Have you tried "Hinterland"? It's a bit violent, but not horribly so considering all the murders. There is nothing comedic about it at all. And, while there are small details that matter, you can still get the gist while not concentrating.
Although detective shows / police procedurals notionally turn on details, everyone explains verbally which details are noteworthy at which stage. Do those fit in general?
I like those, and my wife might go for them if there's no depicted violence or gory corpses.
Better Call Saul maybe.
"Red Oaks" is pretty nice, teenage comedy set in eighties NJ, basically sweet, possibly relies too much on nostalgia but I cant tell, since I am in the target age demographic and found two summers caddying to be profoundly informative (I had previously had very little contact with wealthy people).
Hulu's "Casual" possibly.
Rockford. Maybe Barney Miller.
I guess the dutch-language version of Golden Girls is out.
The Netflix biography of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was pretty good, pretty sure they have an English version. I forget whether your household understands Spanish; Telenovelas generally, but any telenovelas are hard to get. I kind of liked "La Esclava Blanca" except for the principal actress who was feeble. Also "Los Plateados".
Because Wales is a cooler climate, the corpses aren't usually that gory on "Hinterland."
I don't think Rockford is on Netflix anymore. Maybe it's on Hulu. I didn't think of that and may have to consider getting Hulu if all the shows I used to watch on Netflix moved there.
"House Hunters". Or maybe the Weather Channel.
7: On second thought the Weather Channel might be too violent.
The Wether Channel is pretty calm, outside of the castration scenes.
See, House Hunters is a great suggestion. But we've watched probably one billion episodes of that, and just can't do it anymore.
I forget whether your household understands Spanish
Wife does, I don't. But that doesn't rule anything out; I could handle not understanding the dialogue if there are attractive women in it. Telenovelas are probably a bridge too far though.
So, porn meets your criteria, as long as it isn't torture or parody-based.
Angie Tribeca is fairly funny - high density of puns and sight gags, very closely in the style of Airplane. It's also too shallow/arch for me to watch more than one episode at a time.
10.1: I hear that TLC is bringing back "Trading Spaces".
Great British Baking Show is quite good.
How dumb are you willing to accept? The Librarians was fairly entertaining background noise.
I've liked Grace and Frankie.
Other people like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but it didn't work for me.
Oh, Luther -- want to like it, almost never in the mood for creepy British serial killers. You've seen The Great British Baking Show, I take it?
Catastrophe (comedy but British so not really that haha-funny). Seconding Grace and Frankie. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (very little graphic violence, amazing if you have any interest in clothes). The first season of Orphan Black (I also can't handle violence and too much tension so noped out an episode or two into the second season). The British mystery series set in WWII with the older man and his younger blond driver. There's another Canadian historic mystery series that's supposed to be good but I couldn't finish the first episode, see also Schitt Creek).
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend also was a miss for me. I didn't like the main character at all and I'm not a fan of modern musicals. It made me question everyone's tastes (being recommended by a bunch of podcasts I listen to).
a bridge too far though.
I enjoyed an Iranian one when I was in Turkey. Couldn't understand anything, but Sad Uncle and Strong-willed Lady Attorney were both good actors.
I liked Sor Juana a lot; the production company is neither Telemundo nor Univision. The Colombian production company's historical ones are usually OK.
If anyone can set me up with an English or Spanish dub of the Brazilian "O Clon," I would be deeply grateful. My Spanish is OK, but I do a lot better with spanish subtitles when the dialogue speeds up.
"Deadwood" is excellent, spots of violence though and one completely gratuitous episode.
I must be the only person on earth who doesn't like Master of None. I watched the first season and liked it fine (the episode with the parents was great), but the second season just doesn't do it for me. The episode where he goes to a fancy restaurant with a friend and they talk about how much they like each dish for about fifteen minutes was finally so alienating that I quit. Also, Aziz Ansari is annoying.
Taxi or M*A*S*H.
Blackish for contemporary comedy, or Parks and Rec for not quite contemporary anymore. UK Office. UK IT Crowd.
The British mystery series set in WWII with the older man and his younger blond driver.
Foyle's War.
Is that good? I'd been thinking of trying it.
I feel obligated to like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend because it does everything I claim to like and support, but it was pretty much unwatchable for me.
Great British Baking Show is surprisingly fun to watch.
Ru Paul's Drag Race is what we watch in our household while we're doing other tasks, because there's only like ten cumulative minutes out of the thirty where you actually should pay attention.
