senyordave: I dove you mentioning this: Watch “The Grand Opening”, Season 3, Episode 10.  The way this episode tied up that whole season was truly superb, like the ending of an opera or something.

    I have the HBO option on prime and really enjoyed Season 10.  Just before it started I re-watched Season 9 (the Lin Manuel-Miranda duel ending).  The Ringer ranks all the episodes.  I’m enough of a fan that when Bob Odenkirk popped up as the dad in Little Women, I was laughing to myself because he’ll always be “Porno Gil” from Curb to me.

  85. 85.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: I was in a very bad way when Ishtar came out and it was one of those movies that was so bad it was hilarious just for how bad it was.  I laughed all the way through.  Isabelle Adjani is the best thing about the movie.  And really, it would have just been a kind of stupid comedy but they spent some ungodly amount of money on it so everyone was out to get it on that basis as well.

  87. 87.

    ciotog

    The Americans is amazing.  Thrilling spy drama that’s really about marriage and family.

    Fleabag is also amazing.  It starts out as a fizzy comedy about a misfit (though privileged) woman and keeps getting more surprising, deeper, and sexier.  Also, Obama liked it.

  88. 88.

    The Lodger

    @WaterGirl: Same premise, different police/legal systems, different characters, different plots. Same set for different countries, which is disorienting. I may be ready to rewatch this series.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Barbara: Huh.  Maybe expectations are part of the equation in terms of whether we like something or not.

    These were top-notch actors so my expectations were high.

    I also saw a Gene Wilder movie that was very confusing.  With Gene Wilder, I expected a comedy. I hadn’t put this together at the time, but of course, it was the first thing he had done after Gilda Radner died, so of course that came through in the whole thing, and it was distinctly not funny.

  92. 92.

    satby

    Another one running now (first season)is Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, about a very liberated lady detective in Australia after the first World War. Reminiscent of the Tommy and Tuppence series by Christie, lots of Art Deco and jazz.

  93. 93.

    LarryB

    Here are a couple of costume dramas:

    The Aeronauts – Lavish Victorian balloon adventure!

    Agora – Rachel Weisz in a toga!

  94. 94.

    Keith P.

    @WaterGirl:

    @WaterGirl: Sure…Sneaky Pete is a drama with a little bit of levity here and there.  It’s about a conman who gets out of prison and pretends to be his cell mate  to his granparents and cousins who haven’t seen him since he was a kind. Season 1 had Bryan Cranston as the main bad guy, and the ending took on a bit of an Ocean’s Eleven feel.  The best part here is the chemistry between the family…great cast.

    Goliath is a lawyer drama with Billy Bob Thornton as…Billy, a down-on-his-luck-former-superstar-lawyer who is helping someone (each season) with some kind of injustice.  The hook here is the chemistry between Billy and his assistant Patty (who is great on the show)

    Hunters is a 70s-era fantasy Nazi hunter drama where the Nazi’s are still in the US and plotting/scheming.  It tries to incorporate too many tropes, particularly Tarantino’s stuff.  It has these weird fantasy scenes that look cool by themselves, but in context suck. I also didn’t really like the protagonist much, or Pacino really. And I hate-hate-hated the ending and found it just dumb.

  97. 97.

    Kent

    We have all the streaming services at home:  Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Showtime, etc.

    Comparing my list for both Amazon and Netflix I gotta say I think I have more favorite shows on Amazon than Netflix.  Although it’s pretty close:

    Bosh, Trapped, Man in the High Castle. Mrs. Maisel, Outlander, Vikings, Black Sails, Britannia, The Expanse, Hanna, Carnival Row, and Mozart in the Jungle, Poldark, Da Vinci’s Demons, and Friday Night Lights are all shows I watched on Prime, although some of them are on other Prime channels like Starz.

  98. 98.

    Sis

    Man in the High Castle remains one of the best series I’ve seen.  Rufus Sewell was incredible as John Smith.

    I loved Good Omens. Hilarious.

  99. 99.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Second the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

    Also the Expanse. And Good Omens.

    I think all 5 seasons of Chuck (the NBC show about the Nerd Herder turned super spy), which if I recall, was a favorite of this here blog’s founder, stream free on Prime too. It holds up pretty well IMO and is fun and somewhat uplifting so, not a bad thing to dive into right now.

