FinFan

I gave this series a 10/10 for the first 3 seasons, but could only watch 20 minutes of episode 1, season 4 before being completely disinterested and bored. Even the "previously" on.." didn't bring me up to speed on what was going on from season 3. It's only been a couple of months since I watched season 3. Something to be said for binge-watching a series after its ended.

A nice ending for this show, i will miss it

From the start of its announcement this show brought out the most controversial discussions. So I followed the hype to take a look at what it’s all about.

I haven’t read any of the books nor did I play a single game so let me tell you: if you don’t know any of the stories and characters it’s kinda difficult to get into it. From the beginning it felt to me this show is directly aimed at the fans especially of the books. To me it seems like The Witcher is such a big story it must’ve been hard for the creators of this show to fit it into this show.

I get why fans of The Witcher might like this show so much and they have every right to. Storytelling is good although lengthy at times and as mentioned before it’s aimed at that audience.
For me as an „outsider“ this show is about average. Acting in many cases feels uninspired and a lot of the shows special effects and camera work feel like they’re pre 2010. And to be honest, I expected a little more from a show with this amount of advance blessings. At times you don’t really get where the show is headed especially as a virgin to this universe. Also character building and structure can be confusing at times.

Finally a word to the people who tried to tell everyone this will be a GoT-Killer: it’s not, far from it to be honest. Although I did NOT compare this show with GoT at any time during my watch through Season 1 there were a lot of Witcher Fans out there in the previous months who tried to paint that picture. Do yourself a favor and don’t compare those two shows. They have very different premises and both shows deserve to be looked at independently.

For Witcher-Fans: enjoy the show, it should be (almost) everything you were looking for.
For everyone else: give it a try but it just might not be your cup of tea.

@finfan I finished Season 2. I preferred Season 1, but I can tell the production quality is usually good. The story are complex enough for a series of that age and I always feel I am in space with the crew.
Already started Season 3 and I can tell the production value is increasing.

My personal awards for S2:

Favourite episodes: 2x08 A Matter of Honor and 2x15 Pen Pals
Favourite aliens: The Borgs... but I don't know if we can call them aliens.
Favourite guest stars: Nikki Cox (Sarjenka from 2x15 Pen Pals), Suzie Plakson (K'Ehleyr from 2x20 The Emissary), Jaime Hubbard (Salia from 2x10 The Dauphin).
Favourite holodeck moments: Worf's rite of passage from 2x14 Icarus
Favorite moment: Riker confronting the Klingons in 2x08 A Matter of Honor
Funniest moment: Wesley asks Riker and Guinan how to deal with the girl he likes (2x10 The Dauphin)
Best story I wanted as a prominent subject: Time issues in 2x13 Time Squared

I haven't watched 2x12 The Royale, 2x18 Up the Long Ladder, 2x19 Manhunt and 2x22 Shades of Gray. I'll try to get to them eventually.

I think that The Flash is very overrated series (at least on Trakt) with only a few good episodes. Every episode to me like McDonald's - not good, not bad, just regular food.

I loved the first season, and eagerly waited for the second season but 6 episodes in I'm feeling bored and confused. Whatever magic the first season had I feel like the second season has lost. The season has certainly had it's moments but not enough of them.

I've now finished the season, and I really wish I'd cut my losses and stopped watching after 6.

Like Larry, in Orange Is the New Black, Fish Moonie's story needs to be cut to help focus the show's main storyline. Every time I see her, it takes me out of the Gotham world and down a road I just don't care about.

Spawn is over the top. It mistakes nudity and blood and expletives to be mature, and comes off as all the more sophomoric for it. Spawn goes big in all things, good- the animation and some of the voice acting- and bad- in camera angles and in its depthless and monstrous villains. Its two biggest strengths that elevate it are the animation, in particular Spawn and his flowing and gorgeous cape, and the character himself.

Nothing will help you understand the appeal of Spawn better than this show, even if it doesn't make you a diehard fan. At the end of the season, he's called The Sad Man, and this could be an alternate title for the show. Spawn is allowed to be emotional, and yes, that includes anger... but it also involves grief, it allows empathy, it allows pain and love. Spawn is allowed to be pathetic- he'll wail in sorrow and scream in traumatic fear- but his pain isn't something to laugh at. You're meant to emphasize and feel for this broken, lost man, and there's something refreshing in that when dark heroes of his ilk like Batman are usually forced to be quiet, restrained, and stoic in their emotions.

