What I'm Watching Now:
Mar. 19th, 2013 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aurora_novarumI’m a bit backwards in my watching between Comcast’s on demand and now having Amazon Prime which is the BESTEST THING EVER. But here’s a list of what I’m watching to see if any of my flist is interested or I can get interested in too.
The Amazing Race: Oh show, why can’t I quit you? One of the first in the reality craze (it started same year as Survivor, but has less “seasons”). It’s teams of two basically doing obstacle course things around the world. Way past its prime. I half expected one “obstacle” to be to clean the host’s bathroom since they went to his New Zealand hometown, but every season I keep coming back.
The Americans: I just started watching this. It’s set in 1981 with two Soviet sleeper agents (Keri Russel and some guy I know I’ve seen before but it’s driving me nuts where) in D.C. trying to be good communist spies while raising their oblivious American kids. It’s a spy show, so that attracts me as a genre. I like the idea of it, but there’s something disconnecting me in the execution. I’ll give it another go or two. Right now I’m doing a lot of OMG, my parents had a table like that in this “historically” set shows.
Arrow The acting is so so and the writing isn’t too much better, but it has improved. I watch for three reasons. 1) I’m a sucker for archers and loved Green Arrow since Superfriends. 2) I’ve liked Paul Blackthorne since Dresden Files and 3) The completely shallow reason which if you’ve seen the show you already know and if you haven’t yet…watch about a half hour and you’ll know.
Big Bang Theory:: One of the few shows I watch live. It’s not as good as it used to be, but still is amusing. Ironically I was against watching at first because of the stereotype tropes. Wil Wheaton’s blog convinced me to give it a go around the time he first was on it. It makes me laugh.
Continuum It’s a time travel story a la Terminator. Distopic future where corporations run the governments is being attacked by Bra’tac/Gepetto and Andromeda/Dr. Lam, I mean, terrorists, who try and go back in time to “fix things” to the way they want to be. Two things go wrong though, instead of going back 5 years, they go back 65, and a cop gets caught up in the time stream with them. Now she’s our hero and trying to track them down, with the help of a young version of Cigarette Smoking Man. I tend to catch up every so often on demand, but when I get into it, I have to see all I’ve missed right then. The characters are compelling, and it’s interesting because our main heroine is law and order type, but the terrorists cause is the one that would be more sympathetic. Also, it’s a show filmed in Vancouver that is actually SET IN VANCOUVER! Go little BC city!
Dr. Who: Yes, I’m still watching New Who. It’s coming back soon I think. I’ve also via Amazon Prime been able to see some of the classic Who (some of the same eps they’re showing on the anniversary specials so far). I may post my thoughts on the eps I’ve caught here sometime.
Downton Abbey I was late to this “must see” cultural phenom, but it’s an interesting view of early 20th century Britain with both the servants’ hall and the aristocracy. Let’s face it, it’s a historical soap and it’s crack. But awesome acting. Season 3 just ended. I look forward to Season 4 (oh, and Maggie Smith rocks). Personally my favorite character is Anna, one of the servents, although I know her latest storyline wasn’t one of the more popular ones.
Elementary: the US version of Sherlock Holmes set up in modern era and in NYC. Gotten a lot of press because of that OTHER show that CBS first approached, and the fact that Watson SHOCK is a Woman. I love both BBC’s Sherlock and CBS’s Elementary but for different reasons. Sherlock really is twisting Doyle’s stories into modern times. Elementary takes more broader strokes of the ideas of Holmes and Watson and methodology but creating a very different dynamic
The Good Wife I was not going to watch this show for two reasons. One—a show about a woman standing by her man after an affair sounded blah and Two—it’s a lawyer show which would probably make me heckle it mercilessly. But I liked some of the cast and happened to have the tv already on when the pilot started. It is NOT what you expect. It’s sharply written and superbly acted with twists to the stereotypes and expected. I’m not completely caught up, but I do enjoy the ride because I like the characters.
