New telly shows thread

[Deckard]

I am SO looking forward to the Guardians Xmas special tonight

[Rhythm]

If you want good "shout at the nutcase on telly" TV, I heartily recommend Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix.

Graham Hancock travels round the world looking at "facts" that "mainstream archaeologists" can't accept. He bleats on for ages about how limestone pavements must have been placed there by giants, that kind of thing.

By way of establishing his "credentials" he opens the show with clips of him being rejected by the BBC and with Joe Rogan looking at him in an intrigued manner. He also has the ear of Jordan Peterson, so he must be on to something.

It's insane and quite fabulous and legit one of the nicest looking shows I've seen in a while.

And, quite coincidentally, Graham's son works for Netflix.

[WiteWulf]

Just finished that War of the Worlds series on Disney+

And bloody hell it's actually really decent. I have no idea why they used WotW licensing because it only shares the basest of premises. But it goes places! The first is (very) loosely a retelling of the first story but set in modern times. It diverts immensely as the season goes on but is still a good watch.

Then season 2 and season 3 each pull the story in an entirely different direction, each exploring a different sci-fi concept.

The very final wrap-up/conclusion is super dumb and doesn't entirely stick the landing but it's enjoyable in a Mooncrash kind of way.

And oh boy it's a beautiful production. Set in both the French Alps (around Courchevel and Grenoble) and London, the location crews did an amazing job of scouting and a good portion of the show acts as a tour of brutalist London, which is right up my street

Oh crikey, I didn't realise there'd been a second and third series! I really enjoyed the first one, I'll have to have to catch up when I've finished Counterpart and Andor.

[Misfit]

Oh crikey, I didn't realise there'd been a second and third series! I really enjoyed the first one, I'll have to have to catch up when I've finished Counterpart and Andor.

Loved Counterpart. Wish there were more.

[WiteWulf]

Loved Counterpart. Wish there were more.

I'm about half way through the second season having binged the rest of it over the last week or so. I'd never heard of it and a friend recommended it to me. So glad he did, as I'm really enjoying it.

If you're not familiar with it, I describe it as a grown-up Fringe, alternate universe style thing, with spies and espionage centre stage over the SF angle. I was also sold on the idea of a two season, 20 episode run. It's tight as a consequence, with almost no filler.

[Misfit]

Loved Counterpart. Wish there were more.

If you're not familiar with it, I describe it as a grown-up Fringe, alternate universe style thing, with spies and espionage centre stage over the SF angle. I was also sold on the idea of a two season, 20 episode run. It's tight as a consequence, with almost no filler.

Can't disagree with that, in fact I find the term 'Limited Series' on Netflix is a bit of a godsend as you know you're getting the whole thing and not something cut off as it didn't have quite the mass appeal it needed to continue however good.

Not sure this was designed to end where it did, but then maybe it was. Can't really discuss that with you now!

JK Simmons seems to be in almost everything I watch lately, he's excellent (twice) in this.

[Rhythm]

Wednesday (Netflix)

A weird one, this. Getting tons of mixed reviews that seem to be either gushing or hating it. I'm a little more central.

First thing: the show opens with Burton introducing things that have never been in the Addams universe (physic powers). There's also some incredibly bad casting for Gomez and Morticia.

And then it turns into a fairly standard "kids in a school of magical powers" show. And it's fine. But that's the extent of it. The comedy that made up Burton's previous incarnation of Adams is largely gone and Ortega (Wednesday) plays a caricature of a caricature.

And it's all very distinctly not Addams. Aside from Thing, they were never a supernatural family. But here they're mixed with vampires, werewolves and other creatures.

It really does feel like someone wrote the outline for a standard "kids in magical school" thing then just decided to force it into the Addams mould. Which is weird, because if Tim Burton spun this up as a new project (somewhere between Miss Peregrine and Addams) I'm sure it would have got bums on seats. Is the Addams name a bigger draw than Burton's these days?

[Ollie]

The comedy that made up Burton's previous incarnation of Adams is largely gone and Ortega (Wednesday) plays a caricature of a caricature.

There is no previous Burton incarnation of Addams. Do you mean the 1991 film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld after Burton turned it down?

[Rhythm]

Well, what the fuck? For whatever reason, since I worked at video shops back in the day, it had always been cemented in my head as a Burton production but just checked and you're absolutely right.

Blimey

[WiteWulf]

Not sure this was designed to end where it did, but then maybe it was. Can't really discuss that with you now!

JK Simmons seems to be in almost everything I watch lately, he's excellent (twice) in this.

Well, I just finished it off this morning, and while it got wrapped up pretty nicely in the final episode I’d definitely agree with you. The second season has a strong “second act” feeling to it, and you don’t bring Paterson Joseph into a show for one episode without intending to use him more

Wikipedia says Starz decided not to renew after S2 despite good reviews and viewing figures, but the production company failed to find a new home for it.

[Deckard]

Well Guardians Xmas special was as good as I thought it was going to be and the songs and the retro-animation short really did bring a lump to my throat. Roll on 3 and the end

Really warmed to Yondo too...he certainly aced the Walking Dead Merle role too.

[Deckard]

Just finished S2 of Lasso and I have to say bravo ! Lovely to see a life affirming positive show for a change and I love all the characters even Nate, Roll on S3

[Rhythm]

Just finished S2 of Lasso and I have to say bravo ! Lovely to see a life affirming positive show for a change and I love all the characters even Nate, Roll on S3

I wanted so bad to like that but found it deeply unpleasant to the point of being upsetting. I do have the same issue with Bake Off though, so I accept it's just me

We've been watching Mythic Quest which has been really decent. Jack Ryan S3 has started now too, so missus and I are gonna perv over Krasinski for a few nights :-)

[Deckard]

Prefer Dead Pixels and FutureMan to MQ - both far better at the satire and both just brilliant. Wolf is a god and this Top Gun piss take is so so so good.....

[WiteWulf]

Yeah, I didn't get on with Mythic Quest (which felt like a re-hash of Silicon Valley) at all, but couldn't stop laughing at Dead Pixels. The latter is very British humour...