Watching any good TV?

[MerlinDrazziw]

Saw the first 2 episodes of The Shannara Chronicles. It looked interesting, although confusing with a former dwarf now an elven king. Haven't read any of the books this show is based on, so it's basically a new story for me. Hope they keep it on a convenient time so I can keep up with the series.

[RamenJunkie]

I've been sort of watching while my wife and kids actually watch this show Murdoch Mysteries on Netflix. It's pretty good, though I can't decide if it's clever or kind of lame how they seem to "invent" a ton of things.

Anyway, it's a Victorian period crime drama show set in Toronto.

I also have to say I well always get a kick out of the word "Constabulary".

[VictorViper]

I've been sort of watching while my wife and kids actually watch this show Murdoch Mysteries on Netflix. It's pretty good, though I can't decide if it's clever or kind of lame how they seem to "invent" a ton of things.

Anyway, it's a Victorian period crime drama show set in Toronto.

I also have to say I well always get a kick out of the word "Constabulary".

I watch Murdoch Mysteries an awful lot. It's absolutely got a certain lameness to it, but I adore the characterizations and their development across the series.

[RamenJunkie]

I watch Murdoch Mysteries an awful lot. It's absolutely got a certain lameness to it, but I adore the characterizations and their development across the series.

Yeah, it's cool, and the lameness is less of a complaint than a comment.

But then there are things like "Hey, we just invented Bitmaps over the telegrapgh! Totally early Internet"

[The Shoemaker]

Been watching The Office (US) for the past month. It's pretty good, first time watching it. I'm just about done season 7 now, getting close to saying goodbye to Steve. Will be interesting to see how the final two seasons do without him.

[A Beta Fu7ure]

Since I've been rained in all weekend, I binge watched the new Netflix show 'The OA'.

I don't recall ever being more annoyed and disappointed by a series finale after what had been a well made, if not always wonderfully paced, series up until that point.

[Kreegs]

Season 2 of Man in the High Castle is out on Amazon. I am really enjoying it.

[Kong Wen]

I hadn't realized that Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was already out. This is the new one, with Elijah Wood. Important to note that it's not an adaptation: it's based on the books, but it's not a retelling of that story (although there are a couple of allusions to it). It's a new holistic case, which works well for the show, since it liberates it somewhat from direct comparison to the masterwork of a genius. It's 8 episodes long, and well worth watching. It's not perfect, but I think it does the job it set out to do admirably well.

[Kong Wen]

Kong's 2016 on TV

With 2016 drawing to a close—and with no chance that I'll finish another series before I hang up a new calendar—I took a look back at the television shows I watched throughout the year.

The Knick - Season 2 - Mrs. Kong and I finished the series off in early January. The first season was excellent, but the second season really ramped up the pace and the stakes. Not bad, but it's clear they wanted to draw everything to a conclusion.

Narcos - Season 1 (January) & Season 2 (September) - The second season wasn't as good as the first, possibly hampered by the fact that you knew what was going to happen and that it was relatively inevitable, so there wasn't really a roller-coaster of ups and downs for the good guys.

Show Me a Hero (February) - This is a 6-part HBO miniseries by David Simon (The Wire) starring Oscar Isaac. It's interesting because you don't often see municipal politics dramatized. Isaac is great.

House of Cards - Season 4 (March) - This series has jumped the shark by now.

Daredevil - Season 2 (March) - Probably even better than the first season, for a few reasons. One, Daredevil is fully-fledged now, so he doesn't suffer from as much wimpy "am I or am I not a badass" equivocation as during his formative first season. Two, obviously, the Punisher was executed very well—not just in terms of character, but in the way his character's arc plugs into the overall plotting of the show. Three, the casting for Elektra was actually phenomenal. I expected her presence to detract from the show's quality because I don't usually care for her character, but she was well done, and well-acted.

Jessica Jones - Season 1 (April) - I was on my Marvel Netflix Universe kick so I decided I had better catch up on this, to stay in the loop and because it was well-reviewed. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout thanks to the pervasive rape theme, but that discomfort is part of the point I suppose. I'm not really interested in Jones as a character, and I don't have the same fascination with her villain that some people apparently do. Luke Cage was the highlight of this series for me.