Keith David is the show's MVP. The man brings Spawn to life and makes him feel like a person, not the poster child for 90's anti heroes. Every emotion is raw and lived in, and David pours his heart into the role. I didn't expect to ever be emotionally affected by the Spawn character, but David's performance in the final scene with the child of his wife is soft and tender in a way I never expected for the character, and Keith David is the glue that holds it together. He and the animation make this well worth a watch, 90s edge and all.

Pros:

• Let me state the obvious: This season is better than Discovery's recent season. Picard at least feels like Star Trek and it's well within the established possibilities of this universe (let me be generous here and not start a rant about Klingons).
• Despite the doomsday event and the jumping through time scenario, this show isn't full of explosions and FX BS. It's quieter and slower paced for the most part. That's a good thing. It's not as philosophical as many of the TNG episodes, but still not a breathless sequence of action-BS.
• Good to see all those guys again: Q, Guinan, Picard, Seven. Part of this is of course fan-service. Still, better than detaching the whole show from everything we are so fond of. You even learn a thing or two about the Borg's perception of time and space, of the Q and Guinan rivalry and about Janeway and Seven.
• I like that they depict Picard as a feeble old man. Nothing wrong about an anti-hero. Picard was never an action-hero and in the end (episode 10) his superior intellectual capacity allows him to draw all the right conclusions.
• The story told in the first four or so episodes is actually kind of promising. You have all the puzzle pieces to play with. You want to know how the story progresses. The mystery behind all that is still entertaining and suspenseful, You want to know how those puzzle pieces come together, but after episode 4 or 5 this patterns becomes extremely annoying (see my final remarks in the cons section).
• The twist in the end which explains some of the more inexplicable parts of the story, is actually kind of satisfying. It certainly doesn't explain everything and won't stop me critizing the convoluted main story, but at least they tried.

Cons:

• What's with that jumping through time and timelines? Not just in Picard. In all these new shows. It seems like lazy writing. Writers can't fill the known universe with new stories so they jump to to alternative realities or back in time. Why not jump to a dystopian timeline? But why don't they spend some time in that Terran world? Its implications are intriguing. But before they could explore that universe, they jump back to 2024? 'Cause that's easy done ... (see also my next point) And why don't they have some fun with future characters landing in contemporary California? Why don't they do ridiculous things 'cause they don't know how things worked back then? They have almost no problems to adapt (Remember when the DS9 crew was on their mission onboard the original Enterprise? What fun that was! They even failed to operate the turbo lift properly.)
• SciFi shows are supposed to take place in space and in the future. Word! My enthusiasm for real cigars and matches (sth. Rios is very excited about) has its limits. Where are the strange new worlds? Where's cosmology and astrophysics? Where are the engineering marvels? Where's the great unknown?
• Why did they select the persons and topics that appear in this season the way they did? It seems like the had a poll which asked for the favorite TNG/Voyager characters. Thus they added Guinan, Q, Data (at least his face) Wesley etc 'cause TNG fans like them (except the Crusher boy of course). That's massive fan service and tbh most of these characters didn't contribute very much to the story most of the time. Of course such a move will create a heart-warming feeling. Seeing them again is awesome but who's next? Spot? Barkley? Likewise the parallel universe and time travel is a fan favorite. I mean, they were always little diversions from the usual TNG/DS9/VOY episodes. It was always fun to jump to another timeline for one single episode and experiment with the setting and the characters. But that's 10 episodes! That's not a little diversion (see also my point above).
  
