Looking for new series to watch

**Mike Pow** · 04-28-2017, 04:33 AM

Not many good comedies on at the moment but enjoyed Trial & Error, and enjoying Brockmire.

Silicon Valley just started back.

**nutmegchoi** · 04-28-2017, 07:53 AM

Jared is my favorite.
His character is so oddly adorable.

**Mike Pow** · 04-29-2017, 06:14 AM

Just binge watched Bosch S03.

So good, and the plot thickens for Season 4.

A must watch.

**Mike Pow** · 04-29-2017, 08:18 AM

Just started 'Imposters'.

Very promising.

PB · 04-29-2017, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by Mike Pow

Just binge watched Bosch S03.

So good, and the plot thickens for Season 4.

A must watch.

Been savoring it one episode per day, just finished #6: damn near light hearted at times - I chortled.

**neckdeep** · 04-30-2017, 06:25 AM

The first three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale are excellent. Be warned, though, this masterful adaptation of the classic speculative fiction best seller is hard to watch. The Handmaid's Tale truly delivers the dystopia that other shows, for example, The Man in the High Castle, only hint at. This is tough, demanding stuff, like watching Schindler's List. Basically, it depicts an American Holocaust. Call it the Holocaust of the Eastern Liberals. The setting is New England a few years after Christian fundamentalists have destroyed the U.S. government, seized control of part of America, declared war on the rest and established an extremely vicious, fascist theocracy. It's a land akin to Saudi Arabia's Wahabi culture or the tribal cultures of Afghanistan: strictly patriarchal with a rigid caste system that is defacto slavery. Even the "free" women are the property of husbands or their closest male relative. All the single women who don't bow to the patriarchy are rounded up and assigned a caste. Lower caste women are forbidden education and are severely punished simply for reading.

The story takes place during the period when the fundamentalists are enslaving or purging all the "sinners". Environmental toxins have caused widespread infertility, dropping births far below replacement rates. Manpower is in short supply so dissenters, intellectuals and basically anyone else who doesn't do Jesus are stripped of their citizenship and condemned to a miserable and potentially short life of slave labor. Anyone who resists is summarily strung up as an example to the rest (along with heretics, gays and infidels, all now capital crimes). Women sinners who are still fertile are the most valuable slaves and are assigned to bear children for the infertile couples of the elites. This is their story.

It is a tough watch but that's because this is art, not entertainment. It's dark shit but now it also has a very wry, cynical tone to it that I don't remember from the book. I've only seen three eps but I'd give it an A+ so far.

**Mustonen** · 04-30-2017, 11:09 AM

^^^ yeah, that. Fucked up and intense. Man in the high castle with the feel/foreboding of Shyamalan's The Village.

**Mike Pow** · 05-02-2017, 01:42 AM

Didn't offer anything different from the remarkable book for me, so dropped out.

If you haven't read the book, then choose either. You won't be disappointed.

**neckdeep** · 05-02-2017, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by Mike Pow

Didn't offer anything different from the remarkable book for me, so dropped out.

If you haven't read the book, then choose either. You won't be disappointed.

What are you talking about, "didn't offer anything different,"? There was a lot in the first three eps that isn't in the original. This is an author approved adaptation but it expands the book (and changes it a bit too). In just three eps, Offred's back story is fleshed out far beyond the limited details of the book. Offred's internal monologue is different. It has more personality and a bitter, black humor tone. Speaking of tones, her internal narrative now has a soundtrack. The third ep ends with punker Jay Reatard hollering "no, no, no...they won't get me!" as the scene fades out. I like how the use of modern music highlights what was lost. A few years before, Offred could buy a Jay Reatard record; now all the books and music have been banned. Things like that only exist as memories now but they are still so achingly close. In the new world, however, being a hipster girl can get your eyes put out or your genitals sliced off.

The flash backs to the fall of America are given much more detail; e.g. none of those maternity ward scenes were in the book and those really help explain a lot (that was an improvement to the book, imo). The secondary characters are given substantially more depth. Ofglen was given a small role in the book and then she just disappeared; here, her fate was the focus of the third episode. Using stories like Ofglen's, they will expand the world of Gilead more than we could see solely from Offred's viewpoint, e.g. through Ofglen we see the ludicrous Gilead "justice" system at work. That's not in the book. Ofglen's scenes were the most harrowing watching yet and revealed the incredible cruelty of the Christian overlords in ways the book only hints at.

In the book, Ofglen's disappearance and the Salvaging occur at the end of the story. We've already seen that by ep3. In fact, by ep 4, there's only two more major yet to be revealed narrative elements remaining from the book. I'd guess there is more new material coming in the next seven eps to fill that gap. They are going Game of Thrones on this. Give it a try. I thought the book was a plodding read because, as we learn at the end, it's supposed to represent a transcript of Offred's recorded first person narrative that was made at a safe house to be smuggled abroad as evidence of Gilead's crimes against humanity but instead was lost and found two hundred years later (as sort of an Anne Frank diary on cassettes.) It's a story told in a monotone. This is actually more interesting, imho, they are giving the original subject matter its due but it has more detail, it has more perspectives and it has better editing and pacing. It's like watching the ball game as opposed to just reading one player's diary entries about the game.

**Mike Pow** · 05-02-2017, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by neckdeep

What are you talking about, "didn't offer anything different,"? There was a lot in the first three eps that isn't in the original. This is an author approved adaptation but it expands the book (and changes it a bit too). In just three eps, Offred's back story is fleshed out far beyond the limited details of the book. Offred's internal monologue is different. It has more personality and a bitter, black humor tone. Speaking of tones, her internal narrative now has a soundtrack. The third ep ends with punker Jay Reatard hollering "no, no, no...they won't get me!" as the scene fades out. I like how the use of modern music highlights what was lost. A few years before, Offred could buy a Jay Reatard record; now all the books and music have been banned. Things like that only exist as memories now but they are still so achingly close. In the new world, however, being a hipster girl can get your eyes put out or your genitals sliced off.

