What to Watch Instantly on Netflix? (and now all streaming services)

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by stevew

My Dad’s roku didn’t support the MLB app any more so he had to get a new one. Right now Roku has an fees dispute issue with HBO Max. I have a roku Sharp TV and a Roku sound bar on my older set. They better unfuck this quickly.

They will not unfuck this quickly. It seems Amazon and HBO Max are working on a deal (which is why Amazon now has a "HBO" app without Max while they are discussing). Roku doesn't seem to be budging at all.

Peacock is also in the limbo with Roku and Amazon.

I'm glad I have Chromecasts and an Apple TV.

[ISiddiqui]

So finally am starting to watch Better Call Saul. I'm not sure what took me so long. I LOVED Breaking Bad. I wonder if it was due to cord cutting and being on services without AMC for a while. But it has been on Netflix too. Anyways.. finally getting to it.

I'm also continuing The Wire. I've gotten to the election in Season 4. I find I'm not all the interested in the show (it's well done, but it's not for me), but I've gotten this far, might as well finish it.

[Critch]

Earlier on I mentioned that I'd been working through Netflix/Japanese TV co-production "Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories". I got to the end of it just in time for Netflix adding "Midnight Diner", the pre-Netflix production from Japanese TV. Still the same diner, still the same self contained stories, I've now got through all five seasons (Pre-Netflix Midnight Diner = Season 1,2 and 3, Netflix co-production = season 4 and 5). I'm now trying to find he spinoff movie.

Still on a Japanese TV kick on Netflix, I've moved onto "Samurai Gourmet". A 60 year old newly retired company man starts seeing visions of an ancient wandering Samurai and uses them as an inspiration to let loose and live like a samurai, mainly revolving around restaurants and cafes. In one episode he has a beer with lunch, in another he almost complains about a bad meal. He doesn't really go crazy with the Samurai inspiration.

Good viewing, a mixture of slice-of-life and Samurai strangeness.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So finally am starting to watch Better Call Saul. I'm not sure what took me so long. I LOVED Breaking Bad. I wonder if it was due to cord cutting and being on services without AMC for a while. But it has been on Netflix too. Anyways.. finally getting to it.

I'm also continuing The Wire. I've gotten to the election in Season 4. I find I'm not all the interested in the show (it's well done, but it's not for me), but I've gotten this far, might as well finish it.

WOO! I think most of us that loved breaking bad were afraid of better call saul initially but found it to be an outstanding show. Enjoy!


I've been following your comments on The Wire - I wonder if the level of hype that the show has received has set impossible or unreasonable expectations that it be head and shoulders better than everything else you've ever seen, so you're comparing against that likely impossible standard? Or, of course, maybe its just not for you, which is surprising to me knowing the other shows we've both chatted about over the years, but there's certainly nothing wrong if that's the case

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Radii

I've been following your comments on The Wire - I wonder if the level of hype that the show has received has set impossible or unreasonable expectations that it be head and shoulders better than everything else you've ever seen, so you're comparing against that likely impossible standard? Or, of course, maybe its just not for you, which is surprising to me knowing the other shows we've both chatted about over the years, but there's certainly nothing wrong if that's the case

Maaybe. The hype could be the issue, but generally hype doesn't have this effect on me too much. Many a show I started watching when it was multiple seasons in and I loved it - including Breaking Bad and The Sopranos (actually I don't ever recall if I saw the first season of The Sopranos... I need to fix that).

I've never been one for cop shows. The only ones I ever liked were sci fi ones - X Files, Fringe, etc.

[spleen1015]

The biggest thing for me that makes The Wire so great is the characters. I can't think of a single character that didn't seem real to me. There are always some characters in a show or movie where the acting isn't that good. That is not the case with this show.

I watched it again recently and it still holds up for me.

[stevew]

If you have a Roku and get HBO thru your cable provider this works.

