So the new season of Shameless US keeps getting better and better.

Mid-season finale of The Walking Dead was alright. The plot has gotten really mediocre in my eyes and I might end up giving it up after this season ends if they don't cancel it.

I'm also halfway through Persons of Interest season 4. I was surprised they were able to keep the story going this long, but I still haven't been able to turn it off.

surprised more people didn't watch Rectify

It had a good run.

Catching up on The Night Manager on Amazon Prime. 4 eps in - excellent series.

Continuing the stranger things talk: got so annoying hearing people say "it wasn't bad acting... it's an homage to 80s stuff!"

I've stayed away from Stranger Things so far. The massive circlejerk surrounding it has led me to think I'll only be disappointed.

I thought stranger things was pretty awesome! I was surprised too because I'm usually not into the horror genre. I had no problems with the acting either.

And you'd be right.

Looking forward to seeing Britt Marling's creepy new Netflix series

If you mean The OA http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4635282/ I'm 3 eps in and am finding it a bit weak so far.

Better things on the way tho', with season 2 of Sense8 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2431438/ coming soon.

I enjoyed stranger things, but it was way overhyped. It was a solid above average show, but nothing amazing like everyone led me to believe.

Watching black mirror now, it started off decent then got amazing with the two episodes "the entire history of you" and "be right back" unfortunately that was followed by "white bear" and "the Waldo moment" which were both horrible.

I'm hoping it picks up again though.

My latest e-book, about season 1 of The X-Files, is free from 20th-24th December, if anyone wants a nice easy read about that great season of TV....

just go to amazon and search on 'mark cain x files' if you want it.

PS. It's also dirt cheap when it's not free....

PPS. I have 2 other books also free during this period - one a TV book about Quatermass.

I'm still ruminating on this...

Britt Marling, and Phyliss Vance, what's there to ponder about?

lol I watched it and enjoyed it...not sure it works in the end, though.

Had no problems with the main kid actors especially Eleven, but Winona was terrible and every supporting character (like the other cops who worked with the main one, or the friend who got sucked into the pool, or the douchey boyfriend) was high school drama club-level bad.

Fun show but amazed the SAG thought this was worthy of 3 acting nominations including best ensemble.

I agree with all of this, except I thought Winona did fine with a difficult role.

I just think there was so much boring filler.

The oa was pretty weak overall. When it was winding up I thought it still had 2 episodes to go.

+1, I never got into it at all. It felt like a poorly written Stephen King story to me.

The crown was excellent, especially John Lithgow as Churchill.

Agree with both of these statements

I really really enjoyed The OA but definitely understand that it's not going to be everyone's bag.

The ending worked for me, and I found it interesting because it calls on the viewer to actively engage in an act of faith/belief in order to satisfyingly tie off the emotional threads. If you take the "evidence" against her story at face value than yes, the show is frustrating and kind of a waste of time. But even in that scenario, where the viewer totally rejects OA's story, you still need to accept that the kids, ultimately, do not. That for me was where the finale held a real power. The story that is told to these kids, and the relationship they develop with each other/OA, is the only thing in their lives that prepares them for the moment where they can reject the skepticism surrounding OA's tale, and in turn, accept their own thoughts and experience as valid and truthful, and they do it with a conviction that doesn't waver in the face of death. I liked that and thought it was effective and affecting.

Nice write up. I agree with what you said, but still just don't think it worked all that well. It's possible that the narrative structure just doesn't work for me. Like I said I thought there were two more episodes and then the final credits rolled.

Paranoid: started off OK then just got too crazy and stupid. Couldn't finish it. Reminded me of true detective season 2.

Medici: started off poorly then got much better. Way too much switching between flashbacks and current time in the beginning episodes, and there was so much to set up that they relied so heavily on cliches and tropes which gave the show a B quality feeling. Starting around episode 4 the show gets much clearer and the quality shoots up. I actually thought that episode 6 wrapped up everything and was a perfect ending point but there were still 2 episodes to go.

I thought The OA was fantastic, great original storytelling.

Really liked Insecure

2 eps into The Crown. Really well done, looks like they spent a ton of money on this, the production values are top notch.

I am enjoying it even though I don't generally have much interest in the British monarchy. The actress who plays Queen Elizabeth is excellent and Lithgow is great as Churchill.