I’m going to take a page from a few of you and start exploring some other avenues for content, so I thought I’d give this a try this week. I try to keep track with comments, so if you have an idea for a roundtable discussion point, throw it out there. Since the Playpen is reserved for political content, this can be any number of topics that can be discussed in good spirit, for the sake of generating conversation amongst our Refugees.
Today’s Tuesday Roundtable topic:
What are you watching on TV nowadays (or a streaming service)…what makes it intriguing and why would you encourage fellow Refugees to watch?
My two cents today: Mindhunter. I had a friend who was a Florida State grad and they were a criminal justice major. She had shared her collection of articles, pictures, and interviews collected from Ted Bundy, which got me intrigued about serial killer profiles and the stories of their childhoods that lead them to be who they became.
Mindhunter has a great cast, many of whom are dead on in their look, speech, and mannerisms of the serial killers they portray. While the series ended with only two season, I saw recently that season three is coming out this year after a long hiatus.
David Harriman plays Charles Manson, who is the same actor who portrayed Manson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and is one of a series of characters that are profiled and interviewed in Mindhunter. Aside from great casting, the show follows two members of the FBIs Behavioral Sciences Unit who hopes to use profiles to solve ongoing unsolved cases. Pretty cool, if you like the true crime genre.
How about you? What are you watching and why?
Mindhunter is one of the best things Netflix ever put out. Seems like the pandemic is what caused the hiatus. Glad to hear a Season 3 is coming. Cameron Britton as Ed Kemper was brilliant.
Landman and Billy Bob Thornton were made for each other.
The wife and daughter team are a bit too obnoxious for me. Otherwise, it ain’t bad.
I think them being over the top is intentional. Wife did a good mitzvot taking the nursing home folks to the strip joint.
I rewatched Paradise Lost, the HBO documentary about the West Memphis Three. When I was younger I believed they were innocent. Now I am almost sure they did it. Especially after researching it some. HBO left out a lot. Truth is nobody will ever know for sure.
I’ll admit I’m more of a comedy guy when it comes to television, and I don’t get deep into the streaming services series (although there are a couple of things on Max I’m interested in starting).
My wife and I are watching the Big Bang Theory from beginning to end (we’re in season 11 right now). That show was well written and the cast is perfect.
On “live TV” now, we’ve been watching the Kathy Bates version of Matlock. The show is well done, and Ms. Bates shows why she’s been successful on the big and small screen throughout her career.
Love TBBT.
Good topic! Ay the risk of sounding like someone who sits on the couch binge-watching TV and eating popcorn, here are some series I’ve watched beginning to end recently and enjoyed:
Landman (Pretty good)
Goliath (Sneakily really good. Couldn’t stop watching.)
Slow Horses (Gary Oldman makes the show)
Bad Monkey (If you’re a Hiassen fan it’s a must see.)
Bonus treadmill guilty pleasure: Robot Chicken (The Star Wars spoofs are hilarious)
I’ll second Slow Horses and Bad Monkey. Another series my wife and just finished is Bodyguard (not the Whitney Houston movie, but you can all thank me now for the song getting stuck in your head for the rest of the day). It’s a short 6-episode series on Netflix. Very well written.
l loved Mindhunter, Goliath, Slow Horses and Bad Monkey. I also like Shrinking, the first season of Bad Sisters (season 2 not so much), Derry Girls (it helps if you grew up Catholic), Reacher (on Prime, not the Tom Cruise version, he sucks at this character), Masters of the Air (my Dad flew for the 8th), The Pacific, The Night Agent, and The Mandalorian (this is the Way). Oldies but goodies include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Offspring, For All Mankind, The Outlaws, Dead Loch, Rake, Five Bedrooms, Broadchurch, Peaky Blinders, Fargo (any season), Justified, Grace and Frankie. I could give you more but it already kind of looks like watching TV is pretty much all my wife and I do. We watch TV a good bit, but we do other things too.
Yes for Masters of the Air. My grandfather was in the 8th as well, radio operator on a B-17.
LMAO. Same here. I started thinking about all the stuff my wife and I watch and I’m like “Damn. All we do is watch TV.” But yeah, we do other things too…
Been on a Paramount+ binge recently, watching Landman, The Mayor of Kingstown, then to Tulsa King. TK is pretty silly but its easy to watch which was needed after The Mayor of Kingstown. Watching The Agency is what we’re watching now and so far it’s great.
Other alltimers (for me) not mentioned above:
– The Wire
– Breaking Bad
– Ozark
– The Sopranos
I liked Condor and the Winter King on Paramount.
Bloodline
The Diplomat
Marco Polo
Black Sails
The Last Kingdom
Loudermilk
Band of Brothers
The Gentlemen
Space Force
Black Sails was a guilty pleasure for me. Not sure the wife liked it though…lol. Lots of Caribbean brothel scenes.
Band of Brothers and the Pacific are obvious. Black Sails is a winner for the gratuitous violence and soft core porn. Loudermilk was good. Really enjoyed the Diplomat but haven’t watched the last season.
