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Who else has been watching The Boys?
Man, that it is one messed up TV show. Highlights so far from season 2 include the bit with the whale ? and the bit with the gills ??.
You'll know 'em when you see 'em. One more episode to go, not sure whether I'm looking forward to it or dreading it?

As Billy Butcher would say: "Fackin diabolical".
 
Just spunked through all available episodes of Good Girls. Was put off by the blurb but actually turned out to be equally as addictive as Breaking Bad. Gotta love an anti-hero and dark humour.
 
Anybody watching WandaVision?
Weird as f**k. Two Marvel superheroes in a kitschy, 1950's black & white sitcom? Weird.
Clearly though, all is not what it seems and there are enough teasers and titbits of something sinister going on in the background to keep it intriguing.
Too early to say whether or not this is going to be good or bad (only 2 episodes so far), but I'm interested to see where it goes.
 
^ Yeah its odd - but figure its all going on in Wanda's head? I'm not at all a Marvel geek, have seen all the films but only out of a "something to watch on a Saturday night" thing so I'm sure I don't get all the (any of the?) references. But I'll keep on watching it to see where it goes.

Other stuff I've binged through recently during lockdown

Dark - German series - flipping excellent (very complex), managed to miss it when it first appeared then (not on purpose) timed it well to watch S1 and S2 just before S3 arrived - could not imagine watching the three series with a years gap between then; so complicated!

Das Boot - S1 & 2 - more German stuff. S1 was better but I saw them filming part of S2 when I was sat in a pub (ahh how I remember pubs :( ) in Manchester (doubling for New York) so had to watch S2 too - didn't look like Manchester! Was overall quite good.

Haunting of Bly Manor - S2 of this - yeah was good, a bit different to the S1 story.

Mandalorian - rewatched S1 and then S2 obv - really good.

Good Omens - read the book back in the day, was a bit disappointed with this though.

American Gods - S1 & S2 - again read the book, quite stylish series, but pretty good, S3 has just dropped too.

The Expanse - S2 & S3 - had watched S1 a few years ago when it was on Netflix and struggled with it a bit (despite it being "hard sci-fi" which I do read a fair bit of), but enjoyed S2 and S3 though and there's another two series (s5 recently appeared) so they are on the radar.

Alienist S1 - was OK, will give S2 a go.

The Handmaid's Tale - really late to this as its all been on C4 hasn't it - very good, but I'm only part way thru S2 now.

Raised by Wolves - more hard-scifi (and Ridley Scott too) - bit hit and miss - will look out for more of it though

Alice in Borderland - strange Japanese 28-days-later/Saw mashup type thingy. Bit corny but liked it (plus they go to an amusement park in one episode - Toshimaen I think but not sure?).

Carnival Row - looked high budget, nice to look at. Was OK.

The Serpent - just watched that this week because some peeps were raving about it - hmm, was OK but the constant time shifting was a bit annoying and some dodgy Brits-doing-foreign-accents going on. Dragged on a bit too. So not raving about it, just "OK".

Star Trek Discovery S3 - I had struggled thru the first two seasons when they were on, started S3 but it was just annoying me so much I gave up on it. Fail.

I'm sure there must be more stuff I've forgotten?
 
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davidm said:
Dark - German series - flipping excellent (very complex), managed to miss it when it first appeared then (not on purpose) timed it well to watch S1 and S2 just before S3 arrived - could not imagine watching the three series with a years gap between then; so complicated!
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It's an absolutely superb show. Surely the best ever TV series to deal with time travel. It's Netflix's bona fide masterpiece.
 
Howie said:
Anybody watching WandaVision?
Weird as f**k. Two Marvel superheroes in a kitschy, 1950's black & white sitcom? Weird.
Clearly though, all is not what it seems and there are enough teasers and titbits of something sinister going on in the background to keep it intriguing.
Too early to say whether or not this is going to be good or bad (only 2 episodes so far), but I'm interested to see where it goes.
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Unlike Dave, I seem to have slipped into becoming a Marvel geek by accident. I've read the majority of the main comics now (the important stories), so know a lot about Vision and Scarlet Witch's relationship and how it all pans out.