• Picard's trauma story is pointless. It's simply not very important for the main story (see also my next point). It's told badly (that monster? Gosh!). I don't understand how (or even why) the coma was induced or was that really only an accident only partly facilitated by Q? Nothing (e.g. in TNG) indicates that he had a family trauma. Why not work with the trauma he definitely has: he was Locutus and in this season he is confronted with the Borg. Face to face. Isn't that enough? That's enough to "design" a feeble, old, traumatized, powerless anti-hero. I'd be fine with that.
• Too many inconsequential stories that are not necessary for the main story: why the ICE story? Why the FBI story? Why the police car chase? Why Rio's love story? Why befriending this immigrant on the prison bus? Why is Renée a Picard ancestor (does that really matter)? Does Renée ever matter (first she needs protection and help then she isn't mentioned ever again till episode 10). It seems she's just a switch to manipulate timelines. Guinan is mostly fan service - she has some okay-ish dialogues with Q but she doesn't really matter other than she gives a hint where to find the watcher (although she knew all major parts of this story even before Picard and she "first" met aboard Enterprise. As always she keeps her mouth shut until Picard finds out for himself). There's more than one episode that tells only very little of the main story but is caught up in all those unimportant B-plots.
• Rios, Seven and Raffi are underutilized. What do they do really? I mean they run around in contemporary LA and France. They do small-talk. They all experience their little adventures but they are not really important to the main story. Nobody except perhaps the Queen, Jurati and Q and perhaps Picard really is important.
• It's a shame what they did with Seven. She's one of the most likable, funny and most complex characters in Star Trek. She looses her Borg implants/she didn't have them in the alternate Terran reality. Isn't that worth to explore? How does she fell about being all-human? What's that like? Doesn't she feel weak or disorientated? In episode two, they could have explored how Anika's live could have played out w/o her assimilation. How come that she's still a leader in the Terran timeline? Couldn't she be a totally unremarkable person living a quiet life somewhere on Earth? She's still a strong woman that lives her life as confident, quick and efficient (channeled into mercilessness) as ever. Remember: little Anika wanted to become a ballerina. And here she encounters a Borg queen. Isn't that her biggest trauma? Nothing? Writers don't seem to care. She doesn't behave differently although she has proven in many Voyager episodes that she is a very vulnerable person under that ex-Borg veneer. Other than warning her fellow crew members that the Borg are dangerous and deceitful (and need batteries and adrenaline), she has nothing to contribute in face of the Borg threat. Instead she runs a around in contemporary LA, experiences a few mini adventures or explores her boring relationship with Raffi. Apropos that relationship: It felt like they wanted to tick the "lesbian check box" (I apologize for this term) in last season (just for the sake of checking all the diversity check boxes: Look. At. Us. How diverse we are!). It felt totally unsubstantiated back then but now they have a whole season to tell this story. If they wanted. They had all the time in the world to prove that wasn't just a mere check-box checking scene in season 1. But they don't do this. In episode 10 they can't refrain from ticking this box again.
• Why are they reusing the actors? Elnor is back (who cared about his death in the first place?), but in episode 9 it's not him, he's now a combat hologram (say what?)? Data is back, but he's now an ancestor of Soong? Laris is back, but she isn't Laris? Soji is back, but she isn't a robot but a DNA experiment? Why do they do this? Is that for contract reasons? It is super-confusing. Will that ever be explained? Why do people in the 24th century look like their early 21st century "ancestors"? Is there for example a reason why future Soong has designed Data's face like one of his ancestors (an unethical mad scientist btw? Why honor this awful person?). I don't get it.
• The Soong story. Don't get me wrong. It's nicely told and all. I don't understand his transformation from being an unethical scientist to a mad super villain and Borg fire team leader though. Why is he even in the show when they don't allot some time to explaining his (and his daughter's) story better? At one point he becomes a useful idiot for Q, at another point he's easily manipulated by the Queen to work for him? Why is it so important that's him anyway who's doing the dirty work? Couldn't Q hire a random hitman (robbing/getting money seems easier than mixing a cure for his daughter w/o his omnipotent powers) to stop Renée? Instead he asks Soong to use his Tesla as a weapon when his shrink plot fails? Really? Can't the Queen assimilate a police precinct to retake the ship if she needed manpower? Instead she asks Soong for help to hire ex-soldiers? And why is so much told about his daughter? Yes, her story illustrates Soong's unethical character. But Q seems determined to "liberate" her. But why? Why do we watch his daughter becoming self-aware of what she really is? And why is that important that she emancipates herself from her daddy creator? Will she perhaps be important in season three?
• I don't think the dwindling of Q's powers is very consistent. If he can't use his powers, does that mean he travels by bus in contemporary California (like he suggests at one point), actually hacks all by himself into Soong's computer and breaks into a biolab where he can mix the cure? And how does he access the FBI interrogation chamber w/o his powers? Do you only need an FBI jacket and even Burt Macklin from P&R could have made it? To me it seems that writers switch on and off his powers whenever they feel that's convenient. In the end, he briefly gets his powers back to fling them back into the 24th century and ressurrect Elnor. Very convenient exit for the writers.

• My biggest complaint is the main plot though. To start with, I don't like the whole monstrosity of the premise. Why is it again, that the future (and past) of humanity (in perhaps multiple parallel universes) is at stake? That ruined Discovery and Picard's season 1 already. This shouldn't be an action movie plot where you imagine the most menacing threat so that explosions can grow bigger.