  100. 100.

    greenergood

    Oh well, there you go – once we’re in lockdown, we bow to our Amazon media masters, who supply us with distractions, and expect that Mr Bezos’s totally underpaid and increasingly unhealthy minions will keep us entertained until the Drumph tells us it’s okay to come out of our burrows …

  101. 101.

    Tim C.

    For me, the best two are….

    The Expanse, (eagerly waiting for season 5)

    Good Omens (fun and mostly faithful to the book

     

    Oh! There’s also an amazing documentary on Life in Antarctica called “Antarctica, a year on ice”

  102. 102.

    orchid moon

    Mrs. Maisel
    The Expanse
    Bosch
    An Acorn TV series season 1 that was free last month: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. An Australian series that takes place in the late 1920’s. Costumes and hats are fantastic, vintage cars, motorcycles, trucks, and planes are great. Based around a very modern woman that helps the local inspector solve crimes. Fun to watch.

  104. 104.

    BamaLib

    Counterpart – spy drama with solid sci-fi premise, starring JK Simmons.  Watch the first episode and you’ll be hooked or not.  (But watch the first scene after the credits in episode 3 to have your mind blown.)

  105. 105.

    Joy in FL

    @J_A: about The City and The City– I had no idea there was a series. Several years ago I happened upon the audio book, which I have listened to multiple times. Now I am so looking forward to watching the story as well.

  108. 108.

    JoyceH

    I’ve been watching Eureka, missed it when it was showing first time around and it’s just silly enough to be a nice counterpoise to the news. (Some of you recommend The Loop – I watched the first episode and thought, “Oh, a dark Eureka’. Is there more to it than that?)

    And if I’ve been watching the news too near bedtime and am feeling too discouraged and pessimistic, I’ll watch an episode of Bob Ross. Because everybody needs a friend…

  110. 110.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    You remind me that I’m planning to watch Middlemarch with YOUNG Rufus Sewell as the young guy whose name I can’t remember right now. Will Ladislaw. It’s on Prime.

  111. 111.

    Quaker in a Basement

    @Kelly: I second this. Visually moody and surreal. I told my wife my favorite thing about the series is the way the children’s roles are written: not cute, not bratty, but fully formed personalities.

  112. 112.

    debit

    I don’t know if I truly enjoyed Man in the High Castle.  It was beautifully shot and acted, the premise was compelling, and it should have pushed all the right buttons me.  But it was clear at the outset that you would question the actions and motivations of each character, and I found the unrelenting moral ambiguity a little nerve wracking.   I do recommend the entire series, but if you’re looking for something mindless and soothing, this isn’t it.

  114. 114.

    tomtofa

    @LuciaMia: Yeah, I was wondering if the Ishtar recommendation was a bit of snark. He also seems to really love Barbara Stanwick.

    Since we’re cooking at home pretty much exclusively, and not going much of anywhere, I allow myself the guilty pleasure of the occasional rental. The money can’t just sit there in the account doing nothing ;-)

  116. 116.

    Lyrebird

    @WaterGirl: We’re Amazon Prime users.  We have lots of faves in our house but they are all kid oriented, not sure how many people want to watch a cartoon about a garbage truck (“Stinky & Dirty”), but it’s a good one.  Music is bluegrass.

    “SuperWings” has good animation and you can imagine you’re traveling to lots of different countries.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Is Middlemarch a period piece?  I am not all that good with those, for some reason.  But I bet a young Rufus Sewell was hot!

    I still haven’t watched The Wire, in spite of my crush on Idris Elba.  It’s on my list.

  120. 120.

    Wyatt Derp

    Didn’t scan everything everyone wrote so sorry if this is already mentioned but…

    The Fare – a low budget sci-fi flick about time looping with a real emotional center. My wife would like it.

    The Booth at the End – clever, interwoven series of stories all set up by a mysterious man who grants you your wish but you have to do something for him.

  123. 123.

    trnc

    @Citizen Alan: It is possible I will spend the entire Covid-19 crisis rewatching the entire original run of Dark Shadows.