Nashville It’s basically a country music soap opera, but well acted.
NCIS Procedural cop show ostensibly set in Quantico (HAH!), but Mark Harmon is still pretty and it hits a teamy goodness vibe, even if the characters are oddly stagnated after so many years.
Once Upon a Time: The show is partly set in “fairy tale world”, and party set in a small townoutside Vancouver in Maine (which many on my flist may recognize as the “Nightwalkers” town in SG-1 Season 7) with all the iconic fairy tale characters—and if they haven’t shown up yet, they probably will soon. It’s produced by ABC (i.e. Disney), so it winks if not subverts the Disneying version of some tales. I’ll admit I almost turned away half through season 1 because a main storyline aggravated me, but when you get stuck, keep going. Trust me, it’s get better until it’s TV CRACK.
Person of Interest It’s a procedural with a twist (well I think Abrams is involved so natch…) Taking the big brother twist of cctv cameras and having it be dark guardian angels. I like the characters, more the secondary ones than the primary actually. Plus, this season, there’s a dog. I love a dog.
Poirot No, not new, but it is my happy place comfort tv food via Amazon Prime. Watch an hour mystery and relax. I think the last season is airing soon.
Psych I’ve watched stopped watching and started watching this show. It’s a comedy mystery show about a superobservant guy who pretends to be a psychic and is a consultant to a police department along with his childhood best friend. The show is VERY quirky/oddball. The hero is at times childish and selfish (what got me to stop), but yet he IS selfless too (and still childish in a funny way). There is a core heart to this show too, that’s made it last 100 episodes. It just…it’s hit my button like like Farscape or Monty Python or Buffy, but what I mean is you watch and go how bizarre and then suddenly something clicks and you “get it”. Also, it’s another Vancouver show, including having Dan Shea (Sgt Siler) taking over as stunt coordinator there (at least I think he still is).
Revenge I was hooked on this show in Season 1. It’s basically the Count of Monte Cristo set today and, er, in the Hamptons with the hero being a badass heroine. However, Season 2 has become more soapy and scrambled. It’s like they realized, oh shit we’ve got to make this work as more than a one off mini-series thing and are not sure what to do. I still recommend Season 1. We’ll see about Season 2.
The Amazing Race: Oh show, why can’t I quit you? One of the first in the reality craze (it started same year as Survivor, but has less “seasons”). It’s teams of two basically doing obstacle course things around the world. Way past its prime. I half expected one “obstacle” to be to clean the host’s bathroom since they went to his New Zealand hometown, but every season I keep coming back.
The Americans: I just started watching this. It’s set in 1981 with two Soviet sleeper agents (Keri Russel and some guy I know I’ve seen before but it’s driving me nuts where) in D.C. trying to be good communist spies while raising their oblivious American kids. It’s a spy show, so that attracts me as a genre. I like the idea of it, but there’s something disconnecting me in the execution. I’ll give it another go or two. Right now I’m doing a lot of OMG, my parents had a table like that in this “historically” set shows.
Arrow The acting is so so and the writing isn’t too much better, but it has improved. I watch for three reasons. 1) I’m a sucker for archers and loved Green Arrow since Superfriends. 2) I’ve liked Paul Blackthorne since Dresden Files and 3) The completely shallow reason which if you’ve seen the show you already know and if you haven’t yet…watch about a half hour and you’ll know.
Big Bang Theory:: One of the few shows I watch live. It’s not as good as it used to be, but still is amusing. Ironically I was against watching at first because of the stereotype tropes. Wil Wheaton’s blog convinced me to give it a go around the time he first was on it. It makes me laugh.
