All Things TV Series Recommendations/Reviews

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We have another 3 month free trial of Apple TV so binge watching what we can. Surprisingly, my wife, who is not big into sci-fi wanted to watch Murderbot and we are both enjoying it. I am vaguely familiar with the books but have never read them. Pretty funny.

I'm also watching Hijack on my own and like it too. 7 episodes similar to the "24" series style where every episode is about an hour in real time. Will move on to Chief of War with Jason Mamoa after that.

New season of Slow Horses was amazing as usual. Already mentioned The Studio is great. Apple TV has a lot of great shows.
 
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Flipping through the Peacock offerings yesterday, my wife and I decided to start watching All Her Fault, a limited 8 episode series with Shiv from Succession, Michael Pena, and Dakota Fanning starring. Intended to watch an episode, maybe two, but six episodes later and staying up too late for the start of a work week, we were hooked with each episode's suspense building. Really looking forward to capping it off tonight. A good show to watch with your wife--as I shared with a co-worker this morning, it should put most husbands in a really good light compared to Shiv and Fanning's spouses.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm also watching Hijack on my own and like it too. 7 episodes similar to the "24" series style where every episode is about an hour in real time. Will move on to Chief of War with Jason Mamoa after that.

New season of Slow Horses was amazing as usual. Already mentioned The Studio is great. Apple TV has a lot of great shows.
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Just finished the latest season of Slow Horses. Just a really, really well done show. Glad it's moving forward, the Gary Oldman character is one of the better characters I've seen in a show in a while.

We watched Hijack a while back. Elba is an actor that I really like almost anything he's done. It's been a little while but I want to say, from my recollection, that my only knock on Hijack was that it's one of those where you asked multiple times, "why didn't they just do this?". Minor gripe, but it was worth watching as I recall.

If you like Elba, the British series "Luther" is pretty good. It's dark, but I really really enjoyed it. I can't recall what platform it's one.
 

coolhandgopher said:
Flipping through the Peacock offerings yesterday, my wife and I decided to start watching All Her Fault, a limited 8 episode series with Shiv from Succession, Michael Pena, and Dakota Fanning starring. Intended to watch an episode, maybe two, but six episodes later and staying up too late for the start of a work week, we were hooked with each episode's suspense building. Really looking forward to capping it off tonight. A good show to watch with your wife--as I shared with a co-worker this morning, it should put most husbands in a really good light compared to Shiv and Fanning's spouses.
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Just watched the first one. Looking forward to more.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Just watched the first one. Looking forward to more.
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Finished it last night and it didn't disappoint through the finale. Chekhov's gun from the early episodes comes in significantly in the finale, it's a pretty satisfying conclusion. Michael Pena deserves all the work he can get, he's outstanding, with Sarah Snook right there with him.
 


GophersInIowa said:
We have another 3 month free trial of Apple TV so binge watching what we can. Surprisingly, my wife, who is not big into sci-fi wanted to watch Murderbot and we are both enjoying it. I am vaguely familiar with the books but have never read them. Pretty funny.

I'm also watching Hijack on my own and like it too. 7 episodes similar to the "24" series style where every episode is about an hour in real time. Will move on to Chief of War with Jason Mamoa after that.

New season of Slow Horses was amazing as usual. Already mentioned The Studio is great. Apple TV has a lot of great shows.
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Chief of War is really good. Recommend for sure.
 


Finally got around to powering through the last season of True Detective: Night Country.

Very uninspiring, to say the least, despite Jodie Foster's efforts to salvage the storyline. If it would have been more than just 6 episodes, we probably wouldn't have finished it, or maybe we would have, I don't know.

I'm not a fan of anything really supernatural related anyway, and while that wasn't the entire plot, it was a fair amount. I can't recommend watching it at all.
 

coolhandgopher said:
Flipping through the Peacock offerings yesterday, my wife and I decided to start watching All Her Fault, a limited 8 episode series with Shiv from Succession, Michael Pena, and Dakota Fanning starring. Intended to watch an episode, maybe two, but six episodes later and staying up too late for the start of a work week, we were hooked with each episode's suspense building. Really looking forward to capping it off tonight. A good show to watch with your wife--as I shared with a co-worker this morning, it should put most husbands in a really good light compared to Shiv and Fanning's spouses.
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Thanks for this recommendation. We just finished and enjoyed it a lot. I would agree with the last sentence, haha.
 



