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Current TV Series You'd Like To Recommend

I just finished The Spy on Netflix, a 6-episode mini-series about the real-life story of Israeli spy in Syria, Eli Cohen. Pretty honorable effort, although a little dull (it is practically a documentary, very accurate regarding the real story, and life is often less exciting than fiction, so...). Sacha Baron Cohen (no relation to the historical character) in the main role surprisingly proved that he can be a very talented serious actor in a dramatic role, not only a comedian - I don't know if he had done it before, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the first time I see him doing a non-comedic role.

It's moderately entertaining. I'll give it a 7 out of 10. If you are into Middle Eastern history you'll probably give it a higher score. The cinematography and the acting are top-notch.
 
I binge-watched in one blank night season 4 of The Expanse as soon as it was released on December 13 - I really looked forward to it, being it my very favorite current and/or recent science fiction series; one as good as the greatest ones like Battlestar Galactica.

Some minor spoilers ahead.

The first half of Season 4 is slow. It isn't as compelling as seasons 1, 2, and 3. After these somewhat disappointing episodes that seemed a bit less polished and losing pace, I was afraid for the series, given the change in production company (Amazon picked it up and saved it from cancellation; thank you, Jeff Bezos; it appears like he was personally involved in this decision). Fortunately the second half of the season went back to its suspenseful, fast-paced thrills, and got to be almost as good as the first three seasons. I rate seasons 1, 2, and 3 a full and perfect 10 out of 10, and season 4, 8.5 out of 10. The lost points are due to the slow pace of the first five episodes; I would say that episodes 6 through 10 once again became almost a 10 out of 10 (9.5?), so there is good hope for the next season.

This is as far as I went in the books. We are at the same point now, for me. I read the first four books, to the end of Cibola Burn, which corresponds to season 4. I do have books five and six already saved to my iPhone's Kindle app. I'm not sure if I'll read them and spoil the fun for the next season, but I probably will because I can't wait for the continuation (next book, Nemesis Games) as it will be several months until Amazon hopefully releases season 5.

Why is The Expanse so good? First, because this is a spectacular story; one of the best space operas ever written. The quality is up there at the same level of the Hugo and Nebula-winning masterpieces of the past. I highly recommend the books. The plot is more original than most. Sure, we've seen the idea of portals left behind by an advanced alien species. But the creepy protomolecule and the extremely advanced focus on politics with the three factions, Earth, Mars, and the Belt, make for some very original storytelling and very compelling and well-developed characters, for a sci-fi work. Not only the main plot is interesting, but there are also several sub-plots that work well.

Second, the series delivers one of the best book adaptations I've ever seen in cinema or TV. This is a series that doesn't anger the fans of the books. The special effects are some of the best in the business, making the whole look very realistic. One does have the impression that one is watching a documentary about humankind's distant future, with believable space stations, colonized asteroids and moons, planets, spaceships, and matching technology. Nothing is over-the-top, even the space battles. The acting is more than appropriate; maybe, unfortunately, with the exception of the very main character, Holden, whose role is played by an actor who is a bit less talented than his colleagues who are in the other roles - but he is still adequate and doesn't sink the ship. The dialogue is well-written, including in the fact that it goes all the way to the effort of having a Belter dialect that makes sense.

Part of the fact that season 4 is to be rated lower than seasons 1, 2, and 3, is somewhat the fault of the source material: once the protomolecule mystery gets partially solved by the end of book 3, there are still very interesting directions the authors (yes, in the plural - the listed-as-one author of the book series is actually a pseudonym behind which there are two authors) are driving the story into, but taking away one of the most striking elements of The Expanse makes it a bit less phenomenal. There is plenty left, though. We still want to learn more about the Builders and about the other civilization that wiped them out. Another element that makes of Book 4/Season 4 something a tiny bit less interesting is that one of the main characters, Bobbie, is down to a kind of domestic life in Mars, and has her kicking-ass wings a bit clipped. She looks gorgeous with her hair down, though, and by the end of Season 4, we learn that she is getting back into the future action, so, again, it bodes well for season 5, given that Bobbie is one of the best parts of The Expanse.

Anyway, it's a pleasure to watch something so well done (visually, acting-wise, and dialogue-wise), depicting accurately something that is very well-written to start with. It's a win-win: great rendition of a great source material.

To every and all science fiction lovers, if you haven't seen The Expanse yet, get it immediately; you won't regret it.
 
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I binge-watched in one blank night season 4 of The Expanse as soon as it was released on December 13 - I really looked forward to it, being it my very favorite current and/or recent science fiction series; one as good as the greatest ones like Battlestar Galactica.
OK I did not read the spoilers. I'm really psyched that season 4 is ready and plan to watch over the holidays. Yeah!

