Thread.

This is an open thread, all topics (TV-related or not) welcome.

How much TV can I watch in one night? There's the Democratic debate and Sean Penn on 60 Minutes. There's the Good Wife, Downton Abbey, Shameless and the Royals. I even like Guys' Grocery's Games (I don't like Worst Cook in America.)

Two shows I tried to like and really didn't, so I won't be watching any more: Ruta 35 on Unimas and the most awful, gratuitously violent novela I've ever seen that just started last week on Telemundo. Called La Querida del Centauro, it seems to be a thinly veiled take on the prison romance between El Chapo and Zulema Hernandez. Sony generally does not make good novelas. The only passable one was En la Boca Del Lobo. I think novela-land will be barren until the return of Senor de los Cielos (season 4) in April. (La Viuda Negra Part 2 may start before then, but it's just okay.) The best, if you speak Spanish is El Capo (Seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 has English subtitles but isn't as good as the first two seasons.) Ranking up there with El Capo: El Cartel (Seasons I and II, not the movie); La Reina del Sur; Pablo Escobar Patron de Mal; and En La Boca del Lobo. [More...]

Thread.

Thread.

thread.

Update [Jeralyn]: I have no interest in watching the Republican debate, but if you're watching, you can put your thoughts here.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

If I were going to write another post today, undoubtedly it would be on El Chapo. Rather than do that, I'll put up a new open thread.

All topics welcome.

Thread.

It's another season of the Bachelor. Ben seems very vulnerable and lacking in self-confidence. It's hard to tell if that's the way he really is, or its just a story line crafted from the "edit" from last season. (His reaction to being rejected was to voice his fear he was unlovable.)

The women so far are the typical mix of beach blond bombshell wannabes, weirdos (the dentist), annoying chirpy voices (the one who just passed the bar exam), and sad sacks who are going to share their personal tragedies with us, regardless of whether we want to hear about them. I'm having a hard time telling one blond from another. I also don't like Ben's haircut, it's way too short. His eyes seem much closer together than they did last season. And where are his muscles?

Will I make it through another season? Too soon to tell.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The final season of Downton Abbey is about to begin.

I watched the Royals for the first time this weekend. It's incredibly trashy and very hard to follow. But better than what Hollywood has offered this year.

In unrelated UK news, ISIS released a video threatening David Cameron. It had a wannabe Jihadi John doing executions. Some think he is Abu Rumaysah al-Britani (protest video with him in UK is here.) From a production value standpoint, I thought it was pretty weak. While ISIS has multiple video departments, I wonder if the al Hayat media producers have all been killed off. Very few of ISIS' recent videos have a "wow" factor.

Saudi Arabia executed 47 people including a Shia cleric, angering the world. It also broke off relations with Iran. (Skip the NYT version, it has auto-play video.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

As much as I disliked 2015, I have very positive feelings about 2016. I don't much believe in resolutions, so I can't offer up any, but here's an open thread for yours, and anything else that's on your mind.

TalkLeft was down from yesterday until just now. The hosting Company in New York had a problem, moved the site to new hardware, and then could not establish network connectivity until just now. Hopefully it's all fixed. A big thanks to our webmaster Colin who kept at them to hurry up.

This is an open thread, Happy New Year's Eve to all. What are your plans tonight? [More...]