Netflix Watch Instantly Recommendation Thread

i'm guessing kids are involved

oh, that old excuse

I stalled around season 2 of Schitt’s Creek. Perfectly amiable, and I like the cast, but nothing about it was really pushing me toward wanting to see more. My sister says that season 3 is a game-changer, though, so maybe I should give it another shot.

Did Netflix pull the assortment of older MST3k’s they used to have on there? I’ve searched, and all I can find now are the two revival seasons.

I needed another cartoon to watch after I caught up on Kipo, and I also wanted to see why my favorite character on She-Ra got a haircut.

Also, 13 half-hour episodes isn't much a commitment.

I know there are so many reasons why it happens, but I haaaaaaaaate when I hear stuff like "season 3 is where it all comes together." Like, episode 3, I can handle that, but season 3? That's a lot to ask of someone if they're not really digging the first two seasons, as 10+ hours of something is a lot of slack to give any show. Anyway, we found the first few episodes of Schitt's Creek ... yeah, perfectly amiable and sometimes funny, but we got distracted and I don't think we finished the first season, and since my wife (who was the one who suggested it) hasn't mentioned it since, I probably won't bring it up. So much content, so little time ... actually, so much time these days, but at the same time, so little time.

i take it you're not a square/enix fan

Seinfeld is Imo the best sitcom ever and doesn't really hit its stride tie season 3.

I doubt schitt's creek gets that much better - I've watched the first 4 or 5 episodes, it's fine, it's much better than any other Canadian tv show that has been made recently, but it's not even as good as US sitcom pabulum like Modern Family

I don't know Square/Enix. Is that a video game company?

The secret (which we've all discussed on various threads) is often just to skip the first season of shows. "Buffy," "Parks & Rec," US "Office" ... a lot of these you can just dive into a season or so late. Even the best (like The Shield or The Americans) often start strong, dip, then spike up again. Just like Covid.

to maximise your time saving, skip all series of most shows imo

Done!

You can jump seasons in Schitt's Creek without really missing anything

Honest question, then how does it get better?

Ummm, character development, writing, tone? You'll definitely miss some character development if you skip seasons, but there's not really a complex narrative arc. Each episode is more or less self-contained.

I don't think you can jump very many seasons in Schitt's Creek without missing information that's important to the series. OK, it's not exactly Dark, but it has a through line.

When I first started watching it, before most of the hype started, I thought it was a bit stupid because it was so unrealistic, even by gentle sitcom standards. But it very much grew on me over time (especially since the episodes are only just over twenty minutes each, so it's not exactly a massive time commitment). To me, it reached its peak with the end of season four. I'd have been happy if it had stopped there.

I don't know Square/Enix. Is that a video game company?

I guess my harsh Eugene criticism was not as controversial as I thought.

I would like to advocate for Schitt’s Creek! Really good imo. Between watching it alone and dipping into the later seasons with my partner, I can confidently say that 1.it is consistently funny and 2. It’s worth watching linearly.

Holy shit, I am not making this up. I was sitting on the couch and my wife comes up, and I forget what we were talking about, but she mentions, completely out of the blue, after months of nothing, that she wants to give Schitt's Creek another shot! I'm not kidding, this just happened a couple of hours ago. I think a co-worker brought it up with her yesterday. What are the odds? Anyway, the odds were so bad that now I feel fated to give it another shot. We've watched a couple more episodes of season 1 and ... yeah, it's kind of sitcom dumb and the characters are annoying, but whatever, I'll stick with it. With enough beer anything is OK. Still, these are sort of my least favorite archetypes, the Norma Desmond like former diva and clueless cartoon city rich kids in the small town, a la Doc Hollywood or whatever, where everyone is like that annoying person (sorry, fans) on The Good Place who is always, oh, I haven't had shrimp like that since George Clooney took me out on his yacht with George Soros! Anyway, let's see where it goes.

re the sinner, i'm spoiling but idc: I just couldn't believe this season was really about a good-looking, happily married, wealthy white guy who goes on a killing spree because wahhhhhh he just doesn't feel his life has any meaning anymore and misses the time when he and his college best friend were really into nietzsche. and the lead cop continually making excuses for him, because they "share a connection". gross and really tone-deaf.   

i still haven't seen schitt's creek, it's not on my country's netflix for some reason.

agree 100% roz

the nietsche stuff got a big rmde

the reaction shots alone make it must-see.

it also does this thing where you both 1) can’t wait to see the main characters get their comeuppance (apart from johnny) & 2) are rooting for them at the same time. it’s not a unique thing to do i guess but they pull it off so deftly.

