What TV Series Are You Streaming Lately?

[Jmm722]

White Lotus was very enjoyable. The final episode was a little disappointing, but still great overall.

 

[RedLantern]

Yellowstone is one of the best shows I've ever seen and I don't remember being this excited to binge a series since really being balls deep in Homeland or my first time watching Lost.

I watched the first few seasons of Yellowstone last summer and . . . it's not good. Entertaining at times, certainly. But it's a lot like like 24 set on a ranch.

 

[javyn]

Star Trek Disco, enjoying it.

 

[jbarwick]

White Lotus was very enjoyable. The final episode was a little disappointing, but still great overall.

White Lotus was a slog with the final episode bringing it all together. I told my wife after episode 3 that I didn't know if I could watch another 3hrs of the show but we finished it.

I recently binged Mr. Inbetween and it was pretty good but all over the place at times. I plan to watch The Magician after soon.

 

[Numbernine]

I watched the first few seasons of Yellowstone last summer and . . . it's not good. Entertaining at times, certainly. But it's a lot like like 24 set on a ranch.

This sounds like Woody Allen "The food was terrible and the portions were small"

 

[Matt]

Time to start What If...

 

[Daniel Hakimi]

White Lotus... I love Dramedies, but I feel like White Lotus didn't know how to walk the line. Maybe the problem is that I read it was supposed to be a comedy, and I saw a few notes of that -- the opening scene with the oblivious couple is just so dumb -- but the last two episodes or so were pure drama following characters we don't take seriously. Like yes, they're realistic characters, but...

It's kind of the same problem I have with Succession. Every character is a train wreck, and not a sympathetic train wreck but a deep-down asshole who deserves his pain, and they expect us to care about their drama? If it was a pure comedy, I'd be down, but drama doesn't have stakes unless the characters have redeeming characteristics.

Which... Brings me back to Aristotle. Damn, I read Poetics a long time ago, and that's how he broke down Tragedy and Comedy -- tragic characters are better than they are, so you can root for them or feel bad for them, and comedic characters are worse than they are, so you can laugh at them. In Dramedies, charactes have to be very complex, so you can do both at the same time.

Take... Baskets. Louis Anderson as Christine Baskets is a ******* masterclass.

On one hand, she's a fat, unattractive, fairly unintelligent woman. She spends all her time clipping coupons and shopping for things she doesn't need at Costco. You laugh, she reminds you of some family member or just of some real, cliche American.

On the other hand... She's incredibly loving, fiercely protective of her sons, kind but practical... She's kind of the perfect matriarch. When you see her stand up for Chip -- yet another deeply complex character, much easier to pity than anybody on Succession -- you just scream "yessss" inside your head. In that moment, she's smart, strong, and exactly everything you want in your mother. She gently lays down the law with all the charm in the world. When she finds new love, you cheer for her -- despite the distance and the complexities -- because she's earned it through surpeme emotional maturity.

That's what it takes to make a great dramedy. White Lotus and Succession both miss the mark by a mile.

 

[Matt]

Time to start What If...

It's strangely quite gratifying

 

[venividivicibj]

It's kind of the same problem I have with Succession. Every character is a train wreck, and not a sympathetic train wreck but a deep-down asshole who deserves his pain, and they expect us to care about their drama?

Felt this way about Suits after a while- everyone just competing to **** each other, with every perceived slight getting out-of-proportion responses.

 

[otc]

Last episode of Ted Lasso was great.

 

[double00]

the rick rubin / paul mccartney convo series is crazy good .

 

[Van Veen]

Doing White Lotus now. Have to pace myself with these people. Can't binge them....

I definitely found myself, week after week, thinking "wait this is only episode 2?" "wait this is only episode 3?" "wait this is only episode 4?" "wait this is only episode 5?" I caught on by episode 6. I'm a fast learner.

I liked it more than I expected. At first I thought "oh great another HBO show about ****** rich people" (hey that gives me an idea they should do a show about styleforvm!)

White Lotus... I love Dramedies, but I feel like White Lotus didn't know how to walk the line. Maybe the problem is that I read it was supposed to be a comedy, and I saw a few notes of that -- the opening scene with the oblivious couple is just so dumb -- but the last two episodes or so were pure drama following characters we don't take seriously. Like yes, they're realistic characters, but...

I'd call it a black comedy, rather than a dramedy.

 

[noob in 89]

What the eff is wrong with you people? Succession is great.

 

[Journeyman]

I just discovered this BBC adaptation of one of my favourite books via Amazon Prime, and am two-thirds of the way through.

I'm really enjoying it. It's not as detailed as the book, of course, but is very well-done with an excellent cast. Highly recommended.

 

[Daniel Hakimi]

The Chair (Netflix, Sandra Oh and Jay Duplass) -- really good. I found Killing Eve weirdly boring,

I'd call it a black comedy, rather than a dramedy.

Yeah, I actually hate the word "dramedy" but I wasn't really in the mood to pick which hybrid term to use right then. I talk a lot about "dark comedies," but... White Lotus, in the end, was just a drama to me. It started out as a comedy, and kept comedic elements the whole way through, but the pacing and the music and the cinematography all screamed "this is a drama, any laughter you may find is incedental."