so, what are you watching?

[z_badfaith]

For some reason I can't point out, I feel like I'm late to post - even though it's only 11am around here... but I've been up since 8ish because (a) it's the time I'm usually up and (b) since quarantine started, my University decided to go for live classes and mine go all morning (why, yes, I am writing this while I listen to my professor). But I digress, my classes are not my main subject here (but it could be - I study Translation, if anybody's interested :P).

I'm here to talk about what's most important during quarantines & lockdowns: entertainment!

Because, let's face it, following up on the news all the time can be depressing. Very depressing depending on where you are and what your country's doing about it - I'm from Brasil, and if you are a person who reads up on news a lot you might understand why I'm talking about the need for entertainment. From my perspective, we either do that and try to tune the world off for a bit or we don't and we might become alienated and even extremely scared, if we're not scared already. As someone who's dealt with anxiety and agoraphobia for years, I've found out that creating my comfortable bubble can help a lot.

Creating my comfortable bubble ended up creating a coughbit of a problemcough and I ended up getting attached to a lot of TV shows and watching movies whenever I have the time (last year I watched more than 200 movies, I think)... and I'm always looking out for MORE :D So here's a list of what I'm currently watching:

9-1-1: Lone Star
9-1-1
Castle Rock
Criminal Minds (I haven't watched the last season yet because I refuse to see this magnificent show end)
FBI: Most Wanted
Harrow
His Dark Materials
Into the Dark
Law & Order: SVU
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector
Miracle Workers
Nancy Drew
New Amsterdam
RuPaul's Drag Race

And my current obsession... Chicago Fire

I don't know what is it about the fire and the drama, but I've been loving it so far - I'm currently watching season 5 of 8. Maybe I'm a bit obsessed with firepeople series and medical series... and dramas in general - because then I don't have to focus on my own ha! And now here's what I want to know: what do YOU watch for entertainment? Be it movies, TV shows, miniseries, documentaries or if maybe you play video games instead of watching things... what's your entertainment? Tell me about and rec me new things as well!

Comments

[shadowhive]

I agree so much, we need to find entertainment and distraction because it’s so easy to get shut down and brain not working.

Ohh His Dark Materials and New Amsterdam! I finished the first season just before all this happened and, unf, so good. I meant to start season two on amazon prime (one was on tv) but everything became overwhelming.

Lately I’ve been watching my Doctor Who boxsets. I just finished season 19 and I’m gonna start 12 on Monday. I’m also trying to go through the Clone Wars but it’s been slower going then I’d hoped.

My boy gave me access to Disney + this week so I’ve watched a few films on it so far and added more to my to watch.

I’m meaning to start The Dragon Prince season 3 thIs week but we’ll see how that works out.

[z_badfaith]

I think I should maybe take this time to try and watch Doctor Who - I think it's a brilliant show, but I've never had the opportunity to see it!

The Clone Wars are a bit too much into the Star Wars world for me, I get a little lost trying to watch it, but my sister and her boyfriend love it!

We still don't have Disney+ in Brasil and that makes me SO SAD :(

And I googled The Dragon Prince and it seems like a very cool animation - still don't have it on netflix here either :( The unfairness!

[magnetic_pole]

You'll enjoy Dragon Prince 3, I think! (I certainly did.) M.

[angelofthenorth]

I listen to the radio and/or podcasts.

[light_of_summer]

Are there any podcasts you'd particularly recommend?

I tend to listen to audiobooks (or podfic!)—most TV and movies make me too tense to be very enjoyable, and I like being able to use my eyes and hands for something else, while I listen.

The podcast I listen to the most is 99% Invisible, about all kinds of Design.

[verdande_mi]

I am about to start season 3 of Bosch after seeing the first two in no time at all. I’ve also seen some SGA episodes which is always fun. I have also escaped to Middle-Earth and continued the re-read of LOTR I started last year, which as really been great with things as they are. There’s a Swedish Tolkien-podcast I am enjoying as well. And I have a goal to watch one film over Easter, but I have yet to find one that interests me enough to invest the time.

