Your Ten Favorite Shows Currently on Television

I’m bummed about Tuca and Bertie. It took me a few episodes for me to get the show but once I did it was great ( and those first few episodes are great on a second watch as well)

I do wonder what metrics Netflix go on, total view, first weekend binge views, proportion of viewers who drop a series.

Super vague spoilers here, but... The dramatic event in the last episode of Succession completely killed my desire to watch any more episodes. They made a big reach and I sort of admire them for it but it did not work for me at all. Considering that the future of the show will likely revolve around it in a big way, I'm out.

given Jesse Armstrong's involvement, I would like to see the second season adopt the Peep Show POV/voiceover aesthetic.

tuca and bertie was promising for 3 episodes (episode 3 itself was p great) but then episodes 4 and 5 were so jawdroppingly terrible that i stopped watching and am frankly unsurprised at the cancellation. and if that seems cruel then...it probably is

Sex Bugs was where it finally clicked for me.

you are literally opposite me and i am outta here

i thought it was not very good

The first minute of Tuca & Bertie was enough for me

the best show on TV is back today, that's right, it's Lodge 49 time again

I love the cast, and the vibe, and a ton of the scene work in Lodge 49. The supernatural overarching plot needs work though. Or just dump it and make a SoCal version of Northern Exposure.

Sex Bugs was a really good episode, xpost. It kind of peaked there.

oh man, did not realize Lodge 49 was back today! I got an email about the new season of The Terror, though

now AMC is best friend again

it's also great timing for me cause I'm trying to write a series (for fun) that is sort of halfway btwn Lodge 49 and Rubicon

It’s back! I have to watch that tonight. It’s pretty much my favourite active show.

I would love to read your series Simon if you need guinea pigs at any point.

"Austerity doesn't work!"

Fuck do I love this show

Succession premiere was good. Lots of scheming afoot

I thought Tuca & Bertie really picked up when Tuca went to visit her rich Aunt with Speckles. Deserves better but otoh having it continue risks the temptation to rule-build or demystify their world to excess (the problem with Bojack is tho it improved and enriched you get to a point where too often the interesting aspects of the humans/animals dynamic are marginalised or reserved just for basic jokes to the point they might as well just all be humans) and in any case maybe it's OK for more good to great shows to just not continue after one season even if they can in the mass production/provision on demand era.

Lodge 49 season 2 is killing it so far. Its characters and set of principles are all so lovely that watching it makes me feel just better about everything. I loved the whole thing about the bartering system in this last episode!

Here's a nice interview about show creator Jim Gavin's influences, which include Muriel Spark and generally being a 'music geek'. Can we be sure he's not an ILXor? https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/09/07/interview-jim-gavin-creator-whimsical-offbeat-lodge-49

Just one more plug for Legion, now that its 3-year run has finished. If you haven't watched it, Legion is an incredibly fun, BEAUTIFUL, inventive show set in the MCU. I didn't love season 2 as much as 1, but season 3 was great. Watch it on a big, high-quality TV.

https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/08/28/in-a-few-years-you-ll-regret-not-watching-legion/

anyone who liked Catastrophe or Fleabag should watch This Way Up on Hulu. Not quite as good as its predecessors and far more predictable but still worth the three hours.

I ended up watching and loving all of The Boys on Amazon prime yesterday, which isn’t something I usually do. It’s not subtle at all but there are several scenes I can’t stop thinking about. Some great casting too.

xp
does the International Policy Digest often weigh in on tv shows?

I tried This Way Up but it wasn't as good as I hoped.

Xp no idea! I just liked the article/take.

Episode 4 of This Way Up has a reference to Look Around You, which is the highlight of the show so far.