Continuum It’s a time travel story a la Terminator. Distopic future where corporations run the governments is being attacked by Bra’tac/Gepetto and Andromeda/Dr. Lam, I mean, terrorists, who try and go back in time to “fix things” to the way they want to be. Two things go wrong though, instead of going back 5 years, they go back 65, and a cop gets caught up in the time stream with them. Now she’s our hero and trying to track them down, with the help of a young version of Cigarette Smoking Man. I tend to catch up every so often on demand, but when I get into it, I have to see all I’ve missed right then. The characters are compelling, and it’s interesting because our main heroine is law and order type, but the terrorists cause is the one that would be more sympathetic. Also, it’s a show filmed in Vancouver that is actually SET IN VANCOUVER! Go little BC city!
Dr. Who: Yes, I’m still watching New Who. It’s coming back soon I think. I’ve also via Amazon Prime been able to see some of the classic Who (some of the same eps they’re showing on the anniversary specials so far). I may post my thoughts on the eps I’ve caught here sometime.
Downton Abbey I was late to this “must see” cultural phenom, but it’s an interesting view of early 20th century Britain with both the servants’ hall and the aristocracy. Let’s face it, it’s a historical soap and it’s crack. But awesome acting. Season 3 just ended. I look forward to Season 4 (oh, and Maggie Smith rocks). Personally my favorite character is Anna, one of the servents, although I know her latest storyline wasn’t one of the more popular ones.
Elementary: the US version of Sherlock Holmes set up in modern era and in NYC. Gotten a lot of press because of that OTHER show that CBS first approached, and the fact that Watson SHOCK is a Woman. I love both BBC’s Sherlock and CBS’s Elementary but for different reasons. Sherlock really is twisting Doyle’s stories into modern times. Elementary takes more broader strokes of the ideas of Holmes and Watson and methodology but creating a very different dynamic
The Good Wife I was not going to watch this show for two reasons. One—a show about a woman standing by her man after an affair sounded blah and Two—it’s a lawyer show which would probably make me heckle it mercilessly. But I liked some of the cast and happened to have the tv already on when the pilot started. It is NOT what you expect. It’s sharply written and superbly acted with twists to the stereotypes and expected. I’m not completely caught up, but I do enjoy the ride because I like the characters.
Nashville It’s basically a country music soap opera, but well acted.
NCIS Procedural cop show ostensibly set in Quantico (HAH!), but Mark Harmon is still pretty and it hits a teamy goodness vibe, even if the characters are oddly stagnated after so many years.
Once Upon a Time: The show is partly set in “fairy tale world”, and party set in a small town
Person of Interest It’s a procedural with a twist (well I think Abrams is involved so natch…) Taking the big brother twist of cctv cameras and having it be dark guardian angels. I like the characters, more the secondary ones than the primary actually. Plus, this season, there’s a dog. I love a dog.
Poirot No, not new, but it is my happy place comfort tv food via Amazon Prime. Watch an hour mystery and relax. I think the last season is airing soon.
Psych I’ve watched stopped watching and started watching this show. It’s a comedy mystery show about a superobservant guy who pretends to be a psychic and is a consultant to a police department along with his childhood best friend. The show is VERY quirky/oddball. The hero is at times childish and selfish (what got me to stop), but yet he IS selfless too (and still childish in a funny way). There is a core heart to this show too, that’s made it last 100 episodes. It just…it’s hit my button like like Farscape or Monty Python or Buffy, but what I mean is you watch and go how bizarre and then suddenly something clicks and you “get it”. Also, it’s another Vancouver show, including having Dan Shea (Sgt Siler) taking over as stunt coordinator there (at least I think he still is).
Revenge I was hooked on this show in Season 1. It’s basically the Count of Monte Cristo set today and, er, in the Hamptons with the hero being a badass heroine. However, Season 2 has become more soapy and scrambled. It’s like they realized, oh shit we’ve got to make this work as more than a one off mini-series thing and are not sure what to do. I still recommend Season 1. We’ll see about Season 2.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 01:26 pm (UTC)BUT YAY -- I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT TV!
