TV Series

[oblong]

Just finished my annual rewatch of the West Wing episode Noel. As soon as I put it on and my wife heard the recap and “I need a doctor” by wife said “I know what this is…”.  If you have never watched the show I highly recommend this as it’s a great standalone.  The “previously on….” Tells hit what you need. 
 

trying to think of other examples where a guest star steals the show like Adam Arkin did. plus you get Yo Yo Ma.  It’s back on Netflix again. 

[Deleterious]

Arkin is great.  My favorite is John Goodman.  

Since Noel was brought up, I love Bernard.  I'm always telling my girlfriend that her necklace is a monument to bourgeois taste.

[oblong]

That guy is fantastic.  “If it was a language its origin was unknown to me”. “Retribution for euro Disney “

[oblong]

Social media noticed I either wrote this or watched because I was just fed content when John Larroquette was White House Counsel. He and Oliver Platt were great in that role but I’m not sure if that would count for what I meant. “I was supposed to be having drinks with little umbrellas in them”

[Edman85]

Thinking of ditching the second season of Shrinking since they seem to be using dementia as a plot device. Seriously, Wendy Mallick's character's husband has dementia and she's out dating somebody else and not spending every waking moment she can with him? And it appears instead of focusing on the hell she should have been going through, it's being used to add complications to Harrison Ford's character's Parkinsons?

[MichiganCardinal]

Apparently a hot take but I don't hate what they're doing with Stranger Things S5. I think it's clear looking in the rear view that this was a phenomenal one-season show that was pigeonholed by demand into becoming a five-season, ten-year extravaganza that it was never intended to be. But that in mind, the Duffers have done a good job making that happen.

An apt quote I found on Reddit was "all you kids who think this is bad never would have survived the ending of Game of Thrones."

There are a lot of loose ends to tie up in a single two-hour finale though. I'm not super confident they'll do it satisfyingly.

[oblong]

 We watched the first episode of this new batch and honestly with the holidays and other things, and Pluribus, I forgot all about stranger things.  It felt like the walking dead to me, watching became a chore.  When they go so long between seasons it’s hard to still care.  

[Hongbit]

They have done a really good job on this season.   The passage of time actually helped them to move the storyline and advance the characters.  

[IdahoBert]

In terms of Vince Gilligan‘s Pluribus it appears he is in no hurry to get going on a second season. He said he’s tired he’s old and if you want quality work, you can’t just grind it out mechanically. So people will have to find something else to divert their minds from reality. Apparently he’s telling us in a roundabout way to “get a life.”

[Hongbit]

Season 1 of Pluribus was very good.   It got a little more hype than it put out because it was Vince Gilligan.    If it’s standing on it’s own merit, I wouldn’t call it outstanding, must watch, tell everyone you know good.   

But, I have to remind myself that because it’s Vince Gilligan, the first season will probably be the slowest and less involved as he lays groundwork for the rest of the series.   I am excited to see where he takes it.

[Motor City Sonics]

I am so glad The West Wing is back on Netflix.  I just watched a Season 7 episode called "Duck & Cover" about a nuclear power plant crisis that changes the election.  Incredible writing.         Nice to imagine actual intelligent grown ups handling a crisis.