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TV / movies 📺 List your recent and current binge watch (streaming shows) here

Fine, Netflix, I'll binge Season 1 of Cobra Kai on this lazy Sunday.

It was/is pretty good, but I'm trying to figure out it's underlying philosophy.

Johnny redemption?
Johnny finally growing up?
Daniel really didn't get the chance to outgrow Johnny?
Nerds/dorks/'weaklings' just need to want to not be pushed around?
The only way some people are going to learn to not be a-holes is through direct assault?
When does aggressive defense become tyranny?
Don't let your past define your present or future?
Some of the above?
All of the above?
 
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luckless pedestrian said:
watching new season 5 of The Expanse and it's great!
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As I said about a month ago, I tried The Expanse again, but I've determined it's not working for me.

The seasons and episodes should be about 33% shorter. Plus, I've determined it's really just a political drama with heavy sci-fi window dressing and the central conflict(s) are tediously executed, at best. Granted, I only made it through about 1-2/3 seasons.

I'd rather just watch my favorite episodes of ST:TNG instead or the Terran Empire episodes of ST:ENT. :p
 
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Anyone watching Bridgerton? It's on my list, just wondering if I should move it up.

Still not done with Queen's Gambit. I'm watching it with Hubby and he doesn't binge. Started the last season of Silent Witness over the weekend.

The Ripper - documentary about the Yorkshire Ripper in the 1970-1980 era - is good. I got Hubby to watch one episode each night in a row so I wouldn't forget the details.
 
My wife and I started His Dark Materials on HBO Max last week. I had heard about it when it premiered but for some reason I thought it was a biography show about the guy who wrote the books so I wasn't really interested. My wife randomly turned on a trailer for season 1 and I was intrigued so we gave it a shot.

I liked it from the get-go but it was a little too slow for my wife's taste but she soldiered on for my sake so we could watch together. Episode 6 got her attention though and we're planning to finish up the first season tonight.
 
I started Bridgerton and went through a few episodes. Can't remember why I didn't continue immediately, but I need to go back to it.

Started watching Lilyhamer last night and made it through 2 episodes. Think I'll continue with it for a while.
 
mendelman said:
As I said about a month ago, I tried The Expanse again, but I've determined it's not working for me.

The seasons and episodes should be about 33% shorter. Plus, I've determined it's really just a political drama with heavy sci-fi window dressing and the central conflict(s) are tediously executed, at best. Granted, I only made it through about 1-2/3 seasons.

I'd rather just watch my favorite episodes of ST:TNG instead or the Terran Empire episodes of ST:ENT. :p
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It's one of those shows you either like or don't. Yes, it's a sci-fi political dream. One of sci-fi's strengths is that it allows us to look and examine current political and social issues in safe environment.
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
I loved sci-fi when I was younger and more idealistic. Age, and becoming increasingly cynical, jaded, kinda ruined it for me.
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I'm waiting for a good execution of the Foundation series. It can be f-ed or it can be awesome.....we'll see.
 
mendelman said:
Fine, Netflix, I'll binge Season 1 of Cobra Kai on this lazy Sunday.

It was/is pretty good, but I'm trying to figure out it's underlying philosophy.

Johnny redemption?
Johnny finally growing up?
Daniel really didn't get the chance to outgrow Johnny?
Nerds/dorks/'weaklings' just need to want to not be pushed around?
The only way some people are going to learn to not be a-holes is through direct assault?
When does aggressive defense become tyranny?
Don't let your past define your present or future?
Some of the above?
All of the above?
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Yes to (possibly) all of the above.

I started Season 3 last night and will certainly finish it this week.

Since last I posted here, I also watched all of Longmire. LOVED it at the beginning; I really just liked the characters as I got to know them and the scenery is just gorgeous. The last 2 seasons, it seemed to have jumped the shark a bit. Walt, the main character, really took a turn in personality. But I liked the other characters enough (except Vic, personally) that I wanted to finish out the show. My favorite was Standing Bear, by far! Gotta love Lou Diamond Phillips!
 
Salmissra said:
Anyone watching Bridgerton? It's on my list, just wondering if I should move it up.

Still not done with Queen's Gambit. I'm watching it with Hubby and he doesn't binge. Started the last season of Silent Witness over the weekend.

The Ripper - documentary about the Yorkshire Ripper in the 1970-1980 era - is good. I got Hubby to watch one episode each night in a row so I wouldn't forget the details.
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I made my hubby watch two episodes with me on on my birthday. :) Then we were both hooked and I want to read the books now. But I like historical drama/romance escapism sometimes. :)
luckless pedestrian said:
Oh and I watched The Mandalorian and it's freakin awesome
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Yes!!

We've been working our with through "Homeland" this fall and are on the final season. Started "Broadchurch" last night . . .the first episode was rough emotionally, whew. I want to check out "Fargo" soon also. We ran out of new sitcoms - so many of them are on a long hiatus right now - so we just started watching "My Name is Earl" which neither of us had seen before.
 
