|
Post by Kapitan on Sept 26, 2023 12:49:14 GMT
While it isn't official yet, it seems the writer's strike in Hollywood is over (or ending).
The strike began in May.
Something that occurred to me when I heard of its conclusion was, "oh yeah, the writers are striking. I keep forgetting that." I guess one reason is writers are upstream of a lot of original content, so the full effects will take a while to trickle down. I know talk shows mostly closed up shop, but I haven't ever been able to stomach the current crop of those anyway: I loved me some Letterman and Conan, but Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, etc., never meant a thing to me anyway in their current jobs.
And between older shows on Netflix and Hulu, and tons of original content from non-union creators on YouTube, I just wasn't feeling any lack of content.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Sept 26, 2023 17:22:10 GMT
I think it would've taken a few more months for the strike to impact my watching habits.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2023 13:00:08 GMT
I've been meaning to watch some old John Candy comedies for what seems like forever. Last night, I finally rewatched Uncle Buck.
Still funny. Still very funny. It mostly holds up pretty well. The biggest thing that strikes me watching it is the same as with all movies and TV shows made before, say, the early 2000s: the lack of smartphones and even mobile phones. It's really something, how different things are when you make that one change. I am--as are many, but not all, of you--old enough to have lived without them, but even so, it is startling to revisit the days of needing to reach a person at home to speak to them (and to be at home, yourself, or at least finding a phone to use). That seemingly small change makes the world a very different place.
But the movie: Candy really is great. Sure, it's corny in spots, like the "bachelor doing laundry in the microwave" scene. But it's really funny. I'd forgotten that the great Laurie Metcalf is in it, as the sex-crazed neighbor Marcy. And while I remembered Macauley Culkin made his film debut as Miles--my favorite of his roles--I did not remember that Gaby Hoffman played his sister Maizy.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 4, 2023 18:08:54 GMT
Uncle Buck is one of those movies I always find myself watching when it's on.
Funny thing about Metcalf. I watched Roseanne back when Uncle Buck came out, but didn't recognize her back then. Maybe because her Roseanne character was typically dressed down.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 4, 2023 18:39:41 GMT
Speaking of TV shows, I've been guilty of being too loyal to shows, but I'm trying to get better with that.
Just as I finally gave up on The Walking Dead a few years ago, I'm cutting the chord on American Horror Story. The first season, in 2011, was really good. Since then, the seasons have been wildly inconsistent with none as good as the first.
The show tries way too hard to be topical and taboo. The horror elememts are usually "borrowed" from far superior sources. I have all of last season on the DVR, and the first 2 episodes of this season.
As soon as I figure out how to cancel a series recording on my streaming service, I'm done.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 4, 2023 19:10:43 GMT
Uncle Buck is one of those movies I always find myself watching when it's on. Funny thing about Metcalf. I watched Roseanne back when Uncle Buck came out, but didn't recognize her back then. Maybe because her Roseanne character was typically dressed down. What's funny is, I am in the exact same boat. I watched Roseanne regularly, and I am pretty sure I saw Uncle Buck in the theater when it came out. Yet I literally never made the connection until last night. I think Laurie Metcalf is really fantastic. I've mentioned it before, but her role on Louis CK's short series Horace & Pete as Horace's (CK's character) ex-wife was amazing.
|
|
|
Post by carllove on Oct 5, 2023 12:52:42 GMT
Speaking of TV shows, I've been guilty of being too loyal to shows, but I'm trying to get better with that. Just as I finally gave up on The Walking Dead a few years ago, I'm cutting the chord on American Horror Story. The first season, in 2011, was really good. Since then, the seasons have been wildly inconsistent with none as good as the first. The show tries way too hard to be topical and taboo. The horror elememts are usually "borrowed" from far superior sources. I have all of last season on the DVR, and the first 2 episodes of this season. As soon as I figure out how to cancel a series recording on my streaming service, I'm done. American Horror Story Asylum, season two, was my favorite. I quit watching it after the circus season. It really started to go off the rails during season five. I think I watched two episodes of that season, and I was like “nope, not for me”. The new Daryl Dixon series is pretty good. I stopped watching the Walking Dead a couple of years ago, though my husband keeps plowing through it. It’s just not the same show anymore. Also, most of the folks I really cared about, are gone.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 5, 2023 15:38:40 GMT
