The best new and returning TV series of 2020?

True Blue · Post by **True Blue** » Sat Feb 22, 2020 5:05 am

mr bungle wrote:I think there’s enough mystic/mind power stuff in the Star Trek universe as well. I get that one started as a low budget tv series but Star Trek aliens, spaceships and weaponry paled in comparison to Star Destroyers, Slave I, Millennium Falcon, Droids, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers, Vader, Wookiees... incredibly in-depth universe as well. While I have liked some Trek movies, all too budget looking on the design front for me.

Movies? Star Trek is a TV show, most of the movies are just popcorn stuff. Fun but the meat was in the tv shows. At its best Star Trek really makes you ponder stuff and has strong ties to current social issues. Star Wars is just a space western. Nothing wrong with that, I enjoyed the Mandalorian greatly and would rate it well above Star Trek: Picard crap, but the pre-2010s Star Trek is clearly not the same type of genre as Star Wars. So I don't find it weird someone can like one and not the other.

JPNZ · Post by **JPNZ** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:07 am

Better call Saul season 5 EP1 is out, so damn good to be back. EP2 is out tomorrow and AMC just signed it on for a 6th season 13 ep finale (one more than breaking bad) sounds like its almost going full circle into the start of BB.

boere wors · Post by **boere wors** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:49 am

JPNZ wrote:Better call Saul season 5 EP1 is out, so damn good to be back. EP2 is out tomorrow and AMC just signed it on for a 6th season 13 ep finale (one more than breaking bad) sounds like its almost going full circle into the start of BB.

Sounds great. Will wait until all episodes are released before I start with the latest season.

As it has been a while, this channel is quite good for getting up to date again with what happened in the previous seasons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jr33FcB9lA

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:21 pm

Having massively enjoyed Season 1 of Kidding, S02 is not disappointing either.

There's really nothing like it out there, as a brilliantly acted and scripted tragi-comedy with free rein to go a bit nuts. Jim Carrey is just brilliant as the ticking timebomb - 9 parts altruistic saint to 1 part psycho. The whole cast is great, it's a visual treat, never stale or boring. Really recommend it.

Captain Average · Post by **Captain Average** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:10 pm

Leinsterman wrote:
blindcider wrote:Just binge watched both series of Titans. Didn't expect to get hooked as I only started it as there was nothing else I fancied watching (didn't fancy starting something new to me of many series) but I did get hooked. I like the fact that they don't explain everything but hint at things that get explained elsewhere.

Sir Friendzone as Bruce Wayne the main WTF point for me
Titans is about as pure DC as you can get. Pretty dark but with some.humour thrown in. Finally a decent DC series.
Far superior to Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Only thing close to it is Teen Titans Go.

As far as DC villains go, Deathstroke is definitely one of my favourites

Season 2 was a big giant mess. I loved season 1, but season 2 was all over the shop.
They did Deathstroke well, but apart from that, can't say I liked much about it.
Too many characters and not enough time to put into them. Super dog

Some of the worst CGI I've seen in modern times when capping off the story arc of season 1, which they did incredibly poorly.

Is Doom Patrol worth a watch?

Captain Average · Post by **Captain Average** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:11 pm

Oh - and two episodes into latest Curb Your Enthusiasm. Brilliant again.

lexpat · Post by **lexpat** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:30 pm

Altered Carbon season 2 is here.
I really like: Hunters
And on the light side: I'm not ok with this, is entertaining ( 7 ep x 25 minutes)

blindcider · Post by **blindcider** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:34 pm

Leinsterman wrote:
blindcider wrote:Just binge watched both series of Titans. Didn't expect to get hooked as I only started it as there was nothing else I fancied watching (didn't fancy starting something new to me of many series) but I did get hooked. I like the fact that they don't explain everything but hint at things that get explained elsewhere.

Sir Friendzone as Bruce Wayne the main WTF point for me
Titans is about as pure DC as you can get. Pretty dark but with some.humour thrown in. Finally a decent DC series.
Far superior to Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Only thing close to it is Teen Titans Go.

