The Glass Teat, or 'Television'

[kennfusion]

I travel on business a lot - I was in Phoenix last week, LA right now, and am in Bangkok next week. So I watch a lot of streaming stuff downloaded to my laptop that my wife does not want to watch.

Over the past couple weeks I have worked my way through all 3 Citadel Series - and I will start by saying these are all perfectly good airplane series to binge.

Citadel itself was a little hokey, but I still rate it a 5/10 - and I am perfectly ok with 5/10 entertainment on an airplane. While there were some acting problems and stuff and I was aware they were trying to keep it simple enough for a broad audience - I actually came away wanting more and hopeful it would get better.

Citadel Diana was 6/10 - Essentially all of the problems with Citadel are here also, except that I really liked the two main characters, Diana and Edo. I thought a lot of the politics of Manticore made no sense, but overall a good watch.

Citadel Honey Bunny - 7/10 - The best of the 3 so far, and this would have been a good series regardless of whether it was in the Citadel universe or not. And because that was way more subtle than in Diana, where it kind of unfolded the connection to Citadel/Manticore as it went on, the pacing was really good.

[OhBollox]

The Rig. Bit mediocre. Some great actors working with sub-par material.

[kennfusion]

Streaming Update - 24 hours to Bangkok edition:

Netflix: Zack Snyder’s “Twilight of the Gods” - I am really torn on this. I really loved the story around the two main protagonists - I thought the complexity of the characters as they dealt with love, grief and revenge was very well interwoven into the whole. Conversely, I really disliked the portrayal of the Gods, and never really understood Thor’s character at all or any motivation (and if that was what was supposed to be portrayed, it was lost on me). I am glad I watched this, and would return to a season 2, but I would give this a 6.5/10.

Amazon Prime: The Peripheral - This has been on my watch list for years. I did not realize this was based on the Gibson book of the same title, which I read when it came out forever ago. First, I really enjoyed this, I thought it was very well acted and just paced so well. I loved the way they did the dual world building, it was woven together perfectly. Where I am a little disappointed is that I thought there was a season 2, and there is not. So the story is unfinished and apparently the writer’s strike from a few years ago ended up canceling this. I probably would have not watched this has I actually looked to see if there was a season 2. I give this season 8/10 though.

Disney+ - What If…? Season 3 - I really enjoyed Season’s 1 and 2 of this anthology like series that also was interwoven with some of the movies and other MCU content. I am completely meh on SEason 3 though. The underlying arch is just not that interesting to me and I think most of the individual episodes are weaker stories that we have seen from this series. I think the only episode I really liked was the Winter Soldier/Red Guardian one, as it had a great sense of humor to it that I enjoyed. 4.5/10

[js619]

The Agency, on Paramount+.

A strikingly well done retelling of the French spy drama The Bureau from about ten years ago. Very well done and a high degree of realism - no one is doing jobs outside their purview (looking at you, Jack Ryan) and the writers seem to have really done solid research into tradecraft, etc. Well acted and highly recommended.

And if you speak French or don’t mind subtitles, The Bureau is also great, albeit hard to find on streaming these day. I believe it’s available for purchase on iTunes and Vudu?

[Hustlertwo]

What If? never really embraced what made this comics great. Specifically, the ability to throw caution to the wind and kill off or massively alter beloved characters because you just press the reset button with each episode/issue. It trying to have overarching plots defies the whole point, and in general the premises were weak, especially this season. Sad, but still amazed we got the show at all, really. Now they need to do a Star Wars one.

