Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

Piscian

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I finished Sweet Tooth today. It was really good. We keep being put in this awkward position of hating on netflix for all the flops like Jupiter's legacy, but then they hit one out of the park and my finger slightly edges back from the cancel subscription button.

For those that don't know Sweet Tooth is another comic book adaptation. Though the line continues to blur as a lot of comics these days are written like the author wanted to make a movie, couldn't get the funding and decides they must visualize their story for the world in the next closest form, graphic novel. This is literally true in some cases.

For those not following the ads Sweet Tooth is about a boy named Gus whos part deer, living with his Dad in complete isolation. A virus killed most of the world at the same time all newly born babies are part animal. The plague is blamed on the babies and it's assumed they are carriers so groups have hunted down and killed most of them or they've been left in the wild to fend for themselves. The show takes place 9 years after the plague wipes out most of humanity. Through unfortunately circumstance Gus is forced to go on a journey to try and find his mom. The show revolves largely around his journey.

Sweet tooths enjoyment largely hinges on whether or not you can stand plucky children on a quest. Just being honest I am one of those people who generally finds children irritating so I had to grit my teeth and give this one a shot. It doesn't take long though before you start to empathize with Gus and the supporting characters and want to see Sweet Tooths journey to it's end.

The only negative I can really say about the show is that it takes some very minor short cuts with writing. Small things that might irk an editor, but not the average viewer. I would recommend placing yourself in the mindset that you are essentially watching a somewhat dark fairy tale. Some of it may come off as unrealistic, but I think thats just to keep things moving along. That's where the show shines. It feels like it's always going somewhere and keeping the viewer engaged, quiet moments of reflection and flashbacks are very purpose built and don't drag. It entices you to keep watching to see whats going to happen next. That being the case the first season appears to tell the story of the first half of the comic series and the second season will be the climax and ending so have no fear that this will drags on forever like some shows.

This one is perfect for Netflix's two/three max season model.


The Sons of Sam

Documentary miniseries that zeroes in on the hypothesis that maybe Berkowitz wasn't just acting alone as Son of Sam (fair enough) but was also part of a nationwide satanic cult orchestrated by Manson (ehhhhhh). Based on the bestseller of some conspiracy crackpot that used to write for the NY Post. Some macabre coincidences and circumstantial evidence make it interesting enough though. And as much as I felt the dude had zero cred by the finish line, the series ends on a very creepy holy shit moment that proves him right about one crucial thing. As right as a broken clock, probably.
I watched this randomly the other night. I was only vaguely aware of the Son of Sam killings as they seemed kind of tame by serial killer standards. Admittedly the series hooked me. I agree it was disheartening to watch this dude who'd gathered so much evidence of questionable police investigation and possible wider conspiracy fall victim to his own need to find some greater apocalyptic story in the killings. Definitely riveting stuff, if full of holes.
 

Piscian

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Switching to my fan obsessed rant mode for a moment this is all disneys fault. Literally you can find interviews online with Michael Arnt (toy story 3 writer) who disney originally hired to write the new trilogy when they bought lucasfilm. He spent a year or something on it and when they came knocking and said "hey we need the first movie ready for the christmas anniversary." He told them they were crazy, he needed more time to WRITE A PROPER TRILOGY. The parting was fairly amicable, but Disney literally told him to stop what he's doing, dismissed him and immediately brought in the king of meh JJ abrams to cobble together a movie in time for the release schedule. JJ abrams being the self-aware hack that he is agreed to one film. He threw Arnts story in the trash and copied a new hope. Disney was just slimey enough to pay Lawrence kasdan to put his name on it. The rest is kind of history. KK was buddies with the very talented Rian Johnson and wanted to give him something to do, but they'd already made a deal with Colin Trevorrow and the whole thing went sideways.

I only get invested in this stuff because I love the art of filming. I love digging up all the details of who does what and why. Regarding Star wars this became a big deal for me when I found out the late Artist Ralph Mcquarrie is the one actually responsible for the concept design of the original star wars trilogy and that it was only a success because of all the talented people surrounding GL at the time. GLs original Star Wars story is..honestly..trash. You can read it online, they adapted it to a comicbook.

For those curious somebody adapted Colin Trevorrow's Dual of the fates story to an animated short. I think as weird as it is I would have enjoyed his story more. no..I know I would because ROTS gave me cancer.

