The big TV-series discussion thread

[Bear 1817]

Murder Mountain: Welcome to Humboldt County - Six-part documentary about what happens in Humboldt County. The people who lives there, the people who get lost and murdered there, the weed growing and how the police just doesn't give a fuck and are more worried about the blackmarket weed growers, than the people who get killed or missing up in the mountains. Insane that this shit happens in USA in the 2000's.

 

Fantastic documentary.

[Bear 1817]

Shadow Bound  - I was browsing through lists of Lovecraft adaption and Lovecraftian works yesterday, and one of the things I stumbled onto was this 5x20 min series that is, as far as I know not an actual adaption of Lovecraft, but heavily inspired by and drawing a lot upon his mythos with our main guy having the Pickman name and clear and direct references to The Great Old Ones.

 

Shadow Bound are very similar to the brilliant movies made by H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society like The Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness that it tries to capture a feeling of a era long "forgotten". This is a black and white silent series made in the vein of horror and dark crime/mystery movies of the 20's, and it's no less than exceptional. It's dark, suspenseful and the tension is so great you can't help to get drawn into the twisted atmosphere and mysteries presented. The cinematography is excellent, the score is haunting and beautiful and it's superbly acted with the actors, most of which probably isn't super talented, pulling off some great stuff with both facial expressions and body language.

 

One of the more Lovecraftian films and series I've watched so far, and I've seen quite a lot by now. It's also one of the best series I've ever seen. Top 3 for sure.

 

Highly recommended if you're into H.P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft adaptions for the screen or 20's horror movies.

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by Bear

[Bear 1817]

GLOW season 2 was even better than the already amazing first season. Feelgood comedy-drama that balances perfectly between comedy and drama. Fantastic!

 

Strange Aeons - Short mini-series clocking in at only 30 minutes combined. Four short episodes. Lovecraft adaption that's pretty alright. Not amazingly good, but it's alright for what it is. Some nice atmosphere, but they haven't managed to fully create an atmospheric piece.

[Bear 1817]

Trigger Warning with Killer Mike was cool. Short documentary series where we get to see living legend Killer Mike try out different things, from learning basic, handyman skilles through porno to making a new bible, living black and more. It's really fun with Killer Mike  & co plowing through six short episodes with thoughtful  humor, absurdity, truth and strong opinions. Highly recommended!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Just wanted to drop by and mention that I've been really enjoying Sex Education on Netflix! It's got just the right balance of comedy and drama I like, plus I'm always a sucker for coming-of-age stories. The plot is nothing wildly impressive or out-of-the-box but done excellently, the actors are great (Gillian Anderson! ♥) and the soundtrack is killer. If anyone's looking for quality entertainment I totally recommend it.

[Bear 1817]

Agreed. I thought a few of the episodes where a tad too long, but the series overall ere really good and entertaining. It's fun and witty, but at the same time it takes up some serious issues like sexuality among teenagers, the frustration and pressure and how hard it is to live with ridiculous expectations. Very pro-lgbt as well.

 

It got renewed, and I am looking forward to it for sure.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

19 hours ago, Bear said:

It got renewed, and I am looking forward to it for sure.

Great to hear! Just finished it, it was over so soon but at least we have something to look forward to then.

[Bear 1817]

Maniac  - Exceptional sci-fi drama with with some truly stunning performances by Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. It's a remake of a Norwegian series I have not seen, but I might watch it out of curiosity. This was phenomenal! A must-see IMO.

 

The Umbrella Academy - Didn't except to like this much, but I actually did despite some major flaws. The overall tone is a bit inconsistent, the choices of music is so standard and boring that it almost seem parodying regular choices, and Luther turned out to be a poorly written cliche. But overall the series was cool. Like a mix of Watchmen and X-Men, but not nearly as good or interesting as either. But recommended if you're into atypical superhero shows.