[kennfusion]

Apple TV - See - Season 1 - First, I love the premise and that they don’t try to explain it and I don’t care. Catastrophic event, everyone is blind. Cool, don’t need to set anything more up than that, I can suspend disbelief just fine on that. Watching the world building in the first couple episodes was also enjoyable. I don’t know that I would have made all of the same decisions on how I think that world would function, but I did not have a huge enough problem with anything for it to become a distraction. I enjoyed almost all of the characters, I thought the overall acting was fantastic. The actions scenes were imaginative and exciting. But the overall pace was just too slow. It was like a slow burn, but for a story that did not need slow burn. I intend to continue with Season 2 on my next trip, and hoping the pace picks up. 6.5/10

[js619]

Iirc See was one of the first Apple TV shows I watched. Love the post-apocalyptic premise of course, but I’m not even certain I finished the first season and certainly didn’t care enough about a second to give it a watch. Def agreed on your rating.

[OhBollox]

I could do a thread of just Severance screenshots that made me chortle.

[Mirefox]

You could probably do a thread of just Milchick lines.

[whovian223]

That show is so great and so quotable

[kennfusion]

Ok, you all are going to think I am crazy - but I really liked Beast Games on Amazon Prime.

First, let me say that although I realize now I have never brought it up on here, my all-time favorite show is Survivor, and we watch every season as a family, and it just gets better and better. And the reason I love Survivor is that it is basically all super-fans now who literally train to go on the game - and the social aspects of the game, the social manipulation, is just so good these days and I love that.

So back to Beast Games - nothing about this show should work - but for me - especially as a social experiment - I am just blown away at the decisions people make. And it was not all greed - I don’t even believe in true altruism - and yet there were hints of it here, or at least very selfless acts. And there was greed too, plenty of it. And while there was a little bit of personal back-story - the show was mostly just the game. It’s clunky, it is clear they let a bunch of YouTubers call the shots and it needs some refinement, but I am all in on a 2nd season if they make one. The challenges were interesting and inventive and there were some great twists thrown in that I appreciated - especially for a first season.

[Hustlertwo]

I have not watched it, but I will say his videos have been guilty pleasures of mine in the past. They’re annoyingly glib, but the basic premises are so fascinating it makes up for it.

[OhBollox]

[js619]

Zero Day, on Netflix.

Ohhh Bobby De Niro, you’ve fallen prey to the Netflix lure.

This overacted and thinly veiled plea for US political unity has more dropped plot threads than a Parkinson’s afflicted Nona trying to knit a scarf for her cats.

De Niro is our former president who everyone loved in the days before the country devolved into hard core left and right. Brought in to chair a committee to get to the bottom of Zero Day, he does a job with a decent idea but poor script.

Starts out strong, with several subplots - is De Niro mentally ill? Is he not? Genuinely made you wonder, until spoiler, that plot line is just written off in the final episode with barely an explanation.

This was like a grocery store cupcake - looked good, seemed great when you bit into the frosting, but then you discover they’d iced a piece of styrofoam and not actual cake.

ETA: my mother’s review - “Jonathan! If you get a chance, watch a show on Netflix called Zero Day! Fabulous.” So I guess if you’re a 73 year old retiree you’ll enjoy it?

[Mirefox]

Generally speaking, whenever I see an actor/actress who is highly outspoken politically star in any sort of political show or movie, I assume it is going to be heavy-handed and am not inclined to watch it. This goes for either side of the political spectrum; I assume I’m going to be preached at and that’s not what I’m looking for in my random entertainment.

[Strangiato]

Is your mother mentally ill? Is she not? I don’t appreciate that this plot line was just written off in the final segment of your review.

[js619]

I mean… does passive aggressiveness with a healthy dose of antisocial tendencies and a side of Jewish guilt qualify for the DSM-IV?

[rinelk]

My parents are very kind and supportive, so probably their sickest burn of me ever was when they recommended to me, in complete sincerity, Young Sheldon.

[js619]

This makes me angrier than that show does.

Also, my father-in-law thinks Young Sheldon is the pinnacle of comedic tv. There’s a joke here somewhere but it’s escaping me.

Much like the “comedy” on Young Sheldon.

There we go, I found it!

[OhBollox]

Paradise. The Secret Service agent protecting the president of the USA finds the president dead. But wait, there’s more, as ending reveal of the episode shows. And then some guy tells you what the reveal is, too, just in case.

Fuck off.