I'm just curious because I don't do Netflix or Hulu. I did once have Netflix but left when the original programming devolved to Tiger King and haven't missed it. If I want a movie, I have HBO, Starz, and TCM from my cable. I also subscribe to PBS Passport and Curiosity Stream because I mostly watch documentaries. A friend gave me access to his Disney sub which I used last when the Get Back documentary came out.
Anyway, right now I'm streaming a series called Great Film Composers on Curiosity Stream. It's basically a history of music scores in film starting from the old silent movies to present day. I'm currently in the early 60's. Psycho. The Pink Panther. Zorba the Greek. Great stuff.
Over the winter I binged Frasier, and not long afterward I started on Cheers. I've been busy with lots of other tasks, but I've made it about halfway through season 2. I've seen some debate as to whether Frasier would fly today, but Cheers definitely wouldn't, outside of Diane's ambitions.
I've only watched about 10 episodes or so, but the most recent thing I've watched more than one episode of was Servant of the People starring Volodymyr Zelensky. Probably not for everyone, though; it's only available subtitled, and some of the jokes are puns (Putin being said to wear a watch of a brand name that sounds a lot like the Ukrainian word for "dickhead") or rely on some degree of familiarity with Ukrainian politics (like Zelensky's character getting a job application from a "well-qualified candidate" that turned out to be Viktor Yanukovich, a Ukrainian president that was run out of the country by protestors in 2014). But I've still gotten some decent chuckles out of it.
We're enjoying Brooklyn 99 on Hulu (shared account, but has no ads so it's relatively pleasant)
The last thing I binged was Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video.
Quote from: kurumi on May 27, 2022, 10:45:51 PM
We're enjoying Brooklyn 99 on Hulu (shared account, but has no ads so it's relatively pleasant)
We liked it. They did have that copaganda issue, which I mostly shrugged at, but I suppose there was a tone deafness to portraying a rule-breaking detective in a comedic light.
My wife likes home renovation shows, and we recently discovered Farmhouse Facelift.
A brother/sister duo had taken up renovating farmhouses in southern Ontario. Someone in Hollywood saw some of the photos they'd posted on social media, and he gave them a call. They thought it was a scam at first, but was a legitimate offer to make a TV show.
Unfortunately, because it's a new show, there's only one season available to stream so far. Which stinks.
Before that, we had watched The Crown.
I finished King of the Hill recently and am on to American Dad. I'm not enjoying it nearly as much, but I understand it gets better after the first season, and I always like to begin at the beginning.
And when the clock hits, oh, 4:25, I've been watching Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting. It's cliche as hell to watch it then, and yet it's so enjoyable.
My wife wanted to watch the first seven episodes of the fourth Strangers Things season yesterday, so we did.
I haven't tried to do any streaming. Any shows that I watch are on TV or from DVD.
Just last night we finished watching all eight seasons of Barney Miller on DVD (again). Before that, we went through all four seasons of The Librarians (Rebecca Romijn, Lindy Booth, Christian Kane, John Harlan Kim, John Larroquette, and Noah Wyle) on DVD.
Lately, I have been DVR recording reruns of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and binge-watching them late at night.
Schitt's Creek, Ted Lasso, The Big Bang Theory, and the British/Irish Mrs. Brown's Boys for me.
Seeing as I believe I'm the youngest poster on this thread so far, I'll mention the YouTube channels I've been watching more of lately: Scott The Woz and the Gaming Historian. Both channels focus on video gaming content. Scott The Woz is more comedic in nature while the Gaming Historian is more PBS-style documentary about the making of games and franchises such as Super Mario World and Punch-Out!! Across both of those channels, there's literally dozens of hours of content available, and I end up wasting a lot of time as a result of having a binge-session.
Most recent binge is another swing through Scrubs.
It annoys me that Hulu makes it seem like that show was on ABC, but they only got that bullshit 9th season. The good years of that show were on NBC.
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 31, 2022, 12:31:16 PM
I finished King of the Hill recently and am on to American Dad. I'm not enjoying it nearly as much, but I understand it gets better after the first season, and I always like to begin at the beginning.
And when the clock hits, oh, 4:25, I've been watching Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting. It's cliche as hell to watch it then, and yet it's so enjoyable.
Before my elderly dog to the trip to the great fire hydrant in the sky, I would put on the Bob Ross channel for him to watch in the middle of the night. It seemed to calm him. Must have been those happy trees.
Over the holidays this past December we got Netflix for the first time. Shortly after, my brother and I both binge-watched two series on the platform, Outer Banks and Cobra Kai. Both of these shows are a great watch. I didn't get involved binge-watching another show on Netflix until I was out for the summer (from college), although in the past few weeks I have watched dozens of The Office episodes with my family on regular TV.
