'Whatchu Watching About, Willis?!' DIGRESSION ALERT: Please, for the love of all that is, don't call it that. 2.

See me after class in the Anime thread. That S;G jab will not stand.

You'll have to give me a bit of time. Apart from Eastward I'm progressing through every piece of media really slowly at the moment, including all of my animes and telly series. I'll come back with some hard truths about S;G once I feel I have the watch time to back them up.

Sword Art Online is very much a whatever show. It's watchable but it's also just kind of trash.

I was quite harsh on Alice in Borderlands. My feelings for it were there from episode 1 and stiffened throughout the series. If you feel anything like I did after episode 1 you can safely skip it, but if you have any lingering interest it might still be worth a go as you will know after the first episode if it is for you.

The_Jaster wrote:

I'll probably give Squid game a watch at some point, I totally glossed over it from the netflix preview but Muss mentioning Parasite along side it makes me more interested in it.

Yeah it definitely has a lot of shared DNA with Parasite so well worth a go. Fans of that should get Parasite vibes from episode 1. Incidentally, Squid Game has just become Netflix's most watched show, or something along those lines.

We're starting to see more international Netflix shows which is nice. I read a BBC article about a fear that British tv would die without the BBC because international Netflix shows have to work for American audiences. I guess that fear is valid, a lot of Americans just don't get Peep Show or the original version of The Office. At the same time though, whenever I take a peek at iPlayer all I see is a bunch of shows about sad gritty people. The only 21st century show the article I read held up as a British standard was Bake Off, it was all Faulty Towers or Only Fools and Horses otherwise. How much contemporary British TV do people here enjoy? Can't say I'm super into any of it myself.

I've been meaning to watch the BBC War of the Worlds from a little while back, and I will probably continue to engage with Doctor Who. That's about it though.

For the most part, though, I don't really watch TV.

I tend to stay on top of the latest Channel 4 comedies, they're the closest to proper must watch British shows I follow though. I also tend to enjoy panel shows like Mock the Week or Would I Lie to You as background watching. Otherwise it's Richard Osman's House of Games, Dragon's Den, Apprentice and Competitive Reality shows that in theory you can survive without their Britishness (though The Circle US is not a patch on the UK version).

Weirdly the UK catch up services have been a solid place to watch shows like Atlanta, Dave, What We Do in the Shadows, Harley Quinn and Rick and Morty, so I probably still watch more american stuff than anything else on them.

I really enjoyed the American series White Lotus, a darkly comic 6-parter based at a beautiful Hawaii hotel. It's like a blend of Schitt's Creek and Benidorm. But funnier than that sounds.

Speaking of British comedies, I've been enjoying that Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer fishing show. It's oddly calming and often touches on tough subjects, and over four series it's like hanging out with two old pals.

Don't think I watch any British show beyond Match of the Day, then TV in general it be stuff on Disney+ and Amazon Prime at the moment, which only watching the Evangelion films slowly.

gjones wrote:

Speaking of British comedies, I've been enjoying that Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer fishing show. It's oddly calming and often touches on tough subjects, and over four series it's like hanging out with two old pals.

I like Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing! It's very pleasant. I get very jealous of the fancy places they get to stay, and my partner gets jealous of the fancy fish they catch.

In our house it's that, Taskmaster, Bake Off, Drag Race UK, University Challenge, Only Connect, Mastermind, First Dates, and Married at First Sight that we regularly watch. What does that say about us? Probably that we're middle class white gays.

Mock The Week and HIGNFY are about my limit. The Lady's tried repeatedly to get me into Would I Lie To You? It's enjoyable enough while I'm watching it... and utterly forgotten thirty seconds later. I might get back into Doctor Who now that they're getting another showrunner in, but it's not like RTD blew my socks off.

Balladeer wrote:

Mock The Week and HIGNFY are about my limit.

Yeah I enjoy both of those, although Mock the Week is a shadow of its former self. I have been to watch both live and they are a great evening out - you basically get three hours of comedy and they distill it down into 30 minutes. I'm a big fan of Would I Lie To You, although similarly, it's long past its peak. I had a phase during lockdown of watching Americans reacting to British comedy panel shows, and it's a fascinating culture clash. Turns out panel shows aren't a thing in the States, but then a lot of them are simply televised versions of your Radio 4 shows.

