(You can close the other thread now, Rick. Thanks for the alert.)

I recently replaced a DVD set I'd given away a few years ago -- Hawaii Five-0 The Original Series, Season 1. The show was never a favorite of mine, but it had its moments.

The 2-hour TV movie pilot, though, it's breath-taking, as stylish as any of the best big-screen spy thrillers of that time (1968!) And the DVD presents it in its original broadcast format, instead of the way it was chopped in half for syndication and had the original (superior) title sequence removed. Makes all the difference.

And thank you for starting this one, Ann.

My pleasure, Rick.

I think the next thing I might watch is the first Season 3 episode of "2 Broke Girls." That's the one where Max gets all mushy about a stray kitten. I remember towards the end of the episode, when she and Caroline are going to abandon the kitten, Max remarks, "This is a lot harder for me than when I abandoned my drug-addict cousin's newborn baby."

Yes, the humor on that show was often crass. Even Kat Dennings & Beth Behrs have admitted that some of the jokes made them just as uncomfortable as they made a lot of viewers.

But the way I try to look at it is, I believe we NEED that kind of humor as a catharsis. There's a difference between humor that offends just for the sake of being offensive, and humor that tickles that little devil in our brains that says, "Admit it, you've thought that but never said it out loud." Ideally, a comedy show that pushes the envelope would be less hit-and-miss that 2BG was, but I think the hits outnumbered the misses by a healthy ratio.

I tried "fortitude" last night and couldn't get into it. Been watching a lot of retro lately.

What are You Watching Season 2: Electric Boogaloo!

I just binge-watched The Runaways, on Hulu, and it was pretty cool. A lot changed from the comics, but it was still pretty awesome (and they found an interesting hook to tie everything together, and much, much further develop the Pride, who got kind of short shrift in the comics).

HOLY CRAP!

I found the Crisis on Earth X collection on CW.

I don't think I've ever seen anything so awesome on television!

I'm on the first part, the wedding on Supergirl.

I was dreading the wedding the whole episode because only bad things happen in comics' weddings. But then there was a battle royale which was so awesome!!!!!!!!!

The Runaways tv show on Hulu might be my favorite show now. I put off watching it because I loved the book so much I thought it couldn't live up to it but ... live up to it it did, it is a bit different but the changes make it better for tv IMO.

Those kids are awesome!

Currently, One Day at a Time, the remake.

How the hell does Rita Moreno still have a figure like that at 86?

Found Cougar Town on Hulu. Loved it then and I'm watching it now. Lash would love that.

Mario Bava double feature -- "Kill, Baby, Kill" and "Baron Blood."

Amazing how Bava got so much grandeur and such atmosphere out of tiny budgets that these days wouldn't even pay the catering bill.

It was like that at one point, Ann. Heck, Film Noir was the outgrowth of trying to make movies with very low budgets. And even though a lot of people consider it out of date, many elements of it still linger in so many ways. Mood lighting, characters that didn't look like they stepped off a bandbox.

I wish they'd do that with some of the superhero movies they are putting out now. They all look so squeaky clean. Even the dirty parts (like explosions and battle remains) look sterile to me. Nothing beats the dirt of life. Less special effects and more practical. I know not everything is practical, but it just seems more alive.

Very well said, Rick.

Bava was fortunate that he was able to become a director -- after many years of honing his skills as a cinematographer and a special-effects man -- at a time when the global B-Movie industry was still thriving, while simultaneously Italy's own movie industry was at its all-time peak of productivity, hosting everything from big-budget American epics to home-grown potboilers.

Fun fact: A few years before Boris Karloff passed away, he said that working with Bava (on the "Wurdalak" segment of "Black Sabbath,") was the most fun he ever had making a movie.

Right now, I'm watching I,Zombie on a binge.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Still love it. Still my favorite of the Trek movies with the original series' crew.

Admittedly, there is some sentimental value at play here, as it was the first Trek movie I saw on the weekend of its big-screen premiere, so in that sense it will always be my personal, special Trek movie.

Okay, getting a serious jump the shark feeling for Izombie right now. Catching up on season 4? on CW. New Seattle? 2 eps into the new season. Better pick up.

Shark is officially jumped.

Wild Wild Country is a documentary series about the notorious fight in the 1980s for control of a U.S. town called Antelope, Oregon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Wild_Country

I remember the Rajneesh and his followers making national news back then. My own move to (urban) OR was still a ways off.

It's pretty fascinating. I accepted pretty quickly that I would like virtually no one on either side of the dispute. There were moments in which each declared they were being persecuted in a "Holocaust" and you'd better believe I made mr_cleome turn the show off for a few minutes so I could pound my fist on the desk and rant.

Good viewing, though. Just don't watch it to relax and unwind.

Just finished Bosch season 4 and am starting Lost in Space.

Baseball. A couple of years ago I decided to make an attempt to start following baseball, the sport I decided I was most likely to get into. Well, the sport I'm most likely to get into is MMA, what with the hot guys rolling around on top of each other. But baseball is the one I'm most likely to get into as a sport. It didn't work out, mostly because the main guy I had to talk about it to turned out to be a Sports Bro who was constantly lecturing me on what "Real Fans" do, and I lost interest. Now I've decided to try again.

The team I followed last time and this time was the Angels, mostly because Mike Trout was the only current baseball player I could name at the time.

