I need a new show...

[hockeyrobot]

Lost

Another show that had one of the greatest week to week watching experiences of all time. The ending doesn't ruin that for me and it never will.

[2014olympicgold]

Another show that had one of the greatest week to week watching experiences of all time. The ending doesn't ruin that for me and it never will.

It's terrible re-watchability though. It's so poorly written after a certain season. It's shock-and-aw for the purpose of nothing with no pay off.

[evans334]

Another show that had one of the greatest week to week watching experiences of all time. The ending doesn't ruin that for me and it never will.

I meant more so that it fell off the rails near the end, and you could tell the writers had no idea what to do anymore.

Wife and I are actually currently re-watching it, about half way through season 1.

[4T2]

I loved Lost, but I can only watch up to like season 3 during re-watching. It's terrible and convoluted only to extend the series for money. I'm a firm believer shows need to begin wrapping up by the end of season 3. You then have 2-3 seasons of figuring out how to end things perfectly. Audiences care more about the ending than the beginning, and most people HATE sudden endings because it feels lazy.

The issue with this is though, if you are writing a S3 to end with the beginning of the end of the series, you are throwing money away in the eyes of the big-wigs. Which is ballsy.

I was actually kind of stoked when they announced S3 would be the end of Locke and Key this year. I figured it would give them a good chance to wrap the series up in a nice way without dragging it out...

Turns out they used 90% of their good ideas in the first two seasons. Or maybe it was that I binge watched them while high on cold meds and they weren't actually all that good to begin with. Who knows?

[hockeyrobot]

I meant more so that it fell off the rails near the end, and you could tell the writers had no idea what to do anymore.

Wife and I are actually currently re-watching it, about half way through season 1.

Definitely. I've always wanted to rewatch. Especially Season 1.

There's just so many episodes... I'm not used to that anymore.

[Daydream Nation]

I'm a firm believer shows need to begin wrapping up by the end of season 3. You then have 2-3 seasons of figuring out how to end things perfectly.

This is very interesting. Do you feel it is because the story cannot go more than 3 seasons or because the writers can't maintain the quality for more than 3 seasons? Or is it something else? Is your view for dramas only or for comedies as well? I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what shows struggled past 3 seasons and many, IMO, didn't start to falter till the 5th or 6th season. And some shows continued to stay strong well into their 7th season and beyond. There's too many shows to list but I thought of quite a few that would have left us without a lot of great material if they had concluded after 3 seasons. I did enjoy the thought exercise so thank you for that.

[2014olympicgold]

This is very interesting. Do you feel it is because the story cannot go more than 3 seasons or because the writers can't maintain the quality for more than 3 seasons? Or is it something else? Is your view for dramas only or for comedies as well? I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what shows struggled past 3 seasons and many, IMO, didn't start to falter till the 5th or 6th season. And some shows continued to stay strong well into their 7th season and beyond. There's too many shows to list but I thought of quite a few that would have left us without a lot of great material if they had concluded after 3 seasons. I did enjoy the thought exercise so thank you for that.

I think if you write a show with the intent to start your conclusion after season 3, you can properly wrap up a show and most of the storylines you start. This is more for shows that have a storyline from episode to episode (dramas mostly) and not like shows that are like Brooklyn 99 where they have a storyline but they can skip the story for a few episodes.

There's not many great shows that go 5-6 seasons because why stop a show early right? But The Wire, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, The Fringe, The 100, Handmaid's Tale, Stranger Things, Succession, Peaky Blinders, True Detective, Better Call Saul, Fargo (I think?) all went in that low season length. Maybe a few went 7 seasons....

But ya, then you get shows like Dexter, GoT, Walking Dead, Twilight Zone, Simpsons, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad Men all went long. I just find those shows that are considered in the top 100 that go long, have either a season or 2 that were so sub-par, or had no direction where they were pointless almost. And that "pointless" part is way more focused towards dramas where that matters. So ya, just personal thought for me. I just think that sweet spot for a drama to perfectly peak and perfectly end with no waste is 5-6 seasons, and depending on length of the season go for like 7 seasons too.

But ya, faltering at 5-6season to me is because they didn't start the end soon enough, which is why I say start the ending after season 3. You can build that high at s3, then you gotta come down and tie loose ends. If you don't you have shows that get lost at s6.

[4T2]

Netflix has a documentary called How To Change Your Mind based on the book of the same name (pretty sure I've suggested that in the book thread before).

It's all about the science of psychedelics and delves into how they are using things like LSD and psilocybin to treat depression, anxiety and all sorts of other mental health issues. It also looks at the history of these substances and how public perception shifted from being potential "miracle drugs" at the time of their discoveries to illicit substances that cause psychosis and should be avoided at all costs. That perception is finally changing and they are once again researching the health benefits of these and other psychedelics.

As much as I enjoyed the book, it was a very dry read, but so far I'm two episodes into the series and it is definitely more entertaining in this form

[Pengwin7]

Wife & I started watching a show called "Mo" about 20s/30s ish guy of Egyptian decent in US.
It's from the same guy who produced & starred in Ramy and includes a few of the same actors, including the lead.
It's really solid if you like TV shows about other cultures and how the world of America feels for them.
Easy watch - got some good moments of laughs and also seriousness.

So far... it has a 81 rating from 9 positive critic reviews on Metacritic.
For us, anything (TV show or movie) that is 80+ on Metacritic is solid and has never let us down.

[audiopile]

Binging on Severance. Right up my alley. Next up wil be S3 of The Orville. Also working through Workaholics, some of the subject matter is aging bad and quickly, but still pretty innocent humour.

I finished Girl From Plainsville but it want easy.

Series length - i dont think it matter how many seasons a show goes on for. Quality of the experience has more to do with the choices creators make and if they have a plan from start to finish and stick to it. Certain shows seem like they have a plan but they get very popular so instead of following the plan its derailed for the purpose of creating more episodes to make more money and the quality of the product suffers. Or there is no plan and they carry on and rush an ending when they know they're being canceled. GoT had a plan up until the end, and then it fell apart (for some) because it wasnt completed in time. TWD is an egregious offender of milking seasons. Dexter was another that changed tone after gaining popularity. Something like Six Feet Under felt cohesive throughout and had one of the best ending ever imo.

[2014olympicgold]

The John Wayne Gacy thing on Netflix was good. I knew the story, but it was interesting hearing his thoughts on what he did through the tapes. Very strange guy.

[2014olympicgold]

The new Lord of the Rings show released today. Amazon spent $250m on acquiring the rights, and like $715m on production so each episode is about $89m. In comparison, Stranger Things last season was about $30m per episode, and 2 episodes were like 1.5hrs long.

[hockeyrobot]

The new Lord of the Rings show released today. Amazon spent $250m on acquiring the rights, and like $715m on production so each episode is about $89m. In comparison, Stranger Things last season was about $30m per episode, and 2 episodes were like 1.5hrs long.

It's absolutely crazy to me that it cost this much. I think I read the season cost more than the trilogy.

Either way my wife is going out tonight so I'll be watching both episodes.

[metaldude26]

Picked up a Crave subscription again so I can follow HOTD. So far satisfied with the Thrones prequel.

Subsequently, I also checked out Winning Time on there about the creation of the Lakers dynasty. It's so over the top and fantastic. Highly recommend as long as you aren't a stickler for details because they take a lot of liberties with the history.

[lobo1969]

She-Hulk on Disney+

My wife has no super hero interest and little Marvel comics knowledge but she is loving this one with me.