TV: watchlist

I've been watching TV a fair amount lately, mostly through cable on demand, Amazon Prime, and CBS All Access. As before, it's been shows that I didn't bother to watch when they were new and now I've decided to give them a try.

On Showtime, I watched the first two seasons of Penny Dreadful, but the third season never seemed to gel. I also started watching Shameless. I'm into season 5 now, and who knows, maybe I can catch up by the time season 9 starts.

On Amazon Prime, I've given The Man In The High Castle another try, and I'm getting near the end of season 1. Looks like I'll stick with it this time. I watched a Japanese anime that I kind of enjoyed (Black Lagoon), but I don't guess that's to everybody's taste. I'm also watching an old British show, Primeval. I've re-watched season 1, which I saw years ago, and I'm starting in on season 2. It's sci-fi, in tone and production values looking like it's aimed at teenagers, but actually addressing some very adult themes (which I suppose is a common state of affairs for sci-fi, now that I think about it).

On CBS All Access, I'm working my way through Star Trek: Discovery. So far as I can tell, the only reason to pay for CBS All Access is if you want to see this show. It's only 6$ a month, but I resent paying it. The deal is, you get a week free trial to start, so if I binge my way through season 1, I may just cancel it and wait for season 2 to finish before trying it again.

Any suggestions?

As mentioned elsewhere, I enjoyed The Kominsky Method. Michael Douglas plays an aging actor who squeaks by giving acting lessons. His agent Alan Arkin has no other clients, and they sorta hold each other up.

I have tried a dozen or more series on PPV and Netflix, and haven’t found any I could finish. The Good Place, Sex & Love, John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons, Dogs, Uganda Be Kidding Me, House of Cards, Manifest, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Orville, Madam Secretary, Shameless, Maniac, Man in the High Castle, Sommore, D.L. Hughley Contrarian, others. I watched two movies this week, Dumplin’ and Tomorrowland, which were entertaining Hallmark after school specials but hardly Great Art.

As mentioned elsewhere, Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act is good. A couple years ago I enjoyed Horace & Pete, The Detectorists, Hannah Gadsby, a Matt Leblanc series called Episodes, and if you can find them, a couple related Danish series called Rita and Hjordis (Hjordis is a secondary character on Rita).

Watched Ellen Degeneris's new standup Netflix special "Relatable" last night (I think it was just released?)  It was unremarkable.

If Bill Cosby was white, and female, and lesbian he'd be Ellen.  All of her routine was about little everyday things we all do ("relatable things") like scooching across the bathroom floor or saving rubber bands or keeping batteries of unknown charge.  Her observations were meant to be ironic, rather than comic.  It was refreshing in a way to see a comic avoid four letter words and discussions about genitalia -- few do these days -- but the flip side is she wasn't very funny.  There were no take-aways to ponder the next morning.

Filmed n Seattle.  I almost went to that show, but decided I wasn't interested enough to make the effort.  Even edited down to 90 minutes and broadcast for free I'm not sure it was worth my time.

One of my bridge partners pushed me to start watching a British cop show, Scott and Bailey. It not only has female leads, but also (for the most part) female writers, directors, and producers, if that matters to anybody. I'm really enjoying it for the down to earth stories and dialog. If you just look at a quick summary (two female detectives, one younger, single, and somewhat screwed up, the other somewhat older, married and more motherly) you might be tempted to think it's a British version of Cagney & Lacey. In my opinion, there's not much actual comparison - Scott and Bailey is much better than that.

I'm really enjoying season 2 of The Man In The High Castle, and part of the reason why is some strong performances. I want to give a shout out to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. He has a very difficult role, in my opinion, and he is rocking it.

Just finished season 3 of Man in the High Castle.
Don't miss it, Richard. Things start coming together.
Think I'll read the book again while waiting for season 4.