What are You Watching?

[Sinclair]

What's everyone currently watching, or have recently watched?

I just recently binged Succession and Shrinking. My wife and I also recently watched Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923.

I've watched every season of Survivor and am excited for the new season which starts this week.

As for movies, I saw A Complete Unknown which was a pretty good movie. I was also surprised at how much I liked Gladiator II, as the original is one of my all-time favorites. While not as good as the first, it was very enjoyable.

 

[Looney]

Ohhhh so many things. I'm a watcher so the list is very long. There are a ton of older shows, so here is a list of just current shows

REACHER
ANIMAL CONTROL
NIGHT COURT (a steadily declining show)
LORD OF THE RINGS - RINGS OF POWER
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES
MURDOCH MYSTERIES
MIDSOMER MURDERS
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - (But the only thing I believe I've seen since November was the 50TH Special)
THE SIMPSONS as always.
Those are a smattering of shows that are still currently not canceled for the foreseeable future.
I might start YELLOWJACKETS soon.

 

[Springer]

My 4K copy of The Mandalorian season 3 has just arrived so I'll be watching that over the next week or two, I don't subscribe to Disney so I've not seen it yet.

I've been rewatching lots of Star Trek: TOS recently. Brilliant, brilliant show. Think it's now number 2 on my list of favourite shows ever.

Um, that's about it. I struggle to get worked up about watching new things these days, seems too much of an effort to get invested in anything new. Though Zero Day with Robert De Niro is something I might watch, mainly because it's got De Niro in. And I might try Night Agent if I ever remember to find the time.

Movie-wise, I will watch the new Mission: Impossible and Jurassic Park/World films when they come out. Watched the latest Bad Boys film recently and yeah, they get dumber with each movie.

@Looney: Midsomer Murders, are they the early episodes with John Nettles? If so, you might like to try and find an earlier series of his from the 1980s called Bergerac, where he plays a police officer eventually turned private detective in Jersey, which is one of the Channel Islands between the UK and France. The BBC have recently rebooted the show.

 

[RW7427]

I have a ton of programs recorded on my DVR but I don't watch them like I should be.

 

[Looney]

Midsomer Murders, are they the early episodes with John Nettles? If so, you might like to try and find an earlier series of his from the 1980s called Bergerac, where he plays a police officer eventually turned private detective in Jersey, which is one of the Channel Islands between the UK and France. The BBC have recently rebooted the show.

I am watching fairly close to the current episodes. I will say that I do prefer the Nettles episodes. I will definitely look into BERGERAC.

 

[Ubik]

Severance (best SF on TV right now IMHO, Apple TV seem to be knocking it out of the park recently)
Common Side Effects (Cool Adult Swim animated show with Mike Judge)
White Lotus

 

[Looney]

Finished SPACE 1999 - EUREKA - and did a quick binge of LEXX. All varying degrees of disappointment. Might come back an say a little about each. Actually might say more about EUREKA and LEXX. SPACE 1999 I can get out of the way now. I just can't say anything good other than amazing effects and about four truly great episodes of Science Fiction. The rest was just annoying. I didn't even really like any of the characters. I mean I didn't hate them, but they just made no connection with me.

 

[Looney]

Just an update on Science Fiction viewing... Just finished Series 3 of RED DWARF.... Liking it so far. Not great on the Science Fiction, but scores high on the comedy.

 

[Springer]

Just an update on Science Fiction viewing... Just finished Series 3 of RED DWARF.... Liking it so far. Not great on the Science Fiction, but scores high on the comedy.

This is your first run-through of Red Dwarf? Enjoy! Personally I think seasons 4–6 are the best, you're in for a treat!

 

[Looney]

The friend who got me to watch it said the same thing. He is at the end and says he has really enjoyed the last bits as well. I know there are specials and movies. Do you know a proper list of what should be watched when?

BTW I am watching these early series on DVD. Oh how I love those animated DVD menus. Such a shame that physical media stopped doing great stuff like that, but I guess they wanted to use that disc space for forced ads and forced piracy warnings.

 

[Springer]

To be honest, I haven't kept up with the most recent specials and series. I think the first nine (?) seasons were made by the BBC, and then there was a long gap before they began making more, I've watched a few of them but felt something was lacking. It was never quite the same show to me after season 6 when Rob Grant left.

