I’m currently watching Outer Range on Amazon Prime and kinda loving it. It’s a creepy as fuck cowboy time travel saga, and it is my jam.
But it’s not my most watched show. That’d be Justified. Again. And not the remake (which was fine), but the OG series.
It kept turning up in my Youtube feed, and finally, I gave in one day when I had an hour to kill and no energy for something new (or for creepy as fuck cowboy time travel shenanigans).
I plated up the first ep, and… well, here we are again. I’m knee-deep in season two now. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I have a long list of unwatched series and movies I fully intend to get to. But they would require more… I dunno… investment? Committment?
I know I can drop into an EP of Justified, and it won’t matter if I don’t finish it in one go. I don’t necessarily remember how they all end. I couldn’t even recall the resolution of the major villain arc for S1. But I guess it feels like the stakes are low because I have been there before, and I know I’ll enjoy it all over again.
I suspect that’s what keeps taking Jane back to Star Trek. She’s watched all of those series multiple times now, but if I wake up at two or three in the morning and find her awake, that’ll be what she has on the iPad. I can’t really question it, can it, having slunk back to Harlan County.
There’s undoubtedly a whole New Yorker think piece in this, but I doubt they’re gonna pay me for six months to rewatch Justified and think it over. So, I guess I gotta come to my own conclusions. It might just be nostalgia and familiarity, reheating favoured memories and feelings with minimal effort, like microwave cheese sauce. This sort of thing can be appealing when you're tired or stressed, and who isn’t these days?
Creepy as fuck time travelling cowboy shenanigans? Cannot possibly imagine how that would appeal to you, no sirree 😇
I get the comfort TV thing though. I don't comfort watch old TV, although I do seem to be an outlier on this among my friends. But I'll have evenings where I know I don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with anything that requires active thought, and so my fallback is Taskmaster. I'm slowly working my way through the eleventy billion series of the UK version, since I reserve it for those times when I need something low stakes but entertaining to watch, and it is absolute perfection for this.
I found the first couple of episodes of the Outer Range a bit slow going and stopped. I don't mind a bit of time travel, but don't have much time for cowboys I suppose. On this recommendation I'll probably give it another shot.
its like going out to dinner - a lot of people order the same dish (or couple of dishes) knowing what they will get and not feeling disappointed. I've been forcing myself to try different stuff every time - got some hits and some misses and even some new favourites. Same with tv, i havent been back to any comfort watching for ages now.
I very rarely re-watch TV. But I recently started watching The West Wing again and man, it has not aged well. The writing is still good, but boy, it is a bit problematic in places.
Also, early 2000s US Liberal is so laughably right wing these days.
My partner does the same, there is a series that whenever she wakes early or is in bed going to sleep has it playing. I watched and enjoyed season one of Outer Range, time traveling, contemporary western cowboy with mystery company shenanigans yes please. But when series 2 dropped and I realised if I wanted to avoid "who is that?, what did they do? weren't they dead...." questions as I watched I would need to rewatch series 1 so instead I'll wait till the whole thing drops and binge. hence I encourage everyone to watch it so it gets renewed and I can watch the whole story once it finishes.
ahhh yeah that is the risk these days - something gets canned because "the metrics" arent hitting some predetermined benchmark. I suffered a bit from the what now who queries with s2 outer range. My main worry was/is that it would just keep the black hole as a mcguffin and we'd never find out what the hell is going on cause then you need a really strong story and characters outside that and not a literal black hole hanging over everything unexplained.
I find the 'physics' of the black hole's time travel shenanigans to be... fascinating. there doesn't appear to be a Grandfather Paradox at all. Although I do wonder if Royal's 'episode', heart attack whatever in S2 was a reaction to his past getting overwritten.
For sure brings up questions of time travel or different dimension? It’s a fun escape . With the ton of crap streaming I enjoyed it . Fantastic setting also. About 3 hrs from my abode
Creepy as fuck time travelling cowboy shenanigans? Cannot possibly imagine how that would appeal to you, no sirree 😇
I get the comfort TV thing though. I don't comfort watch old TV, although I do seem to be an outlier on this among my friends. But I'll have evenings where I know I don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with anything that requires active thought, and so my fallback is Taskmaster. I'm slowly working my way through the eleventy billion series of the UK version, since I reserve it for those times when I need something low stakes but entertaining to watch, and it is absolute perfection for this.
I found the first couple of episodes of the Outer Range a bit slow going and stopped. I don't mind a bit of time travel, but don't have much time for cowboys I suppose. On this recommendation I'll probably give it another shot.
Mileage may vary, pacing for me did come across a bit slow but found it intriguing enough to keep watching.
its like going out to dinner - a lot of people order the same dish (or couple of dishes) knowing what they will get and not feeling disappointed. I've been forcing myself to try different stuff every time - got some hits and some misses and even some new favourites. Same with tv, i havent been back to any comfort watching for ages now.
There was a great piece in The New Yorker about ordering the same dinner every time. I wish I could find it.
I very rarely re-watch TV. But I recently started watching The West Wing again and man, it has not aged well. The writing is still good, but boy, it is a bit problematic in places.
Also, early 2000s US Liberal is so laughably right wing these days.
Whoa... I'm sold. But first, a chapter of ISO.
Streaming is a cruel mistress. We started the Handmaid’s Tale a few days ago and have watched 46 episodes with 10 left in less than a week.
Have a lot old shows I still want to rewatch but no time yet. particularly the 12 O’clock High tv series on Amazon Prime.
My partner does the same, there is a series that whenever she wakes early or is in bed going to sleep has it playing. I watched and enjoyed season one of Outer Range, time traveling, contemporary western cowboy with mystery company shenanigans yes please. But when series 2 dropped and I realised if I wanted to avoid "who is that?, what did they do? weren't they dead...." questions as I watched I would need to rewatch series 1 so instead I'll wait till the whole thing drops and binge. hence I encourage everyone to watch it so it gets renewed and I can watch the whole story once it finishes.
ahhh yeah that is the risk these days - something gets canned because "the metrics" arent hitting some predetermined benchmark. I suffered a bit from the what now who queries with s2 outer range. My main worry was/is that it would just keep the black hole as a mcguffin and we'd never find out what the hell is going on cause then you need a really strong story and characters outside that and not a literal black hole hanging over everything unexplained.
I find the 'physics' of the black hole's time travel shenanigans to be... fascinating. there doesn't appear to be a Grandfather Paradox at all. Although I do wonder if Royal's 'episode', heart attack whatever in S2 was a reaction to his past getting overwritten.
For sure brings up questions of time travel or different dimension? It’s a fun escape . With the ton of crap streaming I enjoyed it . Fantastic setting also. About 3 hrs from my abode