Personally I prefer oldies but goodies but sometimes I'll check out New Science Fiction shows or Horror Anthology shows.

I recently watched the first season of Foundation.



Far in the future, The Empire is about to face a reckoning unlike anything else it's faced before: several Millenia of chaos has been predicted by the galaxy's leading psycho-historian: Hari Seldon. But can The Empire offset the disaster before it begins?

I dunno, it was difficult for me to get into it.
I read the Foundation books 30-35 years ago and loved them but this show is a mess.
When Season 2 releases I might try a few episodes but I'm not too excited about it.

I also watched the first season of La Brea.



A massive sinkhole mysteriously opens up in Los Angeles, separating part of a family in an unexplainable primeval world, alongside a desperate group of strangers.

I don't mind an fantasy series once in awhile but this show seemed too predictable and typical of an Asylum made movie. Expecting a prehistory survival series what I got was typical society crap and broken people. So much Hollywood drama I wanted to puke!

While the new Lost in Space (glad its over) was kinda watchable, recently I've been streaming episodes of the Original Lost in Space and enjoying that greatly over the new one.

Now that I've watched all the Star Trek Discovery episodes to date, it looks like it might get interesting (unless they go stupid).



Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.

The plot is misleading. The episodes are now 1,000 years in the future but the characters and look of the technology isn't much different. Plus, how did so many original season characters survive 1,000 years?
The way I see it, this show focuses on the Goddess Michael Burnham. Unrealistic even for a Star Trek show.

I just unzipped the entire (new) Outer Limits show (1995-2001) that starts with Sandkings. Even after all these years and repeated watching I still find it good.



A modern revival of the classic science fiction horror anthology show The Outer Limits (1963). Episodes often have twist-endings and involve aliens. Sometimes, a story from one episode continues in a later episode.

So What are y'all watching/following these days?
Are you streaming, renting or buying?

Do you binge watch seasons or watch as released?

I do both. When I come across an interesting series that has more seasons already I binge watch the whole lot.
If a series is new I will have to wait a week, unless it's Netflix that dumps it in one go.

The advantage of waiting is that you don't easily notice repetition or stupid patterns that you do notice when binging and then annoy you.

Also, I don't mind waiting a week if a series is good. I do mind having to wait forever between seasons. I sometimes give up on a series when it takes too long, like with GoT.

I've got a number of series that are now either waiting to get renewed or filming the new season, meaning I got to be patient!

I like curating a variety of series and film both retro and new. I tend to binge the old series or film that I was not allowed to watch. And, I stream the new work.

An interesting note is the recent rise and rise of the villain character. I'm currently bingeing on the old "Law & Order SVU". The victim/ Survivor is favoured whereas new dramas tend to side with the dark side/ malicious intent. Perhaps a reflection of where we're at as a society?

Beyond that, I like watching Brazilian and French Netflix shows.

What I've been watching (series)...

Sweet Tooth - waiting for season 2

Fate: The Winx Saga - waiting for season 2

The Witcher - waiting for season 3

Jack Ryan - waiting for season 3

Virgin River - waiting for season 4

See - waiting for season 3

Another Life - waiting for season 3

Grace - waiting for season 2

Foundation - waiting for season 2

La Brea - waiting for season 2

Grantchester - also waiting on the new season

Many of these will be released some time this year.

Shame, Sparkling you have far more patience than me. I often lose interest waiting for new seasons of anything.
Fortunately, you noted that most will be released this year. Perhaps your wait won't be too long

I'm a lil irritated that ST Discovery stopped mid season at 7 episodes and the remaining episodes in the season don't start till Feb 10th. I searched about it and found out the episodes are already shot along with multiple episodes for the next season. They were talking about getting ahead due to the Covid restrictions.
What's the strategy in this? Why split the season if the material is already ready? Are they thinking John Q Public wants to take a break mid-season? Are they trying to prevent binging? Do they think we need to anticipate cliff-hangers mid-season?

