Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

He really is that stupid.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Books are my comfort food!

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / TV Shows Are Back On The Air

TV Shows Are Back On The Air

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This post is in: 

TV shows started back up a couple of weeks ago.  Some of them, anyway.

What do you want to see in TV shows?  Put aside safety concerns for the moment.   What do you want to see?  Shows that reflect the old normal, with no mask-wearing and no references to the pandemic?  Or do you like seeing the new reality reflected in the visuals and the story lines of returning shows?

What’s it going to be like, years from now, for folks watching the shows from this year where people are masked and are talking about the pandemic?  That will certainly tie shows to this particular point in time.  Will it affect the shelf life of those shows?

I have noticed multiple shows with plot lines related to black lives matter, though they don’t say those words.  That, I see as a good thing.

I also find myself wondering about how they are filming these.  Did they all quarantine separately, and then together?   Are they all set up in a safe bubble now, filming the new seasons, but with no outside contact but the actors and the crews?  What about their families?

Is anyone watching any returning shows, or is it all streaming, all the time?

 

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    The Moar You Know

     Will it affect the shelf life of those shows?

    Yes indeed it would.  I’m not seeing shows with masks and don’t expect to.  Syndication is an enormous parts of the entertainment mafia’s revenue.   You’re not going to be able to run anything tied so specifically to “2020-2021” for too long, so they won’t do that.

  2. 2.

    Yarrow

    What do you want to see?  Shows that reflect the old normal, with no mask-wearing and no references to the pandemic?  Or do you like seeing the new reality reflected in the visuals and the story lines of returning shows?

    I don’t really care either way but I still find it jarring when, in a non-Covid world on a show, people go to a restaurant and no one is wearing a mask, or there’s a party or so forth. I sort of have to stop myself from screaming, “Stop! Put on a mask! What are you doing?!!!” I have seen some promos for some shows where they’ve clearly gone all in with the Covid stuff. I think Grey’s Anatomy and another hospital show (can’t remember the name). It makes sense for hospital-based dramas. I kind of like the respite of seeing people without masks and distancing. More of an escape.

  3. 3.

    Catherine D.

    I’ve seen shows set in the pandemic with on and off mask usage, which makes me yell at the screen.

  5. 5.

    SFAW

    What do you want to see in TV shows?

    A continuing series of trials of Republican Party officials — elected and otherwise* — from The Hague, where they are being tried for Crimes Against Humanity. Throw Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch into the mix, also.

    *Looking at you, Bill Barr, Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, and so forth.

  6. 6.

    condorcet runner-up

    @Yarrow: watching things like a birthday party in a show or a movie where someone is just blowing all over the candles on a cake makes me curl up into an almost perfect sphere of anxiety these days.

  7. 7.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Loads of BBC shows are self distancing, news shows, cooking shows, even Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. You can tell  the shows that were filmed pre and post COVID.

  8. 8.

    Yarrow

    Speaking of people not wearing masks, some neighbors are apparently having a party. The streets around their house (their street and nearby streets) are filled with cars. There are giant balloons out front. In the few minutes I was outside their house I saw three cars park, six people get out all carrying food and drink and no one wearing or holding a mask. Good thing the pandemic is totally over and won’t affect them or anyone they care about. Fucking hell.

  9. 9.

    Salty Sam

    II also find myself wondering about how they are filming these.

    Both my kids are involved in TV production,  and it’s pretty much as you described.  Crew bubbles, isolation, and frequent testing.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow:  It used to be when I was driven to say “What the fuck is wrong with these people?!” every day, it was because of politics.

    Now I’m saying it because people are being so very stupid and selfish and irresponsible about COVID.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @The Moar You Know:  That’s what I would have thought, too.

    But he NCIS shows are going all in on COVID and masks, at least the New Orleans version.  So are several of the other shows I’ve seen.

    But they are being inconsistent about mask wearing.  But it’s just the first couple of episodes, and I’m sure they were filmed before we knew what we know now about the risks.

    I really hoped the new shows would act as though it was the before times because I want distractions and entertainment not more covid.

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  I know. I’m so angry about it. The people I saw getting out of the cars were maybe late 20’s/early 30’s, so young and invincible of course. *eyeroll

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Yarrow: Does your state or locality have orders prohibiting gatherings over a certain size?  If so (or, heck, even if not) call your local cops and tell ’em?  I mean, that gathering is increasing the danger for you and every other neighbor.

