TV Series - Furies (French)

In French, with subtitles

Watched on Netflix
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 45 min.
IMBd: 6.2/10
RT Critic's Consensus: n/a
RT Audience Score: no ratings
cag: 4.5

Premiered: 3/1/2024 (US)

Note:  VERY violent 

My comments:  This kept me totally engrossed all day Sunday, despite its violence and having to read subtitles.  Twists, turns, surprises, love triangle....what's not to like?  I didn't enjoy the huge amount of violence, but the relationships and story were great!

Storyline from IMBd: A dive into Paris's criminal underworld, where Lyna meets the enigmatic and brutal Furie, the boss of this hazardous environment.

Storyline from IMBd:  Seeking to avenge her father's death, a young woman becomes entangled in the web of the Fury, peacekeeper of the Paris criminal underworld.

TV Shows - 3 Body Problem

Watched on Netflix
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 45-60 minutes each
IMBd: 7.7/10
RT Critic's Consensus: 78%
RT Audience Score: 80%
cag: 6

Premiered: 3/21/24 on Netflix

Characters: Five scientist/physicist friends, all brilliant, all very close.  The Chinese/English cop/bodyguard, The original Chinese young adult from the 60's Cultural revolution is followed from young girls and the beginning of all the trauma throughout the entire series.

My comments:  Absolutely awesome SciFi.  Top notch entertainment.  Comes from a book of the same name, written by a Chinese writer, set in China.  This television version switched the contemporary scenes to London, but kept a diverse set of characters and the 1960s parts still set in China.  Incredible cast, the relationships between the five main characters (spoiler:  only three are left "alive" at the end of season 1) seem real.  LOTS of characters, great sets, super well done.

Storyline from IMBd: Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

TV Series: Reacher

Watched on: Amazon Prime

Premiered: 2/4/22
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
IMBd: 8.7/10
RT Critic's Consensus: Reacher captures the trademark bulk of its titular hero while trading away some of his definition, but fans of the novels will find plenty to love about this faithful adaptation.
RT Audience Score: 85/94
cag: 6 - It was wonderful

Characters: Alan Ritchson is the PERFECT Jack Reacher!  

My comments:  The cast is wonderful and just right, and the flashbacks to Reacher's childhood relationship with his brother Joe, and his parents are fantastic.  Not only did it represent the book and series well, it would have been great even if I hadn't known the story and Reacher's personality so intimately.  Loved it!  

Storyline from IMBd:    When retired Military Police Officer Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he did not commit, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy full of dirty cops, shady businessmen and scheming politicians. With nothing but his wits, he must figure out what is happening in Margrave, Georgia.

TV Series - Love and Anarchy

Watched on Netflix
Premiered: 11/4/2020
Season 1

Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 25 - 33 minutes

IMBd: 7.4/10
RT Critic's Consensus: 100
RT Audience Score: 90
cag:   I loved it.  6

Filmed in Swedish, dubbed in English.

Set in contemporary Stockholm

 
My comments:  Sophie, a mom with two kids, takes on a consulting job for a publishing company that needs help.  The IT guy, a young man named Max, becomes smitten and they egg each other on by creating more and more bold dares for each other.  I loved it.

Storyline from Wikipedia: Sofie is an ambitious consultant and married mother of two children. When Sofie receives the order to restructure an old-established publishing house, her extremely orderly life begins to fall apart at the seams. She meets the young IT expert Max and begins an unexpected and daring flirtation with him. In the process, both challenge each other to do things that contradict established social norms. The harmless games soon turn into bitter seriousness as the challenges and the resulting consequences become bigger and more uncontrollable.

