Good TV (aka, the TV series spamthread), the second series

[Strudel]

I thought the very ending wasn't great, but up until that point it was fantastic. Totally agree on the music as well.

[Rossell]

James May: Oh Cook!

If you're on the fence it's quite good, in a way disassembles the cookery show. Enjoyable background noise.

[Animalmother]

Finished Dark last night and can safely say this is some of the best TV I've watched in a very long time. It keeps you on your toes and you have to pay attention throughout or your lost, not something you throw on in background while you do something else. It can get confusing at times and there are a lot of characters to keep up with but it's utterly compelling. It's also brutally cruel in places, I muttered "Ohh fuck..." more than a few times. The music needs a mention again, amazing stuff.

[Animalmother]

Barbarians [Netflix]

Really enjoying this. It's the story of how the German tribes came to defeat the Roman Empire at Teutoborg Forest (warning, 2,000 year old spoilers ). I'm only three episodes in but it's already very good. It's a period of history I'm greatly interested in, and it's quite novel watching something from the non-Roman perspective... it's a German production (subtitled) and the Romans are agreeably pantomimish villains. I don't think it's got quite the production budget of some of the other dramas for the period, but still very good.

Watched this yesterday and it is very good. The Romans are portrayed as being almost cartoon villains and a tad dumb but I suppose that was arrogance. Looks great and has a good budget so hopefully it's gets picked up for a season 2. Loving me German made TV shows!

[Animalmother]

Alien Worlds
New series on Netflix about how life might appear on other planets. It's not the like the shite you find on the Discovery channel but more like a David Attenborough series with gorgeous shots of plants and animals on Earth and how similar species might evolve on a different planet. Some of the stuff we have on Earth is mind blowing like entire forests using a network of fungus to communicate (basically tree internet) and bacteria called snottite (it looks like snot..) that's more corrosive that battery acid. Match that up with soothing narration, great music and very engaging scientists talking about the nature. Lovely stuff.

[Tommy]

Cobra Kai

I'll preface this by saying I've never seen Karate Kid, never intended to watch this. I thought it was a comedy based on the actors as themselves as former child actors with some silliness thrown in.

It isn't. It's borderline dramatised comic book, but I really enjoyed it. It's quite difficult to describe where it's at. At times it's almost like Riverdale (which is terrible), at times it's a decent fighting series. It has more than its fair share of vanilla characters, but overall I'd probably recommend it. Episodes are short enough to enjoy them in bite-sized pieces.

Not a huge amount to say about it really. Enjoyable.

[Achtung Englander]

The Crown season 4

The production value of this show is out of this world. The music and editing is like a beautiful dance. Just sublime, it is better than a lot of films. I know most of it is crap and literally all of it conjecture, but by god it is masterful TV. I disliked the fact it skipped quite a lot of 80s history like the Brighton Hotel bombing, the Poll Tax riots and the rise of the Yuppie and all out capitalism that gripped the City.

Still it is really very good.

8/10

[Achtung Englander]

The Spy (Netflix)

Based on the remarkable true story of an Israeli spy who inflitrated all the way up to the being friends with the Syrian president and the toll it took on his life. Superb acting from Sasha Baron Cohen and not once did I think of Borat or Ali G as his performance was faultless. Overall I thought it was superb. It was created by the same guy who did Homeland and looking at his resume on IMDB he is a bit of a one note record, and in some aspects of the drama it did have elements of Homeland. Overall, though, it was compelling TV

7/10

[Alan]

The Boys S2
I wasnt that hot on S1 but I really liked S2! Great mix of funny and bloody.

[Alan]

Late on this but Taskmaster is pretty great. Just started S4 and is pretty consistent with the laughs and that’s something I’d never say about other panel shows. I don’t think 2 or 3 were anywhere near as good as S1 but still an enjoyable watch.

[Animalmother]

To the Lake
Russian thriller/horror show on Netflix about a deadly flu like outbreak in Moscow (definitely made before Covid was a thing) and a group of people trying to escape. Pretty good so far after 3 episodes, think it's the first Russian TV show I've ever actually watched. It's most certainly borrowed some ideas from 28 Days Later including the theme music. The authorities are shown as utter cunts and society breaks down almost immediately which I wouldn't have expected in a big budget Russian made show. Also I think half the strife encountered is just the fact it's Russia and your dealing with Russians

One thing that does annoy me a little is the over use of POV camera shots and weird angles. Otherwise worth a look.

[Snowy]

Letterkenny season 9 is being released in full on 26th December. The only way to get it over here is via shivering timbers, but another few episodes of Canadian silliness will definitely have me firing up the VPN...

[Animalmother]

Letterkenny season 9 is being released in full on 26th December. The only way to get it over here is via shivering timbers, but another few episodes of Canadian silliness will definitely have me firing up the VPN...

Pitter patter good buddy...

Black Spot
French series on Netflix about a small town in the middle of a forest. Very Twin Peaks vibes off it after the first 2 episodes, still not sure if it's supernatural shit going on or just weird.

[Drarok]

Letterkenny season 9 is being released in full on 26th December. The only way to get it over here is via shivering timbers, but another few episodes of Canadian silliness will definitely have me firing up the VPN...

Some UK distributor needs to figger it oat!

[elgaucho]

Watching or finishing a few bits at the moment:

Battlestar Galactica
I feel like I'm 2000 years behind on this, but i finally finished watching season 4 of this.
I think the concept and idea of the show were great, but there were definite moments, especially in the last season, where it felt to me like the whole story was a bit of a meandering mess.
There's no broader link tying up many of the loose storytelling, and they weren't used terribly well to develop or evolve the characters they were focused on. To me this led to the last season feeling more like a chore than something i enjoyed.

I'm thrilled I've finished this and will have the new season of Expanse to watch as soon as a few more episodes are available, as it'll be painful to not binge that one!

I'd also say I think Babylon 5 was better. That one is still one of my favourite sci fi shows.

Alice in Borderland
I'm still on the first half of the season on this, but wow. It doesn't pull any punches, and I DO NOT KNOW what's going to happen on any given episode. I do know it will be grisly. It's leaving me torn between wanting to watch another or wanting more time to digest and recover from the previous episode. F***** up.

What we do in the shadows
It took me a while to warm up to this show - i hate the "docu-comedy" model, but it's actually quite entertaining, bloody full of unexpected cameos, and totally irreverend!

Ted Lasso
I think i said it before, but if you haven't already, watch this show. Wholesome awesomeness.