    Of which there will be about 14 lines of non-filler dialogue. I was actually able to watch the original airing as a kid for the last 3 seasons, and I was glued to it at the time cuz Barnabas (or any vampire) was cool. I started watching again when it came out on Netflix and, holy crap, did they ever have trouble filling up the time when BC wasn’t on screen. I only made it through about 20 episodes, so maybe it got better.

    I also saw House of Dark Shadows when it first came out, and it was awesome. The end freaked me all the way out because I was a kid, but I watched again later and it still holds up. Curtis was originally going to splice together scenes to make the movie, but fortunately they shot a brand new movie instead. If you haven’t seen that, I highly recommend it.

  124. 124.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    I believe if you look in the dictionary under “hawt” you will see this image.
    Yes, it’s a wonderful 19th-century novel, one of the greatest. I seem to recall this adaptation is no great shakes, but Rufus.

  126. 126.

    zhena gogolia

    @trnc:

    OTOH, you will see some fantastic hairdos on the ladies. They used a can of Spray Net for every episode.

  127. 127.

    Poe Larity

    Idris Elba’s Luther and Bosch are on prime now. And Endeavour. And Foyle’s War. Lots of good Beeb stuff.

  129. 129.

    Quaker in a Basement

    I like Rebellion. It’s a fictionalized account of the Irish revolution of 1916, told through the stories of three women. Their stories intersect with real-life historical figures involved in The Rising.

  133. 133.

    J_A

    @Joy in FL: The City and The City – it is one of those rare cases were the adaptation is better than the original. They have expanded more on the characters and their motivations

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    @satby:

     

    @rikyrah: Yes, I was going to say, we thought it was worth $19 because there are two of us and we had been planning to see it in a theater. But I’m not sure it’s worth $19 for one person! Unless you have a crush on Johnny Flynn, in which case go for it. He wrote (and sings) a song for the end credits that is fantastic.

  139. 139.

    Brachiator

    @WaterGirl:

    Is Middlemarch a period piece? I am not all that good with those, for some reason

    It is a period piece, but not stuffy, and is a very good adaptation of the George Eliot novel.  In addition to Hot Rufus, Juliet Aubrey is very good as the novel’s protagonist Dorothea Brooke.

  140. 140.

    prostratedragon

    @tomtofa:
    That’s a great list to keep handy; so much can fall through the cracks.

     

    Special mention of To Sleep With Anger. Co-produced by Danny Glover, who also has a feature role, this one has never to my knowledge been issued on dvd, and I’ve been searching every few months for years. Glover plays a mysterious visitor from the family past, catching up with some old friends.

  144. 144.

    psycholinguist

    The entire MAGNUM PI series is non there, I think it’s on Prime.

    That Higgins, he so crazy.

  147. 147.

    Feathers

    The Night Manager: Top notch Le Carre series with Tom Hiddleston and very pregnant Olivia Colman fighting to bring down Hugh Laurie, a politically connected “philanthropist” who secretly makes his money as an arms dealer. Realizing I need to rewatch in light of the Jeffrey Epstein revelations.

    Bond – All of the pre-Daniel Craig Bond movies. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service holds up as one of the best, despite Lazenby, with Diana Rigg as Tracy Bond.

    The Aristocrats – my favorite period drama, about the four Lennox sisters, daughters of the Duke of Richmond, great-granddaughters of Charles II. Runs from 1743 to the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Focuses on the sisters, their happy and unhappy love lives, their participation in the politics of the time. The 18th c is overlooked for drama, so there is a visual freshness to it all.

    Love and Friendship – Whit Stillman does Jane Austen, with Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny.

    Waldemar Januszczak Art History Documentaries: A large and rumpled Polish-British art historian’s contrary take(s) on art history. I took art history in college, tramped through many museums around the world, but I’ve enjoyed and learned something from each of these. He really loves the art and defends it against snobs who want to keep it for themselves. Great for when you want to watch something that won’t wind you up and leaves you feeling smarter and wiser. What we all need now.

    Series: Renaissance Unchained, Rococo Before Bedtime, The Impressionists, Dark Ages: An Age of Light, Brushstrokes: Every Picture Tells a Story.