By sheer luck, I wandered into something pretty special. I almost immediately got to see the first major league game by Shohei Ohtani. I hadn't heard of him, but he is apparently a baseball prodigy from Japan, so good at both hitting and pitching that commentators constantly have to go back to Babe Ruth to make comparisons. That's not always a good thing. You will be SHOCKED, I'm sure, to learn that this baseball rookie is not able to consistently match the rose-colored memories of the greatest player in the history of the sport, whose career has passed out of living memory.

But by sheer luck, I get to follow a sensational player, wherrever his career goes, from his very first major league at bat. That's pretty cool, and it's helped to keep me focused. Lord knows I need it, with 20+ hours of baseball to watch every week.

Better Off Ted. Quirky fun show that didn't seem to catch on.

You Nina Simone fans... you know who you are. If you haven't seen this fabulous (and heartbreaking) documentary yet, you know what to do.

http://amazingnina.com

Been binging lately. Watched LA to Vegas. Lunacy. Very fun.

In the middle of American Gods, Gaiman's story. In the middle of a Murder of Gods. Haven't read the book, but get Odin is in hiding. Stormire seems like a Thor wannabee, maybe...Perun?

American Housewife. Love this show and she is gorgeous.

Cougar Town, Better off Ted and the UK version of Coupling are my "Knock me the sexual intercourse out and put me to sleep", but I love them anyway. The Bed Time episode of Coupling is possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen. Well, that and the Lesbian Spank Inferno episode.

Watched the new Lost in Space show. It was meh. Part of the appeal of those old shows, to me, was the genuine goofy charm of them. Now everything is either balls to the walls gonzo, or so damn depressingly serious just watching makes you want to go out and murder puppies.

Recently, I've reevaluated the overall work of David Lynch, and my turn from generally disliking him to generally liking him -- which began years ago, the first time I watched Mulholland Drive -- has now reached a full 180 degrees.

Back in the early 90s, when he was at the peak of his fame-slash-infamy, I foolishly lumped him in with all the cynical smart-asses in movies, music, TV, and comics who subjected viewers to ugliness for its own sake, and with an icky nostalgic streak to boot.

But now I interpret his work as being that of a true subversive -- he clearly knows very well that it's not smart to take the kitsch of his (or anyone's) childhood and early adolescence at face value, but he also accepts it sentimental value; and he's at all not desensitized to the ugly side of life, but, rather, I see him as being extraordinarily sensitive and empathic, and he simply presents his highly individualized vision of existence as something both horrific and fanciful, neither one negating the other.

Are all his works perfect? No. But sometimes their faults were not his artistic intention (for example, with "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," most the lighter scenes and supporting-character bits ended up on the cutting-room floor because the movie's producers and financiers insisted that the movie had to be a certain length.) And I also see a very clear upward curve of artistic evolution and maturity when his works are lined up chronologically.

I haven't yet watched the "Twin Peaks" web-series revival, but I'm certainly more proactive now about changing that.

Super late to the party, but damn (the British) show The Inbetweeners is so good! Seriously relatable stuff for any guy.

The Inbetweeners? Is it about early 20th century animation? Or is it Disney trying to turn Jim Starlin's Inbetweener character into a family man?

Just kidding, Kappa.

And it's good to see you posting, been a while.

I re-watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks last night after it's seeped into my subconscious lately. I grew up loving B&B, Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon. I'd probably take those over any of Disney's animated classics, especially the first two.

What absolutely delighted and entranced me with this re-watch was the 10-minute Portobello Road music and dance sequence. I'm not usually a huge fan of things like this, but something about this one just captivates me and makes me want to be a bystander or even a participant in it so much. If the real Portobello Road is/was anything like this, I'd want to go there as much as anywhere I can think of.

It's not a perfect film, and I can certainly recognize many flaws as an adult--but I just don't care! I'll always love it, and last night's re-watch just reinforces that.

Plus, between B&B and Mary Poppins, is it wrong for me to (still) kinda wish that David Tomlinson was my dad?

Death in Paradise and Cougar Town. I use CT to put me to sleep, but wake up at odd times to find something stupidly funny going on.

As with Lardy, I like all three films! My parents let me watch them as a kid.

I really enjoyed the animal games in B&B. And the scenes where Miss Price uses magic to fight the soldiers. So much funnnnnnn. I agree, not the best film, but thoroughly enjoyable just the same!

Glad to be here.

I need to rewatch B&B. I last saw it when I was very young and the only things I remember about it are that:
a) there was a flying bed;
b) there was an (animated?) underwater scene; and
c) I enjoyed it.

BUMP For Blacula:

^ Nice thoughts Ann. I have the first two DVD box sets of Bava movies but unfortunately they're back in Australia. I'll have to see if any are on Amazon Prime when I'm in the mood for a re-watch. Unfortunately, I'll have to do so one night when the husband is out because he does not share our impeccable taste in movies.

I've just finished season 2 of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Very quirky and "everything is connected" I think I liked Season 1 better and need to rewatch is. Season 1 also had more Bart. She was great. Also a good series to watch more than once to see what you might have missed in the first viewing.

The Arrow Video releases of Bava's films are phenomenal. If you have a region free Blu Ray player, I can't recommend them enough.

^ Thanks KK. I’ve heard they’re good. I have (back in Australia) the Anchor Bay DVD box set which is a bit older I think but I thought it was still very good quality.

Now that I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO Go and channels like them though (something I never had back in Australia) I find it hard to fuss around with DVDs and discs anymore. I’m kicking myself because it took me a loooooooonng time to get into the hobby of buying DVDs, and then just after I jumped into it with two feet with lots of expensive Criterion Collection and boutique movie sets, everything went digital. Haha I wish I’d saved that money.

