For me, I know the type of shows I tend to not like, and I've used Tim for decades to find shows I will like. I tend to be a completionist and once I start watching something I will usually just keep going even if it doesn't hold up because I've bought in. So I prefer to keep from starting the things that aren't going to be good enough in the first place! I always have a list of things to get to that will be longer than I can watch, so I'm perfectly happy not to add to it!
"Oh hey there's another season of the Night Agent coming - didn't we watch that?"
"Yes, but we didn't finish."
"Was that because we got busy watching other stuff or abandoned it?"
"I don't remember either, let's resume watching it."
(both) "Ok now we know why we stopped."
On my own, I've been watching The Recruit as my current Bag of Implausibility. It also helps when I need to get to sleep. It tends to veer back and forth over the line of "We're taking this seriously...no not totally". Empty calorie brain switch off.
In more positive news the new season of Funny Woman was enjoyable but short.
Looking for stuff to fill the gap until the new Wolf Hall season since there's more of less just Severance for now with Silo and The Agency done for now. (Maybe The Bureau will become available again.)
Wrote in a comment above that I just finished a consulting thing on an upcoming show for March that I think everyone (maybe?) will be watching, or should.
I'm diving into some fresh ground on other services this weekend so I should have some potential new series to watch soon. One would hope. But that search is what brought me to "The Night Agent"....
We often have the "OK, now we know why we stopped" thing happen.
You know, now would be a good time to remind people to think of series they started that were good but never finished all of the seasons. Sometimes we need that prompt. Or maybe it's just me. I loved going back to Mr. Robot and Killing Eve.
I think in our case we tend to stick with stuff we know is good especially when there isn't much good stuff to distract us from it. MI-5/Spooks is a good example. We knew there were a lot of episodes so it'd last a while plus we saw a continuous parade of future British TV stars make their way through the show.
There's some lingering in the back of the Apple TV "most recently watched" list that we may get to. I did get a prompt recently on "Industry" given a couple good cast adds for S3 but had only ever watched the pilot. I went back and watched it all and found it entertaining so glad I came back to it.
Since I currently have an Apple TV subscription specifically in order to watch Severance, I figured I would check out some of their other shows and . . . well, they sure look pretty . . . I guess.
Slow Horses is ahead in the race because I've actually watched two whole episodes of that one, and I'm tempted to check out the third. "Loser spies" is a great premise. It reminds me of Sad Spies, in a way. I just wish Loser Spies wasn't taking itself so seriously.
I have not clicked on Silo yet because that's just how much I hated the book. I fear if I try to watch the show I'll have flashbacks to how much I hated the book, and I'm really not in the mood to hate watch things these days.
From what little I've picked up about Paradise, it sounds like it should go hang out with Wayward Pines. I still cannot believe I watched that whole show.
If Paradise is about a whole bunch of rich people, I might just bounce off it the same way I did with The Gentleman or whatever in the world that was called. I seem to remember my main thing about that show was wishing the unwashed masses would burn the giant eyesore of a house to the ground.
Wait, you watched all of Wayward Pines? Wow. I am so sorry.
I liked The Gentlemen a lot for frenetic action and it was pretty funny as well. I'm a modernist so castles and all those Brit mansions out in the rolling green hills are not for me, but I vibed with the show.
Slow Horses is pretty great. S1 is the weakest, but still quite good.
Nothing will beat Sad Spies. Ever.
And your loathing of the Silo books is something that brings me joy. (Have not read them -- just like you getting ragey about it.)
Weirdly enough, Wayward Pines was not a hate watch, but it was definitely a "Why are we still watching this?" watch, and the answer to that question was always, "I don't know. I cannot look away. It's just so stupid."
My wife and I would take turns with the whole "Why are we still watching this" and "I don't know, it's beaten us into submission" lines.
Pachinko! I also really liked Shrinking. For All Mankind. Not perfect but the first two seasons were especially good. If you like quirky period drama, Dickinson.
I have really enjoyed Slow Horses (hopefully a Box Set for the new season), Silo, and For All Mankind. Caveat: I really like those kinds of shows - but I think they're all very well done (as is Severance).
