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In the old network days, you usually had a pilot (unless it was a spinoff of another series) and ordered based on reaction to that. Netflix seems to order a whole season as the pilot. They've had a lot of series cancelled after 1 season. Even Castlevania, my fave NF show, the first season was only four episodes so was pretty clearly a trial balloon. Fortunately, enough of us liked those four episodes that they kept going (season 3 is out and season 4 is greenlit).
 
Mendalla said:
In the old network days, you usually had a pilot (unless it was a spinoff of another series) and ordered based on reaction to that. Netflix seems to order a whole season as the pilot. They've had a lot of series cancelled after 1 season. Even Castlevania, my fave NF show, the first season was only four episodes so was pretty clearly a trial balloon. Fortunately, enough of us liked those four episodes that they kept going (season 3 is out and season 4 is greenlit).
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I don't really mind. Even one season of good entertainment, is still one season of good entertainment. They put out a lot because people binge through them - not like the old days when we had to wait until next week to see what happens. If they don't put out new stuff constantly people might cancel their subscriptions.

Overall, Netflix produced shows are pretty good, I think. Lots of them are movie level quality acting and production. My frustration is nothing appeals to me on the menu because there's too much there - until I start watching and get into it. Sometimes it's like a novel. If I put it down and don't pick it up again right away, I lose interest. I have lots of partially watched series Netflix reminds me about. Whereas, in the old days, watching the weekly show became a ritual itself even if the episode wasn't the best of all of them.
 
BetteTheRed said:
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was most excellent.
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It was. It may have been the best movie I've seen in a couple of years. I decided to watch it before going to bed but now my head's reeling.

Sacha Baron Cohen couldn't have been more perfect to play Abbie Hoffman, either. He's one underrated actor - he amazes me - because most of his roles involve intricate pranks (that he puts himself at considerable risk to do). But he really is a good actor. I know he's done at least one other serious movie role, but this was the first time I'd seen him do one.
 
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I finished watching the first season of Ratched. It was a thriller! I stopped watching for a bit, then picked it up again. It was weird but I thought the acting was pretty good - Cynthia Nixon was good in her role as a trailblazing woman in 1948-1950, Sharon Stone was really good as a sinister tycoon (she had a Cruella DeVile quality and an over the top decadent, but subtlety creepy style) - and the sets and costumes were gorgeous.

I didn't like the gratuitous gore - and there was some in, probably, every episode. I had to turn my head or cover my eyes. If it's a thriller (rather than a horror - of which I am not a fan), and gruesome events are part of the story, I think TV and movie writers are capable of implying or having it narrated without showing us all the details. It's lazy of the writers, and unpleasant for the viewers, to show gory violence like that. I don't think it matches the rest of the effort put into the show, either.

I hope the set and costume designers win an award. That was worth seeing. I might not have watched the whole thing otherwise.

And, people are right, it doesn't have anything to do with One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. They could've called it anything else and it wouldn't have less to do with the movie or book. But I got over that. I realize it was just the writer of the series' imagination about what Nurse Ratched's life could've been like.
 
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Then obverse is the reverse of what's obviously cranked! An irrational being as jacobean? Maybe not as expected ... given the far out state!
 
Finally getting back into Archer. Kind of stopped back when I cancelled NF for a while and had other priorities when I re-upped. Still hilarious, if occasionally cringe-worthy. Watched the episode "The Limits" today, in which they transport a "Canadian terrorist" back to Ottawa to hand over to the RCMP. The story does a great job of skewering both American stereotypes of Canada and Canadian stereotypes of the US. The Mounties wear full dress (because they always do on American media), there's cracks about Canadians not knowing anything about guns, and the Canadian terrorist keeps making cracks about the American characters racism (and, to be fair, Mallory and Sterling Archer are rather racist, if in a casual rather than malicious way). The funniest joke though, is that the terrorist is fighting to liberate ... Nova Scotia. :D
 
I've started watching the new season of the Crown tonight.....I've heard this will be the last season.
 
Waterfall said:
I've started watching the new season of the Crown tonight.....I've heard this will be the last season.
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Yep. They have wisely decided to stay away from more recent events in Windsor household. Even the Diana story is probably going touch some raw nerves.
 
I watched Lilly and Dash last night ( or was it Dash and Lilly?). Anyway, cute story of two odd teenagers who communicate via a hidden notebook with riddles and dares to solve.
 
I haven't watched this but it looks interesting....anyone seen it? I don't usually like gore but it says it's funny too?

 
Do not watch "The Midnight Sky". The end makes so little sense that it makes one feel that one has wasted two hours of life. Well, unless you'd like to conclude that a single couple, with an embryonic daughter, can repopulate somewhere. Or not, I'm just not quite sure what they were trying for. George Clooney was okay, but...anyway, *shakes head*
 
Watching Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb. Good documentary on an interesting archaeological find in Egypt. It's an unopened, unlooted tomb belonging to, it appears, a priest in the 5th Dynasty or so. And alongside it, they found a site with lots of cat images, including a tomb full of cat and other animal mummies. Seems to be a temple of some kind. Still need to finish the documentary to see what they conclude.

Cool thing is that it's entirely an Egyptian operation. No European or North American archaeologists in sight. It means a lot of it is in Arabic with subtitles, but most documentaries on Egyptology at least have white dudes as talking heads and their absence here really sets it apart. Nice profiles of some of the team, too.

PS. With a degree in Classics and having had working archaeologists as profs, I have a bit of a thing for archaeology but will understand if it doesn't float everyone's boat.
 
On a slightly different thing for those who follow Instagram? Check out the National Parks Service in the USA. Whoever does the posting is quite funny and the posts are great. Lots of info after a tongue in cheek heading

todays pic of a big bull moose. Don’t moose with me........
 
We have been enjoying a cop drama. Bosch. The actor was one of the bad guys in Lost so that took some getting used to. But good cop drama
 
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