[ninetydegrees]

I love Bosch! Can't remember which seasons I've watched (I think 1 and 2 too) but it's definitely one of my favorite shows.

[z_badfaith]

I'll definitely check Bosch out, I've seen the trailer on prime a couple of times, but was a bit dubious about it... it's good to have a rec! I didn't watch SGA, but watched BSG... and I think there's a which-one-is-better that goes on between them? Or maybe just a lot of crossover fics about them!

What types of movie do you like? :)

[ninetydegrees]

Watched all seasons of Fargo with my dad (seasons 2 and 3 were new to me) and new eps of Death in Paradise (currently being broadcast in my country). Have lots of anime to catch up on so they're probably going to be next (Haikyuu!!, ID:INVADED, In/Spectre to name a few :).

[z_badfaith]

I do know of Fargo, but I don't think I even watched the movie (there's a movie, right? I'm not crazy here?) and Death in Paradise sounds like a great show, pity it's not streaming here just yet! :(

Haikyuu!! is the one about the volleyball team, yeah? I must remember to watch that one!

[althea_valara]

Except for Wheel of Fortune during dinner, I don't watch TV (other family members do, though, which is why we have a TV). But I do play a lot of video games! Here's the ones I'm playing right now:

Final Fantasy V is known for its flexible job system. It's got a fun story too. Not counting mobile or MMOs, it's my most-played game because of its job system. I'm currently playing it for the umpteenth time as part of Esuna for Corona.

Final Fantasy XIV is a MMO with a strong story and lots of great quality-of-life features that makes playing the game fun. I play this daily after dinner. Lately I've been on a crafting streak, trying to fill out all of the crafting logs by making at least 1 of every recipe, but I'm thinking I might get back to the story today. We'll see -- lately I've been intimidated by multi-player content, which begs the question of why I'm playing an MMO,

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a mobile game I've been playing for over three years. It's got a fantastic story with a vast array of characters, and each character has their own backstory. I highly recommend this game, because it's just so much fun. My ID is 965,432,229 and my in-game name is AltheaV, if anybody wants to add me.

War of the Visions just launched two weeks ago. It's also a mobile game and is a spin-off of Brave Exvius. I'm still very early on in the story but I'm intrigued by what I've seen so far. It's a tactical RPG, so gameplay is like Final Fantasy Tactics: you have a grid of squares, and you can move your character a set number of squares per turn and then do an action. It's fun, but I greatly appreciate the auto-battle for grinding events. Currently they have a crossover with Final Fantasy XIV, going on for another five days.

[z_badfaith]

I'm a complete noob when it comes to video games - other than match-3 mobile games - but I do know of Final Fantasy! :D I think the graphics are amazing, but never did try playing it... I don't even own any consoles and even though I do have a stream account, I don't really play a lot of different, cool games... I'm really really bad at them and it makes me sad and frustrated (maybe I'm a 5yo in disguise).

I have a group of friends who are currently playing Animal Crossing, it's cute and I think I'd be able to play it but... not sure I'd be willing to invest 90+ hours on it :P haha

[auroracloud]

For some reason, I haven't managed to start watching much TV yet. I've had so much focus problems in general, and I always tire easily of audiovisual media, I can't watch as much of it as many other fans do. But since I also have trouble reading, I'm thinking of popping out my Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries DVD box and watching a few. And I'm thinking of finally getting an HBO subscription for a bit so that I can watch His Dark Materials and Gentleman Jack.

I wish I hadn't been so upset by the recent season finale of Doctor Who that my relationship with the show is currently complicated, because normally it'd be my number 1 comfort viewing. I'm thinking of starting to go through all of the Second Doctor since he's my favourite, and none of this canon rewrite business really counts for that era anyway...

So far, though, I've just been listening to a loooooot of podcasts. For some reason podcast drama is fine - I think the audio only format is less tiring for me than audiovisual stuff, and it's easier to focus on than reading, and hearing familiar voices is comforting. I've been binging on Wolf 359 lately, am in early S3 and wonder at which point it stops being comforting at all as things get more dire... I'm also re-listening to favorites I've already listened to once, like the existing seasons of We Fix Space Junk and The Far Meridian.

