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Foundation (2021)
Unoriginal story
The visuals of this production are great, no doubt.
There is a large gap in the quality of actors. Some of them are excellent, others are not on the level for a lead character.
What put me off the most was that the story sometimes tries to work with conflicts that are outright primitive as in bad tv series like A-Team, Knight Rider et cetera.
I read that Apple has planned 8 seasons. Well, I am not going to spend time on those.
The Great North (2021)
Life is too short to watch this show
Other people wrote that it looks unoriginal. That's true but I wouldn't mind if it was funny. I also do not agree that the setting in Alaska has no potential.
It also tries to copy the style of comedy of Bob's Burgers but that does not work at all.
If you are curious, go ahead and watch the first episode. Personally, I have watched the first 10 minutes. In that time, there have been probably 30 attempts at jokes. None of those I found even remotely funny.
Atypical (2017)
Coming of age story about a boy with autism and his family
'Atypical' is the story of 18 year old Sam and his family. When he mentions that he thinks he can never have a girlfriend, his therapist encourages him to try dating. Sam being in the autism spectrum complicates things, as expected. His mom is worried about both her son's well-being as well as her relationship to him. Sam's sister is very supportive and his dad tries to be. That's about it. There's no deep story beyond this. The story line is set up to demonstrate all the stereotypical behaviors and the inner reality from a list in the text book. The overall tone is pseudo-empathetic. Story and characters are all very superficial. Mediocre acting, music that tries to force feelings into the scenes. Simplistic explanations of autism in contrived educational scenes. There's no depth and nothing original about anything (characters, story, motives). I assume the creators of the show may be well-meaning. But their apparent lack of insight results in the idea and concept of autism as it is portrayed in 'Atypical' conveying to approach people in the autism spectrum with a very narrow-minded idea of who they are and how they are supposed to think and act. It's putting people in boxes. Obviously, you will have noticed it by now: I don't think it's great show.
Billions (2016)
Overrated show with one dimensional story and stereotypical characters
This show seems to be about how effectively ruthless ultra rich people are. Another part of its appeal is probably the viewers' wish to be as rich themselves and to be able to stick it to other people. The story evolves around people power gaming each other. Don't expect any sophisticated plots or unanticipated turn of events. The characters are one dimensional as those in a cartoon: They have one character trait and motivation and that's it. Real people have competing motivations and drives. People who are unkind to others are not simply evil, they act the way they do because of their world view. The characters in "Billions" are not real, they are artificial and predictable as the story.
Man Seeking Woman (2015)
Very original. Some episodes are amazing, some lame.
This is one of the most original and creative shows in years. The stories actually deal with real issues of people 20 and older, but does so in a surreal way. I find about 50% of the episodes pretty boring. Overall though I can't complain because some episodes are amazingly on point. And I have to admit even the ones I find boring are still very imaginative. One of the best episodes for me personally would be season 1 episode 5.
Fargo (2014)
Season 1 is probably the best TV show ever made
The story of season 1 is in parts reminiscent of the movie 'Fargo'. But it is not just a series version of it. I did like the movie, yet season 1 manages to step it up. The series questions our believe in civilization. The benevolence of people is portrayed as a thin veneer that is shed quickly when there's either opportunity or danger. It is subversive, funny and mesmerizing. If you have hardly any time to watch TV, season 1 of Fargo will be a good choice. Better call Saul would be a close second.
Season 2 can't keep up with season 1 but is still a good show. I'd give season 1 a score of 10 and season 2 a score of 7.5.
Good Behavior (2016)
Overrated. Completely illogical story.
I found the first episode initially promising. The way the story develops however is completely nonsense. A hit man who uses the dark net and Bitcoin to stay anonymous, but then meets his clients in person? This is silly. Then she meets his family. His dad is a war criminal. This war criminal discredits his son by exposing he is a contract killer. Question: Why would the family have a problem with the son/brother being a killer if they have no problem with the father? Add to that that at this occasion his brother threatens him with a gun.
My impression is that this may initially have been a promising story but then a 14 year old rewrote parts of it.