  20. 20.

    Geoduck

    @WaterGirl: Now I’m saying it because people are being so very stupid and selfish and irresponsible about COVID.

    AND they’re (presumably) not getting hammered from all directions, including television, with messages from the government about how bad and contagious the disease is. Hopefully that at least will change.

  21. 21.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    I’m not a watcher of Gray’s or The Good Doctor, but brave of them to address the moment. Years later syndication will not suffer. We won’t forget 2020 in our lifetimes. Me, tho? Def. streaming. Office, 30 Rock,  Community…oh, and Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun blew me up. At 1st it was too manic even for me. Everybody seemed to have a weird face or head. I stuck with it, and enjoyed a combo of PeeWee’s Playhouse, The Young Ones, and Monty Python. OH! And The Truth Seekers packed more twists into one short season than the whole run of Lost. Eagerly waiting S2. Pegg and Frost, God save.

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    I was in the mood for something mindless and started watching The Pack on Prime that AL mentioned a while back. I was a little leery of a dog reality show, but they are really good about watching out for them. They had a boot camp for a month or so before the show started, where they did exercises similar to the challenges. There are also a couple of dog safety people who take the dogs’ pulses, have water bowls all over, and make sure they are properly buckled into every car before they go anywhere. They have alternates on some of the more adventurous things like rappelling so if the dog or person gets scared, they can walk around. The people are very nice, so it’s a bit boring so far.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow: I will never pay for streaming for one of the regular network channels.  Just pisses me off.  I loved the Good Wife, but when they moved their spinoff to streaming I said screw it.

  24. 24.

    Mike in NC

    The new season of The Crown on Netflix is excellent, with Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson).

  25. 25.

    Kristine

    S2 of His Dark Materials started this past Monday on HBO. I think you can stream it on HBO Max, but I just have the vanilla channel, so it’s one ep a week. The young woman who plays Lyra, Dafne Keen, is so good. James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson are monstrous (which also means they’re good).

    I’ve never read the books, so I don’t know how it rates as an adaptation, but I like it fine

    No references to current events, which is fine with me. I see enough of that in my nonfiction reading/watching.

  26. 26.

    Richard

    I don’t watch TV. I used to have it on all the time but about 15 years ago i survived a bad time. TV got dropped. I still enjoy you tube but that’s optional,  i get to decide if i want to go there.

    I think the shows should represent the true reality. For several years i always timed my lunch break so i could watch “Days of Our Lives”. I loved that show. I bet they would be wearing masks in that soap opera.

  27. 27.

    Benw

    Nothing I’m watching is really effected by current events: The Great British Bake Off or The Mandalorian.

  28. 28.

    Yarrow

    @Chetan Murthy:  I’m not certain what the latest is. I know the local authorities keep trying to have stricter rules and the Governor keeps telling them they can’t. I’d have to look it up. I don’t want to get in a neighbor dispute and they’re not technically bothering me with noise or damaging my property so I’m not sure if the police would even come. I’ve had a hard time getting police to come when there was actual criming, so not sure about this.

  29. 29.

    GenXFiles

    I still do a double-take when the actors in television shows aren’t wearing masks or social distancing, even when they were filmed years ago. :)

  30. 30.

    Michael Cain

    On the occasions when I have watched network TV, I find that the advertisements annoy me the most.  Ads are transient; there’s no reason that current ads shouldn’t have people in masks.  I noticed a Home Depot ad the other day because everyone speaking as (if they were) an employee was masked.

    Of course, I live in a state where there’s a mask mandate for businesses.  One of the groceries near me that had a problem with people defying the order now has a security guard at the entrance to enforce it.

  31. 31.

    randy khan

    We watch the shows in the NCIS franchise, and it’s been interesting to see the differences among them.

    NCIS New Orleans started the season with two episodes set near the beginning of the pandemic (with a lot more COVID-19 victims in New Orleans than there would have been at the time).  There’s masking and very little touching – a little subplot involves the lead’s girlfriend coming to New Orleans from Washington after quitting her job and refusing to share a bedroom or touch him until she gets a negative test.  It will be interesting to see how long they keep it up, or how they change things as the season goes on.

    Plain old NCIS seems to largely be acting like it’s the Before Times – no mention of COVID, certainly no masks or social distancing.