Speaking of TV shows, I've been guilty of being too loyal to shows, but I'm trying to get better with that. Just as I finally gave up on The Walking Dead a few years ago, I'm cutting the chord on American Horror Story. The first season, in 2011, was really good. Since then, the seasons have been wildly inconsistent with none as good as the first. The show tries way too hard to be topical and taboo. The horror elememts are usually "borrowed" from far superior sources. I have all of last season on the DVR, and the first 2 episodes of this season. As soon as I figure out how to cancel a series recording on my streaming service, I'm done. American Horror Story Asylum, season two, was my favorite. I quit watching it after the circus season. It really started to go off the rails during season five. I think I watched two episodes of that season, and I was like “nope, not for me”. The new Daryl Dixon series is pretty good. I stopped watching the Walking Dead a couple of years ago, though my husband keeps plowing through it. It’s just not the same show anymore. Also, most of the folks I really cared about, are gone. Asylum was pretty good, but IMO fell apart at the end. You're right, the fifth season Hotel, was pretty awful. I probably would've jumped off there, but I did enjoy Roanoke. It was one of the few later seasons that primarily focused on horror. No in your face morality, politics, or taboo stuff. I thought about checking out the Darryl show, but I have completely lost interest in all things Walking Dead.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2023 23:56:14 GMT
In the past couple of weeks, I've discovered an old--but not so old--documentary series done for PBS, "The American President." It comprises 10 episodes each featuring a 10-15 minute segment on one president, with the four from each episode viewing those presidents primarily through some topical grouping: "Happenstance," "The Professional Politician," "An Independent Cast of Mind," and so on. They cover most (but not quite all) of the presidents in one episode or another, and the perspective is refreshing: the office is given a certain deference, and the portraits are not partisan. I'm sure a person deeply invested in (or against) a president or party could find fault here or there, but it truly seems done in a good faith that is rare anymore. (To think, this first aired in 2000. It's almost surprising how much things have changed. But then again, that's almost a quarter century, so what would I expect!?) Obviously a president can't be fully covered in fewer than 15 minutes, but the shows are well done, and not meant to be comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination. Taken for what they are--educational but light sketches on characteristics shared by several presidents--they're really enjoyable. You can watch them on YouTube, with the playlist found here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ51kDxtnNpd5T0OSTBnmPxBmDJPTwNhc(I had accidentally posted this in the wrong thread previously. I've now deleted that post.)
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 11, 2023 12:57:30 GMT
The other day, I started watching what I thought was a pretty new HBO series, The Righteous Gemstones. (It turns out it began in 2019, and it's just that I hadn't heard of it until this year.) Starring John Goodman and a series of apparently successful actors I was oblivious of, such as Danny McBride, Edie Patterson, Adam Devine, Walton Goggins, Cassidy Freeman, and assorted others, I'd read a summary of the show in NYT or something and thought it might be up my alley.
Semi-spoiler alert: no details, but general themes.
The show is focused on a corrupt family of megachurch owner-pastors, with Goodman as the patriarch and McBride, Patterson, and Devine as his generally incompetent kids. While the overview I'd read made it seem clever and nuanced, I have to say that I've found it to be cartoonish and one-dimensional. I was disappointed in the first episode, but have since watched two more just to be sure it wasn't just one episode. But no, it's consistent so far.
It feels like nothing so much as a rip-off of Succession, but set within a southern evangelical megachurch family instead of a northeastern corporate family. But similarly, there is really nobody to root for: the characters are uniformly unpleasant. It also has that same sort of comedic style, dark and cynical. It's a style that appealed to me when I was younger, maybe because it wasn't yet so played out, or maybe because it's just more appealing as a transgressive style to the young. But now, I find it to be like a cheap trick.
What's more, it was particularly unappealing in a pastor's family. Now, I am an atheist, and even if I weren't, I was raised in and have much more respect for more traditional church environments than I do for the nondenominational, prosperity gospel-spouting megachurches portrayed in the show. But even so, to use such one-dimensional, unlikable, cynical characters and situations there just feels, again, like an easy, cheap trick.
I think three episodes will be as far as I go. I'll need to find some other show to watch.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Nov 8, 2023 19:27:33 GMT
I used to be a big movie fan. I somewhat lament the fact that I'm not anymore. Since my son was born in late 2017, I've devoted very little time to movies. And, its really rare that I get excited about a new movie. The last time I did was probably Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released in Nov 2021 after a year and a half of COVID delays.
The first trailer for the follow up to Afterlife was released a few hours ago. The new movie - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - is set for a March 2024.
So, after watching the trailer, I can honestly say I'm even more stoked than I was for the last one. While I enjoyed Afterlife, (SPOILERS) that movie was more about establishing new characters and reigniting the franchise, while throwing out a ton of callbacks to the 1984 original.
From the two plus minute trailer, this one looks more like a true Ghostbusters adventure. The amount of sheer joy after watching that trailer is something I have not experienced in regards to a movie in a long, long time.
Between Now & Then, and a new Ghostbusters trailer, November is off to a really good start.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jan 15, 2024 18:52:30 GMT
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the classic American sitcom "Happy Days." With '50s nostalgia in full swing, the show is described in a NYT story today by saying "“Happy Days,” in a way, was the ’70s using the ’50s to repudiate the ’60s, or at least the divisive aftermath of them."
