Monday, April 17, 2017

N is for Netflix

For people like Viv and me who do not watch TV, or have any TV channels, or no time to channel-surf, Netflix is a boon. I'm sure there will be people who will argue that Netflix is a boon for everyone, but it is especially for us. Every now and then, after putting Xena to bed, we like to sit down and watch something on Netflix together.

However, like everything in life, Netflix has some good stuff and a whole bunch of crap. If you thought this post is about my favourite Netflix shows, you're mistaken. Here is a list of shows that we started watching, but ditched midway because it was just sucharoyalwasteoftime.

Mad Men
This was one of the first few Netflix shows we watched, and it was a multiple award-winning show, so we had high expectations. Many many episodes later, I still couldn't care less for any of the characters (and boy, does the show have a lot of characters). We stuck around for quite some time (why oh why) hoping for the show to go somewhere. It didn't, so we went elsewhere.

Orange is the New Black
I know fans of the show are going to hate this review, but we couldn't even get past the first season. The girl-on-girl action was getting a bit too much and was happening literally for no reason, and overall the show just didn't seem to go anywhere. Someone said the newer seasons are getting good reviews, but we just can't go back to this show anymore.

Glitch
I'm not a fan of supernatural dramas, or anything that involves zombies, so I wasn't even sure why I started watching it in the first place, but after the end of the season, I told Viv to go watch it by himself if he wants, but under no circumstances am I going to watch the next season. Terrible, terrible show.

Stranger Things
I get it, I get it. The nod to the 80s pop culture, the E.T. nostalgia, etc. etc. But I just found it very hard to care for anyone in the show. And that 'beast'. My goodness, where do I even start? I know it's supposed to give you a feel for the 80s, but surely they could have made a better beast.

Sense8
We started watching this on the recommendation of someone who said look, finally, the homosexual community gets the forefront in a mainstream TV show. All that is fine, but I cannot watch a show just for that. Where is the story, where is it all going? Why is that Icelandic character so utterly useless? And don't even get me started on the Indian character Kala who goes to a Ganesha temple in Mumbai and speaks to the lord in English.

How to Get Away with Murder
Like Sense8, I felt this show was also more in the news due to its PC-ness than its actual content. Powerful female black lead? Applause! But the story itself? Nothing to really hold my interest. Annalise Keating's character felt like it had more style than substance, and her students looked like they were in the middle of a bad I Know What You Did Last Summer movie.

Master of None
Again, the PC-ness of it was too much. And the show is so not funny. I watched two episodes with a poker face, not even breaking into a smile. And I totally don't get how that episode with Aziz Ansari's parents got so many awards. It was the worst ever! Just because you're the star of a show and you get your parents to act the part of your parents doesn't give them the ability to act. They were terrible.

Prison Break
We actually started watching this because we had pretty much run out of material, and I remembered that it had been a very popular show at one point. (Is it still?) But I can't say I liked it. Everything just seemed a little too convenient and the lead character a little too smug for my liking.

The OA
If I had to pick a show as the highest-level crap of the crap, it has to be the super-pretentious OA. I found everything about the lead character sooooooo annoying, I just couldn't stand her after a while. The way she casually tells everyone, "I'm the OA." as if that's explanation enough just grates on my nerves. This is probably what happens when you conceptualise a show and then decide to play the lead (unless you're Charlie Chaplin.) And that 'prison' of theirs, with the shared 'river' and oh, where is their toilet, if some of them have been living in those glass pods for years? If it's the river, then lord, oh lord, I definitely don't want to watch this show.

***

Breaking Bad, what have you done to me? Why did you set the bar so high? Now I can never ever enjoy any TV show. :|



7 comments:

Charan Deep Singh said...

Hmm... I am not getting netflix soon. If I have free time, I just go to nearest cinema hall and watch a film. Can't be prisoner to too many series

For N, I kept it simple. N: Nagpur..

http://charandeepsblog.blogspot.in/2017/04/n-nagpur.html

Anonymous said...

You forgot Master of None!

I'm surprised how quickly you and Viv overtook me in terms of getting into new stuff. I'm still here trying to get through seven seasons of Buffy and Gilmore Girls!

Sayesha said...

Charan Deep,
Hehehe bacheke tu kahan jaayega... :D

cluelesstill,
Gosh how could I?? Thanks for the reminder; I've just added it.

Sayesha said...

cluelesstill,
//I'm surprised how quickly you and Viv overtook me in terms of getting into new stuff.

Nothing compared to... your dad!!! :D

SK said...

I agree with all your reviews except one.
Prison Break is my favorite. How much of it did you watch before giving up? ;--)
I couldnt watch Breaking Bad, may be I should try again?

Anonymous said...

Agree with you about Mad Men. Saw like 3-4 episodes and I felt they were just playing dress up. Like the point of the show was not telling a story but showing a docu on how life was in the 60s.

Could barely finish first ep of Orange is the new black. Just awful.

Master of none - watched the whole season but thought it was annoying. His parents are awful, I so totally agree. He is adept at playing off white people guilt or something, because imagine if he was a white guy bringing his terrible acting white parents into the show, it would never see the light of day. Also he is not very funny, and did you realize he never paints himself in bad light, like ever.

Havent tried the others.

Also tried seeing the highly touted documentary Making a Murderer. Terminally boring and total first world problems vibe.

Speaking of highly acclaimed non-Netflix shows, I couldnt get into GoT too much either. Saw two seasons and it was decently addictive but never really enjoyed it. Watched some 5-6 seasons of Downton Abbey and while the acting was better than Mad Men, I got the same dress up vibe, and they were clearly playing to American audiences. Btw, I love Midsomer murders recently on Netflix, the small town life in England is very expertly done, doesnt feel like dressup, and it feels so cozy after a while that the murder stories themselves become less important...

Sayesha said...

SK,
We watched almost the full first season I think. The smugness of the guy just killed it for me. :(
Breaking Bad is AWESOME. Please try again! :D

chengiz,
Oooh someone just recommended Making of a Murderer to me, saying it's gripping! Now I'm torn! Will check out the first episode I guess. Thanks for all the other recos, I needed some new stuff! :)