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Shrinking: another Apple TV+ series that has not gotten the love it deserves - Jason Seigel as a grieving therapist who finally decides to get his poo poo together is a fine plot on its own, but it's a true ensemble piece propped up by Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Wendy Malick, Ted McInley and so so many other "that guy" actors. Genuinely funny and heartfelt. I haven't seen a comedy like it in a while
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Mar 24, 2025 13:52
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Shrinking is one of the best shows around. Genuinely funny but also makes me cry harder than any other piece of media.
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Mar 24, 2025 14:10
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Monstaland posted:I think the concept of LOL is pretty cool but I feel that there's too much explanation through flashbacks and commentary from the participants themselves (at least in the Dutch/Flemish version). Just let me decide for myself why something is funny or let me draw my own conclusions about why certain situations where so difficult..I'm also not a huge fan of the whole show around it, with the hosts and all that. Yeah I do feel this way about the UK version. I get why they have the commentary side but at the least there’s way too much of it. Shrinking rules
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Mar 24, 2025 14:49
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The Leopard on Netflix was pretty good. It's one of those "wealthy family dynasty progressively crumbles into ruin" stories. I know nothing about the source novel and barely anything about Italian history, but I did find it interesting. The settings and costumes were great. Acting was mostly good. The whole metaphor of a leopard among many predators was interesting as well. Rather than trying and failing to make a family of assholes seem sympathetic, it makes them look pathetic when they get out-competed. My only complaint is that I was confused about the time-frame of the story. I couldn't tell whether it took place over a few months or a few decades. No one seems to age at all, and I had no idea how old any of the characters were supposed to be except for Not-Anya-Taylor-Joy.
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Mar 24, 2025 18:47
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Octy posted:I'm doing my first rewatch of Vice Principals since it aired nearly a decade ago (!). What a show. I feel kind of bad because the humour is awful and mean spirited but Goggins and McBride play so well off each other. I'm watching this now. It is way more mean-spirited than I thought it would be, and it's a little rough around the edges. It's bothering me that no one has any reaction to anything said or done. But Goggins and McBride are so fun to watch that I'm going to finish both seasons.
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Mar 24, 2025 21:11
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The Korean drama 'When Life Gives You Tangerines' is on Netflix. 12 of 16 episodes are released so far, with the final 4 coming this week. I can't recommend it enough, worth checking out even if you're new to kdramas.
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Mar 24, 2025 21:19
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I'm watching No Activity, the American version. That show is so insanely funny sometimes. The JK Simmons scene and the ones that come from it are seriously all timers. I don't think many people watched it.
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Mar 25, 2025 13:56
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I can't remember if its 2nd or 3rd season but there's another amazing Simmons episode coming 4th season got wrecked by covid, but they were straying pretty far from the premise by then anyway -- way too much activity.
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Mar 25, 2025 16:12
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Buttchocks posted:The Leopard the 1963 movie is decadently excellent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leopard_(1963_film)
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Mar 26, 2025 17:56
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Okay I finished Vice Principals. I love how it ended. I read it was pitched as a two hour movie; and it actually has the pacing of a two hour movie, but stretched out into however many hours and somehow miraculously don't have any problems with that. One thing that kept bugging me was how people reacted to McBride and Goggins's characters' harsh insults. They just... didn't. One of them would say something that would cause them to get fired and scandals in the headlines, and people just stared into space. The scene moved on. I know shows have their own universe where the social rules bend unrealistically to allow comedy, but for it's a lot more noticeable when people have no reaction whatsoever. The only people who played off each other all the time were McBride and Goggins, and the rest were people to do comedy at, not with. Does that make sense?
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Mar 26, 2025 18:29
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LifeLynx posted:Okay I finished Vice Principals. I love how it ended. I read it was pitched as a two hour movie; and it actually has the pacing of a two hour movie, but stretched out into however many hours and somehow miraculously don't have any problems with that. I like to think about Gemstones and Vice Principles as comedies about manners - both Neil Gamby and Jesse Gemstone are so uncouth that the people around them (the ones that aren't also terrible people) just try to ignore the breaches of etiquette or decorum, until they can't anymore.
