The TV Lounge

[Torgo]

So many names and faces!

[beasterne]

That was great, thanks for sharing. Miami Vice has definitely been on my "want to watch at some point list" for a while now. Just haven't been able to commit to it. But that was quite the impressive list of guest stars.

[Ebbywebby]

Ha. I never watched that show at all, and I think Zappa and Phil Collins may be the only guest appearances I knew about until now.

[Good_Will_Harding]

I never thought I would be the person to be watching half a dozen currently running shows at the same time, all on different networks and streaming services, and yet here is what my week looks like...

Sundays: House of the Dragon, on HBO

Wednesdays: Abbott Elementary, on ABC
Andor, on Disney+

Thursdays: Chucky, on USA

Fridays: The Lord of the Rings: The Power of the Ring, on Amazon Prime

And there's also The Midnight Club on Netflix, which I've been watching an episode daily for the October challenge, as well as needing to catch up with the newest season of Cobra Kai, also on Netflix. Usually I'm pretty selective about what I watch and when, but I guess "fall television circuit" is not only a real thing, but it's got its hooks in me pretty hard.

[Pretentious Hipster]

The Interview With the Vampire show absolutely destroys the film. The first episode was practically perfect.

[Good_Will_Harding]

Well, both of the major fantasy series from this year - House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - have ended their first seasons. I have a lot more to say on the Rings show, so I'll start with the one about the dragons, since I don't have nearly as much to say there.

House of the Dragon

Before this prequel series to Game of Thrones even aired a single episode, it had a lot to prove. First and foremost, it had to stand on its on as its own series without any significant ties to the show it's associated with. Yet at the same time, it had to make GOT relevant in pop culture once again and redeem the franchise (in televised form at least) from the significant letdown that was the final season of Thrones. So I'm very pleased to say that, at least for me, this show accomplished both of those things and then some - but not without its own set of flaws. It's no surprise that the production values here (sets/costumes, visual effects, music, etc.) are all first rate, but they would be entirely for nothing if they weren't in service of a compelling narrative, and luckily we have here a narrative that's entirely worthy of the slick, professional production on hand.

One of the stronger aspects of this series is that it brought everything back to the basics of what made the earlier seasons of GOT so strong, i.e. the focus on characterizations and establishing the world and setting of the show, rather than favoring spectacle and action, which was a balancing act that GOT eventually lost sight of when it favored gigantic battles and effects towards the end. The upside here is that this show is working from source material that's completed, and the creators have the broader strokes of the plot and character turns already set up for them, which gives the showrunners the advantage of fleshing out the characters and relationships even better, knowing which ones to give proper time and attention to, so that their eventual endpoints feel all the more dramatic and earned.

However, there is for me one significant flaw that doesn't start to affect the show until the midpoint, but once it's there it never goes away, and that's the rushed, hurried pacing during the back half of the season. For this first five-ish episodes, everything moves along at a very respectable pace; not as slow as GOT, but quick enough to give each major plot point time to develop before moving onto the next one. But going from episode five to six, not only was the ten-year time jump incredibly jarring (to say nothing of having to recast arguably the two biggest roles halfway through the season), but everything suddenly started moving forward at a much quicker pace, with several seemingly key events getting rushed through without proper time to really process them or let them impact the story in any meaningful way. It seemed like once all the pieces were in place for the "dance of the dragons", the show was in a big hurry to get us there - and yes, the place this season arrives at is very satisfying and shocking in all the best ways classic GOT was too, but it seems like the creators were too focused on getting there that they let a number of important story and character beats get lost in the shuffle.

All in all, a pretty strong start for the series, and I'm quite excited to see where it goes ahead, moving forward. I just need to resist the temptation to read ahead and spoil everything for myself in the apparently years long wait for season two.

[Good_Will_Harding]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Now that this hotly anticipated curiously dreaded Amazon original series based on the works and world of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth has finished its initial run, I've had some time to gather my thoughts on it since the season finale aired recently. But before even getting into my own opinions, let me just say that as this show was premiering episodes for the past eight weeks, it has been damn near impossible to find any sort of honest, good faith discussions about it. Much of the talking points surrounding it have been taken over by MAGA chuds and Russian bots who only want to complain about why there shouldn't be black elves or how you can't have REEEEEEEMALES in your high concept fantasy kino. With that all in mind, I can only offer my honest opinion of the series, free of any far-right culture war brain rot. And here's my super duper hot take for you all.... it was good! Pretty good actually, but much like the concurrently airing Dragon show, it's not without some reservations.

