A Post In the Machine.

Box Set candidates and worries, a little more on "Disclaimer" and worries, and our stubborn Enormous Thing distracting life, which for good measure I'll just ignore.

Of all the people at least on here watching “Disclaimer” on AppleTV+ and then friends who are and of course my partner who is watching it with me, there’s no lack of a opinions flying around, but there is something more worrisome than the content: The feeling that not that many people subscribe to AppleTV+.

I could be wrong. Readers may have read the Two Episode Test I did and decided that they didn’t need to comment:

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But the general lack of apparent interest is, I’m guessing, more to do with a bulk of readers not subscribing to AppleTV+ rather than A) Choosing to sit out of the socials or B) Just not having got around to “Disclaimer” yet.

I say this because lack of engagement has been true of other high profile AppleTV+ series, though the great knock-back to this theory is that enough people are watching “Slow Horses” to make my assumptions about as accurate and useful as presidential polls.

I bring this up not because I need more “Disclaimer” discourse — I’m fine when people watch but don’t comment or press the like button. We all go about things our own way. No, I’m more worried about the reach of AppleTV+ overall with my Substack subscribers because my primary candidate for the next Box Set — “Silo” — is on there, plus S2 of “Bad Sisters” which I quite enjoyed; then there’s also S2 of “Severance,” another favorite of readers (or was it a mixed bag — certainly was with me); regardless, while I’m not against picking something as interesting as “Silo” S2 to make a Box Set out of — there is plenty of time to watch the first season beforehand for those who haven’t — ultimately you want as many people inside the joint viewing Box Set tent as possible.

So, what to do?

To this point, I haven’t been moved by many other choices (past or future), or wasn’t in the right space to devote the time to deeper spelunking. But we are definitely overdue for the next Box Set, so I’m just hoping those of you who have thoughts on choices will put them in the comments (as I know you will) and we’ll hash it out.

I will say that my inclination all along was to circle back to a modern classic and just have everyone huddle round their bastard machines and rewatch (or watch for the first time — extending the themes of the summer). And I would still be happy to do that — first season of one of the readily available greats. I’m sure there will be some wonderful suggestions.

BUT, let’s not lose sight of how good “Silo” was in S1. It was surprisingly very good. It started well, ended well, built a world, had excellent performances and have I said again that the world building was excellent or should I say it a third time?

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And since the trailer was thrust upon us recently, I watched and think the movement into S2 would make for plenty of excellent moments to deconstruct. So, I’m willing to do it, but I would need to see at least some rallying cry that “Silo,” like “Slow Horses,” has an audience who wants to play.

If not, we’ll do something different, which is also fine.

You know, I’ve only been back from Portland for like a week and have been wrestling some annoying allergies to the ground (or more accurately, vice-versa) and have been jetting over to Marin to help my daughter with a twisted ankle (and now a cold), and there’s something Enormous and Awful in the ether — can’t remember what it is but it’s bringing me and all my peeps way, way down — so rallying for a good diversion has been a necessary challenge that I have somehow not mastered.

I tried my 49ers and, wow, OK, let’s just move on.

The Warriors tip off the season on Wednesday (in Portland, interestingly enough) and KB and I will be watching the hell out of that. All of this is to say, yeah, other than “Disclaimer” I haven’t been focused on anything much, except trying not to spiral.

Speaking of “Disclaimer,” now that I’ve seen five of the seven episodes: I will limp to the end with it, but it hasn’t exactly been a joy. That is my disclaimer for others waiting to start. I have issues with it beyond the VO if you’re wondering. I’ll dump them all in a pile after the last two — maybe the pile will be smaller if the next two are amazing.

Voice Over: “He thought of the voice overs again. It brought him down. Often, he would just try not to listen to the voice overs. But he always watches with captions. He acknowledges the problem with this, and realizes in that moment that there are other problems in the show. He is also distracted by the election.”

Okay then, give voice in the comments to the idea (yay, nay, maybe) of a Box Set on S2 of “Silo,” or stand up instead for something else, or just throw your hat in ring for “pick the first season of a classic and let’s just do this.”

In the meantime, I’m going to just try some breathing exercises and look at beautiful modernist interiors.