Cardsfan111

I had an odd coincidence happen today that folks here would appreciate.

This morning I watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks ("The Little Things"). Part of the plot involved Vice President Bush visiting the local high school where Lindsay is given a chance to speak during a Q&A, yet efforts are made to restrict the question she wants to ask.

This afternoon, I started the series, That '70s Show. I get to the 3rd episode, "Streaking" which involves President Ford coming to a gathering where the dad is asked to speak during a Q&A, yet efforts are made to restrict the question he wants to ask.

In watching multiple shows at the same time, I've occasionally had situations where the same guest star/actor might appear in both. I can't recall a time when a storyline from 2 unrelated shows mirrored each other so closely.

BobO'Link

I finished watching S3 of The Orville today. I've liked this one very much since S1 and consider it to be the best "Star Trek" series on TV these days with Strange New Worlds being a close runner up (Strange New Worlds is the first Star Trek series since Enterprise that I'm wanting to see more of and am anticipating rewatching once I purchase the season on disc).

S3 of The Orville is the best yet with lots of SF action, drama, and comedy (and they finally cranked down the potty humor considerably making that part much better). Hopefully it'll return for a 4th season, but, if not, S3 ended quite satisfyingly.

mrcellophane

I finally watched The White Lotus and really enjoyed the first season. It falls into one of my favorite genres: rich, vapid people doing awful things, and there are lots of fantastic actors playing some of the absolute worst rich characters this side of a Glass Onion.

Travis McClain

I just checked out the first two episodes of the new Night Court reboot. I was a fan of the original and wary, but I'm satisfied that they understand what made the original show appealing and entertaining. It's goofy without being outright zany. Snappy without being scathing. Getting John Larroquette to reprise Dan Fielding, but now as the reluctant public defender is a clever move, too. Having the curmudgeon have to take a more active interest in his fellow man was always part of his arc so this is consistent with who he's always been. Just gives him a new dynamic for it. I'm on board and glad I took up Peacock on their Black Friday promo.

BobO'Link

Interesting - I just told my wife a couple of days ago that I have no desire to see that, or any other, reboot of a "classic" TV series as they rarely deliver and are mostly pale imitations. Your description has me now mildly interested.

I'm currently in S3 of The Flash. IMHO, it's really taken a nose dive in story quality. The whole "Flashpoint" thing is ludicrous, even for a superhero story, and full of plot holes and paradox that's just not handled or addressed properly, if at all. DC did a better job in the comics with the whole "Multiverse" even though it was done pretty poorly there as well (one of the reasons I stopped reading DC comics). The "musical" episode was quite painful to watch and worse than the concluding episode of Supergirl. My 18yo grandson walked through a few days ago, saw The Flash, and said "I gave up on that one in the 4th season. It just got real stupid." I may be in for a rough ride with this series...

Trevor

I tend to sample way too many shows every January, then rarely finish them. Might change that this year, as I’m almost done with my checklist and found a show that I can’t stop watching, Severance, on AppleTV.

shadokitty

I’ve been watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers off and on lately. Mainly because it is a way of honoring the fairly recent passing of Jason David Frank, the iconic Green Ranger. A few years ago I was able to get a decent deal on the complete series box set, which includes the three main seasons, as well as the short lived Alien Rangers season. One of these days I may pick up the other Ranger series, but there are so many.

Travis McClain

Just saw that Vudu has the complete Adventures of Superman on sale for $19.99. SD only, of course. List price is $206.96. Best I can tell, the DVD's are OOP and it's not streaming anywhere. Seemed like the kind of thing that might be of interest to the participants of this challenge.

BobO'Link

I saw that this morning. It's tempting as I've heard talk of the discs failing and I recall having an issue with one myself the last time I watched a few episodes. I keep hoping for a BR release but...

Trevor

If we both buy it digitally we’ll probably guarantee a cheap and loaded BD release for everyone else.

davidh777

It seems appropriate that this month, this challenge, I FINALLY finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer after several years and several other challenges. I never watched the original broadcast (except one rerun, "Hush," on a recommendation from a fan), but it's always been on my bucket list, and of course it fits into the TV, action, MYO, sci-fi/fantasy, and horror challenges here so I've been picking off pieces gradually (and unfortunately it kinda discouraged me from watching during off-months when I wouldn't get "credit"). It also helped that fans advised that it was OK to just watch Buffy instead of trying to weave in contemporaneous episodes of Angel (which I may also get to someday, but it's a lesser priority). The first few seasons flew by, but the later ones, er, kinda dragged so I slowed down watching before I finally settled in this month to finish it. I did like the final arc, so that was a good way to end it.

Hooray!

BobO'Link

I never watched Buffy during its original airings. I'd seen the movie and liked it but a guy at the LCS (Local Comic Shop) had a huge crush on Sara Michelle Gellar and raved about it every week so much that he turned most of us off the series. I finally caved, purchased it on DVD, and watched it a few years back. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the series. Not bad at all... I ignored Angel as I didn't much care for the character in Buffy and that series sounded more like a cash-grab thing.

BobO'Link

Taking a break from The Flash as I feel that S4 just wasn't that good overall. It had its moments but they were few and far between. Whoever was in charge and wrote the season is completely clueless about how to properly write time travel stuff. There were so many errors, paradox that wasn't properly dealt with, and just plain stupidity that I began to tune out most episodes in the later half of the season.