[yomii 834]

started babylon 5 finally! was going to watch it for about five years lol

watched two series so far and i have a feeling that the cast won't be able to outshine star trek tos and tng's casts, but the series still look decent, i think theyll grow on me with time.

[daintypersnicketydingo 38]

Started watching The Orville, it really is as people describe it, a sillier Star Trek. Which I do really enjoy since it also still does look at some interesting questions when it comes to dealing with alien life.

On 2/2/2019 at 1:13 PM, Jigsaw9 said:

Just wanted to drop by and mention that I've been really enjoying Sex Education on Netflix! It's got just the right balance of comedy and drama I like, plus I'm always a sucker for coming-of-age stories. The plot is nothing wildly impressive or out-of-the-box but done excellently, the actors are great (Gillian Anderson! ♥) and the soundtrack is killer. If anyone's looking for quality entertainment I totally recommend it.

I also enjoyed Sex Education a great deal! At first I thought it might be too much second hand embarrassment for me to handle but thankfully it doesn't do much of that. Instead, it handles the daily lives of teens and hormones without making a mockery of it all while staying funny. And yes, all my love for Anderson as well.

[Bear 1817]

 

 

Netflix strikes again, so fuck the motherfucking haters.

 

I'm only 6 episodes into the series, but so far I'm extremely satisfied. Animated anthology series that so far has been horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comedy. Incredibly diverse, so you got no idea what the next episode is gonna be both story-wise and visually. Really cool stuff. Episodes so far has been between 5 and 20 minutes long.

[chizuruki 7]

On 2/26/2019 at 5:09 AM, Bear said:

The Umbrella Academy - Didn't except to like this much, but I actually did despite some major flaws. The overall tone is a bit inconsistent, the choices of music is so standard and boring that it almost seem parodying regular choices, and Luther turned out to be a poorly written cliche. But overall the series was cool. Like a mix of Watchmen and X-Men, but not nearly as good or interesting as either. But recommended if you're into atypical superhero shows.

 

I was also surprised that I kind of enjoyed this series even though it's very aggressively ok from an objective point of view haha. Lots of inconsistencies, and the plot was somewhat predictable? Robert Sheehan's portrayal of Klaus was probably my favorite thing about it, and the dynamic between him and No. 6. 

 

 

My brother and I are watching the Korean series called Kingdom together. This is my first Korean series, and although I'm not really a fan of the zombie genre, this one is pretty exciting and (positively) stressful for me. Two episodes to go before we finish it. I heard the second season is currently being shot, too, so the ending is something I'm looking forward to very much.

 

Has anyone else already seen it?

[Bear 1817]

I got one episode to go before I am finished with Kingdom. It's a zombie show and all, but the zombies are more of a backdrop than anything else. Really nice and well-written period drama with zombies as a certain spice. Really liking it.

 

I also watched a film from last year which was much of the samw, albeit more action-horror than drama. Also South Korean. Was cool, but not as good as Kingdom.

[Bear 1817]

Finished Love, Death & Robots and thought it was exceptional. Like all anthology's it's a bit up and down, but most part it's really good. At its worst it's good. At its best it's brilliant.

 

Favourite episodes would be Sucker of Souls, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Good Hunting, Helping Hand, Fish Night and Zima Blue. Fish Night and Zima Blue are probably the very best.

 

Least favourite are Alternate Histories, Secret War, When The Yogurt Took Over and Three Robots.

[chizuruki 7]

On 3/19/2019 at 9:31 PM, Bear said:

I got one episode to go before I am finished with Kingdom. It's a zombie show and all, but the zombies are more of a backdrop than anything else. Really nice and well-written period drama with zombies as a certain spice. Really liking it.

 

I also watched a film from last year which was much of the samw, albeit more action-horror than drama. Also South Korean. Was cool, but not as good as Kingdom.

I completely agree about the zombie thing being more of a backdrop. Yesterday I finished the first season and hooooo boye.

 

Gonna look into the other shows you've mentioned above in the coming days. A lot of them sound intriguing.