Oo, something I liked but haven't seen much about: Hotel Beau Sejour. Flemish ghost story/crime procedural. Low on graphic violence I believe.
I must be the only person on earth who doesn't like Master of None.
I didn't work for me either. I wanted to like it, but it just never grabbed me.
I love Foyle's War! It's much better if you pay attention, though, so I don't know if it fills the bill.
22: I'd say it's up there, but only compared to the field of cozy British procedurals made for Americans.
22: I'd say it's up there, but only compared to the field of cozy British procedurals made for Americans.
The last episode of Master of None was such a slog. Ansari obviously thought the romance with whatshername was way more interesting/touching than I found it (and I'm a total romance sucker) and ugh. Also the sexual harassment thing was weirdly dropped before it had repercussions. There were some good episodes both seasons but it seemed overpraised. Actually, I think Ansair isn't a good actor (I spent a whole scene when he was fighting with whatshername trying to see if his eyebrows moved - no, but they should have?) and didn't like his character.
Oh, Insecure is supposed to be really good. I don't have HBO so can't watch it.
That's kind of the field I'm playing it.
I love CExG, but I can see why many people wouldn't. Also it rewards close watching (unreliable narrator, not just in the songs!), which is not what we're looking for in this thread.
Yes! Foyle's War. I spend way too much time googling all the cars.
There's a new Father Brown series which is also a watchable 'cosy' mystery. Cosy British procedurals made for North Americans is my jam.
almost never in the mood for creepy British serial killers. You've seen The Great British Baking Show, I take it?
It's subtext.
The last episode of Master of None was such a slog. Ansari obviously thought the romance with whatshername was way more interesting/touching than I found it (and I'm a total romance sucker) and ugh.
This exactly. I loved the show generally (you either find Ansari endearing or you don't, I guess) but the Manic Pasta Dream Girl* plot fit in badly enough with the rest of it that it lost me. And I am usually a terrible sucker for a love story, regardless of personal experience.
_______________
*Smearcase's line from elsewhere
Mozart in the Jungle. You can listen to the music even if you are not paying attention to the plot, and its plot lines are mostly episodic rather than complicated season-long narrative arcs.
Drag Race? I don't actually watch it myself, but the youth (or at least that portion of the youth that lives in my apartment) are enthralled. And it seems as if it might be amusing in a way that doesn't require attention.
36 is a good one.
I enjoyed it a fair bit, even though recognising how silly it basically is. The episode on Rikers Island in the last series is really striking.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is fun, but the central male character (the ex-boyfriend) is an annoying blank slate who is never developed as a character. The lead actress is great.
But it's a comedy, so that violates one of the conditions set in the OP.
I admire Master of None more than I like it, but I really like it a lot. It's a great show that people who are smarter than me probably like even more than I do.
Better Call Saul is tremendous, and I need someone to test my theory that people would find it a great show even without having watched Breaking Bad. Physical violence is minimal; emotional violence is intense. But it is very novelistic and thus also violates the conditions of the OP.
I'm enjoying I Zombie a lot, but it's too violent and gross to pass muster for this exercise.
I'll also support The Great British Baking Show; my wife wants to catch each episode as it hits PBS. The personalities are bright, the people are interested in winning but remain decent people, etc. Plus plates of beautifully prepared food to ooh at three times an episode.
The review phase is detailed but rarely harsh.
Contrary to 39.3, it appears that the romance highbrows here have declared Master of None's recent stuff unacceptable.
I object to the characterization "Manic Pasta Dream Girl." Anzari's character is more Manic Pixie than she is.
Agree that Mozart in the Jungle is a good suggestion -- it's pretty fun, and it probably actually improves if you pay less attention. (The labor negotiations part drove me bananas, though.)
And it can't be a straight comedy, or I won't watch it.
Do you hate fun? Also, straight comedy is the obvious answer to your background watching question. There are loads of great comedy specials on Netflix (as well as some pretty good sitcoms -
Lady Dynamite is amazing, Kimmy Schmidt is charming, Master Of None has already been discussed).
"Funny" is an Anglo-Saxon construct, like freedom and self-awareness.
For anyone interested, The Toast is back for a day.
Manic Pasta Dream Girl
Too clever by half. As pf says, Dev is more the manic pixie, and she's an actual grown-up, and that relationship is totally doomed, and only Dev doesn't know it. Also, the Denise subplot in season 2 is just fabulous.
