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

[Edward64]

Started rewatching the series Rome.

Still very entertaining, held up under the test of time.

[GrantDawg]

I rewatch Rome every couple of years. So well done. I wish they hadn't canceled that in the second season.

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[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Watched first 3 episodes of Netflix's adaptation of "Three Body Problem".

I know it's won the Hugo and a bunch of other awards, but it's pretty boring so far, somewhat painful. I'm not sure I'll finish watching it, has not met my (probably unrealistic) expectations.

It was ok. They pumped it up since it had the GoT show runners, but if felt like a SyFy show with a slightly larger budget. And like the last couple of GoT seasons, they basically did a speed run of the first book. It just felt really condensed.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I rewatch Rome every couple of years. So well done. I wish they hadn't canceled that in the second season.

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My last rewatch was in early-mid 2010s. I've just finished s1.ep3.

For whatever reason, I'm paying more attention to how supposed "normal" life is depicted. How Lucius treats his wife & children when he first gets home. How the nobles treated their slaves/servants (e.g. having "coitus" with servants around them). How Titus has fun in bars & women. How Atia uses her daughter for political gain etc.

I don't know how real this all really is, but it strikes me as more real/true than not.

It would suck to be anyone other than a male noble back then.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

My last rewatch was in early-mid 2010s. I've just finished s1.ep3.

For whatever reason, I'm paying more attention to how supposed "normal" life is depicted. How Lucius treats his wife & children when he first gets home. How the nobles treated their slaves/servants (e.g. having "coitus" with servants around them). How Titus has fun in bars & women. How Atia uses her daughter for political gain etc.

I don't know how real this all really is, but it strikes me as more real/true than not.

It would suck to be anyone other than a male noble back then.

They did a great job trying to portray Roman life without pulling very many punches for the modern sensibilities. Some of the actual history is a little fuzzed over, but the way of life was very close to real.

[sovereignstar v2]

Two more episodes left of Curb ever. :sadface:

[RainMaker]

Manhunt on Apple TV is not bad if you want a little historical drama. Basically a show about catching Booth and the other conspirators after Lincoln was killed. Little slow but I'm a sucker for these types of shows.

[RainMaker]

Also Apple has a show about Frankin coming in a few weeks. Michael Douglas looks nothing like him so it might be weird.

[Jas_lov]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Two more episodes left of Curb ever. :sadface:

I liked the finale with Jerry and the twist on the Seinfeld finale but the season as a whole wasn't very good. Seasons 1-8 were great, 9-10 ok, 11-12 not good. The plots got crazier and the cast got too old by the end. Still a pretty great 35 year run for Larry.

[Atocep]

Fallout season 2 is already in the works so we shouldn't see a 2 year wait on a new season that's become the norm for streaming shows.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Fallout season 2 is already in the works so we shouldn't see a 2 year wait on a new season that's become the norm for streaming shows.

That's good to hear. My biggest pet peeve with TV these days is the 2-3 year wait between seasons. Saw an ad for House of the Dragon and I've mostly forgotten what took place in Season 1. Not even sure I'll bother watching it.

Then we'll hear the studios complain that they have to cancel shows early because there is a big dropoff between seasons.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Fallout season 2 is already in the works so we shouldn't see a 2 year wait on a new season that's become the norm for streaming shows.

That may or may not be true. Many of these shows with long waits had green-lights for their next season before airing. The time is more about scheduling and post-production on these effect-heavy shows. Post-production alone often takes more than a year.

[Edward64]

Watched a couple episodes of Fallout.

I like the quirkiness, the overall look-and-feel of the background scenery, the props, outfits (and the T-60 rotor noises!). Some pretty good special effects. The vault dweller leaving for a quest is true to form.

I imagine my Fallout playthroughs to be more consistently "dark" ... I am constantly killing bad guys and looting their bodies. But understandably, the series need to be less of that.

Overall, don't think it met my expectations but my expectations were probably wrong anyways. Two thumbs up so far.

[JonInMiddleGA]

fwiw ... We watched the first 2 hours of the new Fallout series on Prime today.

We're not ... displeased, though I think more episodes are needed to determine how pleased we are.

