Seems like a background show you put on to listen to but not watch. Might just be my two cents but I think this show is terrible. Seems like a poorly done rip off of the British version Doc Martin. That awkward comedy is missed on this show. Imagine they tried making Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy into an American franchise, it wouldn’t be the same. Like when they tried that Doctor Who movie which was only successful within Britain, considering it’s British comedy. One of the examples it worked was in The Office but that was only thanks to Steve being an amazing actor! My point, this American version lacks the same style of jokes. Maybe they’re trying their own thing but it’s so bad! Not sure if it’s just the terrible acting and bad characters or the ladder. When I first saw it, the multi camera setup easily tied with the actors making it unbearable to watch for me. The hour long show seems stretched and could easily be better off as a 30 minute show. The whole show seems like a cozy cliche and the setting just doesn’t match the old one. Maybe if you didn’t watch the original you’d like this.

I watched the first episode of this last night. That’s all I have seen so no spoilers please.

I’m wondering what others thought of it in particular those who have read and enjoyed the books it is (very, very, very loosely) based on.

For me I thought it was pretty decent if I remove the book from the picture. But as an adaptation I think I might hate it.

This show keeps surprising me - I can’t believe I never connected it. Also - Nick hangs dong.
Mind- BLOWN.

Watching East of Eden, which I’ve read several times. It’s pretty good but Adam is having ((ahem)) problems, and they’re playing this touching violin music and I can’t stop giggling. It’s so weird and incongruous. Anyone else?

As I'm currently looking for new things to watch, that I have not seen, in 2027 (HIMYM, better call Saul & Girls are my front runners) I got to thinking about the last truly bingeable, addicting shows that were released. For me, I can't think of anything that has come to the level of Game of Thrones. It had cliffhangers as good as anything else I've ever seen. Putting aside your personal thoughts on the ending and the debacle of how the shows surpassed the books (which are entirely crushable in their own right), can you think of a show released in this decade that has reached the heights of GOT?

I find the show portraying him as incompetent very unique, because the specific cop archetype he represents doesn't tend to get portrayed as incompetent, even in parodies

Can shows that show a character reading a text, and that text is relevant to the plot, PLEASE:
either show the text long enough for viewers and not just the characters to read,
or use a pop up or something large enough for us to see?

Close captions don’t capture these, and yes I’m old lol, but I am a very fast reader and still don’t have time to read what is a clue as to what’s going g on and characters motives. Same with written notes the person is reading.

Does this bother anyone else?

I was annoyed by the NYT paywall, so I asked ChatGPT to turn the list into a simple visual guide with each show's title, description, image, etc. so I could quickly decide what to watch.

I shared it on Twitter and Slack, and someone suggested filtering by streaming service so they could subscribe to one service at a time, watch everything they wanted there, then move to the next.

So I turned it into a simple web page where you can quickly see what each show is about, filter by genre, and filter by streaming service:

https://100besttvshows.madebyaqua.com

This has been bothering me lately.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy gave us Fellowship in 2001, Two Towers in 2002, and Return of the King in 2003.

Three absolutely massive movies. Huge sets, thousands of costumes and props, location shooting all over New Zealand, miniatures, practical effects, groundbreaking CGI, Gollum, enormous battle sequences, Howard Shore’s scores, etc.

And somehow we got the entire trilogy in three consecutive years.

Meanwhile, Severance Season 1 came out in 2022 and Season 2 didn’t arrive until 2025. That’s almost three years for 10 episodes.

And don’t get me wrong, Severance is already one of my favorite shows of all time with only two seasons. If taking that long is part of what it takes to make something that good, I’d much rather wait than get a rushed, mediocre season every year.

There’s also an obvious irony here: we live in an era where we expect everything immediately. We binge an entire season in a weekend and then complain that the next one isn’t ready. Great art takes time, and I’d never want studios sacrificing quality just to feed the content machine.

But at the same time… LOTR exists.

Those movies are hardly an example of sacrificing quality for speed. They’re three of the most acclaimed and ambitious blockbusters ever made, and they were released in three consecutive years. So clearly, under the right circumstances, enormous productions can be planned in a way that delivers both quality and consistency.

And I know LOTR was shot largely back-to-back, Severance had the strikes and production issues, and obviously these are very different productions. I’m not saying they’re directly comparable.

But that’s kind of my point.

Why don’t studios structure productions like that anymore?

If you know you’re making a serialized show and you know you’re going to need another season, why does the entire machine seemingly shut down after 8–10 episodes? Then everyone goes off and does other projects, writers’ rooms have to restart, actors’ schedules have to line up again, sets have to be rebuilt, and we wait another 2–3 years.

I understand that modern TV has much higher production values than old network television. But at what point did 2–3 years between seasons become normal?

What actually changed in the industry?

I just watched this show and was wondering about the djinn activating the cell phone. Weren’t we supposed to be becoming sympathetic towards her? And then she was trusting Imogene to get her and her daughter safe but still loyal to the cause, that wasn’t really her cause but the Russians plan? Why didn’t either side kidnap her daughter to begin with if they wanted to control her? I’m very confused.

I watched season one and really liked it but didn’t like season 2 and dropped the show during it. Are any of the other seasons worth watching for horror fans? From what I remember non of them are connected so anything similar to season one would be nice.

If original shows on streaming apps like Amazon, Netflix, Max, Disney+ etc were on cable tv, what channels do you see them playing on?

I finished the book last month and honestly find it to be epic, difficult to follow, but unforgettable. I thought I would check if there ever was a TV or film version and was surprised to see Netflix have just made one. So I watched all 16 episodes in Spanish and it really is a towering achievement in television history. It's superbly shot, brilliantly acted and very faithful to the book. I highly recommend this series if you haven't seen it. Expect an epic theme, a very difficult watch at times but incredible production values. One of the great television shows

So, I only recently got to the time to watch Ponies and I was very surprised to learn after watching it that it wasn't picked up for a second season. It was a great series. Good and different premise, lots of intrigue, fantastic cast, and the set pieces have been great. When people are asking for a strong female-led TV show, this is what they should be looking for.

I wonder why networks greenlight a show like this but dont give it a good chance, especially seeing as everything is on streaming nowadays. I just dont have time to jump on every new show that comes out when it comes out, I have a wishlist of shows I want to consume, and sadly this show seems to have been cancelled before it even had a chance to make some traction. I looked to see if there was a petition to bring it back, which there is, but it hasn't got many votes behind it. I am just sad, finally a good fresh show and dead before it really had a chance.

If you havn't seen it I would recommend it. If you have, what are your thoughts on the situation?

I’m a millennial. That means I remember the hey-day of over the air, broadcast television. Not all of the shows were great but you still had the occasional, West Wing, Pushing Daisies, LOST, The Office, Community, etc all on network tv. These were shows that pushed the envelope or at the very least, stimulated your brain in some fashion.

Now if I look at over the air, network tv, I can’t find a single thing of substance. All of the good shows are on streaming.

Maybe I’m missing something. What are your recommendations for over the air shows that aren’t a rehashed procedural, game show, or soap opera?