Current Watching

[WOM]

Billions is back. At the end of each episode, and at various points during, I really hate myself for watching it. It's almost everything I loathe about men, pounded into your head for 60 minutes straight. Even the women are loathsome men. It's really something.

[San Bernardhinault]

We're only in Season 2 of Billions. I love it. Everyone is vile, of course, but you're kind of rooting for all of them at the same time. It's not quite as wonderfully vile as Succession but it's on the same playing field.

[WOM]

Oh, for sure. You don't really choose up sides looking for a good guy. You sort of root for who you hate the least. The person I hate the most, by quite some distance, is Chuck's father.

[Sits]

We’ve not started the new series yet but surely will. Generally I’m in Wendy’s camp, as she seems the least loathsome. But then she’ll do something loathsome too.

[WOM]

Billions is the place I first learned about the 'they' pronoun.

[wishis]

Catching up with the ever watchable James Garner and the Rockford Files.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Girl/Haji is on Netflix now.

Great, thanks

[Ray de Galles]

Anyone else watching Run on HBO? I figured the premise,* intriguing enough, wouldn't sustain an entire series, but it's grown more compelling as it's gone on. Half-hour episodes are just right and I'm not sure how bingeable it would be. It's essentially a two-hander starring Merritt Wever — who seems to be in almost everything these days — and Domhnall Gleason — Bill Weasley all grown up.

* Two people make a lifetime deal in college. If one ever texts the other with "Run" and the other replies with the same word they'll meet in Grand Central station and take the train to LA together. On arrival they'll decide whether to stay together or not. It happens eight years later.

I watched the first episode because I generally like the two leads. However, by about twenty minutes in I was finding their characters' company so annoying I gave up. Yours is the second pretty positive take on it I've seen, I may give it another go.

[ad hoc]

Woohoo, the new series of Bordertown is up on Netflix. We've interrupted our Better Call Saul marathon to return to Lappeenranta and its unlikely levels of crime.

[danielmak]

Anyone else watching Run on HBO? I figured the premise,* intriguing enough, wouldn't sustain an entire series, but it's grown more compelling as it's gone on. Half-hour episodes are just right and I'm not sure how bingeable it would be. It's essentially a two-hander starring Merritt Wever — who seems to be in almost everything these days — and Domhnall Gleason — Bill Weasley all grown up.

* Two people make a lifetime deal in college. If one ever texts the other with "Run" and the other replies with the same word they'll meet in Grand Central station and take the train to LA together. On arrival they'll decide whether to stay together or not. It happens eight years later.

I think I was 2 or 3 in and then became sidetracked with other shows; it didn't hook me enough to keep from being sidetracked. But I probably will come back to it because there's nothing else right now among the various Netflix and Amazon shows to pull me. I also subscribed to Hulu which was super cheap ($1.99USD per month for 1 year) during a Christmas sale, but I rarely even look there unless someone tells me about a show and their summary seems intriguing.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I watched the first episode because I generally like the two leads. However, by about twenty minutes in I was finding their characters' company so annoying I gave up. Yours is the second pretty positive take on it I've seen, I may give it another go.

I'm following it (as far as I can tell it is only on Sky Comedy in the old fashioned one-episode-per-week format and not on demand yet?) and after the initial "high concept" premise it has got more interesting. Agree the characters aren't very likeable (yet) but for me it's outweighed by the prominence given to Amtrak trains, usually overlooked in film and TV (edit - in fact one of the more amusing moments so far is when it came as news to them that there was only one train per day to LA).

[Amor de Cosmos]

I find it hard to resist a good train story as well. The story steps up a notch or two when Archie Panjabi appears (around e4?). I guess I don't require characters to be likeable, just interesting, and they do grow on you that way here.

[Ray de Galles]

I didn't say my problem with them was they they were unlikeable (which is never a factor that bothers me) but that they were annoying.

Adam Sandler's character in 'Uncut Gems' is unlikeable and also downright irritating but he was also fascinatingly watchable, a compelling character. The problem the characters in 'Run' had for me was that they were annoying and boring.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I didn't say my problem with them was they they were unlikeable (which is never a factor that bothers me) but that they were annoying.

I was responding to Walt. Who likes likeable characters.

[Ray de Galles]

Yes, so was I as he thought likeability was the issue for me.

[Hot Pepsi]

Anyone else watching Run on HBO? I figured the premise,* intriguing enough, wouldn't sustain an entire series, but it's grown more compelling as it's gone on. Half-hour episodes are just right and I'm not sure how bingeable it would be. It's essentially a two-hander starring Merritt Wever — who seems to be in almost everything these days — and Domhnall Gleason — Bill Weasley all grown up.

* Two people make a lifetime deal in college. If one ever texts the other with "Run" and the other replies with the same word they'll meet in Grand Central station and take the train to LA together. On arrival they'll decide whether to stay together or not. It happens eight years later.

Yeah. I’ve been watching it. It’s certainly original. It just took a very dark turn.

[Sits]

Enjoying S2 of After Life, but with two qualifications of that:

SEMI SPOILER

* The coarse, crass, sexist therapist is much, much worse than in S1 and whilst I realise it’s part of a plotline re. Tony’s brother-in-law it’s impacting enjoyment of the show as a whole;

* In Ep4 the local revue was hideous, discomfiting and unfunny.

Both of these I think relate to Gervais’ consciousness that a sense of awkwardness has been a major factor in his past success, but he’s overdone it here. And it’s such a shame as there is a warmth and humanity in this show which makes it genuinely likeable.

[Cal Alamein]

Enjoying S2 of After Life, but with two qualifications of that:

Totally agree w/ your analysis - especially the two bullet points.

[Satchmo Distel]

Gervais doesn't have enough plot to fill out 6 episodes so we get the therapist and revue as, essentially, filler, but cranked up to the point of being an entirely different show, like plonking a porn scene into a romantic comedy.

On Saturday I enjoyed this very beautiful documentary about excavating a film set

https://www.netflix.com/title/809888...entIntent=true

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...-from-the-dead

[Cal Alamein]

Yeah! Glad you checked it out - it brought tears to my eyes witnessing the passion of the GBU fans.

[Sits]

Fortunately Gervais redeems himself in Ep6.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I've started watching the latest series of The Real Marigold Hotel and will continue to do so, principally to see if Henry Blofeld manages to cop off with Britt Ekland.

It's not looking too good for Blowers. Britt's realised that Duncan Bannatyne is the one with all the money so she's got her claws into him.

Paul Chuckle still has the shits.

[Ginger Yellow]

Gervais doesn't have enough plot to fill out 6 episodes so we get the therapist and revue as, essentially, filler, but cranked up to the point of being an entirely different show, like plonking a porn scene into a romantic comedy.

On Saturday I enjoyed this very beautiful documentary about excavating a film set

https://www.netflix.com/title/809888...entIntent=true

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...-from-the-dead

Ooh, nice find. I don't tend to watch too many streaming docs, as there are just so bloody many of them, but jI enjoyed the Galaxy Quest one and I'm a sucker for anything about TGTBATU.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Every now and then I think "ooh, that documentary sounds interesting", and then I watch five minutes and can't stand the presenter / presenting style, and I go back to Homes Under the Hammer.

[Satchmo Distel]

My wife loves Billions; I just find the characters' speech patterns annoying.