The films have generally taken the highlights of the comics and introduced them into brand new stories. WandaVision seems to be doing exactly that.

I liked it, but... It's half an hour of a 50's sitcom, with three or four minutes of "intrigue". That means, it's 26 minutes of 50's sitcom. Which is a problem really. Yes, it can get away with it for the first two episodes, but either the sitcoms have to be incredible, or they need to up the intrigue game.

I'm really interested in where this will go and the effect it will have on all the future Marvel films and TV series.

I preferred Legion (I don't know if anyone watched that?) which was similar, but much, much better.

I'm looking forward to Loki, that looks a bit like Legion mixed with Agents of Shield (hmmm, maybe not a good thing :D )
Howie said:
Who else has been watching The Boys?
Man, that it is one messed up TV show. Highlights so far from season 2 include the bit with the whale ? and the bit with the gills ??.
You'll know 'em when you see 'em. One more episode to go, not sure whether I'm looking forward to it or dreading it?

As Billy Butcher would say: "Fackin diabolical".
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YES YES YES. Loved The Boys. Can't wait for the next season.

davidm said:
Good Omens - read the book back in the day, was a bit disappointed with this though.
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I thought that the two mains were really good and stood out. I was never keen on the book though, I found it to be a bt messy. It wasn't bad, but I never really rated it. Found the series to be similar t be honest. I've read huge amounts of Pratchett and a spattering of Neil Gaiman and I never thought Good Omens lived up to either of their own works.

davidm said:
American Gods - S1 & S2 - again read the book, quite stylish series, but pretty good, S3 has just dropped too.
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It's gone on too long. It started brilliantly and you're right, it is so stylish. This season though has lost the edge. It needed to be wrapped up in two mind-blowing seasons. Instead, it's lingering like a dead wife.

davidm said:
The Expanse - S2 & S3 - had watched S1 a few years ago when it was on Netflix and struggled with it a bit (despite it being "hard sci-fi" which I do read a fair bit of), but enjoyed S2 and S3 though and there's another two series (s5 recently appeared) so they are on the radar.
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Same here. I want to love it. I just can't for some reason. I think it can't decide if it's 2001, Alien or Blade Runner. So it just does all them badly.

Likewise though, I found S2 and S3 much more appealing. S4 I really didn't get on with, it all got a bit Star Trek. S5 is back a bit more like S2, but it's not there.

davidm said:
Alienist S1 - was OK, will give S2 a go.
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Yep, S1 was OK. S2 was turd :D

davidm said:
Star Trek Discovery S3 - I had struggled thru the first two seasons when they were on, started S3 but it was just annoying me so much I gave up on it. Fail.
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I liked the first season. It was different.

I managed to cope with season 2, but never loved it or hated it. Meh.

I DID make my way through season 3, but it panned out exactly as I thought it would and it was just very poor. I think they hinted that they may not be doing any more.

davidm said:
Raised by Wolves - more hard-scifi (and Ridley Scott too) - bit hit and miss - will look out for more of it though
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I'll have to look out for that and see if it appeals.

Did anyone watch Altered Carbon? First season of that was fantastic. Second season, so-so.

I'm currently on Disenchantment Season 3. I really like it. It's easy to watch and is mildly amusing with a nice continuous plot. It's different to Simpsons and Futurama, but I don't think particularly worse for it.
 
Altered Carbon S2 hit pre-covid, was mentioned earlier....
But yeah I LOVED S1 (rewatched in prep for S2) and borderline HATED S2....

Netflix agreed with me and cancelled it after S2.

Still have not around to American-Utopia yet though.
 
Howie said:
Anybody watching WandaVision?
Weird as f**k. Two Marvel superheroes in a kitschy, 1950's black & white sitcom? Weird.
Clearly though, all is not what it seems and there are enough teasers and titbits of something sinister going on in the background to keep it intriguing.
Too early to say whether or not this is going to be good or bad (only 2 episodes so far), but I'm interested to see where it goes.
Click to expand...