  Let's talk about the complexity of this show: I'm very generous when it comes to plot holes and mystery elements. That was always part of Star Trek and is partly inherent to the Sci-Fi/mystery genre. I admit that Star Trek was always a fast produced show (they produced 25 show or so per season) with financial constraints typical for the 90s and that always prevented from Star Trek being a flawless show. I understand that a season-long story needs lighter B-plots and a mix of some boring moments interwoven with a more complex main story that is able to entertain longer than just 45 minutes. I get that. But honestly, can you retell the main story? Do you know what happened? It's certainly not simple. It either doesn't make sense or I'm to stupid to appreciate its amazing complexity. After episode 10 the story behind it becomes somewhat more comprehensible, but for the most part it was too obscure and mysterious to be really enjoyable. I mean, authors had enough budget and time to concoct a concise story that is on par with contemporary story telling (not every show is as good and complex as Mad Men or Sopranos but it feels like the writers never tried to teleport the Star Trek franchise into the golden era of TV/Streaming). Instead it feels like writers added complexity buy just adding unlikely turns and twists that nobody could expect or even explain. I have so many questions that feel unanswered. The writers don't seem to care. The story is based on multiple, intersecting plans of various protagonists that I simply don't understand and I don't find very credible:

  I tried to explain the story as I understood it in my review about episode 10. No need to repeat this. The interplay between the Borg and Q spans multiple timelines and points in time. It's super complex and I'm still not sure whether it really is plausible. It seems to be an almost circular chain of events where the future effects the past and the past effects the future. Biggest problem: Who wants Renée to launch into Space and why? I mean the Queen wanted that but refrained from this later when Jurati convinced her to become a benevolent factor. But why does the Queen care to stop Renée and preserve the "Terran timeline"? Given what we learn about the Borg's perception of spacetime, aren't all timelines are equally important? Why not conquer humanity in whatever timeline? And if the Borg can travel through time why wouldn't they do that every time they are about to be denied world dominance? Why are the other protagonists that certain that Renée must fly into space? The watcher certainly doesn't know (Well, she provides a transporter and reveals who Renée's shrink is but other than that she's useless with regard to the main story). Do they assume that only because Q seems to have manipulated Renée not flying into space? How can they be so sure? Plus, it's incredible that Picard knows WWII details about his chateau but nobody knows what groundbreaking discoveries the Europa mission with a Picard onboard made? Shouldn't that be somewhere in the database? Why is nobody even trying to find out? And why isn't Renée playing a major role in most episodes after the farewell party of hers? Wherever her high-security quarantine facility is, why is everyone so sure that Q or his proxy Soong won't get access to her (they don't know that Q has lost his powers)? Can they even be sure that extremely powerful Jurati/Queen is not trying to help Q and try to stop Renée? Till the end the La Sirena crew should assume that the Queen is also trying to manipulate the timeline. That's another mysterious part: why does the Borg Queen (voluntarily) brought them back to 2024 where Picard gets the chance to restore the original timeline? I mean at this point she's still evil and doesn't know what benevolent Jurati-Queen will concoct in the 400 years to come. So why is she teleporting Picard and his crew back to 2024? Why not 2124 or 1900? In 2121 (or 1900) they will not able to reverse the timeline and the Queen will most likely find it easy to assimilate mankind. I mean that was her plan before Jurati convinced her otherwise, right? Plus, I still don't buy the fact that insecure and unassuming Jurati - above all persons - is strong enough to persuade a Borg Queen to try another approach to the usual Borg assimilation strategy. The twist that the Queen is a 400 years old Jurati is a surprising twist, but this is based on a almost circular chain of events that is really hard to justify if you think about that.

  It's too complex to be entertaining and the story is obfuscated by - what I feel are artificially added story elements - B-plots and unnecessary complex "temporal mechanics". Even after season 10, I still don't get the whole story and I feel the the main protagonists don't have a clue either. Most of the time, they just stumble around and don't really know whether they do the right thing or not. Around episode 4 or 5 writers should have lifted the veil, ended the mystery and stated a clear objective of what needs to be achieved by Picard and his crew. Usually, similar Star Trek episodes end like that: all protagonists admit their confusion and shrug off every trace of flawed logic by stating that they barely passed temporal mechanics at the academy and they don't understand it either. But that's not enough for a show that has 10 full episodes to tell a concise story.

Man, there's too much drama in every single episode, everybody is constantly crying for every minor thing, it's exhausting.

