Interesting TV

Off work with a filthy virus so lying on sofa working my way through The Gentlemen. My expectations were pretty low as I think Guy Ritchie is a bit of a one trick pony. However, in my febrile state I’m actually rather enjoying it. Not taxing but entertaining

3 Likes

I’m on 3 episodes in but also finding it enjoyable.

As I’m in my sick bed I’ve watched 6 episodes today!

1 Like

Hope you get better soonest

2 Likes

I wasn’t sure at first but thoroughly enjoying it now.

1 Like

Thanks!

1 Like

That’s what I thought about Reacher.

Get well soon.

3 Likes

I’ve got just about every streaming service available and I’ve certainly got the time but I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find something worth watching. Most have become formulaic and just copies for other shows. There’s few good in’ but it’s slim pickings now maybe it’s a hang up from thr writers strike.

6 Likes

Personally I find navigating the streaming platform interfaces a real chore - there’s so much content that I believe the current methods and searches are inadequate and actually confusing when you have to scroll through dozens of shows/movies to find something you might enjoy.

I’m not necessarily advocating recommendation systems in the software but more genre based searching perhaps with options for production timelines to separate new/current and old content.

My other frustration, with Netflix in particular, is the cancellation of reasonably good shows when you’ve invested time watching a season or two and never have the option of seeing the conclusion or even a shortened final season.

Babylon 5 decades ago had a 5 season arc hurriedly completed in 4 then somehow season 5 happened with a prematurely finished storyline resulting in a somewhat incongruent 5th season.

2 Likes

Totally agree they seem to pushing stuff that we’re clearly not interested in but if you want a find something you stumble across you’ll never find it again. :grin:

Obviously why I still prefer to listen to music.

3 Likes

It is good entertainment.

1 Like

I have up on Prime because the interface is basically unusable. And every year they manage to make it even worse!

Cancelling shows is down to their algorithm. If a show loses 50% of viewers in a season it’s gone. Even if the remaining 50% is 300 million viewers.

They have all gone on record saying they emphatically don’t do this but I read an interesting article on CNN where they crunched the viewership numbers and cancellations and didn’t find any instance where that algorithm wouldn’t have applied.

So unless a show has 3 seasons I won’t even start it.

1 Like

I have long been an advocate of Amazon Prime for choice, value and functionality. However you’re right, all three have suffered imo.

The price has gone up, yet they also ping ads at you (unless you decide to pay more again). The interface is not as strong as was. In addition it pushes other ‘paid for’ services at you first and yes I sometimes see something interesting and park it for later viewing, only to find it’s then vanished. However, the same Adam Sandler films are still available after 176 years…

2 Likes

The thing that makes Prime truly useless is poor subtitles support. Nearly alll shows have the aubtitles burned on (non selectable). The subtitles menu offers no options. But when scrolling the menu it doesn’t show whether something is subtitled or dubbed. You have to open the details. But then long titles more than a few characters long are truncated and the “(subbed)” or “(dubbed)” are truncated so you have to start watching and find out. When it’s bloody dubbed, uou go back to menu roulette and try and find another thimbnail for the same show and try again. No other streaming service has this problem.

Then there is the PPV model. I already paid for Prime, and most of the content isn’t included. If I’ve paid for Prime, Netflix and Disney+, I’m not then paying another $3 to watch an episode of anything. And you can’t turn off premium content.

get well soon.

4 Likes

its a pain in the arse finding what is actually included free with Amazon prime. Gave up and use netflix…

2 Likes

As a fan of all things Japanese, I was very excited about this, having fond memories of the original book and the (noe slightly dated) 1980 series.

Having watched the four available episodes back to back, it’s just sensational. It looks great, the scripts are great, it’s completely immersive and absorbing. Superb acting too, from Cosmo Jarvis as the English sailor with a nice line in Anglo-Saxon swearing; Anna Sawai; Tadanobu Asano as the scheming warlord; and most of all the brilliant Hiroyuki Sanada as the bushō Lord Yoshii Toranaga. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

There’s apparently a dubbed version, but I’d recommend sticking to the version in English and Japanese (with subtitles).

7 Likes

Agree with all of that Kevin. If you can find it there’s an insightful interview with Cosmo Jarvis on R4 or World Service somewhere. He talks about the attention to detail and the scale of the sets. Osaka is a whole constructed town that he ‘…could go for a walk in…’.

G

1 Like

Don’t tell me you have Disney+ :scream_cat:

Yes I have access to it via my lodger.

The only things I’ve ever watched on Diz Plus are Get Back, Summer of Soul and now Shogun.

2 Likes