Wife binged Bridgerton and said it was great, but she loves that kind of show. I do not.

Just looking for the next good sci-fi thing to watch since I'm done with most of the good ones out now.
 
We picked up Cobra Kai over the holidays. CCG had never seen the original Karate Kid movies, so we went back and watched the first two (we'll watch the third one at some point). It's kind of fun because of nostalgia, but now I just watch them thinking about all the things that don't really make a lot of sense in the movies.

Also, Cobra Kai is also incredibly ridiculous in a lot of ways. My advice would be NOT to binge it. It's still kind of fun, but I'd probably have enjoyed it more watching a single episode here and there throughout the week and spreading it out instead of watching them so closely back to back.
 
gtpeach said:
Also, Cobra Kai is also incredibly ridiculous in a lot of ways. My advice would be NOT to binge it. It's still kind of fun, but I'd probably have enjoyed it more watching a single episode here and there throughout the week and spreading it out instead of watching them so closely back to back.
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Yep. We're almost finished with season 2 of Cobra Kai, and we've ben working out way through the series for probably two months now. There's no way I could even take watching single episodes of it on back-to-back nights.
 
Thinking about watching the original Get Smart. I watched S1 E1 last night. I forgot how silly that show was. (on Amazon Prime for $0.99)
 
gtpeach said:
We picked up Cobra Kai over the holidays. CCG had never seen the original Karate Kid movies, so we went back and watched the first two (we'll watch the third one at some point). It's kind of fun because of nostalgia, but now I just watch them thinking about all the things that don't really make a lot of sense in the movies.

Also, Cobra Kai is also incredibly ridiculous in a lot of ways. My advice would be NOT to binge it. It's still kind of fun, but I'd probably have enjoyed it more watching a single episode here and there throughout the week and spreading it out instead of watching them so closely back to back.
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Bubba said:
Yep. We're almost finished with season 2 of Cobra Kai, and we've ben working out way through the series for probably two months now. There's no way I could even take watching single episodes of it on back-to-back nights.
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My wife and I started Cobra Kai around Thanksgiving and really enjoy it, but you are both right in that it's not one to binge watch.

I will say that I am really surprised with the production values of Season 1 (we've got a couple of episodes left in the season). Season 1 was produced by YouTube and I remember when it first came out thinking, "YouTube does entire TV shows? That's got to be pretty horrible!" but this is really slick and seems like something that wouldn't be out of place on CW or some other network that's geared toward a younger audience (though I imagine a fair share of viewers, or maybe most, are people who were around when the first Karate Kid movie was released).
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My wife and I started Cobra Kai around Thanksgiving and really enjoy it, but you are both right in that it's not one to binge watch.

I will say that I am really surprised with the production values of Season 1 (we've got a couple of episodes left in the season). Season 1 was produced by YouTube and I remember when it first came out thinking, "YouTube does entire TV shows? That's got to be pretty horrible!" but this is really slick and seems like something that wouldn't be out of place on CW or some other network that's geared toward a younger audience (though I imagine a fair share of viewers, or maybe most, are people who were around when the first Karate Kid movie was released).
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We've actually been bingeing the show. It works for us as the episodes are rather fleet (26-34 mins), they don't linger too much on the (melo)drama parts of each episode and have decent action spread nicely throughout.

As for the Season 1 production values, when you look/listen closely, you definitely see that there was a ton of (surely) paid advertisement placement - Heineken, Coors, Audi, Mercedes, etc, which likely funded the good prod. values.

Plus, the powers that be found good production talent and it likely helped that Will Smith (yes the Fresh Prince) is one of the Producers.

I'm actually surprised at the good broad acting chops of William Sabka.
 
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mendelman said:
We've actually been bingeing the show. It works for us as the episodes are rather fleet (26-34 mins) and they don't linger too much on the (melo)drama parts of the each episode and have decent action spread nicely throughout.

As for the Season 1 production values, look/listen closely and you definitely see that there was a ton of (surely) paid advertisement placement - Heineken, Coors, Audi, Mercedes, etc.

Plus, the powers that be found good production talent likely helped that Will Smith (yes the Fresh Prince) is one of the Producers.

I'm actually surprised at the good broad acting chops of William Sabka.
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My favorite obvious product placement was when Miguel offers to get Johnny a beer from the fridge in the office and asks something along the lines of, "Do you want me to grab you a Banquet?" Has anybody ever unironically called the Coors Banquet beer "a Banquet"? :ttth:

And I agree about the acting skills of William Sabka. I think he's a better actor in this than Ralph Macchio. Or maybe it's the writing that also makes Johnny a more likeable character than Daniel.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My favorite obvious product placement was when Miguel offers to get Johnny a beer from the fridge in the office and asks something along the lines of, "Do you want me to grab you a Banquet?" Has anybody ever unironically called the Coors Banquet beer "a Banquet"? :ttth:

And I agree about the acting skills of William Sabka. I think he's a better actor in this than Ralph Macchio. Or maybe it's the writing that also makes Johnny a more likeable character than Daniel.
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Coors is beer-flavored water.

