What are you watching on TV right now?

[waday]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

 

[SquarePeg]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I was going to watch that over the weekend but didn't get to it. It was super nice out around here all weekend so I was out getting my steps in and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. I was too tired for anything that I wanted to give my full attention to most nights. Maybe this weekend - but I need to get the tree up and finish decorating.

 

[waday]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I was going to watch that over the weekend but didn't get to it. It was super nice out around here all weekend so I was out getting my steps in and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. I was too tired for anything that I wanted to give my full attention to most nights. Maybe this weekend - but I need to get the tree up and finish decorating.

Soaking up the sunshine sounds like a good plan!

This season is pretty good so far, although we’re only 2 episodes in. Olivia Colman is awesome.

 

[terri]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

 

[SquarePeg]

Yes very good!

 

[waday]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

My wife and I love it! If you like historical dramas, you’d love it. I feel like we judge shows based on if we want to watch more than one episode in a sitting, haha. This definitely meets that threshold.

 

[SquarePeg]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

My wife and I love it! If you like historical dramas, you’d love it. I feel like we judge shows based on if we want to watch more than one episode in a sitting, haha. This definitely meets that threshold.

Hurry up and finish it so you can watch Queen's Gambit and we can discuss!

 

[waday]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

My wife and I love it! If you like historical dramas, you’d love it. I feel like we judge shows based on if we want to watch more than one episode in a sitting, haha. This definitely meets that threshold.

Hurry up and finish it so you can watch Queen's Gambit and we can discuss!

Ah! That’s on our list, too! I’m so excited!

 

[limr]

On The Umbrella Academy, you have me intrigued. I need to look this up.

On House:

Spoiler

If they have House end with all of this being a delusion in his mind from a drugged-up mental state or from him being in the induced coma for his leg, I’ll be quite mad. I’ll start writing fan fiction, LOL.

I never thought about the writers being “consistent” with Cuddy going all in and then retreating just as fast. I agree, I think the relapse should have been the beginning of the end for the relationship, not an abrupt ending. Cuddy, as both one of House’s closest friends and a doctor, should have known that ending the relationship so quickly, after he had just taken more Vicodin, and in the manner that she did would have led to him going down a hole of drugs.

(All this said, I don’t mean to blame her completely, because she is definitely a victim of House. She can get out of relationships if she wants, but she actively chose to go into a relationship knowing that he was an addict and then got mad at that. I’m conflicted with how I feel.)

Also, the whole 18 months in jail for ramming a car into a house. I know he said he “took the first deal” that came along, but this is House we’re talking about. The Sherlock Holmes of doctors. He’s smarter than that, so I call bull.

I totally agree, I liked House before (even though he was a jerk), but now I don’t really have any feelings toward him. He used to have some moments in all the assholiness where he was a decent person. I feel like that’s not really there anymore, and you’re spot on, he regressed right back to where he was. I get that people may do that, but it was still frustrating because it felt forced.

I think I’m still sour over the whole ending it with Cuddy. I just remember in one of the episodes.. there was a visually and emotionally appealing scene where House was in Cuddy’s office, late in the day, everyone left, and they were discussing work. Cuddy at her desk, House laying back in the chair, camera was far away looking in on this moment. It just felt real and natural. I felt like it was worthy of a series-ending scene.

The House/Wilson dynamic is interesting. I do like them together.

If I had my own show, I’d want to end it as a fairly normal episode, maybe a bit emotional. I’d want the audience to know the show ended, but I would make it like any other episode.

I’m assuming House will not end like that, LOL.

I just checked and second season of The Umbrella Academy was just released in July of this year. It was renewed for a 3rd season this month, which means it won't be released for a while. This is why I tend to watch shows after they're already done! And once I'm hooked on a show, I can't pace myself, so I'm sure I'm going to be done with both seasons in the next week. The episodes are longer, but there's only 10 episodes in a season.

Anyway.

Spoiler

Yes, Cuddy absolutely has the right to decide when enough is enough, and she did say at the beginning that she basically just had to know if it was something that would work or not. So his relapse could have been the moment when she realized it was not going to work. They had been attracted to each other since they first met in med school and have been dancing around it ever since, so it seemed like she decided she couldn't really move on with someone else until she'd given it a try with House. She totally knew all of his issues and his addiction, but decided to go ahead anyway. But what I don't like about the abrupt nature of both the start and finish of the relationship is that sure, the two events were consistent with each other, but they were inconsistent with the rest of her character. She wasn't particularly impulsive. She was methodical and thoughtful about her decisions. Of course some people are that way with career but are messier with their personal lives, but it still seemed like the writers were sacrificing character development for drama, and I don't like when that happens.

