Speak Up Saturday: What are you watching?

[yourlibrarian]

It's another Saturday and once again we're asking what you've been watching over the past week and what you think of it.

We also have a question about the format for Speak Up Saturday. The mods originally planned to do a variety of topics -- which might pop up as polls on Tuesdays or questions on Saturdays. However there was an enthusiastic response to our first "What are you watching?" with a request for more.

Would readers prefer to have this same question every Saturday? A short poll:

Poll #29888 Speak Up Saturday Topics

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

Should Speak up Saturday vary its options?

View Answers

I'd prefer to always do a "What are you watching?"
7 (30.4%)

I'd prefer to do a "What are you watching?" on alternate weeks
1 (4.3%)

I'd prefer to have different topics through a month, with one week as "What are you watching?"
2 (8.7%)

I'd prefer "What are you watching?" as an additional weekly post
5 (21.7%)

I don't care about "What are you watching?" at all as a topic
0 (0.0%)

I don't have any preference
8 (34.8%)

Comments

[bleodswean]

The Good Doctor. I didn't see it "live" and I miss House, MD like I miss a limb. This is a band aid on that amputation...but it has its moments, for sure!

[feurioo]

Are you in it for the medical mystery? As someone who's missing House, MD as well, I'm curious what about The Good Doctor scratches your House itch.

[feurioo]

Finally started the new job I've been angsting about for months, so I've been only watching a couple of Deadloch episodes this week. Laughed more than I thought I would. Just love the many queer characters and the little ways their self-image adds to the show's overall humor. The only reason why I'm not reading Dulcie/Eddie fic at this very moment is the yet-unresolved murder mystery.

Re: Poll. I would love a general "What are you watching?" post but I don't care whether it's on Saturday or not. As such, both I'd prefer to always do a "What are you watching?" and I'd prefer "What are you watching?" as an additional weekly post are cool with me. Since I'm forced to go for one, I choose the additional weekly post because I'd hate to enforce a change on the Speak Up Saturday feature that was obviously planned differently.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, we'll have to see how it turns out!

[shadowkat]

What's Deadloch about? I have a co-worker who keeps trying to get me to watch it. Is it on Amazon?

[dancing_serpent]

I didn't vote, and it's not likely I'm going to participate on the "what are you watching posts". Not that I'm not interested, but I'm doing that every Saturday on my own comm, and I'd feel kinda weird about repeating myself.

Looking forward to other topics, though, regardless which weekday. *g*

[yourlibrarian]

Which community is that? Would you like to affiliate?

[alchemise]

I'm giving Top of the Lake another try after failing to get into it when it first aired. I'm a couple episodes in and still not sure if I like it. I find the tone puzzling and most of the characters unlikable. But I love Holly Hunter's cult/self-help women's group, so I'll stick around a bit longer just for her.

[yourlibrarian]

That was the part I found most interesting as well. I remember skim watching it as I wanted to see how it ended up but it didn't grab me.

[jo]

Some of these I may have watched more last week (I don't recall that there was a "What are you watching" last Saturday?).

1. Lots of tennis (US Open).
2. Finished Wolf (pretty sure I finished that last week) -- it's a limited series (BBC) based on the novel of the same name by Mo Hayder, who I had never heard of. However, I loved Wolf so much, I promptly acquired all of her other books featuring the same detective.
3. Still making my way through season 2 of The Afterparty.
4. Season 3 of The Great, which I just found out yesterday is now also the final season, as it's been cancelled, sadly.
5. I discovered that someone's adapted Bernard Cornwell's The Warlord Chronicles as a series called The Winter King. I loved his The Last Kingdom books, and the adaptation, so I thought I'd give this one a go (haven't read this particular series). It's on a streaming service I'd never heard of (MGM???) and I don't have access to, but, as always, it's on your fave torrent site too.
6. Season 2 of Annika, starring Nicola Walker. I think it will be on PBS at some point in the US, but I'm torrenting that one too.
7. Watched the first episode of Special Ops: Lioness, but haven't gotten back to it yet.

[shadowkat]

Annika is premiering this fall in the US on PBS - I want to say in September, but I could be wrong about that.

Is Lioness worth a look?

[yourlibrarian]

Saw S1 of Annika and I saw that it's coming back. I'll have to make sure to set our recording as we changed services since we saw S1.

Have not heard of Wolf. I'll have to see if that comes our way via PBS or Britbox.

[shadowkat]

What am I watching?

* Castlevania - four seasons, on S2. It's a dark fantasy anime series by Warren Ellis - with some excellent voice talent. (Richard Armitage, Theo James, James Callis, Emily Swallow, Matt Frewer, Bill Nighy, Graham McTavish..)

Castlevania is an American adult animated dark fantasy action television series created and written by Warren Ellis for Netflix, and is produced by Frederator Studios' Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert[1] and Shankar Animation's Adi Shankar. Based on the Japanese video game series of the same name by Konami, the first two seasons adapt the 1989 entry Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and follow Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Sypha Belnades as they defend the nation of Wallachia from Dracula and his minions. Additionally, characters and elements from the 2005 entry Castlevania: Curse of Darkness are featured beginning in the second season, and Alucard's backstory is drawn from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The art style is heavily influenced by Japanese animation and Ayami Kojima's artwork.

