Looking for new Netflix series

[dreamshark]

My current obsession is Mad Men, but I'm caught up through Season 3, which I guess means I'll have to wait another YEAR to see Season 4 *sob*.  I'd like to see the second season of Dollhouse, but apparently it's not released yet.

We finally finished Veronica Mars.  I gave Gilmore Girls a try, as it has been recommended by several people. I was disappointed - I couldn't even make it quite to the end of the pilot. I found it teeth-achingly cutesy with a nasty aftertaste.

This left me idly wondering why, if that's the way I feel,  I liked Northern Exposure so much yet disliked this show so immediately and intensely.  Like Gilmore Girls, Northern Exposure was a show built around a not entirely likable protagonist plopped into the middle of a town full of over-the-top Quirky Supporting Characters. However, in Northern Exposure the QSPs were mostly pretty likable. And their quirkiness, while not exactly subtle, was introduced gradually as the first season evolved.  None of them were just walking caricatures, like the Accident Prone Cook, or the Snooty French Hotel Clerk, or the Health Nut Diner Employee who spends all day trying to discourage customers from consuming anything sold at his diner. Even in the sitcom world you have to wonder how these people keep their jobs.

But my main problem is Lorelei. I am neither amused nor charmed by adult women who act like children, in fiction or real life. I'm pretty sure that we're supposed to see her as flawed but nonetheless adorable. I didn't. In fact, I found her relationship with her daughter to be intensely creepy. I realize that there are mothers in this world that are no more mature than the children they are supposed to be raising, but I don't find them cute. So.... no. I sent the disc back largely unwatched.

Maybe I'll just queue up another disk of Northern Exposure. We've been watching that on Netflix off and on, and it holds up surprisingly well.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I watched an episode or two of Gilmore Girls and felt pretty much the same way you do.

I really don't know your tastes; I like Burn Notice and Leverage and Bones.

[guppiecat]

The first several episodes of Gilmore Girls does suffer from overly-annoying supporting characters. The series gets better very quickly.

However, your annoyance with Lorelei will not go away. That's pretty much her character throughout the series. One of the central themes of the show is that of Lorelei and Rory learning to grow up. Rory is better at it.

So far as other shows go, have you done Middleman yet? It's a short series (12 eps), but really a lot of fun you can appreciate the ridiculous.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I like The Gilmore Girls largely for the supporting cast - which becomes much less cardboard very quickly (Luke owns the diner, and is a great cook, which is how he keeps his job.)

I suppose I like Lorelei (while recognizing her flaws) because she's rejected an upbringing that taught her to treat people in a hierarchical manner, (certain people deserve respect, everyone else should be beneath her notice) and she makes an effort to treat everyone as a person, including her daughter, who seems not to have suffered from this at all.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I suppose it's possible that she treats everybody with the same disrespect she shows towards her daughter, but I doubt that would make me like her more. Here's what I saw her do to her daughter in just the first episode:

- repeatedly refuse to acknowledge that Rory is her own person (actually announcing at one point, "You are me!")
- repeatedly telling Rory that there was no possible way she could get into a good college without attending an elite private school, making it clear at the same time what a disappointment she would be as a daughter if she didn't get into Harvard. (why Harvard? Why not Yale, which is only 30 miles away? Didn't the writers know where Yale was when they set the show in Connecticut?)
- when her daughter confesses to doubts about going to the new school, Lorelei never asks her why but starts jumping to conclusions and TELLING Rory what she (Rory) is presumably feeling
- at the first hint that Rory might have feelings for a boy, Lorelei starts TAUNTING her about it (didn't quite say "neener neener neener, Rory has a boooooyyyyy friend," but almost).
- She then switches to accusations, coming right out and stating that she doesn't trust Rory not to get pregnant and throw her life away (because "You are me." see above)
- When Rory gets tired of being taunted and accused and repeatedly asks to be left alone, Lorelei refuses to comply and keeps yammering at her.
- She lies to Rory about their finances.
- She commits Rory to having dinner with Evil Grandma every week without discussing it with her and then snaps at her for pointing that out.
- She then blows her cover story of somehow protecting Rory by not telling her the truth about who's paying for private school by starting a big loud fight with her parents in front of Rory and blurting it all out.

If Rory hasn't suffered at all from this style of parenting, it's not because it isn't harmful. It's because the writers wrote it that way. It's actually pretty ugly.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Wow. That makes her sound really awful. I can only say that these behaviors all struck me as situational rather than character-traits in the context of the story when I viewed it, and especially in the context of all the other episodes I watched in which it's clear that Rory had the Harvard dream her whole life and was very strongly driven in pursuing it.

[hakatrip.livejournal.com]

I've been watching Eureka on Netflix, and in mid-season 3 moved to watching it on Hulu. It's sci-fi, but light, our main character being a man who takes on the job of sheriff in Eureka... a small company town filled with scientific geniuses. Suspension of belief is required, but I really enjoy it. There's quite a bit of humor, and he's clearly in over his head with the science. But, (as I was trained in science I know this to be true), genius does not equal common sense and practicality. Einstein could not find his way across his hometown. Carter is good at his job and they need him. The series starts up again soon on ScyFy.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

We've watched the first couple of seasons of Eureka on Netflix and enjoyed it. They've got an interesting set of characters and a good ensemble comedy cast, but I wish they'd get away from the "mad scientist project of the week" plots and do something actually CREATIVE with the idea of a town full of geniuses. The plots are so, well, dumb that I can't take too much Eureka at once. But thanks for reminding me to check if there's a new season out there. It's been a while since we watched it. It's another one that totally rests on the likability of the main character, and in this case it works for me.

Along those same lines, Big Bang Theory takes a tired sitcom premise (hapless bachelors in an apartment trying to get the attention of the gorgeous gal across the hall) and makes it surprisingly funny. I don't know if the show was actually created by real live physics nerds or if they just have a few of them penned up in a lab for observation, but the writers hit the nail on the head far more often than I expected.

I was also surprised at how enjoyable Chuck is. I'll sit through the silly kung fu in high heels theatrics just for the workplace comedy at the "BuyMore" store, or those little moments where Chuck finds a way to use his real world skills to pull off a caper. Chuck and Sarah have amazing chemistry together, and Adam Baldwin (who played Jayne on Firefly) is a brilliant comic actor.

[drblkcrab.livejournal.com]

I never could get into Gilmore Girls myself but Northern Exposure, Moonlighting, McGyver, Burn Notice, Castle, Psych, White Collar yes...

I've always wanted to get into Eureka and even Fringe but I need to start from the beginning.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Never got into Gilmore Girls, and even the current Parenthood is sometimes hard to wade through. Still, if you liked Northern Exposure, I'd recommend Picket Fences. On at about the same era, the two of them traded off for best show on tv (in my estimation).

[carbonel]

If you haven't already watched Due South, I think it might be your sort of thing.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I will recommend Farscape and the U.K. version of Life on Mars. If you like Horror at all, I found Dexter to be much better than it had any right to be, and I'm enjoying True Blood so far.

Edited to add: Bones is overall pretty good, but has a few weak spots occasionally.