I'm not a Marvel person at all. In fact, I'm not a big superhero person at all. But I watched the episodes that are out because my big-Marvel-fan flatmates were watching it (so basically, 'because it was on').

They were confused and intrigued by it. I was plain ol' bamboozled. Had some nice humour in it though. Probably not something that's going to get me into the MCU of course, and I won't be going out of my way to watch more. But if I'm not doing anything whilst my flatmates watch more, I might cast an eye..

davidm said:
Dark - German series - flipping excellent (very complex), managed to miss it when it first appeared then (not on purpose) timed it well to watch S1 and S2 just before S3 arrived - could not imagine watching the three series with a years gap between then; so complicated!
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I just finished series 1 of this. Had it recommended to me a few times, but I kept putting it off as I always find it hard to get absorbed into stuff that's dubbed. So glad I finally gave it a chance, because yes, it's bloody brilliant. So much intrigue, but it's all really well handled. Looking forward to starting series 2!

Also just watched the new season of Disenchantment. It's such an annoying show to watch. It is so up and down with quality. Season 1 started off slow, but picked up well. Season 2 started off well, then dipped, then the finale was great. Season 3 was just so inconsistent, with some meh episodes, but also a couple of my favourites, and has finished strongly again. Just annoying.

One of my favourite watches in the past couple of years though has to be Cobra Kai. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I don't think there's been a bad episode yet 3 seasons in. The third season is probably my least favourite as the timeline feels a bit rushed and janky, but it's still great. And the way they've managed to develop from the Karate Kid film franchise, making it its own identity, whilst paying homage to it, is fantastic!
 
Over the last month or two, my parents and I have found and started watching two really funny sitcoms on Netflix; Friends and Modern Family.

I have to say I’ve loved both; we finished Friends already, whereas we’re only 2 seasons into Modern Family at the moment, and both of them have been brilliant watches, in my opinion!

Let’s start with Friends, then. It’s an absolutely iconic TV show, and I had actually watched numerous episodes of Friends before, but I’d never seen the entire thing. And I have to say, I very much enjoyed watching it! Out of the main 6, my favourite character is by far Joey Tribbiani; I know this is an unpopular opinion, but he always delivers exactly the kind of light-hearted, obvious humour that I like in a comedy show, and I find him really funny! Some of my favourite episodes include The One Where Joey Speaks French, The One With Unagi, The One Where Ross Got High and The One Where They All Find Out, but to be honest, I can’t think of a single episode that I didn’t at least get some degree of enjoyment out of, which I find remarkable for a show that’s 10 seasons long! There are a few things I would say, however; I did find elements of the humour difficult to understand, for example. The particular thing I have in mind is that there’s quite a lot of pretty sarcastic humour; I’m not the sharpest when it comes to sarcasm (as many as of you know), and there’s quite a bit of it in Friends, particularly from Chandler Bing. I know I’m firmly in a minority who isn’t a huge fan of sarcastic humour, however. I’d also say that it is a little bit of a product of its time, in numerous ways. I have to say I very much enjoyed it on the whole, however; definitely worth a watch, if you’ve never seen it!

I’ve only watched 2 seasons of Modern Family so far, and I wasn’t anywhere near as familiar with it prior to watching as I was Friends, but I have to say I’m loving it so far, and controversially, I’d actually say I think I enjoy it quite a bit more than Friends, in spite of how funny bits of Friends are! The key thing for me is that the humour is generally a lot more my style; I said above how I much prefer quite obvious, slapstick humour over sarcastic humour, and I think Modern Family is just balanced more towards the style of humour I really enjoy on the whole. There’s nowhere near as much sarcasm or humour that I struggle to understand, which I really like. In terms of a favourite character, I absolutely love Phil Dunphy; I think he’s absolutely hysterical, and just seems to provide laughs within everything he does! I also must admit that I quite like the monologue-type segments that it has with the individual characters; I find them quite helpful to give you a bit of an additional look into the characters’ feelings, and give you more of an idea of what’s going on in a scene. On the whole, even though I’m only 2 seasons in at the moment, I must admit that I’m loving Modern Family so far, and I’m surprised that it never gets talked about more, as I think it’s terrific!

