#219 Only Crossing The Streams in the Building (Bonus Ep56) – Great TV binge watching suggestions!

CTS Announcer 0:01

Looking for your next TV show or movie to binge? Well buckle up, grab the remote and settle into your couch for this special edition of crossing the streams. We're here to help you tune in and get the most out of those 50 monthly streaming channels you're currently paying for. So without any further ado, here's your host of crossing the streams. Jeff Dwoskin

Jeff Dwoskin 0:30

Hey, oh, it is Jeff Dwoskin, your host of classic conversations and your guide through this bonus episode of crossing the streams. What is crossing the streams? Great question crossing the streams answers that universal question. Hey, I just binge watch something. What should I binge watch next? You gotta watch something you have come to the right place on our YouTube channel. We have over 106 hours of streaming TV movie binge watching goodness, but we know you don't have time for that. So we're beaming three segments from three of our different live shows right to your ears right here right now. From Live episode 62 The Good Place from Live episode 59 Mom and forum Live episode 85 Only murders in the building up first friend of the show Fred Carroll and host of the apostrophes podcast is going to take us through the good place. Take it away Fred. The good place for your fork right Fred Carroll is gonna take us through

Fredd Carroll 1:33

okay, I am a fan at a good place. It is one of those shows that I put on to go to sleep to not that it puts me to sleep but it's just that show that I'm okay miss it. I've watched it so many times now from beginning to end. That if I fall asleep and mystery episodes and start on that fourth one, I'm fine with it. So to be any show that can smartly argue religious beliefs with a comedic view. That's gold to me. i As you know, I'm a lifelong atheist, but I love religion. I still love the theories of religion and the banter back and forth in this show is perfect for that. It's created by the amazing Connecticut born like Cher, who if you don't know Mike share is he's probably better better known as most he played most in the office. Okay, but he also is known for an unknown show called the office he went on to create other failed shows such as parks and rec, Brooklyn nine, nine. And this is all after a failed stint at a community college named Harvard University. Garbage. Yeah, this guy had no chance there is no chance and he wasn't gonna go far. But of course marrying the daughter of the great Regis Philbin would open up his path success. You gotta read this for me there Ken, can I get a Regis? Give me a Regis? Looking for Kathie Lee. That's right. That's what I wanted to Casey input. That's what I wanted. But this guy, Mike sure is a genius. I don't know how familiar you guys are with him and his writing styles and stuff. He's just absolutely gold. Everything he does now is gold. And he's still very young. And I don't know where he's gonna go from here. But the good place it's a it's a fast four seasons. And what I mean by that is for some reason, they don't feel like they're, I guess because they are those 22 minutes because it was made for television. So when you watch it on Netflix, which it is on, they really go by fast those 22 minutes. And before you know it, you're four episodes in and in like an hour, it feels like even though that math doesn't add up to 22 minutes. My math, not your math. And it definitely has to one thing I like they knew it was going to be four seasons when they started it. They wasn't going to a fifth season. So he had a clear path to the end. And has anybody here seen it? Has anybody seen it? Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 4:03

I've seen the whole show. Yeah.

Fredd Carroll 4:05

And did you enjoy it the same I mean, from beginning to end, or did you have a weak part because I had some weak parts but no major.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:13

It was funny. Like I remember watching I think I missed some of the beginning when I first came on and so I started watching it and a minor and then somebody convinced me to try again and so I try it again the first season of of the Good Place is possibly one of the best first seasons of any show ever. It ends on on such a great twist that it's it's one of those things where like you feel bad if someone watches a sixth sense and yeah, it was as well as I think that's safe now I know the scenes now is recorded that like three years ago they covered it. Yeah. I didn't think Season Two and three were as strong but I for I think it started to get its footing and I thought it ended as solid as any show Connect. I thought the last show in particular was great. However along the way, Jan, the person is Darcy Kayden. Yeah, Darcy Caden is Janet. Brilliant Ted Danson. Amazing.

Fredd Carroll 5:15

He's an alien. An alien. Mark Evan Jackson.

Jeff Dwoskin 5:19

I mean, the catch Kristen Bell, Jamil Jamal. Wow. It's great. Yeah, Manny just Nieto who I think did really good for himself by being in what was it the nine people you? What was the what was that show recently on Hulu? Nine perfect strangers or something? We played a different character. It was like you played that dumb character is so good. It was nice.

Unknown Speaker 5:41

That's amazing. I love that Jacksonville, Florida character.