If this helps at all... I have HBO through my cable (Suddenlink). I previously logged into the HBO app on mobile & roku with my cable provider login credentials. Fast forward to the new HBOMax... ok I still logged into the iOS apps with my cable provider’s credentials. Great! Looked on Roku, HBOGo app gone. Smiley Sad Found new Roku HBO app— installed it. Here’s what worked for me. On my HBOMax iOS app, in Settings > account info, I had a HBO email address listed. (?!) there was NO password— it asked me if I wanted to add a password. I did. So at this point I have my cable login, but also a HBO login. Once I added a password in the HBO app, I was able to use that HBO email / password on the Roku HBO— it worked!! I also verified this login at the hbonow website. All that to say— if you were somehow previously getting HBOGo, go to hbonow and those login credentials or the mobile HBOMax app login credentials should work on the new Roku HBO app. ..... I don’t know how, but worked for me!!

[ISiddiqui]

So the wife and I have been watching Parks and Recreation. She watched it when it came on, whereas I didn't. I actually stopped middle of Season 2, right before it became very good. I had thought of picking it up since - because it got highly rated. But that hasn't happened until now. I'm really liking it, but what really amuses me is there is this sub-theme through the show where Leslie Knope has a massive thing for Joe Biden. And Biden even makes a cameo in the show. In the context of the 2020 election it's even more hilarious.

Oh, and I just finished season 4 of The Wire. My opinion has not changed.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Oh, and I just finished season 4 of The Wire. My opinion has not changed.

It's ok, we're all wrong about something.

[ISiddiqui]

Ted Lasso is funnier than it has any right to be

[JPhillips]

Watching The Get Down on Netflix. The first half is strange and flawed, but it's interesting. The second half is terrible. The writing stinks, the acting stinks, the music is way out of period. It's so obvious why it was cancelled.

[Edward64]

Finished watching ep 5 of The Expanse.

I tried watching it earlier this year and couldn't get into it. It takes 3-4 episodes I think to get the hang of the "world". Enjoying it now and hoping there are more space battles. The special effects are pretty cool.

[PilotMan]

Wife and I started The Leftovers after the recommendations here and so far we're both really enjoying it six episodes in.

[spleen1015]

Finished s3 of Ozark yesterday.

Crazy way to end a season.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Finished s3 of Ozark yesterday.

Crazy way to end a season.

Yeah, the season finale was great. I do think s3 wasn't near as strong as s1 & s2 but still pretty good.

[spleen1015]

I think Ben made s3 better.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Yeah, the season finale was great. I do think s3 wasn't near as strong as s1 & s2 but still pretty good.

I think I probably agree on that. I enjoyed s3 still, but I feel like the scale of the drama blew out a little quick, compared with s1 & s2.

[Ksyrup]

World's Toughest Race on Amazon Prime is right up my alley. Two eps in so far.

[ISiddiqui]

Three episodes in on Ted Lasso. It's pretty enjoyable. I am pleasantly surprised.

It almost feels like if Parks and Rec was about Chris Traeger. With sports.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[Ksyrup]

So...Cuties. I saw an ad for it and thought it was a joke, but apparently it's real. I didn't click on the trailer because I was afraid I'd have to go all Pete Townshend on my explanation for watching it - "I was doing research!" - if I got caught.

I see there's a movement for Netflix to remove it. I don't know if it's as bad as it looks and warrants removal, but I'm not gonna find out firsthand.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So...Cuties. I saw an ad for it and thought it was a joke, but apparently it's real. I didn't click on the trailer because I was afraid I'd have to go all Pete Townshend on my explanation for watching it - "I was doing research!" - if I got caught.

I see there's a movement for Netflix to remove it. I don't know if it's as bad as it looks and warrants removal, but I'm not gonna find out firsthand.

I have no idea what this show is about. I just saw the promo photo along with a protest tweet and well it does not look like something I would have ever considered anyways.