Visually, they've done a very good job. Just like the trailers, a lot of things that just really needed to look right actually do. A good example for me would be the exit of Vault 33, the railings specifically. That's such a distinct look, almost at a subconscious level after some 16 years of seeing it over & over, it would have triggered me if it had been wrong.

The dialogue is between "source material appropriate" and "comically bad". The hokeyness fits, how well it will wear over eight hours is still TBD.

The acting is kind of the same. Walton Goggins seems made for this part -- just as most of us expected -- but he's so good that I already find myself wishing we'd cut back to his story when he's not on screen.

The Amata stand-in segments are really more visual candy, the vault and her exploration of the wastes are where the constant atmospheric visuals are strongest. It's perhaps the trickiest part, how well she translates the smartening up on the outside element of the character is going to be key.

The Brotherhood character feels like the weakest after two hours and I'm not really vibing with some of the BoS tweaks so far.

I will say that I'm not entirely sure how ... accessible ... this feels for viewers not already familiar with the universe. There's not much handholding for newcomers to the IP, you're pretty much thrown right in and there's not been much (any?) exposition to fill in the blanks.

The first two hours don't have us running away by any means, time will tell how we feel after the first season is completed.

[Edward64]

Watched through ep 5. In addition to the quest, a couple additional mysteries have been setup.

Agree they did a good job in the props including inside the Vault. My most recent Fallout is FO76 with nice, lush, WV vegetation, so I don't remember the desert being so omnipresent. I like seeing the familiar Gulpers, Rad Roaches, Yao guai etc. And of course, dog meat and the weapons used.

Some nits. There was one thing they portrayed about the T-60 armor that is not right. I understand they did it for the "situation" but it was a bad decision IMO (and unnecessary). I'm not sure I like the Knight-Squire dynamics portrayed and don't remember that from the older games. Some of the jokes are not what I consider in the spirit of Fallout e.g. the "pimple" joke seems way, way off.

But overall, still enjoying it. I hope it gets better. I can see multiple seasons.

[Bobble]

Anybody else watch Loudermilk with Ron Livingstone, Brian Regan, Will Sasso, et al.? I really enjoyed it. It's a grumpy old man show somewhat similar to Curb Your Enthusiasm, I guess. The main character is a counselor for a Walmart-brand Alcoholics Anonymous. Great supporting characters.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I’ve watched the first three episodes of Fallout. I think they’ve done a great job capturing the tone of the games. Walter Goggins is great in all things and always a delight and the same holds true here. The actress playing the vault dweller is great. The only thing I am bumping off of is all of the Brotherhood of Steel stuff. The armor looks great and I think they’ve captured the essence of it, I just can’t get a hold of the main character yet and haven’t loved most of the scenes he’s been in.

[RainMaker]

Is the show serious or kind of campy?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is the show serious or kind of campy?

Mostly serious with a touch of campiness tossed in.

Overall I'm digging it. The wife is watching it despite no idea what Fallout is about.

[RainMaker]

Yeah I'm looking forward to it. It seems like they nailed the aesthetic and Goggins is a personal favorite.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Watched Fallout Ep 3 and Ep 4 tonight.

4 feels like the strongest of the first half of S1 by far. And I think the reason might be simple: it pretty much left out the Brotherhood storyline and focused on other things. What replaced it is actually far better I think.

Better dialogue overall probably in E3 and E4.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Watched Fallout Ep 3 and Ep 4 tonight.

4 feels like the strongest of the first half of S1 by far. And I think the reason might be simple: it pretty much left out the Brotherhood storyline and focused on other things. What replaced it is actually far better I think.

Better dialogue overall probably in E3 and E4.

Jon, you and I fully aligned on this. I thought episode four was the strongest, too, and figured it was for largely the same reason. I just can’t figure out the Maximus character and keep bumping off him and the whole Brotherhood plot line.

Also, you can never go wrong with Matt Berry even if it’s just voice work.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Anybody else watch Loudermilk with Ron Livingstone, Brian Regan, Will Sasso, et al.? I really enjoyed it. It's a grumpy old man show somewhat similar to Curb Your Enthusiasm, I guess. The main character is a counselor for a Walmart-brad Alcoholics Anonymous. Great supporting characters.

