Which television shows are you watching? β'

[Synobun]

Pine Gap: A show about American and Australian joint intelligence. It was really good. Short and self-contained with no filler. 9/10.

Black Earth Rising: A show about African war crimes connected to the Congo and Rwanda. It has a very interesting premise but its execution is mindnumbingly boring. 2/10.

Dating Around: A reality dating show on Netflix. Perfect if you like cringy shows. It's about on par with Blind Date from SpikeTV if you remember that. Still watching it but so far it's shaping up to be an easy 7/10.

 

[Takhisis]

reality dating show

I'll get you a therapist.

 

[Synobun]

I'll get you a therapist.

I already have two.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I already have two.

They're obviously defective, you should take them back to where you bought them and demand a refund.

 

[Takhisis]

I'll get you a therapist.

I already have two.

We need to increase the dosage then.

 

[Synobun]

We need to increase the dosage then.

Therapists have dosages?

 

[Takhisis]

Sure, you can get more than one fix a week.

But Erika's suggestion does have merit. If you got a refund on your current therapists you could then pay me your new therapist a decent fee.

 

[Synobun]

I'm not sure you're worth the $120/hr I currently pay.

 

[Takhisis]

If $ means pesos then yeah.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I'm four or five seasons into New Girl @Synsensa but I don't feel it's really gone off the rails. There were some crazier episodes that were dumb, but I'm still enjoying it. The last few recent episodes I've seen lately are also particularly funny.

 

[Synobun]

I'm four or five seasons into New Girl @Synsensa but I don't feel it's really gone off the rails. There were some crazier episodes that were dumb, but I'm still enjoying it. The last few recent episodes I've seen lately are also particularly funny.

You're dead to me, Hobbs.

Nah, different strokes for different folks. I felt it took a complete 180 degree turn into horribleville after the second season. I'm glad it's held up for you.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I finished The Umbrella Academy last night.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The recent Orville two parter was really good. I hope it's a turning point for the entire series. This show is so much better when it doesn't try to be funny or focus on the characters' love lives.

 

[Synobun]

I watched Secret City season 1 and Wild District.

Secret City is about an Australian journalist getting into Chinese corruption alongside shady Australian intelligence ops. Has Anna Torv as the lead. It was alright and had a bit of a slow burn. Ended relatively strongly. Interesting enough that I'll watch the 2nd season which just came out.

Wild District is a Colombian show about a guerrilla who reintegrated into society and goes undercover for a prosecutor and a shady black ops fella. Had a strong finish. It was really good, and the casting is superb. One major downside of the show, however, is that whoever did the subtitles got several sentences wrong each episode. They were clearly written by someone who speaks Spanish and isn't entirely fluent in English. Surprising for a Netflix show which usually has pretty good subtitles and closed captioning.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I watched a couple episodes of Electric Dreams. they weren't too bad, but I'll go read more of book 8 of the Expanse. Much better.

 

[Mouthwash]

Anyone else watch Titans? Season finale was... something.

(I actually did not realize what the title referred to until halfway through.)

 

[tjs282]

Just finished the first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- having belatedly discovered that the lead is actually played by Ellie Kemper, not Tina Fey*

(That's what happens when you only know Noughties US-actors/writers/whatevers by name, and your wife insists on hitting the "Skip Intro" button every time, kids...)

Still, it was fun and I look forward to starting Season 2 once the wife gets back from her girls-weekend.

In the meantime, I will continue watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and GLOW.

(And thanks to @EgonSpengler for persuading me to give the latter three a chance )

*Contrary to my earlier assertion, @Zkribbler reminded me recently that I have actually seen a Tina Fey movie. Unfortunately it didn't help me with facial-recognition, because it was Megamind...

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Just finished the first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- having belatedly discovered that the lead is actually played by Ellie Kemper, not Tina Fey*

(That's what happens when you only know Noughties US-actors/writers/whatevers by name, and your wife insists on hitting the "Skip Intro" button every time, kids...)

Still, it was fun and I look forward to starting Season 2 once the wife gets back from her girls-weekend.

I loved that show. The last half of the last season was the weakest but overall it's really funny. GLOW is awesome as well.

I'm two episodes into You on Netflix. It's about this stalker guy with a good moral core. He reminds me of a less extreme version of Dexter. The acting isn't all that great and some of the plot elements are dumb but it's very interesting so far.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Babylon Berlin

I started watching this last night at 10:30 and had to force myself to go to bed after two episodes. I can't really tell you what it's about, exactly, not for fear of spoiling things, but because I don't really know. It's set in Berlin, 1929. That much I can tell you. The first two episodes introduce a heroin-addicted police detective searching for a damaging smut film; a young woman who catalogues police crime scene photos by day and parties like it's 1929 at night; a cross-dressing cabaret singer who might be a Soviet spy; a Trotskyist underground newspaper publisher; and a Berlin gangster who, naturally, owns a nightclub. In these first 2 eps, the characters cross one another's paths in ways that don't yet cohere into anything, but the whole thing is mesmerizing. It's co-created by film director Tom Tykwer. I'm no expert on Weimar Germany, or any kind of Germany, but the costuming and sets and automobiles all look great. There's an overhead shot of what I think is Alexanderplatz, c. 1929, that's pretty convincing to someone who's never been to Alexanderplatz, in 1929 or any other year. The cast is all very good, though I don't know any of them.

If you don't speak German, you'll of course watch the subtitled version, and not the dubbed version. I mean, pshh, what do I take you for, right? According to The Hollywood Reporter, co-creator Stefan Arndt had a last-minute panic attack and questioned whether they should do the whole thing in German, with all of the money they were spending. The series' 2 seasons are supposed to have cost $45 million. Tykwer put his foot down, thankfully, and threatened to walk out if they did it in English.

"What's your name?"
"Gereon Rath."
"Gereon? What, are you from the Middle Ages?"
"No. Cologne."

I feel like there must be an inside joke for the German audience there.

Also, paternoster lifts are a real thing. I've never seen one before. I wonder if there are any left? They look kind of fun.

 

[Synobun]

Babylon Berlin is fantastic. Zu Asche, Zu Staub is a great piece.