    NCIS Los Angeles is sort of like NCIS, but it felt like they actually were social distancing, etc. during a lot of the shooting of the show.  There were several shots, particularly at the beginning of the first episode, that normally would have been done with everyone in a room, but had people at multiple locations communicating via video, and so far they don’t all seem to have been in their HQ at once.  But, again, the plots haven’t acknowledged the disease at all.

    Meanwhile, we’re about to start watching about the 5th Italian murder mystery since the pandemic started, via MHz Networks streaming.

  33. 33.

    Citizen Alan

    I’m surprised we’re not seeing more competitive reality show where the premise allows for isolation of the cast. Big Brother 2020 and Great British Bake-Off both worked around Covid easily just by isolating the contestants for 2 weeks before filming started. In the case of GBBO, the bakers are also put up (in some cases with family members) at a lovely country estate for the duration of filming.

    I also wonder why no one has actually come up with a quarantine themed reality show. Something like BB except the contestants are trapped in individual rooms and only able to communicate with others through Zoom. See how long they can handle isolation.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  Well, it’s sort of NBC “plus”. They’ve got all their old content, like Friends and 30 Rock. They apparently have the Today Show All Day or something like that (heard them promoting it), so that’s the Today Show plus extra content. There are new shows like Raven mentioned. It’s a mix. I saw Larry Wilmore interviewed on some late night show and he has a new show on Peacock. That kind of thing.

  35. 35.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Yarrow: Ah.  Well, if you’re in a place run by covidiots, there’s not much to be done other than button-up and ride it out.  I’m sorry, man.  It’s wrong that you have to endure like this.  But then, so do we all, if we want to see the other side of this.  Nobody’s coming to save us …. at least not for a long, long while.

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    @randy khan: This may sound dumb, but in spite of my hope that the returning shows would just be “normal”, I kind of felt like NCIS New Orleans helped me process some of the emotions I have around COVID.

  37. 37.

    PsiFighter37

    Game of Thrones was the last TV series I watched religiously when episodes came out…and look how that turned out. Nowadays, I watch whatever strikes my fancy via streaming. We just finished up Schitt’s Creek, and now I am watching The Queen’s Gambit (as an erstwhile serious player of the game, the chess scenes shown are largely on point – much better than the usual cameos that are put on-camera). What’s after that – TBD.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    I don’t watch much TV – just whatever J has on (mostly Tennis and PBS mysteries).

    In the morning thread, Kay and others suggested going after the GOP for corruption in the GA Senate races. They’ve made it very easy… ProPublica:

    Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., privately pushed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to give wealthy sports owners a lucrative tax break last year, according to a previously unreported letter obtained by ProPublica.

    After the 2017 tax bill championed by President Donald Trump passed, Mnuchin and the Treasury had to write rules on how the legislation would work in practice.

    Of the hundreds of pages of new regulations the agency developed, Perdue wrote about his concern with one extremely narrow rule: The owners of professional sports teams were being excluded from a valuable tax break being granted to many other businesses that are structured so that the companies don’t pay taxes but the owners do.

    “I hope you will reconsider,” Perdue wrote in the 2019 letter.

    Many such letters on regulatory matters are signed by multiple senators, sometimes dozens. But in this case Perdue alone wrote and signed the letter. Why Perdue got interested in an obscure tax regulation, which would impact at most only a small set of the richest Americans, is unclear. Perdue was not on the committee that crafted the legislation, making his in-the-weeds lobbying on the arcane regulation unusual, congressional experts said.

    The Treasury ultimately declined to adopt the revision Perdue sought. If the regulation had been altered as Perdue wanted, it would have been a boon for some of his largest donors. Perdue has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the owners of professional sports clubs, including now-fellow Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who co-owns Atlanta’s WNBA team, the Dream.

    […]

    Something something blatant corruption something something.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    Yarrow

    @Citizen Alan:  The Bachelorette isolated all the contestants for two weeks prior to filming. They did testing to confirm they were Covid-free. Another dating show this summer, “Love Island” did similar. The contestants on both showed live in an isolated situation so can participate in the show mask-free. I think Dancing with the Stars did something similar. I saw a promo and no one was wearing masks.

    I think shows like The Amazing Race or Survivor that go to exotic locales or have contestants travel have a harder time.

  43. 43.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  In the interview Larry Wilmore said something about his show was free. Maybe there are commercials and you pay for a higher commercial-free tier? I haven’t checked it out.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: She is so sleazy.  I hope Trump stays pissed at Kemp for appointing Loeffler and that he won’t do anything to help her.  And I loved hearing that Georgia GOP said they would destroy the GOP for… I forget what their particular grievance was.

