Televisual Entertainments

I haven't watched in ages and don't even care either.

I found that Amazon Prime has Documentary Now available and there are about 3 series worth to catch up on. I've only watched 3 episodes so far but they've been highly enjoyable and very funny. It's framed like a long running and prestigious documentary series which allows them to parody the whole genre.

So did anyone else check out the first episode of Star Trek: Picard?

I've never been hugely into Star Trek. I've seen most of the movies, I think, plus the first season and a half or so of TOS and TNG, and scattered episodes and scenes of Voyager, DS9, and (hurk) Discovery. So I'm maybe not the best nerd in these parts to offer an opinion, but… I liked it. I have a lot of time for Patrick Stewart regardless, but it seems to be taking its time - though without feeling like it's padding anything - it's gotten off to an intriguing start, and I'm interested to see where it goes.

I thought it was really, really good. It’s like the anti-Discovery.

Finished The Good Place tonight. It was pretty much perfect.

I wasn't expecting The Good Place to totally stick the landing; with the previous two episode already kind of ending on really good "last-ever" scenes, I was a bit worried that this bumper-length finale would end up feeling a bit redundant – but damn if they didn't manage to top everything off perfectly.

Oh, Picard was good too.

Was it tho

The second episode was a bit of a wheel-spinner, but I'm still enjoying it.

Anyone else watched any of Avenue 5 yet? It's a sci-fi show from Armando Iannucci, about a cruise liner that runs into trouble during its slingshot around Jupiter, and the efforts of its crew and mission control to… well, mostly just stop the passengers from rioting.

We're two episodes in; the second is much funnier than the first, mostly cos it doesn't have as much setup work to do, but both have been very strong. Hugh Laurie is expectedly great, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy Josh Gad's performance half this much. There are also some great bit players, and I'm really looking forward to see the various interactions between the crew and passengers inevitably deteriorate over the course of the ship's inevitably deteriorating course.

From the trailer it looked like Faulty Towers crossed with a spaceship episode of DrWho. I figured that Hugh Laurie would make it work though. Where is it available?

From the trailer it looked like Faulty Towers crossed with a spaceship episode of DrWho.

It's basically The Thick of It in space. People at varying levels of (in)competence struggling to maintain control of a situation that they have no hope of controlling.

Where is it available?

It's a HBO show, broadcast in the UK on Sky One. Or you could… "borrow" a copy from the internet.

Virgin just did us a deal where we get every channel there is, so we've got it, it just helps to know where to look.

Finally getting round to The Mandalorian. We're only one episode in, but what an episode! Love the atmosphere, love the score, love the borderline-suicidal, self-destruct-obsessed IG droid (even before I recognised the voice).

The end credits are fabulous. The rest of it…. mmm.

We're up to episode 3 now, still really enjoying it. Episode 2 was a bit slow, and it'd not doing anything really groundbreaking with the plot (yet), but I like it a lot. There are some really interesting shots, and for all the western styling, it still feels indelibly Star Wars. And it's really refreshing to see a story that doesn't feature anyone (yet) with the name Skywalker.

There was talk back when the new trilogy was first starting up that Favreau was campaigning to get his hands on episode VII; this just makes me wish he'd succeeded even more than I already did.

Mandalorian finished. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Picard is going okay, I guess, but hasn't really lived up to the first episode, and still seems to be spending most of its time in setup mode; huge sections of every episode are backstory and intro to some new character or other, and it shows no real sign of getting to the point.

I dunno, I'm enjoying Patrick Stewart being back as Picard, and the supporting cast are acquitting themselves well enough, I just feel like I want it to do something already.

I'd agree with that, up to a point, but I'm quite enjoying the leisurely pace (especially compared to Discovery's sound and fury) and it has a fair amount of heavy lifting still to do in terms of setting up the state of the Star Trek universe twenty years after we last saw it.

My main problem with it is that while everything with Patrick Stewart in it is absolutely superb, the rest of the show isn't yet living up to that: the crew of misfits he's assembling feel more Rogue One than Star Trek, and the side-plot on the Borg Cube with the two shifty Romulans and the woman with the massive chin is incredibly dull. The sock-sliding this week being the low point of the show so far.

Also, I wish they'd stop doing flashbacks where Stewart is clearly still incredibly old and not at all convincing as his younger self.

It's still a million times better than Discovery.

Unexpected success yesterday evening: watched the first episode of The Witcher with my other half and she actually enjoyed it.

That's good. As the first episode is a bit shit. My partner also sort of enjoyed it and she had a low tolerance for fantasy bullshit (Cavil's torso probably didn't hurt the experience either)

Yeah, the first episode is very dense, for want of a better word - it's like they set out to make a faithful adaptation for book readers, without stopping to consider how they could make it accessible to newcomers. Even having played the game, I was struggling with a lot of the names as there was no guidance on what was important and what was not.

Up to episode 4 now though and we're both enjoying it hugely. Cavill's Geralt is uncanny.

The bard is great.

