Television

[pabs]

Seen the first 6 episodes already and it's definitely turning against the royal family, showing them up as unthinking, cold, heartless, privileged and completely out of touch.

[Holdrüholoheuho]

i like about the queen she gives a ride to freaks (putin & xi jinping — did trump get the privilege too?) in a golden chariot and thus making them look like retards from a dumb fairytale. (i hope, it is depicted in one of the episodes — accompanied with sitcom laughter applause.)

[pabs]

haha! I don't think this season goes beyond the 1980s, so maybe next season, if there is one.

[kanafani]

I watched Sharp Objects on the treadmill over the past two weeks. All-pervading nastiness. Maybe the material could have worked in a shorter, trashier horror movie, but as a self-important psychological portrait and a study of an insular, diseased social milieu, this oozes with mean-spiritedness and misanthropy. I kind of hate-watched it.

[Holymanm]

this oozes with mean-spiritedness and misanthropy

Are you sure you didn't just feel that emanating from everything in the world because you were jogging...?

[kanafani]

Are you sure you didn't just feel that emanating from everything in the world because you were jogging...?

I'm one of those weirdos who actually enjoy running, so that is not it

[kanafani]

TV series that I did enjoy on the treadmill in the past few months include:
Better Call Saul Season 5
The Boys
Fleabag
Cobra Kai
The Queen's Gambit
Bodyguard
Unbelievable
The Night of

[Silga]

I plan to watch Fargo Season 4 and The Mandalorian Season 2 when all episodes are available.

[---]

Fun fact, once I came across Sharp Objects in the library of a mental hospital....I was like....why is this here? You won't let us watch violent movies on the tvs in the lounges, but you have a fucking book about cutting, which most people here have had a problem with at some point in their life? It made no sense to me. Anyway, I read it, it was ok

[pabs]

TV series that I did enjoy: Fleabag

Glad to know someone else here enjoyed it.

The Queen's Gambit

I saw the first two eps of this tonight. Good so far.

I gotta say, I don't how people manage to follow any films/tv while on a treadmill.

[kanafani]

I gotta say, I don't how people manage to follow any films/tv while on a treadmill.

If you position the screen right in front of your face, all you need to do is keep your eyes open!

[MrCarmady]

Yeah Fleabag is great! Treadmill running less so, under current lockdown rules I'm grateful for an outdoor jog every day as it's nearly the only thing that gets me out of the house.

[kanafani]

Maskless runners get a lot of dirty looks around here, and there is no way I'm running with that damn thing on my face. Now it's getting too cold to run outdoors anyway

[FLABREZU]

I watched The Queen's Gambit. It was okay. I don't know why it's so highly rated. Most of the chess stuff was somewhat ridiculous, and in the first episode the guy's like, "It's called the queen's gambit," but he's only played one move...? That's not how the openings work.

[greennui]

I had a treadmill years ago but rarely used it due to finding it rather monotonous, kinda wish now that it had entered my mind to watch something whilst running. Nowadays I'm running on a floodlit trail which is ace but some days it can be a little too many, mostly old people that I have to run past. I'd wear a mask but in Sweden's it's still basically the opposite to the rest of the world, I'd be the one getting anxious looks.

[MrCarmady]

I watched The Queen's Gambit. It was okay. I don't know why it's so highly rated. Most of the chess stuff was somewhat ridiculous, and in the first episode the guy's like, "It's called the queen's gambit," but he's only played one move...? That's not how the openings work.

yeah I only watched the pilot and was confused by them getting this very simple thing wrong for no reason

[kanafani]

I watched The Queen's Gambit. It was okay. I don't know why it's so highly rated. Most of the chess stuff was somewhat ridiculous, and in the first episode the guy's like, "It's called the queen's gambit," but he's only played one move...? That's not how the openings work.

yeah I only watched the pilot and was confused by them getting this very simple thing wrong for no reason

I know close to nothing about chess, so the series worked quite well for me as a sports story.

[thoxans]

I know close to nothing about chess

we should totes get together and play chess online

[nrh]

haven't seen it yet but all i know is walter tevis is a writer i really admire. the hustler and man who fell to earth and color of money are good to great films that mostly d justice to the books but i wish someone would work with his sci-fi books mockingbird and steps of the sun. queen's gambit is the only one i've not read yet.

[Holymanm]

queen's gambit is one of my favourite books ever written, and is the apotheosis of his career. all the promise and tantalising talent of his other work focused into this nearly flawless novel. best thing he ever did! (in my humble chess nerd's opinion)

...show looks like sex and drugs and patriotism or something. i have 2/10 expectations for american tv drama, but possibly the show might be a 6/10. probably will re-read the "original book"

[Roscoe]

Watched the first hour of Season Four of THE CROWN, and can't imagine bothering any further. I'd seen the first few episodes of the first season a while back and enjoyed them more or less, but never got much further than Elizabeth's coronation. Despite the presence of some fine actors and handsome production values it just plods plods plods. The feeling that I could be doing other things with my time got stronger by the minute, especially when Gillian Anderson's Emmy-Bid Margaret Thatcher was occupying space onscreen.

[pabs]

THE UNDOING.

Two episodes down. It's not as "Big Little Lies: NY" as I was led to believe. There are some excellent sound editing and sound design aspects to this which give it a slightly creepy, horror movie vibe. Same with the lighting - a bit eerie. It's compelling enough for me so far that I'll continue watching.

[Roscoe]

BETTER CALL SAUL Season Four wrapped up in rewatch -- and as brilliant on a second viewing as on the first.

[pabs]

All the stuff I saw this year, in the order I finished them:




I especially liked:

CATASTROPHE
SCHITT'S CREEK
HILLARY
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
BABYLON BERLIN

I'm currently watching:

Season 2 of Schitt's Creek
Season 4 of Sex and the City
Season 2 of Dynasty (original series) (1981-1982) - I've been watching an episode about once every 2 to 4 months this year. I might finish it sometime before 2025.

The most pleasant surprise has been SCHITT'S CREEK. Thank you, Roscoe, for recommending it. The sad, pathetic characters are funny and quite heartbreaking at the same time, a very odd mixture which makes it quite brilliant and very compelling.

[Roscoe]

Glad you're digging the CREEK, Pabs. What platform are you watching it on?

[pabs]

<-- that one

[Roscoe]

OK -- just a suggestion that you watch it on Netflix, or some other non-censorious non-editing-for-time place like that. I checked out a favorite episode the other night on Comedy Central, and was aghast that a couple of favorite moments were gone to make room for commercials.

[pabs]

Oh dear, I might have missed some good bits.

The episodes I've watched have been roughly between 21m 31s and 21m 43s long. Both Season One and Season Two's episodes have this watermark/logo (at bottom right):

[Roscoe]

As long as they're saying "fuck" occasionally, you should be good.

[pabs]

I added to my tv diet:

The Great (2020) with Elle Fanning, a kind of comedy about the Russian court with Elle Fanning. A few laughs, one episode so far.

and

Fossey/Verdon (2019), a melodrama about Bob Fosse the choreographer/film director and his wife. Bathed in show numbers and film and theatre projects, the first three episodes were good. Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell are doing a reasonable job. The soundtrack and music alone (over the credits at the end of each episode) are worth the watch (or the listen, whatever...).