What TV series are you currently watching?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Seven-part BBC documentary from 2019

I bet that that would be a very interesting series to watch.  What do you think of it so far?

PD

[Papy Oli]

Seven-part BBC documentary from 2019

A gripping and gut-wrenching documentary. A must-watch.

[SimonNZ]

Yeah, I'm watching it with a friend of mine who is very well read on Ireland and is very impressed with it, as am I in my much less informed way. He is particularly impressed by the inclusion of so many documents from recently opened government archives, including proof of the speculation that the first bombings attributed to the IRA were false flag operation funded by the vile Ian Paisley.

[Todd]

Taken Hostage.  Thank goodness for the Amazon PBS Documentaries channel.  It allows for convenient viewing of decent shows.  This two-part, four-hour American Experience overview of the Iranian Hostage Crisis is mostly excellent.  The first part documents the good old days, when one of Theodore Roosevelt's grandsons personally managed the overthrow of a sovereign government at the behest of the Dulles boys.  The second part covers some of the consequences.  It relies on current interviews of some lower-level functionaries and members of the press who were in the mix, and it includes interviews with hostage Barry Rosen and his wife.  It also relies on footage and interviews from decades past, including with a proud Kermit.  Fortunately, Americans have abandoned ideas of regime change altogether and no one would ever suggest such a policy in the contemporary world.

One niggling concern with this documentary is the use of some more frequently used propaganda techniques.  The documentary soundtrack includes dark, sinister music in places, and otherwise uses music in an attempt to elicit certain emotional responses.  Fortunately, it is not as bad as the once superb Frontline in its stylistic shift.

[VonStupp]

Picard (Season 2)
Patrick Stewart, John de Lancie, Brent Spiner
Whoopi Goldberg, Wil Wheaton

Had a chance to finish off Season 2. I am of two minds over this series so far.
VS

[Todd]

Not a series, and not even strictly TV (but what streamable content is?), I viewed Ari Shaffir's special on YouTube.  There are a few dead spots, but overall this is one of the better comedy specials I've seen in the past couple years, up there with Tim Dillon's and Bill Burr's.  I had to rewatch a couple bits right away, a benefit of streaming.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2YtIBYM4w0

[George]

Not a series, and not even strictly TV (but what streamable content is?), I viewed Ari Shaffir's special on YouTube.  There are a few dead spots, but overall this is one of the better comedy specials I've seen in the past couple years, up there with Tim Dillon's and Bill Burr's.  I had to rewatch a couple bits right away, a benefit of streaming.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2YtIBYM4w0

I enjoyed that, too, Karl! Marc Normand released a free special a few years back. I thought it was even better:

[VonStupp]

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 4

My wife likes these new iterations of Star Trek, but I am not so sure.
VS

[Daverz]

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 4

My wife likes these new iterations of Star Trek, but I am not so sure.
VS

Of the new series, I liked "Strange New Worlds", and will probably keep watching if there is another season.  I haven't felt the need to follow Discovery or Picard past their first seasons.

[VonStupp]

Of the new series, I liked "Strange New Worlds", and will probably keep watching if there is another season.  I haven't felt the need to follow Discovery or Picard past their first seasons.

It will probably be a while until I get to SNW, but it sounds interesting. Anson Mount was great in whatever season of Discovery he was cast.

Otherwise, the first seasons of Discovery and Picard were probably the best, so if you didn't like those, no need to go back.

VS

[SimonNZ]

Quite underwhelmed by this. Doubt I'll make it to the end of season 1.

[relm1]

Picard (Season 2)
Patrick Stewart, John de Lancie, Brent Spiner
Whoopi Goldberg, Wil Wheaton

Had a chance to finish off Season 2. I am of two minds over this series so far.
VS

I'm so confused about what to make of this series.  Part of is there are just way too many Star Trek shows right now.  I liked Strange New Worlds but it was just a few episodes and did a great job of rebooting the original series, but I don't know what to make of the other shows like Discovery, Prodigy, Picard, etc.  Too much!

