Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
It’s been a long week – let’s just have a what are you watching thread.
If you can, please tell us a bit about the show, what you particularly like about it, and if it’s streaming or on a network channel, let us know where to find it. Every time we do a Google search, a hamster is running somewhere to keep that server going, and worse than that, it only helps the big money boys.
So share what you know so we can help save the planet, and stick it to the money boys at the same time.
I am watching Cold Case on TNT and it is holding up really well.
I am watching Ballard on Prime while I walk on the treadmill. I loved Maggie Q on Nikita. I am only halfway through the first episode, but I like her character and her style in this show, and it’s a tiny link to Bosch. I can’t believe those bastards cancelled Bosch, apparently after Season 3 was done filming, so he didn’t even know it was the end of the series until after Season 3 was over. Did I say bastards?
In case you are new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.
Baud
I’m in the middle of Ballard. Was really surprised by the space aliens.
BretH
Wife and I tried Untamed. Good enough I guess but quickly settled into “filler” episodes.
Switched to Adolescence and wow, just wow.
Craig
I’m watching Smoke so you don’t have to. Taron Edgerton plays an arson investigator in so PNW town(I think). Jurnee Smollett is his cop partner. Greg Kinnear is really good as the Fire Chief. Edgerton’s character is dumb and his acting is terrible. Not a good show.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Finally started Kevin Can F*** Himself on Netflix. Watched the first season and thought it was interestingly conceived and well acted.
Weird mashup of emotional drama and sitcom, but really enjoyed both aspects. Can’t speak to the accuracy of the New England accents…
Chief Oshkosh
Murderbot, Stick, Welcome to Rexham, Tour de France
That’s about all the TV I can handle.
Dorothy A. Winsor
We’re watching Ballard too. Bosch shows up for a few minutes once in a while
geg6
@BretH:
I keep telling everyone to watch it. Great acting, great script and technically just insane. It’s very tough subject matter but I haven’t seen anything in any medium that has impressed me as much in decades.
Craig
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I really liked that. By the end it’s damn incredible, turning the sit-com on it’s ear.
NeenerNeener
I just binged all the episodes of Untamed on Netflix. It starts with two guys climbing up El Capitan when a body falls from the top and damned near knocks both guys off the side. Eric Bana is a Fed assigned to work with the park rangers to figure out who she is and how she died.
I had started watching Unbelievable yesterday but that one just enrages me. Kaitlyn Dever tells the cops she’s been raped and they make her repeat her story over and over until she starts missing details and then they dismiss the whole thing and claim she made it up for attention. Merritt Wever comes in as a cop investigating a rape that has the same MO as Dever’s. I’ll probably go back and finish it later, but today I just wasn’t in the mood for mansplaining cops.
Laura
@NeenerNeener: Definitely go back and finish it. It is actually based on a true story. While it is tough to watch it is worth it.
Craig
Been watching Yellowjackets on a recommendation from friends. Split between a 90s timeline where a girls soccer team crashes in the Rockies, has to survive a winter and the modern day cast deals with the fallout from their ordeal. Cool. Weird. Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci are super weird. Fun, creepy show. Netflix has some of it.
MattF
Watched Adolescence on Netflix. Episode 1 after reading Will Leitch’s delerious review in the WaPo, then the next three episodes the morning after. And it is great. Precisely how great may be debated, since it’s a very different kind of storytelling— but great enough that I think everyone should see it and decide for themselves.
Josie
I’m watching Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn that I signed up for through Prime. It’s in New Zealand. The accents are so charming and the characters are unusual and intriguing.
Suzanne
I’m not watching anything, but I finished reading The Doorman by Chris Pavone. I enjoyed it greatly, and I think much of the jackaltariat will, as well. Cracked open Phantom Orbit by David Ignatius today.
piratedan
rolling thru Spooks (MI-5) on Acorn, up to season 4 now….. also for a change of pace, watching MGM’s The Institute (based on the Stephen King novel) and so far, its pretty faithful to the source material. Finished up Brokenwood Mysteries Season 11 and that’s always fun to watch, they love their characters and their setting and their storytelling is fun and not every mystery is cut and dried..
trollhattan
Wrapped the latest season of The Bear. It needs no introduction by now and suffice to say Carmy’s tendency to self-sabotage remains resident. The show is impeccably written and cast and I’m left pondering how anybody survives the restaurant bidnez.
Also binged both seasons of Such Brave Girls. Only learned halfway through the creator and writer is one of the brave girls, which explains how she can treat her character, and her sister and mum, so brutally. The titular girls are helplessly attracted to people who have no regard for them whatsoever.
Sound like a jolly good time? No? If cringe comedy makes you squeamish yet cannot turn away, then this is your jam. Think Ricky Gervais in Extras.
Thirdly, wrapped Murderbot, the space drama I needed. All the usual greedy corporate tropes and sardonically humorous. Alexander Skarsgard in perhaps his oddest role, nails things together and the whole cast is great.