  45. 45.

    CaseyL

    Serendipity alert: I’ve been binge-watching “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” on Peacock, as a matter of fact (the streaming service is free for now, but unlikely to remain so).

    L&O:CI was (in)famous for stories that were obviously based on real-world cases, some still churning when the episode aired. So you would think they would be dated, or opaque to a viewer who didn’t know “the story behind the story.”

    To me, at least, they aren’t. Sometimes I know which RL case the episode was based on; sometimes not; none of it affects my enjoyment of the episode.

    So the question of whether current TV should place itself squarely in our day and age by masking or not masking is IMO a non-question. If the underlying story is good enough, and the acting and direction good enough those things alone should enable the show to still be understandable and enjoyable once (please God) we are no longer in a pandemic.

    At worst, it would be like watching an old suspense thriller from the pre-cell phone era. You can enjoy the thriller on its own terms.

  46. 46.

    mali muso

    GBBO and the Crown are my choices lately. We also enjoy Somebody Feed Phil although watching him traipse around the world casually eating everything and rubbing shoulders with crowds of people in open markets does make me nostalgic for the before-times.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    Not a TV show, but there is a wonderful Native American film festival, programmed out of Richmond, VA, this weekend. Free! But it ends tomorrow. A series of wonderful shorts. Please check it out. Repeating my promo from a few days ago:

    Peeps: you might enjoy this free film festival this weekend only: Pocahontas Reframed. Independent films by, and about, original Americans/First Americans, Native Americans; your choice.

    This year a festival of shorts. It’s usually presented at Richmond VA’s historic Byrd Theatre (1928 movie palace, with a Wurlitzer organ that rises from the orchestra pit for some screenings), but … covid. November 20-22.

    Eventbrite, for tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-2020-pocahontas-reframed-film-festival-tickets-125830968815

    The films, this year’s offerings.

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    @Chetan Murthy:  To a certain extent it’s what we all have to do. I think you’re in California and your Governor didn’t exactly cover himself in glory when he went to that dinner party the other day. WTF is wrong with these people? At least he apologized.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow: From Di a bit above your comment it sounds like it’s free with ads, or $5 a month ad-free.

    edit: and from someone after that, it sounds like it won’t be free for long.

  50. 50.

    GenXFiles

    @Michael Cain: Hulu has this “choose your ad experience” bullshit that makes you choose which ad you want to view from two or three choices, and starts a countdown timer until it chooses for you if you don’t make a selection. So you can be an active participant in your own exploitation or suffer through a longer wait than normal.

  54. 54.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Yarrow: Newsom?  Idiot, and frankly his reopening the state back in May should have doomed any future political career.  Fuckwit, he is.  But our Mayor is pretty good.  If there were a big-ass party, I’d call the po-po and send mail to my supervisor, the Mayor, and the Health Department.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Correct answer is yes and no. There’s a free version which gives access to selected parts of the library of offerings, along with ads. Two other paid versions to all the content, supposedly (one with ads, one without).

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    We’re most of the way through this season of “Fargo” and have found it rocky but with the expected enjoyment peaks–last weekend’s was a cinematic triumph (and best homage to the Cohens of the season). “The Undoing” has been good. Ready for my “Better Call Saul” fix but…late winter? Unsure when it returns but it will be the series that finally collides with “Breaking Bad” timeline. Is “Killing Eve” returning soon?

    Binging “Kimmy Schmidt” and love it unreservedly. Catching up with “The Crown” so I can watch the new season. It’s very content-dense and quite voyeuristic, in that I feel like I know them a little too well by now. Acting and production quality are through the (slate) roof. One is amused.

    Many of my favorite series have wrapped and I ponder whether the second golden era of television is behind us.

  57. 57.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl:  They’re showing off places I wouldn’t mind visiting plus I wouldn’t mind getting on a Qantas 787. It doesn’t hurt that most airlines use internal hires for these videos. The crewmember in the tank at the end is just gravy. :P

  58. 58.

    eddie blake

    gotta jump back and read all the comments, but me and ms blake were talking about this today: sooo… spider-man wears a full-face mask and is ALL about the quips and clever lines.

    we wear masks every time we leave the apartment, nyc is NOT fucking around, yet we can BARELY understand each other.

    so YAH. how does modern, plague-acknowledging films or tv shows take THAT into account?