TV Series: Ray Donovan

Premiered: June, 2013
7 Seasons: 2013 - 2020
Number of Episodes: 12 per season
Length of Episode: 55ish minutes
IMBd: 8.3
RT Audience Score: 72/86
cag: Loved it so much!  6
Showtime

Characters:
Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber)
Mickey Donovan (his father) Jon Voight
Abby Donovan (wife)
Bridget Donovan (daughter)
Conner Donovan (son)
Terry Donovan (brother: boxer, club owner, Parkinson's)
Bunchy/Brendan Donovan (brother: still recovering from being abused by a priest when he was a kid)
Daryl (half-brother, Black)
Lena & Avi wholehearted employees

My comments:  Violent, full of boxing (which I hate) and frustration at a horrible father....you'd think I'd hate this.  But Liev Schreiber NAILS this role.  Exquisitely.  Wonderful actors and for the most part great stories.  (I wasn't so crazy about season 4 as the others) Immediate addiction! Loved it.

 

Storyline from IMBd:
          Ray Donovan, a professional "fixer" for the rich and famous in Los Angeles, can make anyone's problems disappear except those created by his own family.
           Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, Ray Donovan does the dirty work for LA's top power players. The one-hour series stars Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award nominee Liev Schreiber in his first lead television role as the go-to guy who makes the problems of the city's celebrities, superstar athletes, and business moguls disappear.
     Ray Donovan is a man of many faces. He's a cool, sophisticated Hollywood player but also a ruthless south Boston thug. He's a devoted family man who has trouble resisting come-ons from attractive clients, and a consummate professional who is also easily pushed to violence. His job as a problem fixer for the Hollywood elite has helped lift him out of the working class to within reach of the wealthy and powerful. But no amount of designer suits, sports cars or gold watches can completely mask his shady line of work, or his humble, blue collar roots. With his brothers always calling for help, his criminal father out of prison and causing trouble, and the FBI watching him like a hawk, Ray might be unable to shake his past.

TV Show - Dark

First ever German language series on Netflix
Dubbed in English
Premiered: 2/1/17
Seasons:  3
Number of Episodes: 24
Length of Episode: about 50 minutes
IMBd: 8.8
RT Critic's Consensus Season 1:   Dark's central mystery unfolds slowly, both tense and terrifying, culminating in a creepy, cinematic triumph of sci-fi noir.
RT Critic's Consensus Season 2:  Dark's sumptuous second season descends deeper into the show's meticulously-crafted mythos and cements the series as one of streaming's strongest and strangest science fiction stories.
RT Critic's Consensus Season 3: Dark's final chapter is as thrilling as it is bewildering, bringing viewers full circle without sacrificing any of the show's narrative complexities.
: RT Audience Score:  94/95
cag: 4
Produced by: Netflix

Characters:  So, so many!  Four families:  Kahnwald, Nielsen, Tiedemann, Doppler (three generations of each).... Check out Wikipedia

My comments:  Loved Season 1, got terribly confused with seasons 2 and 3, even with making a family tree list.  By the time I got to the end of Season 3 I had pretty much figured everyone out.  Adding two worlds to the original world was hard on me, lol!  Satisfying ending. Loved the actors.  Loved that it took place in Germany.

Storyline from IMBd: A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town, where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.

 

 

 

TV Series: Secret City

Premiered: Australia in 2016, US in 2018
Season 1:  Six part miniseries, set in Canberra, Australia (watched October, 2018)
Season 2:  (Called "Under the Eagle") 2019
Number of Episodes: 6 each season
Length of Episode:
IMBd:  7.4
RT Audience Score:   100 / 72
cag: Season One = 4.5  /  Season Two = 2
Netflix

Season One/My Comments:  The protagonist, played by the headliner from FRINGE (Anna Torv) is an investigative journalist for the top newspaper in Canberra. In the first two episodes we discover that she is separated from her much-loved husband, who is transitioning into a woman, but he gets murdered.  She then spends her time uncovering the twisting, turning Chinese/American/Australian top government spies vs. good guys.  Excellent show.
Season Two/My Comments:  Less enjoyable, more difficult to follow.  It's all politics, Australian politics, and takes quite a few episodes to even fathom who is baseline good guy or bad guy.  Perhaps I should have rewatched season one before watching this.  It does straighten up in the mind a little by the end, but it wasn't really that interesting, unfortunately.  Just ok.