    Stand Alone: Paradise Found: The Wonder of Islamic Art (watch this even if you don’t like western art), Rubens: An Extra Large Story, William Dodson: Lost Genius of Baroque, Manet and the Birth of Impressionism, Gauguin: The Full Story, The Michelangelo Code, Scarlet Woman: True Story of Mary Magdalen.

    And, yeah, Fleabag. Snarky, cringey comedy. And then it rips your guts out. And Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan as unhappy teen trapped in small town California, making her mother completely miserable.

  148. 148.

    opiejeanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The Pale Horse on Prime  bears little relation to the mystery written by Agatha Christie. We watched it and thought it was beautifully filmed but all wrong.  A lot of added characters and drama that are unnecessary to the story, as well as changing the plot.

    The main character in the book didn’t murder anyone, is not married, has never been married, and at the end uses a woman friend to uncover what is happening.

    Inspector LeJeune and Ariadne Oliver appear in the book; Ariadne is a recurring character in Christie’s books. .

  149. 149.

    Keith P.

    On the topic of non-original Prime binges, I’ve got

    The Prisoner (an all-time favorite show), Sopranos, Carnivale, Curb, Nathan For You, and Eastbound and Down.  I can (and do) watch all of those shows from ep 1 to the end.

  150. 150.

    opiejeanne

    @SFBayAreaGal: The Miss Marple series starring Joan Hickson, and the Poirot series starring David Suchet are available on Prime Brit Box, which costs a few dollars a month to add to Prime.

  151. 151.

    E.

    I’m not a huge sci fi fan but stumbled on a Swedish movie on Prime called Aniara. It may be the most haunting thing I’ve ever watched.  Cruise-ship like spa e craft with thousands of rich travellers gets thrown off course. Very existential troubles ensue. The movie really got in my head.

  152. 152.

    arrieve

    @satby: I started watching Foyle’s War after it got a few recommendations on a previous thread and has really been a wonderful distraction so thanks to everyone who recommended it. The background — English life completely turned upside down by WWII — do resonate with the current situation, but at least we don’t have any air raids. I’m watching one episode a day to make them last.

    Two other twists on cop shows that are on Prime are Eureka (kind of sci-fi comedy) and Brokenwood (cozy mystery set in New Zealand.) Both fun and distracting.

  154. 154.

    VFX Lurker

    I highly recommend GOOD OMENS (good-humored fantasy + satire). An angel and a devil try to stop the oncoming Apocalypse because they love the Earth too much.

    If you enjoy that series, please also consider HOGFATHER (more good-humored fantasy + satire). Death’s granddaughter, Susan, tries to figure out who murdered her world’s version of Santa Claus.

    If you’re OK with occasional brutal scenes, consider MADE IN ABYSS (fantasy anime).  A girl gets a message suggesting that her mother is waiting for her at the bottom of a mysterious and dangerous Abyss. She sets out to find her mother, knowing that even those who can survive the depths of the Abyss cannot return.

  156. 156.

    prostratedragon

    @Keith P.: Was just headed here to recommend The Prisoner, one of the best ever in my view. I watch a lot of mysteries, and have since the fall been running through the British ones which have already been named, plus Midsomer Murders and Vera, all of which are worth a try. And The Wire is essential.

    For vintage US tv there’s Peter Gunn, little 30-minute nightcaps that survey the end of the noir period (and a Hollywood guy like Blake Edwards had to have known it was ending; my clear recollection is that the marketers were not subtle about what they were backing).

    Through an HBO subscription on Prime I’ve been watching The Plot Against America, which has one more episode in this original run. It’s harrowing, but very well run by David Simon et al. It dawned on me that everything depicted in the show has already happened to some group or other here in this country, though it took me a while to place Rabbi Bengelsdorf.

  158. 158.

    WaterGirl

    @Feathers:

    The Night Manager: Top notch Le Carre series with Tom Hiddleston and very pregnant Olivia Colman fighting to bring down Hugh Laurie, a politically connected “philanthropist” who secretly makes his money as an arms dealer. Realizing I need to rewatch in light of the Jeffrey Epstein revelations.

    Le Carre, check.  Hugh Laurie, check.

  159. 159.