Just finished up Agent Carter again. Very good show, DC live shows could take a lesson. Less cryin', more doin'.

Just found Sirens, bout some EMT's. Funny.

Rewatching Santa Clarita Diet. The husband is funny as hell trying to maintain, but just about 2 inches shy of going batshit insane.

Corner Gas, a Canadia comedy. * I know, I just love saying Canadia.

Home Alone is playing in the background now. One of the great Christmas movies from my childhood

Mysteries of Laura.

Young Justice

On a whim, I watched a few Season 1 Transformers The Original Series episodes, but not starting from the start. I started with Episode 1.6, "Divide and Conquer," which, as I've noted in my Transformers/GoBots thread in this forum, I consider the first really good episode. I was amazed at what a difference it made to skip that clunky first bunch of eps. The middle portion of TFTOS s1 is a lot better than I ever gave it credit for!

Fake or Fortune - it's a British show about determining whether paintings and sculpture are authentic (and worth $$) or not. Kind of like Antiques Road Show, but quite fascinating for all the technology that's used alongside gut feelings of experts. All the episodes (7 seasons worth) are available on youtube for some reason. Quite captivating and interesting to watch them explain why some works I wouldn't have in my house, let alone pay money for, are so highly prized.

Doom Patrol and Lucifer.

Lady Doctor on Lucifer...smokin' hot. Yeah, I know. I'm still a guy.

What's up everyone. It's been a long time.

I am watching...The Magicians. I read the books when they came out and loved the story. TV show is an entirely different thing but I also love it.

One of the best things I've watched recently was Deadly Class. As a 43 y/o man...I don't get into the teen dramas anymore But this one rocked!

Punisher...kind of liked it. It was just way too long. Marvel's argument with Netflix over 13 episodes vs 10 or less...I side with Netflix. If Game of Thrones can tell a story for a season in 10 or under so can Marvel.

Welcome back, Jorge.

I borrowed Penny Dreadful Season 1 from the library.

I generally dislike modern TV shows, but...y'know, Eva Green.

We shall see what I think.

We just binged Ricky Gervais' new series "After Life". It's actually quite brilliant. The premise involves a recently widowed man dealing (not dealing) with his wife's death by becoming a total asshole. That may not sound like a winning concept, but it is handled so well, and resolves itself so organically that my wife and are were both blown away. Equal parts funny and thoughtful. Great character work and writing all around.

Ann, I really liked Penny Dreadful. It's not masterpiece but it's fun. Love the setting, etc.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jorge. I'm going to watch the first episode either tonight or tomorrow.

Couldn't get into Penny Dreadful. The cast seems to have had more fun making it than I had watching it. It did have more verve than most modern TV shows, but it was just sooooo unrelentingly gross and ugly.

I'm enjoying classic Looney Tunes cartoons on DailyMotion. Watched Porky Pig in "The Pest Who Came to Dinner," the one with the termite who speaks with a "French" accent. It was directed by my favorite Golden Age of Animation director, Art Davis.

Over 20 years later, Davis directed a remake-of-sorts for DePatie-Freleng: the Ant and the Aardvark in "Rough Brunch." I have that one on DVD.

I'm watching so much stuff right now. Recently I finished High Score Girl, How To Keep A Mummy, Santa Clarita Diet Season 2, SSSS Gridman, and Zombie Land Saga.

Oh and Umbrella Academy!

While doing my taxes, I ended up watching all of the Tidying Up With Marie Kondo shows on Netflix. Not a true binge-watch, as it took me at least a week-and-a-half to get all the papers organized, sorted, or shredded, depending on their age.

I guess a lot of people are hostile to the show, and I don't really get why. Kondo is not being dictatorial about her plan. Nobody has to do the regimen if they don't want to. And as with many other "Lifestyle" shows, you can apply some of her prinicples to how you arrange your space, and eschew the ones which don't work for you. (Or that you like, but can't commit to at this time.)

I hope there'll be more of these, and that they'll challenge her a bit by maybe doing some home-organizing in, say, cold climates like Alaska or the U.S. Midwest. You need a lot more bulky clothing in those places than you do in So. Cal. So I'd want to see how she'd modify her tips to deal with that.

Lucifer. I kinda feel like this should be in the "listening too" section, cause it's got some great music that I pay more attention to.

Dharma and Greg. Show holds up surprisingly well. Scene stealer of the show was Edward. Kitty (Susan Sullivan) was still smokin hot, funny, and smart. Honestly though, a little of Abby and Larry go a Looooonnnnggggg way.

Lately I've been checking out a lot of YouTube videos about understanding how Narcissists behave. Interesting stuff.

Miranda. UK show starring Miranda Hart. Very tall lady makes fun of her crazy life and poor dating history. She's very sweet on the show, and the lead is Tom Ellis from Lucifer. For once, I openly laughed out loud and didn't just grin or go "heh". The one where she and her mother go to the psychiatrist...busted out laughing. My wife asked what was so funny.

Fallen back into the hole of strange Asian telenovelas with gay leads. At least the writing and acting has improved to my last visit. I still find it odd that “conservative” Thailand produces more gay-lead drama than “liberal” Hollywood

Whose line is it anyway?

I'm pretty fond of both The Good Place and Schitt's Creek right now.

(Fans of SCTV should take note of the latter, in particular. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are perfect as the down-at-the-heels former rich folks: making the best of their new circumstances in a rural Great White North town.)