Storyline from IMBd: Beneath the placid facade of Canberra, amidst rising tension between China and America, senior political journalist Harriet Dunkley uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting innocent lives in danger including her own.

TV Show: Sweet Magnolias

Premiered: 5/19/2020
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 10
Length of Episode: 45 minutes?
IMBd: 7.4
RT Critic's Consensus: none as of 5/26/20
RT Audience Score:   67 / 69
cag: 5
Produced by: Netflix

Characters: Three friends
     Maddie (ex husband, Dr. cheated on her) and her three kids: Tyler, Kyle, and young girl
          Coach, love interest for Maddie, hunk
     Dana Sue (chef, daughter Annie)
     Helen (single lawyer who wants a baby)

My comments:  Quite delightful, not too heavy, which is much needed right now.  A little slow moving, but the romcom kind o show that has been tickling my fancy lately.  The only porblem is that it ended on a horrible note, a car wreck where the younger son, Kyle was pulled out unconscious and put on a stretcher and the second passenger was unknown.  His brother, Ty?  Dana Sue's daughter, Annie?  Frustrating because it'll be a t least a year IF it's renewed.  o surprises, but enjoyable.  Great cast.  The lead, Maddie, looks so much like Amy Adams that they could be twins.

Storyline from IMBd: Centers on three South Carolina women, best friends since high school, as they shepherd each other through the complexities of romance, career, and family.

TV Show - Safe

Premiered: 5/10/2018
Season 1, Complete
Number of Episodes:  8
Length of Episode:
IMBd: 7.3
RT Critic's Consensus:  Safe boasts a superb cast -- albeit with some questionable accents -- who carry its soapy, mystery-laden drama just well enough to offer an entertaining diversion.
RT Audience Score:  71 / 76
cag:  5
Produced by: Netflix

Characters:
Father: Tom Delaney (Michael C. Hall)
His best friend & fellow doctor, Pete
His two daughters, one who disappears

My comments:  A Harlan Coben Movie!!!  Set in England with an American actor as the lead playing a British doctor.  Another of Coben's really cool mysteries that have all sorts of possibilities, twists and turns, with wonderful characters and actors  Totally enjoyable.

Storyline from IMBd: After his teenage daughter goes missing, a widowed surgeon begins uncovering dark secrets of the people closest to him.
Storyline from Rotten Tomatoes:  A widower maintains normalcy after the death of his wife until one day, his daughter goes missing, and he begins to uncover buried secrets of their seemingly secure gated community.

TV Show - Cardinal

Premiered:  6/17/2017
Season 1:  Forty Words for Sorrow
Season 2:  Blackfly Season
Season 3:  By the Time You Read This 1/24/19
Season 4:  Until the Night (the final season) on Hulu, finally, 12/2021
Number of Episodes per season:  6
Length of Episode: 45 minutes
IMBd: 7.7
RT Audience Score: Season 1  89/94
cag: 4
Watched on HULU
Set in Algonquin Bay, northern Ontario, Canada
Produced by CTV (Canadian Television Network?)
Season Synopses on Wikipedia

Characters:
     John Cardinal - played by Billy Campbell
     Catherine Cardinal
     Lise DeLorme - Cardinal's new partner
   
My comments:  Season 2 ended where John Cardinal's wife, Catherine, who was bipolar, has just jumped off a big building and killed herself.  Good mystery.  Good chemistry between Cardinal and his partner, Delorme.
Season 3 was slow and depressing.  I'm glad there are only six episodes.  There are two mysteries unfolding, one of a vigilante woman who has taken in three you adults and brainwashed them into thinking they are helping her create a better world.  And the other is John Cardinal convinced that his wife did not commit suicide in the last episode of season two, and goes on to prove it against everyone else's advice.  Even though it was depressing, it was interesting to watch.