Do you hate fun?
Are you new here?
Speaking of hating fun, I think there's a stage of life where you claim slightly askew characteristics for yourself because they make you quirky and interesting, and then there's a stage of life where you're like, oh shit, I really am that way, and it's not charming at all; my poor family.
I was recently thinking about this in a slightly different context: I have a bunch of weirdo friends and when we were young, our weirdoness was kinda charming and quirky in a fun young-person way. Now that we're all entering middle age it is hardening into straight-up cray. Maybe when we're old we'll mellow into acharming eccentricity, but for now, I keep thinking, god, we're unbearable.
Finally, barely even a "show" in the conventional sense, but have you tried the Slow TV stuff they now have on Netflix? Like 8 hours of a train's uninterrupted journey across Norway?
I keep meaning to finish watching the last 2.5 seasons of White Collar. Maybe you could do that, and let me know if it's worth it?
Like 8 hours of a train's uninterrupted journey across Norway?
Is it just a continuous shot of the train moving along? Or a passenger-eye view of the landscapes passing by? Or...?
Great British Bake-off and Miss Fisher's are both amazing. I also liked Hinterland even though I was also watching it in the background and didn't follow most of what happened.
48: I am willing to stipulate that I feel sorry for your family, but on the general pattern I remain unconvinced.
That's a tough set of parameters, ogged. I myself do prefer novelistic series, and eliminating those strikes quite a bit off the list. Also not a big fan of straight comedy (with a few exceptions).
But for something that's episodic, doesn't require a great deal of attention, violence-free:
Doc Martin. Some might call it straight comedy, but I'd disagree. It's easy on the eyes (not in THAT WAY, o-man), charming as hell, set in Cornwall -- and blessedly free of echoes of anything US-centric, anything political. Characters are wonderfully individual, character development is outstanding. You can drop in and out easily.
And you know, I think one could probably watch Downton Abbey without bothering with the actual extended story line, just enjoying the atmospherics.
Is it just a continuous shot of the train moving along? Or a passenger-eye view of the landscapes passing by? Or...?
The camera is mounted on the front of the train; audio from inside the train, so you get occasional snack bar and stop announcements in Norwegian and English. Maybe sometimes they cut to different shots, but I haven't gotten that far.
Is The Trip too much of a straight comedy? It's great.
Doc Martin.
That reminds me. I really liked William and Mary (with Martin Clunes)
My wife likes Prime Suspect and I've been watching the prequel Prime Suspect: Tennison off-and-on with her. It's a police procedural, a genre that I despise, except it's pretty good, and it's British television and so less stupid than the stuff Americans do. It's not too demanding, not very violent, and a pleasant enough way to pass time.
Rotten Tomatoes didn't think much of the prequel, though - 50%, which seems unduly harsh. Metacritic was a 59.
No ratings for the original, which had Helen Mirren, but all the critic types seem to have liked it a lot, as did The Missus.
Seconding GY's endorsement of Kimmy Schmidt. The jokes are sometimes really densely packed or non-obvious, so it helps to pay attention, but it's also broadly silly in a way that plays well as background noise.
Seconding Doc Martin. Prime suspect is great but demands attention, I think.
I disliked Kimmy Schmidt. Tina Fey is an acute observer and talented writer, but her work especially on this show seems pretty mean-spirited; too many unkind stereotypes in this show for my taste.
Kimmy Schmidt is good but uneven, trying to simultaneously be light/funny and mine serious darkness; it's also trying to push people's yay-buttons for "Strong female character!" while also being ambivalent about feminism per se. And Tiny Fey is getting almost Sorkin-like in not letting shit go. I tapped out after the first few episodes of season 3.
59: Yesssss! Netflix doesn't stream the full BBC versions that I've seen and I don't know where to find The Trip to Spain but whenever I'm too sad and overwhelmed I default to those. I think they say unique and interesting things about male friendship and vulnerability too, but what do I know?
For me the background noise tends to work best with reality stuff. Survivorman, Storm Chasers, Deadliest Catch, Swamp People, etc.
Yesssss! Netflix doesn't stream the full BBC versions that I've seen and I don't know where to find The Trip to Spain
Looks like IFC had the US distribution rights. It was on Sky Atlantic over here, so maybe Fox will pick it up on syndication?
You could watch Iron Fist and pretend that nosflow is the lead character's stunt double.