As far as DC villains go, Deathstroke is definitely one of my favourites

I quite enjoyed Legends of Tomorrow, rest of the Arrowverse stuff i found pretty bland - Its the sort of thing I watch when on the turbo trainer, minimal attention required but takes your mind off the monotony of Turboing

ticketlessinseattle · Post by **ticketlessinseattle** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:06 pm

Captain Average wrote:Oh - and two episodes into latest Curb Your Enthusiasm. Brilliant again.

yup, think I'm about 4 episodes in - brilliant as ever - funny as fcuk to watch but christ you'd punch the shit out of him if you ever had to actually deal with him

Brazil · Post by **Brazil** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:33 pm

ticketlessinseattle wrote:
Captain Average wrote:Oh - and two episodes into latest Curb Your Enthusiasm. Brilliant again.
yup, think I'm about 4 episodes in - brilliant as ever - funny as fcuk to watch but christ you'd punch the shit out of him if you ever had to actually deal with him

It's magnificently awful.

ticketlessinseattle · Post by **ticketlessinseattle** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:48 pm

Brazil wrote:
ticketlessinseattle wrote:
Captain Average wrote:Oh - and two episodes into latest Curb Your Enthusiasm. Brilliant again.
yup, think I'm about 4 episodes in - brilliant as ever - funny as fcuk to watch but christ you'd punch the shit out of him if you ever had to actually deal with him
It's magnificently awful.

I once stopped watching an episode because he was wrecking my head so much......picked up the following night and laughed my arse off

Jim Lahey · Post by **Jim Lahey** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:06 pm

I recently started watching The Windsors on Netflix.
F**king hilarious

sockwithaticket · Post by **sockwithaticket** » Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:13 pm

lexpat wrote:Altered Carbon season 2 is here.
I really like: Hunters
And on the light side: I'm not ok with this, is entertaining ( 7 ep x 25 minutes)

Watched it all last night, interested to see where they go with it. I liked how snarky the main character was.

ElementFreak · Post by **ElementFreak** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:27 am

Got 1 more episode to go on The Stranger. Not a bad show for a 'turn your brain off' type thing. Lots of stupid decisions from characters which is annoying, but I guess that people making good decisions would make a boring show.

Nolanator · Post by **Nolanator** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:35 pm

Alerted Carbon season 2 seems to be an adaptation of book 3, Women Furies. I'd been hoping it would be book 2, Broken Angels. Get some good space marine stuff going on, ancient aliens and dead starships etc.

Only a couple of episodes in, we'll see how it goes.

Pat the Ex Mat · Post by **Pat the Ex Mat** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:52 pm

Woken furies is a good book

Nolanator · Post by **Nolanator** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:31 pm

It is, but they've taken serious artistic liberties with the source material. The main plot points seem to be there, though.
No rogue AI tech though.

Gazzamonster · Post by **Gazzamonster** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:03 pm

Thought I'd check out the Righteous Gemstones.

Pretty good fun actually. Sleazy Danny McBride is good Danny McBride.

Pat the Ex Mat · Post by **Pat the Ex Mat** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:21 am

Nolanator wrote:It is, but they've taken serious artistic liberties with the source material. The main plot points seem to be there, though.
No rogue AI tech though.

TBH, it was the same with Altered Carbon.

Enjoyable but not a patch on the real Kovacs!

Boobs not Moobs · Post by **Boobs not Moobs** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 1:41 am

Wanted something that was mainly verbal, not action, so I've been binging Suits. It's not bad. It's no Good Wife, though Season 4 lacks humour.

Foot Up · Post by **Foot Up** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:31 am

Boobs not Moobs wrote:Wanted something that was mainly verbal, not action, so I've been binging Suits. It's not bad. It's no Good Wife, though Season 4 lacks humour.

Suits early seasons are a great watch, and the totty is beyond compare. Its gets old watching the same basic plotlines after a while. Quite similar to House in that way imo

Jim Lahey · Post by **Jim Lahey** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:05 am

Finished watching 2nd season of The Split on BBC, very watchable.
Pretty much a show full of dislikable characters though, and the totty ain’t great.

Floppykid · Post by **Floppykid** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:10 am

Gazzamonster wrote:Thought I'd check out the Righteous Gemstones.

