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Prairie_Dog said:
Severance is an amazing show. Just when you think it has reached amazing levels of weirdness, it goes into new quantum states of strange! It also has interesting characters, that have depths to discover.
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Yes, the characters are pure joy. The minutiae in the facial expressions are so carefully captured and portrayed in each of them.

I have to say the first series was just about perfect - so strange, funny and even sad, and beautifully designed. The second series has been a bit less clear cut so far, with more exposition, drama and action sequences, and longer lingering shots, which for me has lessened the impactful purity seen in the first series.

I think it's that age old SF conundrum: how much should be revealed to keep a balance between understanding and puzzled enjoyment? I think they're just about on the right side so far but it's close.. However, I'm still only on S2 E5, so I'll reserve final judgment for now. The acting is still marvellous.
 
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The Haunting of Hill House (2018) Creator/writer/director: Mike Flanagan; staring Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Michael Huisman, and a bunch of others

Hugh and Olivia Crain (Thomas and Gugino) have bought Hill House, taking their five children there to live with them while renovating with the intention of re-selling. "Hill House, not sane, ..."

I hadn't gotten around to this before, largely because I love the novel and '60s movie, but the '90s movie was trash and I didn't want to see such a short book expanded past it's greatest efficacy. But I've heard enough about it and I liked Flanagan's movie Doctor Sleep, so my wife and I started it over the weekend and we're now 5 episodes in.

How do you turn Shirley Jackson's story into a 10-part series? Easy. You make it into a Stephen King story, complete with a large-ish family, the children ranging from about 4 to12, experiencing events they can't fathom -- each of the first five episodes depict the same events but as seen and understood by each sibling, and showing the long term effects on them as adults, including dysfunctional familial relationships. Here, instead of Eleanor (Nell; Victoria Pedretti) and Theodora (Theo; Kate Siegal) being strangers, they are sisters and have another sister, Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser; now where did Flanagan pull that first name from?), and two brothers, Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Steven (Huisman; hmmmm ... Steven?). Timothy Hutton plays the older Hugh.

So far, excellent. The story holds up, the actors are spot on, and the both the exterior and interiors for Hill House are impressive, much of it taken from the book. Look out for an appearance by Russ Tamblyn, who played Luke in the '60s movie.
 
Randy M. said:
The Haunting of Hill House (2018) Creator/writer/director: Mike Flanagan; staring Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Michael Huisman, and a bunch of others

Hugh and Olivia Crain (Thomas and Gugino) have bought Hill House, taking their five children there to live with them while renovating with the intention of re-selling. "Hill House, not sane, ..."

I hadn't gotten around to this before, largely because I love the novel and '60s movie, but the '90s movie was trash and I didn't want to see such a short book expanded past it's greatest efficacy. But I've heard enough about it and I liked Flanagan's movie Doctor Sleep, so my wife and I started it over the weekend and we're now 5 episodes in.

How do you turn Shirley Jackson's story into a 10-part series? Easy. You make it into a Stephen King story, complete with a large-ish family, the children ranging from about 4 to12, experiencing events they can't fathom -- each of the first five episodes depict the same events but as seen and understood by each sibling, and showing the long term effects on them as adults, including dysfunctional familial relationships. Here, instead of Eleanor (Nell; Victoria Pedretti) and Theodora (Theo; Kate Siegal) being strangers, they are sisters and have another sister, Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser; now where did Flanagan pull that first name from?), and two brothers, Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Steven (Huisman; hmmmm ... Steven?). Timothy Hutton plays the older Hugh.

So far, excellent. The story holds up, the actors are spot on, and the both the exterior and interiors for Hill House are impressive, much of it taken from the book. Look out for an appearance by Russ Tamblyn, who played Luke in the '60s movie.
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I'm quite tempted to try this after your comments, Randy. Like you, I've not been bothered before with this. I'm not as much of a fan as you about the book - I thought it was very good, but not the best horror book I've read, like some have suggested - and I'm always wary of modern adaptations, but this one sounds like a probable. Thanks, Randy.
 
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The Institute (2025) . Episode 1 - pretty good so far.
 