Westworld Season 3 is a complete mess. Many things are wrong with it, but my three biggest complaints are:
* It's totally incoherent and most plot lines don't make sense at all. It's essentially just S6 of Person of Interest, but in bad.
* Some characters are utterly useless this season (Bernard is just randomly driving from motel to motel?!).
*The sound mixing this season is terrible, every single scene has a distressing background sound or music, and usually it's hard to hear any dialogue over that.

The show is aeons from what the first season was in plot, atmosphere and quality - it was brilliant, one of the best I've ever seen. Now it's just a joke.

I was so excited and eager for this new season to start but then I read about Gillian's departure after its end and now I'm heartbroken. It seems to me that it's headed toward the cancellation, cause I can't see how it could go on without Scully. Even if they get a renewal it won't be the X-files we all love.

Much better than Smallville because she doesn't take 10 seasons to fly or wear the costume. I just need to get used to the "ain't I studly ?" version of Jimmy Olsen. Supergirl is really good tv nevertheless. While giving you plenty to geek out to. It's not the girly girl romcom the trailers may have made you think it is. I just hope there's never the romance drama that Smallville had. Kara looks at Jimmy Olsen like he is hot when she met him; so I hope that doesn't go anywhere romantically.

Not even Seven’s awesomeness is enough to salvage this writing. But, of course, I am at fault here since people seem to like it. Good luck have fun to anyone who is able to enjoy it. I for one give up.

This was a very weak season compared to the first 2. It wasn't exactly 'bad', but the vast majority of it was totally aimless and felt like a monumental waste of time. Felt like the last couple of episodes were the only parts worth watching. They made a big mistake continuing Grogu's story from the end of S2 in The Book of Boba Fett show instead of S3 of this one.

Watch my full review on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9SQxj7FD_Bg

A very cool season that starts kind of slow, but really picks itself up the second half. I loved the way they keep expanding the story of the Mandalorians in the Star Wars universe as I believe they are one of the most interesting characters in the series.

Season 3 is a few steps down in quality from the previous seasons. ITs not bad, but just not as superb as before.

Underwhelming season with recycled plot. Replacing the cast was the biggest mistake they did. They could've aged them or continued in that time period. The Aberfan disaster episode and young Charles are the only two upsides I can think of.

Season 1 of 'The Crown' is impressive, though isn't anything overly enthralling.

That's not a negative per se, but it's very much a show that I can sit back and enjoy as opposed to being on the edge of my seat. The standout part to this is the cast, who do an admirable job at portraying their characters. If I have one grievance it is that the story does feel very well told, too well in-fact - as in, you can tell it's written based on how everyone knows the subjects involved; Winston Churchill being the key example of that, it can all come across a little too on the nose at times.

As noted, the cast are fantastic. Claire Foy is an incredible cast as Queen Elizabeth II. Not only does she look like her, she portrays her exceptionally - very impressive performance. The aforementioned Churchill is played by John Lithgow, who I was unsure about during the opening episodes but by the end he also delivers - he's fun to watch in the role, even if it is a tad exaggerated portrayal here and there. Matt Smith (Philip), Vanessa Kirby (Margaret) and Jared Harris (King George VI) are also good here.

The whole look of the show is superb. Love the work of Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams on the theme/music, also.

Starts off strong, bonus points for getting Marcia, loses the plot after the original trilogy material, I'm no prequel fan (seen them more times than I'd like because of my kids) but ends up feeling like how George lost the plot then has a line "oh by the way everything he did is now the way everyone does it" as if to make up for the pessimism then throws Marcia back in the loop when she'd been gone twenty years. Worth a watch but I enjoyed the recent Light and Magic better.

If it's final season or not "welcome back!"

This 2nd season is a chaotic letdown after the 1st one. And it continues to digress with each passing episode...

Fantastic characters, fantastic acting, beautiful cinematography and writing. This show is good. More than good.

At first I was hesitant about a vikings spinoff. The original was a great show and I couldn't see anyone doing it justice, but although this show is set in the same time period (100 years post) it's vastly different in terms of what is going on in the world. With increased travel and trade comes the challenge of religion and Christianity spreading through the north, existing tension with England require a delicate balance of political wit and acuity in battle, all of which make this an entirely different show from the original vikings.

