Screenwriting : What are you watching? by Emily J

For my money, I think the best shows of 2022 were Better Call Saul and Stranger Things. The writing for both of these excellent shows has consistently been top-notch. Recently, I also subscribed to Amazon Prime and I've watched Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Bosch. I thought Mrs. Maisel was phenomenal.

Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal" did you finish Maisel? I haven't watched the most recent season. The last one was okay, but I just didn't love it as much as when it started. I LOVE Better Call Saul and Fleabag

Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal" also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed9tlp3fcKY

I've mainly been watching movies, Emily J, but I was thinking of watching "Yellowstone." I'm caught up on "Stranger Things." Season four was great, but sometimes the talking scenes dragged on for too long. I saw the movie "The Unforgivable" starring Sandra Bullock. It's on Netflix. Outstanding movie! Sandra Bullock played the role soooo well.

Maurice: I forgot about Yellowstone. Damn good fun! Well-developed characters.

I am curently watching Castle on Disney +. Absolutely loving it.

True Detective, season 3...

I've heard great things about "Yellowstone," Phillip.

I haven't heard of those, Mr. & Mrs. Wally Wu. Thanks.

"The Terminal List" and "The Old Man"

These are my recs: The Boys, Terminal List, Seal Team, Yellowstone, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown, Suits, The Last Kingdom.

Although a few of these really push the graphic-ness almost beyond my limits (esp. The Boys - OMG!), I love them for the writing and the performances.

Wiki "Peaky Blinders." Great actors+

But if you like to watch something else and good you can try The Rising (Supernatural), Tehran, season 1 & 2 (Drama, Thriller and spy games), Slow Horses (Drama, Thriller and spy games) Gangs of London ( Action, Crime, Drama) or Stan Lees Lucky Man, 3 seasons so far (Action and Sci-Fi) These are all UK TV series and if you ask me to compare current UK and US TV series and pick a winner, UK wins by a mile.

Ooh we're naming great latent TV series!

Westworld, The Man who Fell to Earth, Solar Opposites, Sweet Tooth, Black Bird, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Mostly reading but here and there anything good on Amazon or Netflix that catches my attention

Maurice Vaughan Ah! I need to watch Yellowstone, I hear it's phenomenal. Surprised it's not getting more awards attention

I have completely missed The Old Many, thanks everybody! It looks really interesting (also love this cast)

B A - you're still all for Westworld? I feel like I mentally checked out right at the end of season one, and physically stopped watching about an episode or two into season 3 haha

Somebody Somewhere. The simplicity of it.

Emily J - I'll admit that Westworld's premiere season was the significant highlight of the entire series so far, but I admire the series for stretching out and presenting so many great philosophical ideas from such simple source material (Book and Film).

It was Season 3 that impressed me the most for presenting such a non-Westworld story in a Westworld show. In my opinion it's Jonathon Nolan that is the more brilliant of the Nolan brothers, and I can't wait to see what he makes with the Fallout video game adaptation.

The storytelling strategy in "Under the Banner of Heaven" is informative

I've been thinking of watching "The Old Man." People have been raving about the show, but I've been hearing A LOT of raving about "Yellowstone." I might start "Yellowstone" tomorrow.

I'm struggling to find anything as good as "The Expanse" which in my view is the best sci-fi I've seen since the re-boot of "Battlestar Galactica". Otherwise watching "The Rookie" and "Designated Survivor", and have a heap of Aussie short series to catch up on.

I saw an episode of "Designated Survivor," Ingrid. I'm not sure why I stopped watching the show. I might revisit it.

Ingrid I am with you on The Expanse. SO good

I enjoy watching American political dramas Maurice Vaughan I studied Political Science at university and briefly looked at the US system as part of the course. I'm fascinated by it because it operates so differently to ours, which is based on the Westminster system, and is governed by a foreign head of state, the English monarch. Over the years I've enjoyed watching "The West Wing", "House of Cards", "Madam Secretary" and now "Designated Survivor" which has a different take on the US political system.

"Alien TV", a Netflix-only wordless sitcom about a trio of extraterrestrial journalists investigating various aspects of human culture and life.

Ingrid, have you seen Parks & Rec? It's probably the most accurate depiction of US government to be honest haha

I didn't know that the U.S. political system and the Australian political system were so different, Ingrid. Do you know of any Australian political dramas?

Not yet Emily J It's on our list of things to watch... so many shows, so much "everything everywhere all at once" going on!

