BobO'Link

I finally opened that SS disc set of Gilligan's Island I picked up a couple of years ago. I still find it to be a pretty funny show. My youngest granddaughter has come in a couple of times while I'm watching to ask "Can we watch Sabrina?" Every time I've been in the middle of a Gilligan episode and tell her "No... not right now." so she's just been watching some Gilligan. She kinda of likes it so maybe there's hope...

shadokitty

I felt like breaking out my MASK set today, as I hadn't watched any episodes in a while. The show still holds up, even if you can tell the age by the PSA sometimes. The one at the end of the episode I just finished was about buckling up, since Matt was taking Scott to the record store.

mrcellophane

I grew up Christian, and my parents were very conservative with the type of media I was able to consume. (For example, I couldn't watch The Smurfs because of the magical elements and most comic books were out because of the violence.) Gilligan's Island was on the no-no list, but I would sneak episodes on TV Land when I was visiting grandparents and could never figure out why I couldn't watch it. Years later, I asked and found out that my mom just really hated the show and found it very annoying.

I've been working my way through Les Vampires, a 1915-6 French serial about a journalist going after a mysterious crime ring led by a pale, villainous woman. It's been a really fun time so far. I also watched Osama, the first film from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime. It is a harrowing but important film. It's amazing how much religion can twist a society when those it charge use it to gain and hold power.

LJG765

I just finished watching Pollyanna. I am suck a sucker for Hayley Mills' Disney movies. Gotta love an English accent from a girl who is supposed to be American! (Even if her parents were missionaries, I doubt they'd have been stationed in the UK!) I like this one too from all the character actors in this, especially Agnes Moorehead.

Thinking of popping in "In Search of the Castaways." I have to admit, as much as I like Hayley Mills, this one I've really only watched once or twice. Don't dislike it or anything, but I grew up with her other movies more, so just don't think to watch it.

lisadoris

So I dropped off a bit for totally legit reasons but I'm climbing back into my Buffy re-watch today.

mrcellophane recommended an amazing podcast to accompany my re-watch (thanks again for that) and I got to two episodes where stuff gets real. I really wanted to hear what the podcast ladies had to say about these episodes but I didn't want to listen to the podcast out of order. So I have been binge listening to the podcast and now I've caught up. Today "Surprise" and "Innocence" are on deck and if you know the show, you know why these episodes are so important.

orlmac

I'm a late entrant here because I was out of town until the 10th with no internet access most of that time. I'm pretty sure that I have seen just a straight TV challenge before but no one is doing it this time so I want to make sure it is OK. I have a ton of current shows to catch up on Hulu, Netflix, CW and CBS. It will take me most of the rest of the month. Is this OK for my challenge? Most of them are current shows with some Angel and Buffy thrown in.

Dimension X

I see nothing wrong with a streaming ("Hulu, Netflix, CW and CBS") TV Challenge or a "current shows" challenge. Streaming alone or catching up on current shows "narrows the focus" of the January TV Challenge, so it fits within the guidelines for this challenge.

shadokitty

I think I'm going to start watching more basketball from now on. I never paid too much attention to it before, but I just watched a WNBA game on WatchESPN, and it was a non stop action packed high scoring game. Plus as an added bonus, it turns out Rebecca Lobo is one of the commentators for WNBA on ESPN. She is the only WNBA player I was really familiar with.

shadokitty

I got an early start to my viewing today, by starting in as soon as the morning news was over. I kicked it off with a good episode of Jimmy Houston Outdoors, on Destination America. He was in Oklahoma, fishing for largemouth bass. That's some of my favorite kind of fishing.

shadokitty

I was in the mood for some adventure, so I started browsing the Dish Guide, and came across a good episode of Saltwater Experience, on the Sportsman Channel, that I had never seen before. They were trying a kind of fishing I had never heard of, stand up paddleboard fishing, in the Everglades. I enjoyed watching it, but I don't think I would ever do that, what with all of the gators and crocs I saw surrounding their boards at times.

davidh777

I'm watching the Netflix series Julie's Greenroom, in which Julie Andrews teaches a bunch of puppets how to put on a musical. It's mostly silliness, but she has a thematic guest star every episode, including Idina Menzel (singing), Sara Bareilles (songwriting), and Alec Baldwin (acting). The dance episode had a couple ballet dancers I'd never heard of, Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild, because I know nothing about ballet , but they have an interesting backstory (danced together at an early age, on again off again, now married).

Wondering if it would be useful to spoiler-tag portions of the longer entries in the list thread in order to reduce some scrolling.

omike

I finished Life on Mars last night. It's an excellent TV show with great acting, solid writing, and a fine soundtrack. I agree that it has a very satisfying ending. You could say I really liked this show. I can't imagine why it was sitting unwatched since 2009 when I bought it. (This was one of those shows that I picked up the region 2 version since I figured it would never be released in an R1 version - wrong again. Still, I paid less for it back then than the R1 set is currently selling for.) I'm planning on digging into some of the special features on the two sets this evening. And you were right pacaway, your spoilered comment wouldn't have ruined anything and for what it's worth, I felt exactly the same way.