Season 4 was good, but so dark, grey, and SNOWY!  Actually, the killer was killing by freezing his victims' loved ones to death outside in below zero temps.  Gruesome.  All six episodes were in blizzard-like conditions, frigid winter scenes.  The ending had Cardinal staying in Algonquin Bay and Lise heading back to Toronto to take a job there....but before leaving they started a relationship, so you're left knowing that anything could happen between them in the future.

     All four seasons have been pretty dark and depressing, both in story and setting.  I still enjoyed them, though.

Storyline from Wikipedia:
Cardinal is a Canadian crime drama television series, which was first broadcast on January 25, 2017, on CTV (in English) and Super Écran (in French). The series adapts the novels of crime writer Giles Blunt, focusing on police detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) and his partner Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse), who investigate crimes in the fictional city of Algonquin Bay.

TV Show - The Sinner Season 2

Premiered: 8/1/2018
Number of Episodes:  8
Length of Episode:  45 minutes?
IMBd:
RT Critic's Consensus:  In its second season, The Sinner establishes itself as an engrossing why-dunnit thriller series with staying power.
RT Audience Score:  97 / 83
cag: 5
Produced by:  USA/ I streamed on Netflix

Characters:
Det. Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman)
Black female lesbian cop, Hannah
Her dad, a white dude and old friend of Ambrose's
Vera, head of the cult, and mom to Julian
Julian, the 13-year old in the center of the case
Marin, Hannah's best friend until she disappeared after joining the cult (after high school)

My comments:  I loved all the twists and turns.  cults. Good guys and bad guys.  Deling into Harry's background and difficult years with a bipolar mom.  Fascinating storytelling.  The young man who played Julian seemed exceptionally talented.  Wowser.

Storyline from Rotten Tomatoes:  In Season 2 of the drama series, Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) goes back to his small hometown to investigate the murder of a couple by their 11-year-old son. As he tries to figure out why the boy would commit such a crime, it becomes clear that the town is hiding some very dark secrets that people will do anything in their power to protect. While attempting to bring these secrets to light, he also meets Vera (Carrie Coon), who might hold the key to understanding everything that's going on.

TV Show - The Strain

Premiered: July 13, 2014
Four Seasons, last season July, 2017
Number of Episodes: 46 (13-13-10-10)
Length of Episode: 45 minutes
IMBd: 7.3
RT Critic's Consensus:
Season 4: 100% The Strain concludes on a high note with a climactic season that will remind viewers of the series' initial bite.
Season 3:  55% Consensus: Content with mediocrity, The Strain suffers under the weight of a stagnant story, scraping by on the pedigree of its style and visual effects.
Season 2:  77% he Strain's gory action helps compensate for an unfocused narrative, while the show's political and philosophical subtext add necessary heft for adult viewers.
Season 1:  84% The Strain makes the most of its familiar themes through an effective mix of supernatural thrills and B-movie gore -- though it may not appeal to everyone.
cag: 4/Liked it a lot for some unknown reason....
Produced by FX, watched on HULU
Wikipedia

Characters:
Dr. Ephriam Goodweather (Corey Stoll)
Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley)
Vasily Fet (Kevin Durand)
Dutch (Ruda Gelmintas)
Mr. Quinlan (half vampire, son of The Master) (Rupert Penry-Jones)
Palmer (who became The Master) (Jonathan Hyde)
Eichorst (undead vampire) (Richard Sammel)
Zach Goodweather (Ephraim's son) (Max Charles)

My comments:  Weird and creepy, and I loved it...for the most part.  The Master vampire (who can switch from body to body with the gorriest transfer of worms flowing from mouth to mouth, yuck!) and his army of ghouls who suck blood and turn humans in a particularly creepy way with a fat, long snake-like tongue, take over America.  This is about a small group of people who band together to try to take The Master down.
     It is really nice to come to some sort of completion in the conclusion.
     I've watched this off and on for years.

