Television Anyone recommend me any TV Shows?

I enjoyed Day of the Jackal. Easy watch, nowt spesh but yeah watchable.

I've tried Lioness, Bad Monkey and this series about a bloke who ended up in an alternate universe...apparently he was replaced by his alternate self. Anyway I canned them all after one or two episodes.

I need summat decent to watch. If anyone wants shite recommendations...I'm your an.
Have you watched things like the Gentlemen (both tv show and the movie...assuming you like Guy Ritchie levels of violence and ridiculousness), the Bodyguard (with Robb Stark in it), the Diplomat? All on Netflix. Or the Night Manager (Amazon)?
 
Landman - Started really strong but sadly it has devolved into a family soap opera and the oil business/cartel problem has become a background to the wife and daughter volunteering with the elderly? :lol: This is my first Sheridan show so maybe this is normal for him but I sure hope they pull off an amazing final episode and set up season 2 nicely
Very much so. Good first episode, then strong downhill as he has no interest or clue how to continue. Yellowstone is pretty good, albeit over-rated. 1923/1883 are fine also. Would not bother with any of the others.
 
Bad Monkey, the new show from Bill Lawrence (Scrubs), starring Vince Vaughan and Michelle Monaghan, has started strongly. Part comedy, part murder-mystery set in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. The dialogue and cinematography are at times reminiscent of The White Lotus but it's more comedically leaning than that show. Streaming on ATV+.

I also felt the same. Looked like an AI came up with the premise.

The Vince Vaughan schtick is alive and well but elevated by Lawrence's script. And there's plenty to enjoy from the ensemble cast.
Been watching/struggling through this with the family. I think Season 1 could have been an enjoyable 2 hour movie , albeit not a very original one. It has definitely overstayed its welcome by episode 7, where we are currently mired. What cool Easter egg is that Zach Braff plays a scumbag doctor in this, like this is where his character from Scrubs ended up. That’s about as clever as it gets though.

I like Vince Vaughn. He’s very charismatic and I find him funny. I also like Bonnie. Everyone else? No. Nick and Eve Shitdicker, the guy who cuts his arm off and his blonde wife, are good for about 20 minutes of screen time but they keep… coming… back. Egg and Dragon Queen and Neville… just oy vey! His police partner is gay (zOMG) and they must think this is some wild and crazy shit to portray, and maybe it was when the book was written, but it’s just irrelevant. He also sucks.

The best scenes so far have been the repartee between Vaughn and the restaurant guy, we genuinely laughed aloud at that.

And the wall to fecking wall narration that doesn’t give a moment’s pause is excruciating. At times they narrate what’s in the character’s thoughts but other times they narrate what you’re seeing with your own eyes like they think you’re listening to it on the radio.

Also feck that disgusting monkey.
 
I reckon Vince Vaughn could be a decent actor if he took more serious roles.. I'm really tired of his comedic stuff

I know True Detective was a disaster but it was an awful role for him
 
I was going to rematch that, great show.

In the end I settled on rewatching Battlestar Galactica (reboot), also a great show.
That's one I started waaay back and never got around to finishing. Might park Fringe and restart BG instead.
 
Been watching/struggling through this with the family. I think Season 1 could have been an enjoyable 2 hour movie , albeit not a very original one. It has definitely overstayed its welcome by episode 7, where we are currently mired. What cool Easter egg is that Zach Braff plays a scumbag doctor in this, like this is where his character from Scrubs ended up. That’s about as clever as it gets though.

I like Vince Vaughn. He’s very charismatic and I find him funny. I also like Bonnie. Everyone else? No. Nick and Eve Shitdicker, the guy who cuts his arm off and his blonde wife, are good for about 20 minutes of screen time but they keep… coming… back. Egg and Dragon Queen and Neville… just oy vey! His police partner is gay (zOMG) and they must think this is some wild and crazy shit to portray, and maybe it was when the book was written, but it’s just irrelevant. He also sucks.

The best scenes so far have been the repartee between Vaughn and the restaurant guy, we genuinely laughed aloud at that.

And the wall to fecking wall narration that doesn’t give a moment’s pause is excruciating. At times they narrate what’s in the character’s thoughts but other times they narrate what you’re seeing with your own eyes like they think you’re listening to it on the radio.

