Speak Up Saturday

[feurioo]

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

Comments

[flo_nelja]

I'm always late for anything, to various degrees :D
I'm rewatching Twin Peaks, watching season 5 of Leverage for the first time, and I'm in season 7 of The Dragon Prince

[shadowkat]

There's a season 7 of Dragon Prince, I thought it just aired S6, it's last season?

[flo_nelja]

Season 7 was released only a few months ago, less than 6 months after season 6.

[shadowkat]

Wow. That's fast, considering how long a wait there was between S5 and S6. I may have to start watching it again.

[violateraindrop]

I didn't binge anything new last week. I caught up a bit on my youtube subscriptions and watched the new Captain America movie though.

One thing I can say is that Paradise already feels like an early entry into my "favorite new shows of the year" list. Every new episode manages to impress me and keep me interested in more.

Last week's Abbott Elementary was one of the stronger episodes this season. The change of scenery was good.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm increasingly wild about Severance with every new episode. I love weird memory stuff, I love characters being isolated together and forced to bond under high pressure, and this show is the perfect intersection of those things.

I'm glad it's coming out episode-by-episode; I'm having such a blast theorising and discussing and writing fanfiction between episodes. At the same time, though, it's always such a struggle to wait for the next one! I haven't loved a show this passionately in a long time, and I'm so excited to see where it goes.

[osteophage]

I'm right there with you about Severance. I'm used to getting into things late, so having to wait between episodes feels like a challenge, but at the same time, it's nice to have the promise of a new episode to look forward to each week.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm also a 'getting into things late' person; I watched Lost for the first time a couple of years ago and thought, Wow, waiting week-to-week for the next episode must have been really rough. I suppose I'm getting an idea of what the original Lost experience must have been like now! But, as you say, it's nice to be able to look forward to the next instalment.

[osteophage]

haha oh man, watching Lost after the fact sounds like a whole different experience. Had you been spoiled on anything by then?

[rionaleonhart]

I thought I'd been spoiled for the ending. I'd heard about the 'we have to go back' surprise flashforward, but the impression I'd somehow gleaned was that it would be the final scene of the show. My mind absolutely exploded when it happened three seasons earlier than I was expecting it to.

[yourlibrarian]

I watched a documentary The Disappearance of Shere Hite but am not sure I can recommend it. It touched on some of the issues raised (much better) in Mrs. America about the US women's movement in the 1970s and the responding far right movement. My biggest problem with the doc is that it was a very surface exploration of her work and spent a lot of time on her personal life and the sexist pushback she received.

While on the one hand the sexist pushback is necessary to explain her disappearance from public life, the change in her work and her self-exile to England, it makes for difficult viewing and the later years of her life are almost completely unexplored. (For example, it mentions that she got married and then later she's living alone in England -- what happened? Did she move there because of her husband? Did the marriage break up because of her move?)

On the other hand the biggest disservice is the lack of exploration about her statistical work which she was challenged on, mostly in ludicrous ways. Given that at the time the press wanted to talk about everything except the details of how the work was carried out, this doc could have given that work a voice.

I've also started the documentary on Sly Stone. The first half is interesting but the second looks like it's going to descend into the usual pattern of celebrity decline and/or death (he's still alive). We'll see.

Otherwise finished the last season of Vienna Blood and watched more of All Creatures, L.A. Law, Boston Legal, Moonlighting, and ST Enterprise.

[shadowkat]

Watched the beautiful animated film "Flow" on HBO Max, about a bunch of animals who rely on each other to survive a big flood. It follows a small loner black cats point of view. There is no dialogue outside of meowing, barking, and squawking.

Also, Kubo and the Two Strings on Netflix US, another beautiful animated film. I think both were nominated this year? Far and away the best animated films I've seen in a while. Disney? You have big-time competition now, so too does Pixar. That Kubo film blew me away - it's puppetry digitized, and uses origami in a delightful way.

Re-watching at random Buffy episodes. Watched S1 The Witch - and was surprised at how good it was and how well it held up. That series holds up well - far better than expected and better than most television shows from the 20th Century. It's a comfort watch - part of the comfort is not discussing it with anyone, or anything - just watching. I got too embroiled in the fandom in 2002 onwards, that I forgot that pleasure with that show. Now just watching off and on. Also I completely forgot how what happened which was delightful. Apparently I remember the later seasons better than the early ones.

Finished The Pitt, and started on the Resident - but I don't know, I can't do frustrating or anger inducing television right now for well ...cough*reasons*cough.

[china_shop]

Oh, I love Kubo! I own it on DVD. :D

[shadowkat]

I can see why - it is the most beautiful little film. And I think the best they've done to date. I've seen three of Laika Studios films: https://www.laika.com/our-films

Paranorman, Coraline and Kubo. Kubo was by far the best - I think it had the best source material.