 

[Kraig]

Currently watching the new season of Resident Alien and Murderbot.

 

[Ubik]

Currently watching Foundation. Took me a while to get around to this one. So far, very epic, high budget SF with a great cast and solid scripts. I haven't read the Asimov books in question, so I'm just enjoying it for what it is.

Call me crazy, but Lee Pace who plays Empire (day), would make an amazing G'Kar. Something about the way he holds himself.

Anyhow, great SF... clearly a lot of time, effort and money was thrown at this one... and it shows. Thoroughly enjoying season 2.

 

[LateArrival]

Currently watching Foundation. Took me a while to get around to this one. So far, very epic, high budget SF with a great cast and solid scripts. I haven't read the Asimov books in question, so I'm just enjoying it for what it is.

Call me crazy, but Lee Pace who plays Empire (day), would make an amazing G'Kar. Something about the way he holds himself.

Anyhow, great SF... clearly a lot of time, effort and money was thrown at this one... and it shows. Thoroughly enjoying season 2.

So far as books vs show goes, only character names and basic premise are the same. Which is actually a good thing since the three books that make up The Foundation Series are basically people talking about what takes place off screen. Might work as a stage play but would be a television snoozefest. Asimov later wrote two prequel and two sequel novels, and there was a "licensed prequel 2nd trilogy" written by other authors in the 90s. Would say the TV series takes more from the various prequels than Foundation itself, but having little to start with other than the basic premise they've done a great job bringing things to the small screen. ...as an example of the 4th book's climatic confrontation between the 1st and 2nd Foundations and Gaia (sentient planet) that decides the fate of the galaxy, three ships meet in space and -- talk.


Recently finished the third (and final) season for Wheel of Time, and learned that the series has been cancelled. In hindsight wasn't a surprise since season two was filming/etc before season one aired, and season three was filming/etc before season two aired. Season three aired without the fourth season being renewed, so writing was on the wall. Rings of Power apparently (?) has a contract for five more seasons, so guess there will be five more seasons of RoP.

 

[Ubik]

So far as books vs show goes, only character names and basic premise are the same. Which is actually a good thing since the three books that make up The Foundation Series are basically people talking about what takes place off screen. Might work as a stage play but would be a television snoozefest. Asimov later wrote two prequel and two sequel novels, and there was a "licensed prequel 2nd trilogy" written by other authors in the 90s. Would say the TV series takes more from the various prequels than Foundation itself, but having little to start with other than the basic premise they've done a great job bringing things to the small screen. ...as an example of the 4th book's climatic confrontation between the 1st and 2nd Foundations and Gaia (sentient planet) that decides the fate of the galaxy, three ships meet in space and -- talk.


Recently finished the third (and final) season for Wheel of Time, and learned that the series has been cancelled. In hindsight wasn't a surprise since season two was filming/etc before season one aired, and season three was filming/etc before season two aired. Season three aired without the fourth season being renewed, so writing was on the wall. Rings of Power apparently (?) has a contract for five more seasons, so guess there will be five more seasons of RoP.

I'm close to the end of Foundation season 2 now and whilst it's still good, I've found my attention waning and the scattershot storytelling has been a bit jarring. It packs a lot in, in terms of characters, time jumps, side quests and progressing the overall arc. Maybe too much in mix. At least it's never plodding.

I have to admit I enjoyed the slower pacing of S1 a lot more whilst it was establishing the world. Anyway, as it goes, it's good solid SF TV.

Weirdly, as an SF nut, I have yet to check out much Asimov. I've read pretty widely but never got around to his work.

 

[LateArrival]

Asimov's SF - particularly his Empire/Robot/Foundation stories, is certainly worth reading, although they were originally written as standalones and never meant to be linked together. It was only with the newer Robot/Foundation novels that he retconned the three series into a single universe. Although he mentioned it made sense to write continuing or serialized stories for SF magazines since those had a greater chance of being accepted.

Ironically one of his "Susan Calvin Robot Stories" did get televised-ish. While the story as written was ahead of it's time (A woman scientist?), the TV version gets re-imagined to fit the world of 1962. Sort of how the original Trek pilot's female first officer didn't make a reappearance until Strange New Worlds.

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Little Lost Robot (very 60s)

 

[Springer]

.as an example of the 4th book's climatic confrontation between the 1st and 2nd Foundations and Gaia (sentient planet) that decides the fate of the galaxy, three ships meet in space and -- talk.