Now High Score on the other hand might be my background noise for the day.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So...Cuties. I saw an ad for it and thought it was a joke, but apparently it's real. I didn't click on the trailer because I was afraid I'd have to go all Pete Townshend on my explanation for watching it - "I was doing research!" - if I got caught.

I see there's a movement for Netflix to remove it. I don't know if it's as bad as it looks and warrants removal, but I'm not gonna find out firsthand.

Just read a little bit about it, yeah, not interested.

[Edward64]

Into Expanse s4 ep4.

Really been enjoying this series. Didn't like the "two mutinies" in s3, the first one was much better than the second. Also it started getting a little too much like the last part of 2001 and Contact. The world is fascinating and s3 really setup s4.

In s4 it's less space and more planet base story telling. It's not as good so far IMO as the previous 3 seasons but still entertaining enough.

If you are a sci-fi fan, I think you need to give this a shot. Be aware I needed about 3-4 episodes to really get into it.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So...Cuties. I saw an ad for it and thought it was a joke, but apparently it's real. I didn't click on the trailer because I was afraid I'd have to go all Pete Townshend on my explanation for watching it - "I was doing research!" - if I got caught.

I see there's a movement for Netflix to remove it. I don't know if it's as bad as it looks and warrants removal, but I'm not gonna find out firsthand.

Some folks on Reddit were trying to suggest that Netflix/someone-involved is building an outrage campaign against this show as PR.

Apparently the plot of the show is exactly the opposite of what the title & cover suggest FWIW. I have less than zero interest either way.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

2/3rds through season one of Dark on netflix. Not quite sure what genre to call it, but Stephen King mentioning it on Twitter was what started me watching it, so that might give you an idea - dark, German sci fi/fantasy set in the modern day as well as 33 years ago. Can be a bit confusing at times but our patience has been rewarded so far.

We're in season 3 now. Maybe the most complicated yet rewarding show I've seen. Tackles pretty much every fundamental problem/conundrum with time travel.

[stevew]

I'll Be Gone in the Dark is some top notch stuff. Highly recommended.

[Ksyrup]

It was good but unfortunately, her death turned the whole thing into a split focus on GSK and her as opposed to being the definitive documentary of GSK. The last episode was fantastic because it gave details and interviews with people no one had heard before. I was looking for something a little different, which it probably would have been if she hadn't died.

And of course, if you're going to go there, having Oswalt as executive producer and main narrator kinda makes you think they didn't go as deep into her issues as maybe he was aware. Felt like a lot of unanswered questions there.

But overall, it was decent.

[JPhillips]

I would have liked it better if it was half as long. There was a lot of padding to get to six hours.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

We're in season 3 now. Maybe the most complicated yet rewarding show I've seen. Tackles pretty much every fundamental problem/conundrum with time travel.

Just an incredible show.

This helped me out a lot. You can choose the season/episode you're on and it'll give you a rundown of the characters/family trees without spoiling things for you.

DARK | The Official Guide | NETFLIX

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I would have liked it better if it was half as long. There was a lot of padding to get to six hours.

They could have made it 12 hours if they had focused more on DeAngelo and the crimes.

She became the main storyline which - again, considering her death - I get, but it fell a bit short of my expectations. More Paul Holes and discussion of the analytical/psychological side of the crimes would have been great too. There was a ton of information to fill the time, but they only weaved the crime information in and out to bridge her stories and the writing of the book. Should have been the other way around.

[stevew]

This wasn’t really supposed to be only about the Golden State Killer. I believe the documentary was sold around the same time as the book was sold. It just got delayed so long because she died and then furthermore because he was actually apprehended. I think it’s possible there will be more documentaries in the future and I agree it would be great if they had focus on near misses/more detective theory around that time.

[stevew]

Documentary was green lit before the suspect was found, but only by a couple weeks.

[Ksyrup]

I know. But the focus became much more on her life/death than I think it would have had she been alive. And for so much focus on her death, I felt that part was somewhat compromised by Oswalt's close involvement.