I'm currently into the 3rd season of Mrs. Maisel...and it's still very good.

Also still have Ozark on my agenda and havent seen that next season scheduled yet.

Finished the 3 seasons of The Borgias on Netflix and thought it was pretty crazy but well-done. Must have been incredibly expensive. Glad Pos warned me...of course they dropped the storyline where Colm Feore was trying to take out the Pope... :(

And I really do have to commit to The Boys. It gets superb reviews.

Oh! And I discovered there's a Broadway HD channel with all live theatre! And more than just Broadway. I'm going to do the free trial over the holidays, starting with King Lear.
 
I finished Season 1 of Killing Eve. I had said here earlier that I wouldn't be watching it as it was behind a paywall that I didn't subscribe to; it turns out that my cellular phone carrier has an agreement with Hulu and I got Hulu for free, already included in what I pay for my cell phone. So I jumped into it, and oh boy, I'm glad I did!

This series is phenomenal. Given that it is written and produced by one of the most talented women to ever work in the television creative business, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (of Fleabag fame), it's not surprising that it is so good. My admiration for Waller-Bridge is immense. This woman is a full-blown genius. She knows how to make a show, any show, into something extremely entertaining.

You'll find in this series the most fascinating female villain I've ever seen on TV: the psychopathic assassin Villanelle. Jodie Comer who portrays her, won the Emmy and the BAFTA awards for this role, and was nominated for the 2020 Golden Globe for it too, and that's well deserved, because just her nuanced and intriguing facial expressions are in themselves a reason to watch this show (not to forget that she is quite attractive). This series has two female co-leads, the other one being the fabulous Sandra Oh, who is quite good in her role too; just not as spectacular as Comer.

This show has a good dose of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's signature witty dark humor, together with sensational characters, a fast-moving plot with plenty of suspense, crazy events, and the wildest and most unexpected twists, resulting in something so entertaining that you can't take your eyes off the screen, and you *have* to watch the next episode as soon as you finish the previous one. The locations are also stunning: London, Paris, Tuscany, Moscow...

I'm a big NFL fan and in season, most of my Sundays are consumed with watching the games. Well, for the first time since the season started, I couldn't watch the games today (or I kind of did but not paying much attention: I set the TV to NFL RedZone on mute, and I had that as the background while I watched the entire first season of Killing Eve on my laptop, only glimpsing at the NFL games when the show was interrupted by commercials - the free Hulu version comes with ads). This is how good this show is. I preferred to binge-watch it than to watch my favorite sport on live TV.

Obviously, my score for this brilliant piece of top-notch entertainment is 10 out of 10. The only show that I watched this year and thought that it was even better than this one (I guess, a 10+), is the astounding masterpiece done by the same author, Phoebe Weller-Bridge, Fleabag, a show that is arguably among the very best of the last 10 years or more (poignant, touching, profound, fascinating, and wickedly funny in a bittersweet way - but beware, it is also quite disturbing and depressing so it's not for everybody; I don't recommend it to people who are too sensitive, as they'll be quite saddened by it - another poster here has defined it very accurately as "you'll laugh and you'll cry").

OK, so officially for me, Phoebe Waller-Bridge was responsible for the #1 and #2 shows that I liked the most in 2019: #1 Fleabag, and #2 Killing Eve. What an intelligent woman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge! I think that if I met her in real life, I'd develop a huge crush, because intelligence and talent make a woman quite attractive to me.
 
OK I did not read the spoilers. I'm really psyched that season 4 is ready and plan to watch over the holidays. Yeah!

I'm currently into the 3rd season of Mrs. Maisel...and it's still very good.

Also still have Ozark on my agenda and havent seen that next season scheduled yet.

Finished the 3 seasons of The Borgias on Netflix and thought it was pretty crazy but well-done. Must have been incredibly expensive. Glad Pos warned me...of course they dropped the storyline where Colm Feore was trying to take out the Pope... :(

And I really do have to commit to The Boys. It gets superb reviews.

Oh! And I discovered there's a Broadway HD channel with all live theatre! And more than just Broadway. I'm going to do the free trial over the holidays, starting with King Lear.

The spoilers were minor, but yes, watch The Expanse over the holidays! The Boys is very excellent too. I thought that the 3rd season of Mrs. Maisel was as good as the first one, and it ends with a big twist. The second season was disappointing but the third one gets back to the first one's quality, so, enjoy! I haven't seen Ozark or The Borgias.

Like I just said, the two best shows I've watched this entire year are Fleabag seasons 1 and 2, and Killing Eve season 1, both created by the genius named Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Interesting, a Broadway channel! I didn't know about it!
 