Just watched the first episode of Pluribus on Apple.

Like it very much and will watch the rest. The creator and Show runner is Vince Gilligan and it stars Rhea Seehorn.
The title of the series refers to e pluribus unum, a Latinphrase meaning 'out of many, one'.[

It’s a sci-fi post apocalyptic premise and those generally aren’t my bailiwick, but I like his work on the X-Files and he also co-wrote Hancock, so I thought it was worth a try, as he always has creative perspectives.

FWIW - 98% on rotten tomatoes.
 

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but I don't keep up on this thread all the time. Anyway, started "Task" on HBO MAX with Mark Ruffalo leading an FBI drug task force. Really good. Have watched the first 4 of 7 episodes. May finish tonight.
 
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Gopher_In_NYC said:
Just watched the first episode of Pluribus on Apple.

Like it very much and will watch the rest. The creator and Show runner is Vince Gilligan and it stars Rhea Seehorn.
The title of the series refers to e pluribus unum, a Latinphrase meaning 'out of many, one'.[

It’s a sci-fi post apocalyptic premise and those generally aren’t my bailiwick, but I like his work on the X-Files and he also co-wrote Hancock, so I thought it was worth a try, as he always has creative perspectives.

FWIW - 98% on rotten tomatoes.
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We're about halfway through and really like it as well.
 



GophersInIowa said:
We're about halfway through and really like it as well.
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Glad you like it.

I’m finishing up Down Cemetery Road, with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, produced by BBC. Last episode drops today.

Kind of a wacky British who dunnit, with some good humor- you might like that as well.
 

Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
Finally got around to powering through the last season of True Detective: Night Country.

Very uninspiring, to say the least, despite Jodie Foster's efforts to salvage the storyline. If it would have been more than just 6 episodes, we probably wouldn't have finished it, or maybe we would have, I don't know.

I'm not a fan of anything really supernatural related anyway, and while that wasn't the entire plot, it was a fair amount. I can't recommend watching it at all.
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Agree. Based on what I can tell....it's something that they just slapped the True Detective title onto. Finished it only because there were only a couple episodes remaining by the time I had realized that I barely cared to find out what was happening.

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Just watched the first episode of Pluribus on Apple.

Like it very much and will watch the rest. The creator and Show runner is Vince Gilligan and it stars Rhea Seehorn.
The title of the series refers to e pluribus unum, a Latinphrase meaning 'out of many, one'.[

It’s a sci-fi post apocalyptic premise and those generally aren’t my bailiwick, but I like his work on the X-Files and he also co-wrote Hancock, so I thought it was worth a try, as he always has creative perspectives.

FWIW - 98% on rotten tomatoes.
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Watched the first two episodes. It's great. Very much looking forward to watching how this all unfolds.
 

Just finished the first half of the Stranger Things final season, and as the kids say (or said not so long ago) it slaps. The first half finale's got me juiced for the down the stretch wrap up of the show.
 

We just plowed through "The Last Frontier" on Apple TV. We liked it, I wouldn't NOT recommend it. It was solid if you're looking for something to put on the list. I thought the woman who played the female lead, Haley Bennett, was a less than perfect choice for the role though. She was "okay", but she probably prevented the series from getting a higher rating, at least from me anyway.

It's a good show, but I do tend to like shows based on frigid, arctic climates and this filled that bill. I give it 1.5 thumbs up out of 2!
 

Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
We just plowed through "The Last Frontier" on Apple TV. We liked it, I wouldn't NOT recommend it. It was solid if you're looking for something to put on the list. I thought the woman who played the female lead, Haley Bennett, was a less than perfect choice for the role though. She was "okay", but she probably prevented the series from getting a higher rating, at least from me anyway.

It's a good show, but I do tend to like shows based on frigid, arctic climates and this filled that bill. I give it 1.5 thumbs up out of 2!
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It was enough to get me to want to watch season 2 but barely. Agree on the actress. And the show could have been two separate shows with two different storylines. I hated the Jason Clarke character’s wife and son. Their reaction after his secret was revealed was ridiculous.
 