Also feck that disgusting monkey.
I actually gave up on the 3rd or 4th episode. Wasn't quite coming together.

I will, however, be forever thankful to it for introducing me to Natalie Martinez.
 
Who Killed Billie-Jo is a good watch, it's a doco on paramount about the murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins in 1997

I know these things are typically biased as feck but it really looks like the police botched this completely and tried to stitch up the dad, presumably after huge pressure to solve the case

what's really quite fascinating about the case to me is it seems blindingly obvious who the actual killer was, yet the guy is still wandering the streets and the poor dad had to go through three trials before being acquitted..
 
I've been watching Shrinking following some recos on this. It's ok as some filler in the background, but it's very bland and superficial. A lot of the characters are cardboard cutouts with little depth, and for a show masquerading as something sort of profound, it's incredibly saccharine. Harrison Ford seems to be sleep walking through it, Jason Segel plays the same character he's played his entire career, but Jessica Williams is great and makes it almost worth watching for her performance alone. It's not awful, but it's not very good overall.

The Virtues though, mini series with 4 episodes starring the always excellent Stephen Graham - excellent. Raw, moving, not necessarily an easy watch but it all comes together really well on screen.
 
I've been watching Shrinking following some recos on this. It's ok as some filler in the background, but it's very bland and superficial. A lot of the characters are cardboard cutouts with little depth, and for a show masquerading as something sort of profound, it's incredibly saccharine. Harrison Ford seems to be sleep walking through it, Jason Segel plays the same character he's played his entire career, but Jessica Williams is great and makes it almost worth watching for her performance alone. It's not awful, but it's not very good overall.

The Virtues though, mini series with 4 episodes starring the always excellent Stephen Graham - excellent. Raw, moving, not necessarily an easy watch but it all comes together really well on screen.
I think that's just how he is now.

Jessica Williams is stunning. Any scene with her is difficult to focus on!
 
I think that's just how he is now.

Jessica Williams is stunning. Any scene with her is difficult to focus on!
Yeah fair enough, but it's kinda jarring.

She really is stunning, agreed. I was afraid in the first episode that her whole schtick would be a bit annoying, but she pulls it off really well. She's the main reason I've kept watching, I'd say.
 
That's one I started waaay back and never got around to finishing. Might park Fringe and restart BG instead.
One of my favourite sci fi shows. Told the story it wanted to tell through to conclusion. Has some real shocking moments.

Don't think you will be disappointed. Let us know what you think after working through it!
 
I think that's just how he is now.

Jessica Williams is stunning. Any scene with her is difficult to focus on!
Yeah fair enough, but it's kinda jarring.

She really is stunning, agreed. I was afraid in the first episode that her whole schtick would be a bit annoying, but she pulls it off really well. She's the main reason I've kept watching, I'd say.
Her and the daughter are very, very fit. And agreed, she is hilarious.

I've been watching Shrinking following some recos on this. It's ok as some filler in the background, but it's very bland and superficial. A lot of the characters are cardboard cutouts with little depth, and for a show masquerading as something sort of profound, it's incredibly saccharine. Harrison Ford seems to be sleep walking through it, Jason Segel plays the same character he's played his entire career, but Jessica Williams is great and makes it almost worth watching for her performance alone. It's not awful, but it's not very good overall.

The Virtues though, mini series with 4 episodes starring the always excellent Stephen Graham - excellent. Raw, moving, not necessarily an easy watch but it all comes together really well on screen.
I think that's harsh, I think it's exactly what you'd expect from the guy who made Scrubs. It's clean, silly, resolves everything a bit too nicely, but overall a lot of fun, we laugh at it loads, which is the main thing. And yeah, I think Harrison Ford is just very old now, rather than trying to phone it in!
 
Have you watched things like the Gentlemen (both tv show and the movie...assuming you like Guy Ritchie levels of violence and ridiculousness), the Bodyguard (with Robb Stark in it), the Diplomat? All on Netflix. Or the Night Manager (Amazon)?


Cheers. I've started The Bodyguard. First episode was good.
 
