What TV series are you currently watching?

[DukeofNuke]

The Secret Life of Dogs (BBC/PBS)
Very interesting documentary in classic BBC style: "Scientists have discovered that rubbing a dogs belly makes the dog happy ... "
Still, pretty cool show. Helps you appreciate dogs and their contributions to humanity.

[Séamas]

Currently watching Wild Wild Country on Netflix
It's a six part docu-series (I have watched 2/6).
I am sure there is more to be revealed and there will be a twist/turning point.
The subject is the Cult following of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their purchase of several thousands of acres in rural Oregon in order to build a city.
But so far it is describing a significant culture clash, and while the Cult/Ashram is weird and all, it's just another weird religion, albeit with a VERY large bank account.


The cult members themselves seem like typical educated people of that time doing the typical "seeking" of eastern mysticism and following a charismatic guru.
The alarming thing for the townfolk is the open sexuality of the cult members and reports of bizarre practices (group aggression therapy undertaken while naked and other things).

The townfolk at this point of the documentary come off as fearful and fairly intolerant, and they make no efforts to hide their attempts to intimidate the freaky cult members. Reading ahead it seems things escalated quite severely with the cult members taking things several steps too far.
So far more me this documentary does expose a great deal of America's rather iffy devotion to religious freedom.

Since I have subscribed to Netflix several years ago I have caught a number of pretty good documentaries on various cults (most of them born out of the counter-culture new age group sex variety). They all have disturbing attributes, but you can easily see how many of our current religions started out--just with less group sex.
I would love to see more in-depth analysis of Scientology, LDS and perhaps Islam, as they each have similarities to these. (Christianity does as well for certain, but I think that analysis has been done to death)

I have friends who became Buddhist monks and friends who are into Krishna consciousness but to me, Osho is like a combination of self help books, Ayn Rand, and almost a cliche of eastern mysticism. I was somewhat familiar with what happened out there and his religion. I never thought he was the crook they made him out to be, just a typical charlatan (although, I have heard his scholarly work on various ancient texts are supposed to be decent). It was mostly Sheela and other higher ups. But as close minded and typically conservative you’d imagine a bunch of old white hillbilly Christians, the smug elitism and self centered vindictive way the sunnyasins operated irritated me. They were all about themselves first, making money, etc, and free love and psychoanalytic gibberish. A feel good movement for young wealthy white people, ‘pat yourselves on the back, for your privilege means enlightenment’. The show made me wonder if that was how the people in Palestine felt when their living space was encroached upon by the Jews who moved there pre-Israel.

I got a few more episodes in, and Sheela is definitely the complete nutjob psycho.
I could see why Rajneesh would have her as a lieutenant. In some aspects her posture is almost admirable, she calls the critics out on their blatherskite without fear. But otherwise--scary lady. it is also funny that she and her other spokespeople are so fond of calling critics "stupid".

I was talking to my wife about this and came to the conclusion that the reason for Osho's silence was pretty smart. He had a good thing going. Tons of money dozens of Rolls Royces and an almost endless stream of young women willing to do anything with him. Why make the mistake of saying something that could possibly turn people off?

My wife's best friend in college became a devotee of a guru from a nearby ashram. I first encountered this group when a buddy was doing a paper on Meditation and we went to someone's home for an introductory session.
The house itself was beautiful, the owners had decent money, but they had a LARGE portrait of the Guru above the mantle, and others in prominent places. It took me a while to grasp that this was someone's home rather than a temple or something.
Once the lecture and session ended there were refreshments, then we were hit up to take an "intensive"--which was something like $600 (a fortune in the minds of 1980's college students).
I've been to the Ashram a couple times (a converted former Borscht-belt resort in the Catskills), and the place makes a fortune. The members are almost entirely wealthy or successful, (my wife once saw Joey Ramone there). As far as cults go, it is pretty benign but had a shady history. It's very polished and stage managed, but still creeped me out.

[Yori]

French and Saunders on Netflix.

[justine]

I recorded Sirens but haven't watched it yet.

[Ribtor]

French and Saunders on Netflix.

Good call.

[Ribtor]

Killing Eve (Emule or BBC America) Looks intriguing. Highly praised in the reviews I have seen. If the rest is anything like the first episode I agree.

Ash Vs The Evil Dead. (Emule, Starz) Gotta like Bruce Campbell doing his thing with his chainsaw hand and his bad lines. Also has Lucy Lawless. Filmed in NZ. Gory nonsense.

[Metacell]

Lost in Space (Netflix). As Nu Star Trek is dead to me, I thought I'd give this a try. What a breath of fresh air. Great!

[obvs]

Wynonna Earp.

I really like this show.

[TOS]

Lost in Space (Netflix). As Nu Star Trek is dead to me, I thought I'd give this a try. What a breath of fresh air. Great!

i've watched the first episode, so far so good

[Yori]

Harry Enfield and Chums (Netflix)

[Robert]

Lost in Space. Parker Posey is appropriately loathesome.

