Television Apple TV+ Show Reviews Are Coming In

[TwinIon]

Early reviews for Apple TV+ shows are coming in and by and large it seems they're fine, but lacking any must-see shows.

 

Engadget has a nice overview of the shows, and suggests that if there's one to watch, it's Ronald D. Moore's alt-history show For All Mankind. Overall reviews for The Morning Show, Dickinson, and See are all a bit more mixed.

 

With only the few shows available and nothing urgently great, I imagine Apple could have some initial trouble getting subscribers. Still, worth remembering that everyone that's bought a new Apple device after September 10 gets a free year. Since my iPad was bought in April, think I'm going to hold out on paying the $5/month.

[skillzdadirecta]

21 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

Early reviews for Apple TV+ shows are coming in and by and large it seems they're fine, but lacking any must-see shows.

 

Engadget has a nice overview of the shows, and suggests that if there's one to watch, it's Ronald D. Moore's alt-history show For All Mankind. Overall reviews for The Morning Show, Dickinson, and See are all a bit more mixed.

 

With only the few shows available and nothing urgently great, I imagine Apple could have some initial trouble getting subscribers. Still, worth remembering that everyone that's bought a new Apple device after September 10 gets a free year. Since my iPad was bought in April, think I'm going to hold out on paying the $5/month.

Is that true? I just bought a new Macbook in September. 

[johnny]

I got a new iPhone in august. If I knew about that I would have just waited a few weeks lol. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Damn I just checked... I bought my Macbook on September 3rd 

[RedSoxFan9]

I’ll probably watch See just to see what a $15M an episode looks like. 

[sexy_shapiro]

There are too many damn subscriptions for me to keep up with. I can’t join everything - something has to fall by the wayside, and it’ll probably be this.

[EternallDarkness]

29 minutes ago, sexy_shapiro said:

There are too many damn subscriptions for me to keep up with. I can’t join everything - something has to fall by the wayside, and it’ll probably be this.

 

waaaay too many...of which I have none though I guess that's a lie since I did sign up for Disney+

[TwinIon]

16 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Is that true? I just bought a new Macbook in September. 

Yeah, I couldn't remember the exact date, so I looked it up and it's pretty straightforward in their terms and conditions. You'll get 3 months starting from Nov 1 to redeem the offer.

 

Quote

Eligible devices:
• Any new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac capable of running the latest iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, or macOS purchased after September 10, 2019, from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller, is eligible. 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

  Any verdict on any of these shows? Does Apple put them all out at once or are they weekly?

[skillzdadirecta]

On 10/29/2019 at 9:24 AM, TwinIon said:

Yeah, I couldn't remember the exact date, so I looked it up and it's pretty straightforward in their terms and conditions. You'll get 3 months starting from Nov 1 to redeem the offer.

 

 

 

So I got an email today saying I was eligible so now I have my free year  I guess calling up apple support and playing dumb worked... either that or they're feeling the heat from Disney+. Anywhoo I'll check out a couple of these shows now. @johnny You JUST might qualify after all... call Apple support and play dumb like I did LOL. 

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

So I got an email today saying I was eligible so now I have my free year  I guess calling up apple support and playing dumb worked... either that or they're feeling the heat from Disney+. Anywhoo I'll check out a couple of these shows now. @johnny You JUST might qualify after all... call Apple support and play dumb like I did LOL. 

I’m guessing sub numbers have been really weak to date.

[skillzdadirecta]

26 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I’m guessing sub numbers have been really weak to date.

That would be my guess too.

[skillzdadirecta]

Just watched The Morning Show... wasn't bad. Kinda reminded me of The Newsroom. Great cast. The App works a hell of a lot better than Disney's so far on my TV. 

[skillzdadirecta]

I just talked to a buddy of mine who bought a new I-phone earlier this year and said he got a year subscription to Apple TV too. Something's up...

[rc0101]

I got a year for an iPhone purchase but haven’t watched anything yet. 

[skillzdadirecta]

I recommend The Morning show @rc0101

Gonna check out See this weekend. 

[Emblazon]

For All Mankind is fantastic. 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, Emblazon said:

For All Mankind is fantastic. 

That's on the list too.

[elbobo]

I'm halfway through for all mankind and am enjoying it quite a bit, for a Hollywood "what if" story it is kept close enough to plausible to make it interesting. What if the moon landing wasn't the end of the space race but just the first leg, what if NASA's budget didn't drop off significantly after most of the early Apollo work was done but actually ramped up by ending the war in Vietnam and diverting the funds to NASA plus probably a lot more.  Only complaint is that the episodes could be trimmed down by 10 minutes or so. 

 

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

Yeah I gotta check out For Mankind and See as well. I watched the first episode of See and was really impressed.

[Emblazon]

11 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Yeah I gotta check out For Mankind and See as well. I watched the first episode of See and was really impressed.

How do they navigate blind people getting around in the forest? Does it come across like a bunch of Book of Eli’s?

[skillzdadirecta]

8 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

How do they navigate blind people getting around in the forest? Does it come across like a bunch of Book of Eli’s?

No they definitely are blind lol... they do a lot of feeling around to convey that these folks are blind and have no concept of what sight is. It's interesting to be honest.

