The Glass Teat, or 'Television'

[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.

[js619]

Hahahaaha I’m rather enjoying it so far but they do rather enjoy spoiling the spoilers

[OhBollox]

The cover versions of the music they keep using are truly execrable.

River. I will watch Skarsgard in anything. He’s great. This is good.

Limetown. Peacock seems to have cornered the market in series’ about weird stuff happening to little towns (Teacup, Paradise, etc), and this is straddling the podcast creation about a mass disappearance and the mass disappearance itself. It’s interesting, but I’m afraid I smell a Lost in the making.

[Mirefox]

Apparently Wheel of Time is back this week and Amazon is so confident in it that there has been zero marketing…

Anyways, I’m torn over whether I should just ignore it like I did Rings of Power Season 2 or hate watch it and let the rage fuel me with the energy of a thousand suns. We will see…