Your Ten Favorite Shows Currently on Television

There's only two out so far and I haven't tried either yet. They're really full length films, right?

First was 2 hours, the second and third are 70 mins.

Heard good things, musically, about the second but haven't had time to watch either of the two that have aired yet.

Second was wonderful. Didn’t watch the first yet.

(just watching 2nd one now. And it turns out i saw them setting up one of the locations for it - the two girls meeting in the playground under the railway arches was filmed in ravenscourt park - the playground equipment and the street light were props)

The Flight Attendant is a really good time btw! Reminds me in some ways of Killing Eve.

Another vote for Lovers Rock btw, having watched it now. Brave TV for a Sunday evening being all black cast and having virtually no plot. The Silly Games bit.

Beforeigners is awesome! so many hilarious details ... goats, so many goats

So, The Watch. Oh boy.

oh boy yes or oh boy no

it looks terrible

Oh boy it's an absolute clusterfuck xp

I don't think The Watch is that bad. It's not good, but that's not the same thing.

Interesting that many of the objections (on IMDb at least) are of the WOKE POLICE HAVE RUINED THIS variety and quoting self-identifying as tall as 'proof' he predicted and hated the WOKE AGENDA.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

A dozen new episodes of the new Looney Tunes Cartoons on HBO today; the first batch of ten was as good and as funny as anything that was on tv last year. Super highly recommended if you have any love for the classic toons.

Blown Away, the Netflix glassblowing reality show is back today so that's my evening taken care of.

Ha! We were just watching that right on my lunch break. My 14-yr-old walked by and is now binging season 1.

1. The Pembrokeshire Murders

Just aired on ITV and is a goodlooking true crime procedural set in Wales with good turns, few airs and a very refreshingly straightforward, boiled-down narrative. Bonus luke evans in his native accent.

So as of this writing:

Blown Away (S2, Netflix - Finished)
The Great Pottery Throw Down (S3, BBC2 - In Progress)
Only Connect (S15 and S16, BBC2 - Finishing S15, In Progress on S16)
Jeopardy (Syndicated - Ongoing until I die... I think Ken Jennings is doing a phenomenal job!)
Painting with John (S1, HBO - In Progress)
WandaVision (S1, Disney - In Progress)
Staged (S2, BBC1 - Finished)
Kim's Convenience (S5, CBC - In Progress)
Lupin (S1, Netflix - In Progress)
Looney Tunes Cartoons (S1 pt 2, HBO - In Progress and, tbh, this batch are a letdown from the heights of the first half of the season: notably less perverse and batshit creative)
Call My Agent! (S1, France 2/Netflix - In Progress)
Pulling (S1/S2/Special, BBC3 - Finished)
50 States of Fright (S1, Quibi/Roku - In Progress, lol this is terrible)
Mickey Mouse (S3/4/5, Disney - In Progress)

https://emilyvdw.substack.com/p/the-loop

Everybody goes in for snark because it's easy.

As if, pfft.

Great piece - I like Emily’s writing (also a reliably good & fun guest when she appears on Blank Check podcast)

Yes indeed, overall that was well thought-provoking.

Within criticism, flirting with entering the loop is a regular thing. When you love something nobody else loves or hate something everybody else is cheering on, it’s easy to fall into a pattern where “what you love” becomes synonymous with “you.”

Something I've been thinking about fandom in general. Someone on Twitter called me a "culture vulture", I think because I listen to a variety of styles of music -- I have to say that one hit a nerve. It's not too far from cultural appropriation really. Is it better to just stay in my lane? Should I avoid exploring new styles of music etc because they're trendy?

This is a tangent sorry.

That piece is very good. It made me think about Dennis Perkins, the AV Club critic who spent the last four years judging every episode of Saturday Night Live based solely on whether it shouted angrily enough about the evils of the Trump administration (hint: it didn't). Literally nothing else mattered to him but why Weekend Update was so soft on the White House.

your lane is the world, listen to everything in it

<3

This appears to have been the thread where The Circle got discussed so on the eve of the final I'll mention this year's edition.

The last two nights have had EVERYTHING and we still have the Felix reveal to come which will knock Alex/Kate into a cocked hat. Manrika will totally lose her shit and could go all Fight Night. The order they go to dinner could be the most important thing.

I think ultimately putting two players in sufficiently late that only one of them can get blocked could be good work by the producers, it'll give an impression as least that coming in late doesn't exclude you from the final (even though the public will probably rate them bottom because both this pair are dicks).

Andy will block Alice, which will lead to hilarity when everyone else works out who Pippa & Femi are. From the bottom in the final then will be Father Tom, Manrika, Felix, Andy and Syed. Andy is *nice* but Syed had been funny which is more likely to play to a voting audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auxeLrtk7tk

Anyone else watching Wellington Paranormal?

Low budget WWDITS spin off that doesn't quite hit the highs of WWDITS but is still very funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApxbN3Bp6f4

what in the nsfw world...
https://peepoodo.bobbypills.com/

What are you watching Wellington Paranormal on?

xp ugh, never mind: i watched one and it's not worth noting.

It's on Season 3 in NZ but only just aired in UK (all 3 seasons on Sky) and is coming to the US soon on The CW/HBO Max xp

Based on the first episode, Pause with Sam Jay is looking suspiciously like it is going to be one of my new favorite shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5zPy0VLxBM

i saw her in a little club in London and she was absolutely amaaazing. she gave us all shit for not laughing loud enough

https://i.imgur.com/nrXoEiz.jpg

she's sharp as a razor. Ziwe is playing with fire, Sam Jay is just taking headshots.

dang, six months huh. i went on a 2000's british sitcom kick. This isn't complete but anyway.

