What TV shows are you watching?

[jadis]

A bit like Super Hans, but more mopey.

There's a type of British guy who swears by this aesthetic. Truly don't get it, such a boring mindset to be stuck in

[Guybrush]

Just started watching the Dead Ringers TV adaptation with Rachel Weisz in the lead and I think it looks really promising

It's based on the 1988 movie by David Cronenberg, so of course right up my alley. Based on the first episode alone, it definitely feels like they understood the source material and thematically, it is very recognizable even if the Mantle twins are now women working with female fertility and birth.

Eager to watch the rest of it! If anyone's curious, it's on Amazon Prime.

[Trollheart]

Watching Celebrity Hunted. Hunted is a show where a certain amount of ordinary people (10 I think or maybe 12) go on the run, usually in pairs, and an elite police team have to track them down. It's really entertaining, as the fugitives try to stay one step ahead of the hunters.

Recently it's kind of deveolved into a celebrity thing, which is kind of counter-productive in a way. First of all, as a normal Joe or Jane you can blend in, not be noticed. Celebrities don't have this sort of shield. Everyone recognises them and in these days of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter they're easily snapped and posted, helping the hunters. But not only that.

Celebrities in general seem to be mega-stupid.

They keep allowing people to take pictures, giving away their location, and then say "Oh you know, maybe that was a bad idea." DUH! They don't disguise or try to avoid their celebrity in any way, going on talk shows and radio shows and making videos and hanging out with their contacts, and so most of them get caught fairly quickly. On the plus side, they have access to a huge network, money, cars, houses etc, but then the hunters know this and follow the trail. Idiots.

My I-know-better-than-anyone guide to winning Hunted:

1. NEVER EVER use a phone. Burner phones can be traced as easily as ordinary ones, so don't use them. If you have to contact someone, set it up before hand that you have some system, like ads in a newspaper or messages on one of those encrypted messaging systems.

2. STAY AWAY from people you know. Ask for help from strangers, so the hunters can't link you to them.

3. If travelling in a car, bring false number plates. ANPR is one of the major ways these people track you down and you may think you're being smart, getting a lift with your dad's friend's sister's uncle's older brother, but they will link you.

4. DISGUISE yourself! If you're a celeb, make sure nobody recognises you. Do NOT attract attention!

5. Set false trails if you can. Notwithstanding (4) above, get someone to take your picture and post it, then hop on a train and go to the other end of the country so they waste their time searching where you were, not where you are.

6. Ensure you avoid all CCTV as best you can. This is not easy but it's not hard. Look to see where the cameras are and walk behind them when they're facing the other way, or choose fields and lanes and such where there is no CCTV. Don't make it easy for them.

Follow these six steps and you have a better than eighty percent chance of making it to the extraction point. Works also, to an extent, if you're not a celeb, but mostly if you are. JUST USE COMMON SENSE GUYS!

[Qwerty Sanchez]

Ted Lasso stinks now. First season was far from a masterpiece but it was a really fun and uplifting show that I was able to enjoy with my gf who has never watched a single minute of any sport league. Corny, sure, but it served a purpose.

Now it feels like a PSA, might as well watch Degrassi if we're just beating our audience over the head with the least interesting moral dilemmas possible.

[DJChameleon]

I'm watching Citadel and The Power both on Amazon Prime. I love the Jonas Brothers wife she can be type casted as a spy and I will always love her in that role.

The power reminds me of Misfits so I'm enjoying it but I do know it's based off of a graphic novel.

[Guybrush]

We completed the Dead Ringers TV series.



It seems not everyone was excited about it, but I thought it was a pretty good redo of this story. I like the previous late 80s movie by Cronenberg where Jeremy Irons does a great job playing against himself. Mirroring his performance, Rachel Weisz plays a very good pair of Mantle twins (now working in birth / female fertility).

It's well made and looks great. It's occasionally delightfully gory, much more so than the movie.

If it has a problem, it's that the pace is a little slow and there are few really likeable characters in it. The Mantle twins aren't really supposed to be either, so that's fine, but you do spend a lot of time with them. Rachel Weisz has an insane amount of screen time.

Still a good series with a satisfying wrap up at the end. I think fans of the old movie would probably like this. It's a little sad that it seems like it might slide into obscurity.

[Janszoon]

Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed

Obvious slick, vapid horseshit megachurch turns out to be (surprise) corrupt and shitty. This docuseries is comprised of four episodes of some of the stupidest people on the planet grappling with that reality. I enjoy a good cult documentary, but this one was exceptionally dumb and could easily have been about any number of other predatory religious groups. 

[DJChameleon]

I'm currently watching the new Twisted Metal show on Peacock and it isn't bad. I don't know what people wanted but it is right up my alley of what I think a Twisted Metal show would look like.

[Guybrush]

We've started watching Good Omens season 2 which, three episodes in, is a delight. Michael Sheen and David Tennant is a great duo. Especially Tennant is someone I find fun to watch, whether it's Doctor Who or Broadchurch.

