Happy Friday! The store is open today for last minute shopping. Here is a post from Mod R who is now off on vacation. – Ilona
UPDATE: So apparently it’s Thursday.
This Covid thing is terrible and needs to end. BDH gets an extra day to shop because I don’t know what day today is. – Ilona
Several of my shows have been cancelled recently and I find myself unable to get into anything new. I’ve got the dreaded tv morbs.
I don’t know whether it’s the result of the screenwriter strike, showrunners starting to rely on AI, or just the new trends and tropes not speaking to me, but it seems like every Tv show needs to be watched for 1 or 2 seasons before you can get into it and “see the potential”. I want one that’s already potenched! Is that too much to ask?
I usually watch shows with an element of supernatural or fantasy in them – and I’m counting young people affording beautiful houses in there with the fantasy lol. Nothing that takes itself too seriously, or focuses too much on diseases and death and woe. That’s not good for my nervous system (joke’s on me, all my systems are nervous).
Some recent-ish favorites, before everything started to lose flavour:
- Extraordinary. British series, in a very irreverent Hidden-Legacy-type world – everyone develops powers when they turn 18, except for our intrepid protagonist, who is a dud. And a huge mess. (Show hasn’t been renewed)
- Only Murders in the Building. Just campy whodunnit hijinkery with two huge comedy stars. Selena Gomez is also there.
- Evil. It’s like the X files, if the X Files leaned into being unhinged from the very beginning and instead of Mulder, it had awesome, take-no-shit nuns. With shovels. (Show ended.)
- Shining Vale. The complete koo-ko bananapants representation of the writing and editing process was a hoot for me. Honestly, moving into a spooky house and taking on a demonic ghost as a creative muse is the most believable part of this show. I loved it. (It got cancelled.)
Please let me know what you are watching these days, whether it’s completely gripping, helps you relax or just keeps you company in the background!
I need a new show and I need it bad.
I’ve been rewatching Bones lately, and Anne with an E. Surreal Estate, about a realtor who specializes in haunted houses, is pretty charming.
You can never go wrong with a Firefly rewatch (We aim to misbehave. If you’re not a Browncoat yet, give it a watch and join us!), or a Buffy or Angel or Dollhouse rewatch- anything by Joss Whedon, really, but especially Firefly.
All Creatures Great and Small and Call the Midwife (by BBC, you’ll probably find it on PBS), are both exceptional dramas/dramadies, though nothing supernatural or paranormal.
Derry Girls is a delight- Sister Michael is my spirit animal. My Adventures with Superman is cute and fun.
A Haunting, pseudo-documentaries about suspected haunted houses and demon infestations, is an occasional guilty pleasure.
Lucifer is fun (Maze x Trixie are an absolute joy, though it takes awhile before they become friends) , Supernatural is a blast, and iZombie is much better than I expected and absolutely worth checking out.
Alan Tudyk is amazing and hilarious in Resident Alien, and The Expanse is great hard scifi. The Ark was fun, too.
I keep rewatching all of The Witcher because, though season 1 is my favorite, with black hair Henry Cavill would look like Hugh d’Ambray (in my head, at least), so I keep enjoying my imagination that has him playing Hugh.
Elves- it’s Swedish or something, dubbed, if I recall- was interesting. Family visits the countryside and ends up behind the fence that keeps…beings… from becoming a problem for the local humans.
Black Summer for very fast zombies.
The Gift
Castlevania
Stranger Things
I’ll stop now.
Holy moly! Thanks for posting this- trying to find new series is hard! Extraordinary is awesome. I keep hoping Disney/Hulu will give it another go for season 3. Here are a few others:
•Psych! I have to mention Psych the tv show. It’s older, but it’s so much irreverent fun. We’ve watched the entire series three times now.
•Galavant is fun, too- it’s like a mish mash of high school musical and Monty Python and the HolyGrail. I haven’t finished the series yet, though. Timothy Omundson from Psych plays the King.
•Ted Lasso is snarky sweet. I love the non-verbal interplay. Can’t go wrong watching it, plus it is still ongoing.
•The Boy and the Heron- haven’t watched it yet, but saw that the new Hayao Miyazaki film is streaming now, too.
•Actually, I’ve been on an unintentional Mandy Patinkin journey. Death and Other Details (like Glass Knives, but a show- very clever), Dead Like Me (Just where do grim reapers come from? Show), and the Princess Bride- movie. What can I say?