Then there's the issue with smaller seasons. I've been rewatching ST TOS. The seasons used to be nearly 30 episodes. Now, were lucky if we get 10 episodes in a season and only half of those at regular intervals. Its common for nearly all new series lately.
Before DVR, Before streaming, Before On Demand Episodes were shot 2-3 weeks in advance. The production team had steady work during the season run. Now, they try to shoot everything at once, sometimes parts of multiple episodes at the same time. They get all the acting out of the way then go back and fill in the CGI and graphics. The tactic is actually a jumbled mess which has to be sorted and tweaked before it can be released.

One result of this is social confusion. When production was weekly and episodic the shows reflected changing social attitudes as they happened in society. Now, those reflections are sporadic and mixed up in the episode releases.
This jumbling of current events degrades the quality of the show's anticipation which they try to 'fix' by splitting seasons and making fewer episodes per season.

Then you have focus on the same cookie cutter social values which don't really apply to society's current application.
Merry notes this with

Television shows have always reflected current social concerns and established social patterns which shape how we look at those things. By focusing on the rise of the villain character The studio is setting the path of social attitudes in its audience. This is a type of 'brainwashing' intended to change social attitudes in John Q Public.
In other words...The Idiot Box influences active social structure. They do this by using cookie cutter drama in every series. The focus on what they want us to think and most people never seem to notice as their value systems are rewritten by strangers.

If you do this, this will happen.
But when it doesn't work out that way in real-life, people think their doing it wrong and stress out about it. This Big Brother Brainwashing effect gets reinforced by all media influence and unless you stop focusing on media you never notice it.

This can easily be summed up when considering the Dr Smith character in the rebooted Lost in Space.
Dr Smith is over-the-top ruthless. Evil in everything she does.
When people watch this they identify with certain traits she displays and apply those traits to the people they know in real life. Then they suddenly stop trusting people they know because the have displayed one or two Dr Smith character flaws.
I call this the Dr Smith Syndrome.

The Dr Smith Syndrome is not just character flaws of the Dr Smith character. It covers any character which influences peoples attitudes about life, both good and bad.
The media is telling us, This is how you should act, This is how you should handle that. This is how you should raise your family. This is how you should treat your co-workers. This is what you should buy, what you should eat, what you should watch.
When you are constantly bombarded with social ques you can't help but fall into that type of thinking. It becomes so common you never notices you are being molded by outside influence.
If you step away from that constant influence, when you see it you see it for what it is and its all around you.
Even the commercials and advertising strategies reinforce media's current influences.

Watching a medical show...you get ads and commercial which try to get you to buy or try new medicines.

Watching a crime drama show...You get ads and commercials for buying home security and insurance. You see ads from lawyers trying to get you to use them to sue people.

This tactic of influence has been growing since the days of radio shows. The practice has been expanding for over a century and they are getting really good at directing social values in the real world.

Problem is, NOW that process is getting jumbled up. Mainly because shows are not focusing on current events but more towards ideology of desired social framework.

To me, a show which pulls me into the story is merely entertainment. The cookie cutter influence tactics push me out of the story.
That's the problem with most current running shows. The influence tactics are in your face and screaming at you. Its no longer subtle.
This tells me how the industry thinks about the average viewer. It also tells me the industry has lost its ability to influence with subtly.

That happens to me as well when the wait is long. Especially when the storyline(s) of a series is quite complex like with GoT.
By the time I recalled what it was all about when watching a new season that season was over again.
I gave up on it. Couldn't be bothered anymore with the extremely long waits.

With other shows I'm willing to wait. Like The Witcher. That's so damned good! The same with Virgin River.
OTher series have more of a stand-alone story per episode like the police series Grantchester and Grace. Easier to pick up after a season.


I remembered some more. I'll post them in a new post :)

Couple more that I'm following:

Barbarians - Waiting for season 2. Based on historical facts of the Germanic tribes & Rome. Quality series for sure!

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous animation, lighthearted, but surprisingly good. Does keep you on the edge of your seat for sure!

Tribes of Europe - waiting for the new season. Not sure if I'll follow through with it but I will check it out again :)

Over the last few days I've been working on my Star Trek collection.

For each show I've beern collecting trivia and pictures to include in each show folder.