Earlier in this thread, upon seeing the first two episodes screened in a theater, I praised the technical bonafides and production values of the series, and those aspects have remained consistently impressive throughout this entire first season of the show. I know I'm repeating myself here, but this is in all honesty probably the best looking and most "cinematic" (yes I realize the irony) television series I have ever watched, at least regarding something of this scale and production size. Everything shown on screen, from the visual effects, to the sets/costumes, makeup, and especially the musical score, is absolutely first rate. Even the most furious Reddit trolls cannot deny that, although of course we all know that some pretty images and nice music can only make up for the narrative side of things for so long. 

Production value aside, one thing I can comment more on now than I was able to beforehand is the overarching story of this first season, as well as the established tone of everything. OldAle shared a pretty good article earlier in this thread that articulated some of my biggest fears right from the moment this series was first announced in early 2018 - specifically about how the hallmarks of modern "prestige" television are greatly at odds with the works of JRR Tolkien. To sum up my own thoughts on the matter, I didn't want this series to just be Game of Thrones set in Middle Earth, dripping with heaps of nihilism and pathos at each possible turn, and with little of the emotional sincerity that made Peter Jackson's film trilogy soar to such emotional heights. Fortunately this wasn't quite as much of a problem as I had anticipated, and there are plenty of sequences and moments that would fit right in with the original trilogy. However, I'm certainly open to input from people who have much more experience and history with Tolkien and his works than a mere casual fan like me.

One of the biggest complaints I've seen about the show (at least from viewers who didn't make up their minds about it once the casting of non-white actors was announced) is about the pacing, and how everything moves along too slow or each plot point is too drawn out. I certainly can't argue with any of that, but after watching the concurrently airing House of the Dragon sprint ahead at breakneck speed to get to the supposed meat of the story, I now have a greater appreciation for how much this show took its time to arrive at its desired endpoint. Less easy to defend than the pacing is the seemingly disconnected nature of the main plot lines throughout the show. Many of the stories feel disconnected and separate from one another, or don't really come together until the last minute, if at all. With the original LOTR trilogy, both in book and movie form, every character in each major plot thread was working together towards a unifying end goal, but that isn't quite the case here. The individual stories all work in their own rights, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't at least one of them that could've been trimmed down or removed entirely and it wouldn't impact the overall flow of the series much. I'm sure in future seasons, the creators intend to bring everyone together, but until the point, everything just feels a bit separate from one another.

At the end of the day, I quite enjoyed this series, and can safely say that I was just as skeptical as anyone here going into it. Of course that doesn't guarantee everyone will as much out of the series, and I'm open to the possibility that I'm more easily won over by things like the look and especially the musical score. But for now, I'm perfectly satisfied with this on the whole.

[brokenface]

if anyone watched the youtube shorts from a few years back, they've now made a whole little TV series of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. Actually rather good, surprisingly

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14932528/

[Good_Will_Harding]

For my first published review in almost a year, I decided to expound upon my initial thoughts on Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series.

https://www.movieboozer.com/the-lord-of ... me-review/

[Torgo]

So am I the only one ..
.. who's stupid enough to have watched 1899, the complete season, until the very end, although I knew should have stopped after 3 or 4 episodes?

[blocho]

So am I the only one ..
.. who's stupid enough to have watched 1899, the complete season, until the very end, although I knew should have stopped after 3 or 4 episodes?

That bad?

[Torgo]

IMO it is partly boring, partly disappointing, needs too long before it works and then finally crashes down.
People who had issues with Dark, a series I deeply admired (for when the first reason was released) will have a field day trashing this - it's every cliché upped to 11. Maybe I'm at fault for overanalyzing it and caught a bad start already? At least it's not watchworthy in my book.

But I'd like to meet local viewers who enjoyed it. The music is occasionally brilliant, for example.

[Torgo]

Speaking of failures .. what happened to the Willow series (that nobody asked for)? I imagined it could be a hit like Dark Crystal, except it scores 3.0 lower ..

[OldAle1]

Speaking of failures .. what happened to the Willow series (that nobody asked for)? I imagined it could be a hit like Dark Crystal, except it scores 3.0 lower ..

Something something too woke something lib agenda something feminist something something woke something. See also Rings of Power, except that apparently got enough viewers right off the bat cuz, well, Tolkien's popular regardless. Plus hundreds of millions in marketing.