Finished the first episodes of:



Altered Carbon: Very similar to Blade Runner in style, but I guess that was intentional. Not a fan of the lead actor, but the plot is somewhat engaging so far so I'll keep watching.



Babylon Berlin- German TV show (the Germans are catching up with good quality stuff on TV these days) about Berlin in the last years of the Wiemar Republic. I was a big fan of the first 3 seasons of Boardwalk Empire so it's pretty interesting. 2 Seasons are already out so this should keep me going until Man in the High Castle Season 3 comes out.


 
I realize I am very much behind the times and this is not any breaking news I am about to reveal but I just now binged watching the first season of the HBO series TRUE DETECTIVE and was blown away. Tremendous writing - great acting - and ending that was just perfect. I can see why it got the lavish praise it did.
 
I realize I am very much behind the times and this is not any breaking news I am about to reveal but I just now binged watching the first season of the HBO series TRUE DETECTIVE and was blown away. Tremendous writing - great acting - and ending that was just perfect. I can see why it got the lavish praise it did.

Yes, the first season of True Detective is one of the best pieces of television ever made. As you probably have heard already, subsequent seasons, although somewhat good, never got to the same level of quality. Season 1 can't be matched. It's an issue of a show that has been damaged by its own phenomenal initial success.
 
EVIL, great series so far, really enjoying it.
 


I liked the first two seasons of Rick and Morty, but Rick's a-hole personality sort of like turned me off to the show.

What I do like however, is the Venture Bros. The first season wasn't that good, but it just got better and better. What started out as a satire of Johnny Quest is now a whole lot more. I just watched the latest season of theirs that premiered back in 2018, and its as good as ever. 8.5/10

 
I have just finished S2E1 of Killing Eve. I'm so glad that Hulu now has season 2 as well! I binge-watched season 1 and then season 2 was showing as "coming soon" to Hulu - it was a short wait for me; just a few days after I finished S1, S2 is now available (I'm told that S3 has also been made, but Hulu so far has only seasons 1 and 2). As per a recent post of mine, Killing Eve is now my second favorite show I've watched in 2019, right behind #1 Fleabag, both by the same creator, the spectacular Phoebe Waller-Bridge (there is NOBODY in show business these days, as brilliant as Phoebe - what a genius!).

I'm deeply in love with the character Villanelle. She is so incredibly compelling, intelligent, exciting, funny, surprising, sexy... any human being, regardless of sexual orientation, would fall in love with her. If fiction could become life, I'd like to meet her, as long as she, for a change, could assure me that she wouldn't kill me. Because, see, she tends to kill even the people she likes, and even the people she has sex with (which is both male and female; she is bi-sexual, although predominantly attracted to women). I'd love to have sex with her - who wouldn't? - but I do like being alive. So, I probably would be well advised to avoid this very attractive, but very lethal creature.

Well, she is the villain, but by now (meaning, S2E1) I'm sure that all viewers are rooting for her. She defines it very well: "normal is boring." She is anything but normal, and she is definitely not boring. She is wildly entertaining; one of the best characters I've ever seen in television.

Sandra Oh, the other co-lead, is doing her best to compete (and mostly doing a good job at that), but one can't help but find Oh's character (Eve) to be, well, a bit boring, when compared to the fabulous Villanelle. It is not for nothing that Eve seems to develop more and more, a big lesbian crush on Villanelle, even though Eve is heterosexual and married to a rather attractive husband. I mean, who wouldn't fall for Villanelle, if exposed to this utterly fascinating person? It just can't be helped. And of course, antisocial assassin Villanelle takes full advantage of her sex appeal, and uses it skillfully to perform her kills and to get away with murder.

One of the multiple interesting parts of this show is how Villanelle relates to people she is not killing, including children and teenagers. Villanelle always talks to them with brutal honesty. For a sociopath with no empathy for other human beings, she is very perceptive and very good at diagnosing other people's approach to life. She would be a great therapist, if her interest in other human beings were a bit different than seeing them as merely victims of the great pleasure she experiences when killing them.

Go, Villanelle! Have some more kills, and please don't get caught. If at the end of this show law enforcement ends up triumphing over this sociopathic assassin, it will be a very boring conclusion, and I'm sure Phoebe Waller-Bridge will never go for something boring.

I guess at the end of the show, when the last episode of the last season finishes, Villanelle will die, but I hope she dies in an apotheosis of glory, taking a lot of people with her. I hope that death for her becomes her ultimate curiosity, that of knowing what exactly her victims go through when she kills them. I predict that at some point, killing will become boring to Villanelle (been there, done that), and dying will be her ultimate experience.