45: I'm continuing to crack up over "Hello, yes, I'm looking for a confused Belgian man in a busy intersection; this is Anna Wintour; yes, I'll hold."
GBBO is my go to for soothing background TV. I think I've seen each season twice. I liked crazy ex girlfriend but I can see how people might not. I love Jane the Virgin, which is a telenovela spoof but smart enough to be enjoyable even if you don't like comedy. It's also extremely real despite the plot line wackiness.
I love British crime shows, including prime suspect. I also liked Rumpoldt (sp?) of the Bailey, an unsuitable job for a woman, the Agatha Christie adaptations, etc. I wanted to like Luther, but it veered too much into horror. Last year I half watched CSI svu, which isn't good but wasn't as violent or disturbing as I thought it would be. I also like top chef or project runway for good background TV.
I suggest the original Twin Peaks if you haven't seen it. There's sufficient weirdness to keep you happy, and its pacing--the show is basically a soap-opera at its core--allows for a fair amount of drifting.
Quoting 17 above: "There's another Canadian historic mystery series that's supposed to be good but I couldn't finish the first episode".
I'm pretty sure that's Murdoch Mysteries, also known in the US as The Artful Detective. It's maybe what ogged is looking for - it's a crime procedural set in late 19th/early 20th century Toronto. In the early seasons it's like a joke CSI set in the past. It's goofy and sometimes the mysteries are genuinely good. When it's bad it's not really insultingly bad, it's just stupid. It's well-acted for the most part. It's very lightly serialised, not so much that you couldn't follow the story arcs while doing other work. Bonus: there are 10 seasons, so it'll take care of the need for background noise for months if not a year.
Yes. It's not horrible, except that they have Arthur Conan Doyle played by a guy who looks like the Skipper from Gillian's Island.
I'll have to trade notes with lw at school me point. "O Clon" is a *very* specific shout out.
I love Hinterland, but isn't it a bit intense to meet ogged's criteria?
I'm currently watching Grantchester, having recently finished Father Brown. I think Grantchester is a better show, but Father Brown is a lot of fun (if somewhat ridiculous).
Yay for Netflix queue overlap. I second the endorsements for Father Brown, Miss Fisher, Foyle's War, The Crown, GBBO, and IT Crowd. I enjoyed the first season of Kimmy Schmidt but trailed off on season 2. Currently watching Fawlty Towers (though that's straight comedy so YMMV). Have marked The Bletchley Circle and The Dick Van Dyke Show as maybes for the future.
I also recommend the White Rabbit Project - the Mythbusters sidekicks have their own show where they explore a different concept each time, like heists or prison breaks. News you can use!
51: My wife put that on for the kids. They complained for 5 minutes about how boring it was, and then they got interested in it.
We only kind of "watch" when we're watching (I'm coding, my wife is charting)
Late capitalist adorable.
Billions on Showtime is fun. It has season-long storylines but is a lot more plot driven than something like Mad Men. Gets lots of little details right about both hedge funds and high-prestige government lawyering.
We also enjoyed Timeless from NBC. It's a time travel procedural, so there are fun costumes and easy fish out of water gags. Our protagonists regularly return to a changed present, but deem it close enough for government work. Overall it's like a less sexy Alias.
Psych rewards paying attention but also not paying attention, I've found. But not the last couple of seasons.
I rode Oslo-Bergen in 1999. I can't remember if it was overnght or not. Scandinavia gets so much summer light.
This must be the opposite of slow TV.
69: their review of The Hunt For Red October is truly splendid. http://the-toast.net/2017/07/26/movie-yelling-with-nicole-and-mallory-the-hunt-for-red-october/
A lost foreigner asks: How is your wife "charting"? Does this involve navigation? Plotting charts from data? Selling large quantities of records, CDs, YouTube advertisements? Studying graphical representations of the stock market and matching them against the patterns made by slaughtered squirrel entrails?
A lost foreigner asks: How is your wife "charting"? Does this involve navigation? Plotting charts from data? Selling large quantities of records, CDs, YouTube advertisements? Studying graphical representations of the stock market and matching them against the patterns made by slaughtered squirrel entrails?
After a doctor performs an orchiectomy, they need to write notes as to which testicle was removed and whether or not the one removed was the one that was supposed to be removed.
She's a doctor -- I assume it means entering rough patient notes for the day into some more permanent format.
Right. Probably there are other types of notes doctors make for other procedures.