[relm1]

I'm currently watching Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix.  It's nonsense and I don't buy any of it but it's fun fantasy history.  It's basically an Ancient Aliens show making bold claims with very weak archelogy and science but entertaining concepts.  "I'm not a scientist so just putting this out there and no reputable scientist has responded or refuted any of it so what are they afraid of" type of show.  I generally hate this type of stuff but here, I find entertaining.  Entertainment only.

[SimonNZ]

I'm so confused about what to make of this series.  Part of is there are just way too many Star Trek shows right now.  I liked Strange New Worlds but it was just a few episodes and did a great job of rebooting the original series, but I don't know what to make of the other shows like Discovery, Prodigy, Picard, etc.  Too much!

From that poster I see Picard has Geri Ryan and Alison Pill in the cast. I'll watch on that fact alone.

And I don't mean that in a nudge-nudge sort of way.

[VonStupp]

I'm so confused about what to make of this series.  Part of is there are just way too many Star Trek shows right now.  I liked Strange New Worlds but it was just a few episodes and did a great job of rebooting the original series, but I don't know what to make of the other shows like Discovery, Prodigy, Picard, etc.  Too much!

Understandable. I don't subscribe to Paramount+, so I wait until I can rent them and take them at my own pace. So far, I have just stuck to Discovery and Picard. Will probably move to SNW when I can, but I'm not sure about the many others.

From that poster I see Picard has Geri Ryan and Alison Pill in the cast. I'll watch on that fact alone.

The highlights of both seasons!
VS

[George]

[drogulus]

     I'm watching A Spy Among Friends, taken from the book by Ben Macintyre.

    

     That's Guy Pearce playing Philby. Lewis plays his old friend and fellow SIS agent.

     Many people will find it dull and drab, and confusing as well. If you're like Connie Sachs in Tinker Tailor and "hate the real world" this is for you.

[Karl Henning]

I'm so confused about what to make of this series.  Part of is there are just way too many Star Trek shows right now.  I liked Strange New Worlds but it was just a few episodes and did a great job of rebooting the original series, but I don't know what to make of the other shows like Discovery, Prodigy, Picard, etc.  Too much!

They certainly went franchise-crazy.

[VonStupp]

His Dark Materials
Season 3

Amidst the third season right now. I read the Philip Pullman books many times.

I get the feeling they are going to stretch out the final book, but maybe I am wrong.

VS

[Todd]

The Peripheral.  Based on a recent sci-fi book which I have not and will not read, this series blends Ready Player One, 12 Monkeys, The Matrix, and all manner of other sci-fi TV shows and movies going all the way back to the very beginning.  I'm not sure I saw even one original idea.  (That three of the most significant characters are female would have been groundbreaking decades ago.)  And of course, aged tough guys show up.  They are all the rage now, and it looks like that trend will soon reach an idiotic apogee with the next Indiana Jones flick.  Given the show's producers – Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who also produced Westworld, which started strong and quickly turned into crap – the production is strikingly and unexpectedly shoddy.  The show does use actual North Carolina towns as settings for the fictional North Carolina town, and London is used for some London locations, but otherwise it's just blah.  The CGI is not top shelf; the images of future London, with its massive carbon scrubbers modelled after great western cultural artifacts, are just plain goofy; some of the props looks cheap, like a student filmmaker had a hand in making them; some shots and action sequences are staged in a clunky manner; and so on.  The plot is entirely stupid.  It's sub-par. 

But.  The show sort of succeeds purely on the strength of the acting and actors.  (It does not succeed based on dialogue, that much is certain.)  The show is sort of a star vehicle for Chloë Grace Moretz, who has grown into a lovely young woman, does excellent work, and she slips into a southern accent easily enough given that she's from the south.  Jack Reynor mastered his accent so well I thought he was from the south, not Ireland, and he fills his role well indeed.  And the producers took the groundbreaking (not) step of using a transgender actress in the form of Alexandra Billings, but they make nothing of the fact and let the acting speak for itself, which fits perfectly for the role.  The various bad guys range from caricatured to badly caricatured, but the actors are game.  Score one for actors.