I never watched Miami Vice back in the day but Damn, this is one heckuva list of people who appeared on the show. Holy crap.

 

We just plowed through another Apple TV series, starring Uma Thurman, called "Suspicion". Chalk one up for, should have done my homework before pulling the trigger.

8-episode series, for the most part we were enjoying it and it was keeping our attention and trying to figure out what was going to happen, who the "bad guys" were, etc. And then it just goes completely off the rails in the final episode or so with some climate change activism whack job storyline, not to mention it left a litany of things that were never explained, the dots didn't connect, never explained what happened, who did certain things, multiple layers of different factions involved and it never tied up who ultimately did what. Just a dumpster fire ending to what could have been a pretty good show

Time to finally get started on "Landman" with Billy Bob; just heard too many good things. I'm also curious if anyone has watched another show on Apple TV called "Smoke" with Taron Egerton? I had it on my list, looked interesting, but I just saw a review somewhere that really wasn't very flattering, I think from Ebert. That may go to the back of the list
 

Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
We just plowed through another Apple TV series, starring Uma Thurman, called "Suspicion". Chalk one up for, should have done my homework before pulling the trigger.

8-episode series, for the most part we were enjoying it and it was keeping our attention and trying to figure out what was going to happen, who the "bad guys" were, etc. And then it just goes completely off the rails in the final episode or so with some climate change activism whack job storyline, not to mention it left a litany of things that were never explained, the dots didn't connect, never explained what happened, who did certain things, multiple layers of different factions involved and it never tied up who ultimately did what. Just a dumpster fire ending to what could have been a pretty good show

Time to finally get started on "Landman" with Billy Bob; just heard too many good things. I'm also curious if anyone has watched another show on Apple TV called "Smoke" with Taron Egerton? I had it on my list, looked interesting, but I just saw a review somewhere that really wasn't very flattering, I think from Ebert. That may go to the back of the list
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Landman is great, although I think the storyline with his family is kinda unnecessary. Have not watched Season 2 yet.

Have not seen Smoke.
 

Dark Matter on Apple is worth your time if you're into sci-fi stuff. Stars Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. About a physicist that gets abducted into an alternate version of his life and his struggle to get back to his family.
 


Ope3 said:
Adolescense must be pretty amazing. It won all 3 Acting Golden Globes it was up for as well as Best Limited Series/Movie for TV.
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have watched it and have to say, (without having kids so I think it will probably hit different emotions, etc. with parents) I found the acting to be incredibly good with relatable and well-developed characters. Add in the style of filming (one continuous shot for each episode) which really does wonders for making it feel like the story is being propelled forward.

If you haven't given it a whirl, really well done coupled with super solid (to outstanding) acting and a very timely subject have made it deserving of the accolades its getting. Particularly in an era where the online streaming platforms are going for quantity over quality, this one really went outside the box a bit and didn't recycle a boring plot/subject but pushed some boundaries from a story telling and stylistic manner
 

coolhandgopher said:
Just finished the first half of the Stranger Things final season, and as the kids say (or said not so long ago) it slaps. The first half finale's got me juiced for the down the stretch wrap up of the show.
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well what'd ya think of the ending?

Saved it all and binged once it was all out. Won't spoiler it in a reply just in case you haven't watched, but generally did find 1st half>2nd half for the last season
 

I really like Landman, especially Billy Bob and a couple other characters, but the whole thing with his wife and daughter is going a little off the rails (though I could look at Ali Ladner all day). Also not crazy about his son's wife. Season 1 better than season 2 IMO.
 

upnorthkid said:
have watched it and have to say, (without having kids so I think it will probably hit different emotions, etc. with parents) I found the acting to be incredibly good with relatable and well-developed characters. Add in the style of filming (one continuous shot for each episode) which really does wonders for making it feel like the story is being propelled forward.

If you haven't given it a whirl, really well done coupled with super solid (to outstanding) acting and a very timely subject have made it deserving of the accolades its getting. Particularly in an era where the online streaming platforms are going for quantity over quality, this one really went outside the box a bit and didn't recycle a boring plot/subject but pushed some boundaries from a story telling and stylistic manner
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I thought they really fumbled the nuanced concepts and it's accolades were from people who mirrored the same politics so it felt very intentional to me. It reminded me a little of the narrative about Columbine kids being bullied as a cause of school shooting. That idea seems laughable now.
I think there was a real opportunity for the series really tackle the toxicity that is growing within our culture but instead it came off like a political piece.