 
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BrawlMan

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alone, the idea of 'evil counterpart superhero' is done three times - twice with Morbucks (one time with technology, once when she gets powers), and one other time with random kids.
The RowdyRuff Boys were the best with this idea. Morbucks mainly works in a the girls were all spoiled brats attitude. The evil counterparts was done again the comics, where they meet their evil counterparts from another dimension. They are called the PowerPunk Girls

Anyway, two seasons in, and I still don't get why this show is so popular.
You forgot that this was the late 90s. Several reasons:
  1. While not unique nowadays, back then, there were not that many superhero shows where the girls/women are the main leads. Let alone in kids show. Three girls with distinct personalities and character types.
  2. The audience. The show was originally meant for the girls, but both girl and boys enjoyed it equally. Though you had some insecure guys who said they watched it only for Buttercup. I know in elementary, middle, and high school it was "cool" to love PPG no matter what you were watching it for.
  3. Adult and older humor that snuck in many times passed the censors.
  4. Anime. Gennedy and Craig were heavily influenced by anime such as Sailor Moon, DBZ, Cutey Honey, Voltron, etc. This was during the era when more quality anime and dubbing was appearing, so it feeds in to itself.
  5. This was one of the Cartoon Network's original shows that got them off the ground and lead to even better and more original action shows. If it was not for this and Dexter's Lab, there would be no Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR, Ben 10, etc. Because of PPG, and Toonami's block, we got so many more Western action show during the late 90s and most of the 2000s before Network Decay set in.
  6. While some parts have aged worse than others, overall it's still a good show. The only bad parts are some episodes in seasons 2 & 3. Season 6 completely sucks though and should be avoided at all cost. By that point Craig McCracken was working on Foster's Home, so he could not work on two shows at the same time.
 
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Thaluikhain

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Van Helsing season 1

So, Zenescope, maker of the infamous Grimm comics also made a Van Helsing comic, featuring Liesel Van Helsing, daughter of the Van Helsin from Dracula, who is a steampunk vampire hunter who got magicked forward in time and lives in contemporary New York and hangs out with Snow White, Red Riding Hood (who is a secret agent werewolf who wears a red skinsuit suit that she can't seem to zip all the way up) and Robyn Hood (not Robin Hood, Robyn Hood, who is a blonde woman with one eye and anger management issues)

And they made it into a TV show, in which a normal woman turns out she's not normal when a volcano erupts and it becomes (nominally) dark so vampires can attack and destroy the world. And she was in a coma for 3 years while things got vampire mad max-ed and if vampires bite her they turn back to humans.

As adaptations of comics go, this is particularly loose.

But, it's alright enough that I'm going to watch season 2. There is a lot of whinging, though. Shows made in the US are fully of whinging nowdays and it annoys me. Should we work together to not die? Not, lets all have a good whinge and maybe threaten to kill each other for no reason.

Also, it's got the usual issues with diversity, which are all so boringly predictable.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Truth Seekers

Does the British thing of thinking quirky = funny, like Good Omens. Example: the name Elton John. Quirky. But is it funny? The show dies trying. Also would've been way better if it was Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, instead of Nick Frost and some guy.
 

kikithewiz

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Finished watching Motherland: Fort Salem Season 1 / Sci-Fi / Hulu, Freeform

That was pretty good. I was expecting the usual Hollywood "women power" brainwash, but I have to admit the premise made me curious - Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution nearly 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the U.S. government to fight for their country, "Motherland: Fort Salem" follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped, with the more dominant women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are familiar to our world - but with supernatural tactics and weapons. In the background the witches of Fort Salem have many enemies, however none as dangerous as the Spree, a radical terrorist group of witches who murder people with magic. Their motive – To destroy the Salem Accord. The witches must band together as a unit to fight the evil witch terrorists.

Witch Army boot camp is also an inherently fun concept. but Motherland was deeper, thematically richer, and with far more endearing characters than I expected. It's beautifully shot,

While the characters are only slowly growing on me, they are growing, and the story continues to interest me enough to keep watching. It has supernatural powers + "country at war" theme + drama + romance + deceit. I didn't buy their relationship at first but as the story progresses, I've found myself rooting for them.
Great acting, lines, and storytelling. Kudos to its creator, Eliot Laurence!

Another fun aspect, because I like the alt-history and world building in this show blends fantasy fiction with significant events in American history. For instance, the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the late 17th century became an allegory for political persecution in the twentieth century and are frequently mentioned in political debates.

This article is instrumental in providing information on the series and has a great deal of background on both the characters and the world that is familiar in its scope and scale but vastly different and surprisingly well-versed.

Bottom line: - A fun watch for supernatural, dystopian, sci-fi, fantasy fans. Season 2 begins June 22nd, hopefully, the show will keep me interested.
 

Kyrian007

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Truth Seekers

Does the British thing of thinking quirky = funny, like Good Omens. Example: the name Elton John. Quirky. But is it funny? The show dies trying. Also would've been way better if it was Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, instead of Nick Frost and some guy.
I wanted to like Truth Seekers. I gave it every chance... but I eventually had to admit that it was a miss.