At least that's my guess as to why the low ratings. Hated the original movie, will never watch the series, so just throwing shade from the peanut gallery here.

[Torgo]

I also suspected some kind of anti-woke shitstormery there because such a low score is out of the norm for a TV series, but just scrolling through a bit of the reviews, it sounded like users just found it bad .. no idea!
The audience on Rotten Tomatoes also hates it and the short comments don't reveal anything about too much of a DISNEY PC AGENDA or something.

There had never been a better time to rewatch the original movie, Ale ..

[OldAle1]

I also suspected some kind of anti-woke shitstormery there because such a low score is out of the norm for a TV series, but just scrolling through a bit of the reviews, it sounded like users just found it bad .. no idea!
The audience on Rotten Tomatoes also hates it and the short comments don't reveal anything about too much of a DISNEY PC AGENDA or something.

There had never been a better time to rewatch the original movie, Ale ..

Interesting. So sometimes something still can be really reviled for just being bad, and not for politics? Who'd'a thunk it.

I've seen the film twice - maybe even three times. Thing is that kind of fantasy is right up my alley, and when it came out, and really all the way up through the end of the century, it was very rare on film (and nonexistent on TV). Too expensive. But it's hardly ever done to my taste unfortunately. And you know who the director of Willow is...

[magnusbernhardsen]

A review I saw said Willow was good until Warwick Davis showed up.

Regarding 1899, I want to like it, but after four episodes I have to say it seems to go in an uninteresting direction. It looks to be like LOST so far - some good vibes, but not ending up anywhere.

[Good_Will_Harding]

I've watched the first two episodes of the new Willow series and it's... fine. Not much better or worse than your average Disney Plus original series, but I'd actually maintain that it gets a lot more interesting once Warwick Davis reappears. However, there's no doubt in my mind that yet again, the exceedingly negative ratings and reactions are at least partially due to the reactionary crowd throwing a fit over a queer and interracial relationship being centralized in the story. Disney is indeed an evil company that deserves to be criticized, but the only manner in which the American right wing thinks they're deserving of backlash is the same old bad faith, culture war brain rot. Same also applies to the even worse user ratings for Disney's big animated holiday offering, Strange World.

[Torgo]

Well, what do you say: Mike Flanagan to direct a Dark Tower series for Amazon, his last mini-series for Netflix The Fall of the House of Usher coming up soon in 2023 (and it even has Kate Siegel! ) .. I'm actually quite excited now.
Perhaps I'm the last to get those news, but here's an article with an interview for those who weren't in the know:
https://deadline.com/2022/12/mike-flana ... 235191018/

[outdoorcats]

I've never sat down and read The Dark Tower, but I think Stephen King has liked Flanagan's adaptations of his work so I'm sure he's excited.

I didn't think the movie The Dark Tower was as bad as reviews implied. Granted, I can't remember any of the plot now, but I remember it being a fun and fast-paced dumb blockbuster with some cool visuals. The kind of "Perfectly enjoyable, but not much more" blockbuster that always gets released in February or March because it doesn't have the star power and studios don't know what else to do with it.

Meanwhile...this actually looks great:



I'm marking my calendar!

(Spotted: Ashley Johnson holding a crying baby, Troy Baker as one of David's [?] men)

Those of you who haven't played the game, I'm going to just suggest you give the first episode a shot.

[beasterne]

Documentary Now! Season 4 is another great entry in what has to feel like the most improbable series ever made. Seriously, how big could the audience for this show be—pitch perfect parodies of documentary films? Nevertheless the show keeps going and I really enjoyed the 4th season, probably as much or more as any other season.

Standouts for me were My Monkey Grifter, which was a hilarious skewering of the pomposity of My Octopus Friend; How They Threw Rocks which nailed the sports documentary with a truly hilarious premise; and the high point of the season (and maybe the series) Trouver Frisson which found just the right way to parody Agnes Varda’s documentaries while still obviously made with lots of love for her films.

Drawbacks this season are that Bill Hader is still absent and Fred Armisen has mostly cameos. But this also allows new faces to appear and put in great performances.

This is a show that is basically made for cinephiles, and I’ll continue to sing its praises as long as it keeps being made.

[Ebbywebby]

I actually was disappointed with the new season of Documentary Now! The Varda parody was easily the best. Loved that they took on "Burden of Dreams," but I think it could have been done better. And I was underwhelmed by the rest. The one with Cate Blanchett as the hairdresser was especially "shrug." And such a tiny season -- just five ideas.