It was already in reruns and winding down in original runs by the time I was old enough to watch, but I did always enjoy it. Though I didn't realize it was a modern show: I couldn't differentiate between a show about the '50s and a show from the '50s.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Feb 21, 2024 12:17:23 GMT
I've been saying I was going to do it for years, but I've finally done it. Last month, I decided to start watching Cheers from start to finish. The classic sitcom debuted when I was very young. And I think I only watched most of the final season in real time, while catching a lot of episodes in reruns, but even that was well over 20 years ago. I've been saying for over ten years that I want to watch it from the beginning. Back then, I even priced the complete series on DVD (streaming wasn't really a thing at the time). Granted, it's not a huge accomplishment or anything, but it's nice that I'm finally doing something I've been saying I was gonna do. I'm five episodes into Season Three right now (49 episodes into a 271 episode show). I began my "binge watch" of Cheers on June 17, and finished last night, February 20. It took eight months, and three days to watch the complete 11 season run. I enjoyed it very much. Possible hot take, but I enjoyed the Kirstie Alley seasons (6-11) far more than the Shelly Long (1-5) years. I put "binge" in quotes because it took me two thirds of a year to complete the series. I've read in fan groups about fans of long running shows like The Office watching a complete series inside of a few weeks. I guess it comes down to downtime. Back in 2010, I did watch the complete Real Ghostbusters (150 shows l, give or take) in maybe a month. But those were my bachelor days.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Mar 6, 2024 19:10:19 GMT
After a two week break, I started my next show last night - The Wonder Years.
The Wonder Years was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but its seemingly disappeared from TV over the years. Thank goodness for streaming.
Unlike Cheers, I'm fairly certain I've seen every episode, either in real time (I think I started watching sometime in Season 3) or reruns, which were actually pretty consistently through the 1990s. But, jumping on board about a third of the way into its run, this will be my first time watching the exploits of the Arnold family in order.
Its also much less daunting than Cheers - 115 episodes as opposed to 270.
I knocked out the first three episodes last night. One in particular hit me differently than way back when. Its the episode where Kevin wants to find out why his dad is such an unapproachable grouch after work, so he goes to his dad's office for the day. After experiencing the hell that often comes with middle management, Kevin has more of an understanding of his father.
I was probably still a technically child the last time I watched that episode. If I was in the workforce, it was nothing like that. Now, I'm a middle manager myself, and frankly, it sucks at times. So, I found myself relating to Jack as he seeked decompression time after his workday. Although, I feel like I do a better job of leaving my stress at work than Jack does. I have a feeling I'll be seeing several of these episodes through different eyes.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2024 19:24:49 GMT
After a two week break, I started my next show last night - The Wonder Years. The Wonder Years was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but its seemingly disappeared from TV over the years. Thank goodness for streaming. Unlike Cheers, I'm fairly certain I've seen every episode, either in real time (I think I started watching sometime in Season 3) or reruns, which were actually pretty consistently through the 1990s. But, jumping on board about a third of the way into its run, this will be my first time watching the exploits of the Arnold family in order. Its also much less daunting than Cheers - 115 episodes as opposed to 270. I knocked out the first three episodes last night. One in particular hit me differently than way back when. Its the episode where Kevin wants to find out why his dad is such an unapproachable grouch after work, so he goes to his dad's office for the day. After experiencing the hell that often comes with middle management, Kevin has more of an understanding of his father. I was probably still a technically child the last time I watched that episode. If I was in the workforce, it was nothing like that. Now, I'm a middle manager myself, and frankly, it sucks at times. So, I found myself relating to Jack as he seeked decompression time after his workday. Although, I feel like I do a better job of leaving my stress at work than Jack does. I have a feeling I'll be seeing several of these episodes through different eyes. I loved The Wonder Years. If I'm not mistaken, I was in the same grade as Kevin Arnold, Paul Pfeiffer, and Winnie Cooper were on the show, so it always felt relevant to me despite being set 20 years in the past. I'd be interested in rewatching it, actually. (I think I said that when the reboot version came out, but I never did.) Your comment about the dad makes sense. I'd bet I'd feel somewhat similar. Speaking of reboots, I started watching the new Shogun, which I remember watching on TV when I was just a little kid. (I didn't actually remember anything about it other than that a European went to Japan at a time that was rare.) Through the first two episodes, I've really enjoyed it. At least so far, there isn't any of the absurdly unrealistic uber-violence that is so often put into movies set in historical Asia. There was a Marco Polo series on Netflix (I think) that was just so stupid, like Kill Bill or something with their fighting. And I'm not much into action/fight scenes to begin with. But when people are flying and stabbing people behind their backs and whatnot, I'm just all-out.
|
|