But sticking with Amazon Prime, I'm watching "Clarkson's Farm." I know lots of people hate Jeremy Clarkson; and I enjoy watching him fail, fall over, get hit in the plums, etc. But I'm finding Clarkson's Farm at least better than some of the more boring episodes of The Grand Tour or even classic Top Gear. But, I was a farm kid. So for me there's a lot of "I saw that coming" when things go hilariously wrong for Jezza. So I'm wondering if I'd enjoy it less if I didn't grow up on a farm.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I wanted to like Truth Seekers. I gave it every chance... but I eventually had to admit that it was a miss.
I've only watched the first three episodes so far. It's neither scary nor funny but kinda entertaining here and there. I think it suffers from cramming way too much in 29 minutes and tying everything with a nice bow by the end. And again, who thought the winning combo was Nick Frost and some guy but also let's have Simon Pegg phone it in for one scene every episode?
 

Piscian

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I tried to watch truth seekers. I like everyone involved but idk it just kinda put me to sleep after two episodes. It just was a three way tie of not very clever, funny or interesting. It's not outright bad just doesn't have my number.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Season 4 finale of Handmaid’s Tale.

Bloody hell this show keeps getting more and more depressing, and frustrating. June went from sympathetic to just pathetic. I suppose it’s somewhat justified considering the trauma and all, but she has proven to be too fucked up to be a mother anymore. Maybe she’s lost hope for getting her first daughter back, but still. I have no idea how they’re going to draw this out for another six goddamn seasons. Unless they start heading in an entirely new direction (which could possibly happen given the latest events), most of the audience probably won’t last half that long.
 

Agema

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Mare of Easttown

Superb drama about a messed up detective in a slightly messed up small town in the USA. A lovely picture of people's lives, excellently acted and scripted. I hope they don't make a second season, because it doesn't need it and it's only likely to cheapen it.

The Flight Attendant

All credit to Kaley Cuoco, escaping The Big Bang Theory into this high end piece of work. She plays a messed up, alcoholic flight attendant in something slightly redolent of 60s spy capers (the theme music and credits have that feeling) who accidentally falls into a web of intrigue. They will almost certainly make a second series of this, and that's fine.

OK, to be sociable, I've watched "This Is Us" since day one with the missus and my daughter.
My wife watches it. It's the sort of aggravatingly sappy show that puts my teeth on edge. It is, however, considerably better than the endless zillion franchises of Screaming Cosmetically Enhanced Women of [Wherever] that she also watches, and drives me from the room in a matter of seconds as the constant high volume petty arguing of the idle rich gives me a headache very quickly.
 

gorfias

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Mare of Easttown

Superb drama about a messed up detective in a slightly messed up small town in the USA. A lovely picture of people's lives, excellently acted and scripted. I hope they don't make a second season, because it doesn't need it and it's only likely to cheapen it.

The Flight Attendant

All credit to Kaley Cuoco, escaping The Big Bang Theory into this high end piece of work. She plays a messed up, alcoholic flight attendant in something slightly redolent of 60s spy capers (the theme music and credits have that feeling) who accidentally falls into a web of intrigue. They will almost certainly make a second series of this, and that's fine.



My wife watches it. It's the sort of aggravatingly sappy show that puts my teeth on edge. It is, however, considerably better than the endless zillion franchises of Screaming Cosmetically Enhanced Women of [Wherever] that she also watches, and drives me from the room in a matter of seconds as the constant high volume petty arguing of the idle rich gives me a headache very quickly.
Loved "The Flight Attendant". Unusual story interestingly told. It felt like a new experience. I love black box stories (what is really going on) IF they satisfy. When complete, I think, that worked. TFA does that. Highly recommended.
 

Shy-Gamer

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My girlfriend subjected me to a full season of Riverdale. Honestly the bar was so low I ended up almost enjoying it - the girls are pretty, the show is somewhat aware of its own dumbness and the season's short enough - 13 episodes. Given my expectations are after seeing story after story and youtube thumbnail after youtube thumbnail dragging the show's writing, I'm somewhat positively surprised. It seems the show only gets worse after the first season though.
 
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Thaluikhain

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My girlfriend subjected me to a full season of Riverdale. Honestly the bar was so low I ended up almost enjoying it - the girls are pretty, the show is somewhat aware of its own dumbness and the season's short enough - 13 episodes. Given my expectations are after seeing story after story and youtube thumbnail after youtube thumbnail dragging the show's writing, I'm somewhat positively surprised. It seems the show only gets worse after the first season though.
Ah, the first season. Yeah, that was ok. Season 2 gets very shaky, and Season 3 is where I gave up.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Finished Truth Seekers. These 30 minute, 8 episode shows that are only just ok are great for dinner.

Now I started Goliath. So far so Grisham.
 

Thaluikhain

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Van Helsing season 2

So...stuff happened. And things. But, not but together to make a story or anything, just unrelated stuff and things.

Also, the group keeps splitting up and running into each other by total chance because the US is a very small place.