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I just came fully up to speed on Reservation Dogs. Its got a bit of a letterkenny feel but more serious at times.

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Northern Exposure had a similar vibe to Reservation Dogs and Letter Kenny in that they were all really, really small towns. Having grown up in two towns with less than 600 people I can honestly say that the idiosyncrasies displayed of the people in the towns are real. In cities we don't know as many people, and don't know them as well. We avoid those that don't seem to meet our ideas of normal. You can't really avoid them in small communities so you adjust to them, at worst tolerate them, but often learn to find things to enjoy and appreciate about them in a way that urban folk don't. Despite there being so much less going on, there is richness in character to small towns that you can only really appreciate if you come from one of them.

And that's part of the small town appeal to me, none of that Jason Aldean song bullshit, coming from a guy who grew up in a town of 80k and has no idea wtf he's talking about......... hmm, just realized I'm on the other side of a cultural appropriation argument...........and yes F. U. Jason Aldean, don't go misappropriating from my people.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Finally, after something like five years sitting on my DVR, I finished the final season of Mr. Robot. Truly a landmark television show. There were two twists remaining that I did not see coming that turn everything on its head. The finale was quite something. Hope Sam Esmail comes out with more stuff soon.

Next on the DVR, the final two seasons of Atlanta.

I'm watching Atlanta now myself. Glover is pretty brilliant, original and his ideas very thought provoking. The Liam Neeson cameo is extraordinary, still can't believe he was brave enough to take that role. I have to say I enjoyed the first two seasons better than I'm enjoying the last two seasons. Just a lot easier to care about the problems of being broke as compared to the problems of those that are rich.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Wow that season three premiere was ambitious to say the least. Not one character from the series plays even at tangential part in the story and yet I was hooked from the start. I was reminded later that it was based on true (and also much more tragic) events.

Good to see Darius again. Seriously one of my favorite characters in any show.

Darius is probably my favourite character as well. Although, Al, Van, and Earn are also really well acted. I'll be curious to know what you think of the "Goof Who Sat by the Door" episode towards the end of season 4.

Watching "Welcome to Wrexham" I'd heard nothing about it critically, just knew it was about Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcleheny's purchase of a Welsh football club. Didn't expect much but I'm pretty much binging it, its very good.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I've started watching My Name is Earl from the beginning. I had missed tons of it years ago. That show was great. About 1/4 through Season 2.

Great characters on that show. I feel like my new dog is four-legged Joy.

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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.

Thanks for the memory jog, that was a really good show, and there was a lot of it I never saw. I'll have to look it up.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

It's on Hulu.

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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.

Don't have Hulu, it'll eventually come to one of the other services that I get.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Damn, yet another extraordinarily provocative, ambitious episode of Atlanta that doesn't feature the main players at all. I was left with more questions than answers, but that's often the hallmark of good entertainment. I'm for reparations, but damn, if I was forced to pay a percentage of every paycheck to a descendant of a slave my ancestor once owned I might not be so keen on it. And yeah, I know for sure I'm the direct descendant of a wealthy southern family that sent soldiers to fight for the Confederacy, so I'm fairly certain they were slaveowners. Wonder how that would play out?

Anyway, it's also interesting seeing Alfred, Earn, Darius, and Vanessa finally successful and yet running into some of the same problems they had before. And also running into entirely new ones, like how corporations absolutely love to commodify everything.

Can't tell at this point if Vanessa is on a spiritual journey to find herself or careening straight into self-destruction. Again, I like that (so far at least) both the writers and Zazie Beets' performance are leaving us wondering.

Both Hiro Murai and Sam Esmail should have their work as part of the curriculum of every film school in America. They're both capable of making the most mundane or the most technically intricate shots look positively gorgeous.