I've been watching Twin Peaks. I didn't watch it when it was new. I was a little young for such programming. I saw it years ago when it was on Netflix. I signed up for Paramount Plus last month and found it on there, so I watched it again. As chance would have it, P+ offered me a year of Showtime at a discount, and I added it. I vaguely remember there being a new version, but I had no idea it was on Showtime when I signed up for it. I'm through the first two episodes of the new version, which I've never seen before.
There was something magical about the first season. The second season was good, but not at the same level. The third season seems to be from Bob's point of view. That's an interesting approach. Frank Silva, who did an excellent job of looking like a crazy killer, died in 1995, but he shows up at least once in the new series, in reused footage. At first I didn't like that they turned Dale into a murderer, but that is how the original seemed to end. The show seems to be about evil spirits, and places where those spirits have access to our world. Dale's story will teach us something, and may be similar to the Frank Silva character's story before he became Bob (and Leland's story, for that matter).
After I watch all of the episodes, I plan to rewatch the "Psych" episode "Dual Spires."
My wife and I just started, last night, on S1E1 of Burn Notice.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on June 02, 2022, 12:22:57 PM
Most recent binge is another swing through Scrubs.
It annoys me that Hulu makes it seem like that show was on ABC, but they only got that bullshit 9th season. The good years of that show were on NBC.
They slap a CBS badge on
Frasier, too, and I have no idea why.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 02:52:00 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on June 02, 2022, 12:22:57 PM
Most recent binge is another swing through Scrubs.
It annoys me that Hulu makes it seem like that show was on ABC, but they only got that bullshit 9th season. The good years of that show were on NBC.
They slap a CBS badge on Frasier, too, and I have no idea why.
Whoever owned it last?
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 02:52:00 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on June 02, 2022, 12:22:57 PM
Most recent binge is another swing through Scrubs.
It annoys me that Hulu makes it seem like that show was on ABC, but they only got that bullshit 9th season. The good years of that show were on NBC.
They slap a CBS badge on Frasier, too, and I have no idea why.
It was produced by Paramount, which now owns CBS, and the planned revival/sequel series is slotted for Paramount+. But yeah, odd.
Scrubs is on prime video, I watched the first couple seasons when they actually talked about medical stuff. At some point it just becomes a soap opera.
For some reason, most medical dramas end up that way. First 2 seasons of House were great, and then they added a shitton of drama to... keep the audience engaged? Haven't bothered to watch Grey's Anatomy past season 1 because they didn't even bother to make it past the first season without it becoming a soap.
[/rant]
Quote from: MCRoads on June 09, 2022, 04:40:10 PM
Haven't bothered to watch Grey's Anatomy past season 1 because they didn't even bother to make it past the first season without it becoming a soap.
[/rant]
INORITE
If you like medical dramas, you should watch the first few seasons of ER.
I should clarify that we don't actually watch shows by the typical definition of "binge watching". That is to say, we don't watch more than one or two episodes of anything at a time. Rather, we stream-watch one show from beginning to end, but we might watch four episodes in a week or only one episode in a week.
Quote from: kphoger on June 10, 2022, 03:49:52 PM
I should clarify that we don't actually watch shows by the typical definition of "binge watching". That is to say, we don't watch more than one or two episodes of anything at a time. Rather, we stream-watch one show from beginning to end, but we might watch four episodes in a week or only one episode in a week.
That would still be binge watching by historical standards, where a 26-episode season would be viewed over the course of nine months or so.
Heh. Remember reruns? Nothing worse than getting all settled in to watch a favorite show, and you realize in the first five minutes that you already saw this episode three months ago.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 10, 2022, 06:07:32 PM
Remember reruns? Nothing worse than getting all settled in to watch a favorite show, and you realize in the first five minutes that you already saw this episode three months ago.
Actually, maybe the best thing now is being able to watch the first couple of episodes of a show, when you'd only ever seen later ones on live TV or as reruns.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 10, 2022, 06:07:32 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 10, 2022, 03:49:52 PM
I should clarify that we don't actually watch shows by the typical definition of "binge watching". That is to say, we don't watch more than one or two episodes of anything at a time. Rather, we stream-watch one show from beginning to end, but we might watch four episodes in a week or only one episode in a week.
That would still be binge watching by historical standards, where a 26-episode season would be viewed over the course of nine months or so.
It still doesn't feel right to call it "binge watching", because it's just... the way we watch TV now. I haven't had cable TV in more than a decade. Watching one series at a time (or maybe two) is the only way we watch shows anymore.
i wouldn't call it binging, but I recently watched multiple episodes of Ozark and Better Call Saul in a relatively short time.
Quote from: kphoger on June 09, 2022, 02:13:07 PMMy wife and I just started, last night, on S1E1 of Burn Notice.
That's a fun one! (I think I watched it about a decade ago.)
As for my own viewing, the last thing I watched was a random episode of
Poldark (the BBC's 2015 adaptation). I had just gotten into the series (was about to start the second or third book) and was curious about the casting choices. It's actually been years since I watched a TV series from start to finish, though I followed
Outlander through season 4.
