what's good on tv these days?

[chveik]

any series worth watching and is everything a huge mountain of shit content?

[chveik]

whoops

[aunt mildred]

Mare of Easttown if you haven't seen it.

[Dex Sawash]

Bluey is really great

[Mobius]

GBNEWS

[timebug]

Mostly shite. As usual.

[pigamus]

Is Netflix telly? I want to watch that chess thing but it's not worth getting a subscription for. Could get a gift card or something I suppose. I want to watch It's A Sin as well but it sounds a bit heavy

[El Unicornio, mang]

The Handmaid's Tale (just got done with season 4), really good, particularly the cinematography and soundtrack choices (Kate Bush, 90s trip hop, etc).

[Waking Life]

Is Netflix telly? I want to watch that chess thing but it's not worth getting a subscription for. Could get a gift card or something I suppose. I want to watch It's A Sin as well but it sounds a bit heavy

You could just get the trial membership if you're willing to 'beast' through it. Otherwise, you could get it for one month and treat yourself to a range of telly - there's enough depth on Netflix (away from the standard stuff they promote) that should keep most folk going for the one month anyway. Long term value isn't as good. Time is always the enemy.

[Shit Good Nose]

I think Mindhunter is worth a month's sub to Netflix alone.  REALLY disappointed Fincher can't be arsed to finish it.  Throw in the Kominsky Method as well.  Two TV shows both me and Mrs Nose have absolutely clicked with.

I've also enjoyed Snowfall (which hasn't been talked about much on CaB) on BBC2.  Series 4 has just finished.  Pretty sure you can still see the whole lot on iPlayer.

[confettiinmyhair]

Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime.

[Leej88]

The Act is really good it is on Prime

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

last thing i got properly absorbed into was sharp objects which has an eeeeexcelent amy admas performance

Spoiler alert

warning for lots of heavy family trauma etc

[close]

[M-CORP]

Is Netflix telly? I want to watch that chess thing but it's not worth getting a subscription for. Could get a gift card or something I suppose. I want to watch It's A Sin as well but it sounds a bit heavy

Seen both shows. It's A Sin is not heavy - its existence in the digital realm and anamorphic aspect ratio means it has no physical presence and weighs virtually nothing, ha ha.

Joking aside, I liked It's A Sin, though it does make for hard viewing at times. The Queen's Gambit is a similar story, but at least has a more triumphant ending. Might be worth getting a free trial for at least. Don't really watch much on Netflix though, some good stuff but it is largely just reality documentaries and BBC shows that are gradually being removed to my eyes.

Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime.

Would second this - usual Clarkson bumbling, but more restrained and taking second place to an account of farming that's more affectionate that you might expect.

[Dex Sawash]

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I think Mindhunter is worth a month's sub to Netflix alone.  REALLY disappointed Fincher can't be arsed to finish it.

He might have changed his mind.

Having just done the month's free trial of Amazon Prime, I have a whole new appreciation for Netflix.

[dissolute ocelot]

Would second this - usual Clarkson bumbling, but more restrained and taking second place to an account of farming that's more affectionate that you might expect.

I'm not sure how serious the Clarkson love is, but the Guardian was getting all pearl-clutching about Clarkson upsetting poor farmers, who the other 364 days of the year it ridicules as evil environment-hating polluting animal-murderers who all supported Brexit. And I for one would love to see Clarkson piss off as many farmers as possible. He's a fairly entertaining presenter if you discount all his opinions.

But yeah there is fuck all on TV just now (excluding paid subscriptions).

[Icehaven]

He might have changed his mind.

Having just done the month's free trial of Amazon Prime, I have a whole new appreciation for Netflix.

Yep, we signed up for the free trial of Prime to watch Picard and then decided to keep it for a while to see if it was any good, but after realising we'd barely watched it in a few months we cancelled. It was partly how it charges extra for a lot of things that pissed me off, I can't be arsed looking for something I want to watch only to find I have to pay again to watch it, fuck off.

[chveik]

last thing i got properly absorbed into was sharp objects which has an eeeeexcelent amy admas performance

Spoiler alert

warning for lots of heavy family trauma etc

[close]

yeah good performance but the final twist is one of the stupidest thing i've seen in a show

[paruses]

Started to watch Snowfall on iplayer the other day and enjoying very much. By chance there I watched a documentary on Netflix about the rise and attitude towards crack which is a good companion if you're inclined.

