Fogbow

We now apparently have Paramount on our cable line-up. 12 hours of Yellowstone, then 15 hours of ads for beauty products, Medicare supplements and household goods, then another 12 hours of Yellowstone. I only checked 3 days, but that's the line-up.

RVInit wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:59 am

neonzx wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:08 am Ozark on Netflix.... Lead is Jason Bateman all grown up.

That is a great show. The last season is coming in January, but it will be split into two parts. Each part will have 7 episodes. Bateman says the ending will be satisfying. I don't know how far you are into Ozark, but I will say each of the first three seasons is excellent! I may watch them over again before January.

Love Ozark. Understated show. I should rewatch as well. Good plan.

SuzieC wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:02 pm I an dizzy with confusion over subscribing to streaming services I now subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount, Peacock, and all those affiliated. Yet I still can't see shows that I want to see. For example Son highly recommends new Tom Hanks film about Merchant Marines in WWII. It is only available on Apple TV which I do not subscribe to. Also the best new movies come out on HBOmax which is the most expensive of the streaming services. WHERE WILL ALL THIS STREAMING END?

Sorry for rant but our TV bill is getting out of control and I am wondering if anyone has recommendatins for the best TV at the lowest price.

Living in the Twin Cities, we always had plenty of channels available with just our antenna and so never had cable. My sweetie did enroll with Amazon Prime mostly for the free shipping. After he passed away in 2018 I kept that, thinking I could watch lots of movies. I still intend on doing that, but I find myself reading more than watching TV. Amazon Prime is $127.95/year with tax.

As the trees grew larger out back, between our house and the broadcasting antennas, the signal would break up on windy days, so I did research and subscribed to YouTube TV two years ago. It provides the basic local stations for me on windy days. While there are a lot of cable channels available, I find myself sticking mostly to the Food Network and HGTV. But, I think this subscription is well worth it. It's $838.56/year with tax.

But, like you, I started seeing the articles online and the reviews here at TFB, and was seduced into subscribing to additional streaming services - NBC Peacock Premium ($107.51/year with tax), Paramount Plus ($49.99 initial year), Disney+ ($69.99/year), Netflix ($180.48/year), and Hulu ($167.64/year with tax). How many of those do I watch? So far, I've only watched The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. So, probably not worth the money I'm spending for all of the services.

And, like you, I've been tempted by Apple TV and HBO Max. Knowing me, I'll probably subscribe to them too.

What to do? For me, having all of these services fits within my budget, so it's not a financial hardship. Maybe just more of an annoyance that I have them and I'm not using them.

As far as a recommendation? I absolutely recommend YouTube TV as a cable replacement. It has lots of channels available.

As for other streaming services? If you can afford it, subscribe to every one which sounds interesting for a year, then evaluate which ones your family finds value in. Each person is unique in what they find compelling. HBO Max, at $180/year is the most expensive, but if you can afford that for one year, then you can make an informed decision on whether it is worth it to you at the end of one year.

Just my 2¢. Or, in this case, $1,542/year currently spent on streaming video. (I have a spreadsheet to keep track of recurring expenses.)

Great idea to keep a spreadsheet. I'm not that organized. They all fit within my budget but I hate to think that I am wasting money unnecessarily. That said, I have enjoyed watching lots of old Agatha Christie Poirot and Marple movies on Netflix or Prime. Can't remember which one. And just finished Season 9 of The Great British Baking Show.

SuzieC wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:02 pm I an dizzy with confusion over subscribing to streaming services I now subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount, Peacock, and all those affiliated. Yet I still can't see shows that I want to see. For example Son highly recommends new Tom Hanks film about Merchant Marines in WWII. It is only available on Apple TV which I do not subscribe to. Also the best new movies come out on HBOmax which is the most expensive of the streaming services. WHERE WILL ALL THIS STREAMING END?


Sorry for rant but our TV bill is getting out of control and I am wondering if anyone has recommendatins for the best TV at the lowest price.

SuzieC wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:02 pm And just finished Season 9 of The Great British Baking Show.

I spent a couple of weeks with my sister in Seattle in early October. She and her partner were watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix and got me hooked, so I had to get Netflix when I got home. Now that Season 9 is over, I need to go back and watch the older seasons. I'm sure I've seen some of those episodes already on PBS, but that was years ago.

In case you're interested, the first two seasons of The Great British Baking Show which were shown on PBS are not available on Netflix. The 2012 episodes are titled The Great British Baking Show: The Beginnings on Netflix. That series of episodes will be removed at the end of December. 2013 is actually called Collection 2 on Netflix while 2014 is Collection 1. Starting with Collection 3, they are in proper order.

There are also 3 series of The Great British Baking Show Holidays available on Netflix. They are each two episodes long. The 4th holiday series begins on Dec 3.

We went for it and watched the whole series of The Restaurant 32 episodes total and it's all wrapped up at the end. My Swedish is much better now. First time ever to binge like that, it was great fun. We ended up just using the 7 day free Sundance trial and that goes through 12/2. Terrific series, congrats to everybody who put it together. Beautifully shot, thoughtfully written, strong storylines. WIll be talking with some Danish friends in the business there to hear more about it.

Sundance has a bunch of interesting series. We always wanted to see the 14 episode Pan Am and they have it. Pan Am is set in the original jet travel from the mid-60s, they spent a fortune on it. We're a couple episodes in, it's not a great show but the costumes and sets are terrific and it's breezy.

My mom worked for Pan Am in the 50s. Not a flight attendant though; she was Executive Secretary to the President.