Trying to get into The Gilded Age and not yet convinced. Downton Abby does New York. Good cast mostly, with many familiar faces. Considering the car does not yet exist I do not know who’s scurrying out on the roads and picking up all the horse poop. How do they find the time?
Old Dan and Little Ann
Due to my dad talking to me about the Jack Reacher books over the years, I have read 3 over the last few weeks. Juicers on here mentioned the TV series a while back and I am already into the 2nd season. I binged season 1 over the last several days. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure.
Laura
I watch many shows on Britbox and Acorn. I tend to stick to mysteries. I especially like shows set in Australia and New Zealand to see the gorgeous scenery. Currently watching a movie on AMC+ called Force of Nature – The Dry 2. It is the second movie set in Australia starring Eric Bana as the same character based on mysteries by Jane Harper.
martha
@Craig: I tried Smoke and I just dont get Taron Egerton, in anything I’ve seen him in. So, meh.
Other than Adolescence on Netflix, I loved, loved Dept Q on Netflix. The writing and acting are so good, set in Scotland but based on a Scandinavian writer’s book series. A very prickly cop is “given” a new department to examine cold cases. Matthew Goode plays the lead, but the supporting Scottish cast is incredible (and recognizable to those of us addicted to British TV/movies). Nine episodes in season 1 and I sure hope they renew it.
trollhattan
@MattF:
That show is BRUTAL.
Each episode is one take, which is boggling on both an artistic and technical basis. Especially the one wher… I’ll stop.
Lots of Rashoman vibes.
Kristine
My main viewing of late has been Dangermouse on Netflix. A couple of episodes/night. I first watched it ages ago on Nickelodeon. Some bits haven’t aged well, but overall it’s still pretty good.
I’m referring to the original series from the 80s-early 90s. Not a fan of the late teens reboot, even if it does have Stephen Fry as the voice of Colonel K.
I enjoyed Murderbot and am glad it’s getting a second season.
Laura
@Josie: I love Brokenwood! I rewatch it all the time. I love the mysteries set in New Zealand and Australia.i love how the townspeople pop up in different episodes! But I do miss Mrs Marlowe.
schrodingers_cat
I just finished Season 20 of Top Chef. I am more than half way through Shogun.
I am watching Prof. Vinay Lal’s YT channel. I just finished his lectures on the History of British India. I downloaded his syllabus and some of the reading material and I am going through it. I am finding out how much worse the British rule was than even I knew.
BTW guys this all began with my exploration into the reasons behind the Partition of British India. If there is interest we could do a zoom in the fall about it. You can email me at [email protected].
Chris
Only one episode into Nautilus, but enjoying it so far. Origin story for Captain Nemo, and it’s kind of surprising that it hasn’t (to my knowledge) been done before, given that “Nemo was up to his eyeballs in the Mutiny of 1857/First Indian War of Independence” is his canonical origin story and also seems like the kind of thing that could sustain all kinds of stories. What’s cool is that it starts with Nemo hijacking a prototype submarine from the East India Company, which at first had me thinking “they’re making the Nautilus a British project that he just stole? That’s kind of shit, it diminishes a character that’s supposed to the Tony Stark of his day and age”… and then it turns out that no, he’s one of the people who designed it, just, at gunpoint in a British gulag. Which is on-brand for the EIC.
Also a few episodes into Sherlock & Daughter. For a premise that seems boringly cliche, it’s plenty of fun so far. The daughter (or “daughter”?) is a fun enough character onscreen, and David Thewlis makes a great Sherlock Holmes. Funnily enough, his last appearance in Holmes media was playing a bad guy just a couple years ago in Enola Holmes 2.
Don’t know if I can count Poker Face since that just ended, but man, it does a great job of giving me my fix of seventies/eighties style crime television. Great finish, too!
trollhattan
@Craig:
Whoever writes that show sure groks teenage girls.
martha
@Laura: Try A Remarkable Way to Die, on Acorn. Set in Queenstown NZ and environs, and especially the Remarkables, the mountains that surround the city. Police procedural, but the first 3 episodes are a great travelogue for the area.
Craig
@martha: I’m usually ok with Edgerton. Thought he was great with Colin Firth in Kingsmen. Was pleasantly surprised that he made a great Elton John. He’s just terrible in Smoke.
schrodingers_cat
@Chris: Oh EIC was cuddly compared to the horrors of direct British Rule.
And EIC did stuff that Nazis used later in their concentration camps. So they were pretty awful.
Lal spent an entire lecture on 1857. EIC’s Bengal Army wiped out Delhi after 1857. Civilians included.
Laura
@martha: I loved that series. The scenery was so fantastic. Really hope there is a second season!
dmsilev
Finished watching Murderbot (AppleTV) last week. A lot of fun, and a mostly faithful adaptation of the first book in the series. I particularly enjoyed how the show took Murderbot’s true passion, binging trashy soap operas, and brought it to life.
