The Netflix TV Show Thread

Didn’t they make a movie(s) quite recently?

I looked it up just now. His Dark Materials trilogy was apparently what the Golden Compass movies were adaptations of. And BBC is now making a series based on it.

Something about a pair of kids going to parallel universes apparently.

I meant the Narnia books, but now you mention it, yes, they did make HDM ones too.

Well, they made a single HDM movie, which bombed. And two Narnia movies, I think, which didn’t do a lot better.

Three Narnia movies.

Now I’m trying to remember if I saw 2 Narnia movies or 3. I remember the second one really taking an unexpected turn. The kids were no longer kids but had grown into adults. That’s the only thing I remember about it. And I remember not liking it much.

Did 3 of them I think, Last one was in 2010. They were trying to capitalize on the popularity of LoTR. I saw the first two and don’t remember much besides thinking they were mediocre at best.

Yeah, I don’t remember them much either - they seemed to be reasonably well done, but just didn’t click for me either. The books never did either, while I love Tolkien.

OMG Re: Bojack. PFT has now voiced two distinct character takes on that McConaughey line from Dazed & Confused, and both are amazing.

Had no idea Netflix made a “Haunting of Hill House” series, but it sounds quite intriguing: https://tv.avclub.com/sorry-hereditary-but-the-haunting-of-hill-house-is-th-1829659438

It’s more inspired by the Shirley Jackson book than based on it, as it turns out. There’s some nods to the book in names of characters and such, but the premise is quite different (aside from the haunted Hill House still being prominently featured, of course) - a traumatized family still bearing the scars of having spent a time living in Hill House and the fame that their experiences brought, rather than a paranormal investigation into the House.

I’ve quite enjoyed the first episode and will be diving back in for more over the course of the weekend, for sure.

I’m about halfway through THOHH, just finished up episode 6. I’m enjoying it, plan to finish it…and it’s just OK. It’s a little creaky, a little clumsy. I don’t really believe any of these characters exist. The kid actors are uniformly terrible.

It’s a pretty typical Mike Flanagan project, in other words. It’s fine. Nobody’s going to remember this show in five years, but it’s fine for a lazy weekend pre-Halloween binge watch.

I like that they got the guy from Six Feet Under to basically reprise his role in that here.

I just finished watching the first series of Top Boy on Netflix.

It’s often called the UK version of the Wire, which was enough to guarantee my curiousity. Currently there are two series of the show, each with four episodes each. Given the small episode count, you can imagine that it would be impossible to approach the scope of the Wire, and this show doesn’t. It focuses on the gangs and street youths, and doesn’t touch on the coppers, docks, school system, or any of that. The much narrower focus isn’t necessarily a criticism, but it’s worth mentioning straight away if a show is going to be compared to the Wire.

Watching UK urban drug markets is a little different to US ones:

  • Guns are harder to get or carry. More stabbings though!
  • The inner-city schools aren’t terrible.
  • Less racial tensions (I believe?).
  • Different lingo: expect to hear the words innit, food, cuz, bruv, and more very often.

Nevertheless, there are many parallels to the Wire including several prominent characters: the gangster with a small conscience trying to work with someone who has a smaller one, and the ex-gangster who did a stint in prison is back and trying to help out boys who are feeling the pull of the gangs. I was a little disappointed that some of the arcs felt so familiar.

With all that said, what is there is good. The first four episodes tell a tight story with plenty of tension, touching character arcs, and exciting set pieces. I would recommend it to anyone who liked The Wire.

I assume it just premiered, but I noticed that the animated series Big Mouth began its second season.

Schitt’s Creek Season 4 is up now too.

Luke Cage is cancelled.

Kids and I are really enjoying Hilda.

The Haunting of Hill House is really good.

There seems to be a new show called “Haunted” that showed up the other day. Has anyone seen it?

The BBC import Bodyguard is now on Netflix today. This thing crushes ratings records over in the UK.

Big Mouth came out a couple of weeks ago. It’s better than the first season, but I’m not sure why they feel the need to add a new character every episode or two.

One episode just descended into half an hour of pure shtick.

Hey stranger.

Good to see you around these parts. :)