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Mar 27, 2025 14:05
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I finished Plebs. It's an enjoyable run. Grumio the slave and Aurelius are, I'd say, the funniest characters. Landlord is good, too. Easily digestible britcom fare
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Mar 27, 2025 14:12
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Curb Your Enthusiasm - Despite or maybe because of being a neurotic Jewish guy myself, I've never seen this show. I could have when it first aired, but every clip I saw on Letterman or Conan or whatever was of people screaming at each other and I didn't want to watch that. I tried watching it during the COVID lockdowns, but that was not a good time to watch a show about awkward social interactions. I'm finally getting through it now and it's extremely funny. It's a much-improved Seinfeld formula, which makes a lot of sense. I'm in the early seasons right now when TV standards were stricter, so I don't know if it gets any more R-rated, but right now it's stuff you could expect to see on Seinfeld, which makes the occasional R-rated punches that much funnier. Like the "Beloved Aunt" typo. There's roughly 60 hours of this and I'm enjoying every minute so far.Dr. Yinz Ljubljana posted:I like to think about Gemstones and Vice Principles as comedies about manners - both Neil Gamby and Jesse Gemstone are so uncouth that the people around them (the ones that aren't also terrible people) just try to ignore the breaches of etiquette or decorum, until they can't anymore. Yeah... I guess I'm spoiled by I Think You Should Leave, which has more natural reactions to people saying and doing outlandish poo poo.
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Mar 27, 2025 21:08
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Dr. Yinz Ljubljana posted:I like to think about Gemstones and Vice Principles as comedies about manners - both Neil Gamby and Jesse Gemstone are so uncouth that the people around them (the ones that aren't also terrible people) just try to ignore the breaches of etiquette or decorum, until they can't anymore. See, I like it that the other characters have mostly normal reactions, particularly Ray who is the nicest guy in the show and doesn't flinch when Gamby says the most awful things to him. I guess it's that subversion of what you'd expect out of a comedy that makes it so much funnier for me.
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Mar 27, 2025 21:40
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Octy posted:See, I like it that the other characters have mostly normal reactions, particularly Ray who is the nicest guy in the show and doesn't flinch when Gamby says the most awful things to him. I guess it's that subversion of what you'd expect out of a comedy that makes it so much funnier for me. Completely agree. The Ray/Gamby interactions were one of the best parts of the show.
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Mar 28, 2025 05:02
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I'm such a sucker for moody shows about ghosts. Or ghost adjacent things. Six Feet Under, Spirited, Being Human (the good one, not the junky lore obsessed US remake), even the first season of 13 Reasons Why... basically anything where someone has to process their grief about dead people or being in stuck in a rut in an emotionally realist context. School Spirits is another one of these. I'd sort of been putting it off under the assumption that it wasn't, and that it would be about people doing a Buffy (but bad, I like Buffy but nearly all copies have been terrible). And maybe that's where it goes, but for the moment it's just well developed characters interacting with a light fantasy conceit, where the conceit is there to support the drama rather than the drama becomes about unravelling the conceit. Also I like the gag that once characters realise there are ghosts everyone suddenly gets very self concious about being perved on. That's fun. Plus, look, it's a Paramount show, which means that it's one of the few streaming shows that are guaranteed to have good lighting and staging (see also HBO shows, most Apple+ shows except, sadly Dope Thief, end of list). That goes a long long way for me.
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Mar 28, 2025 10:07
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I just tore through all of American Vandal in the last two days. I liked the first season better than the second, but I think that's because they went a little darker the second season and I don't think it worked as well with the teenagers making a documentary format. The actor that played Dylan in season 1 was hilarious.
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Mar 28, 2025 13:15
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alex trimboli is a little bitch
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Mar 28, 2025 13:35
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He really is.
