@LoveTheBard Let us know what you think of Designated Survivor. We started watching it but got tired of it after a few episodes. I have wondered since if we should have stuck it out. Since it was filmed here, we know a lot of the actors in the show from our family’s involvement with theatre, and even that didn’t keep us watching.
I am streaming the original Veronica Mars series on Hulu in preparation for the new season starting today. I enjoyed it the first time around and still do. Although I knew it had been set in Southern California, I had forgotten that it was mainly filmed in San Diego County. And, apparently, in many spots close to where I now live. I’m constantly pausing to pinpoint the locations. Makes it twice as fun!
Binge watched Stranger Things season 3 - 4 episodes 7/4, then final 4 the next night. I thought it was just as good as season 1 and better than season 2. Definitely left wide open for another season.
I’m catching up on The Handmaid’s Tale and it is riveting and repulsive and disconcerting, to say the least. Are others watching? I didn’t see any recent threads.
The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale was great because it followed the book. The second season was iffy, some episodes better than others, and it continued on after the book ended. This third season is, imo, an embarrassment and it makes almost no sense how some of the characters are being written vs the original premise and season.
Watching Handmaid’sTale and LOVE it. Yes, I agree third season is getting out there, but I still love it. But what’s nagging me is this…what ever were the ramifications from what happened at very end of season 2?!
Agree with @Leigh22 re Stranger Things 3. It’s lots of fun, and everything Season 2 wasn’t. It even easily passes the Bechdel test, which Season 2 would have flunked completely except for the terrible Chicago episode. (The Duffer Brothers are learning, slowly, to create female characters with intellect. Maya Hawke’s Robin, and the emergence of Lucas’ younger sister Erica, are big advances.)
Also agree with @Marilyn re Veronica Mars. Its first season was one of the best-written shows ever. I have re-watched a few of the episodes on Hulu recently, and it really stands up. I will be interested to see what the update series looks like when it is released.
@alwaysamom –– We really enjoyed Designated Survivor and are sorry that we finished all 3 seasons (I won’t even mention in how short a time period, lol…suffice it to say, I hadn’t been on CC anywhere near as much).
While Designated Survivor wasn’t quite at the level of West Wing, we thought that it was really engaging. We started watching Madame Secretary (about a Secretary of State), but it’s nowhere near as gripping.
@LoveTheBard Thanks! Maybe I’ll give it a try again. Coincidentally, I was out at a show at the Toronto Fringe this week written by and starring an actor friend who was on Designated Survivor. 
I don’t know how much of Madame Secretary that you watched but I would always recommend that show to fans of excellent writing, good ensemble casts and shows that hire many theatre actors (one of the benefits of filming in NY). It’s one of our favorite shows, for those reasons.
We enjoy Designated Survivor - we need to watch the current season. I particularly like the character development.
I’ve seen all the episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale. Agree that this season is kind of a stretch, but I’ll keep watching. DH just shakes his head every time he comes through the room when it’s on!
We’ve just started Designated Survivor this week. We are enjoying it.
@JustaMom Thank you for recommending The Casketeers. I watched four episodes tonight and it is a lovely show. Funny, sad, uplifting and just all around charming. I am looking forward to continuing my binge tomorrow.
I’m looking for something new to binge on; Casketeers looks interesting, thanks.
We have Starz as part of our cable package and use it sparingly (Outlander), but decided to watch Spanish Princess after seeing an ad for it. Covers the period at the end of Henry VII’s reign and how Henry VIII ended up with both the throne and Catherine of Aragon.
Then we learned that there had been 2 prequels: White Queen and White Princess. White Queen deals with the War of the Roses, of which we knew little about. Let me tell ya, what a crazy mess that was!! Looking forward to White Princess, which covers the end of the War of the Roses, when Henry VII (Tudor/Lancaster) marries Elizabeth (of York) to end the war once and for all. It was interesting to see many of the same characters from Spanish Princess in White Queen, albeit at much younger ages.
DW and I really enjoy programs where we are constantly on our phones looking up people and events–which is probably why we also enjoy Victoria and The Crown as well.
All of these are based on historical novels by Phillipa Gregory–another of her novels, The Other Boleyn Girl, was made into a well-regarded movie recently.
As re: The Last Czars, I have always been rather fascinated by Alexandra, Nicholas, the children, and Rasputin, I have read all kinds of books and biographies regarding them.
No, the series did not provide me with any new facts, but it did present a somewhat different take on Nicholas and Alexandra’s personalities. While I have always understood Nicholas was rather naive and insecure, unprepared to rule, weak as a ruler and easily manipulated by his uncle, I had never before seen him portrayed as deliberately or intentionally cruel and hateful towards the Russian people. All my previous information was that he simply had little to no ability to understand the actual consequences of his (poor) decisions.
Likewise, as to Alexandra, I’ve always understood her to have become more and more withdrawn from the people and inaccessible as her concern for her son grew and that she was extremely religious, which allowed her to be manipulated by Rasputin. But never had I seen her portrayed as one of those that deliberately preyed upon Nicholas’ insecurities and used those insecurities to manipulate him against his better judgment (which granted showed itself in few moments), thus contributing to his poor judgment decisions.
And I still simply cannot fathom the hold Rasputin held over those he manipulated, including Alexandra. But then he really just falls into the genre of Charlie Manson and Jim Jones, etc.
I enjoyed the series.
Husband and I are watching The Catch by Shonda Rimes. I was specifically looking for something after Scandal. It is okay. Not great, but not bad.
Just starting season 2 of Fleabag and am not completely on board. I’m not a fan of the “funny/tragedy” recipe, I want to either laugh or cry but not both during a 25 minute episode. The acting and script are so well done that when it’s sad, it’s unbearably sad. I mostly tuned in to see Oliva Colman, and she does not disappoint.
@MADad I loved The White Queen, I watched it two months ago (granted, I’m not a history buff). I like Rebecca Ferguson in the four or five movies I’ve seen.
Is anyone watching Fear the Walking Dead? I have enjoyed this show from the start, sometimes more than TWD, but this season is a bust for me. I haven’t found it engaging at all and I keep finding myself distracted by other things while I’m watching. I think it may have run its course.
I finished Unit 42, which has interesting relationships. S1 ends with loose ends, so Iexpect an S2. The plots are a little stretch (you really can’t just hack into anything in minutes.)
But now Ineed suggestions on more Euro Noir. Not too nightmare scary, not too hard to get interested.