Peter Jackson’s Beatles- Get Back!!
Fabulous! Jackson’s found footage of making Let It Be shows them as you’ve not seen before.

One big take-away - how they are together does not comport with what you’ve read. Yoko was not reviled, for one thing.

John is an Adonis.

Season 2 of Tiger King.

The middle section focuses on Carol Baskin's missing husband.

Shades of birthers with kooks crawling out of the woodwork with their crazy theories. There's even a forged signature! Forensically proven!

I just watched "Dopesick" series on Hulu and "The Crime of the Century" two-part documentary on HBO Max - both about the OxyContin crisis. I've been reading a book about the family behind Perdue Pharma as well.

Some stuff about me and my experiences you can skip if you want Both the series and the documentary are really well done. The series does a pretty good job of sticking to the facts of what Perdue did. Obviously, the stuff about the characters is perhaps based on real incidents, but has been fictionalized for TV, but the medical info and Perdue's actions line up well with what I learned in the documentary and in the book I'm reading (which isn't the book the show was based on. I can't recall the title of the one I am reading at the moment and my Kindle is out of reach, or I'd tell you..) The amount of pure bullshit the company peddled is almost unbelievable.

I'd recommend both to anyone with an interest in the subject - and Dopesick is pretty good if you just like a solid drama.

I Origins

2014, Best Film (Sundance), slow burn, sci-fi-ish, love story definitely, certainly a discussion about science v spirituality, favors religiousity without favoring a specific doctrine, wants to argue that science may prove things people could only know on faith in the past.

If you're looking for alien attacks and action scenes, move along. This ain't that. But, if you want a short romp through romance, love, loss, dispair, discovery, and confusion, you'll get lots of that. It's a bodice buster with a twist. Everyone who makes it to the end will either be yelling at the screen "WTF!!!", or they'll sit in silence for a minute to let it soak in. And it will take some effort to get to the end. I love the story, but I think the story telling could have been better. Otherwise, I see why it got an award.

So during one of our virtual meetups we were talking about dystopian novels to read. I had mentioned Station Eleven to the group in passing. Apparently they made a miniseries on the book and it premieres on HBOMAX in two weeks.

The finale of Money Heist was released on Netflix, it's Season 5, Part 2, Episodes 6-10. And that's the Series Finale. There's some talk of a spinoff series, but this epic series comes to an end.

ETA: It was terrific! This series will be remembered for a long, long time. Spain has shown it can produce a global phenomenon. Congrats to the amazing team that made this happen!

I've been watching "Godzilla Singular Point", an anime on Netflix. Engineer employee of a robot company is called out to investigate strange lights in a house, traces it back to a research building. Meanwhile a grad student is asked to respond to a signal the researchers are getting. Mysterious clues lead to strange coincidences plus Rodan shows up. Later we get MD5 hash encryption and causality breaking. This show expands to seemingly take in a world of science fiction before focusing down to the ending, the traditional Godzilla trashes Tokyo.

Also, I've just finished re-watching "Oh! Edo Rocket!" for the umpteenth time. An alien trapped on Earth in the early 19th century asks a firework genius in Edo to build her a firework to go to the moon. Insane comical historical sci-fi fantasy. It's on Funimation, if you have it.

I know at least one other person has opined that (s)he didn't care for the new season of Succession. I am loving it. Last night's episode was a true masterpiece. I won't give any details, but it's more in your face than other episodes of this season. This season has been mostly very understated, with all the drama being really subtle, which is not at all like the first two seasons. But last night the drama comes back with more in your face, stuff. This family is really vile. I don't watch it because I like the characters, with the exception of Greg, who is sadly becoming more corrupt himself, as anyone who is making his choices would be. But the storytelling and the sheer talent of the acting- that is what I come back for. They all shine in Season 3 Episode 8, but damn, Kieran Culkin is just hitting it out of the ball park. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but this guy deserves an Emmy. He was nominated in 2020 for a Best Supporting Actor in a series, I hope he is nominated again. His performance in this episode was really something. It's hard to make such a vile character so oddly comedic and pathetic in an almost disarming way, but he nails it.

I have never watched a video by this guy except for this one and I think this video breakdown of the camera style used in the series is excellent and starts to touch on the real depth of this show in terms of not just the entertainment value, but the style of storytelling, which I think is masterful.

RVInit wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:59 am I know at least one other person has opined that (s)he didn't care for the new season of Succession. I am loving it. [ ]

This family is really vile.

I'm with you, I have never enjoyed a show about people I hated, this much

The Power of the Dog on Netflix. Excellent. This is a Jane Campion movie. I loved it and highly recommend it. It moves kind of slowly, but it's really good.

Netflix -- "Black Mirror" season 5.

College Basketball: Arizona 83 Illinois 79

Bear Down!

RVInit wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 7:24 pm The Power of the Dog on Netflix. Excellent. This is a Jane Campion movie. I loved it and highly recommend it. It moves kind of slowly, but it's really good.

Cumberbatch is able to pull off the cowboy role?

neonzx wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:17 pm Netflix -- "Black Mirror" season 5.

Oh, luvz me sum new Black Mirror. Never saw the notice. Thanks!

If you find you are missing steampunk samurai dragon slayer zombie Nazi killing chicks in school dresses from your daily routine, Netflix has put Sucker Punch back up.

And of course, if you feel like learning new stuff, there are scads of documentaries. Here's one about The Man behind the Scenes.

The Black Godfather
The Clarence Avant story: Music, Power, Respect.

Hubby introduced me to "Doc Martin" on Hulu. Cornwall village doctor is Sherlock Holmes type who has no social skills and, like Holmes, can diagnose some cases by just looking at someone. It's fun.