Whatcha Watchin'?

I’ve been watching Feud on FX, and it’s been a treat. Both Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford are revelatory. The production values are lush and beautiful – this is a story about the fading of the Golden Years of Hollywood as much as the rivalry between Davis and Crawford, and it brings that time period to life. Very much recommended.

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Agreed. I watched the entire run in 2016. If you accept the first season for what it is (episodic TV where the good guys beat up on deserving scumbags) and roll with it as a prologue, Person of Interest starts paying off. You can probably skip a bunch of episodes in season 1 to get the same results.

I’m willing to stick with Mr. Robot for at least another season.

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I needed another break from Doctor Who, so I’m trying out Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

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Good to know. I got part of the way through season 1 and just stopped watching. The premise was a bit too ridiculous for me.

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Maybe a guilty pleasue, but I really liked what happend with Legion, a lot of experimenting in the super hero genre. Closest TV has come to a Philip K Dick story.

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If it wasn’t obvious, The Handmaid’s Tale should come with every trigger warning. There’s some additional material* that takes it from the book’s quiet horror to devastating.

It’s gorgeous – but it’s Vermeer through the hell filter.

  • It’s like Atwood and the other producers brainstormed all of their esprit d’escalier and added them in, because no punches are pulled. None.
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So… I wonder how much recent script revision has been going on at Agents of SHIELD. A certain set looked a lot like dictator chic, and some of the phrases being used are a wee bit on the nose.

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Starting May 1st, there will be new episodes of Lucifer. Of course, I’ll be at work that night :rage:, but I’ll be watching it the next day for sure…

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That’s what I thought about Fortitude.

On the one hand, there has never been anything like this on TV.

On the other hand, if you tell anybody to watch it you may be harming them.

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A movie, not a show; The Girl With All The Gifts. Hewes pretty closely to the book, but that’s not a bad thing. Definitely worth watching, despite some uneven child acting.

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I’m really enjoying ‘13 Reasons Why’ - its really good! I’m not sure I fully understand the drama around it, or believe that its triggering anyone or making youths more suicidal… its just a really good murder mystery.

Full Disclosure: MrPants can’t watch it. He finds it very sad and upsetting. So, I guess it is triggering and I’m just a soulless person.

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For the record: I do not think you are a soulless person. And mrs nothingfuture really seems to enjoy that show.

But I can’t be in the room when it’s on.

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Interesting. Maybe this is a gender thing? I think it captures the horror of being a teenage girl in highschool very well. Perhaps it is that that you and MrPants are reacting to?

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I’m currently re-watching Fringe on DVD.

It’s still a Thumbs Up from me; knowing what I know now, I’m revising my impression from my first watch-through that the first few episodes are too episodic and disconnected from the overall plot arc.

Although sometimes I look at John Noble and see Denethor instead of Walter Bishop, which is odd. Still, Noble is the best part of Fringe: the many different Walter Bishops he can portray at a moment’s notice, from lonely old man, to kooky guy on psychedelics, to haughty, superior genius, to someone haunted by the dark deeds of his past… And he can be all of those in the same scene. It’s absolutely incredible.

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Outcast is an adaptation of a supernatural horror comic about exorcists in rural West Virginia.

They cast Brent Spiner in a key role, and it took me a whole year to stop seeing Data.

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I hadn’t heard of Fortitude. I see there were two seasons, separated by two years. Is the first season complete in itself?

At the risk of turning this thread into “What Creeped You Out?”, I nominate Buried as the anti-feel-good movie of 2010.

But the movie that most disturbed me in recent years, probably ever, was Compliance. No zombies, aliens, serial killers, or blood, just the reality of psychological manipulation and ruined lives.

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To add one more data point, I’m okay with violence and gore, but I won’t willingly watch shows dealing with the death of a child or, especially, the suicide of a young person.

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  • Halt and Catch Fire
  • Twin Peaks
  • Netflix

HCF is a fun blend of just-enough tech and drama between absolutely compelling characters (Boz and Donna, I’d watch them all day and if Cameron showed up that’d be rad) that’s set in a time period I remember with a surprisingly good musical selection.

Also, I like putting french phrases into Google Translate and having the French Google Lady read them back to me. Surprisingly soothing.

https://translate.google.com/#fr/en/Système%20Universitaire%20de%20Documentation

EDIT: Twin Peaks speaks for itself…

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Well that would be kombaya.

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I couldn’t finish Behind the Candelabra, the emotional abuse was too much for me.

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