"Schitt's Creek" LOL Never seen it, but I love the title! That's the kind of toilet-humor pun I wish I had come up with myself!

Ironically, there's very little toilet humor in the show itself. Though I think you see the former patriarch of a million-dollar empire cleaning motel bathrooms from time to time.

Just watched bios on Joan Jett, Gilda Radner, and Jerry Lewis. Look, don't ask me, I just watch the stuff.

The Six Million Dollar Man. yeah, cheezy and goofy at times, but holds up well. Well, except for some of the clothes.

I was just reading an article out the Six Million Dollar Woman, and ... Thread Security carry thoth over to the What Are you reading thread...

Star Trek Picard. Liked it. I found the new characters fascinating. The finale wasn't quite up to the standard of the buildup but still had some excellent acting.

and as always, American Housewife cause....Katy Mixon. Grrroowwwwllllllll.

I've been on a Sam Peckinpah kick lately. Just watched Ballad of Cable Hogue the other night and it's def now one of my top 5 all time westerns. What a beautifully tragic performance from Jason Robards!

Kappa, I *love* Ballad of Cable Hogue.

If only it had been more commercially successful, then maybe Peckinpah could have shed the "Bloody Sam" image once and for all.

I also love The Wild Bunch, Ride the High Country, The Killer Elite...

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is rough-edged, but it has a lot of heart and soul.

I wish The Getaway had had a different female lead. Ali McGraw was just...ew.

I even kind of like SP's last movie, The Osterman Weekend. Great cast, with Meg Foster and Helen Shaver more than holding their own in the company of all those alpha-dudes.

Osterman Weekend is way more fun than it has any right to be! How can you not love Craig T Nelson with a kickass mustache karate chopping dudes?

I even like Convoy cuz it has Kris Kristofferson playing basically trucker Jesus

I tried and failed to get my brother to watch The Wild Bunch. The step into Westerns was just too far for him. Even though it's a lot more than that.

Thoth, have you tried to get your brother to watch The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? That, in my opinion, is one of the most reliable gateway movies for helping someone appreciate the better westerns.

I finished Star Trek: Picard yesterday. Really enjoyed it, though it's odd hearing the F-word tossed about in a ST series. At times, Picard seems like a background character, especially in the middle episodes, but I like the story spinning out of Data's character and how this series pays off his arc where the ST: Nemesis film left us hanging--and certainly not in a "Search for Spock" kind of way. Some worthy new characters and concepts introduced as well as some great appearances by established characters. Seven of Nine in particular, really emerges as the badass, leading lady type of character that I now realize she always had the potential to be.

TNG was really "my" Star Trek, so it's really nice to see the timeline and characters return in a way that acknowledges the past but "boldly goes" in new and unexpected directions. I think if this were just a straight-up reunion putting everyone back together on the Enterprise, it would have been just a lot of fanwank. Looking forward to Season 2 and curious as to what the story might be with Season 1's having been a complete novel in itself.

Like Ann said, I recommend starting him off with spaghetti westerns. Those are a lot easier to digest for modern sensibilities (more violent, morally dubious, etc.) than traditional American westerns from the likes of John Ford or Howard Hawks.

The latest remake of The Magnificent Seven (with Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, etc.) is super-fun, and the sort of 'western' that even us not-fans-of-Westerns can enjoy.

On the other hand, Cowboys and Aliens is only half a western and half a sci-fi movie, and 100% underrated awesomeness, IMO.

Voltron. The 80s one. Still lots of fun.

Event Horizon. Still consider it underrated, even more so since the Wikipedia entry was beefed up with behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt. Turns out the studio execs gave the director and producers a ridiculously short schedule for a big-budget sci-fi/horror movie. And all because Titanic was running late and wouldn't be available for summer release. Ah, Hollywood, how you fascinate and repel me...

One other thing about Event Horizon -- I love it when Joely Richardson pins back Sam Neill's arm. Don't mess with Starck.

Buck Rogers. Cheesy sci-fi from the late seventies, early eighties. But, no doubt they had some reaaaal good lookin' women.

Oh, and Buster Crabbe had a small role on one episode.

The TV series? I loved that show when I was young. Haven't seen it for years, but I remember it as being lots of fun. Thing I most remember is the opening episode of the second season with Hawk and the tragic way he joined the crew. Oh and biddi-biddi-biddi.

Yup, it's on Syfy, or however they are spelling it these days. Lot's of cheesy fun, but as a male, Erin Gray's butt looked really good in spandex. For the ladies and others, lotsa disco-y future space goodness.

"The People vs George Lucas." Hilarious, but also surprisingly even-handed and thoughtful.

Unfortunately, it was released 10 years ago, so the frequent ugliness within fandom during the subsequent decade makes it a bittersweet viewing experience.

That, and the fact that the franchise is now owned by Disney -- lock, stock, and barrel.

Tacoma F.D. Couple of the guys from Broken LIzard have a show. Very enjoyable.

I remember THX 1138 being on TV one night, and telling my partner that, when I'd seen it before, the bleakness of the backgrounds had stayed with me. In Lang's Metropolis there are loads of vehicles and people, but here it's stark and totalitarian. As we watched, I noticed that all those backgrounds seemed to contain loads of extra details and it didn't have the same impact. I admitted that I couldn't have noticed all of that before. It was only later I learned that Lucas had added visual bits and pieces, as he did with Star Wars.

He just can't seem to leave well enough alone, even with his most obscure work. Jeez Louise.

Lately I've watched a couple of old miniseries - V and V: The Final Battle. They were ok. I remember really liking them when I first saw them on TV, though.