[beasterne]

The Werner Herzog parody didn’t quite land for me, but I haven’t seen Burden of Dreams, My Best Fiend, really any Herzog docs except Grizzly Man. I definitely liked parts of it but the behind the scenes of a sitcom plot just felt too contrived for me. I wasn’t sure how that resonated with Herzog’s work at all either.

Agreed about the hairdresser one feeling very slight. However I did hear Cate Blanchett in an interview saying that she was the one who brought that idea forward for this season, and the episode was written for her based on a documentary that she loves. It seems like it’s a film with a tiny footprint so I’m interested to check it out and see what Blanchett liked about it. ICM link for Three Salons at the Seaside: https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/thr ... e+seaside/

[Good_Will_Harding]

Well, what do you say: Mike Flanagan to direct a Dark Tower series for Amazon, his last mini-series for Netflix The Fall of the House of Usher coming up soon in 2023 (and it even has Kate Siegel! ) .. I'm actually quite excited now.
Perhaps I'm the last to get those news, but here's an article with an interview for those who weren't in the know:
https://deadline.com/2022/12/mike-flana ... 235191018/

I really like Flanagan's work and am cautiously optimistic for this, but I'm also disappointed that it likely came at the cost of The Midnight Club getting cancelled by Netflix. Figures that the one thing he leaves somewhat open ended for a continuation and that's the one that gets the boot.

However, one pretty neat thing to come of that cancellation is that Flanagan himself revealed a layout and detailed plan of what a second season would've looked like for the series. Of course this just makes me want to see it even more now, but it's still cool that he was able to give some semblance of closure and offer answers to whatever was going on in the first season.

https://www.tumblr.com/flanaganfilm/702 ... 4kwAAAA%3D

[Torgo]

Regarding 1899, I want to like it, but after four episodes I have to say it seems to go in an uninteresting direction. It looks to be like LOST so far - some good vibes, but not ending up anywhere.

/snareroll




Of course, now it's a complete mess without ANY answers or solutions at all

[outdoorcats]

The Last of Us premieres tonight. It's going to be the first TV show I watch "live" (I will watch as soon as it becomes available at 9 PM) since, I think, Game of Thrones? Heck, I'm even going to miss most of the Sixers-Lakers game because of it!





Reviews are VERY promising so far...fingers crossed...

Anyone else watching? And if so, have you played the video game or are you going in blind?

[toromash]

The Last of Us premieres tonight. It's going to be the first TV show I watch "live" (I will watch as soon as it becomes available at 9 PM) since, I think, Game of Thrones? Heck, I'm even going to miss most of the Sixers-Lakers game because of it!





Reviews are VERY promising so far...fingers crossed...

Anyone else watching? And if so, have you played the video game or are you going in blind?

Also watching it. Was not going to initially despite being made by HBO, but after the reviews came in and being impressed by the trailer, then i will also have to watch it. Have great faith in it, especially since Neil is heavily involved. Despite having only played part 1, it remains my favorite game of all time 9 years later. Maybe we will get lucky in case of success, then studios may finally do faithful adaptations of video games instead of their horse shit translations (like the Withcer, my second favorite game of all time).

[mightysparks]

The Last of Us is my boyfriend's favourite game of all time and we've played both games so many times over the last couple of years they've risen into my top 10 as well. So gotta give it a shot. We'll probably watch it tonight after it becomes 'available' so I'll just have to avoid any mention of it for another 12 hours or so.

[GruesomeTwosome]

The Last of Us premieres tonight. It's going to be the first TV show I watch "live" (I will watch as soon as it becomes available at 9 PM) since, I think, Game of Thrones? Heck, I'm even going to miss most of the Sixers-Lakers game because of it!





Reviews are VERY promising so far...fingers crossed...

Anyone else watching? And if so, have you played the video game or are you going in blind?

I haven’t played the game (and I haven’t played video games since college really, over a decade or so) but I might check out the first episode to see if it’s my kinda thing. Though admittedly I’m wary of more zombie (or “infected” or whatever)/post-apocalyptic series, since I got burned out on The Walking Dead and similar series.

[outdoorcats]

Post your thoughts once you see it, everyone!--but especially Gruesome lol, it will be super interesting to see how a blind watcher's view compares to ours. And you'll be pleased to hear one thing critics keep saying is how well the show overcomes "zombie fatigue."

[outdoorcats]

Well, fuck, Joel! The first episode was REALLY good.