Just realized Hiro Murai is executive producer for "The Bear", I have a feeling I'll be looking forward to whatever he does for the rest of my life.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Justified: City Primeval. I loved the original Justified, a show that managed to maintain consistently high standards throughout all 6 seasons. The community of Harlan county was rich in unique individuals, all with their own wit and character. The story lines were also strong throughout. So I had a bit of trepidation about the newest show, and what they would do with one of my favourite shows of all time. How would they be able to migrate Raylan to Detroit without making it in your typical cop chases bad guy show. Answer is they fail, and fail miserably. Its just another run of the mill show about bad cops, bad judges, bad politics, questionable romance and dialogue without the uniqueness and humour of the original. Just run of the mill cop show as far as I'm concerned.

Spoiler Alert:











The last minutes bring back everyone's favourite character Boyd Crowder setting up the next season (and a quick spike of hope for me). Walton Goggins portrayal is probably the best part of the original Justified. I'll watch the second season just because of him, but I can't help but feel unless they get better writing I'm going to be even more let down if they take a fantastically well written character and dumb him down.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Finally started Foundation due to hearing another recommendation. We'll see where it goes.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

Doing season two now. It’s a wildly ambitious show, so much so that I’m confused a lot of the time as to what’s going on. The best part IMO is Lee Pace portraying “Day” in various incarnations. He’s clearly having fun with a role that calls for all the bravado his massive frame can muster, and yet no matter how evil and ruthless his character gets, you can’t help but find him somewhat sympathetic.

Costumes, ships, sets, and SFX are all phenomenal. It’s a great looking show. My one complaint is that it’s so sprawling and there’s so many storylines happening over such a long period of time there just isn’t a ton of time for character development.

The WGA and AMPTP reach an official agreement. I haven't been too wary of the details but the screenwriters I follow on social media are pretty happy about the terms. I'm not sure if this strike lasted longer than the previous one but there was a lot more at stake this time around.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2 ... f76ec98cbf

Unfortunately SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, and I wonder if that one will take a lot longer because streaming residuals and AI are the two big issues.

The big casualty I can think of during the last strike was the criminally underrated show Pushing Daisies. Of course the REALLY big casualty during the last strike was the uptick in reality television shows...including The Apprentice. Ick.

There were a few shows like Amazon's "The Peripheral" that got canceled as a result of this even though they had greenlit a season two, and apparently Starz had some show called "The Venery of Samantha Bird" that was on the verge of wrapping up their first season of filming and the network just said "Nah, you're done." Otherwise the timing was rather fortuitous. Most TV shows had their seasons wrapped, so production wasn't really happening in earnest. We won't have to look back like we did at The Office that one year they had a shortened season because of a strike.

Still working through Foundation. Fascinating to see that, much like Game of Thrones, there isn't a clear-cut hero.

And helloooooo Ella-Rae Smith.

Criminally underrated actor Ben Daniels (if you saw his face you'd recognize him immediately as That One Guy You Saw In That One Thing) is a late addition as General Bel Riose, and he's quickly becoming a favorite. Not a hero, not really a villain either despite the fact that he's working for them (under duress of course), but someone you can't help but root for.

I sure hope they give this show a couple more seasons, but I'll just enjoy it while it lasts. It's somewhat disconcerting that the new season came out in the midst of a strike, so the actors can't go out and promote it and as a result it kinda flew in under the radar. Not a good sign when word of mouth on social media is almost nil.

The Peripheral is cancelled! Damn, I really liked that show.

Watching season 2 of Welcome to Wrexham. If you haven't check the show out yet, really recommend you do.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I don't typically power watch shows like that...but it was good enough to watch 2 seasons relatively quickly.

You are bang on here. Lee Pace is amazing and IMO carries the show.

The acting/story from Gaal Dornack is a little weak but luckily Seldon is there to pick up the slack more often than not. I am not sure the show can continue if the focus shifts entirely onto Gaal.

I am sucker for space drama anyway so this worked to fill the time.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

Mr. Dressup documentary on Amazon Prime. My god I'd totally forgotten how much I loved this show as a pre-schooler. Spent the first 10 minutes watching with a big nostalgic smile on my face. Was totally surprised to find out Ernie Coombs was an American, and was colleagues and friends with Mr. Rogers, who actually started his Mr. Rogers show on the CBC.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"