[phes]

Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime.

Yeah I really enjoyed this - mainly because of the cast of characters around Clarkson. The scene in the last episode with

Spoiler alert

Gerald and Clarkson working together on the walkie talkies

[close]

had me in tears of laughter and joy

Probably could have done without a bunch of the more silly stuff they constructed to ramp up the jeopardy while they were waiting for lambing and harvests and the idiot abroad style trip to London, but overall it was enjoyable. Clarkson looks fucked for 61 and I genuinely thought when he was

Spoiler alert

hammering down the posts with Kaleb's Man killer it was going to end him

[close]

[Dex Sawash]

Do they kill  cute furry things on the Clarkson farm show? Wife won't watch if they do. She will cheer on any adult chicken murders though.

[phes]

You don't see them slaughtering any of the lambs or ewes, although there is a scene with Clarkson taking 3 ewes (who are unable to raise lambs) to the abattoir.

[katzenjammer]

Mare of Easttown if you haven't seen it.

Thanks for this. Really great series.

[phes]

Mare of Easttown if you haven't seen it.

Fuckin ey this is miserable and nobody even died yet.

Edit: smile cracked at 30 minutes. I take it all back

[greencalx]

If you're into foreign stuff the Walter Presents Strand on All 4 is worth a look. Free if you can stomach several minutes of ads every 15 minutes (as you would on terrestrial commercial TV). four quid a month if you can't.

So far we've worked through

- The Twelve - a Belgian courtroom drama, focussing on the trials and tribulations of the jurors, which was a nice slow burner but I felt the writers copped out a bit with the ending.
- The Red Shadows - a French thriller in which a female cop is reunited with her kidnapped sister, through which the circumstances of her kidnapping and various familial skulduggeries are revealed. Fairly decent, though unlikely to change your life.
- Deutschland 89 - the third of a Cold War era spy trilogy, based around the period immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think of the three Deutschlands, the first (83) is by far the best. It went a bit too glossy and international after that, and never quite recovered the sense of fear and paranoia that the first series engendered.
- Time is a Killer - another French thriller involving a murky family background. Found the whole thing a bit shark-jumpy for my tastes. The French also don't seem to like to patronise their viewers with a "previously on..." which I wish they would as I'm the kind of viewer that needs patronising.

I'm thinking of heading North next, though am wary of encountering a lot of cookie cutter Scandi noir series. If anyone has any recommendations... if enough interest perhaps foreign stuff could warrant its own thread?

On Netflix we are currently working our way through Breaking Bad (which I realise we're the last people in the universe to watch) which is consistently excellent - we're in the last half of the final series now, and can see it's going to be a lot of fun watching it all play out from here. I guess we'll be moving on to Better Call Saul after that. Also currently watching the Queen's Gambit (aka "the chess thing") which is also excellent. (We are also unusual in that we watch several series simultaneously rather than binging our way through one at a time). Unorthodox, a story of a woman from an ultra-orthodox Jewish community escaping her marriage and fleeing to Germany, was also very engaging although a bit heavy at times. We also watched the two Dirty John series, both I think "inspired by real events" and based around men who manipulated their partners. Again, not life changing, but if you're looking for something to watch you could do a lot worse.

On the whole I've found Netflix is giving the BBC a very good run for its money when it comes to drama serials, to the point where I'm finding it increasingly hard to defend the licence fee model. I think something is going to have to give in the increasingly crowded streaming market.

[BlodwynPig]

Rude dog and the dweebs
Liquid TV

[phes]

This Mare of Easttown is terrible. Instantly forgettable cast of characters, rubbish dialogue, preposterous series of events and not much fun at all. Another young girls get abducted/raped/murdered hackfest. I can't identify any redeeming features. This is Gogglebox-fare and I'm out at episode 5.

[Dex Sawash]

This Mare of Easttown is terrible. Instantly forgettable cast of characters, rubbish dialogue, preposterous series of events and not much fun at all. Another young girls get abducted/raped/murdered hackfest. I can't identify any redeeming features. This is Gogglebox-fare and I'm out at episode 5.

That and Broadchurch are the only things like that I have watched. Are there loads of shows where it looks like everyone

Spoiler alert

did it

[close]

?

[Dex Sawash]

Has anyone mentioned how great Bluey is yet?