Top Ten TV Right Now
Only Connect s16, s17- BBC 2
Hajime No Ippo s1 (2000) - Crunchyroll
Desus and Mero s3 - Showtime
Reservation Dogs s1 - FX
Ted Lasso s2 - Apple
Ghosts s3 - BBC1
Phoneshop s1 s2 s3 (2010-2013) - E4 (mostly done with s2, this is good stuff)

Also Currently in Play
Rosehaven s5 - ABC Aussie
Back on the Record with Bob Costas s1 - HBO
Let's Make a Mug Too s1 - Crunchyroll
Rick and Morty s5 - Adult Swim

Probably the two best shows of 2021
Last Chance U Basketball s1 - Netflix
Mr In-Between s3 - FX

Other Very Very Good Stuff Watched Over the Past Half Year
Chad s1 - TBS
Why Are You Like This? s1 - ABC Aussie
Giri/Haji s1 (2019) - Netflix
Pui Pui Molcar s1 - Netflix
The Real World Homecoming: New York - Paramount
Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun s1 - Netflix
Fisk s1 - ABC Aussie
Hospital s7 - BBC2
Pause with Sam Jay s1 - HBO
Motherland s3 - BBC2
Friday Night Dinner s1-s6 (2011 to 2020) - Channel 4
This Time with Alan Partridge s2 - BBC1
Peter Kay's Car Share s1, s2 (2015-2018) - BBC1
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace s1 (2004) - Channel 4
A Touch of Cloth s1-3 (2012-2014) - Sky1

And Some Mostly to Pretty Good Stuff
Plebs s4 (2018), s5 (2019) - iTV
The Baby-Sitters Club s1 (2020) - Netflix
So I'm a Spider So What s1 - Crunchyroll
I Think You Should Leave s2 - Netflix
Flatbush Misdemeanors s1 - Showtime (this show gives me anxiety)
Secrets of the Museum s2 - BBC2
Loki s1 - Disney
Last Week Tonight s8 - HBO
Chickens s1 (2013) - Sky1

And This Was Flawed but Okay
WandaVision s1 - Disney (we interrupt this carefully structured pastiche for a magic fight in the sky)
How to Be Bohemian s1 (2015) - BBC4 (Coren-Mitchell is often interesting but what a snob)
Kim's Convenience s5 - Netflix (boy did they ever fuck up the ending here)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier s1 - Disney (i barely even remember what the plot was here)
Kid Cosmic s1 - Netflix (I tapped out after five episodes but it's not bad)
Starstruck s1 - BBC3 (3 good episodes and then 3 lame ones)
Mythic Quest s2 - Apple (I wish this had a bit more of the Always Sunny gonzo quality, it's a bit too tame)
Ziwe s1 - Showtime (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/28/ziwe-is-trapped-in-an-interminable-dance-with-whiteness)
Home Economics s1 - ABC (promising concept, trite execution)
Hacks s1 - HBO (really wanted this to be better but at least Jean Smart is fun in it)
Trollies s1-s3 (2011-2013) - Sky1 (okay comfort food but the returns began to sharply diminish as the cast evacuated)
All That Glitters s1 - Netflix (great reality show, good work and THE WORST HOST EVER. Bad judges too.)

Nope
The White Lotus s1 - HBO
Schmigadoon s1 - Apple +
Centaurworld s1 - Netflix
Ultra City Smiths s1 - AMC

Immediate On Deck
The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff s1 (2011) - BBC2
Jam and Jerusalem s1 (2006) - BBC1
Black Books s1 (2000) - Channel 4
Heels s1 - Starz
The Newsreader s1 - ABC Aussie
Brand New Cherry Flavor s1 - Netflix
The North Water s1 - AMC (by the creator of Looking!)
What If s1 - Disney
Mr Corman s1 - Disney
Uprising s1 - BBC1
The Investigation s1 - TV2
Jellystone s1 - HBO

omg forks Black Books is going to restore your faith in humanity, one of my alltime faves

there's like another 20 britcoms hanging on behind this batch too.

The first two episodes of the second season of Work in Progress premiered last night, and I can confirm that it is still the best series currently on television.

AHHH awesome

it's right up there! Reservation Dogs is neck and neck.

ALSO! What We Do in The Shadows and Joe Pera are back shortly.

Slight Revision for the Moment:

Only Connect s16, s17- BBC 2
Reservation Dogs s1 - FX
Ted Lasso s2 - Apple
PEN15 s2 - Hulu
Work in Progress s2 - Showtime
Desus and Mero s3 - Showtime
The Other Two - Comedy Central/HBO
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens - Comedy Central/HBO
Rosehaven s5 - ABC Aussie

What We Do in the Shadows and AP Bio (which I think is the better of Always Sunny breakup shows) both come back this week but I'm short maybe one other show. I could likely use a darkish drama to balance out all the half hour comedies but I"m not wedded to that idea. Help me pick between:

Heels (Starz)
The North Water (AMC)
The Chair (Netflix)
The Investigation (TV2 DK)
The Expanse (Amazon)
The Underground Railroad (Amazon)

Oh and thanks for Agua Donkeys m@tt, that was great! Only wish it ran longer.

I loved the first episode of The Chair but have put off watching the rest because my husband wants to watch it, so I'm waiting for him.

I'm glad I watched The Underground Railroad, but I didn't enjoy it very much.

yeah, that's why i'm holding off on a number of series. My life is pretty bleak and painful as it is right now.

the expanse is the greatest thing. compulsive, schlocky, prestige, wildly ambitious, action-oriented. something about it just works.

the chair was v good