    Steve Gravelle

    Anything by James May. He’s one of the three co-hosts of the BBC Top Gear program and its Grand Tour successor (also on Prime). His most recent is Our Man in Japan (six-part travel series), but his older shows are also on Prime: James May’s Man Lab, Toy Stories, Cars of the People, etc.

    He seems to be a smart, funny, good-natured guy willing to try anything when visiting a foreign land, but also who can’t stop laughing when whatever he’s trying is just so….foreign. This has some hilarious results in the Japan series. There’s a lot of Top Gear stuff on YouTube as well.

  160. 160.

    Leumas

    We finished “John Adams” last night.  Deadwood is a favorite.  Season 1 of Foyle’s Ward is

    available until April 30th.  That is what we have watched in the past week!

  161. 161.

    opiejeanne

    @zhena gogolia: The first time I encountered Rufus Sewell was in “Zen”, where he plays an Italian detective. I thought he was really wonderful, not to mention really attractive.

    “Zen” the, miniseries,  is based on the first book in a series, and after reading the first 4 books, I can only recommend the first one.

  162. 162.

    JoyceH

    @trnc:  “I was actually able to watch the original airing as a kid for the last 3 seasons, and I was glued to it at the time cuz Barnabas (or any vampire) was cool. I started watching again when it came out on Netflix and, holy crap, did they ever have trouble filling up the time when BC wasn’t on screen.”

    I too was a huuuge DS fan in junior high. I tried to watch it when it became available on streaming, but it was hard to relive. Um… shot on a shoestring? That cemetery was about the size of my dining room. What I also hadn’t noticed as a kid was how few takes they must have had, as the actors would fluff a line and then just soldier on gamely.  The little boy couldn’t help grinning when he blew his line, which I got a kick out of.

    (BTW, I haven’t been able to master the block quote since the new setup. I can get the quote in the block, but then can’t get out of the block for my own comment.)

  165. 165.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH:

    BTW, I haven’t been able to master the block quote since the new setup. I can get the quote in the block, but then can’t get out of the block for my own comment.

    Assuming text mode…  Put your cursor just to the right of the last letter in the quote.  Hit return twice, and you are out!

  166. 166.

    JustRuss

    @WaterGirl: Goliath stars Billy Bob Thornton as a washed up lawyer who gets involved in a case against the mega-lawfirm he co-founded years ago with a very evil William Hurt. I used to work across the street from the bar he hangs out in–yes, Chez Jay is real and has been around since at least the 80s.   Each season follows one case.  Season 1 is really good, season 2 I didn’t really care for.  Season 3 is kind of silly but entertaining.

    I don’t get all the love for Bosch.  I watched a few episode, it just seemed to recycle all the cliche cop-who-gets-it-done-his-way tropes. Maybe I’ll give it another chance.

  167. 167.

    glc

    New to Prime (it’s one fork of my grocery strategy, not the most useful one).

    Saw only

    • A very English Scandal (terrific)
    • Good Omens (silly – my impression is it’s better as a scenario than actually filmed – but I very much wanted to see it).

    And I have been told I must necessarily watch Tales of the Loop. 

    And I see many attractive suggestions here that I didn’t know were on Prime as I am a complete neophyte. Very nice.

  168. 168.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: LOL! No pictures of Mr Hottie Zen.

    I’m not sure if the PBS series is available anywhere. I was just agreeing about Rufus Sewell being a most agreeable-looking specimen.

  169. 169.

    prostratedragon

    Haven’t seen it yet, but in a search for something else up popped Godfather of Harlem, a new series based on the last years of Bumpy Johnson, a crime figure who went back to the Dutch Schultz days. Features Forrest Whitaker. I’ll check it out soon.

  170. 170.

    opiejeanne

    Stephen Fry had a good little series called “Kingdom”. It’s on Acorn, which is an add-on to Prime. Fry plays a small-town solicitor whose brother’s death, assumed a suicide, has disturbed him for many years. Three seasons, worth a watch.

  171. 171.

    gogiggs

    @Elizabelle: I watched the first four episodes of Bosch yesterday.

    I liked the cast. Titus Welliver is really good and has one of the best, most Dickensian names ever. It’s really well shot and great to look at.

    However, I got a very McGarnagle vibe from it, with the lead character being a detective who doesn’t play by the book, but he gets results you stupid chief and he’s a detective because he really cares about protecting kids.

