Kill Your TeeVee

I’m at the point of cancelling my subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, and Paramount in the wake of their capitulation to MAGA idiocy, but my idealism only goes so far. I have to see the next episode of Alien Earth, the best show on TV right now, and the rest of the latest season of Only Murders In The Building. I bailed on live TV months ago, when the only thing I watched was Chris Hayes on MSNBC.

Alien: Earth is more interesting than the other Alien stories, all of which I like and have seen multiple times, with the introduction of additional, lethal creatures (we love the walking eyeball) and the intra-human feuding. The billionaire boy genius is so annoying, I am really looking forward to seeing him get gutted by one of the creatures.

“If I could talk to the animals . . . “

An underrated scifi show was The Peripheral, which unfortunately was cancelled. Foundation on Apple is still good, Dune: Prophecy on HBO is just o.k. Task on HBO is pretty good.

Fortunately Netflix is set to bring back The Diplomat in October, and Apple has another Slow Horses season. Netflix also has The Three Body Problem, though no sign yet of the second season. I’d been avoiding The Morning Show, but last night I gave it a look and it’s pretty good; there are four seasons so it should keep me going for a while. I see The Studio won a bunch of awards, so I may check that out.

After I get rid of Disney, Hulu, and Paramount, I will probably add PBS, MGM, MHz, and maybe something else. Probably YouTube. I took a look at it last night and it has some good classic movies.They’re asking $24 for a year of Starz, but it doesn’t look like it has much.

The truth is that Disney itself doesn’t have much to offer. The Marvel movies have degenerated to the mental level of an eight-year-old. Marvel used to be the edgy comics, compared to stodgy DC comics. (DC had Superman, Batman, etc. Marvel had the moody Spiderman and spooky Dr. Strange, though Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr Strange is annoying and the movie Spidermans are just whiny.)

I’ll have a dilemma when the next season of Andor kicks off, ditto Ashoka with Rosario Dawson. Also I still rely on Amazon Prime for tv and free deliveries, though I have sworn off Whole Foods and avoid Amazon if I can buy from Walmart or Target. Great choices, what.

Paramount has its raft of Taylor Sheridan shows that I have followed. I’ve written about this evil story-telling genius in the past. I’ve decided I can’t take his politics any longer. Tulsa King is missable as Sylvester Stallone continues his parody of himself, which he has been at for some time. Landman is a toxic mess of bimbo-rama and ignorant fossil fuel industry propaganda spouted by Billy Bob Thornton. In Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown, the U.S. is a hellhole controlled by Mexican drug cartels and Aryan convicts. Who needs that shit?

AMC+ is on my chopping block too. “The Walking Dead Universe” has become boring and repetitive. TWD was pretty interesting at the start. Introducing millenials and 20-somethings hasn’t help. Neither did dropping hillbilly Darryl in the middle of France, of all places. I have trouble watching anything with obnoxious kids who do stupid things, though Stranger Things is a big exception.

I hope to be sustained by Netflix, HBO, Britbox, and Apple TV. The Diplomat is a very smart show, and Slow Horses is worth buying a tv for all by itself. (I’ve read all of the books, some twice. A new one, Clown Town, will be released soon.)

I also have bought many more books than I have read. I’ve discovered if I start wandering through my shelves, I come across stuff I forgot I had that I now want to read.

Apropos of nothing, I watched the new Spike Lee “Highest To Lowest.” It’s free now. It’s supposed to be an homage to Kurosawa’s “High and Low.” I watched the latter so long ago I’ve forgotten how it went. I watch Yojimbo or Sanjuro again, every so often. The Lee film is completely dominated by the superb acting of Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and the run-and-gun plot. I imagine their performances wash away any connection to Kurosawa. That aside, Lee’s movies are always worth watching.