Television and Internet Shows

I thought the time had come to introduce JazzySon to one of the 5 greatest television shows ever. I checked out the first season of The Wire and invited him to sit and watch. It had been over a decade (longer?) since I had seen it, and I was eager to see it again myself. Fifteen minutes into the first episode, he was somewhat dividing his time between she show and his phone. Thirty minutes in, he was fully dividing his time. Forty-five minutes in, he was devoting more time to the phone than the show. By the end, I'm not even sure he noticed the first episode had ended.

Clearly, The Wire did not appeal to him. :vic: The only thing that seemed to really get his attention was when he realized one of the young recurring characters was played by Michael B Jordan.

OTOH, I really enjoyed watching the first season again!
 
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Nickyboy said:
"The Stranger" on Netflix is a pretty good English mystery to binge watch. At first I thought it was trying to be "Broadchurch", but nah. It can stand on its own.
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Sounds like something I should check out -- especially during this extended down time. :thumbsup:
 
Nickyboy said:
"The Stranger" on Netflix is a pretty good English mystery to binge watch. At first I thought it was trying to be "Broadchurch", but nah. It can stand on its own.
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I don't think I've ever seen Broadchurch. I'm not sure I even know what it is. All I know for certain is it is an English show.

However, this morning I started on The Stranger. I've intended to ever since you posted this, but never got around to it. I liked it in the beginning. Then I realized it was 8 episodes and began to feel like it might be too thin to keep my interest for 8 eps. Now that I've crossed the halfway point, I think 8 eps is going to be the right amount.

The story is good enough, but the real appeal for me is enjoying the English setting and characters. And the story is keeping my interest, and raising my interest. Good stuff.

Now, to find out what this Broadchurch is about ... ...

EDIT: Just IMDB'd it. Maybe I'll bump it into the queue
 
During the penultimate chapter, I had to hold off on The Stranger. I was watching with one of my daughters and she was unable to watch with me for a while. So, during this time of being laid up inside, I picked up another Netflix maxi-series.

Designated Survivor


I never watched an episode of any other white house shows. From The West Wing, to Veep, to House Of Cards, to Scandal. I never saw a complete episode of 24, which this feels like with the relentless cliffhangers and rapid pacing. Maybe not having direct comparisons enhances my enjoyment of this, but I have to say I am enjoying this very much. Only a couple of episodes to go in season 1, but I'll be back for season 2.
 


After finally utilizing Prime membership and binging out with Bosch, I noticed Expanse kept getting placed where I could see it on the list of shows displayed. Not having anything to scratch my sci-fi itch, I gave it a try. The basic set-up is that Earth has colonized the solar system, especially the asteroid belt, Mars, its moons, and even out to some of the moons of the gas giants. The earth is one political entity controlled by the UN, and is in something of a 3-way cold war with Mars and the inhabitants of the asteroid belt.

The first season was a mixed-bag for me. It was hard to connect with most of the characters, and some of the ones I felt the most affinity for, were killed off. And the plot line seemed to meander from here to there, with too many threads than were needed. Also, in the beginning the first episodes heavily indicated this was going to be a Tech Noir tale sort of like Dark Night or 12 Monkeys, where the sci-fi aspects played second-fiddle to the noir aspects. Thankfully, that was not true, because the strength of this is not the noir but the sci-fi universe-building focus.

By the end of season 1, I wasn't completely satisfied, but things were fleshing out nicely. Now halfway through the second season, I'm enjoying how the various threads and characters have come together. There is still plenty that could go wrong with this, but I'm hopeful they keep up the momentum.
 
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JazzyRandy said:


After finally utilizing Prime membership and binging out with Bosch, I noticed Expanse kept getting placed where I could see it on the list of shows displayed. Not having anything to scratch my sci-fi itch, I gave it a try. The basic set-up is that Earth has colonized the solar system, especially the asteroid belt, Mars, its moons, and even out to some of the moons of the gas giants. The earth is one political entity controlled by the UN, and is in something of a 3-way cold war with Mars and the inhabitants of the asteroid belt.

The first season was a mixed-bag for me. It was hard to connect with most of the characters, and some of the ones I felt the most affinity for, were killed off. And the plot line seemed to meander from here to there, with too many threads than were needed. Also, in the beginning the first episodes heavily indicated this was going to be a Tech Noir tale sort of like Dark Night or 12 Monkeys, where the sci-fi aspects played second-fiddle to the noir aspects. Thankfully, that was not true, because the strength of this is not the noir but the sci-fi universe-building focus.

