Another Round of "What I'm Watching": Seasons Change
Somehow over the summer, I have built up a pretty good list of shows that I have been watching and a little each week I plan on sharing them with you. I think it helps that shows in general are shorter these days. I remember when a season on regular television would last something like 24 episodes. These days 12 seems to be about the max anyone can handle and in some cases we only get 6 to 8 episodes per season.
I think another reason I have been able to watch more TV is because several years ago I cut out a huge clump of shows that were a waste of my time. I used to follow the shows in the DC Universe on the CW pretty religiously. Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, I pretty much watched them all. Then suddenly I realized I didn't care about any of the characters in the show anymore.
I dropped them like a hot potato, no regrets. The same was true with Grey's Anatomy for @mrsbozz and I. With so many exits of actors and actresses from the show, we decided we just didn't care anymore. We had zero emotional attachment to any of the characters, and that made it difficult to continue watching.
Back then, Grey's was one of those shows that had a 20+ episode season, so that cleared up a great deal of time for us.
In the summer, we spend a lot of our time watching our nieces and nephews playing sports. As you can see from the opening photo, it doesn't matter when or where, we find a way. Additionally, many weekends we are camping or travelling, and in that case we watch zero TV.
It's interesting because I used to be a bit of a media whore. I would go to the theater all the time and watch every new show that came out. I'm happy to say that isn't the case anymore. I don't really miss it.
But I digress, let's get into the shows:
Jack Ryan Season 3
The third and final season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime picks right up where season 2 left off. In my opinion this is probably one of the best shows on Prime right now along with Reacher. I'm actually a bit sad that it has come to an end, but the third season did not disappoint at all.
Guest star Michael Pena is great in the show and he actually makes you wish he had been a regular character through the whole season. This is a show that my wife and I watch together and she enjoys it just as much as I do.
She didn't realize this was the third and final season and I could sense the disappointment in her voice when I told her it was.
The show sets up the possibility for a spin off, but I am not sure if anything official has been announced about that yet or not. I will admit, it's a bit hard to imagine John Krasinski in any role other than Jim Halpert from The Office, but he plays his part here really well. Probably my favorite iteration of Jack Ryan alongside Harrison Ford.
That's some high praise I think.
If you haven't watched Jack Ryan I encourage you to start at the beginning and buckle in for some fun.
The Witcher Season 3
After having played Witcher 3 on PC, I was pretty excited when they announced The Witcher was coming to Netflix. Season 1 was fantastic, but a bit confusing for me due to the fact that they jumped around the timeline quite a bit. Now that I think of it, I probably should have went back and watched the first season again at some point.
Season 2 was a bit more linear, but I think a lot of people agree it wasn't quite as good as season 1.
Season 3, went back to the jumping around the timeline model, but not quite to the extent that the first season did. At least they were a bit more up front about it. I still love the characters, but season 3 was a bit of a mess for me and if you read many of the reviews on the Internet, the sentiment is shared.
It's hard to ignore the elephant in the room when you talk about The Witcher. The fact that this is Henry Cavils last season playing Geralt and he is going to be replaced by one of those Hemsworth boys is a bit distracting. It definitely leaves you wondering how they are going to accomplish the pivot from one character to the other.
If you are a die hard fan, you are definitely going to want to watch season 3, I just suggest you don't get your hopes up. Which shouldn't be hard if you watched the little mini series they did a bit ago Witcher: Blood Origin. I didn't mind it, but most people felt it was trash.
I'm not as invested in The Witcher as some people out there. I didn't even bother finishing Witcher 3 (the game) even though I enjoyed playing it. I'll definitely keep watching the show, but if you are looking for the same experience season 1 gave you, you will likely be disappointed.
I forgot to point out, this is a show I watch alone. My wife doesn't care for fantasy or science fiction stuff, so I watch this when she is napping or after she has gone to bed.
The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2
Being fans of lawyer shows and having watched the movie with the same name several years ago, @mrsbozz and I decided to give The Lincoln Lawyer a try. Season 2 was split into two parts, but all of the episodes are now available on Netflix.
I don't feel like the plot of this season is as compelling as it was in season 1, but it is still a good show. I enjoyed the episodes and we got to see a bit more character development with the main characters. The fact that it is created by David E Kelly should tell you that it is going to be a fairly decent lawyer show. He is pretty much the king of lawyer shows as far as I am concerned. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo does a really good job as Mickey Haller.
I will admit, it was surprising the departure from the character that McConaughey played in the movie, but Manuel does it really well and it isn't hard to actually start caring for him pretty quickly.