Also on Apple, season 3 of Foundation is just now underway. It’s …less faithful to its source material, which honestly is just as well if your goal is to create a watchable show. If nothing else, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous, and Lee Pace has been doing an excellent job as the Scenery Chewer In Chief. Though apparently this season’s iteration of his (cloned) character is a Space Hippy, which is hilariously different than all of the previous clones.
Steve Paradis
Trying to explain to people who are sure that Bosch was 86’ed by this all new woman detective because WOKE.
Michael Connolly started the character because a cop who was a Viet Nam was getting a little old for LAPD. He’s since written 5 Ballard novels.
And she’s based partially on a real cop.
harrybosch.fandom.com/wiki/Mitzi_Roberts
martha
@Laura: oh good! I really enjoyed that one. I’m trying to like the Art Detectives on Acorn but not loving it.
kalakal
Just finished Ludwig which I really enjoyed, quietly funny with intriguing puzzles inside the greater plot.
The cast is good, particularly David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell-Martin
Also just finished The Tales of Parahandy* – a blast from the past, UK series set in the 1920s about a tiny freighter and its ramshackle crew set on the west coast of Scotland. It came out in the 1980s, with a great cast including Gregor Fisher, Rikki Fulton, Sean Scanlon, and Paul Young having a blast. Same kind of vibe as All Creatures Great and Small plus some great Celtic music.
Finally just to chill old Brit Cop shows such as Midsomer Murders – I love the increasingly desperate plots as you get up to season 471 or whatever
All on Britbox
Any recommendations?
*From the Neil Munro books – for some reason only the 1st season is available
Quaker in a Basement
At my house, we’re catching up on some older shows we skipped when they were new. We’re watching The 100, a post-apocalypse drama in which 100 very pretty young people are returned to Earth sooner than planned after a global nuclear war. They’re to be the canaries in the coal mine to see if the planet is survivable. But, surprise! There are still people living here! I think of it as a very dark 90210. It’s on Netflix.
We’re also watching Person of Interest on Prime. This one features a wooden plank in the likeness of Jim Caviezel, but it has aged rather well into Trump times. A computer whiz develops an anti-terrorism AI surveillance system for the government. The system identifies people who are about to be involved in a violent event, but doesn’t reveal whether this person of interest will be a victim or perpetrator. The creator of they system becomes disenchanted when the government chooses to ignore its warnings about “irrelevant” (ordinary, everyday) people.
This one is definitely old-school: a “season” runs 20+ episodes. Allies and adversaries abound and switch sides regularly.
We have the new seasons of Guilded Age (HBO Max) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) on deck.
Chris
@piratedan:
Good one.
I think of that one as the spiritual successor to Mission: Impossible (sixties TV show not modern movie franchise). It’s got an ensemble and rotating cast with very few characters making it through the full run, it’s often about out-thinking and out-playing the bad guys rather than out-shooting them, and it likes to rip its plots from the headlines.
There’s been other shows in the same vein as the original MI (Hustle, Leverage), but they’re usually not spy shows.
trollhattan
Netflix has a very unintentionally humorous new show called Untamed, that takes every single tired cop procedural trope ever and plops the mess in Yosemite National Park, where bears and coyotes are definitely going to kill your ass if you so much as think of getting off the pavement, even a little.
The lead dude, divorced dad, has a Big Drinking Problem we I suppose don’t get to unravel until…episode six? Not sure I’ll make it to the big reveal, but somebody’s going to take those truck keys away and leave him to his horse. Yes, he brought his cop horse to Yosemite and don’t ask me how they made it to the top of El Cap in episode 1. Some things just are meant to be.
Heidi Mom
I’m rewatching Sherlock on Britbox. When we watched it years ago I found it very hard to follow, at least in part because Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) speaks very rapidly. When you have trouble understanding what the main character is saying, it’s a problem! This time around I’m watching on my phone, adjusting the sound as needed and going back to catch anything I missed, and it’s going much better. Both leads (the other is Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson) are excellent, and I really enjoy the occasional levity added by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) and Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves).
trollhattan
@Kristine:
My brother gave the kid a Dangermouse DVD set when she was maybe 4th grade? She loved it, rewatching it innumerable times as kids that age tend to.
I wonder if the reason she’s addicted to anime series today has anything to do with Dangermouse. Doesn’t understand more than twenty words in Japanese and some had runs of over a thousand episodes.
WaterGirl
@Craig: That’s a great recommendation!
Do you feel like you have to finish it once you started? Like some people feel like they need to finish a book even if they don’t like it?
