What TV SHOWS are you watching?

I pirated it. Arrrrrrr...

xthexlo wrote: Stranger Things!!! (Am I too late?)

Stranger things was very good, and was the best family fare we enjoyed this year. It hit the right notes, though I'm a little dubious about the already-announced second season. But that show wasn't the big surprise, at least in our house. That honor goes to The Knick, which, if you are not watching it, marks you as either a person IGNORANT OF GOOD THINGS through no fault of your own, or an imbecile who has come to be familiar with good things, but cannot discern good from bad. For those who belong to the first category, I'm here to help and accept all manner of genuine coin. For the latter, be gone from my sight. The rest who have seen and know good, well, you are saved and can join me in aiding the ignorant.

We were granted Cinemax when our cable company wanted to compensate us recently, and we binged 2 seasons of it. It's compelling acting (especially Clive Owen) and pure Steven Soderbergh, but in the historical setting of a New York hospital in 1900. As Soderbergh's "Contagion" scared the bejesus out of me, I couldn't help but have high expectations of this show, which usually isn't a good sign because I'm kind of a hard ass about what I watch. But the show hasn't disappointed in any way and I'm hoping it returns for a 3rd season. It's like Downton Abbey, but with eugenics, race riots, syphilis, medical marvels, opium porn, and all the cocaine an addicted surgeon can steal. They really should have had more cocaine in Downton Abbey. If you've not seen The Knick, do yourself a favor and take a peek.

Really digging Colbert as Late Show host now. I like that it's basically The Colbert Report on a different network now.

But....

Nothing compares to Late Late Show. Reggie is awesome musically, and funny too, and James Corden is one of the best hosts of a variety show ever.

I really don't think Colbert can interview worth a damn but I like his opening bit a ton when he sits at his desk

This one's a bit obscure, but I'll list it anyway. I just finished watching a disk of all six episodes of Day of the Triffids. This was a BBC production from 1981 based on the book. It was fascinating in several ways.

If you've never read the book (I read it early last year), it's a classic 1950's sci-fi tale about sentient, man-eating, mobile plants that take over the world. Except, it's really NOT about that. Sure, those are the triffids of the title, but the book is actually very, very similar to The Walking Dead. The story begins with the protagonist waking up in a hospital all alone. He'd been blinded, and now was the day to take off his bandages. Alas, over the last 24 hours an amazing meteor shower covered the earth, and everyone who saw it (95% of humanity) became permanently blind. Society collapses almost immediately, and suddenly this one sighted guy is thrust into a totally different world. That's what most of the book is about, except that now that there's no one to keep an eye on the triffids, they break loose, run rampant, and become man's major predator.

The BBC series actually did a great job adapting the book, and included all the major points that I remembered from the book. And yet, each of the six episodes is only half an hour long! The effects are respectable in that early Dr. Who kinda way. The plants have this other-worldly, primitive realism and charm. Clearly low-budget, but still menacing in a Dalek sort of way.

I can imagine this being remade today with the lavish (by comparison) budgets, huge cast, hour-long episodes, and dreadfully boring CGI triffids. And of course, they'd milk it for as many seasons as they could. I really appreciated not only the brevity of this one, but the willingness to actually conclude the story.

I'm still trying to find a copy of the earlier Day of the Triffids movie, but this one was much better than I had any expectation of it to be.

PS-
One other thing I really liked about the book is how they discussed the practical ramifications of the new world order: whether it was worth the effort to save blind people, who was worth saving, how they would rebuild and repopulate the world, etc. The BBC series addressed these topics as well, but obviously not in as much detail.

there was this really crappy BBC sci-fi series called TRIPODS and I was endlessly addicted to it as a kid

No love for Mr Robot? Perhaps the best TV show on hacking ever, acting brilliant and Christian Slater is just astounding.

Recommending strongly. Free on Amazon Prime.

ThirstyMan wrote: No love for Mr Robot? Perhaps the best TV show on hacking ever, acting brilliant and Christian Slater is just astounding.

Recommending strongly. Free on Amazon Prime.

I love it, and I think some of us were discussing it last season. Season 2 has been a great ride again, if a little uneven. One thing I wish I had done, though, is rewatch some of Season 1. I felt a little out of it for a while this season. It's a dense show with a lot to pay attention to. But excellent writing.

Fuck you, Zack Snyder!

ThirstyMan wrote: No love for Mr Robot? Perhaps the best TV show on hacking ever, acting brilliant and Christian Slater is just astounding.

Recommending strongly. Free on Amazon Prime.

Season 2 didn't thrill me. Way too much "what is real" and not much in the way of pay-off.

New season of Ash vs Evil Dead is off to a great start.

hotseatgames wrote:

ThirstyMan wrote: No love for Mr Robot? Perhaps the best TV show on hacking ever, acting brilliant and Christian Slater is just astounding.

Recommending strongly. Free on Amazon Prime.

Season 2 didn't thrill me. Way too much "what is real" and not much in the way of pay-off.

I still loved it, but I can't disagree with your criticism.

Longmire is incredibly hot garbage at this point. A shitty version of the shield in pacing in the last two seasons.

That's too bad, I was considering finally getting Netflix and binge watching it.

Eh, first couple seasons are still decent once they get past their early growing pains.