The really great TV thread

[Naples39]

I got through all 4 episodes last night. I would say it's good, but nothing special. The effects are damn good for basic cable TV, but acting feels a little contrived. Also, it's a bit of a slow start, and the second episode is a bit tedious. At the end of the 4th episode is where the wheels really start to turn.

If you're interested in "hard sci-fi" with plausible technology, and think a focus on socio-politics in a large, well-conceived world is interesting, it's worth the ride. I wouldn't recommend it unconditionally, though.

[Danimal]

So after 3 days and 6 hours of Childhoods End I'm left with an utter feeling of depression and how insignificant we are as a species. Maybe this is what the show was trying to accomplish and if so they hit the mark, but had I know going in what the end results would be I doubt i would of spent the time. I don't always need a happy ending but I prefer my SciFi with a little more cheerfulness to it.

[Aristo]

Yeah, Childhood's End really took a bizarre twist to weird at the end of the first night. Someone on another forum mentioned that he had read the book, and while loved it, found it to be depressing to sit through the miniseries. I'm halfway through the second episode, and I'm gonna finish it up at this point, but I'm not sure what to think.

[Danimal]

Yeah, Childhood's End really took a bizarre twist to weird at the end of the first night. Someone on another forum mentioned that he had read the book, and while loved it, found it to be depressing to sit through the miniseries. I'm halfway through the second episode, and I'm gonna finish it up at this point, but I'm not sure what to think.

I thought the series was fine but man it is f***in depressing. When I finished it last night my first thought was why would SyFy run this during the holidays which is a very rough time for people with depression issues. Not saying every person like that would watch this and man I sure hope they don't.

[sportdan30]

Ok, I'm officially sold on Fargo. It's very good. However, I did lose my wife's interest from watching this series after the first murder in episode 1. I'll have to go this alone.

[TheTruth]

Ok, I'm officially sold on Fargo. It's very good. However, I did lose my wife's interest from watching this series after the first murder in episode 1. I'll have to go this alone.

Ha, my wife didn't even make it that far.

[Aristo]

My wife loved the entire first season. But she was not in the mindset for it when it came around this year, so I watched it without her. It's kind of too bad, because I thought it explored late 70's feminism in a pretty interesting way.

But her job can be pretty stressful, so often she just wants something easy and not too deep. Limitless and Quantico have filled that bill. Quantico is pretty awful, but Limitless has been surprisingly great.

[tjung0831]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here but I highly recommend "Soaked in Bleach" which you can find on Netflix. It's about the investigation into Kurt Cobain's death.

[FifaInspected]

Showtime's Shameless.. How in the world did I not know about this show?? Crazy good and very well done in my opinion. Started season 2 last night.

[RobVarak]

I'm going to recommend Making a Murderer even though I am pretty confident that the filmmakers are wrong about Avery's innocence and have been pretty manipulative in the way they presented the facts and the trial.

It's probably 1/3 too long at 10 hours, but the story is so bizarre, the characters so rich and the larger issues at play so compelling that it's worth it.

[Naples39]

I'm going to recommend Making a Murderer even though I am pretty confident that the filmmakers are wrong about Avery's innocence and have been pretty manipulative in the way they presented the facts and the trial.

It's probably 1/3 too long at 10 hours, but the story is so bizarre, the characters so rich and the larger issues at play so compelling that it's worth it.

I watched it compulsively in 1.5 days.

Spoilers:

You have to remember the filmmakers were biased, but the actions and attitude of the police is just insulting. Having thought about it after watching, it's a tough call on whether to convict Avery or not.

The bigger victim in the murder trials is Dassey IMO. His confessions were inconsistent and all over the place, and his damning "confessions" about the rape and throat slitting seem physically impossible by the (total lack of) physical evidence at the scene. With no physical evidence whatsoever to tie him to crime, the entire case is a dubious confession where he barely seemed to understand what he was saying. Putting a teenager in jail for life for that is crazy.

Procedurally, I thought he had pretty good grounds for a mistrial. If I recall, the court did find ineffective assistance of counsel, and that ineffective assistance directly resulted in key evidence used against him at trial.

[RobVarak]

Agree 100% with deleted. I was as stunned at the behavior of his pre-trial counsel as I have ever been with anything I've seen in a documentary. Absolutely deserves a new trial at least, with the appropriate admissions suppressed.

There is no doubt that the behavior of the Manitowoc police was almost universally indefensible. The prosecutor was also clearly an unprofessional cad, even before the details about his sexual harassment issues were disclosed. That said, I read most of the contemporaneous news reports from the Milwaukee paper as well as the post-trial motions and appellate opinions, and it's clear that there were several key items that went unmentioned in the film.

For my money, the filmmakers brushing over the discovery of Avery's DNA on the hood latch is a giant, screaming red flag. Strang has been all over the media trying to downplay this, but I think the filmmakers' decision to completely ignore the evidence speaks louder than anything else they could have done. They also omitted all of the evidence regarding Avery contacting Halbach in the run-up to the murder and on the day of the murder. I'm not buying these as editorial decisions as they're substantive issues and if anything they could have used a little more meat on bones of the 10 hours that they filled up.

I harbor no resentment against the directors for these omissions. They're making a film with a point of view, and like I said, they make many important points. I just think that from where I sit, a conviction isn't anywhere near the lightning bolt of crazy that it's portrayed as in the film.