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    Recently got around to watching the 4th season of Mr. Robot on Prime (because no ads). Boy, they not only jumped the shark, they catapulted over Fonzie as well, IMHO.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    This reality show was definitely filmed pre-pandemic, ot at least so far. So much hugging, screaming, and crowds of locals cheering. It is weird. The Before Times.

  65. 65.

    Bill Arnold

    @WaterGirl:

    Now I’m saying it because people are being so very stupid and selfish and irresponsible about COVID.

    Because of politics.
    I will never ever forgive the people pushing disinformation intended to give them political gain.
    First, they, some of them, believed and continue to believe their own propaganda enough to believe that there would be political gain.
    Second, trading death for political gain (or financial gain, or both) is deeply amoral at best.

  66. 66.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    This seems an appropriate place to mention that an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates “Between the World and Me” is premiering on HBO tonight. Now in fact. Will be available for regular viewing tomorrow I believe.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    What do you want to see in TV shows? Put aside safety concerns for the moment. What do you want to see? Shows that reflect the old normal, with no mask-wearing and no references to the pandemic? Or do you like seeing the new reality reflected in the visuals and the story lines of returning shows?

    Pandemic themed shows might quickly become dated, and monotonous. Plus, we don’t know how this will end yet. So, not too interested.

    I don’t watch a lot of regular TV. I have not watched any TV comedies in years. They just seem to obvious, and their jokes set up so plainly that I can see them coming a thousand yards away.

    I do some streaming, mainly of the various new Star Trek series. I surprisingly enjoyed the animated Lower Decks most of all.  The other two shows, Picard and Discovery are sometimes good, but wildly inconsistent.

    Other than that I watch a lot of stuff on YouTube, especially some series from the 50s and early 60s.  This is not a nostalgia fest. Some of these are old British tv shows I never heard of before and American shows I was too young to watch or barely remember.

    I have watched some episodes of the British police procedural Midsomer Murders. Some of the episodes are quite good, but there is a kind of sameness to the series, and some episodes might have benefited by being at least 20 minutes shorter.

    I miss going to the movies.  Streaming doesn’t quite cut it for me.  I also like overpriced movie popcorn and hotdogs with mustard and relish.

  70. 70.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    @WaterGirl: 
    Hell, game shows and SNL are back live, I’m not sure of their precautions. They make me nervous; I don’t watch. The wife does, and they make her nervous too.

  71. 71.

    Bill Arnold

    @Yarrow:
    This one was 46 years old, but I’ve read about loss of limbs, strokes, heart attacks, heart and lung damage among younger patients. (Both XY and XX.)
    A case of possible Fournier’s gangrene associated with proning in COVID-19 ARDS

    The following day, examination revealed multiple areas of necrotic tissue without crepitus around the glans of the penis, the superior scrotum, and at the base of the penis.

    There’s also this, which suggests the possibility that some reckless young males will find that their reproductive fitness has been reduced enough that they won’t ever be able fertile enough to impregnate a female. More research to be done. Do they feel lucky?
    Impaired spermatogenesis in COVID-19 patients (October 23, 2020)

    I have no qualms talking science to people taking stupid risks. :-)

  72. 72.

    Doug R

    How ‘Supernatural’ Filmed Its Final Episodes During COVID-19

    The show filmed under the COVID-19 protocols agreed to unions in the U.S. and Canada: mask-wearing at all times, social distancing among the crew and enhanced sanitary procedures for people and the sets. Everyone involved in the production — around 360 people, according to Warner Bros. — was tested three times a week. That crew is larger than usual, Singer said, because staffers who would usually be used for day calls — in the electric department, for instance — were hired to be there full-time instead. A Warner Bros. spokesperson said the production was divided into seven pods, to enforce social distancing. And, Singer said, “Anybody who could work from home, worked from home.”

    An added wrinkle for “Supernatural” — as well as other U.S. shows that film in Canada — is that the Canadian border requires a strict 14-day quarantine for foreign visitors. Singer, who directed the series finale, which was written by co-showrunner Andrew Dabb, entered the country in early August in order to quarantine. Singer then had a week of prep, during which he couldn’t go to the set because he was deemed to be in the office pod at the time. “Which was a very strange thing,” he said.