Storyline from Wikipedia: The show centers around Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the CDC's New York-based Canary Project, who is called upon to investigate an airplane landing wherein everyone aboard is dead. What his team discovers is a viral outbreak that has similarities to an ancient strain of vampirism. The virus begins to spread and Goodweather works with his team and a group of the city's residents to wage a war to save humanity.

TV Show - Upload

Watched on Prime Video
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 10
Length of Episode:
IMBd:  8.1
RT Critic's Consensus:  Though Upload at times suffers from tonal overload, witty writing and a winsome cast make it an afterlife worth living.
RT Audience Score: 87 / 88
cag: 3/liked it

My comments:  If you have lots of money, then when you die yoyu can have your consiousness uploaded into a virtual reality into an avatar of your likeness.  You even get to email and talke to your loved ones, and even tough them when they are all geared up in virtual reality gear.  So when Nathan dies in a freak car accident they discover it was murder - his rich, weirdo girlfriend pays for his uploads into a very fancy virtual reality.  There he meets his "angel," Nora, whose job it is to make sure he's cared for and nothing goes wrong.  They fall for each other, , he had, after all, had a pretty tentative lack-of-feeling for the girlfriend.  Series one ends with him breaking up with the girlfriend, being now poor so he had to start living in the cheap-o basement of the Upload facility,and girlfriend walks in with a huge smile and tells him she's had herself uploaded to be with him.

Storyliline:           By the year 2033, humans have developed the ability to upload themselves into their preferred choice of Artificial Afterlife. In Los Angeles, software engineer Nathan (Robbie Amell) is fatally injured in a self-driving car accident. His shallow girlfriend pressures him into agreeing to be uploaded to her family’s luxurious virtual heaven, Lakeview. Once there, he is greeted by Nora (Andy Allo), his customer service representative (or "Angel"), who appears as a holographic avatar while actually working in an office in Queens alongside other "Angels".  
          The series follows the two as Nathan grows accustomed to his imperfect afterlife with Nora's help, while the still-living Nora struggles to stay afloat.

TV Show: After Life

Premiered:  March 8, 2019
Seasons:  2 so far
Number of Episodes:  6 per season, 12 total
Length of Episode:  30 min.
IMBd:  8.5
RT Critic's Consensus:   After Life's first season teeters tonally between dark comedy and affecting drama, but Ricky Gervais' poignant performance illuminates new sides of the actor's talent.   Though After Life's second season struggles to affirm its existence, it's a solid entry for anyone aching for a little more contemplative gallows humor.
RT Audience Score:  74/88
cag:  4
Netflix, written by Ricky Gervais

Characters:  Tony played by Ricky Gervais
His dead wife, Lisa
His brother-in-law and boss, Matt and Matt's 8-year-old son, George
His sex-worker friend, Roxy
His cemetery buddy, Anne, who talks to her dead husband Stan every day, on a bench at the cemetery
His postman, Pat, a homeless guy who asks to use his bathroom and takes a bath!
His co-workers and friends, Lenny and Sandy
His dad, with Alzheimer (who was on The Strain)

My comments:  Laura told me this was good but it made her cry a lot.  For that reason I almost didn't watch it, I hate to cry.  For me it was more depressing than sad.  Ricky Gervais was deperssed and it made me totally depressed, too.  However, it was so tongue in cheek black-humor funny that I totally enjoyed it.

Storyline from Rotten Tomatoes:  Tony (Ricky Gervais) had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa suddenly dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on. He thinks it's like a Super Power -- not caring about himself or anyone else -- but it turns out to be tricky when everyone is trying to save the nice guy they used to know.

Storyline from IMBd:  After Tony's wife dies unexpectedly, his nice-guy persona is altered into an impulsive, devil-may-care attitude; taking his old world by storm.