In enlightened topless Europe and Europe-adjacent islands, doctors are probably not so over-scheduled that they can't do this kind of work at the office after seeing the patient.
To save money here, the main health care system fired all of their medical transcriptionists and outsourced it to India.
A lost foreigner asks: How is your wife "charting"?
I assumed it was the answer to the podcast title "Who's Charting?". Ogged's wife, that's who.
Thanks. I would note we are nowadays distinguished from the lands beyond the sea by being both unenlightened and thoroughly topped.
I'm taking the Oslo-Bergen train next week.
Since this is the Iranian thread, here is a wonderful story about a virtual mata hari who targeted middle aged techies, posing as a photographer; before they could invite her round to see their etchings, she sent them her own portfolio which was of course laden with malware.
Elect enough Tories and soon you don't even get protruding nipples.
Since quibbling over fine points of terminology is a local tradition, I don't think you can call catfishing like that a "virtual mata hari." This is much stupider. Back in the day, if you got caught in a honey trap, you at least got sex out of it.
97: Good old days syndrome! I can totally imagine honey trap operations where someone just teasingly dared a guy to to sneak into his own office at night and identify the file cabinets, then bam on the head with a paperweight.
Now that offices don't have windows that open and do have computers, you hardly need a paperweight.
People who peed on people are luckiest people of all.
I won't hear a word against Kimmie Schmidt. Season 3 has one of my favorite jokes I've heard in years (the one in the Ray Liotta episode involving trees).
What do the other Ray Liotta episodes involve?
83: Visual stimuli never make me queasy (nor do physical ones shy of some amusement rides), but that video did within seconds. Wow.
AB gives up on shows too quickly. I would be open to more Unbreakable or Crazy Ex, but their ship has sailed. If I thought I was missing something brilliant, I'd insist, but I think I'm just missing "amusing enough".
Oh hey, why not Veep? Def not straight comedy, and I don't think any of the plot points really matter. Nearly every single character is awful in their own way, so that should suit misanthropes.
AB gives up on shows too quickly. I would be open to more Unbreakable or Crazy Ex, but their ship has sailed. If I thought I was missing something brilliant, I'd insist, but I think I'm just missing "amusing enough".
Yeah, I wouldn't call Kimmy Schmidt brilliant, though I'd put it a bit above amusing enough. Lady Dynamite, though, that's brilliant.
Nothing compares to "The Wire" or "Deadwood" It is impossible to use them as the benchmark. I find "Ray Donovan" almost palatable, but not quite, it must be the Jon Voigt factor, he seems too disingenuous, even for the conman/sociopath character he plays. Something about him just makes it unwatchable for me. Hard to pin it down
I know everyone is gaga for GOT, however, it has really started slowwwwww... let's pick up the pace and start killing some people. Maybe it is the heat of the summer, but I seem to be losing my patience with Dany, just loose the dragons and kill your enemies FFS.
I quite relate to this problem b/c most of the tv I watch is while doing other things at my computer that require some, but not a lot, of attention. It's actually kind of tricky to find the right balance of not-intelligence-insulting vs. not so good/hard to follow that my attention is captured away from my work.
It puts anything with subtitles right out, which is a shame b/c I really like foreign shows (like travel on the cheap!) as well as anything that's really visually interesting, and between the two that excludes most of what I would choose to watch for pure entertainment.
I hate to say, I watch GoT this way and can't imagine liking it if I gave it my full attention; same goes for Billions. Ray Donovan mentioned above is good for this precisely b/c it isn't as good as The Wire, etc. I just watched Ozark on Netflix, which was also good in this way. Lots of British mysteries and police procedurals work for this although I think Hinterland is too visually interesting to half-watch. I like Line of Duty so much that I feel guilty recommending it for this kind of thing, but the truth is, it's so dialogue-driven that you really don't need to watch to follow what's happening.
First few episodes of GoT are a bit slow, but S1:E4-E6 is about as good as the show gets. So if you've gotten that far and aren't feeling it you're probably not going to like it.
I'm still catching up on season three. I have a good feeling about this wedding. No spoilers.
They based, I believe, a romcom on that episode, "The Wedding planner"
It was Wedding Crashers, actually.
GoT definitely has some longueurs. I remember entire runs of half a dozen episodes that kept my interest just enough, but where, really, the pacing was wrong.
I still like it just fine, and there are enough fine performances in it to mostly keep my attention.