[Lisnaholic]

Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed

Obvious slick, vapid horseshit megachurch turns out to be (surprise) corrupt and shitty. This docuseries is comprised of four episodes of some of the stupidest people on the planet grappling with that reality. I enjoy a good cult documentary, but this one was exceptionally dumb and could easily have been about any number of other predatory religious groups. 

^ I watched that docu-series too, and can't improve on your summary of it.
__________________________________________

Has anyone watched the Netflix series, Dark ? It's now 3 seasons long, and is indeed "dark" as it's one of those brooding European mysteries set in an isolated community, buried in what might be The Black Forest. Like many in this genre, it is difficult to keep track of all the characters, which in its way, encourages you to keep watching it: if you skip it for a week, you'll have forgotten all the storylines.

The mysterious caves and original premise kept me intrigued through the first season, but the 2nd season is beginning to drag, weighed down by complexity, and the lack of real dramatic action. Instead there's a lot of rather plodding, unnatural dialogue. Here's an example:-

Anguished woman: "Who was my mother?"
Man who knows the answer: "Your mother loved you. And she still does."
He then exits as mysterious music swells up to hide two facts:

i) the characters talk in a way that normal people don't
ii) their conversation is subservient all the time to advancing the story and they all have the same utilitarian way of speaking. No one is chatty about the irrelevant things of life; no one is a habitual giggler, no one is an Oasis fanboy, no one talks endlessly about their holidays on the Med. Instead, every actor says their line to advance the plot, then pauses for the mysterious music or the quick edit. 

In Mexico they say, "Every head is a world" and to me that's what makes conversation interesting, irl and in tv progs: different people expressing their different worlds. Don't expect any of that in Dark; everyone is bogged down in the same world.     

[Guybrush]

That's a nice way of putting into words something that might frustrate me as well when watching a show, @Lisnaholic

We did try Dark, but the series didn't really grab me in the first two episodes. Might try again, though.

We discovered we hadn't watched all of A Handmaid's Tale, so we're watching that again. All the time, this series has felt like two steps forward and one step back. At times it can be a little frustrating, but the show's still very good, I think. The social commentary is on point and Elisabeth Moss is brilliant in some of the really emotional scenes.

Still, I'm hoping this series will reach its conclusion soon

If you know, don't spoil it! I haven't read any spoilers and don't know if it's renewed and for how many seasons etc. and prefer it like that

Other than that, we saw Good Omens S2. It was enjoyable, if not quite as great as the first season. Still, David Tennant plays opposite Michael Sheen as the demon/angel Crowley and Aziraphale and they're so good. Especially Tennant is always a joy to watch and particularly in this, I feel.

What We Do in the Shadows is also still a lot of fun. The vampire characters are so great, it's difficult to say for sure which one is my favorite. It used to be Nadja, but currently it might be Laszlo Cravensworth. Nandor's accent is just extraordinary.

[Lisnaholic]

^

We did try Dark, but the series didn't really grab me in the first two episodes. Might try again, though.

If you are expecting a mystery that gets resolved in the space of one season, I wouldn't bother. It just keeps expanding outward with new characters, new levels of who-knows-what-is-really-happening.

Other than that, we saw Good Omens S2. It was enjoyable, if not quite as great as the first season. Still, David Tennant plays opposite Michael Sheen as the demon/angel Crowley and Aziraphale and they're so good. Especially Tennant is always a joy to watch and particularly in this, I feel.

What We Do in the Shadows is also still a lot of fun. The vampire characters are so great, it's difficult to say for sure which one is my favorite. It used to be Nadja, but currently it might be Laszlo Cravensworth. Nandor's accent is just extraordinary.

^ Not the kind of progs I usually watch, but my son recommended both of those shows to me, and I was quite impressed. I think of the two I enjoyed What We Do In The Shadows more,(and in fact one season of Good Omens was sufficient for me, clever though it was.)

Meanwhile, I've returned to an old classic: Downton Abbey for a bit of undemanding, easy-to-follow escapism.

[Hope]

I'm on the second season of Outlander. It's a bit of a disappointment like The Last Kingdom, but I'm getting through it.

[Lisnaholic]

Welcome to SCD, MonaSomona ! I hope you enjoy yourself here and find some friends here to chat with.

I watched one season of Outlander, which starts with so much promise. I really enjoyed it until it took a rather perverse direction when one of the main characters is taken prisoner:
With the move to France, I abandoned season 2, because the stated aim was to prevent a conflict which we know in advance is going to happen. I had a feeling that the whole season would just be one long series of defeats for the guys we were cheering for, and that prospect didn't appeal to me.

I enjoyed The Last Kingdom a lot more really - but perhaps that's because the story expands on stuff I grew up learning about at school: King Alfred burning the cakes, the Danegeld, and Ethelred The Unready. But if you found it disappointing, I can understand that too - at times all those battles and changes of allegiance kind of blur into each other and you're left wondering who is fighting who, and why. 

[Hope]

Welcome to SCD, MonaSomona ! I hope you enjoy yourself here and find some friends here to chat with.

Thanks! Nice to meet you.

I watched one season of Outlander, which starts with so much promise. I really enjoyed it until it took a rather perverse direction when one of the main characters is taken prisoner:

Oh, yeah ...that. It was a bit of a surprise. A dismal surprise.