    I liked it, but I felt like I shouldn’t

  172. 172.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: Zen is available on Amazon Prime, according to Google. I did not know that.

    If I watch it again, I’ll turn on the CC and not just because I don’t hear very well. There are a lot of different accents to sort out, and some of them nearly impenetrable.

  173. 173.

    Mart

    @dnfree: I think if you like Joan Rivers than you at least have a starting point with liking Mrs. Maisel. Show is mostly lighthearted, but has a good mix of serious – address prejudice against woman, Jews, and blacks in the 50s; and the jailing of foul mouthed comedians. I am a big fan, but I thought Joan Rivers was the bees knees.

  174. 174.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: We are almost done with S1 of The Wire and I can say, while it looks pretty dated (fashion and tech) it absolutely lives up to the hype.  After the pilot episode I was merely intrigued, but by the end of the 2nd episode was totally hooked.

  176. 176.

    opiejeanne

    @gogiggs: I liked the Bosch books, so I was really happy when the show appeared. It’s a bit of a love letter to Los Angeles, to an older LA that’s disappearing, like Frank and Musso’s, and all of the other little joints mentioned in the series. The only glaring omission of iconic places is Canter’s deli. The photography is outstanding. The Bosch house is explained in the books as a Case Study House, which were a Big Deal in the late 40s and 1950s.

  177. 177.

    E.

    @trollhattan: I don’t have HBO but I looked it up and it seems similar but in Aniara they don’t have a way to get back. They are stuck heading into outer space and hoping someone can come up with a rescue plan. They have to find ways to make their lives meaningful. Which they fail at.

  178. 178.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Movie included with Prime: The Last Black Man in San Francisco. The story of a young, black man obsessed with reclaiming what was once his family’s home in gentrified SF. Debut film from a young director (also the lead actor) with behind-the-scenes support from a number of Hollywood heavyweights. Includes a cameo appearance by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys.

  179. 179.

    matt

    The Boys – kind of gives the Verhoeven treatment to the basic premise of Watchmen. If you like that you might like

    Banshee – super pulpy crime show with same lead guy as The Boys, he plays a criminal who impersonates a cop and does his best to ‘clean up’ a dirty town. Gratuitous sex and violence. Ridiculous fighting. Amish. Drugs. Elaborate capers.

    The Americans – long running show about a pair of deep cover Russian agents who do all kinds of nefarious spy stuff and juggle that with the responsibilities of running a suburban American family. Tons of 70s nostalgia along with absurd plot lines held together by excellent acting and writing.

    Better Call Saul – a very long origin story of the shady lawyer character in Breaking Bad played by Bob Odenkirk, chock full of excellent character actors and great writing.

    Ozark – The story of a money laundering savant accountant (played by Jason Bateman), whose family gradually gets sucked into an ever escalating and perpetually tense life of crime working for arbitrary, ruthless Columbian drug lords.

    Luther – Idris Elba is a homicide cop with unsound methods who hunts serial killers. He ends up befriending one of his targets who keeps getting involved in his cases, which adds a lot of moral ambiguity and ridiculousness to the plot lines.

    Succession – brilliantly written and executed show about a Murdoch-like family of media overlords. Endless strife and drama is caused by the family patriarch playing off the different children and employees of the media empire off against each other in his ongoing struggle for world domination (and continued control over his media empire)

  180. 180.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @WaterGirl: Different storylines and actors for each.  Oddly enough, the set is always the same.  Some backroom drama between the police — e.g. in the French version, the lead detective is a young woman over two older male officers.

  181. 181.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @WaterGirl: For all Rufus Sewell fans, I recommend Shakespeare Retold – The Taming of the Shrew.  Purchase at Amazon for about $3.00.  Script by the incomparable Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley — gritty police/revenge story with some comedy in rural Yorkshire on Netflix; Gentleman Jack, about a 19th C woman in Yorkshire who seems to have been the first modern lesbian based on her extensive diaries on HBO to name a few).  Rufus as Petruchioish/Shirley Henderson as Katerina.  Hilarious, profane and romantic.

  182. 182.

