f13.net

After getting positive recommendations from a few people, including my wife who watched it during its weekly run, I binged most of this last night and then finished it this morning.  It's very good and deserves more than a Useless TV post or a fleeting Discord mention.

It's all about midlife angst, as experienced in different ways by people in different situations who all think that other people have it better.  Of the four "main characters", two are working parents going through an unpleasant divorce, one is a stay-at-home parent missing her career, and one is a lifelong bachelor, and all of them at various times feel dissatisfied with the choices they've made or feel like what they've gotten wasn't fair.  Since this board is mostly old farts there's probably something relatable in there for everyone.

I often struggle with shows like this where everyone is very flawed and occasionally (or perpetually) an asshole, because I need to have someone to root for, but this one walked the line just right for me.  I was actually surprised by how much I liked Jesse Eisenberg in it, since I usually find his characters unlikable.  Claire Danes never quite made it into "likable" territory for me but I did have more empathy for her character by the end of the show than I thought I was going to.

Anyway, if you have had this show recommended to you but haven't yet watched it, this is a +1 from me.

I glanced at this title and it made me think someone had made a flashman TV series.

Now I want a flashman series. Made by the peaky blinders people maybe.

When I first heard the title I thought it was a Northern Exposure reboot.

(edit) Peaky Blinders is another one of those shows that's been recommended to me a few times that I haven't yet sat down to watch.  I enjoy Fraser's writing quite a bit (mostly his McAuslan stories) so if there's anything in Peaky Blinders that makes you think the same team would be able to handle a Flashman adaptation that's a good endorsement to add to the pile.

They know how to respect history at the same time as making a thing sexy.

Rogue Heroes is probably an even better parallel.

Ah haha ha ha ha

This fuckin show.

I'd love a Flashman TV series. Love the books and the one movie was fantastic. Probably wouldn't get past 21st Century censors though.

I'd also like a Master and Commander series though... and a Richard Sharpe continuation... or a Derfel Cadarn or Starbuck Chronicles series.

No way could you make a Flashman series now without making him REALLY suffer about a thousand times more than he does in each adventure.

I could almost see a cheeky inversion of Flashman that would be a character from the empire being a complete bounder across Europe and the United States and somehow just barely getting away with it.