Game of Thrones - Season 6 (June), then Seasons 1 (July), 2 (August), and 3 (November) - Mrs. Kong and I finished what currently exists of the series as it aired. It's currently at a high point in terms of writing, direction, and overall quality. After that, I convinced Kong-in-law, who hadn't seen a single episode of the show, to watch it through with me from the beginning, and we're now a few episodes into Season 4. It's been great re-watching all those old scenes and seeing just how much of the plot is foreshadowed and how much of the greater universe is alluded to in the earlier sequences.

Stranger Things - Season 1 (August) - This was good. Mrs. Kong was more into it than I was, but it's more in her wheelhouse anyway. I was surprised by how horrifying it was.

Voltron: Legendary Defender - Season 1 (September) - I was bored so I gave this little Netflix series a shot. I was surprised by how decently-plotted it was and how faithful it appeared to be to the older material. I still wouldn't say it's a great show or anything like that, but it was a quality time-waster. Plus Rhys Darby is excellent.

Luke Cage - Season 1 (October) - After seeing Luke Cage in Jessica Jones, I was excited for this show's potential. It was good, overall. I like Luke Cage. The show is very black, which is also good! Great music, great street-level Harlem atmosphere, and a great cast. Mahershala Ali was a standout. The only real downside is that the villains kind of sucked—not just because they had a hard time hurting Cage, but also because they never really seemed like they had a handle on the situation, so I couldn't really perceive them as a legitimate threat.

Westworld - Season 1 (December) - Great show. Anthony Hopkins! What a man. It was a slow-burn, but always contemplative rather than plodding. I actually rather like how it unfolded, with the memorable scenes from each episode being well-crafted dialogue more than action set-pieces (for the most part). It lived up to my Jonathan Nolan expectations.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Season 1 (December) - As I mentioned earlier, this isn't an adaptation, but a new story inspired by Adams's books. It's well-plotted and the characters and engaging and likable. It's "zany!!" but Elijah Wood successfully anchors it so it doesn't become too masturbatory.

Best of the Year: Westworld

Runner-Up: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Memorable Moments: Kong's descent into the Marvel TV universe with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage in quick succession. Watching 4.5 seasons of Games of Thrones and catching up on all my good memories of Westeros's main protagonist, Sandor Clegane.

[The Shoemaker]

Kong's 2016 on TV

With 2016 drawing to a close—and with no chance that I'll finish another series before I hang up a new calendar—I took a look back at the television shows I watched throughout the year.

That's a fun idea! I doubt I'll be watching much more before the year ends either.

Rick & Morty - Probably the highlight of my TV viewing this year. I really enjoyed Dan Harmon's work on community and his Podcast HarmonTown, so I thought I would give his other TV show a shot. Really good stuff, exactly what I was looking for at the time. Funny absurd story lines, satirical remarks and commentary all of the place, but still room for character moments. Looking forward to season 3.

The Office - I binged the whole 9 seasons between September and November I believe. Hilarious show, don't know why it took me so long to jump in. Personally, I think the show was probably a couple seasons too long, but not because Michael wasn't in two seasons. It more has to do with cable TV requiring 24 episode seasons, I imagine it stretches the writers pretty thin. I know season 8 gets a lot of hate, but I think I might have enjoyed it more than season 9. It had kind of a chaotic "what do we do now" kind of feeling, but not in terms of the show quality, but the actual characters trying to figure out how to live in a world post-Michael.

Stranger Things - Another nice highlight of the year. I always appreciate nice condensed stories. Season 1 felt like it had a beginning middle and end to it's story, rather than leaving you with cliffhangers to return to the next season. I liked the mystery and the 80's movie vibe. I thought the last two episodes took a bit of a dip, but overall enjoyable season.

Game of Thrones - In some ways it was better than season 5, and in some ways it was worse. The big thing is I really feel liking they are lacking on the character moments. I don't care for these characters anymore, they don't feel like characters. I'm going back and forth on whether I should watch season 7 or not. On the one hand, it will be a shortened season, so I'm expecting tighter episodes with a higher budget. But on the other hand, season 6 didn't have much for book spoilers, season 7 will certainly be moving into the realms of the books. Is it worth spoiling the books to watch a show that is likely to disappoint me? Might depend on if TWOW comes out before hand, I have at least half a year to decide anyways!

Overall, a fine year of TV. I'm actually not a big TV enthusiast so this was actually more TV than I usually watch!