By the end of season 1, I wasn't completely satisfied, but things were fleshing out nicely. Now halfway through the second season, I'm enjoying how the various threads and characters have come together. There is still plenty that could go wrong with this, but I'm hopeful they keep up the momentum.
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I’m slowly making my way through S1.
 
978-1-4766-7407-0.jpg


The publisher sez:

The ABC TV series The Bionic Woman, created by Kenneth Johnson, was a 1970s pop culture phenomenon. Starring Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers, the groundbreaking series follows Jaime’s evolution from a young woman vulnerable to an exploitative social order, to a fierce individualist defying a government that sees her as property. Beneath the action-packed surface of Jaime’s battles with Fembots, themes such as the chosen family, technophobia, class passing, the cyborg, artificial beings, and a growing racial consciousness receive a sophisticated treatment.
This book links the series to precedents such as classical mythology, first-wave feminist literature, and the Hollywood woman’s film, to place The Bionic Woman in a tradition of feminist ethics deeply concerned with female autonomy, community, and the rights of nonhuman animals. Seen through the lens of feminist philosophy and gender studies, Jaime’s constantly changing disguises, attempts to pass as human, and struggles to accept her new bionic abilities offer provocative engagement with issues of identity. Jaime Sommers is a feminist icon who continues to speak to women and queer audiences, and her struggles and triumphs resonate with a worldwide fanbase that still remains enthralled and represented by The Bionic Woman.

Too bad this book wasn't on the curriculum back when I was in college. I did all the homework at the time without even knowing it. :D
 
JazzyRandy said:


After finally utilizing Prime membership and binging out with Bosch, I noticed Expanse kept getting placed where I could see it on the list of shows displayed. Not having anything to scratch my sci-fi itch, I gave it a try. The basic set-up is that Earth has colonized the solar system, especially the asteroid belt, Mars, its moons, and even out to some of the moons of the gas giants. The earth is one political entity controlled by the UN, and is in something of a 3-way cold war with Mars and the inhabitants of the asteroid belt.

The first season was a mixed-bag for me. It was hard to connect with most of the characters, and some of the ones I felt the most affinity for, were killed off. And the plot line seemed to meander from here to there, with too many threads than were needed. Also, in the beginning the first episodes heavily indicated this was going to be a Tech Noir tale sort of like Dark Night or 12 Monkeys, where the sci-fi aspects played second-fiddle to the noir aspects. Thankfully, that was not true, because the strength of this is not the noir but the sci-fi universe-building focus.

By the end of season 1, I wasn't completely satisfied, but things were fleshing out nicely. Now halfway through the second season, I'm enjoying how the various threads and characters have come together. There is still plenty that could go wrong with this, but I'm hopeful they keep up the momentum.
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The thing that you grow to understand about the Expanse is it's all about tribalism. Skin color discrimination doesn't seem to be really a thing, but everything is divided up into Earthers, Belters and Martians. They're all competing against each other and they're hostile to one another, and that hostility comes across as prejudicial in many scenes. What the author of the books seems to be saying is that if humanity self-destructs, tribalism will probably be what causes it.

Also, I don't buy into the right-wing gung-ho Martian culture being as effective as it's portrayed (I'm still on season 2).
 
Unsomnambulist said:
The thing that you grow to understand about the Expanse is it's all about tribalism. Skin color discrimination doesn't seem to be really a thing, but everything is divided up into Earthers, Belters and Martians. They're all competing against each other and they're hostile to one another, and that hostility comes across as prejudicial in many scenes. What the author of the books seems to be saying is that if humanity self-destructs, tribalism will probably be what causes it.

Also, I don't buy into the right-wing gung-ho Martian culture being as effective as it's portrayed (I'm still on season 2).
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They delved more into the Martian culture later. I think one of the weaknesses of the series is it both makes the non-earth cultures one-dimensional (Mars=miliant, Belt=ignorant+violent) but also somewhat unsuccessfully tries to show examples of individualism within those cultures. I enjoyed the series and can't wait for a new season, but I got a little tired of Martians always wanting to kill, Belters always wanting to steal, and Earthers always wanting to be entitled.

Still, in the end, I greatly enjoy the series. Even when some of the storylines seem like they might drag, I kept binging out and enjoying it. A lot of it was very creative. I get the feeling the books might be a little more complex and rewarding.
 
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