tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

Dragonball Z. I'm still surprisingly gutted by Akira Toriyama's death.

He died too young. :(

He really did. I was gobsmacked by how young he was. Considering how far back his career goes, I would have thought him at least a decade older. DBZ meant so much to me in my early-twenties and was my first big online fandom.

I just... this is going to hurt for awhile.

Masters of the Air: and we're done! The final episode made glad the show is over. Despite one great episode and some good moments scattered around the rest of the season, the show was a disappointing watch.

Shogun: I AM LIVING! I'm so beyond happy that every single episode is better than the previous one. The build up of tension, plot, and character development is amaaaaazing. I just finished episode 4 and I'm having the time of my life :D

I'm really looking forward to more episodes of Shogun. I've been making slow progress because I'm not watching it alone.

I've been watching episodes a few days after they're released and it's both great and terrible to have to wait a week to find out how the plot moves forward! I'm loving it :D

I haven't finished season 4 of For All Mankind yet, hope to continue that this coming week. I got distracted by vidding something else entirely in the evenings. \o/

I have been keeping up with new episodes of The Bad Batch.

I've been really pleased by Bad Batch this season!

I want to thank the person here who let me know that the Canadian pottery throw-down is a thing--it's weird to be watching something* that is actually not over yet, since I started watching Blakes7...in 2001, when it ended two decades earlier.

*On YouTube

I tried watching it on YouTube and I think I only got 4 episodes in when I couldn't find further episodes -- and what I did see had no clear order to it

I've gone through S1 and part of S2 of Wheel of Time. I never read the books so I am finding the plot interesting. Making slow progress through Mrs. Maisel and Good Omens. Behind on Bad Batch, Resident Alien and Shogun but I think we caught up on Ghosts (US).

Unfortunately it looks like this foot dragging is going to mean another month of Prime, whereas I wanted to be able to move on to another service.

I've actually watched stuff! I picked up Hulu again and I am glad I put it off so I'd have a pile of stuff to watch to get me through a week of really bad insomnia (too tired to do things but not able to sleep sucks and TV is a really good way to not feel blerglestaffle)

* The Bear seasons 1 and 2! It's really good. The writing is amazing

* Living With The Dead - A shoe about queer ghosthunters by the same production company as Queer Eye. I like the people on the show and the concept of highlighting queer people in the paranormal field, but they are trying to force the episodes into the story beats of a Queer Eye episode and it doesn't work. Also, it's filmed like a sitcom? It's like the team very much did not understand the assignment. But, I wanted to see a bit because Alex Le May from the show is going to be on Paranormal Detour, the paranormal show I follow closely. But, poor Alex got Covid so she wont be on this weekend, but hopefully soon.

* Paranormal Detour - I don't talk about this here typically because it's... does it count as TV show? It's primarily a paranormal livestream on twitch from allegedly haunted locations. It's by Detune who is biracial, pansexual and they/any. He does edit the clips down into youtube videos. The show is huge on Twitch, but isn't popping off on youtube yet.

* I've started S2 of Surreal Estate since I've got Hulu back. Oh, and I've started the most recent season of Fargo because it's got Joe Keery on it. I am excited to keep watching that. I've not seen previous seasons, but have been told it's fine to watch the seasons individually.

True on Fargo. There is no connection whatsoever with previous seasons. It's an anthology series, the common thread? Everything takes place in Fargo, they are all allegedly based on true stories (I think that's a satirical gimmick and not true), and every season is a satiric take on the true crime genre.
That's it.

Loved the Bear, so good.

Hmm, maybe I should go back to Surreal Estate now that S2 is all on Hulu.

I know very little about the show. I didn't even know the premise! I just know I could not get through the movie and it was one of those things were people kept trying to get me to see it because my family is Norwegian. I kept getting 'this is about your people' at me.

How weird. People can be so weird. It's not about Norway or Norwegian's at all. It just takes place in Fargo, Minnesota and has folks in Minnesota with Minnesota accents (which has a Norwegian bent, I guess?), who yes, may be ancestors of folks who immigrated from Norway. But America being the crazy melting pot of races and nationalities that it is?