Craig
I’m guilty of binge watching Diners Drive Ins and Dives. Guy Fieri is a goofball. I would never eat anything he made. And yet the show is great. Guy’s unrelenting positivity and snappy puns just rolls along as he praises the folks running these restaurants. Such cool, simple food well made. I can’t stand almost any other food shows, all the dumb competition, all the take this garbage and make dishes in 30 min. and have our shitty judges complain. Hate that shit. Guy just wants people to enjoy cooking and food.
band gap
Just finished Fatal Crossing. Good.
Started watching Inspector Suprenant, Suplex. Good so far.
All mysteries of a sort.
artem1s
this time of year I always spend some time listening to Apollo 11 in Real Time.
A real-time journey through the Apollo missions.
This website consists entirely of historical mission material
Included real-time elements:
All mission control film footage
All TV transmissions and onboard film footage
2,000 photographs
11,000 hours of Mission Control audio
240 hours of space-to-ground audio
All onboard recorder audio
15,000 searchable utterances
Post-mission commentary
Astromaterials sample data
The project itself is a masterpiece. You can choose from 11, 13 or 17 now.
There is a Making of video here
apolloinrealtime.org/makingof/
Percysowner
@Kristine:
I loved Danger Mouse. Penfold was my favorite.
“Spider in the Bath! Spider in the bath! Spider in the bath!” and his tagline, Oh Crikey, Oh Crumbs, Oh Ick!
Currently hitting cozy mysteries on Britbox because they are calming. Beyond Paradise and McDonald and Dobbs are this weekend. Ludwig was a few weeks ago, but I really recommend it.
Miki
@kalakal: Shorts on FB of Would I Lie To You with Mitchell and Lee Mack are hilarious.
zhena gogolia
@NeenerNeener: Merritt Wever is really good on The Gilded Age.
We’re watching Grantchester. Only for diehards!
I’m making my way through a 3-hour Japanese movie, Drive My Car, which is absolutely spellbinding. Director/actor mounting a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya at a Hiroshima festival. I love it.
Laura
@martha: I watched Art Detectives. Found it better than I expected as I never really cared for Stephen Moyer on True Blood. My next series is going to be The Survivors on Netflix. It is another series based on a Jane Harper book – set in Australia. And I am eagerly awaiting the return of Slow Horses.
Craig
@WaterGirl: kind of will hate watch it probably. John Leguizamo is good in it. The partner is good. There are some good elements, but it’s just not a good show. Dennis Lehane created it and he’s usually good.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Heidi Mom: closed captions are your friend!
zhena gogolia
@Laura: We watched one episode of Art Detectives but weren’t really hooked. Might try it again.
NeenerNeener
I’m on the fence about whether it’s his acting, or because the character he’s playing is a sociopath.
AndyG
Just finished Dept. Q on Netflix and enjoyed it very much. Nice to see Matthew Goode do something different (and clearly enjoy it).
David_C
Perusing HBOMax I came across a 1933 German Fritz Lang flick, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. It was lost for years and then pieced together from various incomplete prints discovered in various places.
Craig
@NeenerNeener: I’m going with acting, cause there’s no way that someone behaving that way would get away with his shenanigans. Just clearly crazy
Laura
@zhena gogolia: I tend to be one of those people that has to really dislike something to not finish it. I feel I actually learned a few things and I do like the woman partner.
Miki
@schrodingers_cat: Have you watched Great British Menu? I’m watching it on Prime. Too often too much testosterone, but that’s a UK problem. In spite of that, some seriously talented chefs who absolutely explode UK cooking and ingredients.
Each season has multiple episodes with 3 chefs from different UK regions cooking four courses against each other until the regional winners compete against each other to prepare courses for the special banquet.
Currently I’m watching the 2012 season (leading up to a London Olympic Banquet). It’s great.
martha
@Laura: Oh I’ll have to look for that show!
I’m about to start rewatching Slow Horses from the beginning, since the next season begins on September 25 (?)
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I read that Bosch is open to the possibility of maybe joining the cold case unit at some point. According to him, he and Maggie Q really have chemistry together, off screen, so he’s totally open for… something.
Nothing definitely, just something he threw out there.
hoytwillrise
@kalakal: Liking Beyond Paradise on Britbox; only on season 1. Didn’t care much for Ballard, thought the acting was incredibly wooden.
WaterGirl
@martha: Someone here at some point mentioned a lot of torture on Dept Q. Is that the case?
schrodingers_cat
@Miki: No I haven’t. Where is it streaming?
I do like the Great British Baking Show. Especially when Mary Berry was one of the judges.
Craig
Started watching The Gringo Hunters on Netflix. Mexican police unit in TJ that tracks down and deports wanted expat American criminals and turns them over to US law enforcement. Pretty good. I’ll see how it develops.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev:
Thanks for that!
NeenerNeener
@Quaker in a Basement: I’m starting to dislike Strange New Worlds. They’re bringing in villains from the Original Series, but no one in the Original Series remembers meeting them under Pike. And they’ve made Spock pretty much just a neurodivergent human instead of a character raised as a logical, unemotional Vulcan. I’ve started thinking of this as an alternate reality version, and that whole Spock marries Chapel episode was alternate reality of an already alternate reality.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia:
Curious what you mean by that.
