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

Maister said:
The premise of the Dosadi Experiment, as I recall, was humans were deposited on a planet by super advanced aliens and a 'God Wall' barrier was placed around the planet so no one or no spaceships could ever leave the planet. The experiment was intended to find out what technology and political adaptations the inhabitants might develop given the enormous population pressures that were sure to increase. Much like the Fremen and the Sardaukar we see in the Dune series, the inhabitants of Dosadi also develop remarkable skills and attributes due to being confined to an environment where so much competition for resources exists.
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There was another species as well. Back in my sci-fi days, I was more of a Larry Nivens (Known Space series). I was also a cyber punk fan.
 
Started Expats on Amazon Prime - it's good and I watched it because I like Nicole Kidman but I feel like she's overacting in this like Emma Stone did in the Hulu show The Curse
 
fringe said:
Not a streaming show but current big screen. Drive Away Dolls pushes envelopes in so many directions, my biggest objection is the violence.
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Just read that this script is 20+ yrs old and was once titled "Drive Away Dykes". I don't recommend it, but it is one of the Coen brothers.
 
Just finished The Pacific on Netflix. It was a devastating masterpiece of a show. I cannot fathom what those guys went through. Some episodes are absolute nightmare fuel, like the airfield assault on Peleliu. It felt like a WWII show, but filmed as though it were Vietnam War movie, tinged with loss and grief rather than triumphalism.
 
MacheteJames said:
Just finished The Pacific on Netflix. It was a devastating masterpiece of a show. I cannot fathom what those guys went through. Some episodes are absolute nightmare fuel, like the airfield assault on Peleliu. It felt like a WWII show, but filmed as though it were Vietnam War movie, tinged with loss and grief rather than triumphalism.
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my director at my first public sector job, where you grew up, her dad was this guy and I cannot look at this photo without tearing up - I mean, wow

www.nationalww2museum.org

Private First Class Frank Pomroy | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

Pomroy saw some of the fiercest, most brutal fighting of World War II at Guadalcanal.
www.nationalww2museum.org www.nationalww2museum.org
 
MacheteJames said:
Just finished The Pacific on Netflix. It was a devastating masterpiece of a show. I cannot fathom what those guys went through. Some episodes are absolute nightmare fuel, like the airfield assault on Peleliu. It felt like a WWII show, but filmed as though it were Vietnam War movie, tinged with loss and grief rather than triumphalism.
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If you are interested, I wholeheartedly recommend reading the books the series was largely based around: With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge (Corporal Sledge from the series) and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie (PFC Leckie). Both are great, but the Sledge book is a personal favorite. Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis, a reporter who was embedded with the Marines at Guadalcanal is probably my favorite book I've come about the Island Hopping campaign in WWII (though I don't think Guadalcanal is usually counted as part of that).

Had I read these books when I was still in the Marines, I probably would have been a belt fed motard lifer.
 
MacheteJames said:
Just finished The Pacific on Netflix. It was a devastating masterpiece of a show. I cannot fathom what those guys went through. Some episodes are absolute nightmare fuel, like the airfield assault on Peleliu. It felt like a WWII show, but filmed as though it were Vietnam War movie, tinged with loss and grief rather than triumphalism.
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That's how I feel about watching Masters of the Air. The balls that these guys had is amazing. Basically knowing there's probably a 95% chance you die or get captured but still going on these bombing runs.
 
btrage said:
That's how I feel about watching Masters of the Air. The balls that these guys had is amazing. Basically knowing there's probably a 95% chance you die or get captured but still going on these bombing runs.
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A campus cop I worked with as an undergraduate was a B-17 ball turret gunner who, uh, lost his courtesy of German flak guns during a bombing run in 1944. He was not a pleasant fellow and I imagine his combat experience had a lot to do with it.
 