I think the viewer is more invested in Johnny - Daniel is already successful in life, which leaves me rooting for Johnny to get his sh*t together and end up in a better place than where he was at the beginning of Season 1.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
And I agree about the acting skills of William Sabka. I think he's a better actor in this than Ralph Macchio.
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I said that last night to my wife, too.

Plus, there's a 'reunion' of a couple of the 1984 Cobra Kai guys in Season 2 and there's some decent acting by those guys as well.
 
mendelman said:
I said that last night to my wife, too.

Plus, there's a 'reunion' of a couple of the 1984 Cobra Kai guys in Season 2 and there's some decent acting by those guys as well.
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We finished season 3 last night. There was a LOT I hated about season 3, but it ends nicely to launch into a 4th season, and I'd imagine that would be a good wrap-up to the series.

While there was a lot I hated, it was fun to revisit some of the other characters from the Karate Kid franchise and see how their lives unfolded since the events of the 80s.

And we'll still watch season 4. I put in this much emotional labor, I intend to see it through! ;)
 
The History of Swear Words on Netflix - little 20 minute snippets of the history and where swear words came from and are used today.
 
Planit said:
The History of Swear Words on Netflix - little 20 minute snippets of the history and where swear words came from and are used today.
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I saw a couple of those. Both very funny and educational. Nicholas Cage was the ideal person to host it.

Blown away (glass blowing competition) has dropped another season.
 
Swear words was good. I learned some stuff.

Watching Wandavision on Disney. It's interesting, but I wish they would just release them all so I can binge it.
 
Maister said:
Watched the first episode of Season 2 last night. It was very much in keeping with season 1 offerings. I have a feeling the black guy is going to win.
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I saw sick this weekend, so I ended up watching the whole thing. It was pretty good. I am amazed by what they can do. They also brought up a good point about how hot things get, which makes sense.
 
My husband's favorite show from his childhood is the Andy Griffith Show so we have started working our way through Matlock. We're almost finished with Season 1 and while it's not amazing, it's a wholesome show that isn't stressful and it's fun to see all the famous actors that played bit parts. We watch 5-10 episodes per week so it'll take us a while to get through it.

And because I can't justify paying MORE for television/ viewing than the ridiculous amount we already pay for cable, we told the DVR to Record All and had to wait a bit for the beginning of the show to be recorded. Now, I think we've taped 3-4 full seasons at this point (of course, out of order in the recording but that's easy enough to sort through).
 
mendelman said:
Fine, Netflix, I'll binge Season 1 of Cobra Kai on this lazy Sunday.

It was/is pretty good, but I'm trying to figure out it's underlying philosophy.

Johnny redemption?
Johnny finally growing up?
Daniel really didn't get the chance to outgrow Johnny?
Nerds/dorks/'weaklings' just need to want to not be pushed around?
The only way some people are going to learn to not be a-holes is through direct assault?
When does aggressive defense become tyranny?
Don't let your past define your present or future?
Some of the above?
All of the above?
Click to expand...
Started into season 3, got 1.5 episodes in...meh.

I'm over it now.

ain-amp-039-t-nobody-got-time-for-that_o_1582005.jpg
 
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mendelman said:
Started into season 3, got 1.5 episodes in...meh.

I'm over it now.
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Season 3 was way less fun than 1&2. Just finished it this weekend...meh is the best descriptor (especially since we watched it right after binging 5 seasons of Breaking Bad...obviously no comparison).
 
luckless pedestrian said:
I watched Lupin and hope they will do a second season

Now watching Tunnel on Prime - it's a BBC/PBS show - very good
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Lupin is on our list of shows to watch. We've got a couple more episodes of season 2 of His Dark Materials to get through this week and then I think we'll start Lupin.

DVD said:
Watching Wandavision on Disney. It's interesting, but I wish they would just release them all so I can binge it.
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We've really liked Wandavision so far, but yes, I wish I could binge it! I know just enough about the MCU to make Wandavision interesting. I can imagine this show, and its concept, would be sort of maddening for somebody with 0 knowledge of the MCU before going into it.
 
I've been trying to get our family to watch things together so we watched The Mandolin which we loved and a few episodes of Bridgerton which is okay, but we are currently loving Queen's Gambit.
 
Has anybody been watching the Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock? It's a weekly latenight (strange to say for a streaming only program) show. Amber is one of Seth Myers' writers. She's got some disarming humor. A sample:
 
The Dig on Netflix was excellent, but then I'm a historian so that was probably to be expected.

My Octopus Teacher was pretty good until I fell asleep. Might try to catch it from where I dozed off.
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
I saw sick this weekend, so I ended up watching the whole thing. It was pretty good. I am amazed by what they can do. They also brought up a good point about how hot things get, which makes sense.
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Was it just me or did you find yourself despising that a-hole guy who was clearly the favorite going in (the older guy who was teacher to some of the judges and students)?
 
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