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Mar 28, 2025 13:53
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The Residence I'm still trying to make up my mind about this one. I think someone already mentioned the premise up-thread but it's a silly, low stakes Knives Out style mystery set in the White House. A super detective played by Uzo Aduba works through a huge cast of upstairs/downstairs suspects to find the killer. The casting is great, and as a birdwatcher myself the incessant callouts to birds and birding was fun (although the night birding at the beginning was dumb). There were plenty of great moments, including some very sweet flashbacks between the detective and her nephew and a love story between two of the White House staff that's revealed in the later episodes. The conceit of most of the story coming out during congressional hearings (with Al Franken and Eliza Coupe as sparring representatives leading the hearings) led to at least one nice payoff. At the same time, the show sometimes felt like a chore, with the fast-cut style and endless cycles of asking someone a question, getting their answer, getting 3 other characters confirmation or refutation of this answer, then cutting back to the first person. I think there's probably too much for one movie here but I do think it would have had more punch with a 4 or 6 episode runtime. Reacher... ended. It's definitely leaning into the super dumb which probably makes it better than last season? I guess.
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Mar 28, 2025 17:00
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Just finished When Life Gives You Tangerines. Show of the year for me.
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Mar 28, 2025 20:19
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Waffles Inc. posted:My wife and I's evening show binging has been House and we're up to early/mid season 3. I'm old enough that I remember the show being in the zeitgeist but I somehow went this long without seeing any of it at all--we chose it because she has a fondness for it from her own youth and i gotta say I enjoy the police procedural format but in a medical setting but Greg is such a loving rear end in a top hat that it's sometimes borderline unwatchable--*especially* into the parts of season 3 that are going on. And on top of that, it's so cynical and mean in a lot of very core ways Well, we're midway through season 5 of House and I've committed to getting through at least to the end of this season but I'm honestly completely out of steam, especially now with this new Private Eye character. My biggest issue is Greg is so completely and utterly disgusting that he's basically to the point of being completely irredeemable, but the writers seem to have painted themselves into a bit of a corner because you can't lay him low because the show needs House to be House, which means you can't change the status quo. He's going to win over Cuddy, his patients are going to live because of him and Wilson's going to eventually come back to him I mean like there's what, 8 seasons so maybe I'm wrong but I just cannot stand the main character of the show
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Mar 28, 2025 22:20
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I binged Inside Man in a day. It's absolutely excellent. The perfect mix of funny and poingant. Ted Danson is absolutely perfect in it. I highly recommend a watch. Plus it has a lot of The Good Place actors in it, in various roles
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Mar 29, 2025 01:40
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BigBallChunkyTime posted:I binged Inside Man in a day. It's absolutely excellent. The perfect mix of funny and poingant. Ted Danson is absolutely perfect in it. I highly recommend a watch. This looks good. I'm going to watch this next (after basketball).
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Mar 29, 2025 03:53
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It's a good watch. Just be warned, it will make you feel emotions.
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Mar 29, 2025 04:44
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Waffles Inc. posted:I mean like there's what, 8 seasons so maybe I'm wrong but I just cannot stand the main character of the show They change it up a little towards the end but it definitely coasts on Hugh Laurie’s charisma hoping you kinda forget he’s a huge piece of poo poo even if he saves a lot of lives.
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Mar 29, 2025 05:51
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Robobot posted:I just tore through all of American Vandal in the last two days. I liked the first season better than the second, but I think that's because they went a little darker the second season and I don't think it worked as well with the teenagers making a documentary format. Agreed on the S1 > S2 verdict. But Season 2 did have that frisson of the maker of a successful true crime series casting around for their new case. And thankfully they decided to stop there. AV is so on point about the clichés of the genre.
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Mar 29, 2025 11:32
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nonathlon posted:Agreed on the S1 > S2 verdict. But Season 2 did have that frisson of the maker of a successful true crime series casting around for their new case. And thankfully they decided to stop there. AV is so on point about the clichés of the genre. They moved on to Players, which is the same style of faux-documentary except this time it's about pro gamers, and it's exactly as funny as you might imagine.
