Topic: The TV Show Thread

the Last Kingdom season 1 (Netflix Original) - Set in middle ages England (I think somewhere in the 800's), it sees Uthrad, a warrior of nobile birth, having to choose sides between the English of which he was born as, and the invading Danish who raised him, following the events of a power struggle in the Danish ranks.

It's a pretty typical sword & sandal series, with all the blood & nudity you'd expect from the genre, and while you'll probably enjoy it if you like the genre, it won't win you over otherwise. I was able to get into it, but I didn't care for it as much as similar shows I've seen, due mainly to the overly drab vibe of the middle ages focus (none of the grand architecture & opulent dress that can be seen in many of the Roman era centric series, or in Marco Polo).

I'll get around to season 2, but will watch something with a bit more color beforehand, probably an anime.

Been watching Blue Bloods the past few days and I have to say I have been enjoying it. It's basically a family/police drama show about a family who are multi generation police officers in New York City. The grandfather is a retired commissioner, the son his the current comissioner and the oldest son is a detective in the NYPD while the youngest son is a rookie beat cop. The daughter is an assistant D.A so heads usually but at the dinner table.

It's pretty good especially if you like stuff like Law and Order and has a pretty good cast, Tom Selleck is the father while Donnie Wahlberg plays the oldest son. Currently there are a few seasons on Netflix where I am watching it.

@Tasuki, yeah, that's usually not my type of show, but my father likes it, and I've enjoyed an episode of it here & there with him.

I like the way it handles relevant social commentary with today's attitude on police with a level headed approach that respects both sides of the argument. Too few shows do that these days, it seems like.

@RR529 "I've enjoyed an episode of it here & there with him."

Same here, I used to watched it every now and then last time. They usually like to end the episodes with the family having a meal at the dinner table and talking about stuff like issues of morality of that particular episode. Personally, I would've preferred if they change the structure abit so it doesn't become so predictable.

That said, I quite like both Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg in that series. I thought Donnie Wahlberg was good in Band of Brothers as well.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Netflix) - Anime in which Humans are at war with an alien race deep in space, and after a mech pilot finds himself stranded on Earth (long since thought uninhabitable), cultures clash as he tries finding his place amongst the civilization that has built up since the planet's distant catastrophe.

The art direction is absolutely gorgeous, the "Waterworld" esque setting is pretty unique for an anime, it stays focused on it's core narrative (which mostly deals with the value of human life), and is overall one of the best things I've watched on Netflix this year.

the Last Kingdom season 2 (Netflix original) - Much like the first season, if you're really into the sword & sandal genre you'll probably find something to like in it, but it won't win you over otherwise. While there were some characters/things I liked about it, I thought it was just okay (I more prefer the grandiose citiscapes/dress you run across in Roman & Renaissance era shows, rather than the drab & ramshackle society you see in Dark/Middle ages fare, in which this is set).

Just watched Castlevania. Prettyyyyy pretty good.

@kyleforrester87 Was that a bit of LD then?

@ApostateMage

Aldnoah.Zero (Netflix) - Mecha anime set in an alternate history where we discovered the remnents of an advanced civilization on Mars, and war breaks out (between those who colonized Mars & those who stayed on Earth) after the Martian princess is seemingly assassinated by terrorists on a visit to Earth. I liked how much more advanced the Martian forces were, as it forced the protagonists to win via a strategic approach. Overall it was a very good watch if you like this sort of show.

100 Million Yen Women (Netflix Original) - Japanese drama that suprisingly dropped a couple weeks ago. A struggling novelist (Shin Michima) finds himself living with 5 random women after they recieved invitations to live with him from an unknown source. Amongst the few rules of the arrangement are that they must each pay him ¥100 Million a month in rent, but he may not ask them about their pasts. Pretty interesting little mystery series that'll probably unfortunately get overlooked, but I enjoyed it.

Hulu has added a bunch of 90's sitcoms including Full House, Family Matters, Home Improvement among others. This is gong to keep me busy for awhile.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light (Netflix Original) - Japanese drama based on a true story that sees a son trying to reconnect with his estranged father by playing FFXIV with him (they used to play the Famicom games together when he was a child). It wasn't the best thing I've watched this year, but it was definitely different. Maybe worth a look.

Knights of Sidonia (Netflix Original) - Mecha series set in the far future that sees the remnents of humanity teetering on the edge of destruction as they confront a mysteriously creepy alien race known as the Guana in deep space. It takes a lot of inspiration from 80's & 90's sci-fi/mecha anime, but with some modern flair (like the fact that it's entirely CG). It's actually a pretty awesome watch, but held back by the fact that it's as of now incomplete (I also personally wasn't a fan of the direction the romantic sub-plot was taking).

I watched The Gifted today, it looks interesting, maybe i will follow the series.

TV shows that i'm following: Game of Thrones; Vikings; Black Sails; Black Mirror; Stranger Things; Narcos; Bojack Horseman; Rick and Morty; The Americans; Westworld; The Deuce; Castlevania; American Gods; The Last Kingdom; The Seven Deadly Sins; One Punch Man, and probably more.

Best TV show ever imo: Breaking Bad =P

I've been watching Black Lake on BBC4 and it is brilliant. It is a bit of a murder mystery and possible supernatural drama and very tense. It finishes this Saturday which is both a good thing and a bad, good because I'll get to know what happens, bad because it is finished. It's quite reminiscent of the Shining in places and the setting.

@KratosMD of those, Stranger Things is the only one I'll watch, but I can't wait for it! I started Arrow but only made it through Season 2. I really need to watch Mr Robot though.

Can't wait for Stranger Things and Mr. Robot, i'm not following the other shows you mentioned, I used to watch Arrow, but not anymore.

@KratosMD My TV show backlog is worse than my video game backlog. Way worse. I literally have dozens of shows that I would like to watch. A few months ago, a friend of mine and I were talking about TV shows and he gave me a full page list of shows he said I needed to watch. And of course each of those 30-40 shows has multiple seasons. It's like hundreds if not thousands of hours of TV that I am "deficient" in. Whenever I get some time that I think I'll start one of these series, it's just too overwhelming and I feel inclined not to open up something that will consume my life that much or that there is no way I can finish, so I just end up playing video games instead. 😄 Except for Stranger Things — I'll watch that.
If there is a good TV series that actually has an end finale where the plot is completely wrapped up, then I'd like to consider it. Like Breaking Bad. I liked that because I knew it was going to finish and so there was a end point.

@KratosMD I really like Daredevil though, hope that Punisher is great too. I didn't like Defenders. I started to follow The Gifted, let's see if it's good. Thanks for the recommendations.

I've just watched a great show on BBC4 called Black Lake, it's a supernatural suspense type show and it was really enjoyable. The end was a little anticlimatic but not a disappointment. The only thing that may put you off is its in Swedish with subtitles.

@KratosMD It was one of my co workers that pointed it out to me as I hadn't come across it in the listings before. I think it is on iPlayer (if you can get that) as the last episodes aired on Saturday last week.