I liked their "normal" moments, too and still a bit salty about how they ended. But 'normal' apparently doesn't do well in the ratings. :/

As for the finale, all I will say is that a) it is not a delusion (though we do still get some hallucination scenes), and b) it's just a normal episode. I'm conflicted. We'll talk when you get there

Overall, I enjoyed the show very much, even if it did become a bit too formulaic with the cases (it's totally X disease! Nope, it's not. Cue controversial test/diagnoses/breaking and entering. Oh, it's totally disease Y! Nope, not that either. Cue ball tossing/staring at wall/eating lunch with coma guy. Dramatic finish! Puzzle solved! Patient is alive! Or sometimes dead!). But I do feel it overstayed its welcome, and I would have preferred a slow, steady character evolution for him rather than the roller coaster for the sake of gratuitous drama. All of the characters were sort of complex, but they could have been so much more interesting if the writers paid more attention to them.

Spoiler: More House spoilers and discussion

I agree about Cuddy being so rash and quick to jump in and jump out of a relationship. Anyways, enough of her, since she’s out of the picture now, thanks to contracts.

Your show formula is spot on. I actually don’t mind shows like that, as long as they occasionally change it up. Like, the one episode that was (I think?) about Wilson where they had really funny background scenes of House’s team scrambling around, on top of patients trying to keep them alive, or running through the halls, was really good.

With regards to my feelings on Season 7 and 8, I think they generally stand. I would have been more than happy to have Season 6 be the last, BUT I did enjoy the latter half of Season 8. I completely agree that the show should have paid more attention to the other characters, as well. They seemed to have a show every now and then that fully focused on a single character, but I guess I’m not necessarily a huge fan of that process. I’d rather see their background come out gradually and slowly. For example, I felt like we learned so much about Masters when they had an episode focus solely on her character, which was also the LAST EPISODE TO FEATURE HER as a doctor under House. Why would they do that? Perhaps she would have been a better asset throughout her time on the show had they released this information slowly from the beginning. I mean, they did some, but I felt like Masters could have been a really good replacement for Cameron, but they got rid of her and brought in Adams. Meh.

I still think Park was out of place (although I was happy to see her evolve), and I don’t think they did Adams justice—I kind of think they just wanted to replace Cameron and Masters and chose some bland version with no heart.

I did warm up to Foreman as head of the hospital, but I think they should have involved him a bit more in the cases, like they did with Cuddy. He took on so much responsibility for House during the parole, but then took a back seat during DDX and treatment? I would have expected him to be on top of House as much as Cuddy was... except... not in that way...

Chase... I actually think I liked him the best, because he showed the most character development. I think they did that on purpose though, because I think they delved the most into his character and background than any other. I LOVED Kutner, but they shouldn’t have done what they did. It didn’t make sense, and really rocked the whole show. Taub was hilarious, and I really like him. Loved Thirteen’s character, as well—happy with where they ended it. Cameron was good, but I wish they would have evolved her a little differently.

I really liked Amber’s role on the show, as well as Masters. I did not like Terzi at all, glad she left the show, not sure of her purpose, other than to help other characters’ arcs. Her character didn’t make sense to me, although I get that it made sense to the show.

Regarding House’s character development... The whole stuffing the season tickets down the drain... that made me roll my eyes so hard I almost strained them. I guess I don’t understand the plumbing in the building, since various places had issues but then ALL of the tickets were found together with his fingerprints on them and they were legible with his name? Aside from the plumbing, flushing tickets down the drain was not very “House”. Finding someone that Foreman despised and giving the tickets to that person (so they’d have to sit next to each other every game) would have been. Or, finding a way to keep Wilson alive past the 5 month mark and then convincing Foreman to give them to Wilson. I don’t know. Anything other than “flushing them” and then giving the “remains” to the police. Seemed like a cheap and lazy way to end it and to get House back to jail. (Also, the whole jail/parole looming over his head was drawn out way too long. It should have ended when he took the ankle monitor off.)

And don’t get me started on how Dominika went from getting her green card to citizenship; those are two different processes, but I guess being married to an immigration attorney probably made me more sensitive to this, haha. I liked their relationship, and was thoroughly annoyed when House threw out her papers notifying her of the oath. But, I understand it goes back to his self-destructive ways, and that it shows that House couldn’t change (which was inline with his own thoughts on people in general). Still, would have been nice to see him change and evolve.

Regarding the last couple of episodes (and the last episode), I actually enjoyed them. I felt like they really started to get back into their groove. I liked the last episode, hallucinations and all. Seeing Kutner was great. Probably spent a little more time going back and forth than I would have liked, but I did enjoy it. I also enjoyed seeing the “where is everybody now” at the end.

My wife and I both knew that he wasn’t going to die. We had talked about how we thought it was going to end, and just knew that he (1) wasn’t going back to jail and (2) wasn’t going to die. Loved his text to Wilson at the funeral (totally read it in House’s voice), and just like House to actually be in attendance at his own funeral. I liked the ending with House and Wilson driving off into the distance on their motorcycles. Definitely made me tear up.

