Been catching up with Stranger Things in advance of its final season. Got through the first two seasons and have made a small dent in Season 3. There's so much I'd forgotten about (some of which has been great to rediscover, but other parts I'd obviously blocked for good reason). I've never seen Season 4 before, either, so that'll be a first-time experience for me in the coming weeks. Hopefully I'll get it all done in time to meet the finale when it lands on New Year's Day.
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Now that you mention it, I seem to remember that you said something to that effect previously. Fingers crossed it gets a physical release, then
@FuriousMachine Does Norway have the odd SkyShowtime combination too? In the Netherlands, it's basically some version of Paramount+ and original content from Sky UK/Italy/Germany all mixed in one. Still somehow with less content than the domestic Paramount+ however. These media rights are a total menace! I'm glad that for the most part, the shows you get genuinely excited about are available to you in a relatively quick fashion. For the most part, mine are too. Like you said, US network shows are often the ones that don't release reliably, and both Elsbeth and Matlock are prime examples of that. It's unusual in this day and age for me to actively follow a US network show anyhow, but I couldn't resist spin-off show of a show I love as well as a Kathy Bates vehicle legal drama!
Happy to hear that you've enjoyed Pluribus! I haven't gotten around to watch the third episode yet, as I've been prioritising some other stuff over the last week, but I have no doubt it will deliver. No show will take priority over The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City for me though.... and I mean that unironically. Incredible television, though admittedly not for everyone, haha. I'm intrigued to see this fictional ''ice hotel'' you speak of. Sounds like a fun concept, albeit not realistic. If they were able to pull that off in real life however, I'd love to go there!
@Tjuz Yeah, we used to have Paramount+ here for about five minutes before SkyShowtime took over and that was not exactly an improvement in my opinion (I thought it would be, as it would bring in shows from Peacock as well, but those shows seem to drop looooong after they've originally aired. We just got "The Paper" the other day). Showtime itself used to be part of the then quite decent HBO Nordic. Must say that HBO Max is marginally better as a replacement there, though, even if Showtime suffers a bit at SkyShowtime.
Still, things are better now in terms of availability in general, compared to just 10 years ago, so I shan't complain (too much )
John Oliver extolled the virtues of RHoSLC on "Last Week Tonight" a while back, if I remember correctly, so much so that I considered a trial subscription to a streaming service that carried all those kind of reality shows. Haven't gotten around to it yet, though.
I googled ice hotel and there is, apparently, a hotel that is rebuilt every year as the ice has melted during the summer:
The world’s northernmost ice hotel can be found in Alta in Northern Norway. The first Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel was built in 1999, making it the second of its kind in the world.
Every winter, artists sculpt huge blocks of ice and shape the snow. After about a month, the hotel is completed and is open to the public.
"Things were a bit slow during the first eight to ten years, but it’s eventually become a popular experience,” says Sorrisniva’s head of sales and marketing, Jan Roger Eriksen.
Sorrisniva is among the world's most famous ice hotels, right up there with Jukkasjärvi Ice Hotel in Sweden, the hotel that started the concept as early as 1990. As its name implies, everything in the hotel is built of ice and snow, from the bed in which you sleep to the glasses from which you drink.
When spring rolls around the entire hotel is reduced to steaming puddles of water. This cycle gives Sorrisniva and its artists a golden opportunity to renew themselves each and every year.
Fascinating... personally I would rather spend my winters in the Maldives or something like that, but to each his own, I guess
EDIT: I originally posted a summary from the intrusive browser AI, which was most likely inaccurate, so I found a quite from VisitNorway instead, which is far more likely to not be an AI fever dream
@FuriousMachine Always a good sign the machine is working well when they need to replace one service with the other in mere minutes! I'm surprised to hear HBO Nordic previously had Showtime shows as well. I wonder if that had to do with something like Deadwood having its international streaming rights owned by Paramount. Possibly one way of making sure that show (and possibly others?) are with the other HBO shows where they belong! Nowadays, it's only available on Paramount+ or any region's equivalent. Which feels wrong.
I'm shocked John Oliver's endorsement was enough to have you consider a subscription to (what I assume to be) Hayu! I imagine most people who watched that would still be too judgy of reality TV to give it a shot despite his praise, but I'm happy to hear its had a positive influence on at least one person. Or well, positive for my sake at least! If you ever do pull the trigger and give it a shot, please do report back. I am obsessed. Do you generally watch any reality TV or would this be among your first dives into it?
That is fascinating! I googled some pictures of it and it looks lovely. I understand it's not your idea of a holiday as a Norwegian, however. Plenty of cold to go around when you're living that life!
@Tjuz I've never been a huge fan of reality shows, to be honest. Back in the day when I got most of my entertainment from questionable sources I would watch competition shows like "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race". Also "America's Got Talent", but the intensely annoying production style overshadowed the fun of seeing interesting performers do occasionally amazing things, so I gave up on that.
I would watch "Survivor" and "Amazing Race" still if it were available on streaming; I would also love to watch "The Traitors" with Alan Cumming, but that's not available here either (to my knowledge).
So outside of that, not a big reality fan, I'm afraid
@FuriousMachine Totally fair! I don't watch so many myself, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is really the only one I actively watch when it comes to that type of reality show. Reality competition was definitely my gateway into the genre as a whole too, as I've religiously followed all of the shows you've mentioned at different points. Or well, in America's Got Talent's case, it was X-Factor UK for me.