If you like satires on the true crime genre, and liked the movie Fargo, you probably will like this? If not? Don't bother.

People are so unself-aware about their own prejudices. And make the most insane generalizations sometimes.

Some people think Minnesota culture and accent is Nordic culture and accent and it's really not. I was raised on the eastern seaboard of the US and probably speak more Norwegian than the average Minnesotan. Especially the way the culture was satirized in the film, that wasn't anything I vibed with. People were weirdly intense at me about it. The bit of the Joe Keery season I've seen so far looks promising, though.

Clearly people don't know as much about Norwegian culture as they think? That's so weird. And yeah it is heavily satirized in the film. I don't know much about the culture, but even I knew that was satire and not to take it seriously.

Fargo leans heavy into satire.

This season is more interested in satirizing crazy-ass rural conservatives and the rural American gun culture, than Norwegian culture in Minnesota. The most it does with that - is the accents.

Usually when I see Norway or Norwegian culture discussed in the US it's pure BS made up to fuel culture war stuff, but let's not get deep into that here. It would just be nice, yanno, if people would fact check stuff that it's easy to fact check.

All I've seen of Minnesota has been from a train window. Next time I take the Empire Builder line it's actually a spot in North Dakota I want to stop at for Nordic heritage reasons.

I've never been to Minnesota either - actually you've seen more of it than I have. Need to go some time. South and North Dakota, I think I've seen and drove through.

I watched: Taskmaster Australia S1E6, Taskmaster New Zealand S2, Chicken Nugget E1 (unfortunately meh), Irish Wish (only 40 minutes), Eye Love You E1 (unremarkable), and Wedding Impossible E5 (the stupidity won out).

Personal TV highlight of the week: Taskmaster Australia & New Zealand.

Personal TV lowlight of the week: Prime Video finally offers all Gotham seasons, but for whatever reason, you have to pay for the pilot episode. Either offer the entire show or none of it.

Edited 2024-03-16 20:07 (UTC)

I thought Gotham was also on Max, did they remove it?

It's only on Prime here in Germany, afaik.

I've hit a television watching slump. I just am not finding much of anything to hold my interest. (this may or may not be a result of my sinus infection and resulting brain fog or an odd desire for more Great Pottery Throw Down episodes - which I can't locate it.)

What I've tried?

* Life + Beth on Hulu (after three episodes, finally got annoyed and gave up)
* Red Eye - horror film by Wes Craven starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. I watched for Cillian. It's okay, not one of Craven's best, but Cillian is excellent in it.
* Breakfast on Pluto - my attention kept wandering - although Murphy is excellent in it.
* The Wind that Shakes the Barely on Plex (it has too many commericials...and they are slow to load, gave up)
* Grey's Anatomy? - went to sleep during this week's episode
* Shogun? - I'm not in the mood - I gave up after ten minutes, I couldn't follow it - it's not Shogun, it's most likely the sinus infection and my mood.
* Avatar - Live Action? Gave up after ten minutes.
* The Bay (a weird ass web soap that somehow made its way onto Prime...it's kind of surreal? They do a documentary style wrap up to introduce us to what is happening - which is convoluted. Then we go into the action - which is the aftermath of an explosive event. In short the Soap starts in the middle not the beginning, so you feel like you're missing ten to twenty years of it - and wish you could go back and grab that - but can't.) In short a commentary on the soap opera format. Soaps are actually best in the middle - but to appreciate them, you kind of have to invest time in watching the boring crap at the beginning. The Bay leap frogs over all that and starts in the middle. Got to appreciate the audacity of that. Very experimental art form - soap operas. I stayed for about three 20-30 minute episodes then gave up, I got lost. Not a show to watch with brain fog.
* Daisy Jones and the Six - tried episode seven, got bored, gave up. I've been watching it in snippets off and one for two years now. It doesn't really hold my attention - because I don't like anyone in it, nor find any of them remotely interesting or talented. It's the narrative style that had sucked me into trying it.