Spoiler

I agree about the various team members. Terzi was a miss. I liked Chase and was glad they kept him and Taub. Foreman was interesting - he was like House Lite but without the charm, the wit, and the self-destructive tendencies. I remember one episode in which they both denied how similar they are to each other and that ended with them both in the elevator realizing they were wearing the same shoes. I wasn't crazy about Adams - the brunette that was the prison doc and then joined at the end. I think the character was interesting, but not convinced that the casting was right. I never quite bought it from her. And yeah, Charlyne Yi was very entertaining, and her character was sort of weird enough to fit into House's teams of misfits, but something never felt quite right. I think that was one of the biggest flaws of the last season - the chemistry between the actors never clicked they way they did in earlier episodes.

As for the finale - I do like how it ended but like you, I rolled eyes *hard* at how they got there. The tickets down the toilet? Wow, they were really stretching there. House was childish but he was more imaginative than that. I understand they were trying to put his back up against the wall to make him realize that he couldn't just regress into his old ways and to force a choice out of him, but there were better ways to do that. It's one of my pet peeves - when writers ignore plausibility and consistency (either in a character's behavior or laws or physics...) for the sake of advancing the plot that they already want to happen. Yes, faking his own death to be with Wilson in his last months was a good ending. But if they couldn't get there organically without forcing the issue, then maybe they should have gone with a different ending. The season had its moments, to be sure, but it always felt to me like it was pushing a little too hard.

The last few scenes, though, were great - the funeral, the little vignette when you realize that Forman figured it all out, the bikes. I had a gazillion questions about what would happen after they ride off on their bikes. Does he go off Vicodin? Does Wilson somehow keep writing scrips, and if so, isn't that a tip off that he's writing them for House since he can't write them for himself? After Wilson dies, does House stay "dead"? I like to imagine him take on a whole new identity and become a lounge piano player or something It's not like he could ever practice medicine again, even if he did turn himself in to complete his sentence and probably serve his new one (I imagine there would be new charges of some sort.)

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

We started watching the British comedy " Mrs.Brown's Boys " last night on Britbox. It's definitely not for everyone, as the humor can be a bit offensive for some, but I happen to really like British humor, so we will finish the seasons, I am sure. The show is filmed live before a studio audience, much like SNL is here in America, but isn't comprised of sketches. Each episode has a singular storyline, but the man playing the " mother " is so good at what he does, he cracks up the rest of the cast often .

 

[terri]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

My wife and I love it! If you like historical dramas, you’d love it. I feel like we judge shows based on if we want to watch more than one episode in a sitting, haha. This definitely meets that threshold.

Hurry up and finish it so you can watch Queen's Gambit and we can discuss!

We just started Queen's Gambit - only 2 episodes in, but we're hooked. Trying not to burn through it too quickly, it's so beautifully done. Since it's a limited series, we'll probably take up The Crown when it's over.

Oh, and we're trying not to burn too quickly through The West Wing, either, for the same reason. Only recently started, about 4 episodes in. Now that we've figured out everyone's job title, we're settling in.

 

[SquarePeg]

Started the next season of The Crown.

Every cast member on that show is brilliant.

I've been wondering about this series- haven't watched any of it.

So, general consensus is that it's pretty good?

My wife and I love it! If you like historical dramas, you’d love it. I feel like we judge shows based on if we want to watch more than one episode in a sitting, haha. This definitely meets that threshold.

Hurry up and finish it so you can watch Queen's Gambit and we can discuss!

We just started Queen's Gambit - only 2 episodes in, but we're hooked. Trying not to burn through it too quickly, it's so beautifully done. Since it's a limited series, we'll probably take up The Crown when it's over.

Oh, and we're trying not to burn too quickly through The West Wing, either, for the same reason. Only recently started, about 4 episodes in. Now that we've figured out everyone's job title, we're settling in.

I'm jealous and would love to watch both for the first time all over again!

 

[terri]

It's fun when you like a production so much you want to re-live those first impressions, isn't it? Not that many shows make that kind of impact. The last time I realized I was watching something exceptionally well done on all fronts was Breaking Bad.

We frankly don't watch a ton of different stuff - too much fluff out there, and we'd rather read or listen to music (I miss my darkroom!). But - wintertime does draw us inside, so these recent finds have been very welcome.

 

[limr]

Okay, I might have to put The Crown and the Queen's Gambit in the queue.

I just finished watching the last season of Supernatural, which ended its 15-year run about 2 weeks ago. No, I didn't binge all 15 seasons. I was just waiting until it was done to finish the second half of Season 15. And yes, I'm a geek

 

[snowbear]

We watch some of the cooking shows and I'll hit up Dr. Who when it's running. Sometimes I'll turn it on "for the background noise" during the day - WETA (DC PBS) has a UK station on cable that I'll put on.

Lately I've been watching Netflix and Hulu. Over the past year or so I've finished Marco Polo, The Vikings, Star Trek: Next Generation, Primeval, and The Librarian series. Current binge watching is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Edge of the Universe. I'll probably add The Crown and Queen's Gambit to the list. Firefly is on there, though I went through the series a few years ago.