I always think of it as Panel Shows being what we have instead of Saturday Night Live and the chat show circuit (though we have a little bit of that with your Graham Nortons etc)

Yeah that's probably true. They've tried to create a British version of SNL a few times in the last 40 years, and it's never taken off, and I agree the topical panel show gets round it.

Although I have to say I really hate Mock the Week now - it feels like when I see a latter day Simpsons, comparing it to its former self, as the man Jones says. The stand-up bit in the middle used to also be topical as opposed to "hey do your Uncle Roger bit"; I don't think they ever recovered from Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard leaving.

I watch so little TV nowadays anyway, but I've also got to shout out the Great British Bake Off. You get to see nice cakes, and everyone's nice to each other, and there's hardly any contentious decisions or disagreements. Now we just need to remind Paul Hollywood he didn't actually invent bread. I think I would watch University Challenge and Only Connect if I wasn't always busy Monday evenings - it's nice to have a quiz show that you're not expected to be able to do well in!

I used to watch bits of Uni Challenge. Occasionally I'd get about three questions (normally the one number one they do, one science, and one music) and that would be me chuffed.

Regarding MtW being a shadow of its former self... Eh you might be right, but I still enjoy it most of the time. There are a couple of comedians whose thing just seems to be 'poo/penis jokes' which make me roll my eyes, but a fair few of them are still very good. I like Ed Byrne. HIGNFY also could have done with more Angus Deayton: if there's one thing Would I Lie To You? has done right it's been giving him more screentime, at least in the early seasons.

A big part of Mock the Week for me is noticing some of the rising stars on the comedy circuit. If there's someone I've enjoyed I'm more likely to see a comedy evening they're starring at than taking a punt on a complete stranger, so even if it's not the greatest laugh a minute show I get more out of the changable lineup now than I used to with the old guard.

I just finished watching the first two series of Guilt on BBC iPlayer. It’s a thriller/mystery/drama about two brothers trying to get away with a crime, but making enemies along their way. It’s got a lot of uniqueness, loads of clever twists, a superb soundtrack, a great Edinburgh setting and even a bit of humour chucked in. It’s rare for me to find a TV programme that I’m genuinely excited to see what happens next, but this gripped me in that kind of way.

I’ve not watched a series as well-rounded as Guilt in years - and I say that as someone who usually isn't arsed with thrillers/mysteries/dramas.

My paw and I finished watching Vikings - I'd say it's worth a go if you're looking for that GoT itch to be scratched, but much like GoT it ends up falling apart somewhat in the later series.

The new Peter Jackson Beatles doc, Get Back.

It’s long so I guess you need to be a big fan to sit back and enjoy it all (I am)

Anyone else been watching The Wheel of Time on Amazon? I've read the first two books of the series and I must admit that I'm enjoying the adaptation thus far, but I do wonder how it'd hold up for a totally fresh pair of eyes to the series.

Adrian at work said it was alright. I'm tempted to give it a go; can imagine getting sucked in and ordering all the books . . .

The books are great. You can almost see the Tolkien inspiration dripping off the pages, but then again, I'd imagine that'd be the case for most modern fantasy stories in some regard. Robert Jordan is great at building the world of The Wheel of Time though, so it'd be a fun journey to go on.

I've been meaning to check out Wheel of Time but not been watching much TV lately outside of comedy shows, I'll probably give it a shot when it's all out though as it sounds pretty good.

The only proper(ish) show I've been watching is What We Do In The Shadows now iPlayer has got season 3 - that is a show that everyone needs to be watching.

I love what Taika Waititi I've seen, so I should check that out.

I basically just watch stuff for podcasts and old Kaiju movies.

Another one here for WWDitS, that's great. I'm also watching Doctor Who: Flux after reading suggestions that it might be better than the rest of the Chibnall/Whittaker era. It's alright.

Double post, but I want to strongly recommend Stranger on Netflix to those who don't mind subtitles. We've been careening through a few Korean crime dramas (Possessed, Signal), and this is the one that's really stuck. A very good cast of characters (the female lead is the doctor from Kingdom), and the main male lead has a big touch of the Edgeworths to him. Plenty of lightness in amongst the grime as well.

Currently I watch Digimon and once a week I watch an episode of The Twilight Zone so I can keep up with Matt's new podcast.

I'll probably watch Witcher soon enough, then I'll start working through Deep Space Nine.