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Definitely my least favorite episode of The Mandalorian so far, surprise celebrity cameos aside.

Yet another episode of Picard that made me wish it was in a movie theatre. No doubt the audience would have been cheering like crazy.

Two more episodes left.

Just finished watching it on the fatboy elliptical. Continues to be awesome!

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

NOOOOOOOOOOO

Followed shortly by

YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS

Picard saved the biggest cameo for almost last (I’m sure there’s still just one more at least) but this was one I was not expecting.

The rest I will not disclose for fear of spoilers.

And as I was expecting, the Enterprise-F finally showed. Commanded by…Fleet Admiral Shelby? Huh.

Anyway, big finale coming. I’m loving this.

EDIT: The only minor quibble I have is that what we just saw completely contradicts the events of Picard season two, especially that finale. I'm not entirely against that BTW, but now I'm confused.

Perhaps its the endorphins cranking as I work out and watch these episodes combined with running to write a review so soon after. However, bordering on being overly dramatic and an intense state of nostalgic euphoria I hereby declare Picard Season 3 one of the best sci-fi series I have seen. Hopefully they can wrap this up without a dropping a deuce.

Unfortunately I knew what was going to happen when you wrote NNNNNOOOOOO. I am waiting for this to somehow tie back to the rest of Picard.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

I quit Picard part way through season 1, after listening to Harmy and Poke every week this season I think I'm going to have to pick it up again but just start at season 3 and hope that works.


"Only Murders in the Building." Martin Short, Steve Martin; Selena Gomez. My wife talked me into this one, she really enjoyed it and pushed me to give it a try. 8.1 IMDB rating and quite frankly not for everyone. I enjoy the generational gap back and forth humour, Selena's snark, and find the idea of laying out a series as if it were a True Crime podcast format with more humour.

And Season 4 "True Detective" is coming. Season 1 amazing, season 2 okay, season 3 very, very good. Season 4, Jodi Foster, and set in Alaska. Having grown up in a far north village this show seems to potentially have everything I could possibly desire. Did I mention how much I like Jodi Foster. Can't wait.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

You miss nothing if you skip season two, unless you’re curious to see the final performance of John de Lancie as Q, but they properly explain WHY it’s his final performance. The end of season one has a huge plot point regarding Picard himself that looms large here but you’ll probably figure it out soon enough. Let’s just say the good captain turned admiral is, technically, no longer human. In fact I had to read a tweet from the showrunner himself to understand why the events of the end of season two do not in any way affect the current plot.

Honestly Kyle, I’ll say this: If you were a fan of the Next Generation, then this final season is a must watch. It’s almost pure fan service but executed in such a way that is plausible and fun. It ain’t perfect but pretty much once they let the original cast take over the momentum can’t be stopped. It’s possible they completely fuck things up in this grand finale but so far this is the proper sendoff that was denied this crew in both the series and subsequent films. I haven’t been this psyched about a TV show in what feels like a very long time.

And yeah, I’m a huge fan of Only Murders in the Building. It’s funny how a show about murder and past trauma can feel so light and airy but yet they somehow pull it off. I especially love the music, fits the overall mood of the show perfectly. Steve Martin says this role will be his last performance so I’m soaking it up as much as I can. Season three’s cast is as good as they come.

I really powered through the second season of "Only Murders in the Building." First season was very good, but the second season definitely levelled up. The supporting cast is so good. Andrea Martin, Michael Rappaport, Tiny Fey, Nathan Lane (is there any show that has not improved by putting Nathan Lane in it?) and Amy Ryan who is just a highlight real though out.

Season 3 has Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd? Can't come soon enough.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Right...I think that's an important point otherwise you risk expectations that might not be met. The nostalgia for TNG is probably 90% of the drive for me. In fact I've gone back and watched the first season of TNG already. Its perfect basement treadmill/elliptical material.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

I liked TNG best of all the Star Trek shows. Quite simply it was the idealism of the show that was its greatest appeal.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Also unresolved--the final fate of the S.S. La Sirena.

