Thank God for the plethora of quality TV shows

[ksoze]

After being addicted to news shows for a year, glad so many new shows are available to fill the void. Netflix, Amazon and HBO have provided a bounty of streaming shows to help divert attention from the disheartening destruction taking place in DC. I know its wrong to ignore the taking over of our freedom, but can't stand to watch Trump or his family trample over centuries of democracy.

I'll stick with crazy robot sci-fi any day.

[kimbutgar]

1. Since the debacle on election night I can't watch cable news

I used to watch starting at 4pm and watching until 7 pm then Daily show. Just can't watch it anymore. Can't look at his face or hear the awful stuff coming from pundits. My husband wants to go back to watching and I say no way. It took the election of bush for me to start watching and the election OH to stop. I just can't take anymore stress and rise in my blood pressure. I have to disengage to survive what horrible stuff I read here and on a Facebook.

And yes, Westworkd is really interesting. Catching up on the multiple shows I dvred. Last night saw the last 3 episodes of the Strain. It ended with a nuclear bomb going off by a OH type. Too scary.

[Skinner]

2. I've been following Westworld religiously.

I've been oscillating between fascination and irritation toward the show. But either way it has captured my imagination and I can't stop watching.

[ksoze]

3. I find the episode recap sites helpful

NY Times and Hollywood Reporter are two that do excellent episode reviews and the comments provide a world of theories, opinions and better understanding of the shows many layers.

For the latest episode (Ep 9) SPOILER ALERT:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/westworld-arnolds-identity-revealed-950602

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/arts/television/westworld-season-1-episode-9-recap.html

[loyalsister]

4. I was really missing fiction before I got rid of cable

Reality TV and infotainment are poison!. I'd rather read newspapers and save TV as the kind of mindless entertainment it was in the glory days.

[ksoze]

5. There is a new wealth of riches on streaming and cable

Network reality shows have given way to creative and engaging fiction on other delivery platforms. These new outlets have creative freedom, great writing and sizable budgets that allow for quality story telling. This freedom has also created smaller, single camera 30 min shows which are pretty good (ex. Search Party, Catastrophe).

Skip network TV and take a look at Netflix, Amazon and the cable premium series, as well as AMC, FX and TBS.

[loyalsister]

6. That's exactly what I did

ROKU is awesome. I have Netflix and Hulu, and sometimes rent from Amazon. Luckily, I have no interest in cable channels since I can't afford even the minimal fees, anyway.

[yeoman6987]

7. Get an Amazon stick

It has everything and more.

[loyalsister]

8. ROKU is fine for me

I pay $20 for Netflix and Hulu and have plenty to watch on any given mind numbing evening.

[jberryhill]

9. MacGuyver is back!

[pinboy3niner]

10. But you need some chewing gum, tin foil and a collander to receive it.

[jberryhill]

11. It's a tricky show to do these days

The original Macguyver hacks were far-fetched at times, but mostly somewhat plausible.

The problem now is that you can't "teach people how to make bad stuff on TV", and some of the hacks are, shall we say, less than worked out in detail.

I mean, to jam a set of remote controlled sniper rifles on tripods, he grabs a CB radio out of a truck, hooks it up to high power AC, weights the microphone to transmit, turns on the juice, and now has a "high power radio signal jammer". Ummm... no. He would hav a fried CB radio.

Then there is the extreme luck of having a bad guy fleeing on a stair case where the metal railing was apparently insulated from ground, so that he could just stay at the top of the stairs and connect the railing to AC power - both wires, mind you - in order to shock the bad guy several flights below. Ermmm.... no.

Remarkably, every bad guy with a gun has horrific aim, and usually cannot hit a target in a hail of rounds. Additionally, when they chase you, they always manage to fall back enough or lose interest long enough for you to build your science fair project in a dark corner somewhere.

But it's still mainly a cornball TV show, so there's that.