The amount of boob reveals is occasionally distracting. But I think it was pretty good overall. Do let us know what you think of the Star Trek episode :D

No one else has said it, but last week's episode of Picard was really bad. I hope it gets back on track.

See I'm still enjoying Picard. I know the Internet hive mind has turned on it now but I think it's pretty good still. Patrick Stewart's putting his heart and soul into it, it's not rushing the pacing of the whole thing, it's good to pick up with the Star Trek universe post-DS9, and I'm intrigued to see where it's all going to go. It's had a couple of misfires (really not keen on having Space Legolas as a crew member) but on the whole I'm still looking forward to it each week.

I still maintain it's a million times better than Discovery, but then again I'm halfway through Enterprise at the moment and enjoying that too so perhaps I'm just easily pleased.

I agree with all of this, ep4 just had a few really awful bits.

Also, I finished The Witcher and honestly that was a whole lot better than it had any right to be.

Tales From The Loop should be amazing.

:O Wat?!

Guys, watch Drive to Survive, admitedly I love Formula 1, but it's still a very good watch

Guenther Steiner should have camera on him all the time 😂

Season 1 covers 2018, season 2 which came out on Friday just gone, is about last season.

Yep I was going to recommend it too.

I believe Castlevania Seasom 3 is upon us so I will marathon that tonight. o/

Picard this week was absolutely tremendous.

Picard was fantastic. Now off to do a femPicard Renagade run.

Haha, yes, it was a bit Mass Effect 3 there and the final episode had a few issues but overall I really enjoyed it.

The last couple of episodes seemed to lift a lot from Mass Effect, but I liked that the big finale boiled down to Spoiler - click to show Patrick Stewart giving a dramatic speech about shared humanity. It felt very on-brand.

I'm watching 'good' new episodes of the Simpsons (rated by Reddit) on Disney Plus, just catching up on anything I've missed.

And the 'Simpsons already did it' phenomenon just scored an absolute home run. Season 23 episode 19, the Simpsons go on a cruise… when halfway through they hear of a worldwide pandemic of 'Pandora' virus and have to remain in quarantine on the ship.

I swear these writers have got a time machine.

We watched the first episode of Tales from the Loop tonight, Amazon's new show, and the first series I've ever heard of based on paintings. The reviews I'd seen have been mostly positive, but four of us watched it, and I'm the only one didn't think it was terrible.

Prevailing opinion was that it was just too slow; a mildly interesting concept that took three times as long as it should have to explore, and without much in the way of a conclusion. That's not entirely inaccurate - the pacing is glacial, and the core "twist" is actually quite straightforward (even if it's noir spilled by Amazon's "X-Ray" bullshit if you accidentally pause at the wrong time to resettle a baby). But I still enjoyed it - it's definitely a slow burn, but it's gorgeous, has a fantastic atmosphere, and I like the cast*, even if they're not given a huge amount to do.

So yeah, pretty sure I'll be the only one in this house coming back for episode 2.

*I am aware that this is kind of an anthology series, so the cast will shuffle around a bunch.

I really enjoyed the first two episodes of Tales From the Loop.

Did anyone else watch Red Dwarf The Promised Land?

Has anyone else watched Cloak & Dagger on Amazon Prime? It's a street level marvel show about two teenage heroes in New Orleans. We just finished season 1 and started on season 2. It's a bit slow but it's well made and I'm really enjoying it.

I watched Season 1 for some reason, and thought it was…. I have no idea. Sort of a Buffy that took itself way too seriously, although by the end it appeared not to be grounded in any sort of reality any more (it seemed to morph into the mid 90s Batman film). Season 2 started garbage so I gave up.

Obviously I wasn't asking you cav.

You and I are the only two people who've seen it, so your options are going to be limited.

It was OK in bits. The attempt to invert tropes was reasonable. But the last couple of episodes just went off the batshit end. You can't possibly defend whatever the fuck happened at the end. It was peak 90s.

I watched the first episode, then promptly forgot it existed.

No, the last episode was guff. I couldn't tell if they just ran out of budget or if they genuinely didn't know what to do with it.

The good bits made me forgive it though. Good social commentary. Good characters. Teen drama without being predictable and which felt genuine.

I've watched it and enjoyed it but it is extremely slow and very, very earnest. Almost exhaustingly so.

Has it been renewed? I'd probably watch more…

Nah, just two seasons and done.

I watched the first episode, then promptly forgot it existed.

This, but swap ‘episode’ for ‘season’.

I think it was alright. I do vaguely remember thinking the last episode was nonsensical though.

I may remember slightly more of Runaways (not necessarily for the right reasons), or I may be confusing them, I’m really not sure…

I’m currently catching up on Peaky Blinders, which I was expecting to be a bit more prestige drama and a bit less good than it actually is.

I’m up to the end of season 4 now, and continue to be pleasantly surprised by the guest stars/villains, and most of the acting in general, some variable accents notwithstanding,

The main one I’m still undecided on is Adrien Brody, who is impressively menacing, but it’s so difficult to decide if his accent and mannerisms are authentic, or just a Brando impression…

After Avengers: Endgame I'm still kinda' tapped out on the universe.