[z_badfaith]

I mostly stream things on my computer, though we do have a TV at home so we can watch movies more comfortably when we want :D I've watched Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and I loved it so much, it was a shame that it ended even if they did that little spin-off series after. I'd recommend either HBO or Hulu for shows right now... Amazon Prime and Netflix are also good, but I feel like both are slow on new shows (or maybe I just binge watch too many things).

[magnetic_pole]

Ah, fun question! Like you, I've been working on creating a comfortable bubble for myself for periods of anxiety like this one, and, like you, sometimes I get very, er, attached. (My partner says "obsessive.")

I'm not a huge Star Trek fan generally--I enjoy it but am not usually obsessive--but I'm deep into a re-watch of TNG right now, hungry for a universe with moral clarity and problems that can be resolved in 45 minutes. There was a (very rare) charaacter death on an episode I watched last night, and I was outraged--that was not what I signed up for!

I'm close to the end of the series (TNG) right now and hoping to start Picard next. It sounds like it starts off more morally grey than ST usually is--which normally would be my cup of tea--but I've heard rumors that it gradually transitions towards ST's typical moral clarity... M.

[brumeier]

The last few days I've been binge-watching Property Brothers. All of them. In fact I've run out of Property Bros things to watch and now I'm the saddest girl that ever lived.

I recently discovered The Brokenwood Mysteries, a wonderful series from New Zealand. Which I also blew through. (It inspired a fic series, though, so there's that.)

This is also an excellent time to watch all my 80s movies, of which I have a gazillion. That's like comfort food to me. I'll quote lines, since along to soundtracks. The 80s make me happy.

I have three season one boxed sets of random TV that I haven't watched yet, so those might come into circulation soon.

[sulien]

TV for me lately has been all about the goodies streaming on Acorn TV. I'm rewatching the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries as well as Midsomer Murders, Agatha Raisin (a real hoot), The Brokenwood Mysteries and Murdoch Mysteries. Murdoch Mysteries has definitely become my comfort watching these days, it's usually very light and fluffy and often humorous, despite being a murder mystery series. Aside from that, I'm enjoying the daylights out of geeking out on all of the history and anthropology programming on The Great Courses streaming channel. In particular, I recommend Ken Albala's Food: A Cultural Culinary History. Ken Albala also has a blog called Ken Albala's Food Rant, which includes some interesting (in every sense of that word) recipes.

[z_badfaith]

I ♥ Murdoch Mysteries! I binge watched it until season 9 (!) and then stopped because I wasn't watching anything else... I should get back to it at some point, it's indeed a very light show - and it made me ship heteronormative couples again, which is definitely a big feat for me :P

I'll definitely have to have a look at that food blog!

[erika]

I've been really enjoying Avenue 5.

My nesting partner has been enjoying their slog through the plot relevant episodes of the first 8 seasons of Stargate so that they can get to Stargate Atlantis, which is the first fandom I was truly FANNISH about.

[z_badfaith]

I just googled Avenue 5 because I had no idea what it was and found out that it's Hugh Laurie ♥ Definitely giving it a try!

I did mention above that I've never watched Stargate or SGA, but watched BSG. Starting to think that the friends who recced me BSG weren't really big sci-fi fans as they led me to believe :P

[petrea_mitchell]

Your classes are interesting to me, because in my spare time I cover simulcast anime for the blog at Amazing Stories! It's spring premiere time, and Sturgeon's Law still holds, but a couple good ones so far are My Next Life as a Villainess and Listeners.

I have a ton of completed series recommendations in my best of 2019/best of the decade post. Most of them are on specialist streaming services but some will be available on Netflix or Amazon (or on DVD).

Once I've figured out my season lineup and have room to watch some other stuff, I'm thinking about getting back to working my way through my stack classic Doctor Who DVDs.