Pretty good fun actually. Sleazy Danny McBride is good Danny McBride.

Edi Patterson is the funniest/best thing in it. Her character has all the best lines imo.

I could normally watch Danny McBride all day, but the show had such a terrible lack of stakes or momentum for me.
It seems they'd deviate from what was the core issue of the show and it just diluted everything.

Nieghorn · Post by **Nieghorn** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:24 pm

Not really revealing any plot here, but technically speaking Tales from the Loop looks good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1htuNZp82Ck

Nolanator · Post by **Nolanator** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:51 pm

Pat the Ex Mat wrote:
Nolanator wrote:It is, but they've taken serious artistic liberties with the source material. The main plot points seem to be there, though.
No rogue AI tech though.
TBH, it was the same with Altered Carbon.

Enjoyable but not a patch on the real Kovacs!

Finished it there. Altered Carbon was closer to the book, with the main changes being to the characters of Quel and Rayleen Kowahara. This had only a passing resemblance to Woken Furies, but I liked where they went with the story in its own right.
I actually really enjoyed AI Poe's struggles with his mind. He was the most human character in the whole series.

Mr. Very Popular · Post by **Mr. Very Popular** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:04 pm

The new Tales of the Unexpected has a few decent episodes and a lot of real dross, first 3 are decent, after that the next 3 are just odd and not in a good way.

Better call Saul has started off really strong, one weird scene that was a bit over the top could have easily been cut to about 20 seconds but seemed like it took up about a quarter of the episode.

JPNZ · Post by **JPNZ** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:37 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote:
Better call Saul has started off really strong, one weird scene that was a bit over the top could have easily been cut to about 20 seconds but seemed like it took up about a quarter of the episode.

Spoiler: show

paddyor · Post by **paddyor** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:32 am

Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.

Floppykid · Post by **Floppykid** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:44 am

paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.

I think there's major divergence from what I've read.
I like the Boys, it's good cheesey easy to watch fun, hate the lead actor/character though.

sockwithaticket · Post by **sockwithaticket** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:50 am

paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.

Not personally, but have heard from people who have that they actually prefer the TV series so far as it's reigned in a bit of Ennis' excess. Starlight's coercion scene, for example, involves more than just one of the Seven in the comic.

Balls Out! · Post by **Balls Out!** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:34 am

sockwithaticket wrote:
paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.
Not personally, but have heard from people who have that they actually prefer the TV series so far as it's reigned in a bit of Ennis' excess. Starlight's coercion scene, for example, involves more than just one of the Seven in the comic.

Probably no need to buy them - you can (in the US at least) borrow them for free from digital libraries.

I've read volume 1 if I remember. Not very close to the TV show but still pretty entertaining.

If you like the Boys you should give Preacher a shot. Also Garth Ennis, and similar style - darkly comic

Jay Cee Gee · Post by **Jay Cee Gee** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:34 am

Yeah, Ennis tendency to fall back on schoolboy level edgy sexual humour is a real weakness of his. Mark Millar shares the same tendencies but without half the talent or charm.

Tuivasa · Post by **Tuivasa** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:56 am

Bullettyme wrote:
Nolanator wrote:Finished Narcos, definitely going to watch El Chapo now.
What was the deal with a name being occasionally bleeped out and not showing in the subtitles? Someone in government I think.
Finished Narcos today, brilliant piece of TV. Loved Pablo Acostas story, and Scoot McNairy was brilliant throughout - chap just looks like he's been through the wars.

Thought that bleeping thing was weird too, considering they name a former president as fraudulent and corrupt. Maybe it's a portmanteau of various politicians. That whole history of Mexico and the PRI was fascinating.

Narcos is good but the guy who plays pablo sucks imo.
The other pablo Escobar story available on Netflix is much much better than the 2 Escobar seasons on narcos.

Pat the Ex Mat · Post by **Pat the Ex Mat** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:58 am

Nolanator wrote:
Pat the Ex Mat wrote:
Nolanator wrote:It is, but they've taken serious artistic liberties with the source material. The main plot points seem to be there, though.
No rogue AI tech though.
TBH, it was the same with Altered Carbon.