I think this season is one of the best since the original fellow left.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I haven’t watched it for that reason. I think the review in the NYT also hinted at that.
WaterGirl
@Craig: I’ll watch shows that aren’t “good” if they are fun or if I like some of the actors.
I will never get past the first episode of a show where not one single person is likable.
thruppence
I watched the first couple minutes of Smoke, but they introduced a female character doing sledgehammer demolition work in a midriff baring tank top, no safety glasses, no helmet, no mask, ugh. No one works like that. If they get the very start so glaringly wrong, what hope has the rest got? Pass.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Really? I don’t like the Leonard arc at all. And what happened to Mrs. C’s husband? Everything seems kind of disjointed. I really hated the episode at the children’s home. Last week was better, but the solution to the mystery made no sense.
I love all the actors — I just think the writing has gone downhill.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I wish the Art Detective detective were more likeable. He’s really offputting.
Ludwig, on the other hand . . .
Anyway
@kalakal:
signed up for two months of Britbox during the recent Prime Days (99c!) just to watch Ludwig. Liked it a lot. Not sure what to watch next …
Craig
@WaterGirl: it takes till most of the way through ep2 for Smoke to go off the rails.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Hoping Leonard sobers up tonight!
Anyway
Same. Can’t get enough of the NZ accents …
WaterGirl
@martha:
Ooh. Thanks for the heads up. I dropped Apple TV+ once I finished Slow Horses and Shrinking. Both were so good. Figured I’d get it again when the new seasons come back. Looks like Shrinking might not be until next year. But I’ll jump in for Slow Horses for sure.
WaterGirl
@Craig: You’ll have to let us know what you think about that one!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: You haven’t watched it because a review said it might be really good? I am perplexed.
I miss you and Steeplejack discussing the episodes.
NeenerNeener
Which could be why next season will be the last.
Laura
@Anyway: yes the accents are great! My sister and I especially are intrigued by how they say a short e (like in dead or Debbie). Neither one of us has been able to copy it.
WaterGirl
@thruppence: Let me guess, also lots of cleavage?
It makes me crazy to see professional women in shows on TV who dress like they are going out on a hot date.
p.a.
Finished S4 The Bear. Interesting show; well acted while a majority of main characters quite unlikable. I guess undamaged people are boring.
Watching & enjoying The Guilded Age. Plots haven’t become cookie-cutter yet, seems like it may have the potential though (i.e. ok who does the nouveau riche family get revenge on next?)
We usually go 2 at a time, so Andor looks likely. The Orville sounds fun, it may get into the lineup.
Isn’t lots of great art (not saying the above is) in the Western tradition kind of well-written soap opera? From The Iliad (mean boss stole my girl) on. 😉
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: A week or so ago, Apple announced that they were renewing Slow Horses through season seven. Four seasons have aired so far, five will come this fall, and then I guess a year or so from now for six. Absolutely wonderful show..
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: The children’s home thing was pretty odd and uncomfortable. And the first one with the switched identities left me cold. And the Leonard arc is sad.
But I think this vicar is so much better than the last, and he and Geordie (sp?) have great chemistry.
martha
@WaterGirl: The “cold case” they’re investigating involves a woman who has been missing for 5 years. She is being held captive. You see her in the place she’s captive. You don’t see the captors physically torture her, but she is definitely subject to mental torture. I didn’t find it as graphic as others things I’ve watched or avoided watching, but some people will likely disagree.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: The first step is acknowledging you have a problem, and he did that. :-)
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: So there WILL be another season after this one?
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Ooh, three more seasons.
The first w or 2.5 episodes were just so-so to me, but I stuck with it because Cole and others raved about it. And damn it was so good.
Anyway
@WaterGirl: I tried watching Patience on Masterpiece but lasted just the I’ve episode. It seemed like a total rip-off of Astrid which Steep liked a lot and mentioned here a few times. I wondered what he’d have thought of it,
WaterGirl
@martha: Oh, that is super helpful.
I won’t be able to watch that show. thank you.
WaterGirl
@Anyway: PBS says it’s “thrilling!” :-)
Laura
@WaterGirl: the dept Q books are very scandi noir – more graphic than the show. When I read the I tended to barely skim the hard sections. But I really found the characters interesting and the mysteries were good.
martha
@WaterGirl: Oh I’m sorry but I understand.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: This comment was about Dept Q, not Grantchester. Both a BJ commenter (explicitly) and the NYT (implicitly) said it involved torture. That’s a no-go for me, even if Richard Armitage is involved. ETA: He’s not in Dept Q, but I tried to watch another show with him in it and had to bail when torture started up.
I miss Steeplejack so much. Grantchester was a favorite!
