Binge watching

[Parrothead]

I binge watched a few shows over the holidays. S1 of Fargo and the four made for tv movies Flowers in the Attic, Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday".

[Thumper]

We watched Elf and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

[pumpkinpi]

I binge watched a few shows over the holidays. S1 of Fargo and the four made for tv movies Flowers in the Attic, Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday".

Are those recently made or from long ago? I devoured those books when I was a teen. I checked them out from the library over and over. They were so scandalous....My favorte of VC Andrews' was her one-off, My Sweet Audrina.

Regarding Fargo: I think I posted about this before. I watched part of one episode. I can appreciate that it's a quality show, but it is so fucking violent that I was turned away. Part of this episode was when a guy was tied to a treadmill inside a house facing a front door, and he got blown away by hundred of bullets from a swat team. Or something like that. There were other gruesome scenes, too. It was so over the top with violence that I just couldn't handle it. I wish we could go back to when such violence was implied but now shown so graphically.

Contrary to that, I watch Game of Thrones and love it. (posted about this before, too.) I think the main reason I couldn't take it with Fargo is that I turned it on when my kids were in the next room. It was on FX, and since it was a regular channel in prime time, I didn't expect that level of violence. GoT is more shielded, on a pay channel, and we only watch it on disk when kids are safely tucked away in bed. So it's not necessarily that I can't handle the violence, but I don't like that my kids can have such easy access to it.

On a similar note, 6 may be a bit too young for Harry Potter. We watched #s 2 and 3 over break. I expected Buster to have issues with the dementors and werewolf, but for a few nights he was ok. Last night he came out of bed saying "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about something that scares me." It was when Peter Pettigrew turned into a rat!

[Thumper]

I thought some of the HP material was too extreme and violent for The Kid when they first came out. I vaguely remember her having some issues of not liking scenes or being scared. Then she got older and completely lost interest in the series.

[Cyborg Girl]

I started reading HP around... 10? 11? Didn't like the movies, but then I've never liked movies. I'd read the books cover to cover in six-plus-hour sittings, though. I was a weird kid.

But anyway, if you want me to be honest... I feel like the "scary" is part of why HP is uniquely appropriate for older kids.

e.g. The relative invulnerability of baddies like Dementors IMO speaks to the very real danger of bad ideas, which cannot be defeated by force alone.

[geonuc]

Jessica Jones and Narcos, among others recently.

[SciFi Chick]

We don't have time to binge watch, per se, but I do love how you can pick a series on Netflix and watch it night after night rather than week to week. Currently, we're watching "Vampire Diaries". I know! SFC and vendic watching something about vampires? Who'd have thought?

Also really enjoyed "Jessica Jones" and hoping it will get renewed. Looking forward to the next season of Daredevil, as well as the other two spinoffs that are coming.

[pumpkinpi]

The only ways I can binge is by buying the disks or using Amazon Prime. We don't have any other streaming service. I just have Prime because I can get it very cheap because I'm a student, and make up for it with shipping cost savings. It was only long after I subscribed that I discovered its video.

I binged on seasons 1-4 of Parenthood a year or so ago. Boy, that's a great show. Every episode makes me cry. I haven't continued because seasons 5 and 6 are not yet free.

But my recent binges were seasons one and two of Transparent. Go watch it, now. It deserves all the accolades it's getting. That family is so broken--in the middle of season 2 there were episodes so painful to watch that I almost quit. But the payoff for continuing is fantastic.

[Thumper]

I was really looking forward to Transparent. I heard interviews with Tambor (who I love) and the shows writers and creators. Looked like it was going to be a great show. All three of us started watching the first episode. Mrs. T finally had enough and killed it midway through. It was just too graphic and adult she thought for The Kid. I had to agree. I know it deals with adult situations and themes. I was fine with The Kid watching that. Heck we had a close friend go through the same process. But it just seemed gratuitously graphic and dirty. Seemed like it was getting in the way of or distracting from the story. And I've not been able to go back because there's pretty much no time that I'm available to watch any TV that The Kid isn't around.

Oh well.

[brite]

I watched all of Transparent and found it to be tragic. Disturbing and tragic. And I don't think that I will be watching more of it. That is one screwed up family....