Her and the daughter are very, very fit. And agreed, she is hilarious.
*checks her age...*
Ok you're free to go this time
I think that's harsh, I think it's exactly what you'd expect from the guy who made Scrubs. It's clean, silly, resolves everything a bit too nicely, but overall a lot of fun, we laugh at it loads, which is the main thing. And yeah, I think Harrison Ford is just very old now, rather than trying to phone it in!
Oh with regards to Ford, I wasn't particularly criticising him and yeah it's probably due to old age, but it's really awkward.

As for the rest, I guess. It's cool if you laugh at it, I'll get maybe a laugh, a couple max per episode, it's not painful to watch (like that show Industry had become for example), I think it's just the fact it's set in the therapy world, and delves into psychological topics, it all feels very superficial (and I have a couple of friends who work in that area and absolutely hate the show for how stupidly it presents that universe). I was never a massive fan of Scrubs, I enjoyed it at first and liked the quirkiness of it but thought it became repetitive quite quickly (which I'm starting to feel with Shrinking too).

Again, it's not terrible, but I'd read on here that it was amazing, one of the best things out there, great writing, incredible... Was just sharing my opinion that it's nowhere near that good. I was gonna say that it was below par compared to other Apple TV shows, but thinking of it, there's quite a few I've been underwhelmed by, despite hearing good things about them. And then, there's Severance, so they get a pass.
 
That's one I started waaay back and never got around to finishing. Might park Fringe and restart BG instead.

One of my favourite sci fi shows. Told the story it wanted to tell through to conclusion. Has some real shocking moments.

Don't think you will be disappointed. Let us know what you think after working through it!
It’s The West Wing in space, what’s not to like?!
 
*checks her age...*
Ok you're free to go this time

Oh with regards to Ford, I wasn't particularly criticising him and yeah it's probably due to old age, but it's really awkward.

As for the rest, I guess. It's cool if you laugh at it, I'll get maybe a laugh, a couple max per episode, it's not painful to watch (like that show Industry had become for example), I think it's just the fact it's set in the therapy world, and delves into psychological topics, it all feels very superficial (and I have a couple of friends who work in that area and absolutely hate the show for how stupidly it presents that universe). I was never a massive fan of Scrubs, I enjoyed it at first and liked the quirkiness of it but thought it became repetitive quite quickly (which I'm starting to feel with Shrinking too).

Again, it's not terrible, but I'd read on here that it was amazing, one of the best things out there, great writing, incredible... Was just sharing my opinion that it's nowhere near that good. I was gonna say that it was below par compared to other Apple TV shows, but thinking of it, there's quite a few I've been underwhelmed by, despite hearing good things about them. And then, there's Severance, so they get a pass.
Apple hasn’t quite cracked the code yet on how to make a great show. I think they are making the same mistake that Netflix repeatedly makes which is giving the show runner carte blanche. When HBO does it (Sopranos, GoT, West World, even The Leftovers) they are advantage medium. They made quite a few turkeys too, but when they get it right they smash it. Apple is spending even more money but getting middling product with tiny audiences.
 
I actually gave up on the 3rd or 4th episode. Wasn't quite coming together.

I will, however, be forever thankful to it for introducing me to Natalie Martinez.
Listen, we’ve seen/been forced to see how many dude’s arses in this, like 4? And zero of Natalie Martinez. Why won’t they let her shine?

We watched another episode last night, 9, and the show is feeling like bloopers stitched together over the credits . VV’s patter is some omnipresent it becomes calming, like white noise, like listening to the ocean, and occasionally he’s very funny. Still have no idea how they thought this wafer-thin story needed 500 minutes of screen time to be fully told. It’s basically a Magnum PI where they never solve the case.

Eve and Nick Shitdick need to die though, and horribly.
 
any recommendations for Apple TV+, for some reason I could apply a 3 months free period despite not buying or owning any apple products, so figure I should try to catch what is worth catching. I've seen Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and of course Ted Lasso previously/already.

Really enjoyed Severance, Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.. Presumed Innocent was more intriguing than amazing.
 
any recommendations for Apple TV+, for some reason I could apply a 3 months free period despite not buying or owning any apple products, so figure I should try to catch what is worth catching. I've seen Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and of course Ted Lasso previously/already.

Really enjoyed Severance, Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.. Presumed Innocent was more intriguing than amazing.
Black Bird
Five Days at Memorial
 
any recommendations for Apple TV+, for some reason I could apply a 3 months free period despite not buying or owning any apple products, so figure I should try to catch what is worth catching. I've seen Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and of course Ted Lasso previously/already.