A few thoughts in response. For me I often come to the same conclusion as you but for an opposite reason. I like network TV. I think "prestige" TV is highly overrated and unpleasant to watch. "If I want to watch bad people do bad things, I just have to turn on the news", she said grumpily. But oftentimes "elevated network TV" is simply network TV that isn't all that fun to watch. Or at least less fun. I am still watching "The Pitt" on MAX and it's a good example. It's too serious! I want it to be more fun. But I still like it in spite of that flaw. But I wish it was more like network TV.
Regarding Paradise. Nah, it's not "elevated network TV". It's just network TV with a slightly longer runtime. I say that as a compliment!! I have watched all 4 episodes and I am loving the show. Episode 4 in particular is excellent. It does have flaws. And I fear it has an expiration date. But you know, Season 1 of This Is Us was really good. It just couldn't match that in subsequent seasons. I gave up after Season 2. I think Dan Fogelman is good with honing in on characters, something better shows like Silo struggle with.
Comparing TV to books is a good way to explore this. John Warner wrote an excellent piece about "upmarket fiction", which he doesn't enjoy. https://biblioracle.substack.com/p/when-upmarket-fiction-doesnt-work?utm_source=publication-search He importantly notes that there are some fun genre books to read. And obviously, he mainly reads literary fiction. But this inbetweener category is sort of the worst of both worlds. I am stuck reading a lot of these kinds of books for my book club. They're often depressing but they also aren't high art. I would rather read a thriller or a genre romance novel, honestly.
Finally, I will share a fun Brian Grubbs piece on how sometimes you want comfort TV.
"Shows like Severance and Succession are like fine dining, a fancy restaurant dish full of unexpected combinations of flavors. Shows like Elsbeth and High Potential are like a beef-stew recipe you’ve been making for years. It’s fun to challenge your taste buds sometimes with something new and exciting, or even try out an elevated stew recipe with different cuts of meat and some vegetables you picked up from the expensive grocery store downtown (Poker Face), but please don’t ever forget that your classic beef stew can be delicious, too."
P.S. - I have a name for meandering around streaming services. "Dating TV". I think it's fine. Like maybe you just watch the first 15 minutes of a bunch of things. Your intention isn't to actually watch a whole episode or movie. It's to take a peek and note what you want to go back to.
I had previously read and loved Warner's take on upmarket fiction. Excellent.
And some prestige TV is overly taxing for sure. I love most of the great stuff, though. And count me in for network comedies -- at least the classics. So many great ones came from there instead of cable/streaming.
I watched all of s1 of "The Night Agent" and liked it well enough — I'd put it in the same category as, say, "Reacher," in that it's well-made turn-your-brain-off TV. My husband watched the first episode of s2 a few days ago and hasn't gotten back to it, which says something (unlike me, he's a diehard binger). A political thriller isn't really a fun choice for me at the moment.
“Paradise” in a nutshell: Episode 1, the President is in charge, and he’s got a loyal bodyguard, and yet oops. Episode 2, a tech billionaire is actually in charge, and we all live in a nostalgic underground bubble, oops. Episode 3, the billionaire’s therapist is actually in charge, and she has designs on the widowed bodyguard, oops.
Oh, and that flashback story device is omnipresent.
Probably stopping at this point, but might be curious who’s in charge next episode, oops!
Episode 4 profiled a main character, reaching back into their childhood, and then killed them off. Of course in Fogelman’s world, death only means that you’re now in flashback rotation, occasionally steering the current plot rudder with something from the past.
Oh, and unlike Silo, the person in charge definitely knows that the air outside is safe to breathe!
So, we now have an inverted Silo, where the post apocalyptic landscape is filled with freely displayed functioning relics.
Any investment now, is just a series of side bets about how ridiculous the show will continue to become.
Yup. I will report back from time to time. I do think it will eventually jump the shark. But for now, it did the thing I needed: I forgot about our world for an hour. (Well I guess billionaires are monsters is a theme both worlds share.)
If you had actually finished Season 1 of The Night Agent, you would have avoided the temptation of the trailer.
If you don't have to get up in the morning, I guess I understand starting Dune Part 2 at midnight. But that would wreck me for a couple of days. As a lifelong fan of the books, I'm grateful for the new movies. If you want more, the HBO series is maybe one to skip. It's visually similar but not in the same neighborhood otherwise.
I think you nailed it for Paradise. It's a network series. There's a structure to it that seems to telegraph too much and a slight lack of realism that pulls me out of the drama. I'll probably finish it though.
The Night Agent is so dumb. Hope I don't hurt any feelings, but oh man. It's one where I was displeased that I didn't stop.