[grapes]

Up to season two of House of Cards, took a week, but now we're stuck. I really only wanted to watch it for the peachrhoid, which turned out to be the third episode. I'm pretty sure they perved it to "peachoid".

[brite]

House of Cards is a WHOLE other story! I will binge watch that sucker in a day! I watched the UK version first, then went for the US version.... LOVELOVE! But I'm bad... I find a series that I like and I will binge watch it to the end....

[geonuc]

I recommend watching both versions of House of Cards = American and British. They are both good.

[geonuc]

Looking forward to the next season of Daredevil, as well as the other two spinoffs that are coming.

Yeah, I binged Daredevil, too. Liked it.

[pumpkinpi]

I was really looking forward to Transparent. I heard interviews with Tambor (who I love) and the shows writers and creators. Looked like it was going to be a great show. All three of us started watching the first episode. Mrs. T finally had enough and killed it midway through. It was just too graphic and adult she thought for The Kid. I had to agree. I know it deals with adult situations and themes. I was fine with The Kid watching that. Heck we had a close friend go through the same process. But it just seemed gratuitously graphic and dirty. Seemed like it was getting in the way of or distracting from the story. And I've not been able to go back because there's pretty much no time that I'm available to watch any TV that The Kid isn't around.

Oh well.

Oh goodness, no, that show is not for minors! I don't quite remember the sex scenes in the first one, but I guarantee it only gets more explicit. It's too bad you didn't get that message up front.

I tell you, though, I take graphic sex over graphic violence any day. It's a shame our society has evolved this way. Naked bodies and people doing things in the name of love? No way on prime time tv. But tearing them apart bloody as all hell in the name that is all evil, that's just fine. I can't even watch a football game with my son without seeing shoot 'em up violence in just the commercials for network shows.

Not that I'd let my kids watch Transparent, of course!

[SciFi Chick]

I ended up watching a season of Survivor after finding out that one of my favorite actresses from my childhood (Lisa Welchel) was on there. Now, I am soooo into this show. I can't get enough of it! It's so much fun!

[hap]

Just watched the first season of Into the Badlands. Interesting premise, some pretty good (if typically unrealistic) martial arts, and at least it is not as bloody as The Walking Dead...

Also binged the first 5 seasons of Game of Thrones. I honestly kept losing interest. I would just be getting into a particular story arc, and then it shifts gears to another. I would probably not have watched past season 1 if my wife didn't like it so much.

[SciFiFisher]

Just watched the first season of Into the Badlands. Interesting premise, some pretty good (if typically unrealistic) martial arts, and at least it is not as bloody as The Walking Dead...

Also binged the first 5 seasons of Game of Thrones. I honestly kept losing interest. I would just be getting into a particular story arc, and then it shifts gears to another. I would probably not have watched past season 1 if my wife didn't like it so much.

One of the drawbacks in books and film currently is the attempt to tell multiple story arcs. It is very easy to lose track and/or get tired of the constant jumping around. What is really frustrating is when the author/script writers leave you hanging in a particular story line and never seem to come back to it.

[Parrothead]

The made for tv movies of the V.C. Andrews books were made by/for Hallmark (IIRC). First two aired in 2014, second two 2015. I didn't know of these until I noticed they were airing here during the holidays.

[brite]

I just binged on DCI Banks (Brit police procedural) and Veronica Mars... Loved both... this is what happens when I'm not in school....

[SciFi Chick]

Veronica Mars was soooo good! I miss it.

[Parrothead]

A couple of weeks ago, FX aired S1 of "The Tunnel" (UK/France version) on both Saturday and Sunday. Between the two days saw the entire first season. They started airing S2 the next night (Monday).

[Thumper]

We were able to go a week without turning the TV on. Then The Kid came back home. So "Switched at Birth" has been playing constantly...

[SciFi Chick]

I just spent the last couple weeks binge watching the U.S. version of "Shameless." I cannot say enough good things about this show. When I watched the first episode, I almost gave up. I found it too dark. But I kept seeing good reviews and I'm a bit William H. Macy fan, so I persisted. By the fourth episode, I was absolutely hooked. I can't WAIT for season 7. This is most definitely a show for adults however.

[squ1d]

Stranger Things!