Any general and non-spoilerish thoughts out there on the sequel show Ashes to Ashes? I know the basic idea but it's hard to imagine I'd like it as much. I have to admit though I am curious about it.

shadokitty

Thanks to a free $5 Vudu credit that I got from Roku, I'm doing a marathon of all 6 Resident Evil movies tonight. I used the credit to rent the latest movie. Only seen the first three movies before, but own the first five. I've always enjoyed the Resident Evil movies, and haven't watched any of them in quite a while.

jacob_b

I've watched some interesting movies that have received praise. Am I the only one that watches movies and kind of feel disappointed with all the noise they get and wonder why? Maybe I should have watched it in that era? I was entertained by L.A. Confidential and some of My Cousin Vinny. I felt Top Gun just dragged at the end and played the same songs over and over again (where they just cheap on music or something?). It's kind of curious to see the reviews now as I write this as I just hear praise after praise about the film.

It Came From Outer Space is another film I'm not sure how it got so much praise, but I'll let it pass because I'm not a huge sci-fi guy. However, Taxi Driver, out of all the movies Martin Scorsese has done and also De Niro, how is this getting all that praise??? It's ok, but how are people claiming that this is one of the greatest films of all time? On the flip side, I have no idea why Joy did so bad other than the fact people might be bored from that same team and Jennifer Lawrence not believable as a middle aged woman. I thought the supporting cast really made this film and it's an interesting story, but with some characters one wish JLaw would have slapped/punched.

shadokitty

I just finished watching racing that reminded me of the tracks near my home. I was watching the Lucas Oil Series, on CBS Sports Network, not knowing what to expect, as I had never seen one of those races before, and I found myself watching late model dirt track racing. It reminded me of my times at the track.

LJG765

Just finished watching That Darn Cat! Not an all time favorite, but still a fun movie. Love the short little cameo by Ed Wynn in it.

Mondo Kane

My audio commentary challenge has been going mostly well. Although I do want to point out that the BEST commentary I've heard (So far) was immediately followed by the WORST. Check my list if you're interested.

lisadoris

So I finished the first three seasons of Buffy and aside from some of the special effects and creature costumes, the show still holds up. The two major issues I have with the series is that cast is unbelievably white and the writers have no understanding of how college admissions works in the real world.

I'll start Angel today and see how far I can get before the challenge ends.

BobO'Link

I never watched Buffy during first run. It was finding it for cheap (~$4 season - used) from Hastings that prompted me to order S1 to test the waters. I enjoyed it and purchased the rest. I've watched through S5 at this point. It's interesting and fun, but I think it could easily have ended a season or two ago and possibly been s stronger series. I'm curious as to where they'll go with the last couple of seasons. I don't care enough for the Angel character to even give that one a try.

wishbone

It's been several years since I listened to it but yeah that has to be one of the most underwhelming commentaries I have experienced.

shadokitty

I was looking on Amazon Prime for Action Adventure shows, and I saw a show that had been taken off of Prime that I watched a year or so ago was back on there, Shark Gordon. I jumped at the chance to revisit the show and watched the first episode, about the great white shark.

davidh777

I never watched either during their runs and was always intimidated by the thought of watching both series mixed into their proper airing, but fans told me I could watch Buffy without worrying about Angel. It's taken a few years, but I'm midway through season 5 and should probably just make that a priority in a challenge someday so I can finish it off. Maybe I'll do Angel at some point.

omike

I watched the first episode of Broadchurch last night, very intense. The story concerns the murder of an 11 (I think) year old boy and the subsequent police investigation. Hard to say what direction this will go but it seems like I'll enjoy it.

Tonight, alas, a tribute to Sir Roger Moore who has passed away. An episode of The Saint followed by one of his 007 films. I wasn't planning on watching any of the Bond movies for this challenge but it just seems appropriate.

Indy24LA

Figured I'd give Cheers a rest and watch a funny movie, Pride.

coyoteblue

So far I've managed to knock off a box set I've had sitting on my shelf for years (The Great Horror Family). The anime I started (Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor), will be up to episode 9 this weekend, since it's being simulcast, so I definitely won't be finishing it off during the Challenge. I've only got six episodes left on Candle in the Tomb, so unless I can make my self watch just one episode (curse those cliff hanger endings) a day, I'll have that finished off Friday probably. Candle in the Tomb has been really great. The episodes are only an half hour long, as in 30 minutes plus credits as opposed to 22 minutes, so it's already a pretty easy watch. They spent about a million per episode and it's all on the screen. If you like Indy/Lara Croft/Nathan Drake, you should like Candle in the Tomb. It's a mixture of adventure/tomb raiding with a light seasoning of weird fantasy. It's streaming on DramaFever, which is a Warner Bros, site, so the English subs are mostly good (I've got the occasional misspelling). Definitely worth a watch if you want to step a little outside your comfort zone.