Did make it through about three episodes of "The Gentleman" which reminds me a lot of Peaky Blinders except it's no where as good as Peaky Blinders in either casting or writing department. However it does have a few interesting people in the cast. May stick with it.

Flirting with:

* Going back to Fire Country
* Warrior (Netflix)
* Damsel (Netflix)
* The Irish Wish (Netflix)
* Dynasty (Netflix) - I don't know, I've already seen most of season 1, so where to start up again?
* The Brothers Sun (Netflix)
* Girls 4 Evah (Netflix)
* Bodies (Netflix)

I'm in the mood for something - but can't find it. You ever have that problem? You have a craving to watch something specific but no clue what it is and can't seem to find it? I may try Anatomy of a Fall.

I watched Irish Wish with super low expectations but, unfortunately, Lindsay Lohan's character simply lacked the spark needed to make this run-of-the-mill story work. Also, I thought she had no chemistry with either of the main guys.

I remember finding the first couple of Girls5eva episodes super unfunny but since then I've read several positive opinions about the show as a whole. Curious what you'll make of it.

Sigh, disappointing on Irish Wish.

Hmmm, I'm flirting with Girls5eva, but the trailer is turning me off. It's too silly and feels like broad embarrassment humor? Not my thing.

Edited 2024-03-18 16:49 (UTC)

Yeah, I'm often in that state. I really like having a show I'm into to watch but I don't always. I did really like Bodies, but I'm not sure if that is great watching for feeling run down with the multiple timelines to track.

Yeah, I opted for simple minded fair - a web soap, and back to Lucifer. Still not great though.

I'm sorry. I hope you feel better soon!

Bodies is SO GOOD. We mainlined it!

Edited (Autocorrect ughghghgh) 2024-03-20 05:45 (UTC)

I've been watching Great Pottery Throw-Down on YouTube.

I'm rewatching Due South in honour of its 30th anniversary. We're currently halfway through the first disk of season 2 (yes, DVDs!), and I'm really enjoying revisiting it. It's been long enough that I've forgotten enough that it surprises me sometimes. :D

Fire Country: The narrative is really trying to get two characters back together, but I think I'm at a point of postshipping them. I'm not interested in another 'will A chose B or C' type of plot line; we spent part of season one doing that.

S.W.A.T. (TV 2017)

My family's been watching the final season. There are some moments in this week's episode that felt a little off. I could see where we were trying to go [Deacon thinking of retirement], but the process to get there just... [gestures at what felt like a forced argument about Deacon not catching a mid-shift phone call about his kid needing picked up from school due to a stomach bug which was showing how unimportant he considered his wife returning to full-time employment instead of being a common problem that people actually deal with regarding school emergency contacts].

There was also a personally unexpected attempt at a driving lesson. Luca came back from training overseas people, and as the driver of the S.W.A.T. armored vehicle, it makes sense that he'd help out with a friend's teen learning to drive. I just don't know why the first time driving in the car was on an actual LA city street. I can only guess that they needed an obvious mistake that almost caused an accident to be the reason he yelled, but it almost felt like the writers wanted to model him apologizing for yelling at the teen and having them patch things up instead of writing a driving lesson.

Neither of these are the worst thing ever, but it feels like a final season.

Mostly watched sports this week -- Indian Wells tennis and baseball. I think due to the time change, I felt too tired in the evenings to watch anything that required actual focus. So I did watch the usual weekly things, which are mostly US network offerings and not particularly demanding on the old brain. The one exception was the latest ep of Shogun. So, so, so good. Seriously, the best thing on TV, nothing else comes close. So much better than the 80s adaptation (what I can remember of it anyway). I think I've finally adapted to the time change, so hoping to get caught up on other things this week. Looking forward to Three Body Problem dropping on Friday. Hope the reviews aren't shit.

We rewatched Loki S1 and it's still just a gem. Shame there was no last episode tho!

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