I'm a big sci fi fan so I can overlook some issues with Paradise. The quality has been somewhat consistent so I'd be surprised if it goes downhill like The Night Agent.
Have you tried The Agency? The cast is terrific. When both Silo and The Agency were streaming new episodes (different services) every Friday, it was the one consistent night of TV to look forward to.
The Agency is well done. We enjoyed it even though we'd seen The Bureau version of Season 1 (which disappeared before we could see more as it was pulled from distribution in the run-up to this version's release) but still enjoyed it. Apparently Michael Fassbender was a fan of The Bureau so he readily agreed to be in The Agency.
We definitely enjoyed the "Silo, Agency, or both" options for those couple months.
Hey, Mark! I heard the second season is better than the first so I could just leap forward...Even though I'm advising against over sampling, I sometimes don't take my own advice.
I just finished a consulting review for a series coming in March that's really great. Powered through 10 eps.
I know I say this a lot but I too got caught by the Netflix trailer of The Night Agent. I was considering watching it but thankfully since you did, I do not have to any longer. Thank you for that. :)
I however, still might continue on with Paradise and I still need to end "The Wire" lol.
"The Wire" gets you a pass for a long time. Once you finish it though, it's a great feeling.
And yeah, "The Night Agent" is totally fine. I could see myself popping back in and just fast forwarding to some action? I mean, it's possible. I think I'm done with "Paradise" for sure, though.
I have thoughts....yeah, except that I've had a lot of Theraflu so I think I'll come back on Thursday with those thoughts...
For me, I know the type of shows I tend to not like, and I've used Tim for decades to find shows I will like. I tend to be a completionist and once I start watching something I will usually just keep going even if it doesn't hold up because I've bought in. So I prefer to keep from starting the things that aren't going to be good enough in the first place! I always have a list of things to get to that will be longer than I can watch, so I'm perfectly happy not to add to it!
Our recent thought process:
"Oh hey there's another season of the Night Agent coming - didn't we watch that?"
"Yes, but we didn't finish."
"Was that because we got busy watching other stuff or abandoned it?"
"I don't remember either, let's resume watching it."
(both) "Ok now we know why we stopped."
On my own, I've been watching The Recruit as my current Bag of Implausibility. It also helps when I need to get to sleep. It tends to veer back and forth over the line of "We're taking this seriously...no not totally". Empty calorie brain switch off.
In more positive news the new season of Funny Woman was enjoyable but short.
Looking for stuff to fill the gap until the new Wolf Hall season since there's more of less just Severance for now with Silo and The Agency done for now. (Maybe The Bureau will become available again.)
Wrote in a comment above that I just finished a consulting thing on an upcoming show for March that I think everyone (maybe?) will be watching, or should.
I'm diving into some fresh ground on other services this weekend so I should have some potential new series to watch soon. One would hope. But that search is what brought me to "The Night Agent"....
We often have the "OK, now we know why we stopped" thing happen.
You know, now would be a good time to remind people to think of series they started that were good but never finished all of the seasons. Sometimes we need that prompt. Or maybe it's just me. I loved going back to Mr. Robot and Killing Eve.
I think in our case we tend to stick with stuff we know is good especially when there isn't much good stuff to distract us from it. MI-5/Spooks is a good example. We knew there were a lot of episodes so it'd last a while plus we saw a continuous parade of future British TV stars make their way through the show.
There's some lingering in the back of the Apple TV "most recently watched" list that we may get to. I did get a prompt recently on "Industry" given a couple good cast adds for S3 but had only ever watched the pilot. I went back and watched it all and found it entertaining so glad I came back to it.
Since I currently have an Apple TV subscription specifically in order to watch Severance, I figured I would check out some of their other shows and . . . well, they sure look pretty . . . I guess.
Slow Horses is ahead in the race because I've actually watched two whole episodes of that one, and I'm tempted to check out the third. "Loser spies" is a great premise. It reminds me of Sad Spies, in a way. I just wish Loser Spies wasn't taking itself so seriously.
I have not clicked on Silo yet because that's just how much I hated the book. I fear if I try to watch the show I'll have flashbacks to how much I hated the book, and I'm really not in the mood to hate watch things these days.
From what little I've picked up about Paradise, it sounds like it should go hang out with Wayward Pines. I still cannot believe I watched that whole show.