•The jury is still out on this one- Just started watching Bodkin. BBC /Ireland murder mystery that seems to have some sort of mystical bent- protagonists are a bumbling American podcaster, his assistant, and a journalist trying to get to the bottom of a cold case murder. First episode is a little slow, but it ends with a wolf blocking the path and the journalist looking it dead in the eye and saying, “ f**k off, wolf”, and stomping down the road. Good line- will keep watching.
Feel better to all!
I know that animation is not for everyone, but if you haven’t seen is yet, Arcane. It’s an animated show produced by Riot Games and animated by Fortiche Animations based on League of Legends (currently on Netflix). You don’t need to have played LoL at all, the story gives you everything you need to understand the world, characters, and motivations without any game knowledge.
The story follows two sisters trying to survive in this steampunk-ish universe. It has amazing character arcs and beautiful animation. The story can be gut wrenching at times and light and hilarious at others. It’s one of the better shows in recent times.
Resident Alien! It’s hilarious!
I am watching rerun of Bones
if u like sci fi
skinwalker Ranch. takes place inUtah
about ufos in real time .
or Bobbys triple threat (food network)
Hi, I am 3/4’s of the way through watching My Lady Jane, and I love it! It is an alternate reality England, where not everyone is entirely human. The characters are brilliant, ghastly, and hilarious by turn. I find myself guffawing and wishing to quaff some ale or grab a sword as I watch. Huzzah!
My husband is a fan of the game “Fallout” so when the series came out this year he started watching it. It caught my eye as I was walking by and started to watch. Without playing the game I was still able to follow the story line. I enjoyed it, a lot. Which, considering I would rather read than watch TV, is saying something about the show. I recommend it for storyline, creativity with special effects, and the actors were good with the portrayals of the characters. The monsters are suitably monstery. Science Fiction, more than Fantasy, but certainly not Star Trek or Star Wars. Give it a try.
enjoying my new to go mug, yay!
Have you watched Umbrella Academy on Netflix? The new Quantum Leap is good too. There’s also an old show on CW called Forever about a doctor who can’t die- his adopted son is played by Judd Hirsh (sp?)
My favorite nap-to shows are on HGTV especially anything with the Property Brothers – soothing voices
Any of the Mike Flanagan shows on Netflix.
Haunting of Hill House
Haunting of Bly Manor
Midnight Mass
The Midnight Club
The Fall of the House of Usher
Campy one or two season shows that should have continued, but got canceled:
1. The imperfects- if you liked extraordinary and misfits, give it a go. Only one season, but worth watching.
2. New legends of monkey king- campy fun (2 seasons)
3. Mr. Midnight (so campy/teenage angsty it’s fun- set in Singapore). Only one season
Have you watched Magnificent Century about Hurrem Sultana and Sulymaîn the Magnificent. Great Turkish costume drama! Many mâtant episodes. There is love! Betrayal! Rivalry! Fratricide! harem intrigue! stolen Spanish princesses! Mother in law drama! Sword fights! 15th century conquests !! I know you like the Korean costume dramas. You would like this too! And there are sequels !
I’ve been wondering whether to watch only murders and extraordinary and you’ve sold them to me.
Ncuti Gatwa is a brilliant Doctor Who this series.
Other than that all I have watched recently is Bridgerton and Great British Sewing Bee (Bake off but sewing)
My vote goes to Lockwood & Co for a spooky whodunnit in a different world. British show with teenage protagonists but with well written script, pulled off with decent acting and special effects. Based on the novels by Jonathan Stroud, sadly was cancelled only after 1 season but I loved it.
For Chinese dramas, I cannot recommend The Double enough. It’s a revenge drama with smart leads, great pacing and strong acting from the entire cast. The Princess Royal was decent too; both are on Netflix (at least they were in my region).
I haven’t watched TV much for the last couple of years, as I read (so few years, so many books). Though, if I’m stuck, something like Great British Bake Off or International Househunters cheers me up. I love looking at food and other peoples houses. Hope you are both feeling better.
River with Stellan Skarsgard
The leftovers with Justin Theroux-this is an American series but have only just seen it
This is an Australian 3 series complete definitely not your normal preference but I I love it happily rewatch different episodes when I am bored – Mr Inbetween
It’s been all K and C dramas for me this summer. “Extra-ordinary you” is fun and meta. I don’t know if they can maintain for the full 40 episodes, but I’m loving it 10 in. Synopsis is Girl discovers she’s not only living inside a comic book world, she’s a supporting character. Hijinx ensue.
