Shrinking on Apple, Hacks and Somebody Somewhere on HBO
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I only found out about it on a Ted Lasso FB group where it was recommended as somewhat similar feel and setting. Otherwise I wouldnât have known it. I too am surprised it doesnât get more notice out in the world.
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Who else is looking forward to Shogun?! I hope this is a hit and we get remakes of Taipan and Noble House. Big fan of Clavell.
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Yes, the whole story is one season. They add a couple years in each episode towards the end.
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I absolutely loved âTryingâ too! I just finished binging all three seasons over the last couple of weeks, and am also surprised I never heard of it elsewhere. I canât wait for Season 4!
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Iâve really enjoyed Jon Stewartâs return to the Daily Show every Monday.
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I just finished watching the first two episodes of Shogun on Hulu (itâs also on FX) and really enjoyed it. It helps that Iâve read the book several times because otherwise it might be difficult keep track of all the characters and secrets. Itâs kind of a condensed/highlight reel version of the book - relatively true to the book but with a great deal skipped. The first two episodes took us through about page 290 in my 1200 page paperback.
The scenery, sets, and costumes are magnificent and the acting very good. I donât know much about the cast - the actor playing Blackthorn sounds (and looks) a lot like a younger Russell Crowe. He is very believable (but not Richard Chamberlain, alas for me). And I didnât recognize Lost Eyeliner Guy/The Morning Show Weather Guy as Rodriguez. NĂ©stor Carbonell is always enjoyable!
I saw a review earlier today that complained about how this mini-series treated Japanese characters as major parts of the storyline; perhaps they thought it made the show too âwokeâ. I thought, have you read the book?! It also complained that there was too much allegedly gratuitous violence and was trying to be too much like Game of Thrones. Again I thought, have you read the book?!
It will now be hard to wait a week between episodes.
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Of all criticisms, complaining that a story taking place in late-medieval Japan includes too many Japanese characters!!!
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File this under very late to the game:
I recently started watching Gilmore Girls, which I had never seen before, though of course had heard about plenty. Needed something with lots of episodes I could watch while on my new-ish recumbent. That H would have no interest in.
About two thirds through season one. Itâs very cute, likeable characters. I did feel like secondary characters were incredibly one dimensional (this one is crabby, this one is accident-prone, this one is flamboyant, etcâone attribute instead of an actual character.) And the level of snappy comeback is through the roof.
But, they are all growing on me, and acquiring actual personalities. Itâs very watchable and definitely fulfills the brief!
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Pleasantly surprised by expats on Netflix. Nicole Kidman is always good, but thereâs also some depth to the storyline once you get exposed to the expats dynamics with their Filipino help.
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While I really like Hiroyuki Sanada and his body of work, like Richard Chamberlain, itâs hard to replace Toshiro Mifune as Toronaga.
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Started but stopped watching it because of the underlying subject matter. I was an expat in Hong Kong for much of the 90âs, and the portrayal of expat life and the interaction with Filipino and other helpers is pretty spot on. Both of our kids were born in Hong Kong, and I was always worried about losing track of them when they were toddlers. Crowds in Hong Kong are dense and people move quickly without regard to surrounding people.
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Binge watched Boarders on BBC3/iplayer, soon coming to Britbox or PBS for sure. Both coming of age/teen/boarding school comedy-drama and sharp commentary (opposite of preachy). The gist: spoiled students at a prestigious British boarding school assault a homeless man⊠with champagne⊠so to defuse the scandal the headmaster decides to grant full scholarships to 5 gifted/talented Black boys from disadvantaged backgrounds - they turn out to be 4+1 girl who aptly pointed out that even their anti discriminatory attempt is discriminatory 
The young actors are terrific and the headmaster interesting.
Then, binge watched The long call. Tries very hard to be Shetland - same original author, beautiful ocean/cliff landscapes, a mystery⊠- but it just didnât work as well.
Finally, properly got into Derry Girls, ie., each and every episode, in order. Itâd been a long time since Iâd laughed so hard I cried. So far, my favorites are Ep1, then ep 2, then in S3 01 the exam results and 04 (?) The Haunting in the Gaeltacht. There are a couple from S2 that I am blanking on. 3.07 is in a different category but an excellent ending. Anyway, if you watched Derry Girls as it came out, itâs totally worth a rewatch from start to finish.
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That angle was what kept us watching. The constant changing dynamic of helper as family member/employee. Not a happy show or topics for sure, but well done.
It wasnât so much that there were too many Japanese characters as that they were the major factors. Itâs like the reviewer thought it should be Blackthornâs story with everyone else supporting characters. And he didnât like that so much of the dialogue was subtitled Japanese. I read elsewhere that the old miniseries deliberately didnât use subtitles so that the viewers would be as confused as Blackthorne. Admittedly I learned what very little Japanese I know from that show. Hai, Anjin-san!
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It will be interesting if they do what Warrior did which was to use English in situations where all the characters were speaking Cantonese, especially as Blackthorne starts to speak Japanese.
Also wonder what they will do when there are scenes where in the book they switch to Latin.
LOL thou - thou to indicate Latin. Theyâre already speaking English when clearly itâs meant to be Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish. I donât think anyone actually ever speaks English in the book, except in Blackthornâs memories.
Love Gilmore Girls. I think I have seen the whole series at least three times 
I canât seem to get out of my Netflix K-dramas right now. I so love that they are pretty innocent with not a sex scene every other minute. Now they do have a lot of people jumping off buildings or bridges (which is pretty sad) and drinking but for the most part pretty tame.
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I donât currently have any audiobooks from the library, so Iâm back to watching Gilmore Girls during exercise. Iâm many seasons into it. Still enjoying it but perhaps not as much as in the beginning.
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Expats spoilers
Agreed. It was well done and thought provoking. Easy to criticize the Mom, but you just felt her pain. Plus, glass houses and such. We all have regrets as parents to some degree, hers was just tragic. I couldnât figure out why Essie didnât go home. I know she loved Daisy and her brother, but she had her own family. I wish they would have touched on that more. It really left me wanting to know more.
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