What are we watching these days?

[Bill Brown]

First 3 episodes of Reacher have dropped on Prime video. Debating if I should wait for all to drop or just start watching. Leaning to watching them as soon as I get the chance.

[LennG]

First 3 episodes of Reacher have dropped on Prime video. Debating if I should wait for all to drop or just start watching. Leaning to watching them as soon as I get the chance.

Wait.        

[LennG]

It was mentioned on here that "School Spirits" (Paramount+ or the first season on Netflix) was better than expected. Then my daughter told me she thought it was excellent, so I gave it a try. Turned out to be one of the most interesting shows I've watched in a while. I started watching it Monday and got caught hook, line, and sinker...finished season one last night (8 episodes). Once you start it, it's very difficult to stop.
In short: an Agatha Christie style "whodunit" murder mystery in a Twilight Zone type of setting.
The caveat: a missing girl goes on a crime-solving journey in an attempt to solve her own murder...from the afterlife...or was she even dead

Seven episodes of the second season dropped last month, with a new episode each week (7 episodes with one left). Second season can only be seen on Paramount+

First season trailer

Yeah, I mentioned it Ric. We are still into season 1, but as I said in my original thoughts on it, it is something very light and enjoyable. I didn't know season 2 is airing on regular TV, CBS though we will wait for it to watch on cable.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Yeah, I mentioned it Ric. We are still into season 1, but as I said in my original thoughts on it, it is something very light and enjoyable. I didn't know season 2 is airing on regular TV, CBS though we will wait for it to watch on cable.

If you have Paramount+, then you already have 7 episodes of season two available. It's 8 episodes long and the last episode will drop in a couple of days...so no need to wait

[Bill Brown]

Wait.        

Too late Lenn. Episode 1 is done. I'll just say it is true to the book so far.

[Jclayton92]

Reacher season 3 is so freaking good so far, now on to Suits LA and 1923 tomorrow.

[Sem]

On my previous report here I had just started the second season of Night Agent. My original complaint after watching the first two episodes has fallen by the wayside as after watching five episodes now, this season has gotten somewhat better. I still am having a problem with the Night Action team "reading in" Rose, who is a civilian without any special clearance. But here she is smack in the middle of a spy ring, top secret interviews, and also being given classified information like it's dinner party conversation. But I'm trying to look past these type of plot holes and just enjoy the series. It does have a fair amount of edge-of-your-seat anxiousness. I'm trying to limit myself to watching one episode a week. It's working, for the most part.

I also finished the series Mr & Mrs Murder. It reminded me a lot of 1980's murder mysteries such as Murder, She Wrote, McMillan & Wife, or Hart to Hart. It's an ok series, nothing too deep, a few laughs along the way. I did find myself enjoying it a bit more as it went along, but I'm not terribly upset the there are no more episodes to watch.

I've started another series, only watched the first episode so far. This one takes place in New Zealand, and is based on a true story. It's called Far North, and it's probably easier if I just paste the synopsis from the Acorn TV site.

"When a Tongan-Australian gang does a deal with one of the biggest drug cartels in the world for half a ton of meth to be smuggled to New Zealand shores, a $500 million fortune awaits them. All they have to do is pick up the drugs. The only problem - they're really bad at this. Far North is a saga of screw-ups, as everyday people strive to foil an international drug cartel's largest-ever drug deal in the Pacific; the cops' trip themselves up; and gangsters chase a payday with zero discretion - leaving a trail of wreckage you can see from space."

[Sem]

Yeah, my TV viewing is a bit off the beaten path. I'm guessing the Nielsen Ratings folks won't come knocking on my door to ask me to partake in their survey.

 Latest..I finished Far North. As is usually the case, the bad guys didn't get away with it. Well, for the most part. It was entertaining, if not somewhat predictable. And as far as I know only Ric, @Jolly Blue Giant will appreciate this: although this was based on true events, as I was watching it I kept thinking to myself - with the wackiness of the characters and absurd storyline, this could easily have been a Carl Hiaasen novel had it taken place in Florida rather than New Zealand.

I also watched the first, and only season that I'm aware of, of Faithless, a comedy of sorts. An Egyptian father of a Muslim family living in Ireland suddenly becomes a widower when his wife gets hit and killed by a neighborhood ice cream truck. He's now trying to raise two teenage girls and a third, a 5 year old epileptic daughter, on his own. (Doesn't sound like a comedy, but it is). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27827440/

Also watching a series of shorts titled Short Film Showcase. It's exactly what it sounds like, short films, all so far have been between 9 and 25 minutes long. And each one was an Academy Award nominee, and in some cases an Oscar winner in this category. There's three seasons, maybe 30 shorts in all. Both my wife and I have enjoyed most of them.

And finally last night I started another series called Dead Still. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10413648/
Set in 1880's Ireland, this one's a bit disturbing, but also contains enough dark humor to help lighten the depressing main theme. The story revolves around a photographer of the deceased investigating a series of suspicious deaths. I really only started watching this after I began the first episode of Deadwater Fell, starring the excellent David Tennant, only to realize I had already watched this series a few years ago.