I've also been watching some Miami Vice. (It's on the NBC app, along with Buck Rogers.) You know, I just don't understand why Miami Vice was so popular. Usually when I watch a show that was a phenomenon I can view it through the context of the then-culture, and understand why it was so popular. But with Miami Vice, I just don't get it. I mean, it's ok, but it's just too melodramatic and seems goofy.

I didn't watch Miami Vice. But at least some of the appeal would have been nice weather, clothes, weather, cars and weather whereas it was pretty grim here.

I watched the first few episodes of Miami Vice recently and kind of dug it. In addition to what thoth mentioned, the music is super-important. And the weather.

Oh yeah, the theme tune or some such did really well in the charts.

To me, the main appeal of Miami Vice is how shamelessly, exuberantly artificial it is. Larger-than-life.

From wiki: As Lee H. Katzin, one of the show's directors, remarked, "The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words."

Had they continued further into the '90s, Crocket would have ended up as a one eyed cyborg and Tubbs a steroid enhanced masked vigilante wielding two pistols that had never been introduced to the concept of recoil, in Miami Image.

Peter Gabriel holds the record for the most songs by a solo artist featured in Miami Vice, with a total of 7.

The Doors hold the record for any artist with 8, though all of their songs featured in a single episode.

My favorite "Miami Vice" episode will always be the 2-hour Season 2 premiere, "The Prodigal Son," where Crockett & Tubbs go to New York City (Tubbs' old stomping grounds, for those not in the know.) Fun fact: That episode was directed (and very well, too) by Paul Michael "Starsky" Glaser.

Form my Wiki peek, I saw a lot of creative talent that had done, and would go on to do, a lot of very successful shows.

It's definitely one of those shows where you see a ton of people who would later become well-known for other things, from the first few minutes of the show where Jimmy Smits gets killed.

As I recall the pitch for Miami Vice was summed up in 2 words (or an abbreviation and a word): MTV Cops.

Yes. NBC's young head of production, Brandon Tartikoff, gave that succinct instruction to the creators and producers.

Lately, it's all Green Party videos and reruns of The Carol Burnett Show. Apparently my brain is trying to give itself whiplash. o_0



Oh, and mr_xeno wanted to check out Queen's Gambit on Netflix. Which was okay, I guess. It's not something I'd deliberately seek out on my own, but I suppose I'll watch it again if he feels like it.

I really liked Queen's Gambit, Cleome.

Miami Vice is holding my interest. I 'm halfway through season 4. I just watched an episode called The Cows of October. It's probably the funniest MV episode of all.

I've also been watching Voyagers! It's on the NBC app, along with Miami Vice, The Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers, and a lot of other cool shows. The app is free, but has commercials. Voyagers! isn't as good as I remember, but it's still fun to watch.

Lance! Buddy!

Yeah, we may watch more of Q.G. later on. Sometimes these things do take time to really get cooking.

Hugs back atcha!

I thought QG was good. Not great, but good.

By the way, the NBC app has a lot of great shows, but it is the worst app I have ever seen. Sometimes it will start playing hours after I have stopped watching something. (This happened once in the middle of the night. It started, loudly, all by itself. Now I completely close the app from my tablet when I'm done watching it.) It glitches sometimes. Sometimes I start it and the sound doesn't work. Great content, but it tries my patience.

Alternating between country and Power Station videos tonight. Don't know why.

AIRWOLF, baby! On Peacock, for FREE (I don't care about the commercials, I just keep my finger close to the mute button on my computer.)

The best of the 80s super-vehicle shows (i.e. Knight Rider, Street Hawk) by miles and miles!

Conventional wisdom among fans has it that each of the first three seasons was weaker than the one before it. I disagree -- I think each season was better than the one before! That's why I started with Season 3 instead of Season 1.

The S3 premiere episode, Horn of Plenty, has Richard Lynch as the baddie. Connoisseurs of schlock will immediately recognize the name of this delightfully creepy icon of 80s genre entertainment. Even better, it's directed by Sutton Roley, one of the most stylish prime time TV directors of the 60s, 70s, and 80s (he did one of my favorite Mission Impossible episodes, The Test Case.) How Roley doesn't have his own Wikipedia entry is beyond me -- and he's also the director of the fourth S3 episode, Fortune Teller, which was the episode that got me hooked on the show in the first place! Can't wait to get to that one!

Ann, there is a ton of classic TV on Peacock and NBC. I could waste way too much time on those...

I just discovered Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. I love this show!

I'm only on episode 2, so no spoilers!

My son and daughter have been recommending that show to me. Sounds worth a look.

Currently inactive Legion Worlder Mattroplis, also located in the Cincinnati area, is a huge fan of that show!

Oh yeah, I've also been periodically watching Voyagers!, if anybody remembers that show...

I've also watched the first couple of episodes of Eureka. It's ok so far...

I liked Eureka, it was quirky/funny. Other Syfy shows like Warehouse 13 attempted to go that way but, IMO, got a little too goofy for my taste, while Eureka was generally just absurd enough for me (although occasionally an episode went over the line...). There were also some cast that were easy on the eyes.

But probably my favorite Syfy show of the last decade was Killjoys, which I just rewatched recently. Fun! (And not nearly as goofy as most of their fare.)

As for recently watched, I just caught up on the first six episodes of The Expanse season 5 yesterday, and wow, that show continues to be awesome.

Yeah, I'm digging the Expanse quite a bit. I was so-so on the first couple of books when I read them, but the tv show is making want to go back and check them out again.