WaterGirl
@martha: Yeah, when I watched Criminal Minds or any other show with captive women, I had to fast forward through those parts. So that is definitely not a show for me.
I have been tempted because so many people say it’s a great show, so your comment was helpful x10. :-)
They Call Me Noni
Have just finished watching all of The Gilded Age and enjoyed it. The ladies dresses are fabulous, just gorgeous fabrics. So now I’m caught up and have my DvR set to record the final episodes of season 3. It’s good escapism tv. Tomorrow I plan on setting up a monthly donation to PBS as I do enjoy most of their documentaries. Ken Burns is a national treasure.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Yes, they do. I like him better than Will as well. But nobody can beat Sidney!
NeenerNeener
@WaterGirl: Yeah, this vicar will get one more season.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Me, too. I think of him and miss him almost every day.
Miki
@schrodingers_cat: I stream it on Prime.
The early seasons have Pru Leith as a weekly judge.
One of the reasons I like watching it is each season has something like 24 episodes, all geared towards a specific topic for that season’s banquet. The one I’m watching right now – 2012 – has an Olympics theme to fit with London hosting the Olympics that year. Other years have other themes, all of which are fully gripping when it comes to the food.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: You are so right about Sidney!
Knowing your comment was about Dept Q note Grantchester is infinitely helpful!
bluefoot
@artem1s: I LOVE Apollo In Real Time. I discovered it a few years ago and listened to the entire Apollo 11 mission. I love the miscellaneous conversations that are part of the recordings. It makes everyone involved more real and present. I also love how you can isolate specific channels to listen to.
For myself, I am mostly doing comfort watching since the country is sliding into…I don’t even know what. So I’ve been watching Leverage – I don’t think it needs a description here but the combination of humor, teamwork and watching bad guys who are usually untouchable get comeuppance is a definite comfort watch in these times. I also just finished the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It’s fun even though I hate science fiction that relies too heavily on time travel for plots. (The exception is Doctor Who, in which time travel is what makes the entire series possible.)
I really want to finish Andor, but my Disney+ subscription lapsed. I may have to sign up again just to finish.
NeenerNeener
I think that’s because it actually is a remake of Astrid.
Anyway
hahaha, I wondered but couldn’t be bothered to look it up. I don’t see the point of a remake.
Miki
I’m an old (officially: I turned 70 last Tuesday) poodle-loving girly who loves Heartland. It’s a Canadian series about an extended family who raises cattle and supports a young woman who trains and rehabilitates horses. The horse stuff is real. I watch the current season on UP Faith & Family (the show is NOT religious). Netflix has the older stuff.
If you liked Longmire you might like this, but it’s not as gritty. But I like it.
jackmac
Delighted to see Star Trek Strange New Worlds finally return with a third season after what seemed to be an endless hiatus. But I’m not happy to hear the series will end with a shortened season five. Seems like a penny-pinching move by CBS/Paramount.
Kristine
@trollhattan: I have the DVDs too.
I saw that the actor who voices DM in the original series was knighted at some point.
Kristine
@Percysowner: I love Penfold. “You won’t laugh at mine, I won’t laugh at yours.”
It just had this priceless little bits every so often. In the Fantastic Voyage ep where DM and Penfold need to be injected into Colonel K to thwart Greenback’s takeover of his brain, and they come upon these red blood cells singing “Her-a-globin He-mo-globin In the arterye.” (to the tune of “Coming Through the Rye).
The ep where they’re transported back to the 12th century is also a good one.
Librettist
@trollhattan:
NYC had street sweepers:
youtu.be/KbpMNnk4jM8?si=u-5RBGsOZFTtbI_U
kalakal
@Anyway: Good price!
There’s loads there, I mostly watch comedies and cop shows.
Of the crime shows you may like
Vera, Poirot, Shetland, New Tricks, A Touch of Frost, Death in Paradise, Hustle
Comedy
Father Ted, Fry & Laurie, Peep Show, Blackadder
prostratedragon
@David_C: I still hold out hope that a complete original of that one will be found in a closet up in Dawson City or somewhere.
Craig
Oh yeah, rewatching Andor. Jesus, this show is so good. S1 e10 is amazing. Probably the best thing Andy Serkis has done is his character here. Stellan Skarsgard is insanely good. Fiona Shaw’s monologue in s1 e12 is why people go from mad to revolt, rebellion. Going to slowly watch s2 and take a weekend to watch the last episode right into Rogue One into Episode Four. Maybe just do it one night.
billcinsd
I have been watching The Librarians: The Next Chapter and catching up on Leverage: Redemption.
@kalakal: Is the Hustle you mention the show that is basically a British Leverage? That was a very good show
kalakal
@billcinsd: Yep, it’s really good
NotMax
Working my way through the intense Swedish series The Lost on MHz Choice..
Side note for those in search of something more innocuous and haven’t seen it or wish to revisit it, Vicious has shown up on Prime. Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi in competition as to who can chew more scenery. Good fun.