Jeff Dwoskin 5:44

Yeah, it was great. It was it was great. I do

Fredd Carroll 5:47

think the show like you said, you could miss a few in the first season and stick with it. But if you miss in season two and three, because obviously the good place becomes the Bad Place the Bad Place the good place. You could get confused very easily if you don't know these characters well enough who you're dealing with, because of their alter egos that they're playing at the same time because they're Ted Danson playing good guy. He's playing bad guy.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:12

And they send Matt Zuckuss was great. I William Jackson, Harper's Chidi was amazing. And Maya Rudolph was it was oh, it was it was so funny, because not only about religion, but it also so cleverly poke fun at the stupid things we do via the TED get Ted Danson character, you know, just like discovering podcasts and stuff like that. Yeah, just the way he would do it. You're like, we are idiots. Anyway, we're just getting even beyond

Fredd Carroll 6:40

I do like I do. Like in the beginning when she in that doesn't give anything when she asked me if anybody's ever been right about the good place, right? And he says, There's one guy and he points to him on the wall and says he was tripping on mushrooms in Denver, Colorado. And his friend turned to him and said, What happens when we die? And he goes, Gosh, darn it, he was 98%. Correct. And we kind of worship him around here, right.

Unknown Speaker 7:08

And they did a great job really bringing philosophy around. They explained philosophy. They taught you philosophy in the first season, kind of the 101 version. So that was a pretty impressive feat.

Fredd Carroll 7:18

Yeah, a lot of undertones. And they brought a lot of different religious views into it. All of them. Yeah, all of them all 99 of them all the way in actually, I don't know if they did, because I don't remember Judaism coming into the play. And the good place did it. I'm

Unknown Speaker 7:34

pretty sure there was one of everything they touched every

Fredd Carroll 7:37

I don't recall. I don't recall it bit playing a major role or anything. But if they might have touched on it, now I'm gonna have to watch it. But luckily, you could watch it and you could watch it a few days and be done.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:50

Kristen Bell is great in it as well. Yeah, it's i i definitely say I highly recommend it. Well, I

Fredd Carroll 7:56

recommend it. Yeah, it's so smartly written. It's such a smartly written show. And I love smart written comedy, especially in the comedy because it's not stupid comedy anymore. It's ridiculous. It goes over the edge. And it's ridiculous what they do to but because you're tied into the story of it being the afterlife, you accept the Idiocracy of it. You know? They got a little leeway. Yeah, you got a little thing to play with there so but it is the actors to and Kristen Bell is good except for that ridiculous new movie she has which we won't go into the lady and because we can't even say the title before the end of the show. Like an animate length. Oh, that

Jeff Dwoskin 8:38

was awesome. I think that was a good recap. That was a fair. I think you covered everything. All right, Fred Carroll from the apostrophes podcast with the good place up next. From Live episode 59 Brian Greene from the commercial break is gonna take us through mum part of his obsession with British comedies and TV shows. Take it away. Brian wants your help me back. I let's talk about mum. Mom is on the BBC. Yeah. Take it away. Brian

Bryan Green 9:13

gray. All right. I'm gonna continue my string of talking about British comic television here on crossing the streams I figured out I'll go with the theme. And that's what I watch a lot of I have two small children so I don't get it. I don't get a ton of time to watch TV. And when I do it's usually laying in bed at night with one or both of the children next to me and I have Amazon Prime and I have the I think it's the BBC connection on Amazon Prime. But this one, you can actually now just catch on Amazon Prime regardless if you have the BBC extra or whatever mom is that the reason why I like British comic television I think is because I don't have to get too emotionally invested in anything that goes on if I happen to fall asleep during one of the episodes I pick up the next episode. I'm usually not missing too much they reset themselves for the most Part which makes it fun light and the kind of thing you can watch right before you go to bed mom is the complete opposite of this mum follows the story of Kathy, who is when they open up the series she is it's actually the day of her husband's funeral. He's lost a long fight with cancer and they're about to go to the funeral home to bury him and her son Jason, her adult son Jason has moved back in to help her and the best friend of the husband Michael has come to the house also to help where he can most of the the 18 episodes happen inside of this townhouse that they live in which sometimes I feel like that can be really limiting on a series that feels a little claustrophobic to me but to think this is really well written and really well done. Kathy who is played by I'm not going to win it. No one's going to drink here voice Kathy, who is played by Lesley Manville from phantom thread is really the only other thing that I've seen that she's been in she plays like an angelic almost Buddhist, like human being who has obviously been through a lot with her ex husband's sickness and death. She just above it. She's above it all. And she just very gentle, kind and angelic, and everybody else around her with the exception of the best friend, the husband's best friend, Michael is really made to look kind of like a stooge, like almost absurd, in a way like the character traits are absurd and not very desirable. The show is plodding and slow, but so well written that everything that comes out of their mouths, every look, every glance ends up being comedic in some way. And or will make you break down and cry in some way shape or form. Very few comedy television programs have made me actually tear up as much as mom did. Nor have as has a comedy series ever affected me emotionally like mom did. If you have friends. To me, friends did that to you.