A summary of most of the key news stories from the trial as reported: goo.gl/N7rcwq

[Jimmydeicide]

I'm in the middle of this right now, OMG its Lawyer Porn. The equivalent must be me recommending you watch Norm Abrams make an Adirondack chair.

[sportdan30]

Mr. Robot wrapped up a phenomenal first season last night. Probably my favorite first season of any show I've watched. The finale felt more like a series of awesome scenes than completely coherent. But it was perfect for the mass chaos going on. Tons of great music, too.

USA has the entire season online to watch. There is a USA Now app on XB1, and I suppose the PS4, if you want to watch it on TV instead of a computer. It's been renewed for a second season, and it worth tracking down. Hell, I'm going to watch it straight through at least one more time.

Just finished up the second season of Fargo (love this show), and I watched the first episode of Mr. Robot the other night. It definitely kept my interest, so that's a very good sign. After this, I'll check out Narcos.

There is just so much good television on right now!

By the way, Beasts of No Nation is a pretty good Netflix exclusive movie to check out. It's certainly not an uplifting movie, but pretty powerful nonetheless.

[sportdan30]

Just finished Narcos a couple days ago. Awesome. I'm looking forward to season 2, but am a little nervous because they've had a couple writers jump ship recently.

I may go back to Mr. Robot, but I'm thinking I'm going to check out Rectify first on Netflix. Sounds really good.

[Jimmydeicide]

I liked Rectify, different and he has a damn sexy sister. Well worth a watch.

Is anyone streaming the 2nd season of Fargo yet? cant find it on the usual.

[sportdan30]

I liked Rectify, different and he has a damn sexy sister. Well worth a watch.

Is anyone streaming the 2nd season of Fargo yet? cant find it on the usual.

I watched the second season of Fargo on the FX now app on the PS4. I don't think it's available on the Xbox One.

[Jimmydeicide]

Looks like it is . I'll check it out thanks.

[sportdan30]

Just finished up season two of Rectify. Excellent show. It's definitely a slow burn, but the acting is really good, and the two women in the show are very nice as well. If season 3 doesn't show up on Netflix soon, I'll just pay the $15 to watch it on Amazon.

Does anyone know if there is a Sundance app for either the PS4 or Xbox One?

[tjung0831]

I highly recommend the first two seasons of Peaky Blinders on Netflix. A little boardwalk empire like, same time frame but it's set in England. The first couple of episodes move a bit slow as the story unfolds but it picks up in a hurry. Only 6 episodes per season and season 3 just finished shooting and will be on Netflix in the fall. It was getting fantastic reviews from just about everybody so I checked it out and it's right up there with Breaking Bad and Boardwalk empire as my all time favorite drama's. More importantly, Tom Hardy checks in for season 2 and is downright amazing. Really great show and I highly recommend it.

[pk500]

Am I the only sappy fool still enthralled by "Downton Abbey" as it rolls through its final season?

I'm also digging the new Showtime show "Billions," with Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti and the always-easy-on-the-eyes Maggie Siff. It's soapy and not artful, but good fun. I can watch Lewis in almost anything.

Excited for the second season of "Better Call Saul" and the debut of "Vinyl" on HBO, which start Monday and Sunday, respectively.

[Naples39]

Am I the only sappy fool still enthralled by "Downton Abbey" as it rolls through its final season?

I'm also digging the new Showtime show "Billions," with Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti and the always-easy-on-the-eyes Maggie Siff. It's soapy and not artful, but good fun. I can watch Lewis in almost anything.

Excited for the second season of "Better Call Saul" and the debut of "Vinyl" on HBO, which start Monday and Sunday, respectively.

Nice, I didn't know Saul starts back this week.

Also, my wife and I were totally hooked on Downton. We didn't wait and downloaded all the eps after they aired in the UK in November and December.

[sportdan30]

I highly recommend the first two seasons of Peaky Blinders on Netflix. A little boardwalk empire like, same time frame but it's set in England. The first couple of episodes move a bit slow as the story unfolds but it picks up in a hurry. Only 6 episodes per season and season 3 just finished shooting and will be on Netflix in the fall. It was getting fantastic reviews from just about everybody so I checked it out and it's right up there with Breaking Bad and Boardwalk empire as my all time favorite drama's. More importantly, Tom Hardy checks in for season 2 and is downright amazing. Really great show and I highly recommend it.

It's an excellent show. I was referred to it a couple weeks ago. I'm almost done with season 1. I've had to watch it with the subtitles on, just so I don't miss anything I'm unable to understand. The environments are spectacular and the acting top notch.

[Diablo25]

11.22.63 started on Hulu today. It's an 8 episode miniseries based on Stephen King's book about a man (James Franco) time traveling back to the early 60's to stop the JFK assassination. It's a JJ Abrams series so I am expected greatness. The first episode was excellent.

[Aristo]

I'm about halfway through the book. I need to power through it, as it is a hulking beast of a novel. It really is a great story, though. i just don't sit down and read as much as I should.

From what I have read about the series, it will be faithful to the book, but streamlined. In the book, he is living in the 60's for five years before the date. This is an eight-episode event, so Abrams compared it to a speeding train version of the story.

It's funny, since Stephen King "retired," his writing has dramatically improved. He's had some fantastic stories, and 11/22/63 is a great example. At least it sounds like this is not the train wreck Under the Dome turned into.