[DukeofNuke]

Lost in Space. I think Obvs would like it, 'cause the Jupiter 2 looks like a symmetrical Millennium Falcon.

[Séamas]

I don't know whether I can bear the Lost in Space.
Who will they get top play Zumdish?

[Ribtor]

Fleabag (Emule)

Outrageously funny show built around a tragic story. Only six episodes. The style reminds me a bit of Peep Show plus Broad City plus Bridget Jones's Diary.

Highly recommended.

[juice]

Season 2 of Brockmire (IFC) starts 4/25. Highly recommended. Probably my favorite currently active show. Season 1 is streaming on Hulu. There are only 8 episodes, so still easy to catch up.

[justine]

The Five

Then:
Lost In Space
Santa Clarita Diet
Retribution

That's in addition to all my regulars.

[jkahless]

Black Lightning

Based on the tv series I’ve seen thus far, he’s easily my favourite superhero.

[Pariah]

Big Mouth, Netflix. Hilarious, do watch.

[dv]

The Tick (Amazon Original.)

Yeah, that's the stuff.

[Ribtor]

Seinfeld. Has anyone else seen this? It's pretty good.

[TOS]

just finished lost in space

not too bad, i guess ... a bit more of the old yackity-yak than i'd like but it's okay

"hey, we're marooned on a doomed planet in a different galaxy and/or universe with our kids facing death around every corner, but it's an ideal time to work on our marriage"

[Robert]

Westworld, Season 2 Episode 1; Sets up what could be a more action-based season, with the AI hosts still trying to decipher their existence.

AI and awakening sentience is interesting, but screenwriters seem to tread the same ground and same dialogue over and over. Westworld may as well be a centuries-earlier prequel to Battlestar Galactica in this sense. (That could be an interesting tie-in—Cylons are the descendants of Westworld hosts)

In other news, Handmaiden's Tale season 2 starts tonight.

[Ribtor]

Westworld season 2 opener really lays it on thick. Looks good. The audience now knows what to look for like timelines, and who is and who isn't a robot so figuring out what is and isn't Ford's "game" will probably take up much of the mystery plotting.

[Donkey Butter]

hey does anyone have Amazon Prime Video in Canada? and can you recommend anything good to watch (other than The Tick and The Grand Tour)?

[ukimalefu]

hey does anyone have Amazon Prime Video in Canada? and can you recommend anything good to watch (other than The Tick and The Grand Tour)?

I'm not in canada and I don't have amazon prime, but I know amazon has 'The Man in the High Castle'. The series is based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick.

Watch that.

[Donkey Butter]

Thanks Uki, I'll give that a watch.

[DukeofNuke]

Give "Justified" a try.

[Yori]

Best Ink (Hayu)

[Donkey Butter]

Give "Justified" a try.

Added to my watch list. Thanks

[TOS]

hey does anyone have Amazon Prime Video in Canada? and can you recommend anything good to watch (other than The Tick and The Grand Tour)?

you can watch prime with a browser or the prime video app

for some absurd reason the fire stick won't work but those others should (they work for me)

[Ribtor]

Morgana Robinson's The Agency. Double wicked funny.

Ever since I saw Morgana in "Toast Of London" I can't get enough of her.

[Metacell]

Ash vs Evil Dead (on Netflix)

Apologies to Starz, Showtime, and HBO. I'm not subscribing for the one show each of you make that I like.

But for sure, this is the good stuff. I think the episodic character-driven fomula set in real-world side-of-the-road 'Muricaland actually makes this more fun than the movies. Perfect way to kill a half-hour. Also: best. LSD-trip. sequence. ever.

[justine]

I am sooooooooo happy Last Man Standing is coming back!

[jkahless]

Give "Justified" a try.

Added to my watch list. Thanks

Great series. Great music.

[user]

....here comes the bad part....

[DukeofNuke]

Give "Justified" a try.

Added to my watch list. Thanks

Great series. Great music.

[Ribtor]

Season 2 of Westworld (eMule) is more head games. The show's producers are just jerking the audience around.

[Ribtor]

Ash vs Evil Dead (on Netflix)

Apologies to Starz, Showtime, and HBO. I'm not subscribing for the one show each of you make that I like.

But for sure, this is the good stuff. I think the episodic character-driven fomula set in real-world side-of-the-road 'Muricaland actually makes this more fun than the movies. Perfect way to kill a half-hour. Also: best. LSD-trip. sequence. ever.

It's great. No third season though.

[Robert]

Cobra Kai - season 1; a good return to the story 30 years after the movies with a good backstory for Johnny Lawrence and confirms that LaRusso was a total instigator and deserved to get a beatdown. However, in the storytelling some of the decisions the characters make don't always seem congruous, and the character relationships don't develop deeper as the story progresses.

Atlanta - season 1; well-written, topical and funny.

Both pretty frickin' awesome.

[Ribtor]

Arrested Development season 5. (eMule/Netflix) Still fun. Not as clever as the interweaving of the stories of season 4 but still funny.

Season 9 of Archer (eMule/Fx). The series is well past its expiry date.