[z_badfaith]

Oh, that sounds very interesting! I "worked" doing fansubs of a few animes when I was a teen, but it took me a while to understand that that was actually a career option for me :P

Maybe they're on Crunchyroll? My sister has a subscription (I think), so I'll look for them there... it's been a while since I last watched animes. I used to find a bunch with 12 episodes or with many seasons and just watch them all at once, it was fun! xD

[olivermoss]

I watched Castlevania Season 3 and Locke and Key.

I am currently watching The Untamed. I am very late to the party on this one.

[z_badfaith]

Castlevania's on my list of to-be-watched... and I'm a bit hesitant about Locke & Key because I haven't heard a lot of good things about it :(

The Untamed is a c-drama? I started watching Possessed (a k-drama on Netflix) and then found out it had more than 40 episodes... it seemed like a bit too much at the time, but now that I think about it, it's the same as watching 4 seasons of 10 episodes haha

[jenett]

I'm another in the "British and related mystery series" as comfort viewing (currently on an umpteenth rewatch of Midsomer Murders but David Suchet's Poirot is great, the Miss Marple ones are fun, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. If you want lots of gorgeous outside shots, Rosemary and Thyme.

I normally do podcasts when I'm doing certain work tasks (plus my commute) so I'm actually listening to a lot fewer of them than usual. (The work tasks are ongoing lengthy catalog edits that don't take a lot of actual thought, but I've learned I can't do fiction podcasts or audio books. In your chatty non-fiction podcast, if I miss a sentence or two, it's pretty easy to pick up, but I find that harder in fiction.)

I am keeping up with This Week in Virology which is putting out tons of coronvirus science content (virologists with invited guests in other science fields). I also regularly listen to Sawbones, Criminal, Productivity Alchemy and a range of Pagan/witchy ones most of the time, but rather behind right now.

[z_badfaith]

I wanted to watch more of the "British and related mystery series", but it's hard to find them to watch in Brasil :( I love Poirot, Miss Marple and Miss Fisher (which they have on Netflix here, yaaa!)

I'll definitely tell my sister about that podcast... she's a researcher, sounds like something she'd definitely enjoy listening to.

[vae]

Ah, I bugged out of Chicago Fire after season 2 because it was so hard to find it being aired over here. I remember really enjoying it, though!

I'm doing a lot of rewatching, I don't have mental capacity for much new at the moment. I'm introducing my lockdown companion to Killjoys right from the beginning, and I'm loving revisiting that. Otherwise my comfort watching is allll rewatching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries!

Also slowly (one episode per week) rewatching Leverage!

[z_badfaith]

Here I found 4 seasons on Prime... and the rest I'm sorting through those programs that stream all kinds of stuff.

Killjoys is on my to-be-watched list!

[lash_larue]

I know darn well I replied to this earlier.

I'm watching old favorites on dvd so as to avoid the chance of seeing an orange turd appear onscreen.

Voyager and NCIS, and Northern Exposure, which is vaguer than I recalled. Usually, when the end credits roll, we go "wtf?"

Big Bang Theory is good for comic relief, usually.

And playing Skyrim. Always something new to find.

L

[z_badfaith]

Watching normal TV here has been a real hoot, mostly because our turd has been making announcements every other day... and while he does that you can hear people on the street screaming, making noise with spoons and pots and such. It's that old saying, "we better laugh about it or we'll punch them", even though this is no laughing matter.

I've seen a few episodes of NCIS... but I think I was maybe in school when that happened, so... couple years hahaha

I have a problem with comedies... and it's that it's very hard for me to find them funny, like Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn 99, ones like that, I just can't seem to find them funny - which is funny in itself, since people love them. Maybe it says a lot about my personality, I don't know :P

[kelly_chambliss]

I've been so busy with working from home (who ever said that working from home was easier?????) that I haven't been able to watch anything. But I really want to see "Star Trek: Picard."