Here's what I got to recommend for 2019 so far, very much in no particular order:
Fleabag
Patriot Act
Gentleman Jack
Russian Doll
Great British Baking Show
Last Week Tonight
Late Show with Colbert
Desus and Mero
Veep
Chernobyl
Succession
Ramy
Pen15
Shrill
I Think You Should Leave
Tuca and Bertie
Barry
High Maintenance
Catastrophe
The Other Two
What We Do in Shadows
Blown Away
Broad City
This Way Up
Jeopardy
Corporate
America to Me (from 2018 but worth hunting down in 2019… on Starz unfortunately)

...and some likely late additions once they premiere / I get around to fully watching the series
Country Music
The Act
Unbelieveable
Big Mouth
LetterKenny
Silicon Valley
Killing Eve
The Good Place
Dark
Doom Patrol
SMILF

With those picks in mind, anybody wanna push their agenda on me?

oh yeah, and for the airing-right-now moment there's not much of anything:
Great British Baking Show
Last Week Tonight
Late Show with Colbert
Succession
Jeopardy

i suppose i should get back into lodge 49 but the first ep was not encouraging.

give it one or two more but tbh it's not for everyone, it's a motherfucking vibe

that said the mythology-heavy episode this week was, imo, incredible

some omissions that have been big in my watching lately:

Steven Universe
GLOW
Mindhunter

i really liked the premiere of lodge 49 (and LOVED season 1) but have fallen behind because of life.

will try to catch up soon.

succession is the one show i've been able to keep up with weekly in recent months.

i loved season 1 of lodge 49 but it's sorta lightning in a bottle and the first ep of season two hit me cold.
succession is kinda the best thing on tv right now by far.
my gal is binging all of mindhunter right now but - unless it is innovative or utterly exemplary - I'm pretty tired of police procedurals and serial killer stuff.
I tried Steven Universe (i think i'm just too old) and GLOW (fond memories of the actual show but it didn't quite land for me)
i appreciate the recommendations though!

I'm pretty tired of police procedurals and serial killer stuff.

does not compute 🙃

i loved season 1 of lodge 49 but it's sorta lightning in a bottle and the first ep of season two hit me cold.

I thought this too at first but then this week's ep was the best one yet

fwiw mindhunter is utterly exemplary ymmv

well i DO love jonathan groff. Perhaps I'll join in the middle with her.
Can anyone rep for the Elena Ferrante HBO show?

surprisingly, the current (last?) season of Preacher has sped up and has had pretty consistently good episodes

I've fallen behind on The Terror s2 and it hasn't hooked me as the first season did, but it's pretty solid

couple of good AMC days between Lodge 49/Preacher/The Terror and then I've been slowly creeping through Rubicon while in the app

if i had the brain to handle it i'd love to see a year-end ilx "best of tv" poll of some sort. anyway aside from righteous gemstones (great) and south side (not bad) and good aug/sept premieres i should check out?

Succession is probably my favorite show that's on right now

tbh I revisited Rubicon recently and it hasn't held up as well as I hoped

Will M: I am kinda hopeful/looking forward to:
Stumptown
Unbelieveable
The Unicorn (Goggins!)

I would also be very glad to see an eoy TV poll on here.

This is kind of very repetitive of ulysses' list, but these have been my favourites of late:
Lodge 49
Terrace House
Stath Lets Flats
13 Reasons Why
Jane the Virgin
GLOW
Veep
Dead to Me
The Amazing Mrs.Maisel
The Good Place
Pose
I Think You Should Leave
PEN15
Dear White People
Good Omens
Russian Doll

interested in the new amazon rotoscope series by the creator of bojack horseman (undone), plus the new netflix show unbelievable

the mythology-heavy episode this week was, imo, incredible

Otm. I enjoy Blaze and Dud's sense of wonder so much.

Terrace House
Stath Lets Flats

also, this looks pretty good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w54yW2Ur50

I'm not so much looking forward to Stumptown as resigned to the fact that I'm gonna watch at least 2-3 episodes. But there's a Native actress in it who I really liked on Longmire, so there's that at least.

There's some new mystical-procedural show just called Evil coming to CBS with Mike Colter, so I'll check that out, too.

I fucking hate Succession. I don't understand how anyone who works in media would enjoy watching fictionalized versions of their evil masters, other than self-abnegating masochism. Of course, self-loathing is pretty much a prerequisite for working in media at this point, so that probably does explain a lot.

the funny thing about that new Colter CBS show is that they bought ads on the fronts of busses all over NYC, so no matter where I go at a crosswalk, I see a bus with EVIL written on its grill, bearing down on me

the thing with succession is that i hate everyone on it and i enjoy seeing them slowly destroy one another. it's cathartic.