Probably the character Eve will be the one before last to die. After all, the show is called Killing Eve, so it must be inevitable that towards the end, Villanelle will kill Eve.

Go girl! You rock!
 
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Silicon Valley Season 6- binged watched the final season. And it ended with a whimper. When this came out it was the funniest thing on TV, but it gradually became less amusing. I think TJ Miller's exit hurt it a lot, for he was the funniest actor on that show. 5/10

Watched the first episode of Watchmen and ... uh, I dont know what to think. Right now it feels more like a cop procedural with a few people in hero costumes rather than having anything to do with Alan Moore's seminal comic book, but I'll keep going and see if it sticks to me.

Right now the world building just doesnt feel right- cops arent allowed to carry guns and must get premission, plus they have to wear masks? WTF?
 


Silicon Valley Season 6- binged watched the final season. And it ended with a whimper. When this came out it was the funniest thing on TV, but it gradually became less amusing. I think TJ Miller's exit hurt it a lot, for he was the funniest actor on that show. 5/10

Watched the first episode of Watchmen and ... uh, I dont know what to think. Right now it feels more like a cop procedural with a few people in hero costumes rather than having anything to do with Alan Moore's seminal comic book, but I'll keep going and see if it sticks to me.

Right now the world building just doesnt feel right- cops arent allowed to carry guns and must get premission, plus they have to wear masks? WTF?


Thanks.

I missed alot of the last season, so need to catch up, but I found that it was kind of weakening as well.

I will probably get back to this one, but my list is already pretty long.
 
Just started watching the Witcher on Netflix and so far... I am... in awe, I’m just so impressed I can’t even believe it so far.

I hope it stays strong because the first two episodes have blown my socks off to an extent I never thought possible.

I wasn’t sold on Henry Caville, I’m totally on board, everything so far has been just phenomenal... Just wow.
 
Just started watching the Witcher on Netflix and so far... I am... in awe, I’m just so impressed I can’t even believe it so far.

I hope it stays strong because the first two episodes have blown my socks off to an extent I never thought possible.

I wasn’t sold on Henry Caville, I’m totally on board, everything so far has been just phenomenal... Just wow.

Yeah, I heard good things about it, so I'm gonna binge it as soon as I'm done with The Expanse S4.



Watchmen Season 1- OK, I'm somewhat divided over this. Sure, the plot line is original and some of the things they do to Alan Moore's characters are pretty darn clever. However, having read the comic books back in High School, it just doesnt feel like an effective continuation of it. Seems to me some things are just off. Ozymandias seems more like a bungler in this version (in the comic book he was cold, calculating and would have never been caught off guard). Also they sort of retconned the Hooded Justice storyline. And even Silk Spectre seems off. All in all, a mixed bag for me. 5/10
 
Yeah, I heard good things about it, so I'm gonna binge it as soon as I'm done with The Expanse S4.



Watchmen Season 1- OK, I'm somewhat divided over this. Sure, the plot line is original and some of the things they do to Alan Moore's characters are pretty darn clever. However, having read the comic books back in High School, it just doesnt feel like an effective continuation of it. Seems to me some things are just off. Ozymandias seems more like a bungler in this version (in the comic book he was cold, calculating and would have never been caught off guard). Also they sort of retconned the Hooded Justice storyline. And even Silk Spectre seems off. All in all, a mixed bag for me. 5/10


It might work for me. I've never read any comic books, still havent.

And I loved the Avenger movies. Thor (Loki), Capt. America, Ironman. Granted it only happened this past summer when they flooded the channels with all the movies before the release of End Game...as I'd seen none before that (oh, and Guardians of the Galaxy)...but the humor and human relationships brought to life from those comics captured me.
 
Just started watching the Witcher on Netflix and so far... I am... in awe, I’m just so impressed I can’t even believe it so far.
I hope it stays strong because the first two episodes have blown my socks off to an extent I never thought possible.
I wasn’t sold on Henry Caville, I’m totally on board, everything so far has been just phenomenal... Just wow.

Yeah, I logged in here just to see if anyone was posting about it. It was so incredible easy for it to be terrible. I saw it was out, and groaned...prepared to be let down. And it was superb.
I really expected the main character to be impossible to do well, I think he pulls it off remarkably well.

I have to say, that fight in the street...wow. I think that added some excellence to sword/melee fight scenes. Quick, deadly, not a lot of drawn-out fake drama. It seems like they must have trained a lot of that, given that so many similar scenes in movies, even GOT, were so incredible slow and contrived/fake looking.

I like the general private investigator vibe...never know what drama they will try to pull him into. Good stuff.
 