If Paradise is about a whole bunch of rich people, I might just bounce off it the same way I did with The Gentleman or whatever in the world that was called. I seem to remember my main thing about that show was wishing the unwashed masses would burn the giant eyesore of a house to the ground.
Wait, you watched all of Wayward Pines? Wow. I am so sorry.
I liked The Gentlemen a lot for frenetic action and it was pretty funny as well. I'm a modernist so castles and all those Brit mansions out in the rolling green hills are not for me, but I vibed with the show.
Slow Horses is pretty great. S1 is the weakest, but still quite good.
Nothing will beat Sad Spies. Ever.
And your loathing of the Silo books is something that brings me joy. (Have not read them -- just like you getting ragey about it.)
Weirdly enough, Wayward Pines was not a hate watch, but it was definitely a "Why are we still watching this?" watch, and the answer to that question was always, "I don't know. I cannot look away. It's just so stupid."
My wife and I would take turns with the whole "Why are we still watching this" and "I don't know, it's beaten us into submission" lines.
Pachinko! I also really liked Shrinking. For All Mankind. Not perfect but the first two seasons were especially good. If you like quirky period drama, Dickinson.
I keep forgetting to dabble in Dickinson.
I have really enjoyed Slow Horses (hopefully a Box Set for the new season), Silo, and For All Mankind. Caveat: I really like those kinds of shows - but I think they're all very well done (as is Severance).
A few thoughts in response. For me I often come to the same conclusion as you but for an opposite reason. I like network TV. I think "prestige" TV is highly overrated and unpleasant to watch. "If I want to watch bad people do bad things, I just have to turn on the news", she said grumpily. But oftentimes "elevated network TV" is simply network TV that isn't all that fun to watch. Or at least less fun. I am still watching "The Pitt" on MAX and it's a good example. It's too serious! I want it to be more fun. But I still like it in spite of that flaw. But I wish it was more like network TV.
Regarding Paradise. Nah, it's not "elevated network TV". It's just network TV with a slightly longer runtime. I say that as a compliment!! I have watched all 4 episodes and I am loving the show. Episode 4 in particular is excellent. It does have flaws. And I fear it has an expiration date. But you know, Season 1 of This Is Us was really good. It just couldn't match that in subsequent seasons. I gave up after Season 2. I think Dan Fogelman is good with honing in on characters, something better shows like Silo struggle with.
Comparing TV to books is a good way to explore this. John Warner wrote an excellent piece about "upmarket fiction", which he doesn't enjoy. https://biblioracle.substack.com/p/when-upmarket-fiction-doesnt-work?utm_source=publication-search He importantly notes that there are some fun genre books to read. And obviously, he mainly reads literary fiction. But this inbetweener category is sort of the worst of both worlds. I am stuck reading a lot of these kinds of books for my book club. They're often depressing but they also aren't high art. I would rather read a thriller or a genre romance novel, honestly.
Finally, I will share a fun Brian Grubbs piece on how sometimes you want comfort TV.
https://www.vulture.com/article/elsbeth-high-potential-quirky-tv-detective-types.html
"Shows like Severance and Succession are like fine dining, a fancy restaurant dish full of unexpected combinations of flavors. Shows like Elsbeth and High Potential are like a beef-stew recipe you’ve been making for years. It’s fun to challenge your taste buds sometimes with something new and exciting, or even try out an elevated stew recipe with different cuts of meat and some vegetables you picked up from the expensive grocery store downtown (Poker Face), but please don’t ever forget that your classic beef stew can be delicious, too."
P.S. - I have a name for meandering around streaming services. "Dating TV". I think it's fine. Like maybe you just watch the first 15 minutes of a bunch of things. Your intention isn't to actually watch a whole episode or movie. It's to take a peek and note what you want to go back to.
I had previously read and loved Warner's take on upmarket fiction. Excellent.
And some prestige TV is overly taxing for sure. I love most of the great stuff, though. And count me in for network comedies -- at least the classics. So many great ones came from there instead of cable/streaming.
Asura!!! Anything by Kore-eda is worth watching, even if it is over hyped. No reason Japanuary shouldn’t spill over to February.
Agree -- Japanuary definitely covers February too. I'm looking forward to Asura!
That it also covers February should have been immediately obvious to most people, but clearly that slipped by my aging brain.