Between this and Chernobyl, Craig Mazin seems pretty masterful at building large-scale dread and impending catastrophic horror.

(You guys can't imagine the huge smile of pure joy I had when the title sequence came on and it used the exact same piece of music from the game's title sequence)

[toromash]

It was a very great start indeed.

Spoiler

The first prologue part was a bad idea in my eyes. It was probably put in to make it relevant in 2023 (with pandemics and climate change), but it made it too conventional, while also falsely hinting it to be a typical zombie series. Part 2 prologue, which follows the game were much better. I'm a bit unsure whether starting the episode in the morning worked better than starting immediately in the night with the birthday present, maybe it would not have worked in television format. So the alternative was still very good. There was only one bad scene in this prologue, which was when she was studying at her neighbours house with the sick granny soon turning. Again, a cheap tool for exposition, and again falsely hinting at a typical zombie series. This was actually a big mistake, because it would have worked much better if she was still healthy and then reenact the scene from the game, where he without any notice breaks into their home, when she and Joel are there. The rest of the prologue were perfect, maybe even better than the game (though very similar).

Going to present, it was also very good. They added scenes, which worked to expand the world of TloU. I still think Tess is miscasted however (she is still a great actress though). Also the scene switching of characters is inferior, and like the prologue would be better with a singular more chaotic approach. This would mean skipping the scenes up until Joel wakes up finding Tess wounded. This is a small issue however, and it worked great anyway. Nothing more to say beyond that.

Spoiler

[mightysparks]

(You guys can't imagine the huge smile of pure joy I had when the title sequence came on and it used the exact same piece of music from the game's title sequence)

Same bro.

I liked it but wasn’t wowed, I feel it has the potential to be really good though. I didn’t like the changes with the prologue but minor quibbles. Impressed with casting so far but still finding myself drawn more to the game characters but I guess that’ll lessen in time as I get used to these ones. Interested to see more of the outside world in the next ep.

[outdoorcats]

It was a very great start indeed.

Spoiler

The first prologue part was a bad idea in my eyes. It was probably put in to make it relevant in 2023 (with pandemics and climate change), but it made it too conventional, while also falsely hinting it to be a typical zombie series. Part 2 prologue, which follows the game were much better. I'm a bit unsure whether starting the episode in the morning worked better than starting immediately in the night with the birthday present, maybe it would not have worked in television format. So the alternative was still very good. There was only one bad scene in this prologue, which was when she was studying at her neighbours house with the sick granny soon turning. Again, a cheap tool for exposition, and again falsely hinting at a typical zombie series. This was actually a big mistake, because it would have worked much better if she was still healthy and then reenact the scene from the game, where he without any notice breaks into their home, when she and Joel are there. The rest of the prologue were perfect, maybe even better than the game (though very similar).

Going to present, it was also very good. They added scenes, which worked to expand the world of TloU. I still think Tess is miscasted however (she is still a great actress though). Also the scene switching of characters is inferior, and like the prologue would be better with a singular more chaotic approach. This would mean skipping the scenes up until Joel wakes up finding Tess wounded. This is a small issue however, and it worked great anyway. Nothing more to say beyond that.

Spoiler

Why do you think

Spoiler

Tess

is miscast? I thought AT nailed it, one of the best casting choices IMO.

[toromash]

It was a very great start indeed.

Spoiler

The first prologue part was a bad idea in my eyes. It was probably put in to make it relevant in 2023 (with pandemics and climate change), but it made it too conventional, while also falsely hinting it to be a typical zombie series. Part 2 prologue, which follows the game were much better. I'm a bit unsure whether starting the episode in the morning worked better than starting immediately in the night with the birthday present, maybe it would not have worked in television format. So the alternative was still very good. There was only one bad scene in this prologue, which was when she was studying at her neighbours house with the sick granny soon turning. Again, a cheap tool for exposition, and again falsely hinting at a typical zombie series. This was actually a big mistake, because it would have worked much better if she was still healthy and then reenact the scene from the game, where he without any notice breaks into their home, when she and Joel are there. The rest of the prologue were perfect, maybe even better than the game (though very similar).

Going to present, it was also very good. They added scenes, which worked to expand the world of TloU. I still think Tess is miscasted however (she is still a great actress though). Also the scene switching of characters is inferior, and like the prologue would be better with a singular more chaotic approach. This would mean skipping the scenes up until Joel wakes up finding Tess wounded. This is a small issue however, and it worked great anyway. Nothing more to say beyond that.