TV Show: Atypical

Just finished watching Season 3
Season 4 coming in 2021
Premiered: August 11, 2017
Number of Episodes: 38
Length of Episode: 30 minutes
IMBd:  8.3
RT Critic's Consensus:  Great performances and a likable, realistic family dealing with autism lift Atypical above its alarming tonal shifts and predictability.
RT Audience Score:  73/96
cag: Loved it a lot

Characters:
Sam Gardner- Keir Gilchrist
Casey Gardner- Brigette Lundy-Paine
Mom/Elsa Gardner- Jennifer Jason Leigh
Dad/Doug Gardner (an EMT) - Michael Rapaport
Zahid, Sam's best friend
Evan, Casey's boyfriend
Izzey, Casey's girlfriend
Paige, Sam's girlfriend

My comments:  This great ensemble cast follows the lives of two sibling, the older brother Sam, who is autistic, and the just-younger sister, Casey, who is smart and sassy.  The first season follows Sam through his senior year in hight school and then progresses to college, as we also watch Casey's love live and friendships become huge questions for her.  At the same time, the parent are reeling from an infidelity that may break them up.  I love Sam's obsession with penguins and his artistic ability, his over-the-top quirky girlfriend, and Sam's best friend Zahid.  I really feel for Evan, and have enjoyed this actor's performance a lot.

Storyline from Rotten Tomatoes:  Atypical is a coming of age story that follows Sam (played by Keir Gilchrist), a 19-year-old on the autism spectrum as he searches for love and independence. While Sam is on his funny and emotional journey of self-discovery, the rest of his family must grapple with change in their own lives as they all struggle with the ongoing central theme of the series: what does it really mean to be normal?

Season 1:  Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, tells his overprotective family that he wants to start dating. His father Doug (Michael Rapaport) is at first enthusiastic and encouraging until he discovers that the girl Sam wanted to date is his much-older therapist Julia Sasaki (Amy Okuda). Realizing that her boy is finally growing up, Sam's mother Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) finds herself at loss with what to do and tumbles into an affair with a bartender, Nick (Raul Castillo). Sam's younger sister Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) lands an athletic scholarship at a prestigious but faraway high school. However, she hesitates to take the scholarship, believing that her leaving will negatively affect Sam. The first season of "Atypical" also stars Nik Dodani as Sam's best friend Zahid, Jenna Boyd as Sam's pretend girlfriend Paige, Graham Rogers as Casey's boyfriend Evan, and Rachel Redleaf as Evan's sister Beth.

Season 2:  Casey Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) leaves for her new high school and befriends Izzie (Fivel Stewart), the track team captain. However, this newfound friendship threatens Casey's relationship with Evan (Graham Rogers). Sam (Keir Gilchrist) copes with Casey's leaving through drawing; he is also unable to find a new therapist he could be comfortable with the way he was with Julia (Amy Okuda). Sam's guidance counselor, Ms. Whitaker (Casey Wilson), discovers Sam's drawings and encourages him to apply to university. Doug (Michael Rapaport) learns about Elsa's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) affair and makes her leave the house. However, the stress of housework makes Doug relent and allow Elsa to come back home, though he keeps his distance out of resentment. The second season of "Atypical" also stars Nik Dodani as Sam's best friend Zahid and Jenna Boyd as Sam's pretend girlfriend Paige.

Season 3:  In season three, Sam starts his first year of college and is faced with the challenge of figuring out what success means for him, while adjusting to the changes that come with growing up. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as his mother, Elsa, who continues her own journey of self-discovery as her children grow older and more independent, Michael Rapaport plays his father, Doug, and Brigette Lundy-Paine plays Sam's sister, Casey. Recurring this season are Sara Gilbert as Sam's new Ethics professor, and Eric McCormack as his art professor.