Trevor

Pretty sure my big Buffy box still sits there sealed, almost 20 years later is it? Just need a fifteen year writer’s strike so no watchable new content gets produced and I’ll finish it.

BobO'Link

There are only 7 seasons... if I'm in a binging mood (I usually am) that's about 6-8 weeks or so of viewing (roughly a season a week) - and that includes throwing in other stuff for variety.

Trevor

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that those days are likely behind me. I used to binge watch shows often, and average at least a few hours of television a day. But now, I barely finish my checklist most months, which adds up to maybe an hour and a half a day average, and half of that movies.

My checklist, partly due to an obsession with chasing constant deals and trials on streaming services, is now almost 50 items long. I’m a slave to it, and several other checklists for other aspects of my life. OCD is bad, mkay?

I did just binge Severance, but that was only like 7 or 8 total hours.

BobO'Link

Yes, it is... and is partially responsible for my regular binging of stuff. I've stopped participating in more than a few of the challenges because of that (once did them all - now about half). While they gave me focus they also caused frequent purchases to fulfill a list of some other "need." By ignoring them I'm finally working my way through the many items that just don't qualify and have a bit more variety in my viewings.

Trevor

My wife and at least one good friend think I should just delete my checklists. They could be right. But I also remember periods of my life where I accomplished little besides playing games and watching TV. I apparently need to play games with myself to be productive. Best solution is likely a middle ground of tweaking the checklists to be more useful/healthy and less about my silly collections.

BobO'Link

I love playing games - both computer/video and board games. I've amassed a collection of board games that can be played solo - it's very nice and I can often play while watching something, though watching mostly as background material. I try, but often fail, to play at least 2 or 3 board games a week - it's typically 1. It's good mental exercise. I don't remember the last time I played a video game - at least 2 years ago - and I once played several times a week.

I stopped using the challenge checklists when I realized how much stuff I was purchasing solely to satisfy a checklist item and that it was often stuff I'd likely never watch again other than for a checklist. It made several challenges (especially the SF/Fantasy and Horror ones - my 2 favorites) relaxing and fun again.

BobO'Link

I was a huge fan of the original Night Court and Travis's comments about the reboot got me mildly interested... I found that the new Night Court is streaming free on NBC's site so watched the two currently available episodes.

Larroquette is the only reason I can find to continue to watch and the only person remotely showing any acting ability. The scripts are poor with few real laughs and the other actors sound like they're reading a script with the pacing and delivery just a bit off. That's a bit surprising as the "star" (and producer) of the series, Melissa Rauch, was in Big Bang Theory and, as I recall, did a fairly decent job, but not so much here. She's cute and perky and yet sounds as amateurish as everyone else except Larroquette. Throw in an incredibly intrusive laugh track that does not sound remotely like a real audience reacting and it's a series which I'll watch for a couple more episodes but have low expectations. Even the reworked theme song is poorly done and runs about the length of the syndicated edit of the original. So far, it's just not very good and I'm surprised that Larroquette signed on after reading the first 2 scripts.

Just to make sure, I broke out S7 of the original Night Court this afternoon. It's far superior and just makes the remake look and play that much worse.

That said, I gave a horrible review to the first season of 3rd Rock from the Sun and it turned out to be one of my favorite series in the years it aired so this, too, could turn things around and become a winner but not as it currently stands.

davidh777

I watched the first two episodes and found it desperately unfunny. It’s nice to see Larroquette again, and I dug the nostalgia angle, but the jokes were flat and the laugh track just made it worse. I will say that the original needed some time to find its lane so that could still happen here.

shadokitty

I just finished watching the first episode of Bravestarr ​​​​​​, on YouTube, and noticed something that I had apparently forgotten all about. There was a scene near the beginning of the episode where Scuzz says that they are deputies. In response to a prospector asking where their badges are, Scuzz replied, ‘Badges? We don’t need no steenkin badges’. Shades of Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

BobO'Link

I've been slowly working my way through my new BR of The Monkees. Last night I was done with the other series I've been working around that one so decided to put S7 of Wings into rotation. 6 episodes in and there's an episode where after Helen and Joe's house was accidentally burned down by Brian, they get the settlement check, and Helen goes on a huge buying spree, landing at an auction where the original Monkeemobile goes up for sale! It guest stars Peter Tork in a bidding war against Helen for the car. She doesn't recognize him at all, telling Joe "If that jerk would stop betting against me, the car would be mine!" Joe *does* recognize Tork and after getting Helen to let him have the car goes over to tell Peter that "I used to own a Monkees lunchbox!" to which Peter replies "Big deal, we got squat from those things!" On the way out, Helen stops to tell Peter, still not recognizing him, "I just hope you're as big a fan as I am!"

What a fun "stumble upon" tie in!

Travis McClain

Watched the first two episodes of Shrinking on AppleTV+ this morning. It's an okay show with promise. I can see myself digging it. I can also see myself being too annoyed at the impossibly unethical ideas it runs with. But I absolutely loved every scene with Harrison Ford. It might be the most perfect role I've seen him in yet. I'm willing to keep watching just for him even if everything else goes wrong.

Travis McClain

After Shrinking yesterday morning, I checked out Poker Face on Peacock. It very much feels like a mid-00's USA show, but without the language restrictions. I found it entertaining enough to binge the four episodes they dropped all at once. I can see it either ending up a show I really dig or a show I bail on. I think it's highly unlikely it'll end up enough of a favorite I'll fork over full price to renew Peacock for a future season, but I'm getting my 99¢/month worth now.