We ended up watching From the Earth to the Moon which is an HBO series from 1998 that has been remastered for a current release. A few scenes are perhaps a bit cheesy (the acting is usually good, but sometimes it’s a notch above true crime show reenactments) but it’s very compelling and worth watching.
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I think I have that on disc. Good stuff.
It’s the Tom Hanks hosted one. Which is a little weird as so much of the intro to every episode is him speaking over a slow pan over a statue or frieze, then you see him and go “OMFG he’s so much younger than he looks now.”
At least, we do that every episode.
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I first saw that in Afghanistan. Someone had left the set on one of the bookshelves where people just take and leave books. The only reason I didn’t steal it was because I wanted it in widescreen. I really enjoyed it.
The current HBO streaming version is pretty good: I think it’s been upgraded somehow. I feel the episodes got better as they went on overall.
I think it might be a great show for kids of the right age. Not sure what that is, I admit: but it’s aspirational and education, with no real violence or sex. (There’s the Apollo 1 fire and some relationship stuff.)
We just watched the Amazon show The Boys, with Karl Urban. It was different. It was good. Not sure I liked it completely, but we’ll watch again if it gets a second season. It’s a superhero show where a small group rebels against the deprivations of a superhero group.
Moone Boy is a strange little comedy show. Irish kid who’s imaginary friend is comedic actor Chris Dowd (IT Crowd & others) who mainly shows up for occasional advice and to act as a narrator… Then you see him playing pool with other imaginary friends.
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Season 2 of Derry Girls is out on Netflix. Irish high school girls,in the ‘90s doing the stupid stuff you’d expect teenagers to do.
Good music, too.
Wow. The series and books for The Expanse really do diverge in several places. Bobbie’s storyline feels very different since I don’t think in the novel I read she quite so formally broke ties with Mars, at last so far.
Overall, though, the weird thing is how different the main crew relations seem. They’re much more tense and untrusting in the series, while the novels feel much more relaxed and trusting of each other, and there’s still some disputes and disagreements that nearly rip the team apart.
I’m hoping Bobbie gets her Cool Action Scene in a couple episodes. She deserves it.
I’m watching a show on Netflix called Jinn. It’s an Arabic show. I’m only two episodes in, but it’s pretty interesting so far. I do find it interesting that the evil jinn acts very much like how I imagine American women are viewed in the middle eastern cultures. Confident, bold, forward, doesn’t back down from men.
For the record, she does, although it’s a scene I liked better in the books.
We just binged the first 2 seasons of Barry. That’s only 16x 30 minute episodes.
The writing was tight, the characters were well defined, and I loved that it didn’t follow a formula. I never knew what was coming next. Brilliant.
It’s kind of like Get Shorty in that the story revolves around an assassin who moves to L.A. and gets involved in show business, but this time as a lowly actor.
Rewatching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I watched the pilot on the weekend and then watched it again with the audio commentary by Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme on - very interesting stuff.
Finished the season of Derry Girls (It’s only 6 episodes!) as well as Orange is the New Black this weekend. Both were releases we didn’t know about until they came out.
OITNB is a series finale: It’s a step up in overall quality from the previous, but since they’re wrapping it up, it’s a harsh season. Some funny bits, but pretty depressing especially early on. On the plus side, there’s tons of cameos of characters that haven’t been seen in seasons and some of them are pretty good. At least one is actually a relatively happy ending, even.
I tried to watch Space Dandy, but OMG it was terrible.
It’s an anime style cartoon from 2014 that got 2 seasons out. I could only stomach 2 episodes before I had to stop. It’s self-referential, fourth-wall breaking, boob and bum humour about a ridiculous guy who is more important than he knows, and he thinks pretty highly of himself to begin with.
Ugh.
I started watching “The man in the tall tower” on Amazon a few days ago. It seems to be good so far but maybe moving a little slow?
I ended season 1 episode 3, I think, where the bounty hunter kicks the door down in search of the girl.
It has my attention for now.
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Do you mean “The Man in the High Castle”?
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We started to watch Carnival Row this weekend. I’m really enjoying the mix of steampunk Victorian-era London-of-another-world mixed with magic and fae. Some people are complaining that it isn’t original enough. Also, there is no pleasing some people.
I’m actually pleased that they didn’t go all-out magic in this show, and that the otherworldly intrusions are being suppressed by the humanfolk which makes it all kind of a morality play.
It’s kind of similar to the Irish wave of immigration into England in 1845 in a lot of respects.
Very watchable.
Plus Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, and some nudity.
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Yes, that is what I meant
I just started a show called Wedding Bells for the Otaku. The main character lives in the same area where I stayed in Tokyo! I’m pretty sure the apartment that she’s in is within a block of the place I stayed.
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