[LennG]

 I don't know if anyone has seen the 3 Swedish movies, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Played With Fire, and then Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Just a wonderful set of movies, each sort of playing off each other in that order. Yes, these are in Swedish with subtitles, but starting with Tattoo, just a riveting watch, all 3.
So that said, I saw on some channel, the remake of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara (yes, finally a good Mara). This was also a terrific watch and I would highly recommend it. You do not have to have seen the original to enjoy this one.
Quickly,. Craig is a sort of investigator who is hired to find a girl who was presumed dead 40 years ago. Rooney is a very rebellious 20+ year old who is a very good investigator on her own, but she sees the world a bit differently than most. She is basically being held hostage by a man who controls what money she receives until, well, I leave that to those that watch. Rooney joins forces with Craig to find, or prove, that this lady did die or may still be alive.
Anyway, a great watch and your chance to see (several times) Ms Mara in all stages of undress. Papa must have loved that. But she is a terrific actress and has really come into her own.

[ozzie]

I read the first two books in that series (Dragon Tattoo & Played with Fire) and thought both were excellent,  I've only seen the Roony Mara version of the first movie and enjoyed that too.
Never saw the original Swedish versions.

[LennG]

Yeah, the new season of Naked and Afraid starts this Sunday.      

[Jclayton92]

Watched a docuseries on Netflix called American nightmare, it's the real life gone girl movie come to life. Needless to say it's the biggest twist in a show/movie that I've seen in years and it was real life. If you like true crime, mysteries, and shows with a twist this is it.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I've been binge-watching for the last couple of weeks, "Resident Alien" (Netlix), that dropped January 27 a few weeks ago. Three seasons dropped, and 2nd season is 18 episodes long, so there's a lot of them. The fourth season is currently in production

It is completely opposite pretty much anything I'd watch, but as boredom settled in and channel surfing, I gave the first episode a shot. Piqued my interest enough to continue until I got hooked

Synopsis: the setting reminds me of "Northern Exposure" (small snowy town in the middle of nowhere, combined with high population of Native Americans, and a full cast of eccentric residents, which is where the show really shines). So...a UFO crashes to Earth and the 8 ft high alien survives, then abducts and kills an out of work doctor and assumes his human form, and takes the name, Harry Vanderspeigle (played by Alan Tudyk of "A Knight's Tale", "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", "3:10 to Yuma", etc). It takes a while for him to learn how to walk in his new body and learn to speak English and get down expressions that normal humans do. He gets called into being the town doctor, so he has to learn everything about doctoring from Google. He attempts to fit in and does (somewhat), only because of an abnormally accepting group of nice people. He's overly goofy, overly intelligent, and socially retarded as he tries to mingle with regular humans. The supporting cast for this show makes it extremely enjoyable. One spoiler, his first experience with a randy woman causes him to say, "I think my penis must have died because rigor mortis has settled in...lol

A couple of well-known actors are in this, Linda Hamilton (Terminator 1,2,3,...), Terry O'Quinn (played Ben in "Lost"), George Takei is the voice of a competing alien race - the "Greys"

Anyway, I like it

[Ed Vette]

I've been binge-watching for the last couple of weeks, "Resident Alien" (Netlix), that dropped January 27 a few weeks ago. Three seasons dropped, and 2nd season is 18 episodes long, so there's a lot of them. The fourth season is currently in production

It is completely opposite pretty much anything I'd watch, but as boredom settled in and channel surfing, I gave the first episode a shot. Piqued my interest enough to continue until I got hooked

Synopsis: the setting reminds me of "Northern Exposure" (small snowy town in the middle of nowhere, combined with high population of Native Americans, and a full cast of eccentric residents, which is where the show really shines). So...a UFO crashes to Earth and the 8 ft high alien survives, then abducts and kills an out of work doctor and assumes his human form, and takes the name, Harry Vanderspeigle (played by Alan Tudyk of "A Knight's Tale", "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", "3:10 to Yuma", etc). It takes a while for him to learn how to walk in his new body and learn to speak English and get down expressions that normal humans do. He gets called into being the town doctor, so he has to learn everything about doctoring from Google. He attempts to fit in and does (somewhat), only because of an abnormally accepting group of nice people. He's overly goofy, overly intelligent, and socially retarded as he tries to mingle with regular humans. The supporting cast for this show makes it extremely enjoyable. One spoiler, his first experience with a randy woman causes him to say, "I think my penis must have died because rigor mortis has settled in...lol

A couple of well-known actors are in this, Linda Hamilton (Terminator 1,2,3,...), Terry O'Quinn (played Ben in "Lost"), George Takei is the voice of a competing alien race - the "Greys"

Anyway, I like it

I kept hoping it would get better. It just got worse. I gave up on it a year or so ago.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I kept hoping it would get better. It just got worse. I gave up on it a year or so ago.

I understand. At first, I thought, "this guy is too over the top goofy" (and he is), kind of like the complaint about actors who accuse Jim Carrey of being an, "over-actor". Hollywood insiders are actually claiming that Tudyk is a vastly underrated actor who nails a very difficult role in Resident Alien

But once you get over that part, there's serious drama and mystery to the story. Which is a difficult thing for writers to marry comedy/drama/serious mystery into a show. I think it was about the fifth or sixth episode where it started to get very interesting, and in the second and third season, hooked line-and-sinker interesting. Which surprises even me, as it's so out of my normal interest. By the end of the third season, all hell breaks out. Now I can't wait for season 4 to be released

Weird how I ignore SciFi shows like Star Wars (seen it, hate it), and movies/shows about paranormal activity, yet since the beginning of 2025, I have found myself deeply invested in two of them, "School Spirits" and "Resident Alien" - go figure