This is of course not 100% factually accurate and they've taken some creative liberties with some of the content of the show but it's pure action-packed, thrilling entertainment. And I'm especially taken by Freydis being played by a Swedish actress. Hearing the accent in her voice lends an authenticity to her character that I didn't realize I missed in some of the other characters, especially when they're speaking Old Norse. Love to see someone who speaks a Scandinavian/North Germanic language in that role.

And anytime I get to see badass women kicking ass on screen you know I'm going to like it.

Man this show is great. It’s definitely the best directed of the MCU Netflix shows. I also feel invested in every side characters story, sometimes in the others you’ll cut to a side plot that just isn’t as good as the main plot line. But not here. This is THE definitive performance of Frank Castle and it’d be a shame if Marvel doesn’t bring him into the MCU proper. At times I honestly think it’s better than Daredevil, what could’ve been a super lazy spinoff became probably the greatest show within this collection.

This show started of very good but the last couple of seasons was totally ruined by lazy, clueless and mentally retarded Hollywood script writers. About time the pulled the plug on it.

This is a must-watch for Star Wars fans both young and old. It harkens back to Star Wars’ glory days while also pushing the envelope for new ideas for stories and world-building. Jon Favreau along with his amazing crew has done it again and I can tell you that I’m looking forward to viewing the next chapter of what’s to come of this solidly crafted piece of genius.

Star Trek: Voyager enters into a third season of Delta Quadrant adventures as the crew continues their voyage home. This season starts to hint at the coming Borg threat, which will change the direction of the show for the rest of the series. Additionally, a budding romance between Paris and Torres begins as the romance between Neelix and Kes comes to an end. Some of the major episodes of the season include “Future’s End,” “Real Life,” “Scorpion,” and the Star Trek 30th Anniversary special “Flashback” (featuring George Takei). However, the writing is inconsistent, and the character development is rather weak. Star Trek: Voyager continues to improve, but it still pales in comparison to the other Trek series.

Resistance is futile as Jeri Ryan sexes up Star Trek: Voyager in its fourth season. The Borg take center stage as Voyage finally enters Borg space and gains a Borg crewmember, Seven of Nine. Seven proves to be the missing ingredient that the show needed to take off, as the character exponentially improves the quality of the storytelling. She fills the Spock/Data role of the outsider commenting on humanity. And, Seven’s interactions with Capt. Janeway and the Doctor make for some of the strongest character dynamics of the show. Additionally, the series finally finds a compelling villain in the form of the Hirogen; who are reminiscent of the Klingons. This new energy is also reflected in some incredibly ambitious episodes, such as “Year of Hell,” “The Killing Game,” “Living Witness,” and “One.” Plus, the season is able to gather some impressive guest stars; including Kurtwood Smith, Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, and Ray Wise. Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager re-launches the series and finally makes it worth watching.

Idk like you but I'm 40 and I'm fell for The Child totally.... this kid cuteness just kills

There's a really good show in here somewhere, but it's difficult to find. I'm a junkie for any NASA-related tales so this should have been right up my street, but I found myself letting episodes build up unwatched each week and it was only in forcing myself to get on with them that reached the end.

Instead of showing us this crew of potential astronauts training, instead of showing us the clever technicians and engineers solving problems, we are given mostly a show about marriage problems. I definitely think that this aspect of the character's lives is important and deserves a place in the story, but it should not have been the focus. The training segments seem to amount of climbing out a capsule in a swimming pool and people sitting on those spinning chair things. The astronauts complain that they don't get to actually fly the capsule, but there's no follow up to that. Quite often things go wrong and people panic, but we don't get to see the solutions. We just repeatedly get told, "we're ready", but... when did that happen? Nobody appears ready to go. Where are the breakthrough moments?

The characters themselves are not much fun to watch. I'm sure the real life astronauts were arrogant flyboys too, but the portrayals here made me want them all to fail. They are alcoholics, cheaters, jealous, petty and through all this they swagger around with All-American-Hero attitudes. It's kind of nauseating, but I think it could have worked if they'd had both better writing and better casting. A major issue is that we actually get to know so few of them, with the focus being on Shephard, Glenn and (for some reason) Gordo. And they're all idiots here - Gordo especially. The rest of the astronauts are background material.

In fact, the highlights ARE the wives who all feel like much more real characters and all managed to make me care about them. I also liked the general production quality of the show and each episode managed to have some good stuff to offset the bad. It's not a total disaster, and after the first episode I had lowered my expectations enough to be able to get on with it all.

I don't enjoy picking on individual people, but I feel like I have to mention Patrick Fischler's bizarre robot-like performance throughout this show. What was he going for here?