> the dialogue is bad and the acting is subpar.

I finished ep.2 . It's not that it's bad or subpar, it's just bland. And had me rolling my eyes a couple of times...

I'm not sure I'll watch ep.3.

> If the relationships were that mutually beneficial there’d be no reason for them to look to Russia or China after all that time.

The relationships aren't mutally beneficial anymore. One of the major reasons is that the public opinion in France (and by extension the French government) has become much more sensitive to issues of corruption and sustainable development. There were many awful things that French companies and African elites did in the past that went with the blessing of the French government. Some African regimes miss that blessed period and just want a "protector" which would fund their lavish lifestyles and help them keep the power, but without imposing their ethics. That's why they don't go with Germany either, or Japan, even though Germany has no recent history with Africa and Japan never had, and both would be ideal candidates as healthier alternatives to France and the UK.

I never said I want them to achieve brilliance, that was specifically in relation to TNG. I just want them to compel me enough to keep me watching the next episode.

> There are plenty of people out there willing to give a story time to develop, since most of the greats don’t become great immediately

Not anymore, as shows are cancelled more and more early, and it's no a recent phenomenon either. At least today's streaming shows have one full season in the can before they're cancelled. Others before didn't have that much chance and were cancelled after a handful of episodes. And that was before, as you put it, "we run back to our phones and social media for that sweet serotonin."

And again, the problem is that there's too many choice now and time is limited. Sure, when all that's on the air is Magnum and Hunter, I would have gladly waited for a show to develop because frankly there's nothing else to watch.

In the 3 months time period where you have Atlanta, Andor, The White Lotus, The Crown, Wednesday, House of the Dragons and the Sandman being released, you also have several hundreds of other shows premiering (including some as high profile as Rings of Power or the Yellowstone shows). You can't honestly expect people to give their chance to each of these shows and blame people for their failures.

Hold on, are you telling me that I'm out of touch with young people? That can't be true! Just yesterday I was listening to Nirvana and watching The Simpsons!

Sure, blame me and my lack of attention span for the fact that there are tons of high quality TV shows so much that I can afford picking those that suit me immediately instead of waiting for months or years and hope for the best.

While you're at it, you can also blame me for being older and having a steady work, which are also big factors in me having much less time to spend and being more picky in how I spend my "free" time, which isn't that free anymore.

Blame me also because I have too many other interesting things to do, such as riding bike, hiking, reading books, playing guitar, playing with my cats, instead of being endlessly glued to my TV, hoping that any mediocre show becomes a masterwork if only I give him a chance.

Fuck me for having a life, right?

A couple of years ago I would have said the same thing, but I just looked at Netflix's output for March and there's not a single TV show that interests me, out of the 30 or so. The only reason I'm keeping it is because I'm sharing the account with family, but once that's gone, I'm out as well.

I don't think that's unfortunate at all. In this time of TV abundance, if a show hasn't grabbed me by episode 3, I'm out. There are way too many good stuff out there to watch.

Gone are the days where you had to wait until season 3 of TNG to see it achieve brilliance.

> What makes someone a real writer?

A real writer is someone who writes.

A good writer? Now that's a different beast.

The new DD will be mostly procedural, with one and done stories per episodes, so I think it will be pretty small in scope.

So what? That's their business and the business of their family, who are the only ones harmed. Why do you care who they're sleeping with, if they're not your spouse?

If shitty human beings was a criteria, not a lot of people would find work.

> Overall average show, neither amazing nor terrible.

How very Netflix of them!

And yet Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski weren't fired, and their story didn't embarass or harm their company, quite the contrary.

Also, TFA mentions that this could be legally tricky for ABC:

> ABC News may have to thread a needle, proving via legal means that the pair behaved unprofessionally at work.

So any legal reason is just a retroactive attempt at justification.

> and if you fuck that up in any way in a public facing role I’m sure you can still be fired in your country, even if the reason you fucked it up (like having an affair) is apparently normally protected.

Sure, for all sorts of reasons. Except having an affair. That's nobody's business here (France) and a private matter between the two people and their families. And that's why I can't understand it, and so far none of the explanations have been convincing and are contradicted by TFA, since it's neither a legal reason, nor a contract reason. It's purely a cultural reason.

TFA doesn't mention any contract being broken.

Also, show me a football club in Europe where players can't have affairs otherwise they'll be fired? I think the courts will have a field day with that.

If you're referring to my comment, there's no superior affectation at all in my intention. I'm just from a country that has routinely re-elected presidents who were known for having affairs, and where terminating employees for having affairs would result in lawsuit and massive compensation from the courts. So, yes, I'm honestly asking because I just can't understand it, why would a company fire people for having affairs (between adults)?

That's a more serious allegation, but I haven't seen that in the article.

In many countries an affair wouldn't affect the company image at all. People just won't care.

That must be one of these American things that I can't understand. Why would that be the company's business or ground for termination?

We don't know if he ever wrote any C. The only known code he ever wrote was in BASIC.

I'm on the same page. There are too many shows today competing for my limited entertainment time, so my threshold has become quite high. Ozark, Peaky Blinders, The Crown: these are all shows that I like but took too much time between their seasons, and when they came back I wasn't interested enough anymore.

And if a new show fails to interest my in one, or at most two episodes, they're gone too. I simply don't have the time anymore.