Topic: Thread of totally awesome Netflix Instant recommendations

I will cosign this all day everyday.
season 1 was phenomenally entertaining, with a range of stories, characterizations, and some fun Saturday-morning style action.

season 2 took all of that and somehow made it BETTER.

GLOW is seriously a 10/10 show.

One I forgot:

the Christmas Chronicles (Netflix Original Film) - Pretty standard family Christmas film. A family is on the verge of collapse the first Christmas after the death of the father, but when estranged siblings manage to find their way on to Santa's (played by Kurt Russell) sleigh & muck things up, they have to help him save Christmas, and along the way may just repair their relashionship.

Yeah, it definitely gave me some serious Star Trek vibes, but with more of a focus on a longer story arc than episodic adventures. And I agree, I enjoy "mature" series as much as the next viewer, but it was refreshing to run into such a tense, twist filled show that didn't rely heavily on gore (and no nudity). I'll go on record to say "Dr. Smith" is easily a top tier Netflix villain as well, she's just so easy to hate.

Switched (Netflix Original) - Japanese take on the "body switch curse" plotline that sees the pretty popular girl switching bodies with the unpopular homely girl. Where it does differ from it's contemporaries is that this isn't because the pretty girl (Ayumi) needs to learn a lesson about humility, but is a deliberate plot by the jealous unpopular girl (Umine) to steal her life (This isn't a spoiler, as it's revealed in the first episode). Pretty interesting watch, and at only 6 episodes, you can get through it pretty quickly.

Currently rewatching Star Trek on Netflix. Finished Next Generation and DS9 and onto Voyager now. Looking forward to Punisher next.

Netflix had some great animated offerings this past year and the likes of Disenchantment, Hilda & She-Ra are now insta-reccomendations for me. All great toons worth watching & re-watching in my book!

Castlevania season 2 (Netflix Original) - While I wasn't big on season 1, season 2 was pretty great IMO. I had some reservations at first when they introduced Dracula's generals at the start of the season (Like season one, I thought they were going to have to spend all season focusing on building things up with the introduction of all these new characters), but it came together by the end of the season with a very exciting climactic battle.

Roman Empire (Netflix Original) season 2 - Not the most elaborately produced series, but it has a unique style blending embellished historical drama & educational documentary, and since the seasons are really short I enjoy watching them.

Man it's been awhile, lol.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix original) Seasons 2 & 3 - I was a big fan of the book series as a kid so I was really excited to re-experience it through this show (watched the first season awhile ago), especially since my memory of the last few books was a bit hazy, and while it was nice reacquainting myself to the series, overall I felt that it was just okay.

Maybe it's because I read the books at a young age, but the Netflix series comes off as much more camp & silly than I had imagined things being when reading the books (though I'll admit to finding Neil Patrick-Harris' version of Count Olaf pretty amusing, and is probably the standout part of the show). Also, I didn't think it had a satisfying ending. I suppose most secrets were revealed, and I don't think it needed to be longer, but it felt like it was missing something, but what I can't exactly pinpoint. Maybe I was just really hoping they would find their parents alive, or expand upon their romantic inteterests upon the end, I dunno.

Overall, worth a look if you're really into the books, but I really can't recommend it otherwise.

Other than that I've recently watched the Last Hope (Netflix original) and a couple of the Netflix exclusive Godzilla films, but as those are all anime I've either already, or will, post more detailed thoughts in the anime thread.

I've been watching a few things with my kids, and Hilda is absolutely sublime. It mines some of the lesser visited areas of (mainly) Scandinavian folklore - like the nisse and the mara - but packages it with a thoroughly charming art style and modern but otherworldly setting. It might be my favourite Netflix animated series yet. Can't recommend it highly enough.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1 (Netflix) - A far darker & more dramatic take on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, that goes all in on the more Satanic mythologies of witchcraft (I'll admit I was a bit nervous checking it out at first as I generally heavily dislike such theming, however I decided it's ultimately not that different than things like the Exorcist or the Omen which I can stomach, so I decided to try it out).