I watched all of s1 of "The Night Agent" and liked it well enough — I'd put it in the same category as, say, "Reacher," in that it's well-made turn-your-brain-off TV. My husband watched the first episode of s2 a few days ago and hasn't gotten back to it, which says something (unlike me, he's a diehard binger). A political thriller isn't really a fun choice for me at the moment.
Oh, I hear that. TOO SOON.
“Paradise” in a nutshell: Episode 1, the President is in charge, and he’s got a loyal bodyguard, and yet oops. Episode 2, a tech billionaire is actually in charge, and we all live in a nostalgic underground bubble, oops. Episode 3, the billionaire’s therapist is actually in charge, and she has designs on the widowed bodyguard, oops.
Oh, and that flashback story device is omnipresent.
Probably stopping at this point, but might be curious who’s in charge next episode, oops!
Is it possible that Charles is in charge?
(I'm able to make jokes about shows I've never seen.)
This also seemed like a very efficient summation of Paradise and reason why I'm stopping.
At this point I’m on my own.
Episode 4 profiled a main character, reaching back into their childhood, and then killed them off. Of course in Fogelman’s world, death only means that you’re now in flashback rotation, occasionally steering the current plot rudder with something from the past.
Oh, and unlike Silo, the person in charge definitely knows that the air outside is safe to breathe!
So, we now have an inverted Silo, where the post apocalyptic landscape is filled with freely displayed functioning relics.
Any investment now, is just a series of side bets about how ridiculous the show will continue to become.
!!!
Oh, dear.
And you’re right that characters often don’t die in Fogelman series
I liked episode 4 quite a bit! For emotional and character moments. Plus another twist.
Sounds like you're going to be sucked in til the end, Lynn!
Yup. I will report back from time to time. I do think it will eventually jump the shark. But for now, it did the thing I needed: I forgot about our world for an hour. (Well I guess billionaires are monsters is a theme both worlds share.)
Billionaires actually are monsters. There’s enough proof.
If you had actually finished Season 1 of The Night Agent, you would have avoided the temptation of the trailer.
If you don't have to get up in the morning, I guess I understand starting Dune Part 2 at midnight. But that would wreck me for a couple of days. As a lifelong fan of the books, I'm grateful for the new movies. If you want more, the HBO series is maybe one to skip. It's visually similar but not in the same neighborhood otherwise.
I think you nailed it for Paradise. It's a network series. There's a structure to it that seems to telegraph too much and a slight lack of realism that pulls me out of the drama. I'll probably finish it though.
Ha: "I'll probably finish it though." We all have our weaknesses, Joe.
And yes, as I was reading the S1 episode descriptions for "The Night Agent" I was like, "wait, what the fuck is happening? What? Really?"
The Night Agent is so dumb. Hope I don't hurt any feelings, but oh man. It's one where I was displeased that I didn't stop.
I'm a big sci fi fan so I can overlook some issues with Paradise. The quality has been somewhat consistent so I'd be surprised if it goes downhill like The Night Agent.
Have you tried The Agency? The cast is terrific. When both Silo and The Agency were streaming new episodes (different services) every Friday, it was the one consistent night of TV to look forward to.
The Agency is well done. We enjoyed it even though we'd seen The Bureau version of Season 1 (which disappeared before we could see more as it was pulled from distribution in the run-up to this version's release) but still enjoyed it. Apparently Michael Fassbender was a fan of The Bureau so he readily agreed to be in The Agency.
We definitely enjoyed the "Silo, Agency, or both" options for those couple months.
By the way, all these years later and I can STILL hear you doing your impression of: "You're a DRUNK, and a SCREW UP!" Ah, Hill Street Blues, baby!
Hey, Mark! I heard the second season is better than the first so I could just leap forward...Even though I'm advising against over sampling, I sometimes don't take my own advice.
I just finished a consulting review for a series coming in March that's really great. Powered through 10 eps.
I feel you. 😊
TV can be trying...
I know I say this a lot but I too got caught by the Netflix trailer of The Night Agent. I was considering watching it but thankfully since you did, I do not have to any longer. Thank you for that. :)
I however, still might continue on with Paradise and I still need to end "The Wire" lol.
"The Wire" gets you a pass for a long time. Once you finish it though, it's a great feeling.
And yeah, "The Night Agent" is totally fine. I could see myself popping back in and just fast forwarding to some action? I mean, it's possible. I think I'm done with "Paradise" for sure, though.