I talk to my parents on the phone pretty much every weekend and often, when we've finished untangling all the world's social and economic problems, we discuss what we've been viewing on the Apple TV.
My folks are avid fans of the British-style mystery show - nothing too gory but a cracking good yarn. They enjoy everything from Midsomer Murders and Death in Paradise to grittier shows like Scott & Bailey or Line of Duty. Having exhausted most of the selections on Netflix, they've subscribed to MHZ, which shows Nordic noir; excellent for mystery lovers who also want to work on their Swedish. They always have some new show they're bingeing and want to recommend.
Then they ask me what I've been watching and I tell them, but lately with the caveat "I don't think you should watch it." Like, there are a lot of shows I'm enjoying right now but I wouldn't recommend them to my parents, or even to you. For example:
Mindhunter
I don't know why I got hooked on this show. Set in the 70's - hate it. Two male protagonists - boring. Generally (certainly for all of Season 1) female victims and horrific crime scene photos and/or verbal descriptions of the crimes - extremely upsetting. But I weirdly fell in love with Holden and his open face and chain-smoking, tryin' to be a good man Bill and of course lesbian Wendy the lesbian who's a lesbian.,
Watching them trying to figure out how to profile serial killers - before "serial killers" was a term - is strangely addictive, especially if you're a fan of shit like Criminal Minds and such and already know all the TV lingo. Also, I felt proud of myself for profiling Bill's We Need to Talk About Kevin kid. Poor Nancy. But I have to look away from the crime scene photos and "lalala" when they talk about certain crimes. So I don't think you should watch it.
Succession
A friend of ours REALLY wanted to talk about this show, so Katr and I started watching it. I immediately hated all the the characters and didn't give a rats ass what happened to any of them or to the giant media conglomerate they owned. But the second episode is called "Shitshow at the Fuck Factory", so you know I had to watch that.
After a couple of episodes, we grudgingly agreed that was something compelling about rich people problems and the writing is pretty stunning, so we kept watching, even though the opening credits are PAINFULLY LONG and you CAN'T SKIP THEM EASILY on Crave and that music, UGH.
We just finished Season 2 and we're fuckin' in it now, you guys. But a story about a control-freak rich white patriarch playing his approval-craving children against each other while he refuses to give up the reins of power isn't the kind of thing my parents enjoy.
Plus, I don't want to talk to my parents knowing we've all watched Kieran Culkin wipe his own jizz off a window.
Outlander
Oh man, this should be a whole separate post. I'm'a do a whole post on this. Anyway, the point is, my folks enjoy a good historical fiction - they were the ones who turned me on to my favourite show on Netflix, The Last Kingdom, after all - and I had high hopes that Outlander might well received. But based the horrors that befall Jamie at the end of Season 1 at the hands of Captain Jack Randall and his junk, I did not recommend it to my parents, nor do I recommend it to you. But I am still watching that shit.
As a preview, for those of you who've made it to Seasons 3 and 4, I fucking hate Roger. Something real bad happened to him in Season 4 and I was like "GOOD". But we can talk about that next time.
Are you watching anything you wouldn't recommend to me or my parents? Let me know, it'll probably be my new problematic fave.