Yeah, I logged in here just to see if anyone was posting about it. It was so incredible easy for it to be terrible. I saw it was out, and groaned...prepared to be let down. And it was superb.
I really expected the main character to be impossible to do well, I think he pulls it off remarkably well.

I have to say, that fight in the street...wow. I think that added some excellence to sword/melee fight scenes. Quick, deadly, not a lot of drawn-out fake drama. It seems like they must have trained a lot of that, given that so many similar scenes in movies, even GOT, were so incredible slow and contrived/fake looking.

I like the general private investigator vibe...never know what drama they will try to pull him into. Good stuff.

There are two things that sold me, as soon as the street fight scene happens, I was like, wow, so well done.

And then the Stiga part, both when the guy recites the chant and he immediately starts talking about keeping the ****ing thing out of the crypt til the rooster crows and drinks an elixir and then when the creature breaks free of the chains and he’s just like “****”.

Laughed so hard, Caville has smashed it out of the park.

The bard guy is so well done too, it’s just all well done, serious props to the team that made this, it is utterly superb, I’m honestly leaning to one of the best TV series I’ve ever seen, I’m at episode 5 now and just... I can’t believe it.
 
There are two things that sold me, as soon as the street fight scene happens, I was like, wow, so well done.

And then the Stiga part, both when the guy recites the chant and he immediately starts talking about keeping the ****ing thing out of the crypt til the rooster crows and drinks an elixir and then when the creature breaks free of the chains and he’s just like “****”.

Laughed so hard, Caville has smashed it out of the park.

The bard guy is so well done too, it’s just all well done, serious props to the team that made this, it is utterly superb, I’m honestly leaning to one of the best TV series I’ve ever seen, I’m at episode 5 now and just... I can’t believe it.

I love good (well done) *bad guys!* I will have to check Witcher out.
 
I love good (well done) *bad guys!* I will have to check Witcher out.

Not bad guy, Bard, Witcher has a particular Bard character who's super annoying to the Witcher, yet funny and, anyway you gotta just see what I mean.

So far, 11/10, this series knocks every aspect out of the ****ing park, I couldnt be more impressed.
 
There are two things that sold me, as soon as the street fight scene happens, I was like, wow, so well done.

And then the Stiga part, both when the guy recites the chant and he immediately starts talking about keeping the ****ing thing out of the crypt til the rooster crows and drinks an elixir and then when the creature breaks free of the chains and he’s just like “****”.

Laughed so hard, Caville has smashed it out of the park.

The bard guy is so well done too, it’s just all well done, serious props to the team that made this, it is utterly superb, I’m honestly leaning to one of the best TV series I’ve ever seen, I’m at episode 5 now and just... I can’t believe it.

Toss a coin to your Witcher....
 
Toss a coin to your Witcher....

Finsished season 3 of Mrs. Maisel last night and I think I'm moving Witcher to the head of the list.
 
It might work for me. I've never read any comic books, still havent.

And I loved the Avenger movies. Thor (Loki), Capt. America, Ironman. Granted it only happened this past summer when they flooded the channels with all the movies before the release of End Game...as I'd seen none before that (oh, and Guardians of the Galaxy)...but the humor and human relationships brought to life from those comics captured me.

Yeah Im a bit of a Watchmen purist- I didnt like any of the adaptations so far since I feel theyre always a little off. My vote for the best superhero TV series in 2019 would be The Boys- yes, they changed the source material too, but they actually made it better.


The Expanse Season 4- I still think the first season was the best because it had a lot of hard science in it and no aliens, but with the addition of aliens its become another space opera. Still good, but I would have preferred they not put any aliens in it. 7/10

Started watching The Witcher- and so far its just so-so. Second episode, and the Bard is totally annoying- I wish somebody kills him. Plus they add in songs too? Ugh- a Dark Ages musical. So far it feels like a poor man's version of Game of Thrones. Hopefully it gets better for me.

I'll binge the Mandalorian as soon as all the episodes are available.
 


OK, Im gonna say it- The Witcher sucks. I'm on episode 6 and its just lousy. Henry Cavill is a decent actor and the production values are good, but the storyline is awful. The bard is easily the most annoying character I've had to endure in a long, long time. The sex scenes are gratuitous (Im not a prude, just anti gratuity) and seem to have been put in just to spice up an otherwise boring plot. The whole thing also seems anachronistic, as if youre part of a videogame rather than a fully fleshed out fantasy world. The direction is shoddy- the courtly intrigue isnt well handled and is confusing too since the timelines have been rearranged. People have been comparing this to GoT, but its not even close.

All in all, 3.5/10 so far.
 
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