[china_shop]

Yes, agreed! I've seen The Boxtrolls, too, and their Yeti film, but Kubo is still the best. (They have a new one coming out this year -- I'm looking forward to it.)

[pattrose]

I watched a very stupid movie on Netflix called Kinda Pregnant. I watched it to the end because I hoped it would get better. It didn't. I know it was supposed to be a comedy, but it was rarely funny. I even like the actors in it. I just wish it could have been less dumb and funnier. Did anyone else see it?

[haunted_cherries]

I should PROBABLY should go back to clearing out my backlog, but I couldn't resist rewatching old episodes of Tale from the Crypt and Goosebumps!!

[lycomingst]

I'm watching Ghosts and Will Trent now that they're back.

I tried High Potential about a quirky woman who helps out the police. Cop shows are my weakness, from reality like The First 48 to soft ball stuff like Columbo. So, HP was okay until they did something so stupid forensically that it was insulting. I just stopped.

[tinny]

High Potential is by far not as good as the French original (HPI). Not that HPI is any better, forensically speaking, :D, but the acting and direction is much better, I found the romance actually sizzled, and the characters are a bit more quirky.

I think it's on hulu - not sure where else to get it in the US.

[lycomingst]

I liked the cast but I don't need to be yelling at the tv. Not relaxing.

[china_shop]

Watching Severance and not coping well with the week-by-week episodes. Just give me the whole thing, dammit! ;-p

I've grown a bit lukewarm on Netflix's The Diplomat. Season 1 was excellent competence porn, but season 2 is full of characters making bad choices and tripping themselves up. Idk. We watched the pilot of Schmigadoon (does it continue on like that or subvert the premise like Pleasantville?), a couple of episode of Platonic (which, maybe?), and other than that, we're casting around for something new. Maybe season 2 of the SAS: Rogue Heroes show.

In Kdramas, I've started a rewatch of Sell Your Haunted House with a friend, at a rate of 1 episode every two weeks. I have half an hour of Love Scout to go and am saving it for later tonight when I'm alone. And I'm unsure about whether to go back to Motel California. I don't really like the direction it's heading in (melodrama and family angst and hospitals). Next up, I plan to try Family by Choice and/or Melo Movie.

[shadowkat]

Schnigadoon unfortunately continues on like that and doesn't subvert the premise. It's more of a parody of musicals than a satire, and follows the Brigadoon premise a tad too closely for its own good. I gave up half-way through season 1.

But you might like it better than I did?

[china_shop]

My partner is comparing it unfavourably to Galavant, which had more variety in the music (and more biting humour). I suspect we won't continue with it if it's going to be the same style all the time.

[shadowkat]

Having seen both - I'd agree with your partner. Galavant is much better. It's more of a satire and less of a parody, so more biting. I'm not much of a fan of parody - it tends to irritate me, and only works if you are really familiar with what is being parodied. If you aren't, or you liked the source material? The parody will either annoy you or go over your head. Schmigadoon assumes people are very familiar with Broadway musicals - and all the Rodgers and Hammersteins, and we aren't. The first season is Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals or 1950s. The second season is 1960s-70s musicals, and maybe the 80s? If you aren't familiar? It won't work for you. I'm mildly familiar and it didn't work for me.

[china_shop]

That is super helpful to know. Thanks! <3

[tinny]

Did I watch anything? Hahahha no. Not really. The watchalong started HPI and the reception is positive. \o/ \o/

The Shawn the Sheep Christmas Special - which was cute. I keep trying to find something wrong with it, but it was just... very cute all the way through. The uses for the lemonade were hilarious.

The new High Potential ep, apparently the season finale, which had an annoyingly implausible setup with lots of kidnappings. It got one of the team in completely unnecessary danger, and ended on a cliffhanger. Imdb claims there will be a second season, but in any case, the conclusion to that cliffhanger won't air anytime soon, so that's doubly annoying. Looking back over the season, I am more annoyed than happy with this show overall.

One more ep of Parallel World with the watchalong, which we've now collectively decided is absolutely terrible, but we're enjoying dragging it, so we'll keep watching. The worst fantasy invention lately was the "water tongue", which makes no sense at all. There are also "water eyes" which connect two people and one sees what the other sees - I can understand how that would be useful. But a tongue? It can let one person speak through another person. But without also having "water ears", that seems pretty useless? Anyway, we're having a blast ridiculing this show.

[firecat]

Got a great fanart featuring Poirot and M. Shaitana in “Cards on the Table,” so I watched the episode (Poirot season 10 ep 2). Julian Bashir trying to summon Vincent Price. So many nasty characters. Marvelous.