    Jensen Ackles masked up

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @Doug R

    That would be Supernatural: The Medicare Years?

    Show has been running so long it seems like that might be about right.

    :)

  75. 75.

    Rich Gardner

    Yeah, I tend to watch lots of series, Supergirl, Lucifer, Unauthorized Living (Spanish crime drama), Queen of the South (Mexican crime drama), that make no pretense at being realistic. So it really doesn’t matter if they take note of our current mask-wearing.

    Wouldn’t mind a Star Trek where the crew goes back to 2020 and, in order to fit in with the natives, they all wear masks. That would clearly explain that wearing masks is a temporary thing.

  76. 76.

    different-church-lady

    I WANT TO STAB THE VIRUS UNTIL IT IS DEAD AND THEN STAB IT SOME MORE!!!

    (DCL +STAB STAB STAB….)

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @Rich Gardner

    Got Prime? Little Coincidences (Pequeñas coincidencias) is a fun Spanish (from Spain) pastime once one gloms onto the cadence of the central story.

  78. 78.

    Rokka

    @randy khan: LL Cool J was just on Colbert. He said their timeline is starting shortly before the end of the pandemic. After he shoots a scene, he has to stay with one group of workers that are isolated from the rest.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @Rokka: How do we know when the end of the pandemic is?

    So they may “end” the pandemic on the show after just a few episodes?  That would be an interesting way to play it.  Of course, if they get it all wrong, that won’t age well.

  81. 81.

    The Pale Scot

    I haven’t owned a TV for decades (I do watch Netflix on my pc). But I would happily buy a subscription for “OWWW… MY BALLS!!!

    It

    It’s just hard to decide who I want to see on the premiere episode, Jarad or S.Miller

  82. 82.

    eddie blake

    like MANY star trek shows, discovery’s first season was a mess, but it got better.

    picard was ALSO not well thought-out, (breaks a bunch of stuff TNG put on film) but fun to watch. haven’t seen lower decks yet.

    but yah, supergirl is good.

    stargirl, OTOH, is GREAT. i normally think geoff johns is a goddamn hack writer, but he’s done justice to the JSA and stargirl’s crew.

  84. 84.

    Laura

    @PsiFighter37: Me too ! To both.  Love them, though in very different ways  I never even thought of either show in terms of masks, as if show are made in a different reality, I guess. The magic of TV!

  85. 85.

    Shalimar

    @Brachiator: I love Midsomer Mysteries and have seen most of them, but I can only watch a few at a time before I get bored.  There are only so many ways they can kill exactly 3 people in a small town before I start yelling at him to figure it out faster.

  87. 87.

    Doug R

    @Brachiator: Yeah, Lower Decks started off kinda jokey and violent but seemed to grow into it. It grew so much that by the season finale it was probably the BEST first season of ANY Star Trek.

  88. 88.

    Bonnie

    I watch regular tv; I don’t stream. Don’t even know what that means. I have invested a bit of money in 60 inch tv’s because I remember what it was like to watch everything in black and white on a 19-inch tv. Anything bigger than 19 is what I want. I want to feel like I am in my own theater. Oh, btw, the 19-inch measurement was the diagonal measurement; thus, the screen was not really that big. I do, however, make the best popcorn in town.

  89. 89.

    different-church-lady

    @WaterGirl: 1) because I am very  +

    2) every BJ thing loads much faster on my old devices as of roughly 48 hours ago than it used to, and I asked you yesterday but I think you didn’t see it.

    3) Duck Pin Bowling

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    @Bonnie

    If you have even halfway decent internet capability, suggest treating yourself to a Roku device. Not an extravagance, wallet-wise for the non-bells and whistles models. Whole new vistas will open up.

  93. 93.

    Rokka

    @WaterGirl: While I’ve only seen part of one new episode, they don’t seem to be explaining exactly what’s going on, so they have the option of playing it either way.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    Look, you don’t understand: the idea that Duck Pin Bowling originated very very very close to where I grew up, but that nobody knows for sure is VERY VERY DISTURBING TO ME AT THIS MOMENT….  +++

  102. 102.

    different-church-lady

    Look I think that the pandemic and a bad, inescapable relationship has turned me into an alcoholic and I’m admitting it for the first time here…

    P.S. AND I WANT CAKE!

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    I need to admit more before I get to that step. For now I’m just being dramatic.

