Down To Watch

This week, DtW crawls out to the Prime adaptation of Fallout! Dan and Raul complete the gamer configuration of the show by inviting Jonnie to talk about the first two episodes of a tongue-in-cheek gorefest set in the post-nuclear apocalypse. Lucy is a sheltered vault-dweller encountering the Mad Max-style carnage of the surface world for the first time, Maximus is trying to escape his ineffectiveness as part of a military religion by stealing a suit of robot armor, and The Ghoul has stuck around since pre-war America to give us a modern-day perspective and more Walton Goggins for our TVs. After a few days out, the show has stuck to the game's vibes and continues to get good reviews, so is this another successful adaptation of a game, or is it a bomb with a diminishing half-life? These three brickball aficionados probably know! 

This week, Down to Watch follows a couple of mystery men through their new streaming series! Our DtW hosts start off talking about another take on The Talented Mr. Ripley, this time simply titled Ripley and led by a couple of recognizable BBC faces. The show is set in stark black-and-white Italy and slowly meanders through the crime thriller's story, but is it so thoughtful it forgets to be compelling? A question that can also be asked about the second show covered in this pod is AppleTV+' Sugar, an LA-based crime noir starring Colin Ferrell. Ferell? A new kind of hero, John Sugar, doesn't appear to be as seedy as the story he's in, but will the show's inevitable twist undo the character work done in early episodes? These are questions for Dan and Raul!

Down to Watch is back this week, dodgin' bunnies and chuckin' eggs to bring you a shower of April television picks to make your spring even more sprung! Dan and Raul brought a basket of green plastic grass, hollow chocolate, and adaptations like Fallout, Ripley, Parasyte, and Dead Boy Detectives. A bunch of spy craft shows are lined up like a pack of peeps, including The Veil, The Sympathizer, and an LA gumshoe story called Sugar, keeping the investigation domestic. Learn what is happening to the thoroughbreds at the race track with the New York Times doc film Broken Horses, what Conan finds while wandering in Conan O'Brien Needs to Go, and what happened back during The Hijacking of Flight 601. Keep your heads dry while waiting for May to bloom with these great picks!  

This week Netflix dropped a tentpole series with a lot of hype, and DtW is back to tell you about it! Dan and Raul watched the first two episodes of 3 Body Problem, an adaptation of the first book in the Chinese sci-fi series that is beyond popular in China and worldwide. Showrunners/writer/director duo Weiss and Benioff found success and fame helming the groundbreaking Game of Thrones but suffered consequences to their subsequent projects based on fan reactions to the finale they crafted. Does this mean they're ready to burst back on the scene with an equally vast story full of scientific wonder and terror, or does their handling of the GoT ending prove that their stories are rudderless without a source material to draw from? That's a very specific question, and also, there's a Tarly!

Down to Watch drops this week with a couple of spring streaming shows with secrets aplenty! Dan and Raul caught a couple of sneaky little shows in their sights with titles that might be misleading. First, AppleTV+ does not have the third season of Manhunt from Spectrum TV, but they do have an adaptation of the book Manhunt that describes the lawful search for John Wilkes Booth. The investigation into Lincoln's assassination is new ground for most viewers and the first two eps get a lot out of the procedural of it all as well as an unexpected emotional element. Next is The Gentlemen, a spiritual sequel to the film of the same name, both from writer-director Guy Ritchie who continues his resurgence after shedding most of his style-over-substance artistic persona. The show follows a new Duke in charge of a surprise weed grow op under his newly bequeathed manor and how his quick wits will serve him well as head of a criminal franchise and a family of aristocratic kooks. Word on the street is positive on both shows, but did these small-screen stories resonate with the DtW crew? Answers within!

This week, DtW watches Netflix bend a beloved Nickelodeon franchise into a live-action epic adventure despite previous attempts failing spectacularly! Dan and Raul have a literal family, and fellow podcaster Chris is on to discuss what they did with one of his favorite small-screen stories: The Last Airbender. Horrors abound in the previous incarnation, so the bar is low, but that doesn't mean the 'big red N' can skate past the mistakes that have sunk their previous anime-inspired IRL shows. The good, bad, surprising, and changed are elemental to the discussion, as well as individual performances and scriptwriting imbalances. The faster you hop on this shaggy, saddled flying friend of a podcast, the sooner you'll reach enlightenment! Yip yip! 

This week on Down to Watch, it's an age of honor, discipline and a bunch of swords on your hip because it's Shogun time! Dan and Raul are your pilot navigators through the first two episodes of the new FX series based on the same name book that tells the story of an English sailor who arrives in Japan to find a whole TV show. In the 17th century, a time of treacherous trade routs and infighting between the rulers of the lands of Japan, no one has risen to the position of Shogun in over a century and the position is thought of as antiquated and barbaric. Even as the new overseas acquaintances call each other savages, it's clear they will come to use and rely on each other to get through what threatens to become a bloody civil war. DTW has two katanas, a tanto knife, and everything you need to get you started on Shogun!

March comes in like a lion, and Down to Watch is taming the wild new TV shows just for you! Dan and Raul went down the list of new series' ready to pop off in month number three, as well as a handful of returning winners. There's a ton of comeback shows including Invincible, Somebody Feed Phil, Full Swing, X-Men '97, American Rust, Girls 5eva and Eugene Levy's travelogue The Reluctant Traveler. On the fresh and new side, Guy Ritchie is spinning off his film The Gentlemen into a series with the same name, a new show also called Manhunt on AppleTV+ is chasing John Wilkes Booth, and Noel Fielding might be lying in The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. There are fancy ladies' clubs to join in Palm Royale, a power-mad lady in The Regime, a sci-fi classic adapted in The 3-Body Problem, and 'Gus Fring' as an ex-bad man being dragged back into the game in Parish on AMC. There is plenty to choose from, and these two TV-talkers are the guys to get you hyped about them!

A new Marvel TV show emerged, so Dan and Raul knew who to call...Jonnie! This very special guest came prepared and shared his thoughts on the brand new film, Bob Marley: One Love, that just came out to lackluster critical response, yet moviegoers seem to be thoroughly enjoying it. As always, when these dudes get together, a nice chunk of time is devoted to the world of the MCU, leading to a discussion on mutants (Deadpool and Wolverine), The Marvels (now on Disney+), and the future of the MCU. Finally, the guys dive into the newest Marvel TV show, Echo, centered on a deaf, one-legged, fierce warrior of indigenous origins gaining a connection to her familial roots and seeking revenge against the mighty Kingpin. How does this TV offering measure up with some of the recent lackluster MCU offerings? Ya gotta listen and see; nothing in life is free (except playing this pod)!

This week, Down to Watch gets in the Valentine's Day spirit in a violent and quirky way with the reboot series Mr. & Mrs. Smith! Dan and Raul accepted the assigned task of watching the first two episodes of the new Prime series starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, and have returned with a mostly positive mission report. Despite the strange greeting and nebulous instructions from the company tablet, two charming strangers have agreed to pose as husband and wife while carrying out mysterious and kind of odd, "High Risk" operations in New York and the surrounding area. These orders send them into danger as often as they place them in situations that may form a romantic bond between the rookie agents despite their trepidations. This is a will they / won't they... but will they fall in love, complete their missions, or become collateral damage for the mysterious entity in charge? Let's find out!