Really enjoyed Severance, Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.. Presumed Innocent was more intriguing than amazing.


Foundation is great, but it takes time yo get into.
 
any recommendations for Apple TV+, for some reason I could apply a 3 months free period despite not buying or owning any apple products, so figure I should try to catch what is worth catching. I've seen Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and of course Ted Lasso previously/already.

Really enjoyed Severance, Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.. Presumed Innocent was more intriguing than amazing.
Crowded Room was good.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14417718/

Black Bird and 5 Days as mentioned above are too.
 
Apple hasn’t quite cracked the code yet on how to make a great show. I think they are making the same mistake that Netflix repeatedly makes which is giving the show runner carte blanche. When HBO does it (Sopranos, GoT, West World, even The Leftovers) they are advantage medium. They made quite a few turkeys too, but when they get it right they smash it. Apple is spending even more money but getting middling product with tiny audiences.
Err, what? Severance is definitely a great show.

They have a lot of very good ones too. I’d argue right now they have comfortably the best output of quality of any streamer, including HBO.

Westworld was pretty rubbish after the first season.
 
any recommendations for Apple TV+, for some reason I could apply a 3 months free period despite not buying or owning any apple products, so figure I should try to catch what is worth catching. I've seen Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and of course Ted Lasso previously/already.

Really enjoyed Severance, Slow Horses and Ted Lasso.. Presumed Innocent was more intriguing than amazing.
Shrinking is funny.
 
One of my favourite sci fi shows. Told the story it wanted to tell through to conclusion. Has some real shocking moments.

Don't think you will be disappointed. Let us know what you think after working through it!
Shall do! Am I right in thinking there are movies in between seasons?
 
I've been watching Shrinking following some recos on this. It's ok as some filler in the background, but it's very bland and superficial. A lot of the characters are cardboard cutouts with little depth, and for a show masquerading as something sort of profound, it's incredibly saccharine. Harrison Ford seems to be sleep walking through it, Jason Segel plays the same character he's played his entire career, but Jessica Williams is great and makes it almost worth watching for her performance alone. It's not awful, but it's not very good overall.
I'm a huge fan of Scrubs, and I do appreciate Bill Lawrence greatly for that, but I do think Shrinking echoes how he became with the Scrubs spin off and on to Cougar town and the 2nd/3rd Lasso seasons. I hate that shiny glitzy shallow stuff, and that's what he does now but still has that emotional connect he is best known for at times.

Shrinking is my favourite of his work since Scrubs, it's watchable and charming. But as you say, shallow (just like Lasso quickly became). I do fear for the Scrubs reboot, no way it can ever be as grounded as the OG series, but at least with that (for the most part) they paid attention to the medical aspect. Shrinking is disappointing in that after constantly bragging about how great Scrubs was at showing the challenge of being a doctor, they don't even try to pretend it has any depth this time. It's classic Hollywood writing.


I was never a massive fan of Scrubs, I enjoyed it at first and liked the quirkiness of it but thought it became repetitive quite quickly (which I'm starting to feel with Shrinking too).
As I said above, I'm a huge Scrubs fan and listening to the podcast only reinforces that.

But you have completely valid criticism on the repetitiveness, it was clearly phoned in during the middle of the run at least especially. Some absolutely fantastic episodes that stepped TV up to new levels still to be found (like the Wizard of Oz, Princess Bride ones) in terms of creativity and of course on the emotional front there were storylines where you think it will all turn out well but an episode ends in gut wrench. But it all got very Friends, safe and "will they won't they" over and over with multiple couples. But at least Lawrence seemed to snap back to it come Season 8 and gave the whole thing one of the best TV endings ever.
 
Just finished 100 Years of Solitude. They've had to tone a few things down from the book but it's absolutely brilliant. The story speaks for itself, the production, acting and cinematography are first class.

Oh I'd forgotten they did this. I loved the book. I'll have to give this a watch.
 
I binged watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer - up to some episode early in Season 2. Aside from the nostalgia factor, I don't think it holds up well.

Season 1 is very different to the rest of the it and had quite low production values as far as I recall. They hadn't quite figured out what they were doing at that stage. Haven't watched the show in years though.
 