Gedunker said:
A campus cop I worked with as an undergraduate was a B-17 ball turret gunner who, uh, lost his courtesy of German flak guns during a bombing run in 1944. He was not a pleasant fellow and I imagine his combat experience had a lot to do with it.
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My father was a bomber pilot in the South Pacific wwII. Flew dozens of missions from some remote island base. On one mission his side gunner's 50 caliber weapon was shot off its mount by fighter attacks. He picked the weapon up and continued firing it despite it burning his hands severely.
On another one their landing gear was destroyed by fighter attacks after unloading all their bombs. He had to "belly land" at home base. Nobody hurt.
 
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Started on the Witcher yesterday. Knocked out the first three hour long episodes.
 
Salmissra said:
We just finished Episode 5.

There are times I see what they went through in the air, and the navigators doing their thing by hand, and I think - there's no way I could do that!
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Agreed. And knowing that most likely they would be shot down and captured or killed would be a difficult statistic to hear.
Maister said:
Started on the Witcher yesterday. Knocked out the first three hour long episodes.
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I started that several years ago and could not make much sense of the several storylines. I think I went somewhere into S2 and then gave up.
 
I've been watching M*A*S*H for the last several weeks on Hulu. In the middle of S6 right now. Saw many episodes as a child as my parents watched the show. Never realized how much innuendo was in the script.
 
Enjoyed the heck out of "The Gentlemen" on Netflix. It's a Guy Ritchie miniseries (or series... it feels like it could be continued), and spinoff of his movie from about 5 years ago, so definitely falls in the dark comedy genre.
 
Finished up Death and other Details. In the end....

Larry David Reaction GIF


The longer it went on, the worse it got with the twists and turns. They went from fun to terrible. I really thought they tried too hard to hide the surprise ending which was in my opinion totally unsatisfactory. There were just too many holes in the story, and the big reveals at the end, rather than answering all the questions, shined more spotlights on the plot gaps. It was almost like the original writing team left around episode 6 or 7 out of 10 and let a bunch of tripped out monkeys take over.
 
Obliterated on Netflix. Not exactly high quality television, but it's damn entertaining as some escapism. U.S. special forces chasing terrorists in Vegas while drunk...what's not to like?
 
Bubba said:
Obliterated on Netflix. Not exactly high quality television, but it's damn entertaining as some escapism. U.S. special forces chasing terrorists in Vegas while drunk...what's not to like?
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Loved it. It's like the Hangover meets 24.
 
Starting watching the Number One Ladies Detective Agency on YouTube. Yeah, this ran a number of years ago on BBC and was then picked up by HBO. However, I never got to see it until now. I ain't too proud to watch shows on YouTube.

Overall, a funny take on the detective genre. They kept the very African vibe found in the books.
 
I've started watching Tracker on CBS when it started this season. I like Justin Hartley and, so far, I like the show. Glad to hear it's been picked up for a second season.
 
I am following the weekly episodes of the Palm Springs show on Apple and Constellation

Constellation is good and the Palm Springs one is silly but fine

My husband and I watched The Gentleman first episode last night and liked it

I noticed season 2 of American Rust got dropped and will likely watch that next
 
Netflix soon to release 100 Years of Solitude, based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Hope they don't screw it up. The novel is a treasure.

Marquez' grandfather fought for Colombia during the Thousand Days War, the so-called Panama war of secession that was planned and directed by the USA in 1899.

That war ended with a treaty signed on board the USS Wisconsin, which had begun shelling the coast in support of the rebels. Therein lies the origin of the term, "gunboat diplomacy".
 
In addition to my reality TV viewing, I just started watching Shogun. Lots of intrigue and great acting.
 
btrage said:
In addition to my reality TV viewing, I just started watching Shogun. Lots of intrigue and great acting.
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How does it compare with the 1980s miniseries with Richard Chamberlain? Probably much better production quality and writing I would assume.
 
"Tell him I piss on him and his whole stinking army."