The flash backs to the fall of America are given much more detail; e.g. none of those maternity ward scenes were in the book and those really help explain a lot (that was an improvement to the book, imo). The secondary characters are given substantially more depth. Ofglen was given a small role in the book and then she just disappeared; here, her fate was the focus of the third episode. Using stories like Ofglen's, they will expand the world of Gilead more than we could see solely from Offred's viewpoint, e.g. through Ofglen we see the ludicrous Glilead "justice" system at work. That's not in the book. Ofglen's scenes were the most harrowing watching yet and revealed the incredible cruelty of the Christian overlords in ways the book only hints at.

In the book, Ofglen's disappearance and the Salvaging occur at the end of the story. We've already seen that by ep3. I'd guess there is more new material coming in the remaining seven eps to fill that gap. Give it a try. I thought the book was a plodding read because, as we learn at the end, it's supposed to represent a transcript of Offred's recorded first person narrative that was made at a safe house to be smuggled abroad as evidence of Gilead's crimes against humanity but instead was lost and found two hundred years later (as sort of an Anne Frank diary on cassettes.) It's a story told in a monotone. This is actually more interesting, imho, they are giving the original subject matter its due but it has more detail, it has more perspectives and it has better editing and pacing. It's like watching the ball game as opposed to just reading one player's diary entries about the game.

Fair enough.

Will go back and try again.

Thanks.

**Marshall Tucker** · 05-03-2017, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by nutmegchoi

I just started watching Netflix original "13 Reasons Why" and it is brilliant.

What did/do you think? primesce (fuck i can't spell that word)-is interesting but I've read some blistering reviews.

**teledad** · 05-07-2017, 11:48 PM

S1 of Dear White People (Netflix) was pretty great. Funnier than I expected. My teenage son tells me that I'm not allowed to use "woke" as an adjective (due to cultural appropriation etc.) so I say it around him constantly.

Just started watching Catastrophe (Amazon Prime) - yet another "Yank in London" show but pretty nicely balanced between funny and serious.

**oftpiste** · 05-08-2017, 09:27 AM

Indeed. Good stuff.

Originally Posted by Mau

No mention of Billions (on Showtime) in this thread?

**schindlerpiste** · 05-08-2017, 11:22 AM

Anyone watch Training Day? It's OK. Mayfair (Blindspot) plays the head of LAPD (I think). Like in Blindspot, she is questionable. This story is about two detectives. The older white guy is training a young black guy, who is a special forces dude, how to be an effective, albeit on the edge, kinda cop. Also, the young guys dad was the former partner of the old guy. He was murdered, and they are trying to find out who is responsible.

Not totally stellar, but up there with NCIS L.A., and will keep me occupied until GoT, Outlanders and Shameless resume

**AK47bp** · 05-08-2017, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by Mau

No mention of Billions (on Showtime) in this thread?

Probably not many of you get Showtime on your cable package, but Billions can be found on torrents.

The final episode of season 3 just ran tonight. What an excellent series. Top notch!

Amen.

Thought I mentioned it a while ago but may have been a different thread.

My favorite show on TV now, easily. The last episode was intense!

**schindlerpiste** · 05-08-2017, 11:49 AM

Did Axe get arrested yet?

**AK47bp** · 05-08-2017, 11:56 AM

Maybe, maybe not, don't want to spoil it for anyone. A Shit storm is brewing.

**Mike Pow** · 05-09-2017, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by schindlerpiste

Anyone watch Training Day? It's OK. Mayfair (Blindspot) plays the head of LAPD (I think). Like in Blindspot, she is questionable. This story is about two detectives. The older white guy is training a young black guy, who is a special forces dude, how to be an effective, albeit on the edge, kinda cop. Also, the young guys dad was the former partner of the old guy. He was murdered, and they are trying to find out who is responsible.

Not totally stellar, but up there with NCIS L.A., and will keep me occupied until GoT, Outlanders and Shameless resume

Really enjoying it.

Going to be interesting to see how they transition to Season 2

**Mike Pow** · 05-09-2017, 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by AK47bp

Amen.

Thought I mentioned it a while ago but may have been a different thread.

My favorite show on TV now, easily. The last episode was intense!

Yep.

Keeps getting better and better. Roll on Season 3

**oftpiste** · 05-10-2017, 08:54 AM

Getting a haircut the other day the barber turned me on to "The Last Kingdom" on Netflix. Nicely done early middle-ages vikings vs. saxons series. Plenty of mayhem and battles as well as a well constructed plot.

**yeahman** · 05-16-2017, 06:37 PM

Just got done re-watching all 5 seasons of SouthLAnd on Amazon. Only cop show I've ever really liked. Kind of wish they hadn't axed it, but on the other hand it's nice that it never got a chance to go downhill.

**splat** · 05-16-2017, 08:54 PM

Has anyone mentioned American Gods on Starz yet?
Makes Mr. Robot look like a disney flick.

PB · 05-17-2017, 11:29 AM

^^^ Agreed; lovin' Mr. Wednesday AKA Smooove Al Swearengen

**splat** · 05-20-2017, 04:17 PM

How about netflix's Sense8? Holy shit.
Loving the outlandish conceptions on premise and delivery twists endlessly flashing sideways, inside of forward or back, with killer fukking film art.