Any Ted Lasso fans on here? I am more of a drama guy, but I have watched this thing three times. Just a great series to watch with your significant other too.
Just started the Surviving Blackhawk Down doc on Netflix. It’s fantastic with interviews from folks from both sides who were involved in the battle. Hard not to get mad watching it though. What a mess.
I liked Ted Lasso. “Shrinking” is pretty good, too. I think there are a lot of the same producers/writers from Lasso.
I loved Ted Lasso. My wife did, too.
I wanted to do the Ted Lasso stuff when I was in London this fall, but work got in the way.
First two seasons were great. The third I couldn’t finish.
Special Forces. It’s not particularly new, but it’s very entertaining. The latest season (3rd) is particularly good and features someone many Dawg fans love to hate: $Cam Newton himself! Check it out on Hulu
Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Sopranos…tough to beat those…I do like the stuff Taylor Sheridan puts out…Landman, Tulsa King, the Yellow Stone prequels.
Mind hunters is one of the best series…watching season 2 was a little surreal for most of us who remember Atlanta back in the 70’s and 80’s.
I liked GOT, but had to watch all the seasons multiple times to understand all the different dynamics with the different houses and plot twists. My wife and I watched House of Dragons…this last season seemed a little weak.
Back in the day I liked Mad Men…it was very well written.
My son got Peacock and I started watching Twisted Metal and Bupkis…wasn’t a fan of Pete Davidson…but it’s a good show.
I also loved Mindhunter and hope that the Season 3 rumors are true as I’ve heard them before and they’ve turned out to be false (the latest rumor that I saw is that it will be back in October). Other series that I enjoyed include “The OA” on Netflix (it was cancelled after Season 2, on a cliffhanger, just when it was really getting good – Season 1 is a little slow, but Season 2 is better). I am currently watching “The Recruit, Season 2” on Netflix and it’s very good. I am also re-watching “Hannibal” (all 3 seasons) on Amazon Prime as I can’t get enough of this weird show. It’s disturbing, but you can’t stop watching! I am also waiting on the next season of “Bosch: Legacy” on Amazon Prime (Freeview). As for my all time favorite series, that would be “Fringe”. 5 seasons, 100 episodes. I highly recommend it. Season 1 does start out a little slow, but it picks up as it goes.
God almighty Hannibal was one of the best I’ve watched in a long, long time. You’re right in that it’s a very twisted series but once you start, you can’t stop. The familiarity with the Silence of Lambs “series” of movies makes it familiar, yet the approach to it is just beyond good. Not a show, but I loved Michael Mann’s Manhunter.
Enjoy watching the shows you enjoy! When you get my age you will turn on the shows and fall asleep on the couch 30 minutes later.
That’s not because we’re old, it’s because most of them are terrible!!
I never fall asleep during the good ones!
No napping here:
https://youtu.be/lXoDByIf5-k?si=-2aynOmKqogtXGAK
Hopefully, something engaging will show up soon. I end up watching youtube documentaries/historical podcasts these days (and falling asleep). At least you learn something for a little while.
“That’s not because we’re old, it’s because most of them are terrible!!”
Speaking for myself, two things can be true at once.
Ozark was fantastic
American Primeval is crazier than bonkers. Makes me really rethink my desire to live back in that time.
Also, being a former librarian and book superfreak Bad Monkey rocked. I didn’t even really go down my annoying rabbit hole of comparing it to the book. Just enjoyed it and thought Vincent Vaughn really owned the character and now think being a detective in the Keys woulda been an ideal career path.
Of course, Justified is worth the watch (you can watch the pilot and finale only and get the whole vibe).
One hilarious thing: being a man of a certain age (old and busted up, lol) I have found that recent romantic partners (the chicks that rightly considered me a dork in high school but after a divorce or two don’t think I’m half bad now) tend toward a lot of the British shows (especially) crime melodramas my mom likes, lol.
Finally, I know this goes against the tide, I didn’t really get Breaking Bad. I thought Better Call Saul was funny at times but wasn’t a Breaker
The wife watches a lot of British dramas and I have to say they aren’t terrible. The Stranger, Marcella, and Safe were all watchable. She watches Bridgerton which I enjoy only as I’m inserting Mystery Science Theater 3000 commentary throughout.
There’s not much current that I’m really crazy about. It would be easier for me to list the shows I miss… “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Succession”, “Breaking Bad”, “Sopranos”, “Larry Sanders Show” (going way back…)
Oh, “Barry” was pretty good, too
Three episodes into American Primeval on Netflix. Its pretty good.
One that I haven’t seen mentioned is “Three Body Problem “ on Netflix. Fucking awesome! Great science fiction. It’s also true to the current understanding of quantum physics. Can’t wait for season 2.
Jack Ryan, and Reacher were good. Breaking novels down into episodes is much better than cramming a 2 hour movie. I pretty much will watch anything Taylor Sheridan puts out.
Lots of good shows already mentioned, but I’ll add a few more.
Silo and Severance are great current shows. I’ll add season one of True Detective, Chernobyl, and Silicon Valley as recent shows that I really enjoyed.