"Total Control" is one of the best recent ones Maurice Vaughan and there have been several others over the years, usually short series of four to six episodes. Very few movies are made about Australian politics as there is very little drama to it, unlike American politics! The biggest debate in the future will be whether we become a republic and cut ties with Britain. We have a system that generally works well and I think there will be a reluctance to change something that's not broken.

The Bear on FX/Hulu

Thanks for letting me know about "Total Control," Ingrid.

Watching "Peaky Blinders" now. Second time around watching it. It's phenomenal.

Total Control sounds great, Ingrid, I'll definitley check that out!

Chernobyl, Mandalorian, Bodyguard, White Lotus, Watchmen, Insecure, The Boys, Fleabag (specifically season 2) and His Dark Materials (season 3) are all my top picks. Some are more formulaic than the others, some are more violent. Some focus on relationships and interpersonal struggles. I've also watched all of Peaky Blinders, Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Handmaid's Tale, all fantastic shows but after a time I found them to rely too much on their own tropes and the writing stopped developing the characters or wasn't able to support their changes. The most recent season of The Boys had some incredible episodes but some of them fell flat; I'm not sure if the source material is running out or if they've strayed too far from it, or what.

"Chernobyl" is my favorite miniseries, Jessica. I caught up on "Abbott Elementary" yesterday. I started watching Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio" last night.

Since this randomly picked up again (I LOVE when that happens) - I highly recommend everyone check out I LOVE THAT FOR YOU on Showtime/Paramount+, it's incredible and too many people slept on it when it first came out

Last year I enjoyed Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. I loved the series with each episode featuring a new unique story. I specifically love Guillermo del Toro's production design in his movies and in this show. It's brilliant. Last night, I saw in Netflix Christian Bale's The Pale Blue Eye movie based on a book. It's a 2-hour slow burn but the last 30 mins elevated the movie to new heights.

I've heard of "Cabinet of Curiosities," but I haven't seen it, Jeelan. I plan to. Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite directors. Probably #1 or #2.

I just finished "Cabinet of Curiosities" too! I'm glad to see so many underrated directors have the chance to shine in this series.

I watched a little bit of Cabinet of Curiosities - def not my genre but I really loved (in addition to every episode being a different time period) that the overarching vibe felt very 80s/90s TV throwback and probably perfect for anyone who was a Goosebumps fan growing up lol

The well-done BAD SISTERS.

I’m enjoying Tokyo Vice BBC catch up. Characters, story world & intrigue suck me into a vortex. However being specific to thread question I’m hooked by the dialogue which is a mixture of subtitles & spoken English. If I blocked out the superb cinematography & acting I would still be amused with the production in audio book form.

As a veteran that served in Korea (Not the War), I am looking forward to seeing DEVOTION on Paramount Plus.

Thanks for your service L. Tom. I'm a big fan of Glen Powell so will be watching DEVOTION as well

I'm with you @L. Tom, it looks really great. Also, thank you for your service and also for sharing your connection!

@E Langley YES! I need to watch Bad Sisters, it looks so good!

Can't believe I forgot Euphoria as well -- teen dramas haven't been on my radar for over 15 years but wow they really knocked it out of the park with that show!!

A mention too of THE PATIENT. It's a playbook on how to elevate one location, two actors and a great script into a compelling nail biter.

Thank you, Emily and Sam. There truly is a lot of high quality film and tv being made. It makes the competition fierce to get your stories told but that is a good thing. It pushes us to be the best we can be. I saw YELLOW STONE mentioned again and I really need to watch it. I've been studying Warhammer 40,000 with the news it will likely become a franchise with Henry Cavill leading it.

I'm the other way around. I saw one movie in a theater last year and one on demand.

@Bill Noooo!!! Go to the theater! Support your fellow filmmakers! lol

"Manhunter", which I consider to be Michael Mann's best film alongside his début "Thief" (I liked "Heat" as a teenager but now I can see it's a little bit too long for its own good).

I'm not going to call it new, but they recently added the latest season of The Blacklist to Netflix here in Taiwan, and I've been watching that. I have to say that the show, which I love overall, has struggled to find it's tone since the previous season's surprise ending. I see what they're trying to do, but it's falling flat by comparison to previous seasons.

That being said, I find the dialog in the show, especially James Spader's lines to always be great since the first season.

BOSCH. Brilliantly filmed. 1 case = 1 season, each season looks like a mini series.