I've found blueprints for most of the ships, including cutaway views and set construction photos.

I find it all pretty fascinating.

One example is
Cygnus-X1.net
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Constitution Class Starship Refit Blueprints
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/ksy-enterprise.php

Blueprint Table of Contents:
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints-main2.php
FEDERATION VESSELS
- STARSHIPS / HEAVY CRUISERS
- CRUISERS / FRIGATES
- TRANSPORTS / FREIGHTERS / TUGS / DRONES
- SCOUTS / DESTROYERS
- SHUTTLES
- BRIDGE LAYOUTS
- SPACE STATIONS
- INTERACTIVE DECK PLANS
OTHER COLLECTIONS
- MULTI-SHIP COLLECTIONS
- EQUIPMENT / WEAPONS

3rd PARTY COLLECTIONS
- CYDONIA 6 INK BLUEPRINTS
- STRATEGIC DESIGN DECK PLANS
- STARSHIP DYNAMICS BLUEPRINTS
- JACKILL DATA SHEETS
- JBOT DECK PLANS
ALIEN VESSELS
- KLINGON EMPIRE VESSELS
- ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE VESSELS
- OTHER ALIEN VESSELS

TECHNICAL MANUALS
- FASA SHIP RECOGNITION MANUALS
- FEDERATION REFERENCE SERIES
- JAYNZ TECHNICAL MANUALS
- DELTA DYNAMICS SRMs
- OTHER REFERENCE / TECHNICAL MANUALS
I've been a fan of Star Trek since watching the original series on primetime in the 60s.

Well noted... Thank you for sharing your perspective Tom

Ugh... I resigned to finish GoT. There's always a pull to start it up again, but I have forgotten most of the storylines. I think my last season was 5. I still consider the first couple of seasons as groundbreaking, but the wait was ridiculous.

I'll definitely look up these series

Never have that problem as I watch online so there are no commercials.
I do know there are no lawyers over here that advertise on tv to sue people. Suing is not a booming business here.
Anywho... I don't watch telly, don't even have one connected to cable. It just sits in the extension eating up space, haha.

The abbreviations you use I don't know.

Have fun with them! They're all good series, provided of course where you interest lies.
I don't watch drama or romance or comedy.
Virgin River is a bit of an exception as that is action/drama with some romance and crime thrown in. But it so good, the whole thing from acting to cast and it just drew me in, couldn't stop watching hihi.

Me too!

One thing I do (I have plenty of time) is I watch the prior season right before I binge the new complete season.

When I really want to watch the new season, sometimes I will rewatch a few of the final episodes of the prior season over again, that way the story is fresh and the new season is not such a task to get into again.

On one of the streaming sites I use the stream titles denote story arcs with a (1), (2), (3) and so on.
I can stream the small story arcs inside each season to follow the backstory which influenced the new season.

One example of this is
Star Trek Enterprise season 3, episodes 18 & 19
Azati Prime (1) and Damage (2). These two episodes link together in the third season.
It establishes important story elements which developed in the 4th season.

Another thing I do between season breaks is look for special non-seasonal videos which support the series.
One example of this is



Star Trek: Short Treks
A series of stand-alone short films featuring characters and storylines from Star Trek: Discovery (2017).
There are currently two seasons available in this.

I also look for 'behind the scenes'/'making of' videos on youtube.

It fills in the gap and keeps the show's storyline fresh while waiting.

Peacemaker on HBO Max. Only 4 episodes so far but kinda funny even though the F word is used a lot.

I usually follow the shows NCIS and FBI.... but now there are so many additions ( location wise) ... it's getting kinda boring ....

I watched the first season of NCIS Hawaii.
Meh...I guess it was okay but nowhere near as good as the 'original' with Gibb or 'New Orleans' with Scott Backula.

This is type of curating that I do as well.
Fantastic!
I think the only difference is I like to watch music videos inbetween episodes and seasons. Growing up in South Africa that's how the television stations would segue to the next episode during television prime time.

When the franchise gets too big then it can be incredibly boring

I don't know how people watch 35 hours of tv in one day, but good luck.