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I just finished watching the six-part Walking with Dinosaurs series from the BBC. I’m always in favor of dinosaurs of any sort, and this series does a good job of mixing the paleontology with the reconstructions of the lives of these fascinating creatures. Each episode features a species, but puts it together with others that occurred in the same place and time. While the CGI isn’t quite up to the level of Prehistoric Planet it’s quite serviceable and tells the story. I watched the series on my local PBS station.
 
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Watching a very craggy Kevin Bacon in "The Bondsman". Hub Halloran is a down and out Bond Officer working for his mother. One particular attempt to serve a warrant for a bail jumper finds him ambushed, his throat cut and his body stuffed into the wall of a dilapidated hotel. While a cartel arsonist starts to burn down the hotel.

Except, Hub is alive. Looking rather worse for wear with a giant gaping slash across his throat, he covers it with duct tape and begins to finish the job he started. As it turns out he has been recruited by Hell to hunt demons.

It is a very much tongue in cheek horror show. Decent enough watch, but the scenario has been done several times in movies and such. So it kind of feels like a re-run...even if it isn't, really.
 
I just saw the season 2 finale of Severance. I think it summed up how I felt about the whole second season: stylish, extremely well acted but really bloated. Almost nothing happened in most of the episodes that couldn't have been condensed into 15 minutes of great acting and tighter story telling.

OK, you could probably say that about a lot of these SF serials but the first season of Severance was almost perfect in its slow reveal whilst retaining intrigue and showcasing amazing characters. The second season seemed to have as its main goal to broadly 'entertain' rather than to subtly astound. The result, for me, was like a cross between Squid Games and The Office but not as good as either. And the episodes set in the open air, such as the team-building day in the mountains, or the whole boring episode dedicated to Harmony Cobel, were just filler. Overall, I think whilst most of the characters remained brilliant, especially Millchick and Irving, the story just tanked into silly cliches propped up with goofiness and unjustifiable strangeness. I also thought
the whole deal with the data collecting and Miss Casey
made little sense and just watered down the impact of the first season.

It wasn't all bad: the new character of Miss Huang was one of the best and most justifiably off-kilter things about the whole second season. And the developing love story between Irving and Bert was just incredible - in a program which scores the highest marks for its acting, this was the high point so far; an absolute masterclass from all involved.
 
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I’ve been watching the second and final series of The Sandman on Netflix, and I have to say the first three episodes tell a Hell of a story! These three are the best of the series I’ve seen so far. I’m now in the middle of the season where Dream and his sister Delirium are searching for their missing brother Destruction. Overall it’s a good season even if it seems to tell different stories along the way...
 
Prairie_Dog said:
I’ve been watching the second and final series of The Sandman on Netflix, and I have to say the first three episodes tell a Hell of a story!
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Can't whip up enthusiasm for these at the moment, which is odd as I really enjoyed the first season. At some point I'll get there, I guess.

Started watching Department Q. Lots of people here liked it, family liked it and said I should enjoy it, but I'm not feeling it. Matthew Goode is - well, good! - but three episodes in and I'm not that interested in going back.

But I am enjoying Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Foundation at the moment. The spoof of 60's SF was very funny.

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I started watching Silo last night. I get it - it's a society developed in a bunker too afraid to go outside, but for 140 years?! Come off it! I suppose that is a quirk of the original story (or a red herring). Lots of dramatic cliches, such as the spouse who won't listen to their partner until it's too late, but overall it is OK. Compared to Severance, the script is head-slappingly cheesy but I'll watch the second episode.
 
Ropie said:
I started watching Silo last night. I get it - it's a society developed in a bunker too afraid to go outside, but for 140 years?! Come off it! I suppose that is a quirk of the original story (or a red herring). Lots of dramatic cliches, such as the spouse who won't listen to their partner until it's too late, but overall it is OK. Compared to Severance, the script is head-slappingly cheesy but I'll watch the second episode.
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If the TV show follows the books, the reason for the long term will be explained. This isn’t a typical apocalypse…
 
Started season 2 of Wednesday on Netflix. I imagine pretty much everyone will have the same opinion of Season 2 they had of Season 1. For me, I'm loving it. Its got Tim Burton style along with good writing, with charm approaching The Nightmare Before Christmas and even Coraline.

My favorite quote so far: "You know what they say: if killing them with kindness doesn't work, try lethal injection."
 
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