Unknown Speaker 11:58

The most modeling app sorry, I

Bryan Green 12:00

Yeah, it was one of those shows, again, you get get emotionally invested in in friends, you have to watch every episode, but I think Mum is probably the best British comic television series that I've ever seen. And if you know me from this show alone, then you'll know that I've seen more than my fair share of British comic television. And I wish there was more of it. But like every other BBC program that I love, three seasons is all they get, right? It all comes together in the third season, it evolves into this relationship between the best friend of the husband and Kathy. And then it becomes about the dynamics between all of the other characters who you get very close to you're just like, even though they're absurd, and sometimes mean and dumb, and, you know, not very aware of what Cathy's going through and not helping her very much. And so but you become you're rooting for everybody, essentially, even when they're a stooge even when they're a fool, even when they're mean spirited. The writers of the stellar by the way this has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think it's nine on IMDb, which is tough to get you don't see too many television shows with a nine one a bunch of BAFTA as I think they call them. It's just it's a brilliant television show. If you want to laugh and you don't mind getting your heartstrings tugged at this one I think will hit close to home for people. For anybody that has a mom or a dad this one may hit close to your children this one make it goes down.

Ron Lippitt 13:27

You definitely you definitely have me convinced Brian, I will tell you I remember last time you were on the show, we talked about this I have I share your affinity for British humor. And I purposely seek out British and Irish and just overall European British in particular comedy in both in television shows and movies. In fact, last week I reviewed I don't know if you saw it I reviewed the great about the rise of Catherine the Great and Russia which is a British show on Hulu, which sounds very similar at least in style to what you just described a mom I'm going to check this thing out because your your description sounds right up my alley, so I'm absolutely going to kind of hit it.

Bryan Green 14:05

I'm not experts. I don't do this as much as as you gentlemen do and I know you all know how to review a show but if I had a recommendation scale of one to 10 this would be a 12 it is so fantastic. So good. Now you got it. You got to understand it can be slow and plodding at first but it's on purpose and I promise you the writers know exactly what they're doing. Watch all 18 episodes and if in the last episode or the second to last episode, where there's a monologue between Sam swains I think who plays the son and the mother about the Father who has passed away you have to wait 17 episodes to get that it is they pan in on this what they really portrayed as kind of almost a problematic, dumb child dumb adult child who never grew up. He cries the actor cries for a good and I counted because I watched the episode three times almost three minutes uninterrupted by the camera or anything else and just the interaction between him and Kathy the mother and I cried uninterrupted for probably three minutes do because the conversation that before that happens before that, it's just so very real and touching and the director makes the right choice almost in at every turn, including letting three minutes of this actor crying play out in the end, the pain that the mother feels and the looks that she gives in you know, sitting on this bed together just lets it play out. And it is, I don't know, I can't explain it. It was really surreal in a way that that not many other movies that are doing trying to do that on purpose have done and this is generally a very funny show, but in the last season, especially if you cry at least twice during those last six episodes. Uh, you know, I think you're you're built of a different fabric than I am but I recommend it highly.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:56