Enjoyable but not a patch on the real Kovacs!
Finished it there. Altered Carbon was closer to the book, with the main changes being to the characters of Quel and Rayleen Kowahara. This had only a passing resemblance to Woken Furies, but I liked where they went with the story in its own right.
I actually really enjoyed AI Poe's struggles with his mind. He was the most human character in the whole series.

I've read all the Kovacs books at least 3 times....

I can park them and enjoy for entertainment though.

Have you read his latest Martian book? His best I think

ticketlessinseattle · Post by **ticketlessinseattle** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:04 pm

Jim Lahey wrote:I recently started watching The Windsors on Netflix.
F**king hilarious

I must check it out - the Kominsky method with Michael Douglas is a gem also
agreed on "the split" also ; easy Sunday night switch off tv with the missus ; not sure about the stranger ; might give it another episode or 2

Nolanator · Post by **Nolanator** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:34 pm

Floppykid wrote:
paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.
I think there's major divergence from what I've read.

I've revised my opinion a bit on reflection (and reading hurt fanbois on Reddit).

It's a decent watch, scratches a lot of the sci-fi itch, but they completely f**ked the adaptation of the novels. In season 1 they changed some characters in a significant manner, but it didn't really affect the major plot points or story arc. They wrote themselves into corner for season 2 to the extent that it bears only a passing resemblence to the book (which was mostly book 3, but scraped bits from book 2).
If they go for a third season, they'll have to write fresh material entirely.

P/Matt, I haven't read any other of Morgan's stuff. Have it pencilled in at some point. Think I need a breather from a series before I get stuck into another new one first.

The Sun God · Post by **The Sun God** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:42 pm

Guys where can I find both series of 'Succession' at the moment ?... I have watched and loved both but a friend wants to watch it.

Balls Out! · Post by **Balls Out!** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:44 pm

Nolanator wrote:
Floppykid wrote:
paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.
I think there's major divergence from what I've read.
I've revised my opinion a bit on reflection (and reading hurt fanbois on Reddit).

It's a decent watch, scratches a lot of the sci-fi itch, but they completely f**ked the adaptation of the novels. In season 1 they changed some characters in a significant manner, but it didn't really affect the major plot points or story arc. They wrote themselves into corner for season 2 to the extent that it bears only a passing resemblence to the book (which was mostly book 3, but scraped bits from book 2).
If they go for a third season, they'll have to write fresh material entirely.

P/Matt, I haven't read any other of Morgan's stuff. Have it pencilled in at some point. Think I need a breather from a series before I get stuck into another new one first.

are you talking about The Boys or Altered Carbon here?

Nolanator · Post by **Nolanator** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:46 pm

Balls Out! wrote:
Nolanator wrote:
Floppykid wrote:
paddyor wrote:Started altered carbon yesterday. It’s damn good. Also binged the boys. Does anyone know how close to the comic it is? Thinking of buying them.
I think there's major divergence from what I've read.
I've revised my opinion a bit on reflection (and reading hurt fanbois on Reddit).

It's a decent watch, scratches a lot of the sci-fi itch, but they completely f**ked the adaptation of the novels. In season 1 they changed some characters in a significant manner, but it didn't really affect the major plot points or story arc. They wrote themselves into corner for season 2 to the extent that it bears only a passing resemblence to the book (which was mostly book 3, but scraped bits from book 2).
If they go for a third season, they'll have to write fresh material entirely.

P/Matt, I haven't read any other of Morgan's stuff. Have it pencilled in at some point. Think I need a breather from a series before I get stuck into another new one first.
are you talking about The Boys or Altered Carbon here?

Shit, I was talking about AC, but having re-read that now realise that Paddy was probably asking about The Boys.

OttawaKat · Post by **OttawaKat** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:47 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote:The new Tales of the Unexpected has a few decent episodes and a lot of real dross, first 3 are decent, after that the next 3 are just odd and not in a good way.

Better call Saul has started off really strong, one weird scene that was a bit over the top could have easily been cut to about 20 seconds but seemed like it took up about a quarter of the episode.

Okay I'll bite, which was the weird scene?