Without giving too much away, there are a lot of questionable decisions made in season 2 that make it a little hard to imagine anyone could be so stupid. That aside, if you look at it purely from an entertainment point of view, it fits the bill and should Netflix decide not to cancel it and season 3 comes out, @mrsbozz and I will definitely be watching it.
Believe it or not, I still have 8 shows on my list to share with you and that list will likely grow a bit as the weather starts to turn and we spend more time indoors.
I've got a busy weekend ahead and I am not sure how much TV I will actually watch. Tonight we are watching my niece play volleyball, tomorrow are heading to watch my pseudo niece march in the marching band for the halftime show at her high school, and Saturday we are driving a bit south to watch my youngest niece play soccer.
Good thing I have all this free time on my hands!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
Fuck - no more Geralt, no more Witcher.
Season 3 was just too slow. It really was all downhill after season 1.
Painkiler - Best thing I've seen on Netflix this year!
My wife wants to watch Painkiller, but we have already watched so many documentaries about the same topic, I am not sure how engaging it will be. I think the new actor is going to be Geralt, just a different actor. Which is rough because Cavil played the part so well.
Fair play RE painkiller, it was excellent TV though, I'm not the only one to comment thus! It's gonna be hard to top the original actor! Mind you if they make S4 a bit faster paced, that could help!
Song of the Bandits is my latest watch, thoroughly enjoyable romp!
Thanks, I will likely watch it eventually since the wife wants to see it. I need to start the second season of the wheel of time next.
I like Jack Ryan a lot too, sad it's come to an end. Reacher also is also a great show, much better than Tom Cruise in the the role! The Witcher I could never really get into so I never even finished season 1.
I've not checked out Lincoln Lawyer, I'll have to take a look. One show I did like back last year was Peacemaker with John Cena playing the absolute worst superhero of all time. It was a funny show, they're making a season two but not until James Gunn finishes up some other DC project since he is the boss there now.
I feel like I just saw he is in another movie that looks pretty good. I think it was called Argyle or something like that. Reacher is fantastic and I am really looking forward to season 2.
I wish i am a movie person.lol
There is no much time to see movies except during holidays,with my kids.
No, not a lot of time at all. That's part of the reason I really don't go anymore.
The only one of those I watched is The Witcher. I enjoyed it, but I'm not too fussed about where it goes next or if the cast changes. I did notice that in one battle where Geralt used a shield spell it looked a lot like a game. I've never played the games.
We just finished season 6 of Young Sheldon. It's less about the title character now, but still enjoyable. Also working through season 6 of Only Murders in the Building. There's a couple of game shows we watch together, but not much else. I have a few things I want to watch. I've started on Ahsoka. Some of the reviews are not great, but it's just a few episodes. If something runs for over 20 episodes then it's a big time investment.
I've really been enjoying Ahsoka. It's probably my favorite Star Wars show to date. We just started the latest season of Only Murders in the Building the other day.
Mentioning the old 24 episode seasons vs the current 8-12 episode seasons is an interesting one. On one hand I like how shows these days take their time to tell the story and are connecting much more as one story instead of 24 individual ones, playing out like what we used to call mini-series (remember "V"?). But on the other hand, I kind of miss the old way where we got more separate stories and many more of them, like the old seasons of TNG, Cheers, Family Ties, etc.
Picard, for instance. Essentially we just got 3 stories in that show. The first two were meh, the third amazing. Though I very much enjoyed that 3rd one, I kind of think I would have enjoyed having a dozen or so smaller and shorter stories like the old show.
I understand what you are saying. My wife and I were just talking about this the other day with another show we are watching (that I haven't covered yet). She was like I am sick of this story line, when are they going to get back to the case of the week style?
I just hope that you get to enjoy your new selected shows. They should be fun...I guess.
I hope so too. Thanks!
I need to watch the Jack Ryan series, looks quite good. Looks like they couldn't keep the momentum with The Witcher , Geralt and Javier are the best combo for me. I started W3 but need to continue as I think we got distracted.
Yeah, he has some great songs and some awesome comedic lines. I think they did a good job with Yen as well. I like the characters, I just am not sure the storytelling is where it could be.
Yeah, Yen, she had me in stitches. It is a shame like you said that the storyline is abit weak.. something was/ is missing, not just Geralt from next season.
I also saw him in Immortals recently even though its an old one but think it is a smart move moving to Highlander, I loved that as a kid. I hope they keep the Queen themetune. He would be following in the footsteps of the great Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery.
I remember the Highlander TV show and the movies as well. It was some good stuff. Just as much lore there as there is with Witcher. I think it will be interesting.
I love the whole living for ever type of movies like this, Interview with a Vampire and Blade were the business. I loved how in Blade he could sniff out their secret hideouts.