TV Show: Normal People

Just finished watching Season 1 on the day it premiered on HULU
Premiered: 4/29/2020
Season: 1
Number of Episodes: 12
Length of Episode: 30 minutes
IMBd: 8.8
RT Critic's Consensus:  Anchored by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal vulnerable performances, Normal People is at once intimate and illuminating, beautifully translating the nuances of its source material.
RT Audience Score:  100%
cag: 3
from the book by Sally Rooney and produced by HULU

Characters:  Marianne & Connell

My comments:  What did I just watch?  Why?  Many conflicting feelings.  Although extremely depressing at times and without a happily every after ending, I couldn't stop watching.  Four and a half years in the lives of two Irish young adults, from the end of high school through four years at Trinity College.  Okay, the two protagonists had an incredible amount of chemistry and the steaminess of their connection was quite something.  But it was very inconsistent.  She went from a don't-tread-on-me-I-don't-give-a-shit person to a dump anything-on-me-I'll-take-it-because-I'm-worthless person.  WHAT?  from an introvert to an extrovert-of-sorts overnight  I'm sorry it's over, I needed more resolution, and it definitely left me feeling deflated, sad, depressed and somewhat empty.  I feel like slapping them both in the face and saying, "Snap out of it."  GREAT ACTING.

Storyline from IMBd:  Follows Marianne and Connell, from different backgrounds but the same small town in Ireland, as they weave in and out of each other's romantic lives.

TV Show - The I-Land

Premiered:  Sept. 12, 2019
Season 1 (and not renewed)
Number of Episodes:  7
Length of Episode:
IMBd:  4.5
RT Critic's Consensus:  Bafflingly bad, the only mystery is how The I-Land got made in the first place.
RT Audience Score:  8 / 34
cag:  1
Produced by: Netflix

My comments:  The reviews for this were absolutely horrible.  And they were RIGHT!  What a mess. They decided to include as much grimness and ruthlessness as possible.  There were endless scenes...any, entire episodes, that didn't even take place on the island that were a total and complete waste of time and talent.  In the hands of decent writers this could've been a lot of fun, but it was a total waste of time and money.  SPOILER SYNOPSIS:  Ten inmates from a Texan penitentiary death row are put into a simulation on a supposedly deserted island, without their memories, and then hatefully kill and maim each other under the guise of nature vs. nurture experimentation.  An interesting premise that went nowhere but down....

Storyline from IMBd: When ten people wake up on a treacherous island with no memory of who they are and how they got there, they set off on a trek to try to get back home, only to discover the world is not as it seems.

TV Show - The Politician

Just finished watching Season 1
Premiered:  9/27/2019 on Netflix
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode:
IMBd: 7.5
RT Critic's Consensus: While The Politician can't uphold all of its tantalizing promises, it delivers just enough soapy satire in a sumptuous setting to keep Ryan Murphy fans invested -- though its unlikely to win him many new votes.
RT Audience Score: 86 (57 Critics)
cag: Liked it a lot
Wikipedia information

Characters:
Payton Hobart - Ben Platt, adopted rich boy
Georgina Hobart - Payton's loving mom (Gwyneth Paltrow)
River Barkley - Payton's Mandarin coach and friend (who commits suicide in Episode one or two, but conitinues as his "conscience" throughout the season)
Infinity Jackson - The girl who becomes his running mate, whose grandmother is poisoning her and who thinks she has cancer
Dusty Jackson  - Infinity's nana (Jessica Lange)
Ricardo - Infinity's boyfriend
Astrid Sloan - River's girlfriend and Payton's ultimate rival
McAfee and James - Payton's close friends and "advisors"
Alice Charles - Payton's girlfriend
Skye Leighton - Black LBGTQ chick who keeps showing up and is nasty, goes from opponent to running partner to almost-assassin

My comments:  Per Ashley's suggestion, I started watching this today and ended up binge-watching all eight episodes in one sitting.  It was funny, sad, eyeball-rolling, irreverent, goofy, well acted, and wonderfully enjoyable.  It also had an incredible cast of characters from Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow to Dermot Mulroney and Jessica Lange, with Judith Light and Bette Midler tossed into episode eight (to be full timers on season two, I hope!) Episodes one through seven are set in Santa Barbara, California in the homes of the exceedingly rich, while episode 8 is set in NYc.  I liked it a lot.  Season two is supposed to come out somewhere in 2020, being about Payton's New York State Senate  run against the current popular senator played by Judith Light (who happen to be in a three-way marriage, lol!)