I keep being tempted by amazon prime, but already have something similar in netflix which is also addictively addictive.
- I saw the pilot episode of The Americans and liked it, haven't gotten around to the other eps yet but plan to.
- I began watching Continuum when it aired in Canada but haven't caught up in quite a while. I should return to it because, like you say, Bra'tac & Andromeda.
- Elementary seems to be a favorite of a lot of people so I really should get on that.
- I completely agree about NCIS. I still like it, but the characters have really not grown much in the past 9 years. Some have in small bits, but not a whole lot. Do you watch the LA version? Also, I heard there's another spinoff coming.
I'm also watching Justified and Supernatural, both which I enjoy. One for the character drama and tight story telling and the other for the brothers vs. world and MOTW schtick.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 11:01 pm (UTC)BUT YAY -- I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT TV!
Hee! Me too! That must be why we get along.
I think I was about one of the 3 people that never got into netflix. I was about to join, and then my tv died and I had to order a new one...and with amazon prime I got free shipping. So I figured, eh 30 day trial, I'll probably drop it. But it is AWESOME. You pay by year instead of by month, and I think there's a cheaper "Amazon Mom" or something.
"The Americans" is getting better as I go along. Seriously, who IS that husband? I know I could go look on imdb, but that seems cheating.
Oh you should catch up on "Continuum". I just watched teh season finale. It has a pretty tight story structure. Plus Bra'tac and Andromeda! And the other Liber8 guy was a not-quite-redshirt in an early SG-1 episode. A dude from Sanctuary popped up in the finale and I think he may be recurring next season.
Elementary is...if you go in thinking it's been so hyped you may be disappointed. That said, it is a very enjoyable show with good chemistry between the characters (not just Holmes and Watson, but the supporting cast).
I've heard NCIS's spinoff is actually a spinoff of NCIS: LA. (Which NCIS was a pro forma spinoff of JAG so that'll make this new one a 4th Generation spinoff?) I could not get into NCIS: LA, although I like LL Cool J. I've heard it's pretty good.
I need to catch up on Supernatural.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 01:48 pm (UTC)Have you seen any Psych episodes from this season? What do you think of them? I've seen a lot of hate for the few episodes we've gotten so far this season, which is baffling because I think the show's gotten better after hitting kind of a low point in season five. I think this season is amazing so far. But I guess that's a case of "people watch for different reasons," and they have messed with the formula a bit (it's just that they took out/changed some of the stuff I found annoying, so I see the changes as improvements. Other people don't).
I'm cautiously excited for new Doctor Who. That show's always kind of riding a thin line, for me.
I love Once Upon a Time! Though I'm not csught up with all the current episodes, so I'm not up to date on what's going on (my X-Files rewatch has sort of taken over my brain and I have a HuluPlus queue full of other stuff I haven't watched yet).
no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 11:10 pm (UTC)I have watched the new season of Psych, I started watching midway of last season again (may have stopped around s5). I agree with some of the complaints, it's why I stopped, but I think it's better than it was in some ways. I know some people really hate the Bigfoot ep that just aired. I went into it thinking I would hate it, but I liked it more than I expected, partly because of how MUCH they spoofed that stupid horror movie from about 12 years ago, even down to camera angles and costumes.
Doctor Who always rides a thin line, but just when I get mad at it, I fall in love again. I'm pretty interested and have theories about the newest iteration. :-)
I'm a half week behind on Once Upon a Time. It's...you've got to catch up. (Although I do see the pull of X Files, heh).
no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-20 11:13 pm (UTC)Americans has gotten better since I posted and it is good. HAve not seen Inspector Lewis or Doc Martin.
I...have not seen Revolutions since the pilot or second episode. I could not get into it. Neither Walking Dead=-unlike 95% of my flist, I do not like Zombies. (That said, the zombie movie coming out soon, I saw a long trailer for it before a movie and it looks pretty funny and good).
Yay Amazon Prime!!!