Spoiler

Why do you think

Spoiler

Tess

is miscast? I thought AT nailed it, one of the best casting choices IMO.

Spoiler

She doesn't look or feel like Tess from the game. In the series she comes off very expressionless, without life and very masculine. So there is both an issue with casting and with interpretation. In the game Tess comes across as more playfull with toned down jokes (have just played the section that covers ep 1), while here she is almost completely devoid of any emotions and very serious in nature

Spoiler

edit: Just rewatched the episode, and i was maybe a bit harsh on Tess. I think it was because of her wounded face.

[Pretentious Hipster]

Halfway through the second season of Detectorists is it's practically perfect tv. It's nice to see someone who you don't expect to do something like starring/writing/directing at once, in this case Mackenzie Crook, and doing an absolutely fantastic job with it.

[toromash]

It was a very great start indeed.

Spoiler

The first prologue part was a bad idea in my eyes. It was probably put in to make it relevant in 2023 (with pandemics and climate change), but it made it too conventional, while also falsely hinting it to be a typical zombie series. Part 2 prologue, which follows the game were much better. I'm a bit unsure whether starting the episode in the morning worked better than starting immediately in the night with the birthday present, maybe it would not have worked in television format. So the alternative was still very good. There was only one bad scene in this prologue, which was when she was studying at her neighbours house with the sick granny soon turning. Again, a cheap tool for exposition, and again falsely hinting at a typical zombie series. This was actually a big mistake, because it would have worked much better if she was still healthy and then reenact the scene from the game, where he without any notice breaks into their home, when she and Joel are there. The rest of the prologue were perfect, maybe even better than the game (though very similar).

Going to present, it was also very good. They added scenes, which worked to expand the world of TloU. I still think Tess is miscasted however (she is still a great actress though). Also the scene switching of characters is inferior, and like the prologue would be better with a singular more chaotic approach. This would mean skipping the scenes up until Joel wakes up finding Tess wounded. This is a small issue however, and it worked great anyway. Nothing more to say beyond that.

Spoiler

Why do you think

Spoiler

Tess

is miscast? I thought AT nailed it, one of the best casting choices IMO.

Spoiler

She doesn't look or feel like Tess from the game. In the series she comes off very expressionless, without life and very masculine. So there is both an issue with casting and with interpretation. In the game Tess comes across as more playfull with toned down jokes (have just played the section that covers ep 1), while here she is almost completely devoid of any emotions and very serious in nature

Spoiler

edit: Just rewatched the episode, and i was maybe a bit harsh on Tess. I think it was because of her wounded face.

[AdamH]

Halfway through the second season of Detectorists is it's practically perfect tv. It's nice to see someone who you don't expect to do something like starring/writing/directing at once, in this case Mackenzie Crook, and doing an absolutely fantastic job with it.

Detectorists is excellent. One of my favourite programmes in the last few years.

[mightysparks]

Wanted to watch a nice dumb comfort bingey show on Netflix and settled on You. I quite liked the first season despite its problems (unlikable female characters who never listen and get emotional and then apologize because they should’ve listened to the male character properly to begin with because he’s just so amazing and gets them). It was kinda fun with all the stalking and killing off random annoying people in his love interest’s life. But damn the second season was dumb and the ending (spoiler: pregnancy armour) has put me off the third season. The second season got rid of all the creepy stuff and just made the main character get unnecessarily involved with random people’s lives and make constantly dumb decisions that didn’t align with his values in the first season.

So it was fun while it lasted but now I need to find another dumb comfort bingey show on Netflix.

[Good_Will_Harding]

I only watched the first season of You, but never really got into it. I totally see what it's trying to do (a modern teen variation on the American Psycho-esque trope of the detached murderous sociopath that's a fish-out-of-water in modern 'polite' society) and why it became so popular, but it just didn't do much for me. The whole cutesy, sardonic attitude towards the subjects of murder and death always made it fall kinda flat for me, and I was hardly invested enough to keep going after one season.

For mindless, binge-able Netflix filler, you should try the one I'm currently on, Ginny & Georgia. A bit of a modern soap-y melodrama with some teen angst sprinkled in for good measure, and amusingly brainless if you can tolerate none of the principal characters being all that sympathetic or likable. It goes down easily and moves along at q respectable pace, but occasionally stumbles upon a poignant moment amidst all the fluff. Far from great television, but perfectly watchable if you need something to pass the time with.