The actors make quite a difference, I find. I didn't really get into the first couple books, but the acting has really sold me on Drummer, Amos (my two favorites), Naomi, Avasarala and Holden.

Drummer and Amos are probably my faves as well!

I actually avoided the show when it was on Scy Fy because I'd been so disappointed in the books, then I binged the first four seasons last year and really enjoyed them.

Peacock's got Stephen J. Cannell's STINGRAY! Aw yeah!

I also enjoyed Eureka. Good fun and good light-hearted scifi.

One of my local stations has Supergirl seasons 1 and 2 on their website so I am watching through those. Not particularly deep but I am enjoying them. Just got up to the Hank Henshaw reveal which was fun but had been spoiled for me some time ago. I wonder how I would have felt if I hadn't known.

I tried watching The 100, but I just couldn't stomach it much more than one season.

I enjoyed The 100 quite a bit, but it's definitely very CW, especially at beginning, so your tolerance for that king of teen drama has to be high.

Something about that Belter 'Space Jamaican' accent totally revs my engine. It's hot. It's cool. It's tepid. It's all-temperature sexy!

And Amos just has the best line in the entire show;

Kudos to Set for the Buffy quote!

Heh, Buffy had a ton of great lines, particularly in seasons 2 and 3, IMO.

Yeah. The Ghandi line was possibly the funniest in the whole series.

I've forgotten most Buffy lines after all these years. What was the Ghandhi line?

It was from episode 3.1, "Anne."

Buffy: Hey Ken, wanna see my impression of Ghandi? (Buffy then bashed Ken's head with a mace.)

Anne: Ghandi..?

Buffy: Well, you know, if he was really pissed off...

I've been watching a lot of kids shows lately. Victorious and most of iCarly are on Netflix. I guess there's a nostalgia factor, since I watched them with the kids when they were younger.

I've also been watching the Spiderman and Hulk and X-Men cartoons from the mid '90s. They're all on Disney+.

There's also a Spider Woman cartoon from the '70s, I think. It's pretty cheesy, but I've been watching it anyway.

Actually, if you like series from days gone by, the Tubi and Peacock apps have a ton of free stuff on them. They have commercials, but it's free.

Oh yeah, I picked up the complete series of The Wild Wild West a while back. I really liked it. I also watched the original run of Mad About You. There is so much truth about relationships in that show.

I've been mainlining the Diagnosis: Murder collection, since much of it is available on YouTube for free right now. I paid intermittent attention to it back when it was on the air: finding it hokey a lot of the times but still comforting in that "known quantity" way any TV show with a veteran actor at the helm will be.

I haven't been watching in order. I checked out the last two 90-minute specials (from 2001-2002) first. I got kind of spoiled. They were more ambitious than the regular episodes and pushed the characters into more challenging territory than you normally get from U.S. TV geared toward us old farts. Heh. There was something especially moving about "Town Without Pity" making a plea against anti-Arab bigotry given that it first aired only months after the attack on N.Y.C. It still needed to do the pat wrap-up: the summation and the insistence that real justice is possible in this life, but because the events impacted the lead character in a permanent and direct way, it left room for doubt about that. It has stuck with me in a way these things rarely do.

This would apply somewhat to the other special ("Without Warning") as well: except that the targets of bigotry are Mexican migrant workers. The villain of that piece gets rough justice for his lack of conscience, though he doesn't die himself.

So last night was my oldest daughter's 19th bday, and she's a big Broadway fan, so for her entertainment choice, we watched the newly released movie version of "In the Heights" on HBO Max.

I had not heard the soundtrack or seen the play prior, but if you are a fan of Miranda's, or his "Hamilton," you'll come away with SOMETHING to like. It's not nearly as solid as Hamilton is, but I felt it was very much a proto-Hamilton, as the rapping and musical style of Miranda and Lacamoire that made a big impact with the later work is evident in this musical, but just not quite as polished overall.

The story the musical is built around is fairly predictable, but the story is entertaining. I found the first half to be very uneven, but the second half is very solid. Standout performances by Anthony Ramos as Usnavi, Leslie Grace as Nina, and Jimmy Smitz as Kevin do great jobs, as well as Corey Haawkins' Benny, but I felt that Melissa Barrera's Vanessa was a weak character, but Barrera did as good a job as she could have done with the material.

Of course, there are a few cameos, mainly LMM himself as well as Chris Jackson, including a funny post credit sequence.

I'd give it a sold 3 out of 4 if Broadway musicals are your thing.

that's pretty cool! thanks for a balanced review, GL.

I binge-watched Trese, a Netflix animation based on a Filipino comic book of the same name. Alexandra Trese is a detective and sort of "keeper of the peace" in the Philippine capital of Manila who helps out on supernatural crimes... Lots of references to Philippine myth, and indeed some knowledge of them helps with the appreciation of the show.

Looking forward to a next season. I do think the last couple of episodes had way too many flashbacks and could have been faster paced, but overall quite nice.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81012541

Lots of DePatie-Freleng cartoon shorts! (i.e. Pink Panther, The Inspector, The Ant and the Aardvark, Tijuana Toads, Roland and Ratfink, et cetera.)

I really do think they are underrated, especially in the context of how bad most American animation was during the 60s and 70s. They may not have been as well-written as Jay Ward's Rocky & Bullwinkle, but they were beautifully designed, and often very well animated within their budget limitations.