“My Lovely Liar” is a nicely digestible 15 eps. Fmc is born with the ability to sense lies (very Nevada) Mmc is a tortured songwriter with a hidden past.
Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself
British one, dark humour and lots of fun.
Half Bad series Netflix
The Good Place series Netflix
Shadow And Bone series Netflix
Psych series Prime
Being Erica Series Prime
Misfits series Prime
His Dark Materials Series Max
Thanks for the Recommendation of the Dead Detectives. I will be watching tonight.
Enjoy!!
Love the black& white oldies. The Best Years of Our Lives, Casablanca,Notorious,Adventures of Robin Hood, Doctor Blood, Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, Pat and Mike, Witness for the Prosecution.
Yes, I’m old but these were all filmed years before I was born.
A costume drama show was released in 2022 without much fanfare called Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty — it has mostly little known casts except perhaps the lead actor (Yang Xiwen — Legend of Condor Heroes 2017), but because it was detective stories set in Tang Dynasty, I decided to watch it and didn’t come out disappointed. You could tell everybody involved with this show really committed to the show and made the most they could with the small budget they had. It later became the little-show-that-could sleeper hit and second season was greenlit. Personally, the Lotus Casebook (2023) impressed me more with its perfect blend of the chemistry among the leads, the fight scenes, and its true wuxia tradition story.
2 years passed and Strange Tales II is here and it defies all expectations; it’s a sequel that’s excel beyond its previous season. Everybody was betting on Joy of Life 2, but IMO it’s this second season that’s truly brought the waiting audiences satisfaction. The pacing is tight now and the confusing storytelling is gone. More actions are added. For expert review on this series, please check out what AvenueX has to say on YouTube.
I loved this series. It was pretty darn good! Great mysteries, pacing and decent acting helped it along.
The Resort !
(“White Lotus meets timey wimey what the?” is best I got to describe what the Mr Robot guy did. Season 2 is coming…)
Otherwise it’s re-watching Dresden Files (one and done); Haven, Lost Girl, Grimm, Sanctuary, Lucifer or American Gods if I want to stay a while (more than one season huzzah).
I have watched a variety of shows..We like so much of the same things. I recently have become really fond of these…also my husband likes them too, which helps with remote control hogging.
The Boys…so violent heehee
Murder at the end of the world…1 season so far,
and for laughs, being a teacher and needing to have a release, I just started watching watching Abbott Elementary. season 3 starts in October
On Netflix – Miss Night and Day – opened it out of curiosity after a snippet and the family and I are now 6 episodes in, wanting to know how it ends…
It’s 16 episodes and Korean (which isn’t for everything as it can be a bit tropey) but it’s interesting and quirky and the lead actress is fabulous as acting as a younger woman in an older woman’s body. Hopefully the quality maintains until the end.
The Capture is excellent!
Same
Problem here. I tried Night Agent.
It’s very generic and I couldn’t remember the main casts names, a very bad sign.
What I really enjoyed is „The double“ cdrama, high octane revenge in ancient setting – many episodes, but a lot going on. The worst part was school (yes, dreadful) suddenly in the first half which was imo just a way to widen the’s fl pool of friends and enemies because she was very secluded before. All in all, really good.
On Viki. It’s on Netflix too. But I’m in a slump as well… .
We also have this problem. We end up watching bbc mysteries from ages ago to fill in the gaps.
Dark Angel with Jessica Alba.
SF oldie but goodie
I generally watch old shows and the ones I like repeatedly. Currently rewatching Chuck. I’ll recommend a couple more obscure shows. One is Wonderfalls which is about a snarky, overeducated gift shop clerk who suddenly experiences inanimate objects talking to her. It’s basically a screwball romantic comedy in 13 episodes. The other is The Inside which is about a rookie FBI profiler working in a violent crimes unit that tries to catch serial killers. It’s got a Silence of the Lambs vibe. It’s also only 13 episodes. Unfortunately, you can only see either show in low quality rips on YouTube. But they’re both awesome shows that I highly recommend…
My life is Murder. It has Lucy Lawless, is filmed in Australia and New Zealand. The scenery is beautiful,the characters are interesting and there is actual growth.
SORE THROAT RELIEF: ST37. It numbs your throat without burning when you gargle. It also works on cuts. Available at Amazon and Walmart (online only).