I watch way too much TV sometimes binge-watching a show all the way through the night. Thanks for the blessing and curse of a multitude of streaming options there is always a wealth of content.
The rules of what gets into the list are simple. It needs to be a TV show, limited or otherwise, any particular season and I have to have finished watching it in the month. This does mean for shows that are doing weekly releases I may have started watching some time ago.
The List
The list of shows ranked for January 2023 are: –
The idea is to rank what I’ve watched per month and then do some sort of ranking at the end of the year.
The Offer
I’d never heard of The Offer and the chances are I’d have continued to be oblivious to it and also continued to ignore it based on the capsule description of it. It’s only because The John Campea show kept saying how good it was for a period of time last year that I finally gave it a go.
It’s ridiculously good.
The Offer is the dramatisation of how The Godfather movie got pitched and filmed. I have no idea which parts of it are fact or fiction or a mixture of the two but the story itself is enthralling. There is a range of fascinating characters often made even more engaging by the fact you have actors playing famous actors and directors. One of the main characters is Francis Ford Coppola! The intertwined relationship of the production with the Mafia is an amazing piece of history or historical fiction since I don’t know how true it all is.
What you get is an excellent dramatic crucible with excellent characters each of which goes through profound personal growth to get the film completed and everyone should be watching it.
The White Lotus
The White Lotus is a very confusing show when you first start watching it. You’re left a bit confused as to what the show is supposed to be after the first episode of season one.
What you learn as season one unfolds is the hotel is an excuse to bring a bunch of characters together in order to execute a series of interrelated dramas that are both character studies and the exploration of a set of themes.
In season one it’s largely the attitude of and impact of the rich on those not as well off as themselves or from different backgrounds. In season two it’s different and the themes are more intense touching on the intersection of sexuality, who has the power and social status, gender, etc. Season one also has comedic elements while these are completely missing from season two.
In some ways, The White Lotus has a similar setup as True Detective did, it sets up a common thematic milieu but each season is entirely different in terms of who and what it is about.
How good is The White Lotus? I binged season one until 0100 in the morning and then started season two and watched it through the night until 0800. It’s pretty damned good, though I think season two is better.
Willow
What can I say about Willow? I enjoyed it, but it’s not going to be one of those shows that has a chance of being in the top 10 by the time we get to the end of 2023. I watched about half of it and then had a bit of a gap and then went back to it.
Willow is basically a young adult fantasy show, it just happens to be a pretty good young adult fantasy show. The case is likeable and good-looking. The special effects are great and some of the episodes are beautiful. The monster designs stand out. The conclusion really pays off. There is potential for a season two in the way things are left and I’d give it a go.
You’re not missing anything if you don’t bother to watch Willow, but I found it entertaining enough.
The Honourably Disqualified
I also watched Trators US this month, having watched the UK version of the show and been enthralled by it. Apparent, Traitors comes from the nation that gave us Big Brother, the Netherlands, aired in the UK after that and then the US.
The US version of the show was interesting but not as enthralling as the UK version and I don’t think this is just because of the order I watched them in. The US version has a number of disadvantages.
It mixes celebrities in with ordinary people, specifically celebrities that have been on reality TV competition shows before. This didn’t work for me. You don’t cross the streams you do either one or the other. The weird thing is this dynamic never actually came up much in the actual execution while I’d have thought it would have created a natural divide.
There are a whole lot fewer layers to the proceedings due to the fact that US culture tends to just accept these sorts of shows as a game and just play it out. Now, this is a more direct and honest way to approach proceedings, but it does tend to just make it a bit more simple and less interesting. I much prefer the UK approach which tends still layer in a much deeper sense of trust, potential betrayal and a layer of collective success despite the nature of the show.
The production elements are just better on the UK show from the presenter to the use of dramatic music. The dramatic music is particularly noticeable. In the US version any music is just bombastic ‘this is dramatic’ generic music while in the UK version they used remixed pop songs and the like and the overall experience had a more artistic approach.
In all honesty, if I’d watched the US version first the format would have not worked for me in the same way.
And, Finally…
This month was obviously a dive into HBO, which I only do periodically as I don’t have regular, monthly paid-up access to it as they make it a bit challenging to do so. If I’m to take this sample as representative then HBO is continuing to churn out ridiculously quality television in a way that makes you question why some others make it so hard. I’m currently watching The Last of Us, and while this won’t finish for a while, it’s also ridiculously high quality at the moment.
Let’s see what February brings.
Agree with you that the US Traitors isn’t as good as the UK version (although we’re about halfway through – no binge-watching for us). I really miss the atmospheric music, and prefer the visual design (logo, fonts, colours) of the UK version. But I guess both companies know their target markets.
Also, the US version is shorter than the UK – about three hours less all told, and some editing seemed a bit odd (especially if you’d seen the UK version first).
But overall, still very watchable.
Yeah, it’s certainly watchable. I just think the directness of US culture results in it just being less, layered. I’ll be interested in your thoughts on the ending. I won’t give mine as it’ll give it away but it was interesting how the two shows differed.