Aaah, the mini-series. Thinking about Shogun makes me miss edited for television Bond movies on Sunday nights.
 
Maister said:
How does it compare with the 1980s miniseries with Richard Chamberlain? Probably much better production quality and writing I would assume.
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100 times better. And that's not knocking the 1980s miniseries. That was groundbreaking in its own right.
 
I've been trying to finish The Days (Netflix), a Japanese production about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. The first couple of episodes are pretty taut and well done, but it quickly bogs down. I doubt I finish.

In Japanese (dubbed in English). (Much better dubbing than in my youth. Not distracting.)
 
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Two of my sons and I started Fallout on Prime about a week ago.

Only watched Ep.1, but looks like it may be:

Season 9 Premiere GIF by Curb Your Enthusiasm
 
I've been working my way through Loudermilk on Netflix. it's not bad. It's interesting watching the main character work his way though his problems. He's not likable at first, but he grows on you.
 
We've started a couple new shows recently - First we began Sugar on AppleTV+. It's a detective noir drama/mystery show with Colin Farrell. We're really enjoying this one so far and are sort of bummed that it's only releasing one episode a week so we cannot go and binge it. I could see this being picked up for a few seasons.

We're also watching The Gentleman on NetFlix. It's a Guy Ritchie show (I guess it's based on a movie of the same name he put out a few years ago that I had never heard of but appears to have good reviews). It's typical Guy Ritchie-fare with plenty of violence and dark comedy and a lot of very quirky tertiary characters that come and go. If you like most of Ritchie's other stuff (Snatch comes to mind in particular), you'd probably like this as well.
 
mendelman said:
Two of my sons and I started Fallout on Prime about a week ago.

Only watched Ep.1, but looks like it may be:

Season 9 Premiere GIF by Curb Your Enthusiasm
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I'm almost done. I've liked Fallout lots. Walton Goggins is just always interesting to watch, and he's perfect in this.
 
Currently binging through The Bear on Hulu - watched the "Fishes" episode from S2 last night...I think that is the single most chaotic thing I've ever watched.
 
Bubba said:
Currently binging through The Bear on Hulu - watched the "Fishes" episode from S2 last night...I think that is the single most chaotic thing I've ever watched.
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We took a long break after the first couple S2 episodes after having binged the first season relatively quickly. Once we got back in, it was some of the best TV I've watched in awhile. "Fishes" was an anxiety trip, but such a great episode.
 
It may have been here that someone mentioned Northern Exposure is on prime. It came out a little before my age-appropriate watching time so we decided to start it. After 4 or 5 episodes, it's a little slow but I'm liking it. Rob Morrow is so young!
 
RandomPlanner said:
It may have been here that someone mentioned Northern Exposure is on prime. It came out a little before my age-appropriate watching time so we decided to start it. After 4 or 5 episodes, it's a little slow but I'm liking it. Rob Morrow is so young!
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Northern Exposure was a replacement show (held in reserve in case another show bombed and the network decided to go in a different direction), so the network only ordered a few episodes. It was a little uneven to start, especially since the show was just starting to define the characters. Even as a replacement, it did find an audience and soon took off. It will be worth your while to be patient because there are a lot of great laughs ahead. (My favorite is S3:E14, when Chris in the Morning flings a cow ...)
 
Gedunker said:
Northern Exposure was a replacement show (held in reserve in case another show bombed and the network decided to go in a different direction), so the network only ordered a few episodes. It was a little uneven to start, especially since the show was just starting to define the characters. Even as a replacement, it did find an audience and soon took off. It will be worth your while to be patient because there are a lot of great laughs ahead. (My favorite is S3:E14, when Chris in the Morning flings a cow ...)
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Better than the "dentist wants to commit suicide episode"? "You say you're going to floss, but you don't. You say you'll brush more, but you won't."
Better than the Casey at the Bat episode where Chris finishes his Masters pitching against that **ck from the University?
 
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