    Quiltingfool

    @debit: I agree about High Castle – good series, but disturbing in many ways.  After watching it, and a little bit of Hunters, I needed some light viewing, so I am watching The Office on Netflix!

  184. 184.

    Quiltingfool

    @JustRuss: Bosch is a lone hero cop show, but I liked it.  Honestly, I really liked the cops Crate and Barrel the best!  Plus, I liked that there was not just one big crime in a season, but had smaller crimes intertwined.

  186. 186.

    Seanly

    @Elizabelle:

    I second Bosch. I started rewatching Season 1, got partway into Season 2 and then got my wife interested in it. So now we’re back in Season 1. I realized that one of the things they do very well in the show is the blocking. The actors’ movements and mannerisms look natural.

    Other programs:

    • IMDB Channel (think this is free for most?) has Columbo (dated, but good performance by Peter Falk).
    • The Expanse

    I do HBO via Amazon as if I do it through my cable co everything is 480i & not widescreen which drives me up a wall. Amazon has many premium channels at the same base price as your cable/satellite co.

  188. 188.

    m.j.

    The Prisoner
    Ripping Yarns
    Travels by Narrowboat
    You probably know the first two, but the third is just a personal like. It’s very relaxing for some reason. It may even seem monotonous to watch this one individual aboard his boat traveling the canals of England putt-putting along at 4 miles an hour.
    His cooking segments are wonderfully cringe-worthy.

  189. 189.

    Tehanu

    @WaterGirl: Did you ever see Rufus Sewell in the detective series “Zen” — in which he’s an Italian police detective, not a Buddhist! — ? It’s wonderful. Also loved him in Cold Comfort Farm which is hilarious.

    My Prime thing is The Expanse which is amazing because the original writers of the books are also the producers, so it actually sticks to the books instead of wandering off in some weird Hollywoodized direction.  Even when they change things for dramatic purposes, they keep to the intent. And the acting is terrific — Thomas Jane and David Strathairn in particular are both great.

  190. 190.

    WaterGirl

    @Tehanu: Thanks.  I will look for Zen.

    I watched The Expanse for a few seasons, but on regular TV, and I found that there was so much time between seasons that I would be fuzzy about details.  A much better show to watch on Amazon or Netflix where you don’t have several months in between seasons.

  192. 192.

    Richard Guhl

    Besides the aforementioned

    Mrs. Maisel

    Fleabag

    Carnival Row and

    The Man in the High  Castle

    I’ve used Amazon Prime to binge watch

    The Americans

    Catastrophe

    The Widow

    The Pacific and

    The Vikings

  193. 193.

    Keith P.

    @Tehanu: What I really appreciate about The Expanse is that the writers actually put out books….regularly.  Every year is a book (except for last couple that have taken something like 1.5 years).  And that’s with them showing up to various conventions and soaking up fame, so George R R Martin can get bent.

    The series is going to have an extremely hard time overtaking the books, since there’s one major book left with about a year to go

  194. 194.

    Ivan X

    I’m a cult movie enthusiast, and it doesn’t get much more culty than William Peter Blatty’s The Ninth Configuration.

  195. 195.

    Ivan X

    Oh Jesus for this crowd their criminally ignored comedy Alpha House (warning: avoid unrelated, unredeeming Netflix of same title). Great political comedy, even if it has an extremely quaint view of congressional Republicans.

  196. 196.

    NotMax

    Eclectic list, ranging from documentaries to fluff, and everything in between. Tried not to duplicate suggestions from above (but have only quick scanned the thread thus far) and to cull from the list as first typed any which are are no longer on Prime. Not all A level, however attempted to keep it no less than a solid B. Rather than include a wall of text description, have faith in the jackals’ Google skills.

