Watched the first episode this evening and enjoyed it. I dont know how historically accurate it is but was quite moved by it.
Absolute high school level shit this week. Over reliance on exposition and even more over reliance on wooo native american mystic wisdoms. These are tropes and writing techniques of a teenager writing their piece of fiction.
Started watching season 2 of āman on the insideā tonight and am loving it. Just finished episode 6.
Brilliant. I didnāt know that was coming back for a second season.
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Yeah, came back this week i think.
I just finished All Her Fault from Peacock about a woman who realizes in the first scene of the show that the play date her young kid was on was really a kidnapping. Itās been getting a fair bit of attention since its released, but my god it is an absolute mess of a show. But itās a glorious mess that at only 8 episodes its just short enough to not wear you out with the absurdity of it all
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You see, I keep coming back to it because I find the story interesting but I often find this show on a whole as a weak Stranger Things wannabe (not a fan of ST, though, I canāt even remember if I watched the first two seasons or just one). The dialogue and pacing, especially during the key scenes, just do my head in. I could write that stuff, let alone professional writers who are getting paid for it. Emotional death of a good character? Everybody go on, as you were.
Yeah I have firmly committed to it being shit after this latest episode. It seems unfair to point out, but the child actors are bad. Every scene they are in is terrible. But there are a good collection of well regarded adult actors who are flailing with this material as well so maybe its not really on the kids.
Tonight I finally got round to watching Kobra Kai. Had been hesitating over whether or not to do so since it was first released. Saw the first two episodes. I hadnāt realised it was a comedy. Thought the starting premise was quite clever.
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Watched the last few episodes of Superstore this evening. Very sad its over.
Looking forward to rewatching it.
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Just saw 3rd season of Dark Winds will be available in the UK in about 2 weeks! Am looking forward to that. Really enjoyed first two seasons.
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:0)
The Blackadders were a clan with lands around the Clackmannanshire/Fife border. I used to walk the dogs around Devilla forest in Fife which contained ruins of their estate.
There is a castle still there, which is now part of the Scottish Police training centre, and was previously the headquarters of the Polish armed forces during the second world war.
No idea what the Baldricks got up to.
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Yeah, great ensemble cast, lots of quirky characters. I liked it too.
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Seemingly, Netflix are in pole position to buy Warner Bros (including HBO):
Thatās a massive catalogue for them to acquire, but it does look like monopoly building. Iām wondering whether they would keep HBO as a standalone service for premium content.
I expect the Netflix subscriptions will be on their way up again.
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All of the options on the table have monopoly issues, but the bigger issue is the monopsony of how it limits buyers. But WB staying weighed down by the debt placed on it by its current owners (in a desperate and failed attempt for a third rate TV company to stay relevant) risk the same thing happening to the industry, which makes the consensus that something will have to happen with one of the three currently interested buyers.
The consensus, largely influenced by what the various companies have said publicly, is that Netflix would result in WB being completely subsumed and HBO pretty much disappearing. Their business model focuses on simplicity and so have no interest in the idea of retaining HBO as a standalone brand with a separate tile where you could access HBO content as something distinct from Netflix content. They have claimed they would retain the WB studio as allow it to continue running independently retaining a theatrical release strategy separate from the āno theatricalā strategy Netflix has. HBO is different though. HBO as a service without owning the WB content is massively diminished and so all you have left is a well regarded executive team who might still be able to produce well regarded content if they were left in place to run a TV studio (similar sort of model to how Pixar operated after they were bought by Disney), but Netflix havenāt made that commitment. Best case scenario is you get a handful of shows a year on Netflix that have the HBO tag on them which is a really sad outcome.
Ellison has been considered as the most likely winner. Raising the money will be no issue, and, critically, he has the political connections to smooth over the legal issues regarding the merger. His plan, based on his public comments, appears to be to allow WB and HBO to continue running as is and basically just fold two consumer services into one (HBO, with its WB content, into his Paramount service) with, supposedly, little to no change in the how the content is made. He has also making a more comprehensive bid to acquire the bad bits of WB Discovery that Netflix has no interest in - the rapidly atrophying network TV assets. The issue is lack of faith in him largely because of the politics that make him the front runner. But also he is young and untested, does not just have political favour but shown a desire to use it and shape his content in line with it. Most problematic though is the more recent news that this would not be self funded, but the money would come from the Saudis and the Emirates, which are pretty obvious huge red flags.
Comcast is the other interested buyer (universal, NBC/peacock). I think most industry people prefer this option if consolidation has to happen, even if only as a least worst option, but they are distant outsiders in large part because of Trumpās animus to the company and its current CEO.
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The Town is a pretty good podcast on the business of Hollywood and heās done two episodes recently that cover it pretty well
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Anyone watchjng The Abandons?
Dexent enough.