My wife and I watched this show a few months ago and really enjoyed it! I wish it had more seasons.

[Edward64]

Finished s1. I hate cliffhangers.

Overall fun, good but not great.

Witcher > WoT > Fallout > Rings

[JonInMiddleGA]

So we wrapped up S1 of the Fallout series on Prime tonight with the last two episodes.

I'm mostly where I was when I commented after E1 & E2: it's good, with a lot of outstanding tiny reference points, but it's short of great.

Maximus (aka the Wish version of Finn) is such a weak link, as is most of the Brotherhood of Steel story arc (including the elder/Dooku). The Ghoul is played with excellence, though his pre-war character is a little cringey once or twice. And Lucy (aka Amata 2, for the gamers out there) is a weirdly okay character that's developing.

I'm not walking away before S2 but at the same time there are MAJOR seeming canonical issues (vs established game lore) raised by a few things in S1.

The most glaring involves the date of "the fall of Shady Sands" on the chalkboard vs the events of Fallout:New Vegas (with specific game dialogue presenting some real problems with that date). They're gonna have to write their butts off to sort that out without breaking some canon.

It's not awful (yet), it's fun to see a lot of the things, and certain parts have tremendous value in how right they feel. But the canonical breaks, those could topple it for me at some point unless they pull a rabbit out of ... an uncomfortable orifice for both them AND the rabbit.

[Atocep]

I guess Disney is adding channels with scheduled programming to their streaming platform and acting like this is some innovation.

We're literally going backwards with streaming at this point.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I guess Disney is adding channels with scheduled programming to their streaming platform and acting like this is some innovation.

We're literally going backwards with streaming at this point.

It seems like all/most of the streamng services have added this recently. Prime has a slate of "live" channels that are all basically broadcasting a single show, marathon style as specific playtimes. I don't know who that is supposed to appeal to?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

It seems like all/most of the streamng services have added this recently. Prime has a slate of "live" channels that are all basically broadcasting a single show, marathon style as specific playtimes. I don't know who that is supposed to appeal to?

Seems like what Pluto is. I've tried it but they ran so many ads that it's near impossible to watch.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

It seems like all/most of the streamng services have added this recently. Prime has a slate of "live" channels that are all basically broadcasting a single show, marathon style as specific playtimes. I don't know who that is supposed to appeal to?

I suspect they are trying to provide a way for folks to 'channel surf'. I think there is a common complaint with streaming services in that sometimes folks sit down without knowing in advance what they plan to watch and the choice is overwhelming and they eventually choose to watch nothing. In the old days you'd just surf channels and land on something and often end up roped in, and I suspect data shows that is missing.

[Ghost Econ]

There needs to be a random option in these apps. Like maybe I want to watch an episode of New Girl because I'm bored and need background nose, but I don't want to have to just randomly pick myself. Or I can create a group of shows I like and hit random from that. I don't trust their algorithms as far as "here's a show you'll like..."

It's basically become paralysis from too many options. With all the episodes sitting there, it's just too much effort to feel like you have to power through it. At least in the olden days it was an episode a week. It's just too easy to burn out on a lot of these shows midway through.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

It seems like all/most of the streamng services have added this recently. Prime has a slate of "live" channels that are all basically broadcasting a single show, marathon style as specific playtimes. I don't know who that is supposed to appeal to?

I'm guessing they are hoping to counteract the Roku effect. And any other "free" services that have dozens and dozens of channels streaming pre-programmed content that can't be recorded or even paused.

I have YTTV yet I spend an inordinate amount of time on Roku Channel's block of true crime channels. Although it absolutely sucks when I want to pause or I see something playing a few hours later that I have no way of watching now or later.

[Ksyrup]

Has anyone watched the Investigation Discovery mini-documentary/series Quiet On Set, about the Dan Schneider/Nickelodeon stuff? I've only watched the first 2 episodes, but HOLY SHIT.