Kind of like Into the Fire then! (That's not a criticism, btw)

After I graduated from Star Trek and Star Wars tie-ins as a teen, I progressed into the triumvirate of Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. I enjoyed Asimov at the time, but I find his work a bit dated now, whereas I think Clarke and to some extent Heinlein have stood the test of time better. That said, 'Foundation' and 'Foundation and Empire' are both still excellent pieces of work. I consider Hari Seldon to be one of science fiction's quintessential characters, and the Mule was an excellent antagonist. Have they introduced the Mule in the TV show yet? I don't have Apple TV but I'd like to watch Foundation one day - Jared Harris is one of my favourite character actors.

Asimov was more cerebral and interested in societies and politics than whizz-bang space battles - I guess readers at the time had Doc Smith for that. But so long as you remember that much of it was written in the 40s and 50s (the first Foundation book is actually a bunch of novellas that came out in the 40s and were put together as a full novel in the early 50s, if I remember rightly) and don't apply modern standards, there's still a lot to enjoy. If you can get the original Foundation books with the iconic Chris Foss covers from the 70s, even better! I also enjoyed Asimov's The Currents of Space, Pebble in the Sky and The Stars Like Dust, which I think are meant to be precursors to the Foundation series. I also enjoyed the Lucky Starr series of juvies as a teen, but I don't think they'll stand up today. Asimov's last book was I think Nemesis in 1992, and it showed his writing really hadn't developed with the times.

 

[Looney]

Switching from TV to Movies, like so many others I saw JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025) this weekend. . . . . did not care for it. It did not feel like a Jurassic Park film to me. It felt like a dinosaur Science Fiction film that tried to force itself to fit into a Jurassic Park mold. I keep thinking maybe I need to give it another shot, but I doubt that would help. There were parts enjoyed, but it felt very unoriginal and uninspired. I will admit that if they did an extended cut or recut I might give it another shot. I hope they do because obviously this will have a successful opening weekend that will lead to sequels that are hopefully better. I am someone who enjoyed JURASSIC WORLD (2015), but not so much JURASSIC WORLD FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) or JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION (2022). That has been my pattern. I enjoy the start of a round of a a Jurassic Park Trilogy and not so much the follow-ups. So starting off with one I don't care for does not bode well for the follow-ups.

 

[Ubik]

Switching from TV to Movies, like so many others I saw JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025) this weekend. . . . . did not care for it. It did not feel like a Jurassic Park film to me. It felt like a dinosaur Science Fiction film that tried to force itself to fit into a Jurassic Park mold. I keep thinking maybe I need to give it another shot, but I doubt that would help. There were parts enjoyed, but it felt very unoriginal and uninspired. I will admit that if they did an extended cut or recut I might give it another shot. I hope they do because obviously this will have a successful opening weekend that will lead to sequels that are hopefully better. I am someone who enjoyed JURASSIC WORLD (2015), but not so much JURASSIC WORLD FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) or JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION (2022). That has been my pattern. I enjoy the start of a round of a a Jurassic Park Trilogy and not so much the follow-ups. So starting off with one I don't care for does not bode well for the follow-ups.

Hollywood needs to fucking stop it with the reboots, never ending sequels and remakes. Creatively bankrupt nonsense.

Is it just me, or is all the really strong storytelling in TV these days as opposed to film? I've seen a handful of good films of late, but it seems like TV is now the long form medium that allows for more creative freedom.

 

[LateArrival]

In regards to creativity/new-ideas, wouldn't it be easier to independently produce a film, although possibly it might be a made-for-tv-film, than it would be to get a TV series "greenlighted", a pilot made, a series picked up, etc.

To semi-switch to the now defunct Wheel of Time series, in hindsight seemed like the signs were there from the beginning that it was on the chopping block. When Prime Video With Ads started in January 2024, there was a montage of various shows with Rings of Power prominent in the center of the screen. However when I looked for WoT on the montage screen, couldn't find it, which seemed telling at the time. And criticism aside of writers taking creative-license with the books since that's what writers always do, the elapsed time of all 14-ish books is less than interim between the airing of S1E1 and S3E1. Doubt they'd have been able to keep things going for the next 10-15 years to finish things although perhaps animation would have been better to allow for an extended run while saving on production costs.