Captain C
Dame N and I are currently rewatching The Librarians season 1, me for the second time (though it was several years ago so I mostly don’t remember it) and her for the Nth time. We also recently finished season 3 of Leverage: Redemption which we found highly enjoyable. Dame N has a theory that at least one of the showrunners of these shows is in a functioning polycule, likely a thruple.
Trivia Man
Netflix – started S3 of Lincoln lawyer, im a sucker for legal dramas and i like all the characters here. Good pacing, interesting developments.
Lucifer – Detective show, twist is satan gets involved. Just 2 episodes in, ill try a few more. Interesting concept, so far i like all the characters.
mayim
I mosly watch via YouTube or Amazon Prime, as I’ve never bothered to get cable <too expensive>. I’ve also recently found a couple free pseudo-cable apps ~ Samsung TV and Tubi, for my Law & Order re-run cravings. My prime criterion for a program to watch is whether I can knit through it.
Current favorites: Time Team, Who Do You Think You Are? [U.K. and Australian versions], and assorted Everest climbing videos.
Animals: Snake Discovery, Sheepishly Me by Sandy Brock plus all sorts of animals from Katie van Slyke. The Hoof GP ~ cow hoof trimming along Scottish scenery; surprisingly interesting. The Girl with the Dogs, grooming cats and dogs. TinyKittens, which does amazing rescue work and usually has a couple kitten livestreams.
Plane, train, and bus journeys by Noel Phillips.
Assorted PBS documentaries also end up at YouTube, as do programs from places like the American Antiquarian Society and the Smithsonian.
Dylan Hollis has amusing short videos and fascinating in-depth recipe analysis videos.
And, finally ~ I’ve got a small YouTube genealogy channel. I had a larger one but lost it when I got laid off, so I’m trying to rebuild.
Randal Sexton
Hmm, as I know a bunch of folks whose hobby is RUNNING up the Nose of the Captain ( El Capitan) I should check out that show Untamed. For accuracy, of which Im sure I will be outraged at how inaccurate the portrayal is.
UncleEbeneezer
@Laura: A bunch of it was also filmed in beautiful Altadena. Many of the locations (like the convenience store) burned down in the Eaton Canyon Fire. So it gives a great snapshot of our lovely little city as it was in the before-times. It’s also one of the best (though hardest to watch) series’ about sexual assault victims and shitty police.
UncleEbeneezer
Duster on HBOMax was a fun crime, suspense, action, car-chase show set in Arizona in the 70’s. It stars the guy who played Sawyer on Lost and damn, that guy hasn’t aged at all. Like in Lost, he actually has some pretty good comedy chops. The show also highlights the struggle of being a black woman in the FBI in the 1970’s. It ended up being much better than we expected.
We’ve also been guilty-pleasure watching And Just Like That (it’s terrible), The Gilded Age (it’s OK but no Downton Abbey) and F-Girl Island which is ridiculous but kinda fun.
Also watching 100 Foot Wave (which really should’ve ended after season 1) and Saint X, a crime drama set in a Caribbean island. Sorta White Lotus in vibe. It’s okay but not great.
Gloria DryGarden
@mayim: I watch a lot on YouTube. Many movies show up there, or I watch the clips of shows. I’m enamored of bbc nature shows, especially ocean things, and David Attenborough (Sir).
I have things lined up on Hulu, but Hulu, although paid for each month, has not been working consistently. It might play one show, then not play the next one I ask for, or a few days later it works again but only once. Dr google said it’s not having a problem, and I suppose I ,have to call, or uninstall and reinstall. It says Hulu may not be available in my area. Sigh.
Im still trying to figure out why I liked Andor so much I watched it through, 3 times, before Hulu stopped carrying it.
WTFGhost
I’m probably going to be boring, but:
I’m watching Lucifer, on Netflix, because my wife already finished it. I realized that Lucifer is kind of the “anti-Columbo”, rather than being excruciatingly polite, and embarrassed by anything of a sexual nature (like Falk’s Columbo), Lucifer is loud, rude, and extremely interested in anything of a sexual nature.
And the “family issues,” because, OMG, I grew up in a dysfunctional family too, and I can laugh at poor Dr. Martin *trying* to be a good doctor.
I’ve also watched “What If…?” on Disney. Marvel Comics put out “What If…?” for a while, and they were some fascinating stories. Change something minor-seeming, and see what happens.
I’ve tried rewatching The Avengers, but, face it, Avengers II was stupid. They should have used the Vision more. He’s one of the coolest Avengers.
Avengers III is even worse. Look, I’m sorry, but, just like “no one who is unworthy can pick up Mjolnir,” no one can punch-out the Hulk. It can’t be done. When Superman one-punched the Hulk, that was okay – he punched the “baseline” Hulk, hard enough to knock him out. That was fair. Thanos punched the Hulk a dozen times, which should have made him angrier, and hence stronger. In Avengers 4, there should have been a Hulk-beatdown on Thanos, who would then bolt and summon his armies, and *then*… that’s when the teleportation rings would start opening up, and people would be all “we’re ready to stuff these armies so far up your ass that you should be in the *next* thread, where people are discussing DREs!”