    “Patriot” (the Amazon original series)
    “Wild Boys”
    “Mamon”
    “Empty Space”
    “Laid”
    “Little Coincidences”
    “Brideshead Revisited”
    “Cadfael”
    “Martin Chuzzlewit”
    “in the Flesh”
    “Counterpart”
    “A Raven Called Poe”
    “The Real African Queen”
    “Spiral”
    “Admiral”
    “The Royal Tailor”
    “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”
    “Little Big Voice”
    “Origins” (the French series)
    “Impossible Peace”
    “Lapland Odyssey”
    “Shackleton’s Captain”
    “Hustle”
    “Winter Kills”
    “Rake”
    “The Booth at the End”
    “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis”
    “A Royal Night Out”
    “Hamish Macbeth”
    “Goliath”
    “Roba”
    “Charlie Jade”
    “Terry Jones’ Great Map Mystery”
    “The Royal”
    “Drover’s Gold”
    “William and Mary” (the series with Martin Clunes)
    “Gavin and Stacey”
    “Step Dave”
    “Being Erica”
    “Nothing Trivial”
    “Miranda”
    “My Uncle Silas”
    “Berlin Berlin”
    “Banshee”
    “Man in a Suitcase”
    “Babylon 5”
    “Easy Living” (Finnish series)
    “The Dog” (Ukrainian series)
    “Hotel Coolgardie”
    “Last Cab to Darwin”
    “The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club”
    “The City and the City”
    ‘A Touch of Cloth”
    “Manor House”
    “Movie Movie”
    “Meet the Romans”
    “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont”
    “Dogpound Shuffle”
    “Brotherhood” (German series, may be listed as “Winnetou”)
    “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising ”
    “JourneyQuest”
    “Watching the Detectives”
    “Dead Like Me”
    “Mr. Robot”
    “Coupling” (the British series)
    “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker”
    “Men & Chicken”
    “Mozart in the Jungle”
    “Flickers”
    “Dickensian”
    “The U.S. Exploring Expedition: The Greatest Voyage of Discovery Lost to History”
    “Harrow: A Very British School”
    “Paternity Leave”
    “Last Call at Murray’s”

    Shall add there’s a wealth of 30s, 40s and 50s B flicks on Prime. Too many to list here.

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    @Quiltingfool:   Crate and Barrel!  Those two are so natural and fabulous with their back and forth patter.  They had a lesser role in the books, but the series knew the gold they had in those actors.

  201. 201.

    soup time

    Spies   (Russian tv series, English subtitles. WW II drama, a group of young women trained to infiltrate German positions and carry out various espionage and sabotage actions.)

    Trapped  (Icelandic tv series, English subtitles.  Police procedural. Great writing and acting. And Iceland.)

  202. 202.

    Di

    One Mississippi – Tig Notaro plays a DJ who returns home to Mississippi after her mother’s death. There are two seasons. I wanted fifty more so I could just live with these characters.

    I Love Dick – Kathryn Hahn is a loud, outspoken, not very successful filmmaker who accompanies her husband, played by Griffin Dunne, to an artist’s retreat in Marfa, TX. She becomes obsessed with Dick (Kevin Bacon), founder of the retreat. It’s a freaking brilliant look at gender roles and sex and class.

    And let me be the 900th person to recommend Bosch. In the first couple of episodes, there’s a little too much of him announcing what a tough guy and lone wolf he is. Ignore it – it calms down quickly and there’s more showing than telling. It’s a great series and season 6 is available today, thank gods.

  203. 203.

    WaterGirl

    Big thanks to everyone who contributed to these Favorites threads!

    They are in the sidebar, so people will see any additions that are added.

  204. 204.

    J_A

    @WaterGirl:

    The Night Manager series is probably the best recent example of an adaptation that is so much better than the original. After I watched, mesmerized, the series, I bought the book. I could not finish it. It is absolute rubbish.

  206. 206.

    DaddyJ

    The early-60s Outer Limits is available on Prime for science fiction fans. Try to look past the low-budget effects and latex monsters to apprieciate the wierd themes (“Don’t Open Until Doomsday”, “The Guests”, “It Crawled Out of the Woodwork”, “The Forms of Things Unknown”), brilliant black-and-white photography, star turns (Cliff Robertson, Sally Kellerman, Robert Culp) and awesome scores. Declines in quality in the second season, and I couldn’t watch more than an episode or two of the hackish 90s revivial series.

  207. 207.

    prostratedragon

    Following a Salon.com recommendation I just watched Selah and the Spades. It’s a high school movie, and quite a good one. Selah is the queen bee at a boarding school with a highly structured student social system. She’s to graduate soon, and spots a protegee day student named Paloma to take her place. If she can. Amazon Prime.

Comments are closed.