Poor ship--goes from Rios to Seven of Nine to Raffi to...somewhere, we aren't told where. Got passed around more than a joint at a Phish show.

Cool-looking vessel and all, but because it bore Van Halen-style markings it sure was hard to see against the backdrop of space.

Okay, now that the Trek (and Wars) stuff has been relocated, I can geek out about another show here:

Schmigadoon! season two, which is entitled Schmicago! has been pretty fun so far. I must be getting old because I'm not a musical theatre guy at all but these shows are just fun. This one is a mashup of "Chicago" (duh) with a completely out-of-nowhere sideplot and characters obviously lifted from "Hair." As always, I love watching actors have fun on screen, it's clear everyone is enjoying themselves in this one.

Side note, finishing up Jack Ryan's latest season...the usual action/spy intrigue/politik blah blah blah, it's nothing revolutionary but I like it nonetheless. Wife is decidedly less enthusiastic.

Coming up next: Apple's latest offering, The Big Door Prize starring Chris O'Dowd. Apple has been knocking it out of the park a lot lately so I'm hopeful this one is good as well.

Lastly: If ever there was a kids show that I quite enjoy, it's Bluey. Best Australian import since Margot Robbie. Bandit is definitely my hero and the perfect dad template.

Shoresy Season 1 is pretty damn good. There is all the chirping I expected, childish/potty humor I expected, but there's actually some decent content and character growth. And there's a lot of hockey in it, which makes it fun.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I really enjoyed S1; S2 not so much that I didn't even bother with S3. But I might pick it up again in anticipation of S4 with Jodi Foster.

I also enjoyed this first season of The Calling.

Definitely going to be watching Primo from Michael Schur and Shea Serrano.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

https://deadline.com/2023/04/netflix-co ... 235336462/

This has me excited.

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

Black Mirror and Bojack Horseman, two shows that Anam and I stopped watching because we couldn't take how bleak they were.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

In other news, TV (and film probably) is about to take one giant dump for the next year or so.

https://ew.com/tv/how-wga-strike-impact ... streaming/

The WGA voted unanimously to strike, and I don't blame them for one minute. You can look up the reasons why but studios are pullin' some shady shit in the streaming age. SAG will likely not cross the picket line (and they too are probably gearing up for a strike themselves) so we're in for a bumpy ride.

Oh and the last time there was a strike, NBC gave another season to an unpopular reality TV show called "The Apprentice," and they reformulated it to be a celebrity reality show, it became a surprise hit and softened the image of one Donald Trump enough to fuel a run for president a few years later.

So...yeah, bad things can happen in these sorts of situations besides some abrupt cancellations of good TV shows (RIP Pushing Daisies), some shitty seasons of previously good TV shows (RIP Heroes), and shitty movies (Transformers II, not like I was a masterpiece but II was even despised by the people working on it).

Be a socialist--support organized labor!!!!!

97.85% in favour of the strike, not sure I've ever seen those kind of numbers before. Writers Guild of America is a very strong union. They've shown through their history that they have the culture to stay strong and stay out long too look after their best interests. Good on them. They also have a fair amount of economic agency in that they are highly skilled and very little in the way of scab labour available to undercut them.

They have real legitimate concerns about how their industry is evolving. The banning AI from writing has massive repercussion's across many industries and nations. I hope they get it, but I am afraid even if they do that writing/shooting will start being done elsewhere where AI is not prohibited (directly to my point in the AI thread about corporations and the need for a 4th level of government)

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Yeah, the AI thing is concerning, especially if they utilize the technology to fill in as scabs of a sort.

What it boils down to is that the studios want to turn writing into a gig instead of an actual job with salary, benefits, etc. Look up the whole thing about "mini-rooms." And really, the concept isn't a terrible idea, the writers are simply saying they want to paid a comparable fee as they were under the traditional system.