    P.S. I can still say no. (I think…)

  109. 109.

    different-church-lady

    @different-church-lady: Look, here’s what’s going on…

    • I freelance
    • Tonight I decided to say no to a last-minute chaos job that my gut was telling me was a train wreck
    • Almost literal GOD DAMMED TRAIN WRECK I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK?
    • I got drunk instead of navigating the fucking WHAT THE FUCK OF IT ALL WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THAT YOU’RE EVEN IN THE POSITION OF ASKING ME WITH LESS THAN 24 HOURS NOTICE WHEN I TOLD YOU TO CALL ME THREE GODDAMN DAYS AGO but there’s money “possible” every bit of my gut is telling me is a train wreck.
    • I’m middle aged and I never saw this kind of shit coming when I was young and freelancing seemed like a  perfectly  viable option to a full-time career.

    Jesus, there’s so much more than that…. I mean, actually, In my gut I know drunkeness is actually the RIGHT decision, but how the hell did I ever wind up in this position where these seemed like the only two options?

  111. 111.

    Viva BrisVegas

    I was trying to think of a couple of Australian shows worth watching, but they are getting scarcer now with the conservative government slowly strangling the public broadcaster ABC.

    For a gentle regional comedy there is Rosehaven.
    For gritty inner city crime there is Mr InBetween.
    For dusty outback crime there is Mystery Road.
    For amusing quiz show there is Hard Quiz.
    For a dramatised documentary of somewhere you probably didn’t know existed there is Blue Water Empire.

    I doubt many of those are streamed in the US, but if you have a VPN several can be accessed on the ABC streaming platform, iview. There are no credentials required, just need to avoid geolocation.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    I just need to note here that when I do “…!!1!” I’m being sarcastic, and when I do “…!!!” I’m being DEADLY GODDAMNED SERIOUS!!!

  119. 119.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    No, I missed it, thanks! Very plausible.

    A friend of mine was sharing a cab with a college student in NYC and pointed out the building Rock Hudson used to live in. The student said, “Oh, is he the one they named the river after?”

  120. 120.

    Eljai

    @NotMax:  Thank you!  I have been carrying around my feelings of dismay at the final season of Mr. Robot for months now, but I had no one to share them with.

  124. 124.

    different-church-lady

    @WaterGirl: Yeah: Okay: Late 2008 MacBook pro still on 10.6.8: greatly improved.

    old iPad stuck on iOS 10: also greatly improved.

    These are not my only devices — I have other, more modern options — but they’re my primary devices for kinda insane reasons….

  125. 125.

    J R in WV

    @Mike in NC:

    The new season of The Crown on Netflix is excellent, with Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson).

    Actually, I mostly despise the British Royal Family — wealthy parasites on a society failing to support the people.at large.

  128. 128.

    numfar

    I’ve been watching Coroner and Transplant, both Canadian imports.

    I was sad to see Supernatural end as I’ve watched it from the beginning.  I remember the first season, the boys were trying to find their dad and all they had was his cell phone number.  It wasn’t the typical 555 number, so I called it on a goof, and sure enough, it was a voicemail for John Winchester.

    I’m finally watching Season 6 of Bosch.  Very good show and stays pretty true to the books.

    Also, I mostly lurk and am grateful for the interaction on this top 10k blog.  You folks give me a lot to think about.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @frosty: Tigers?  I remember Bobcats, Wolves, Bears, and Webelos.  No Tigers.  But then, I haven’t been a Cub Scout since 1974ish.

  131. 131.

    lol chikinburd

    I am grateful finally to have witnessed the prophesied confrontation between Danny Trejo and the Swedish Chef.

  132. 132.

    evodevo

    @Shalimar: Yes…I love that series, but really, who would live in a shire where the murder rate exceeds Chicago or NYC?  On the other hand, our tiny (~200 pop.) little Ky town has had THREE murders in the last 10 yrs, so…

  134. 134.

    Percysowner

    Jumping in late to the party. I don’t think the COVID references will hurt syndication. Law and Order wasn’t hurt when they included 9-11 in their stories. COVID is going to mark our society for a long time,  so people will remember and it won’t seem weird.

    I’m a fan of Supernatural, which shot its last two episodes after quarantine. It ends with a big fight with God (long story) They announce this has to happen at a particular place, in a large meadow, with the ingredients in the middle of a BIG square where everyone stands at one corner. It practically screamed “this is a socially distanced ritual!” It also worked within the context of the show.

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