Completism used to be the posh term for what is now called binge-watching.
Quote from: J N Winkler on June 15, 2022, 08:22:17 PM
Completism used to be the posh term for what is now called binge-watching.
I mostly associate that term (or, more accurately, the variant form
completionism) with video gaming, where it's common vernacular for a willingness on the part of a player to tick off all the boxes in whatever sort of checklist the game tracks. (Getting 100% in the most recent
Legend of Zelda title, for instance, involves completing all 150 shrines, finding all 900 korok seeds, visiting every named bridge in the country, etc.)
We've limited ourselves to just one episode per week, but my family has been watching The Chosen. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it but, for those who haven't, it's about the life and ministry of Jesus and his disciples. Now, I'm exactly the sort of person to be highly critical of a show like this, from several different angles, and yet I cannot recommend it highly enough. I'm sure it's no surprise to any of you that my natural inclination would be to pick it apart and criticize it at every turn. But we just finished the fourth season, and nothing I've seen so far has dissuaded me from giving the series golden reviews to anyone who asks.
Potential reasons for me to dislike the series, and why I don't:
1. With any artistic depiction of Jesus, there is the risk of making him out to be what we'd like him to be, rather than how he is actually depicted in the Bible itself. He could be shown as too nice, or nothing more than a teacher, or a crazy radical, or not radical enough, or a whole host of other pitfalls. However, in my estimation, the show does a very good job at finding the appropriate balance between Jesus' down-to-earth humanity and his self-awareness of his divinity, between his humor and his seriousness, between his tolerance and his zeal, between his patience and his frustration with others, between his living in the moment and his mindfulness of his ultimate mission—all of which come through in the Bible itself but are brought to life so vividly in the show.
2. It's produced by Dallas Jenkins, son of Jerry Jenkins, and I have a theological bad taste in my mouth from having worked for a company that published some of Jerry's bestselling books. But I have no complaints from a theological perspective about The Chosen. In fact, considering that it's about Jesus' earthly life, there's really not a whole lot of theology to begin with. And, inasmuch as the show ever does touch on theological truths—which it tries not to do too much—it only asserts basic things that most any Christian would agree with.
3. Christian movies have historically been poorly produced. This has probably been mostly due to low budget, but perhaps also lack of talent. In stark contrast, The Chosen is very well produced. There's never any reason to cringe or groan, but on the other hand there are plenty of truly emotional scenes and lovable characters. It's intellectually engaging, emotionally appealing, historically scrupulous, well written, well acted, and consistently good from one episode to the next.
4. The show combines conversation straight from the Bible verbatim, dramatization of biblical stories, traditions of varying reliability, invented story lines about biblical characters, and invented story lines about invented characters—all with no indication of where the lines are between fact and fiction. This could (and surely does) very easily lead people to think that some made-up story line or character is actually part of the biblical narrative. However, the show does a meticulously good job at only incorporating non-biblical traditions that have a well-established history within orthodox Christianity, and at making sure the invented story lines complement and support the biblical narrative rather than work against it. In short, it walks that razor's edge of artistic license with unmatched skill, never falling into either heresy or rigidity. Coming from me, a devoted Christian with a high regard for the Bible, that's high praise indeed. One of our best friends from church, in fact, said she expected me to be dead-set against the show because of how high a bar I must set for it, and I quite surprised her and her husband by just how strong an advocate I've become of it.
5. Considering all the glowing praise I've given the series in the first four points, one might expect the show to be too overtly preachy to appeal to non-religious viewers. But I don't imagine that to be the case. The story lines are very relatable, even if you don't believe Jesus is the Son of God. The dramatic tension between Jesus, his disciples, the Jewish leaders, and the Romans is as captivating as any good period drama would be. The attention to historical and cultural detail makes for a show that's both academically and visually appealing. If you have even the slightest casual interest in Jesus and the world in which he lived, then you should enjoy this show.
6. Considering that last point, one might expect the show to stray too far into the realm of historical fiction to appeal to Christians. But this has certainly not been my experience. My whole family is hooked, as are some of the Christians I respect the most in my own church. Multiple Christians have mentioned how it takes the same biblical texts they've heard their whole lives and brought them to life in a new and refreshing way—allowing them to see them in a new light, or rather in the same light but more brightly and vividly than before.
I started watching The Boys last year after I heard about the gruesome Season 4 oven scene. The first season took awhile to get going but hit its stride by the finale. More than a super hero deconstruction the show is more about megalomania and unchecked debauchery. It made my wife nauseous more than a couple times.
We've been rotating between Futurama, Gilmore Girls, King of the Hill, and Outlander, and in times where I'm at home and my wife isn't, I watch the Shout Factory DVD release of WKRP In Cincinnati, in which I'm finally up to season 4.
For us, it's most of the Chuck Lorre library, which includes the Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Two and a Half Men and Mike & Molly (my favorite of the bunch). On our wishlist area two other shows, Mom and Bob Hearts Abishola.