It's not bad. Also not that long - about forty minutes per episode, and there were only four or five episodes in the first season. Four seasons in all. On Netflix. Only difficulty? Not crazy about Warren Ellis - for, well, reasons that I won't get into here.

* Dark Winds - have one episode to go - it's the second season, on AMC. Takes place in the 1970s, and is a series adapted from Tony Hillerman's novels about two Navajho detectives. The series is cast, written and directed by Navajho, and produced by George RR Martin and Robert Redford.

* Justified - City Primeval - I need to finish it - on Hulu.

* Movies: The Flash (HBO); Red, White and Blue (Amazon); Are you there god, it's me, Margaret - (Amazon)

* And hopefully finish "Good Omens" on Amazon (if time permits).

Didn't really watch anything today - took a trip to Governor's Island, NYC with a friend via the ferry.

[jo]

I am looking forward to s2 of Dark Winds -- but am waiting for more episodes to be available before I start it. Really loved the first season.

[bleodswean]

We gave up on Justified - City Primeval around the fourth or fifth episode.

Castlevania sounds AMAZING. Going to add that to my watchlist.

How is Dark Winds?

[yourlibrarian]

Finished Justified yesterday. I look forward to Dark Winds -- I think I can get it via Hulu, I'll have to check.

[lycomingst]

The second season of a murder mystery on Acorn.
Only Murders in the Building
What We Do in the Shadows which just end the season.

[bleodswean]

I watch WWDitS for Nandor but found this season really chaotic and unfocused.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm on the last episode of The Looming Tower which I'm watching via Hulu. I'd say it's both impressive and appalling the way that so much petty bickering and general indifference ended up causing the 9/11 attacks to occur. Very watchable series though, given the subject matter.

[olivermoss]

I've finished Nancy Drew! I have strong opinions on that last season. In general, acting is amazing and the writing is, uh, there was writing.

I need to get on my fall Stranger Things rewatch. I don't think I am watching any currently ongoing shows.

Oh, I need to get on finishing the Last Call documentary on HBO because I only have HBO to watch it. It's just a lot. It's about a serial killer who stalked gay bars and went under-reported and under-investigated. I am pretty sure I remember references to the case and also people thinking that no such killer had existed because it would 'have been all over the news' if that had happened

[yourlibrarian]

Hmm, I don't recall hearing about that documentary (or possible the case either, although if it was some time ago I might just have forgotten).

You just reminded me that I was also watching the semi-doc/concert that David Letterman did with U2 on Disney+.

[china_shop]

My partner and I finished Good Omens season 2 this week. It was okay? I'm a long-time Finnemore fan, but I felt like the Aziraphale characterisation was maybe a touch too Finnemore in places? (Maybe I've forgotten what Aziraphale was like in season 1...) But I wasn't bothered by the cliffhanger, unlike some people I've seen talk about it.

[yourlibrarian]

I've yet to see it but a friend has and I suspect has opinions...which she can't share because the other 2 of us haven't watched yet.

[colls]

I have been watching Ahsoka and ruined for most everything else at the moment.
*makes happy, squeeful, space-whale noises

I am also watching season 3 of For All Mankind. This season is focused on getting a manned mission to Mars and it's been very engaging so far.

[yourlibrarian]

Also watching Ahsoka and though there was one storyline in S3 I found annoying I was quite interested to see it. My big problem though was how improbably young everyone was given what their ages should be.

[caramarie]

I finished season 2 of Good Omens yesterday, which is one I enjoy while I'm watching but don't have a lot of thoughts coming away from.

I am also two episodes into Mask Girl, which is a kdrama my mother randomly put on for me, and then got very shocked when she walked in on a certain scene in episode 2. Because she has only seen the very chaste kind of kdrama ... I had to explain Netflix shows aren't expected to hold up the same moral standards XD

[feurioo]

Are you enjoying Mask Girl? It's nothing I'm currently in the mood for but I might watch it in the future for Nana and Ahn Jae-hong.

[violateraindrop]

I watched Transatlantic last week. I don't know what to think. In a way, the show smoothed over the realities of WWII a bit. Only the very last episode felt like a proper retelling of history. It is "based on a true story" which can mean a lot of things. I assume they just left out the more violent details.

[yourlibrarian]

I have to admit I am rather burned out on WWII as a setting for so many things but it does look like this series focuses on something underexplored.

[linky]

I've been watching the usual tokusatsu that are airing right now. Ultraman Blazar and Ohsama Sentai King Ohger. Really good episodes for those two shows this week. And the newest Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Gotchard began airing! It was a fun first episode, I'm curious to see how this one will be.

I also saw all of the live action One Piece the other day with some friends, and was very pleasantly surprised and impressed by it. Given the past live action anime adaptations that have been greenlit on Netflix, I didn't have high hopes. But I was impressed with just how good this adaptation was.

[makamu]

I'm on episode nine of the fourth season of my Criminal Minds rewatch, and am really enjoying all the nice character moments. But I can also see how I've changed since the first time I watched it - I still love Reid, Garcia and Prentiss to bits, but I also appreciate Hotch and Rossi way more than I used to (probably because I can now appreciate the merits of a good boss).

I'm also on the lookout for a non-crime drama show to watch once I take my first break after season five. Right now, I have the newest season of Call the Midwife lined up, but eight episodes might be a bit short. So all suggestions are welcome.