[kingfc22]

High Score has been pretty good so far as we're a few episodes into it.

[Edward64]

Been watching Cobra Kai and really enjoying it. Fantastic idea to bring back the old nemesis to see how he is doing post-karate kid and giving him additional back drop story.

Brings back fond memories with the 80's music and the flashbacks.

I am a little disappointed with the karate moves. With the success of the series, I hope they train more and choreography becomes more realistic.

[ISiddiqui]

Somethings are hyped up the wazoo and fall short and then you have shows that hit the hype and it's awesome. Cobra Kai meets the hype and surpasses it. Excellent fun show.

[GrantDawg]

Ditto on Cobra Kai. Loved it. Such a heavy dose of nostalgia that worked well.

[RainMaker]

Cobra Kai is great. Agree with you all.

The karate isn't great but I wonder what kind of budget restraints they were working with. Youtube Originals were mostly low budget stuff. Hopefully the move to Netflix changes it. And by the quick teaser they put out for Season 3, it looks like they have increased the budget in one area.

[tarcone]

Agree on Cobra Kai. We have been devouring it here. So much goodness.

And the fact the main characters of the original cast are in it is amazing. I sit here hoping for things to go a certain way and then they throw a curve ball. Good stuff.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Agree on Cobra Kai. We have been devouring it here. So much goodness.

And the fact the main characters of the original cast are in it is amazing. I sit here hoping for things to go a certain way and then they throw a curve ball. Good stuff.

Supposedly another old nemesis (and possibly love interest!) for s3.

Agree, it's cool they are bringing back the original cast (more so in s2).

Lesson learn here is: just talk it out first, tell the whole story of what happened without resorting to threats, fists, feet, and name calling. So many misunderstandings because they didn't explore what really happened and have empathy for both sides.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by tarcone

And the fact the main characters of the original cast are in it is amazing.

I remember starting it up and thinking: "ok cool, a view of Johnny Lawrence 35 years later trying to get his life together. Wait, they got Ralph Macchio in this?!"

I really didn't expect Macchio to be in it, especially since, IIRC, at the time he was starring in The Deuce as well.

[JPhillips]

I find it fun, but it isn't very good. A lot of the dialogue is cringey and there are major consistency problems in the filming.

But it is nostalgic fun.

[ISiddiqui]

How is that any different than the original Karate Kid?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

How is that any different than the original Karate Kid?

Truth

[larrymcg421]

I think it works because they've done a good job developing the new teenage characters, and they aren't simple clones of Johnny and Daniel.

[stevew]

Cobra Kai is like a bad college humor skit. Whatever happened to the dude that got kicked in the face in a 34 year old movie? Maybe we could have a show about the black ship captain who helped Indy move the lost ark? Wonder what he’s up to 35 years later?

[JPhillips]

I'm waiting for the very special episode on teenage concussions.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

I think it works because they've done a good job developing the new teenage characters, and they aren't simple clones of Johnny and Daniel.

That's a fair point. Those kids are different, in ways that annoy their parents, and actually seem like real people.

Yeah, it kind of falls apart if you think too much about it (why in the world does anyone care that Daniel won an All Valley Karate tournament 35 years ago? Who would make their entire luxury car business about it?), but you aren't really supposed to.

[JPhillips]

My problems are more with individual scenes. Why is a party at night while at the same time another part of the city is still sunny? How long does it take to get from the apartments to Danny's house after you steal a motorcycle? What were the people doing at the karate board meeting? Can you refurbish an entire dojo in one day, seemingly the same day as a major karate tournament?

etc.

[tarcone]

Teenage Bounty Hunters is a must see. Yes, it looks like Riverale, but, NO it is not. It is a fantastic show about twins who are hardcore conservative christians that are teenage girls that become bounty hunters.

Trust me, I thought it looked like shit, but it is awesome.