[z_badfaith]

I've been trying to squeeze in siblings time with pets time and tv shows time all together because of my itinerary, 9-12 classes and 6 hours shift at some point in the afternoon (it varies depending of the day), while still trying (and failing) to study at some point in the middle... I'm a big mess, if we're honest haha

Let me see ... I have been watching a lot of TV lately

[used_songs]

Dark, the Tiger King, Sex Education, Making the Cut, and Money Heist on Netflix

Schitts Creek, a bunch of music documentaries on Amazon

The Untamed on YouTube - plus a lot of channels about historical fashion, DIY, make up, etc.

Getting ready to watch the new season of the Bachelor which is going to be combined with a music competition - this is a live blogging/twitter dream come true. There will be so much snark!

Re: Let me see ... I have been watching a lot of TV lately

[z_badfaith]

I watched one episode of Sex Education and decided that it was something that I had to watch on my own pace to enjoy it properly, because it's that good. And I binge watched the Tiger King last week and OMG what the hell is wrong with people!

That new season of the Bachelor sounds like the best thing ever, I'll have to try and watch it just for the fun of it!

[luckyzukky]

healin' good precure (of course!), mashin sentai kiramager (trying to get back into super sentai! it's really good so far), hello! pro no oshigoto challenge season 2 (i'm hoping the rest of the episodes get subbed, it's really funny!), and ressha sentai toqger (i just started it, i love it so much already!!!) ^_^

[z_badfaith]

Where do you usually watch it? I'd love to check it out, specially hello! pro no oshigoto challenge, it looks really funny! XD I was a huge Power Rangers fan growing up, so I can understand the love for Super Sentai, it's so good!! ♥

[liseuse]

A friend and I are doing a co-watch of Black Sails where we turn our tv's on at the same time and then text each other through it. She's watching with her sister (who she lives with) and her sister's partner is also chiming in via text. We're really enjoying it because we've both seen it multiple times before so we have foresight! and knowledge! and doing it this way means she can keep her face nicely blank as her sister gets tripped up by the deliberate misdirections and we can have All The Feelings.

Another friend and I are co-watching Belgravia which is the latest Julian Fellowes drama. It manages, somehow, to actually be worse than Downton Abbey which we previously co-watched (she's much fonder of Downton than I am). This friend and I are also co-watching the BBC adaptation of Malory Towers. We, even in none quarantine times, like to co-watch things.

When not doing that I am re-watching all of Spooks which the BBC has put up on iPlayer - I'm trying to sort of ration it out. There might be ten seasons but they are UK seasons so none of them are longer than ten episodes. Currently I'm about halfway through season two.

I'm also watching various things on Netflix - I started Unorthodox the other evening. And impatiently waiting for the sixth season of Schitt's Creek to land on it.

Other than that I'm trying to keep up on podcasts but because the ones I tend to listen to are political, I have to judge how I'm feeling. Reasons To be Cheerful is still listenable - it's Ed Milband's podcast where he and his cohost talk about ways we might change the world for the better, reasons to be cheerful, chat with experts and cheerful people. Currently a lot of it is coronavirus themed but they try to always look on the bright side and think about how we might make a better world out of this devastation.

[used_songs]

Would someone who loved Downton Abbey like Belgravia? My wife is a huge DA fan and she was just bemoaning the fact that she didn't have anything to watch that was like it.

[therealsnape]

I love to watch costume drama and detectives, and right now I love Midsomer Murders, and No Offence, which is a hoot and a half. A mix of serious policing with razor sharp sarky dialogues, and a heroine who is fab.

I also greatly enjoy Poldark, a story set in Cornwall around 1800.

And I'm watching Dickensian which is pure fanfic. All sorts of Dickens characters live in the same neighbourhood in London. And then someone gets murdered …

Also, answers to questions like 'how did Jacob Marley die?", and "What's the whole story of Miss Havisham's non-wedding. Brilliant.

[z_badfaith]

Everybody's talking about Midsomer Murders, I guess I'll definitely have to check it out!

And Dickensian sounds MARVELOUS! I'll definitely check it out and get back to you about it!

[duskpeterson]

I'm one of those people who hasn't had extra time, but I was delighted (and a little tearful) when this Doctor Who special turned up:

Farewell, Sarah Jane.