And while there are admittedly a lot of entries that were clearly phoned in to fill a quota, there are also a lot of hidden gems. Especially some of the ones directed by Art Davis, my favorite Golden Age of Animation director whose career resurged at DePatie-Freleng.

By the way, is anyone watching Severance on Apple TV? Fing amazing...

The new *Mystery Science Theater 3000*, of course! (But we have a separate thread for that.)

Since I donated to their last Kickstarter, I also got a free month of all-you-can-watch at their offspring site: Rifftrax.

Also, I have to say that I'm really enjoying Season 2 of Picard. Very excited for the upcoming Strange New Worlds.

The last Daniel Craig Bond movie - No Time To Die - is free to view on Amazon Prime Video at the moment, so I took advantage.

What a great Bond movie. If you're into the Bond franchise, you'll likely enjoy this.

Also, since this is a LSH board, Ana De Armas, who plays agent Paloma for a hot second in the movie, is now the fancast version of Shrinking Violet in my head. I've always really liked her work, but her acting, appearance and action scenes in this make me think she'd be a pretty amazing Salu Digby in a live action Legion. Not that we'll ever get that in a meaningful way.

My old Looney Tunes DVDs. After talking so much about bad cartoons in the Spaceopoly forum, that was a much-needed corrective.

Old faves revisited included The Scarlet Pumpernickel, Duck Dodgers, What's Opera Doc, and Rabbit of Seville.




Ana is currently playing Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix movie Blonde. Perhaps she could have two roles in the same movie: Salu and Nura.

I am watching that now actually. She just needs to move the birthmark to the other side of her face and make it a star.

I've been watching Dollhouse on Hulu. It's ok. Not really up to what I consider Whedon standards. I've watched about 8 episodes. I guess I'll watch the whole series. I'm curious to see how it ends.

As is my wont, I really liked the side-characters more than the protagonist I was supposed to root for. I loved, loved, loved Eliza's Faith, on Buffy, but never really got into Echo.

Meanwhile, I totally was into Adele, Boyd, Sierra and Victor. There's an episode where they need Topher's programming skills, but he's off-site, so they load up Victor with his pattern/template/thingie and it's just amazing how well the actor does, playing the other character in a Freaky Friday sort of way.

mr_cleome and I are both big, long-time fans of The Found Footage Festival. So when they decided to do a sanctioned re-release of a super-weird kids' superhero movie called *Creating Rem Lezar*, mr_cleome picked it up for us. Hoping to watch it later tonight. A good accompaniment would be something to drink with blue curacao. To match the title character's blue union suit. Maybe stirred with a Snickers bar since the actor who played him also did a commercial for Mars. (And he's tickled that people still remember and care about this weird low-budget epic from 1989.)

Set, that's exactly the problem with Dollhouse. Since some of the characters play a different character every episode, it's difficult to have any emotional investment in them. The peripheral characters are much more interesting.

Having watched the aforementioned movie, I pronounce it... weird, tacky, and yet oddly wholesome. My favorite part is the title character and the kids who imagined him into being (Dr. Seuss-style, but without all the cathartic mayhem of a Glunk or Cat In The Hat) dancing through Central Park... accompanied by various budget version of *Pippin* extras, including a pretty good busking fiddler who looks like Mark Hamill and Bob Denver had a kid.

When the Found Footage Film Festival first unearthed the movie, they made it part of a series of segments called "Religious... Or Canadian?" in which they asserted that a lot of old kids' entertainment had this particular vibe which fell readily into one or the other of these categories. They later confessed that Creating Rem Lezar was neither. It was shot in New York City, and while it alludes to a higher power, it never actually names what that power would be.

I started watching Revenge a few months ago. It started off great, but it went 4 seasons. It then started using every soap opera trope (soap trope?) known to man. It would have made a great 1-season show, but they're just dragging it out. I am expecting the last half of the final season to be really good, because they will actually be wrapping it up.

"Aliens" starring Sigourney Weaver.

It holds up beautifully. Even the most 80s elements have a comforting glow about them. A classic of classics.

I do have to wonder why James Cameron hasn't made anything nearly as good since then. Perhaps Gale Anne Hurd's creative contributions went far beyond her producer credit.

I think Cameron's a bit too full of himself.

This week I watched the new Top Gun Maverick, completely expecting to hate watch it (I'm not a Miles Teller fan), but I really enjoyed it for the action. The story is basically a detailed prep for the Death Star trench run, but with what happens when things go sideways. The story itself is about as shallow as you'd expect, but the flying sequences are done so well that it makes the movie roll through the dull parts.

Agreed! That, combined with his idiotic comments about the 2017 Wonder Woman movie, is why I refuse to watch the Avatar sequel.


Do the pilots still wear gumball-colored helmets? If not, then I won't watch it.

Of course! The helmets are all kooky as you'd expect!

Good to know. Thanks, GL.

I was watching this around the same time

I agree with all your comments on it.

Thank you, Thoth.

As a longtime skeptic with regards to Steven Spielberg, I was surprised that his semiautobiographical movie The Fabelmans actually made an emotional connection with me. The last Spielberg movie that succeeded at moving me was E.T., and that came out 40 years ago.

But although I thought the cast was uniformly excellent in their performances, especially Michelle Williams and David Lynch (yes, that David Lynch,) and Spielberg remains one of the most gifted technicians in cinema, something felt just a little...off.