Right Brian Greene check them out on the commercial break. That was mom from Live episode 59. Now we're gonna wrap things up with only murders in the building from Live episode 85. This is more of a reminder to watch this goodness. It's the second time we've covered it on the show. But season three is coming up soon. We also kind of dive a little bit into Hulu in general. All right, take it away me. Have you guys seen all the murders in the building? No, I've been wanting to I downloaded the first season. I haven't watched it yet. I'm the only one here who's watched it. That's that's a shot shot. Shonda the IDE so only murders in the building. Let me just recap is Steve Martin and Martin Short and Selena Gomez probably the best three people working together to chemistry they're hilarious Martin Short and Steve Martin alone are always hilarious to pick up anything out. There's a Netflix special, which is the two of them, which is like a 90 minute like variety. Our amazing anytime they're on a talk show stop their banter back and forth is like whatever banter you have with your hilarious best friend where you just rip into each other. This is what they have. And it's beautiful. So only murders in the building. I'll say and totality of season one and season two is one of the most enjoyable shows you can watch. Okay? It's just enjoyable. It's Steve Martin, writing it and creating it. So it's very witty, it's very creative. And in a lot of episodes, it goes places that I think other places haven't gone. There's one episode in Season One, one of the characters is deaf, and the entire episode, no sound is all from his point of view, I found it to be one of the most fascinating episodes I've ever seen of anything, I've just I was mesmerized by it. So season one every season. Well, now there's two seasons. So they there's a murder in the building that they have. And the three of them come together. And it kind of taps on the true crime podcast phenomenon. So they they start a podcast called only murderers in the building, because they decide they want to niche. So they're only gonna do murders in their big building. They live in this building called the konia, which I guess is some fancy place that you live forever in New York. Anyway, so they decide they're going to cover this murder. And then of course, like all podcasts, just start that nobody knows by 80 year olds, they becomes hugely successful. Right, and then that's how it goes, Man, start a podcast and immediately become successful. So anyway, so I won't give away any of the specific plots or anything, but it's very clever the way they solve it, but then they work a new thing right into it. And then that's where then season two picks up. I'll say with Season Two, it wasn't as tight as season one, in terms of probably could have been an episode or two last. But there are moments of brilliance in it. And I think if you're going to watch it straight through or like meaning you don't have to wait a week. I think this one benefits from that season two will benefit a little bit more from that not every episode, but there was a couple it felt a little filler but I will say that the finale which just aired yesterday, one of the best. I'm not even gonna go into well, they did this and this is an odd I'm not gonna even tease. But they did. But I promise you, it adds better than you could have ever expected. It was great. And then of course, they set up, I will ruin it. But there was a news person who decided to ruin it like a second and there's a cameo, which is then there's this huge new star for season three. So definitely check out all the murders in the building. It's on Hulu, and I promise you it'll be just a really, really Joy double. You'll laugh It's clever, a great little mystery, everybody and it's great. So I think it's totally always something you need to check out.

Ron Lippitt 19:56

So this this is actually for one thing. I want to talk But Hulu for a second. But I just have to say I'm the biggest Steve Martin fan in the world. So and I love Martin Short as well. So I this is a it is a Shonda that I have not watched the show yet, Jeff. So I will my promises I will get on the show this week. And I'll report back about what I think because you're right. I think it's a missed opportunity. The other thing I'll just say is I feel like it might just be my opinion, but I feel like Hulu is starting to fall behind in its content in comparison to the other networks. I don't know if you guys feel the same way. But I don't find myself yearning for Hulu anymore.

Doug Cohen 20:29

I don't think I've watched a lot of Hulu shows I feel like most of my favorite shows are still prime and HBO and the occasional Netflix. I can't think of a lot of Hulu shows that I've really been tied to

Ron Lippitt 20:44

I like the Melissa McCarthy show I forget the name of it were with what's his name? What's her name? Tom Cruise his ex wife, Nicole Kidman. I thought I forget the name of the show but that was it perfect stranger nine perfect strangers. I thought that was that was interesting. But again, that's a limited series. It wasn't you know, they don't really have a they really have anything.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:03

They have something called woke which is pretty good. But there's nothing that like pops. I think only murderers in the building, to be honest, was their first like major hit like a year ago when the first season came out. I don't think he could be on any kind of media and not seeing ad only murders, right. I mean, they put all their money. And I think they have what we do in the shadows. They had the Orville Orville but now Orville is on Disney plus oh right Right yeah. And so I find myself watching it on Disney plus I've been rewatching it has it moved over all the episodes yeah they moved all Oh wow. Okay, the only the only you know it goes dark for a second where the commercials would have been but you know, just because it was a network and then so I love I'm rewatching it you have to do my part to hopefully get it renewed. Yeah, but as current season was very solid, I thought third season I thought was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Yeah, I love I love it. And then I mean Handmaid's Tale I know Ron you like that that was a good call for a few but I I agree that there but even HBO Max now is like shutting everything out of there, Elmo. All right, make sure you do yourself a huge favor and watch only murders in the building. Shonda means a disgrace, shame, terrible embarrassment. All right, well, that's three good ones for you today. I think we got the good place, mom, and only murders in the building. So I think you have a lot of homework and Rania, I'll let you go. Hop on the couch, find your comfy spot, grab the remote, cross your own streams. And we'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 22:54

Thanks for listening to this special edition of crossing the streams. Visit us on YouTube for full episodes and catch us live every Wednesday at 9:30pm Eastern time. Now turn this off and go watch some TV. And don't forget to tell your family yeah, I'll be busy for a while.

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