[Bear 1817]

I finished Kingdom yesterday and thought it was excellent. Really looking forward to the next season. By the way, the movie I mentioned was Rampant. Cool film with some fantastic zombies and action.

[Bear 1817]

I recently finished two series.

 

Rick and Morty - I've kinda let this one lie for some time because I was a bit tired of these adult animations as they all seemed to use the same animators, drawers and script-writers, but this one was a lot better than expected. Absolutely hilarious for three whole seasons. Not a single boring episode. Just fantastic throughout!

 

The Expanse, season 3 - Loved the two first seasons, and I loved this as well. I kinda missed the noir-feeling of the first two seasons, but it was really enjoyable anyway. First half was more of a political drama, while the second half were more a space opera. Loved everything! Can't wait for the next season.

[platy 3018]

Finished Sex Education today. Loved every moment of it, the characters were so well developed and I enjoyed seeing where each storyline was going. Except for Adam and Eric's, I've seen that cliché a lot. Glee did it over ten years ago, it wasn't cute then and it isn't cute now. But apart from that, it brought something new to the table regarding  the teens vs sex theme. 

[Bear 1817]

Watched Black Summer, the new Netflix zombie show and I was pleasantly surprised. This is basically The Walking Dead without the boring drama, awful characters, lame dialogue and, well, even more boring drama. This is fast-paced zombie action-horror that's intense and suspenseful. They got no time for bullshit. Just straight-forward and fun. Way, way better than I expected.

[Bear 1817]

Finished Black Lightning season 2. It was good, but 16 episodes is just 3-5 episodes too many IMO. They should've had it shorter, or spent a lot more time on the villains because I would've loved to see more of Tobias Whale. Such a badass character. But he isn't given much meat to build on sadly. 

 

But by all means, it's fun and I'm looking forward to season 3.

[Bear 1817]

Started on Channel Zero: The Dream Door today and have two episodes left. And while checking something I saw that it's been cancelled. Alongside Stranger Things and Ash vs Evil Dead this is by far one my favourite series of the 2000's, and not surprisingly Ash vs Evil Dead was cancelled last year. Same with Blood Drive, which was a superb exploitation TV-series. All these niche series that won't generate a lot of views gets cancelled, while absolute garbage like The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and all that keeps getting renewed despite delivering one awful season after another. I fucking hate this shit.

[Bear 1817]

Just finished Channel Zero: The Dream Door and it was amazing. The season that was the most similar to season one, but still something very, very different. This entire show, all four seasons, are absolute masterpieces. Amazing!

[Bear 1817]

Wanted some more horror after Channel Zero and was recommended Room 104, an anthology created by Mark and Jay Duplass. Mark's best known as the creep in Creep I & II and Jay probably for the highly underrated Manson Family Vacation. Room 104 is episode based and got a new theme for each episode, but what somewhat connects them is that they're all set to the same hotel room, Room 104. I'm 10 episodes in and very disappointed. It's not bad, it's actually pretty fun. But where's the horror at? So far it's more or less been drama, thrillers and comedy.

 

Favourite episode so far is Voyeurs. Thought this was really good, and proper stunning like. Got a bit of the same, uplifting feeling I got from Black Mirror's  San Junipero and Hang the DJ. Especially the former.

[daintypersnicketydingo 38]

Finally finished the first season of Ash vs Evil Dead, I do so love comedy horror type series. Besides, long standing adoration of Bruce Campbell certainly helps. I mostly like the series when it is being ridiculous so when it started getting more serious my attention waived but I'm still interested in more. Aside from that, also watched a couple episodes of Lost in Space, which I have to admit I mostly had an interest in because the internet told me about a hot robot. But I do enjoy that and stories about characters trying to survive in strange new places.

[Bear 1817]

First season of Ash vs Evin Dead wad excellent, but it just gets better and better. They improved massiveley with each season. One of the worst cancellation ever!