I definitely have been aware of Dan Schneider and what a POS he was/is. I think it's been discussed around here generally on more than one occasion. And maybe at some point, I read an article or two with some specifics, but I was not prepared for the level and volume of information about his career and the stuff that went on behind the scenes - and even on camera! - that has been documented.

Part of my lack of knowledge of certain things is simply a function of my age and when I had kids. During the 90s, when he (and fellow Head of the Class alum Brian Robbins) transitioned from sitcom actors/writers to the world of kids TV, I was in my 20s. Sure, I remember the old You Can't Do That on TV and the sliming and all of that stuff, but I completely missed out on any shows in the 90s. For obvious reasons, it just wasn't on my radar. We had our first kid in 1999. By the time she was watching these shows, iCarly, Drake & Josh, Victorious, etc., were the shows I remember (as well as some Disney shows, of course).

I was unaware of All That, which was the kids show Schneider created that started it all - a sketch comedy show for kids. And while I've heard the name Amanda Bynes, I had no idea who she was until watching this show. I'm sure I ran across news articles back in the day about her fight for emancipation from her parents, but didn't know who she was, her connection to him, or how it affected his career arc (basically, he backed her fight and thought she was his ticket into mainstream TV and when she lost, his meal ticket went away and he went back to kids TV, which is when the D&J/iCarly, etc., era of shows began).

In any event, they present some pretty compelling evidence that Schneider was in complete control of these kids' lives, made life for staffers/writers (especially women) complete hell, and did or made people do all sorts of inappropriate things on set under the guise of "joking." But what really caught me off-guard was some of the show content. They provided credible evidence that some of the show content was essentially adult-themed humor portrayed by kids for kids. Numerous skits where girls are squirted with a liquid/goo, some weird shit related to feet, having boys dressed in skin-tight body suits which was uncomfortable for an 8-14 year old boy to have to show the world (including one segment on a Fear Factor-inspired show where a kid was lathered in penaut butter and a group of dogs were unleashed to lick it off of him). Just some completely inappropriate shit.

But wait - there's more! They had 2 convicted pedophiles working on the shows at this time. Unclear whether Schneider knew it or not. One of them had a couple of public accusers who testified against him; the other was convicted or pleaded but the identity of his victim was apparently never known. He came forward for this show - Drake Bell. His interview is apparently part of episode 3 which we haven't started watching yet.

One of the recurring characters Bell's abuser portrayed was Pickle Boy - he literally walked around with a huge plate of pickles and fed them to people? One scene in particular that they showed was Ray Romano as a guest star, in a bathroom, when Pickle Boy shows up outside the door and hands him a pickle through a FUCKING GLORYHOLE, at which point Romano essentially makes love to it while eating. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

If you try to make sense of how any of this was determined to be appropriate at the time, the only thing I can come up with is that they were trying to "hide" some adult-themed entertainment in these shows similar to the way it has always been done on cartoons. Ren & Stimpy, Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, etc. Except here, you're talking about actual children acting out these scenes for other children.

I suppose I saw some weird shit in passing when my kids were watching iCarly and some of these other shows that completely went over my head that they might have a double meaning, but some of this - at least from what I've seen of the 90s/early 2000s shows... wow. I don't know that I paid attention enough to see some sort of theme. But plenty of adults whose job it was to watch certainly had to see it. But RATINGS, you know?

Anyway, this is some pretty terrible but fascinating and necessary stuff to get aired out. There are an awful lot of people well beyond Dan Schneider who need to answer for a lot of what happened. I know society has changed drastically in 3+ decades, but some of this seems obvious and well over the top, even by 90s standards. But maybe I just forget how far we've come on some of these issues. The treatment behind the scenes is one thing, but what aired should have been raising eyebrows and questioned.

[Kodos]

They could probably do something similar on Joss Whedon.

[GrantDawg]

I watched the full documentary, and it was disturbing. I will warn, though, that this was a very one-sided view, and some of the people they threw under the bus were uninvolved and didn't have knowledge of what was going on. It was obvious Dan Schneider was a POS, and there should have been more done much earlier to reign him in.

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[Lathum]

I don't think we have a Broadway thread here.

Saw ...and Juliette today. It was absolutely phenomenal. Really clever and well done.