Since you said you would still watch Survivor if legally available, I'd recommend you to try out Australian Survivor if you have any interest in getting back into it now. I imagine it's also not available on Norwegian streaming services, but all episodes are uploaded on YouTube for free, so you can still watch it through non-sketchy sources. I'm not sure during what time you were a fan of the US version, but just this year they did a worldwide all-stars season with US veterans like Parvati Shallow, Cirie Fields and Tony Vlachos returning. It was a lot of fun! Though I'd easily recommend many of the regular seasons as well, so if you are interested, let me know and I'd give you a breakdown. I think it's better produced than modern US seasons.
As for The Traitors, I personally prefer the UK version to the US version as they're regular folks instead of reality TV stars. I know that one has full episodes uploaded on DailyMotion as well if you're interested. The kind of things you only find out being bored at the work office and needing to watch something on a site that wouldn't be blocked by work security.... I'd highly recommend just starting with the first season of that one and moving on from there! The finale of the first season is one of the best episodes of any reality competition show I've ever seen.
@Tjuz Cool, will absolutely take a peek at AUS Survivor; I remember all those you mention (Cirie and Parvati being on The Traitors US is part of the reason I want to see it, but mainly for Alan Cumming being the most Alan Cumming he possibly can be, if the clips I've seen are to believed). Now I really want to put my inflatable parrot (which came with an excellent Monty Python DVD set) on my shoulder, put on an eyepatch and feign a peg-leg to get back into some of these shows. I miss Probst and Keoghan.
Watched season 1 of Interview with the Vampire and the first half of Untamed.
We struggled a bit with IwtV and very nearly tapped out after 3 eps, as we were just finding it a bit meandering. We stuck with it for some reason though and in the very next episode Claudia was introduced and almost immediately things seemed to find a good balance. By the season’s conclusion we were quite into it and very nearly rolled straight into season two. Ultimately we decided to hold it back, to return to it at another time but I’ll be looking forward to seeing where it goes.
We’re liking Untamed quite a bit. It has a strong cast with Eric Bana and Sam Neill being the most prominent names and I really like Lily Santiago as Bana’s fresh-faced partner. The landscapes at Yosemite are pretty breathtaking and beautifully captured and just makes for a backdrop to the proceedings that continues to catch the eye. I think I’ve called one of the ‘mysteries’ from pretty early on in episode 1 but not because it was blatantly obvious and hasn’t ruined it for the missus or myself. Should have this wrapped up this evening.
@graymamba So glad to hear you stuck with Interview with the Vampire! I felt similarly to you in the first season in that I enjoyed it, but wasn't super impressed by it. The show definitely takes a turn for the better as soon as Claudia is introduced, but even then I finished the season with more of a "maybe I'll get back to the second season if I have time"-attitude. Glad I ended up doing so however, because the second season is genuinely one of my favourite seasons of television I've seen! Just everything from the writing (especially the dialogue), to the cast, to the production design is pitch perfect in it. A big improvement on an already solid first season, and should've been showered in acclaim if there had been any justice! Please do let me know when you get to it! Would love to hear your thoughts.
@Tjuz I've tried to find a picture of it online, as my box set is currently in storage (along with most of my DVDs) but this was the best I could find:
EDIT: As you can see, it is a resting Norwegian Blue, completely lifelike
@Tjuz ahh that sounds awesome, we’ll definitely not forget about returning to it with a recommendation like that… and I’ll be sure to tag you with my thoughts once we do 👍
@FuriousMachine Ha! That looks like a great boxset. I'm not much of a collector myself (hence the lack of inflatable parrots in my storage), but these are the types of boxsets that would make me want to impulsively buy them. It's fun! And as it's a completely lifelike Norwegian Blue, I hope it's sufficient at following commands to terrify your enemies.
@Tjuz Yeah, it's a great set. The main motivator was that it collects pretty much everything Monty Python, but with silly swag like that added in it was impossible to pass up. I try to get the parrot to follow commands, but it seems to be resting all the time and doesn't really respond. It's almost as if it had... ceased to be
In gaming/TV crossover news, Noah Hawley ("Fargo", "Alien: Earth") and Rob Mac (previously Rob McElhenney; "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Mythic Quest", Wrexham FC) are developing a Far Cry series for FX, with Rob Mac eyed to star in the first season. Like the games, it will be an anthology series, with different settings for each season.
I will definitely be following the development of this, as I've enjoyed pretty much everything those two gents have created on their own and having them collaborate on this is quite exciting.
@FuriousMachine Time to hold a funeral for the parrot. Beloved companion with years of service. R.I.P. 💔
Surprised to see Noah Hawley involved with a Far Cry adaptation of all things. In my eyes, he's more of a showrunners who likes the weird over the action spectacle you'd expect from something like that. Seems like an odd match, but in Hawley I trust! If anyone could get me interested in that project, it'd be him.
I lost track of how soon the final series of Stranger Things is to starting so I've re-subbed to Netflix today. I might have to do some crazy level bingeing as I want to rewatch the first four seasons to refresh my memory on everything.
Also looking forward to checking out the third season of The Diplomat.
@Tjuz The shopkeeper insists it's just resting and keeps going on about the lovely plumage. Weird fellow
And, yeah, Hawley and Mac both raise my interest level for a Far Cry series by orders of magnitude, for sure. I must say, I struggle to find any "identity" in the property other than the game mechanics, so it will be interesting to see what through line, if any, they consider Far Cry having that is worth adapting. Only time will tell, I guess.
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