I'm a huge fan of Scrubs, and I do appreciate Bill Lawrence greatly for that, but I do think Shrinking echoes how he became with the Scrubs spin off and on to Cougar town and the 2nd/3rd Lasso seasons. I hate that shiny glitzy shallow stuff, and that's what he does now but still has that emotional connect he is best known for at times.

Shrinking is my favourite of his work since Scrubs, it's watchable and charming. But as you say, shallow (just like Lasso quickly became). I do fear for the Scrubs reboot, no way it can ever be as grounded as the OG series, but at least with that (for the most part) they paid attention to the medical aspect. Shrinking is disappointing in that after constantly bragging about how great Scrubs was at showing the challenge of being a doctor, they don't even try to pretend it has any depth this time. It's classic Hollywood writing.



As I said above, I'm a huge Scrubs fan and listening to the podcast only reinforces that.

But you have completely valid criticism on the repetitiveness, it was clearly phoned in during the middle of the run at least especially. Some absolutely fantastic episodes that stepped TV up to new levels still to be found (like the Wizard of Oz, Princess Bride ones) in terms of creativity and of course on the emotional front there were storylines where you think it will all turn out well but an episode ends in gut wrench. But it all got very Friends, safe and "will they won't they" over and over with multiple couples. But at least Lawrence seemed to snap back to it come Season 8 and gave the whole thing one of the best TV endings ever.
Agree with everything you've said. Shrinking definitely his best work since Scrubs but it has a country mile to go to get close to even average episodes of Scrubs.
 
Station Eleven -
Bumping this. I just finished reading the book the show was based on. There is enough in the show that is intriguing and not enough time is spent on that I wanted to dig deeper into this world.

Have to say that as much as I enjoyed the book the show is much better. There are several plot points in the show that don’t happen in the book, and they provide the emotional catharsis and a satisfying denouement. The book feels like a sketch, it’s really something to behold. I can’t remember when a movie improved on the source material this much.

Here are a couple of examples:
1. in the show, the child actor Kirsten is protected by Jeevan. He stays by her side because her parents are already suck with the Georgia flu and she has no one. He and his brother Frank barricade his apartment and hideout with her. Later when they are out of food, Jeevan and Kirsten go on foot, and find a cabin to shelter in. He goes out hunting and gets gravely wounded. When he wakes up it’s 5 days later and Kirsten is gone. So when we see both of them 20 years later and they don’t recognize each other, it’s emotional. Then when they finally do recognize each other and he says he never abandoned her - boom, right in the feels.

In the book, Jeevan never helps Kirsten, she doesn’t spend the first few months with him and Frank, she doesn’t get separated from him, and there’s no cathartic reunion. Worse, she has a jagged scar on her cheek that she can’t remember how she got it, but it was during her first year I. The raid when she and her brother (no brother in the show) were alone.

2. In the book Arthur’s son Tyler is stranded with his wacky actress mother in the airport. He becomes obsessed with book of Revelation, and he and his mother depart. He later starts a cult and is “the prophet” and he likes taking little girls as his wives. In the show they lessen the ick factor but more importantly they square the circle and humanize him, so that he and Kirsten are very similar. I have to watch the show again because the Prophet has the kidnapped kids strap Land mines to their chests and basically suicide bomb people. Somehow the show makes it all a big misunderstanding, whereas in the book he’s just a cnut who is taking child brides.
Anyway, going to rewatch the show.

What I didn’t understand first time initially is that the story has multiple entry points. The characters are united by this graphic novel called Station Eleven. Arthur’s ex-wife created it, he gave 1 of 2 copies to Kirsten on the night of the outbreak, and the Prophet uses the novel for his messianic vision. So one episode shows Jeevan saving Kirsten. The next shows Miranda creating the novel and then divorcing Arthur. Next episode shows Kirsten older and part of a traveling symphony/acting troupe. And so on.
 
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About to start The Day of the Jackal series on Sky. Looks like it's a 10 parter with 5 released the first week.

I absolutely loved the original film so am looking forward to this big time.
How was this show, Cat? Are people into Eddie Redmayne? He’s the new weedy English ponce, taking over from Bumberdick Bandersnatch. It’s like there are only 4 actors in England: Redmayne, Bamberdick, Simon Pegg, and Martin Freeman.