I know the two aren’t really directly comparable, but am I the only one who likes Modern Family more than Friends?

I hope you’re not too appalled by my slightly controversial takes on American sitcoms...
 
Matt N said:
I must admit that I’m loving Modern Family so far, and I’m surprised that it never gets talked about more
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Never gets talked about?! It's one of the biggest American sitcoms of the last decade, it's been hosed down with awards and repeats are still pretty much a permanent fixture on British telly. Dunno how you've managed to avoid it for so long!

Great show, mind, and one of the very few long-lasting series which maintains the high quality right to the end. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, The Big Bang Theory).
 
FarleyFlavors said:
Never gets talked about?! It's one of the biggest American sitcoms of the last decade, it's been hosed down with awards and repeats are still pretty much a permanent fixture on British telly. Dunno how you've managed to avoid it for so long!

Great show, mind, and one of the very few long-lasting series which maintains the high quality right to the end. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, The Big Bang Theory).
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I know that my mum watched Modern Family for years, and I had of course heard of it prior to watching, but it doesn’t seem to get quite the same level of iconicness (is that a word?) that some American TV shows have; things like the aforementioned Friends come to mind, as well as (arguably) things like The Simpsons. When looking through TV schedules, you can’t seem to move without seeing Simpsons repeats on, and Friends episodes are a pretty common fixture too (in spite of the show having finished 17 years ago), whereas Modern Family doesn’t seem to be repeated at quite the same frequency, from my experience.

I don’t know why I went so long without watching it, though, as it’s probably one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in a while!

I must admit, though; on a random tangent based on your last quote above, I never personally got the hate for the last few series of Big Bang Theory. I haven’t watched the entire thing, but I have watched a fair few episodes on and off throughout the different seasons, and I didn’t really think the late ones seemed any less funny than the earlier ones, personally.
 
Matt N said:
it doesn’t seem to get quite the same level of iconicness (is that a word?) that some American TV shows have; things like the aforementioned Friends come to mind, as well as (arguably) things like The Simpsons. When looking through TV schedules, you can’t seem to move without seeing Simpsons repeats on, and Friends episodes are a pretty common fixture too (in spite of the show having finished 17 years ago), whereas Modern Family doesn’t seem to be repeated at quite the same frequency, from my experience.
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You're right, of course, but I'm not convinced the comparisons are all that valid. Friends and The Simpsons, along with the likes of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld are among the most popular American sitcoms of all time. Modern Family is second-tier compared to those.
Matt N said:
I never personally got the hate for the last few series of Big Bang Theory.
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I didn't hate the final few seasons at all. It remained perfectly watchable, just not as funny. Whenever a long-running sitcom introduces soapy elements such as marriages and babies it's usually a bad sign. Modern Family handled it well. Big Bang didn't.
 
OK so I attempted to watch The Witcher last year because it seems very much up my street (fantasy epic featuring Sexy_Man) but after two episodes I wasn't particularly enamoured. I've been seen though that they're filming season two and are once again using Sexy_Man to bait me, so I've decided to give it another go. So far so good.
 
Thursday night is now officially Bob Ross night in our house.
Who the f*** is Bob Ross, I hear you cry?
Well... he's this guy:


Yes, this is my life now. When the highlight of the week is watching The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross.
But seriously... he's awesome. That hair, that voice. It's unintentionally hilarious, but also strangely captivating.

BBC4, Thursday nights at 7.30.
Watch it. You'll thank me, I promise.

Maybe.
 
Back in the day when The Joy of Painting was originally screened, my dad was so hooked he went out and bought a bunch of paint and brushes to try to replicate some of the paintings. They turned out surprisingly well.

Also, you might enjoy this teaser trailer for Deadpool 2. NSFW.

 
FarleyFlavors said:
Back in the day when The Joy of Painting was originally screened, my dad was so hooked he went out and bought a bunch of paint and brushes to try to replicate some of the paintings. They turned out surprisingly well.

Also, you might enjoy this teaser trailer for Deadpool 2. NSFW.

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I like how this has nothing to do with the film 😅
 
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