dreamshark

HBO Max. Yes,

spiderplanet , Roku and Warner finally signed that contract and the app is now available. I knew I would do a few months of HBO sooner or later to watch Season 3 of Westworld, so why not now? And since I'm here...

The Alienist. I've just watched one episode, but I'm hooked. It's billed as a "period crime drama" but I would classify it as a psychological thriller very elaborately set in 1896 New York. It's a full story arc about tracking down a serial killer, not one of those murder-a-week things. It's based on a series of novels, and the characters are very interesting, although a wee bit anachronistic in their thinking.
His Dark Materials. Richard and I watched part of this while visiting in Oregon and I'd like to see the rest. I have a kind of basic problem with the world-building, but still found it intriguing enough to watch.
Perry Mason. OMG, someone has done an origin story for Perry Mason! Maybe not exciting if you didn't grow up on the 1960's TV show. But you know, I did. And then in the 1970s it was my favorite rerun to watch before bed every night. So I'll give this a try.
Lovecraft Country. This one looks like it was inspired by Lovecraft only in the most vague and generic way, but I'm curious about it. I'm pretty sure that old H.P. would never have considered writing a series of creepy stories about a black family in Chicago (about as far from "Lovecraft Country" as you can get). But it might be good if they don't hit the accelerator too hard on the tentacled CGI horror and stick to the psychological drama.
Watchmen. I've seen all of Season 1, but it was so brilliant that I have every intention of watching it again eventually. If you haven't seen this series, it is worth paying full price for HBO for a month just for this show. It is a sequel to the movie/comic book, not a remake. It's about racial injustice in America, the fine line between hero and villain, and a deep meditation on the meaning of masks. Which might seem a little too on the nose if it hadn't been created before George Floyd and before we were all wearing masks.

Then Britbox, which I got for $.99 through Prime Video. My sole reason was so I could rewatch Red Dwarf, but I hoped there would be other items of interest (since watching nothing but Red Dwarf for 4 weeks is a little like a diet of nothing but pecan pie). To my disappointment, at least 90% of the offerings on this channel are murder mysteries, which I have no interest in. But I found a few things:

QI. A curiously named comedy quiz show that is surprisingly amusing considering that at least half the quips are incomprehensible to the American audience. Thanks to whomever suggested this one. Was it you, bibliophile ?
From Lark Rise to Candleford. Pretty much the British version of Little House on the Prairie, starring every BBC actor you've ever seen and a huge wardrobe of Victorian clothing. Not overwhelmingly addictive, but pleasant enough when you're looking for a way to decompress after watching something intrinsically disturbing like The Alienist.
Upstart Crow. Okay, it sounds really dumb and I didn't expect to like it, but after the first episode I was ROFL. It's yet another in the seemingly endless takes on fictionalizing the life of William Shakespeare. But in this one, everybody speaks in modern English except Will, who pours forth a steady stream of Shakespearian dialog while his family rolls their eyes and says things like, "But Dad, who talks like that?" Except when he mixes the two, delivering lines like, "He doth hate my gutlings!" The first episode is Romeo and ~~Julian~~ Juliet meets Weekend at Bernie's. That's all I've seen so far, but I gather that the series continues to mine the overlap between Shakespeare and classic sitcom.