Storyline from IMDb: Payton Hobart, a student from Santa Barbara, has known since age seven that he's going to be President of the United States. But first he'll have to navigate the most treacherous political landscape of all: Saint Sebastian High School.

From Wikipedia:  The first season is set at the fictional Saint Sebastian High School in Santa Barbara, California. Payton Hobart is running for student body president against the popular and athletic River Barkley. Payton, under the direction of his ambitious friends McAfee Westbrook, James Sullivan, and Alice Charles, chooses Infinity Jackson, a cancer patient and victim of Munchausen by Proxy disorder, to be his vice-president. Meanwhile, River, under the direction of his girlfriend Astrid Sloan, chooses Skye Leighton, a gender-nonconforming black classmate, to be his vice-president.

TV Show - The Stranger

Just finished watching Season 1, which wrapped up the story completely, I don't think there'll be another season
Premiered:  1/30/2020
Season: 1 (and only)
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 42 minutes
IMBd: 7.4
RT Critic's Consensus: If not quite as addicting as its source material, The Stranger has a strong cast and enough tension to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
RT Audience Score:  83%
cag: Liked it a lot, binge watched in one day....
Produced by: Netflix

Characters: The Price family:  Father Adam, Mother Corinne, Sons Thomas and Brian
The cops:  Johanna Griffin and her inept (for the most part) sidekick, Wesley Ross
The bad guy:  Cop & father, John Katz
The neighbors:  Tripp and his son, Michael
The ex-cop who wouldn't sell or leave his condemned property:  Martin Killaine (Stephen Rea)
Adam Price's unscrupulous father
Johanna Griffin's best friend and first to be murdered, Heidi

My comments:  Harlan Coben never disappoints!  This interesting story, with a multitude of side-events and happenings, kept me interested and enthralled.  A few of the premises didn't quite work (why was Corinne so reluctant to inform Adam of what was going on, and her intense reaction didn't fit) and (why would Adam go so willingly with Tripp at the end AND why would Tripp tell all with Adam standing there with a gun) to mention just a couple. It's certainly the type of show that I enjoy, and I look forward to more of Coben's work, this one set in England.

Storyline from IMBd:  Based on Harlan Coben's novel of the same name, the series will follow Adam Price, who seems to be living the perfect life - two great sons, a watertight marriage - until a stranger approaches him at a bar and reveals a shocking secret about Price's wife, Corinne.

TV Show - Bonding

Just finished watching Season 1
Premiered: 4/24/2019
Season: 1, Season 2 has begun filming(apparently Jan. 2020)
Number of Episodes: 7
Length of Episode: 12 - 18 minutes each (VERY short_
IMBd:  7.2
RT Critic's Consensus:  Though Bonding's juicy spin on friendship and sexuality boldly treads into uncharted territory, the show's writing too often teeters uncomfortably between bewitchingly funny and bewilderingly underwhelming to make it a truly satisfying experience.
RT Audience Score:  71%
cag:  5/Loved it
Produced by: Netflix

Characters:  Tiff/Mistress May: Zoe Levin
                       Pete/  : Brendan Scannell
                       Josh (Pete's boyfriend) Theo Stockman
                       Doug (Tiff's possible boyfriend):  Micah Stock

My comments:  What a hoot!  Loved it....great actors, funny as hell, and it portrayed some really interesting relationships.

Storyline from IMBd: A New York City grad student moonlighting as a dominatrix enlists her gay BFF from high school to be her assistant.