It was pretty decent, not bad, but not great either. I think it has the same showrunners as the CW Arrowverse shows, and I can definitely feel that same vibe from it, though a bit more higher quality production all around (like Supergirl & I assume Batwoman, it definitely has very strong modern feminist leanings, though it's not as amateur in terms of how it's implemented).

I started watching it for Halloween (just shows how long it takes me to work through a show, lol), and I liked it enough that I'll probably look into the next season once the holiday rolls around again.

Watched the reboot of Unsolved Mysteries tonight and thought it was good. If you grew up watching the original in the 80s/90s like I did you will enjoy it, they managed to capture the feel of it even right down to the theme music. The two big differences is the fact that they don't have a host/narrator like the original did (although I do like the nod to Robert Stack in the opening credits) so the episodes feel a bit more like a documentary. Also each episode is dedicated to one story rather then 3 or 4 like the original.

If you are someone like me who grew up on the original or just like documentaries on unsolved murders, phenomenas, and such then this is worth a watch.

For those that like detective/action series in a sci-fi setting, I can heartily recommend watching Altered Carbon, if you haven't done so already, because the first season has been out for quite a while now, and the second season is in the process of being made, sadly delayed by the whole COVID-19 situation, but it has been confirmed, so it will come, eventually.

And just in case you're wondering, if you haven't seen it yet: no, the first season does NOT have a cliff hanger, so you can safely watch it, regardless of the delay for the second season, because it's a complete story arc, that ends with the final episode, meaning that the second, upcoming season will simply be a completely new story.

Ooo... reviving a dead thread for the third time... okay, I’ll bite.

Once Upon a Time - just finished Season 1 and am obsessed. I love the way it’s all woven together and each episode has a backstory. (in Season 1) I would recommend it to any Disney-lovers who are okay with committing to a 90-hour television show. 😉 Even if you aren’t a huge Disney fan, this show is great for people who like dramas. It’s perfect all-around.

@BabyYoshi12 Just because no additions have been made for half a year, doesn't mean it's a dead thread. A truly dead thread is like a thread from several years ago. I see you still have much to learn here, but since you're still relatively new, you're forgiven...

Having said that, I'll second Once Upon a Time as a great show. It's basically mystery mixed with fairy tales, but in a more dark and adult way. Adding that last bit might also help pique people's interest, by the way, otherwise they'll have no idea whatsoever what the show is about...

And now that we're on the topic of fairy tales mixed in with adult theming: another great show in that vein is Grimm. And just for fun, I'll drag/kindly invite @Tyranexx in here, to attest to its greatness.

It's a show about a Portland PD detective, who finds out he's related to ancient monster hunters, and once he does, all kinds of interesting plot twists and turns pop up all around him. Really great show, 6 seasons in all, with an abbreviated last season, due to lower ratings, thanks to idiotic networks changing the time slot/airing time, as is so often the case with shows that deserve better.

But at least, Grimm has a true ending, so luckily, there's that. Word is that a spin-off is also in the works, all but confirmed, so it'll be interesting to see what comes of that.

@ThanosReXXX I’m not complaining about it being revived.

@BabyYoshi12 The point was that it isn't being revived, seeing as it's not dead.

Live and learn, young Padawan. Live and learn...

@ThanosReXXX I will, Master Yoda.

@BabyYoshi12 It's not a dead thread either since its a main discussion thread.

@Tasuki I rest my case. Newbies...

Either way: let's get back on topic, wonderful people.

Within the past couple months I subscribed to Amazon Prime & Hulu (I know this is a Netflix thread, but I don't think we have a general TV/streaming thread, so I figured it'd be okay to mention it here).

Mostly have just watched anime so far. First on Amazon I watched through UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie (a completely forgettable harem) and Super Dimension Fortress Macross (a mecha series from the early 80's that was actually really good, if you can get passed it's age).

Then I subbed to Hulu to rewatch InuYasha in anticipation of the sequel coming out. I'm closing in on the end of the lengthy original series, but also have (the much shorter) Final Act to get through once I'm done with that.