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Mar 29, 2025 14:44
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Is it worth checking out? I'm not familiar with pro-gaming culture so would a lot if the humor be lost on me? I think American Vandal worked real well because I've seen a bunch of murder documentaries and have been to high school.
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Mar 29, 2025 15:55
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EC posted:They moved on to Players, which is the same style of faux-documentary except this time it's about pro gamers, and it's exactly as funny as you might imagine. Thanks for reminding me. I tried watching with my fiance after we enjoyed American Vandal, but she had no idea what was going on with gaming culture, so we dropped it. I remember it being much more dry than American Vandal, like not even sure it was supposed to be a comedy kind of thing, but I was probably missing jokes because I kept having to explain that yes, people do have gaming teams where they share a house, have uniforms, what those headphones do, etc. I'll give it another go.
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Mar 29, 2025 15:57
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Robobot posted:Is it worth checking out? I'm not familiar with pro-gaming culture so would a lot if the humor be lost on me? I think American Vandal worked real well because I've seen a bunch of murder documentaries and have been to high school. I play video games but am completely disconnected from pro-gamer stuff, and I had a great time with it. The writing and performances more than make up for them going to whatever the big convention is.
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Mar 29, 2025 15:58
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Players is great, yeah. And you don’t need to know about esports or League of Legends to enjoy it
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Mar 29, 2025 18:30
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I’m up to episode 7 of the Residence on Netflix and I’m still confused as to who could be the murderer. I love the back and forth of the interviews and the characters except for Hollinger though he was written to be that abrasive, so well done . It’s a very breezy murder mystery. I can’t wait to find out whodidit.
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Mar 30, 2025 04:19
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Echoing the love for The Residence, I'm up to episode 6 now and still really enjoying it. The preview actually primed me to not like it because it seemed a lot like a Monk-style "look at how quirky and weird this detective is!" kind of thing, but fortunately it's not that.
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Mar 30, 2025 16:46
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On my third back-to-back-to-back sprint through Community. <3
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Mar 30, 2025 16:47
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Finished the first season of Dark Skies. Overall I enjoyed it, with some criticism. The mystery's... fine, it's a thriller that mostly chugs along doing its thing in a relatively low key way, and I was mostly happy for the show to let it simmer in the background in preference to the interactions between the four leads. They're the backbone of the show, and they're a good, solid ensemble of actors doing enjoyable character work, being grumpy and morose at each other in interesting ways but also with plenty of space for them to be charming and winsome. For the most part I wish the crimes they were investigating were a bit more interesting or better put together, but there are some fun bits e.g. a strangle extended cameo by Rainn Wilson, or a very silly subplot involving a Mormon family (that also, unfortunately, overstays its welcome). In general the season arc isn't plotted in a particularly compelling way, but the actual finale was surprisingly strong and thrilling. On a shallower note, the CGI is nearly always awful and the editing is occasionally distractingly poor. But the location filming looks great (meaning the CGI shots of cars driving is even more annoying). Which is a long way of saying that the show strikes me as a real mixed bag, but one with strong fundamentals and a lot of really good qualities that I want to see more of.
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Mar 30, 2025 17:06
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Rewatching some of the Netflix show Ragnarok. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. Only the first two seasons though. The final season falls apart in a way that would make GoT jealous.
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Mar 30, 2025 18:48
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RobertoHambuergesa posted:On my third back-to-back-to-back sprint through Community. Worth it!
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Mar 30, 2025 20:22
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Hughmoris posted:Rewatching some of the Netflix show Ragnarok. I’ve rarely seen a show that so thoroughly ruins itself. It’s quite impressive really. But yeah, it’s so bad I would authentically say don’t bother at all.
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Mar 31, 2025 00:31
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DamnGlitch posted:I’ve rarely seen a show that so thoroughly ruins itself. It’s quite impressive really. But yeah, it’s so bad I would authentically say don’t bother at all. I liked season 1 of Ragnarok ok. Seemed like a whole lot of going nowhere after the first few reps so I put it way on the back burner so thanks for this heads up, folks. Another one that I felt ruined itself was Fortitude.
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