The most interesting villains or dangers in books/movies/series are ones where we can understand (not necessarily agree with) their motives. This series skipped out on that opportunity to make a political point (IMO).

That said, it was entertaining and the actors are good. Stephen Graham is great in everything he is in.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The most interesting villains or dangers in books/movies/series are ones where we can understand (not necessarily agree with) their motives.
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I haven't watched "Adolescence" but what personally draws your interest regarding drama characters also really encapsulates what gets me fully engaged into a movie and especially a TV series.

I'm drawn like a moth to a flame when the show's primary character has significant moral flaws and internal conflicts with 'right vs. wrong'. Watching them battle their own conscience while not having any clue which direction the writers will move them towards is fascinating to me.

Characters like Jimmy McNulty (The Wire), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Don Draper (Mad Men), Jax Teller (SOA) and Vic Mackey (The Shield) all encapsulate what earns my loyalty to a show because you just never know what you're going to get.

It boils down to "good guys capable of doing bad things" for me. Maybe I just like to be reminded that in the real world, there's no shame in being flawed and imperfect.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I thought they really fumbled the nuanced concepts and it's accolades were from people who mirrored the same politics so it felt very intentional to me. It reminded me a little of the narrative about Columbine kids being bullied as a cause of school shooting. That idea seems laughable now.
I think there was a real opportunity for the series really tackle the toxicity that is growing within our culture but instead it came off like a political piece.

The most interesting villains or dangers in books/movies/series are ones where we can understand (not necessarily agree with) their motives. This series skipped out on that opportunity to make a political point (IMO).

That said, it was entertaining and the actors are good. Stephen Graham is great in everything he is in.
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An interesting perspective. Not the vibe I got but can see where one would have this feeling/conclusion, especially if they’re more in the political scene or come in with strong feelings about the social media sphere around young men (this was more where I felt it rather than “politics” was it was a commentary on social media/rabbit holes/amplified microphones as well as dangers of knife culture in the UK).

That said, there are absolutely plot holes, logic jumps, etc. the father (Stephen Graham) is my favorite character so my focus was there rather than son so perhaps by viewing the narrative through his eyes in a more focused fashion skewed my view, rather than focusing more on the villain where they probably/definitely could’ve gotten into more depth.

Don’t view it anywhere near more of the “gold standard” shows like slim is alluding to, but compared to what else it was up against in that caliber of offering (limited series) I guess it stood out to me what they did in a very short period of time with as many characters as they chose to involve

Edit for clarity: not trying to say it deserved all the acting awards, etc as have not seen all the nominees to make that comp. Just that enjoyed the series
 

Slim Tubby said:
I haven't watched "Adolescence" but what personally draws your interest regarding drama characters also really encapsulates what gets me fully engaged into a movie and especially a TV series.

I'm drawn like a moth to a flame when the show's primary character has significant moral flaws and internal conflicts with 'right vs. wrong'. Watching them battle their own conscience while not having any clue which direction the writers will move them towards is fascinating to me.

Characters like Jimmy McNulty (The Wire), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Don Draper (Mad Men), Jax Teller (SOA) and Vic Mackey (The Shield) all encapsulate what earns my loyalty to a show because you just never know what you're going to get.

It boils down to "good guys capable of doing bad things" for me. Maybe I just like to be reminded that in the real world, there's no shame in being flawed and imperfect.
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I would agree with a lot of this. Pretty well said.

I would also say that for ME personally, one of the barometers I have always used in gauging the quality of a series (or perhaps the ones I have liked the most just happen to HAVE this trait) is the depth of talent on the staff.

When you have a series where the 5th or 7th most important character is still a great character, to me that's a great series. The Wire did that for example. Bosch, on Prime, does that for me as well. That's one of the reasons I really didn't LOVE Breaking Bad; too many characters that just weren't that good. It was a good show, entertaining, but good grief, I've run across people who are horribly offended if you don't say it was the best thing you've ever seen on the screen.
 

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