[Spork3245]

Lol, I’m glad I randomly opened this thread: opened the TV app on my new iPhone and claimed my year. Now to turn off auto-renewal  

[Wild]

Good thread, didnt know I could get it for free after buying a MacBook last month. They're trying so hard to mask how little is currently included though it's a bit frustrating. Weekly episode releases is disappointing to. Glad I'm not paying for this right now.

[Emblazon]

19 minutes ago, Wild said:

Good thread, didnt know I could get it for free after buying a MacBook last month. They're trying so hard to mask how little is currently included though it's a bit frustrating. Weekly episode releases is disappointing to. Glad I'm not paying for this right now.

Also having all new episodes release on Friday is kinda crazy. 

[skillzdadirecta]

5 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Also having all new episodes release on Friday is kinda crazy. 

Yeah no idea what the logic is behind that to be honest.

[Emblazon]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Yeah no idea what the logic is behind that to be honest.

Today, for me, is new Servant, For All Mankind, Mandalorian, and the new Bay movie. Going to be a busy night!

[skillzdadirecta]

I already watched Mandalorian and The Morning Show which is just awesome.  Will watch Servant tonight. I have a flight Monday that I can watch Bay's movie on.

[elbobo]

The 2nd to last episode of For All Mankind definitely took a hard swing into Hollywood drama but god damn it delivered one of the best shot scenes from any show in this year.

 

episode 9 spoilers

 

[Emblazon]

On 12/16/2019 at 3:42 PM, elbobo said:

The 2nd to last episode of For All Mankind definitely took a hard swing into Hollywood drama but god damn it delivered one of the best shot scenes from any show in this year.

 

episode 9 spoilers

 

  Hide contents

 

 
 

 

Yup. At first I was like, WTS, NASA would never allow something like that to happen. But then the amazing-ness that came after and I was just like... I’ll allow it, carry on. 

[johnny]

Might have to get Apple TV plus over Christmas 

[elbobo]

Finished for all mankind, yeah it got too Hollywood in the last few episodes but still a very enjoyable series especially if you like space stuff

 

make sure you watch the post credit sequence on the last episode

 

Sea Dragon, fuck yeah, I was wondering if they were going to break it out on this show. That thing is one of the great what ifs of the space program. It could have put 4 times the weight into orbit as a Saturn V, in fact it was so powerful that it could have put the entire International Space Station into orbit in ONE LAUNCH. Nothing planned since has come close to lifting potential. It was also incredibly simple compared to other rockets in terms of how fuel was fed into the combustion chamber. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) 

[TwinIon]

Watched through For All Mankind. It's an odd show that is horribly paced. It's just all over the place and I don't feel like it get's a good handle on what it wants to be. Both between and within episodes it makes odd decisions about how much it wants to be a space adventure and how much it wants to be a serialized riff on The Right Stuff. That's not to say it's bad. I think it's generally pretty good, but I feel like it could have been better if it was longer or made different decisions.

 

Series spoilers

Spoiler

There's a time jump mid way through the series that is a bit baffling. On the one hand, I get it. If you want to show the space program beyond the Apollo missions that actually happened, you need to speed up time somehow. I'm not against the idea of a time jump, but I feel like what they skipped a whole lot of the female astronauts' character moments. Ellen is now a seasoned pilot, we never really see Tracy become a decent Astronaut. Danielle is now part of the crew with Ed and Gordo. It just feels like we missed some pivotal stuff in service of doing cooler stuff in space. 

 

That's a fine trade off, but then we're also spending a bunch of time with troublesome kids back at home and Aleida's storyline feels way far out on the periphery even at the end of the season. Overall I just don't feel like it's very focused on what it wants to be or how it can best spend it's time. It does everything well enough, but it seems to lose it's flow and concentration at random points.

 

At the end it also feels like it goes a bit too hard on the outlandish drama that the show avoided for much of its run. Again, it wasn't bad, just a slight departure and another thing that made it all feel a bit uneven.

 

Still, I like the show. Assuming the next season comes out after my free year is up, I'll be tempted to pay for a month to catch up. 

 

On 12/24/2019 at 11:01 AM, elbobo said:

Finished for all mankind, yeah it got too Hollywood in the last few episodes but still a very enjoyable series especially if you like space stuff

 

make sure you watch the post credit sequence on the last episode

  Hide contents

Sea Dragon, fuck yeah, I was wondering if they were going to break it out on this show. That thing is one of the great what ifs of the space program. It could have put 4 times the weight into orbit as a Saturn V, in fact it was so powerful that it could have put the entire International Space Station into orbit in ONE LAUNCH. Nothing planned since has come close to lifting potential. It was also incredibly simple compared to other rockets in terms of how fuel was fed into the combustion chamber. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) 

 

Thanks for that! I completely missed that there was a post credit sequence. I also had never heard of that rocket, so thanks for pointing it out. Very cool.

[TwinIon]

After hearing a lot of praise, I watched the first two episodes of Mythic Quest, and I was not a fan. I've heard enough praise for it that I won't discourage everyone else from watching, but the comedy just didn't land for me.

[Emblazon]

Episode 5 needs its own entire show.