I think if "amiable" is not enough for you, Schitt's Creek is just not going to be your jam. Its entire selling point is that you are gonna spend twenty amiable minutes at a time in Schitt's Creek and people are gonna be fundamentally good people with quirks and... that's it. For me it's like a balm in awful times.

totally.

Also, Johnny/Eugene Levy is brilliant. If you want a boring straight man to rag on, choose Patrick.

Take that back you monster. Patrick is Canada’s goddamn national sweetheart.

I also love Schitts Creek, I should be clear. I just worry that I live it because I came into it with low expectations, and if you come into it with high expectations you will be v disappointed.

And Patrick is the greatest, how dare you.

Yeah, I was skeptical and only kinda begrudgingly half watching when we started Schitt's and by the end I had died laughing umpteen times and shed more than a few tears and it had become one of my favorite shows of the last several years. Both hilarious and emotionally resonant. And yeah, it takes a season or so to get fully in gear, deal with it.

https://i.imgur.com/bW35m4m_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

I take it back re: Patrick. It's too risky to make enemies of both Canada and Ireland.

i should rewatch schitt's soon. It is also one of my favorite shows of recent times. I saw a funko? of goth amish david that was kind of lol.

it's an extremely sweet show, portrays a practically utopian vision of society, and is funny to boot what isn't to like??

one of the things i loved the most about it is how the family share certain quirks, facial expressions + vocal tics - esp love the puppy dog face that alexis + david are both experts in. also anything involving moira but especially when she says "but what about the babee?" such a quotable show too.

I swear to god that this exact same SC conversation happens every six weeks.

It does! I also disagree with the thought that there's not any long-term movement in the show. Each of the characters (except Johnny? who starts and ends solid?) moves from a sitcom cliché to a roundly-realized person over the course of the seasons.

Yeah maybe I was not clear enough that SC is one of my very favorite shows of recent times, too, and I actually loved it right from episode 1! So I think what I'm saying is that if you start watching it and it's not enough for you in whatever way, I don't think it's going to become enough for you in season 3.

The only things keeping me from getting into it (so far, after five or six episodes) is that I find Catherine O'Hara's has-been diva character too familiar and the two kids a little too annoying, and the same goes (at least at this early stage) for Chris Elliott. On top of that, the generally charming down-to-earthness of the town often gives way to a pretty broad, boring, almost smugly obvious kind of comedy that I'd expect in a lesser sitcom. But to be fair, all those things I can easily imagine getting toned down a bit as it gets more assured, so that alone could be a reason to stick with it.

Chris Elliott is and remains the worst part of the show, so don't expect that to change. I like him generally but his character is a pretty consistent misfire.

I find Catherine O'Hara's has-been diva character too familiar

See my take on this is that I also find, I dunno, "Proud Mary" familiar, but it's a hell of a song and if I am in the presence of a really tight band playing it really well I am gonna be into it every single time and there are few comics who can play a song tighter than O'Hara

in later seasons some of O'Hara's line deliveries are surely unprecedented in the history of human speech

OTM. Moira's so earnest and pathetic! I see the whole joke of her character as being a bad actor feigning at being a good and important actor, and the creeping awareness of her own insufficiency. Her affectations are so hollow, they don't fulfill her even slightly –– and the moments in which she drops her pretenses are always rewarding/surprising. (Her last line during the S4 Christmas special!) I love her. Her scenes with Alexis are A+++.

I like Catherine O'Hara's over the top approach- to me that is encouraged when the medium is a quirky charming sitcom with a baseline of what I agree with JiC is sort of an "obvious kind of comedy"... and to my earlier point I think Eugene emphasizes that comedy style in the wrong way unfortunately by being the opposite. Overall I guess I feel like cartoonish big personalities are what make it fun and successful. I'm only somewhat through season 2.

Schitt’s Creek does get better and winds up being one of the best and most heartwarming shows I’ve ever watched. It is so fucking good.

Seriously contemplating buying a T shirt that says we don’t deserve Catherine O’Hara.

Gossip is the devil’s telephone

just wanted to note that Jocelyn and Stevie are also great characters, imo

one of the shows strengths is that it leaves the serious issues largely unexplored, as subtext for the laughs. e.g. David and Stevie's relationship arc, which is a very sweet portrayal of fluid sexuality imo

or maybe I should say that the serious stuff is there as subtext, but it's done so well that it just rolls by

Would highly recommend watching the special that aired after the season finale if you can find it. The cast is all super weepy over the show ending, the impact on fans, etc. It's moving.

I’m only on S2 (long story) and I love Stevie but want her to be.... more than she is? somehow? it feels like she kinda only exists in relation to David.

She does get more of her own thing later iirc.

(I'm still waiting for the last season to hit netflix)