So I did some research, and I found out that the famous authoress Joyce Carol Oates posted many withering criticisms of this movie on Twitter. I don't do Twitter, but I have managed to get the gist of her critique, and I think she made some valid points which helped me come to the conclusion that Spielberg is just too much of a calculating, cynical showman at his core to ever make a completely honest film with genuine integrity. Even a film about his own family.


https://www.vulture.com/2023/01/joyce-carol-oates-sure-tweets-about-the-fabelmans-a-lot.html

I've been watching Wynonna Earp. The first season was decent, the second season was pretty good, and the last 2 seasons were bleh...

The show definitely draws inspiration from Buffy, but it isn't nearly as good.

I have a few episodes left to watch. I've had those few episodes for a couple of weeks. I guess I'll watch them and finish the silly thing off.

Watched the first episode of My Adventures with Superman, available on Youtube.

Not bad at all. One could nitpick, but overall it's a pretty fun version.

My roommate watched that one, but I found, for that style of humor / genre adventure, Lost Girl was a much funner show with wittier writing. (Also iZombie, Killjoys, etc.)

And by 'wittier writing' I, of course mean, the jokes landed better for an audience of me, so mileage may vary.

But, ever since Buffy, I'm always on the prowl for a show with really snappy clever quotable dialogue, and those shows brought the goods.

Lately, I've been watching reruns of that 70's show, some car build shows, and the big bang theory. I know that last is not a favorite among some of us, but it's nice noise in the background.

Well, that, and the occasional NASA thing on space.

Count me as one who did like Big Bang Theory. There were parts I could do without, but I as a geek enjoyed its parody of geeks.

I've just finished watching Season 2 of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. Honestly the best Star Trek show for a long time, and just a really good fun show for anyone in my opinion.

The Bear on Hulu!!!

Star Crash, a cheap but colorful Italian space opera from 1978 with a camp-tastic cast: Caroline Munro, David Hasselhoff, Marjoe Gortner, Joe Spinell, and Christopher Plummer.

Italian genre cinema at its most sublime. BRAVA!

Edit: The trailer for Star Crash, beautifully remastered

https://youtu.be/Adhky7H8YXY

RIP David Jacobs, creator of Dallas and Knots Landing.

All Dallas openings:
https://youtu.be/R2ccyaiOcdA?si=gNihgwfAJHtfIIjm

All Knots Landing openings:
https://youtu.be/VrICjJHk9KE?si=rEnz0eO127vTfiqV

I feel like I've been watching a ton of stuff lately -

All the recent Star Treks
Foundation (which tbh, is not gripping me very well)

But I am also into revisiting Robotech from the 80s as well as the revisited Star Blazers/Yamato show from about 10 years ago.

I remember really liking the books when I read them as a teenager (and I've actually been thinking about revisiting them), so I've been kind of curious about this, but the clips I've seen haven't really been that interesting. Certainly not enough to actually subscribe to ApptleTV or whatever just for it.

Robotech! W00T!

Love the theme music:

https://youtu.be/vSVmqyjeYNU?si=Ks9EUWwOltz92TAa

There are definitely much better shows on Apple TV to watch than Foundation for sure.

Its such a wonderful mess of a program.

My adult son has been watching Foundation and told me it wasn't bad but don't expect it to be like the books. He said one of the best bits was how they developed the emperor's family and clan which was really interesting, but again not from the books.

I mean its has its own aesthetic and hews mostly well to the story in a way that a series like this can coming from a series of short stories.

But let's put it this way, I'm not making sure I'm there watching it the day it drops. Hell, I think I'm three episodes behind at this point!

Tisa Farrow, the female lead in Lucio Fulci's 1979 schlock classic "Zombie," has passed away. May she rest in peace.

I'll definitely be watching "Zombie" again this weekend.

Been too long since I last saw it.

RIP Tisa!

Also of not for her performace in Joe Damato's gruesome Anthropophagus!

Cheers, Kappa.

I have to admit, though, that Antropophagus is a bit much even for me. Joe D'Amato is, in my opinion, too little style and too much shock.

This past weekend, I tried to watch the very popular 2001 French movie Amelie.

I found it to be too insistently cute for my taste, and didn't finish seeing the whole thing.

I do give lead actress Audrey Tautou credit for bringing a dignified calm to the center of this whimsical storm.

Nice art direction and cinematography, as well. But in the end, not my cup of café au lait.

^^That's the reason I don't want to re-watch it, because I fear I'd have a similar reaction about it seeming overly cute now. But back in 2001 it seemed refreshing and innovative.

It was a huge influence on Bryan Fuller's Pushing Daisies, which remains one of my favorite tv shows.

EDE, I just did some quick research on Pushing Daisies. The cast is good, but the premise is the kind that could turn out either charming or gross.

In your opinion, is the tone of the show consistent? Or is it funny and whimsical one moment, then dark and violent the next?

It's consistently whimsical, with no darkness or violence. It was unfortunately cut short after (I believe) 2 seasons due the writer's strike of whatever year that was. I believe Fuller wrote some follow-up comics to continue the story, but I've never read them.

Thanks, EDE.

Here's a nice quote from the original Pushing Daisies thread in this forum:

Much appreciated, EDE.

My thanks to Lardy, as well. (I know you're never far away, Lardy.)

Ah, Pushing Daisies! So short-lived, yet so beautiful! Apparently, it's available on Max, one of the streaming services I don't have.

I don't have Max, either, Lardy.

Streaming -- a necessary evil, or an irritant that it's still not too late to deal with?

Right now I'm paying 10 bucks a month for BritBox, and over a hundred a month for my satellite tv. Considering I watch the former at least as much as alll of the channels on the latter put together, it's really puzzling to me why I keep paying for the latter.