I assumed the Hulk-beatdown would involve Loki, who isn’t stupid enough to try to murder Thanos with a dagger the Hulk would use to treat a fecal impaction. (I’m sorry – my mom left her nursing books around, so I know too much about some really gross stuff.) So, I had this imagined scene, where Loki died to set himself up to help the Hulk beat the crap out of Thanos, but it didn’t happen.
Um. We’re getting off topic aren’t we?
Well, my wife has a UTI, so I can’t provide any soft porn that I was watching tonight, but, if we include my imagination… screw that, if we include *my* imagination, we’ll scare everyone off!
I’ve been watching Elsbeth, which is a fascinating show (streaming on Paramount+ and Apple, plus Google Play). She’s not a “reverse Columbo” like Lucifer, but more like a remake, from a female, lawyerly, perspective.
Eventually, I also have to watch Suits, just to catch up.
WTFGhost
If you stop by, I’ll make popcorn and we can watch Andor on Disney+. (I know how to do popcorn properly – I can even pop *Jiffy Pop* without burning any kernels!)
Wait until Winter, and I’ll make the same offer with mint hot cocoa
NotMax
@WTFGhost
What are you, a wizard? ;)
Q: How many Dolt 47 voters does it take to make Jiffy Pop?
A: 5. One to hold the pan and 4 to shake the stove.
:)
hotshoe
@WaterGirl:
might have been me.
I was enthralled by Dept.Q — the intricate storyline, the scenery, and the acting are all wonderful.
I actually do recommend it, with a serious warning!
The torture is non-ending and is at the center of the whole plot. Right up to the belated happy ending.
And episode 6 has a traumatic scene (thank god, fairly brief) with a teenage boy being gruesomely threatened.
It’s probably not more dark than other things that people create nowadays. Maybe I am just being overly sensitive.
But I am bothered when folks recommend it enthusiastically without warning.
Hazmat
@WaterGirl: I hate hate hate the show’s use of the “woman in captivity is psychologically tortured” theme and ended up fast forwarding through those parts after ep. 1. The rest of the show was great and still worth watching but skipping those parts makes it slightly harder to figure out the culprits before the reveal. In the last episode I had to relent and stop fast forwarding but by that time it’s not just gratuitous dwelling on misery and sadism and does fit in with the rest of the plot and characters. What I loved about the show was the team of misfit investigators coming together part, and overall it felt like a fresh-ish take on these kinds of mystery shows.
WaterGirl
@billcinsd: How is The Next Chapter? I loved the previous characters so much, I have been reluctant to check it out.
WaterGirl
@kalakal: Is your comment about Hustle? Or The new librarians?
kalakal
@WaterGirl: Hustle
Mike
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Also glad to see Crate and Barrel.
Miss Bianca
@Quaker in a Basement: Watched The 100 myself earlier this year – binged the whole thing straight through. Dark, dark, dark, but some very pretty young people and some great acting.
I live way up in the mountains with no network TV and no streaming, so DVDs are my media drug of choice. Right now we’re going back in time to re-watch Grimm (second season now, and now I remember, “oh, yeah, this is when it gets really good!”) and after that, second season of Stargate: SG1, which, first season I found pretty “meh”, but Pal D assures me it’s worth it for the plethora of great guest stars who will be showing up.
Also just finished a rewatch of Farscape, which ties with Firefly for my favorite sci-fi binge ever.
Miss Bianca
@They Call Me Noni: Damn, all these people throwing bouquets around about The Gilded Age and I barely made it through Season 1. De gustibus non est disputandum, and shit, I guess.
WaterGirl
@Mike: Oh good! Love Crate and Barrel.
George Kennan Was Right
*SPOILER ALERT*
The biggest set of bastards are the studio executives at Amazon and Netflix who won’t trade their star players across studios for a given project. Because I want to see Bosch help his (half-brother) Mickey Haller get out of the cliffhanger in Season 3 of “The Lincoln Lawyer”. And Amazon and Netflix are never going to let that happen.
Also, is it weird that both Ballard and Haller get arrested for murder at the ends of their respective seasons? Or is this just a Michael Connelly thing?
Paul in KY
Season 2 of Squid Games. Thru episode 4. So far not quite as good as Season 1.
The Unmitigated Gaul
@WaterGirl: Watching it is torture.
billcinsd
@WaterGirl: Well, it’s a little different than the original show, but I like it. The librarian is from the past, one of the new possible librarians is a conspiracy theorist guy and the other is an IPO chasing scientist. It doesn’t really have a John Larroquette part. In general I find it entertaining and so far the plots have mostly been not too preposterous