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It seems my new MBP came with 12 months subscription to Apple TV.

Is there anything on there worth watching? Serious question.
 
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My wife and I tried to watch See and The Morning Show. We didn’t care for either of them. TMS was just... boring. The cinematography for See is gorgeous, but the writing was pretty mediocre and the premise was just absurd. I did appreciate some of the thought experiments in how a blind society could function in that environment. We haven’t bothered with anything else. I’d say save your free year until they have more content.
 
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I'm enjoying "For All Mankind" - the reimagining of the USA / Soviet space race, in which the USSR made it to the moon before Neil Armstrong. Created by Ron Moore, the fellow who helmed the Battlestar Galactica reboot in 2003. Some of the spaceflight effects are reminiscent of that style (pan/zoom; no sound). Good acting. I'm enjoying it :)
 
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Obviously, the "For All Mankind" is a fiction, that re-enforces misleading facts. This false fact is based on the 2005 award winning mockumentary movie:

First on the Moon (Russian: Первые на Луне, Pervye na Lune) is a 2005 Russian mockumentary science fiction film about a fictional 1930s Soviet landing on the Moon. The film, which went on to win many awards, was the debut of the director Aleksei Fedorchenko.

Source

In a world, where people don't really read news and rely on what's on TV, this happens all the times...
 
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Obviously, the "For All Mankind" is a fiction, that re-enforces misleading facts. This false fact is based on the 2005 award winning mockumentary movie:



Source

In a world, where people don't really read news and rely on what's on TV, this happens all the times...

I'd contend that most movies that are "based on a true story" are worse, since they tend to play loose and fast with the facts for the sake of "drama". Mockumentaries are fine so long one takes them in their proper context as the works of fiction that they are. Trollhunter, What We Do in the Shadows, and Cloverfield are some favorites. (edit: and This is Spinal Tap. How could I forget that one??!!)
 
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In a world, where people don't really read news and rely on what's on TV, this happens all the times...

I'd contend that most movies that are "based on a true story" are worse, since they tend to play loose and fast with the facts for the sake of "drama".

IMHO I think you're both right. I find this particularly true when people have little understanding/knowledge of history. I think if you look carefully there are numerous instances where people have taken their understanding of history from movies. Oliver Stone's JFK and Nixon come to mind where this seems to have happened.
 
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IMHO I think you're both right. I find this particularly true when people have little understanding/knowledge of history. I think if you look carefully there are numerous instances where people have taken their understanding of history from movies. Older Stone's JFK snf nixon come to mind where this seems to have happened.

My father-in-law was outraged after watching Sully over the way that the FAA was portrayed as trying to vilify the pilot over the event. I had to point out to him that it was complete BS... in reality, the FAA treated him like the hero that he literally was. I even had to pull up an article with an interview with the director where he talked about doing that to add drama to the movie so it wouldn't be boring.

Braveheart and The Patriot are also great examples of historical dramas that are grossly inaccurate. Anyone ever watched Hidalgo, the movie that Disney touted as "based on the legend of the American distance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang Hidalgo"? In reality, this guy apparently was a compulsive liar and teller of tall tales. It's a fine movie as a work of fiction, but very bothersome that it was touted as a true story.
 

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I had forgotten about Hidalgo's problems with the facts.

I've been watching a Smithsonian channel series that I think is called Aircraft Disasters. One of the episodes discusses/drammatzed the flight that Sully is based upon. Their account seems far more accurate.
 

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I had forgotten about Hidalgo's problems with the facts.

I've been watching a Smithsonian channel series that I think is called Aircraft Disasters. One of the episodes discusses/drammatzed the flight that Sully is based upon. Their account seems far more accurate.

I also watch that series which is based on facts and not blown out of proportion to provide drama. The episode you're referring to about "Sully and the miracle on the Hudson" was part of a larger presentation about bird strikes and the damage they can cause to aviation.
 

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That's the one. We had been without that channel for some time because I refused to pay for that tier of service. Over the last few years some of the channels which used to be good are now garbage IMHO. History Channel are you listening? We don't need 12 hours a day of Ancient Aliens.

We recently switched to YouTube TV and got back many of the channels we missed including TCM.
 
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I'd contend that most movies that are "based on a true story" are worse, since they tend to play loose and fast with the facts for the sake of "drama". Mockumentaries are fine so long one takes them in their proper context as the works of fiction that they are. Trollhunter, What We Do in the Shadows, and Cloverfield are some favorites. (edit: and This is Spinal Tap. How could I forget that one??!!)

Spinal Tap is not a mockumentary. It is, of course, a ROCKUMENTARY!!
 

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My wife and I tried to watch See and The Morning Show. We didn’t care for either of them. TMS was just... boring. The cinematography for See is gorgeous, but the writing was pretty mediocre and the premise was just absurd. I did appreciate some of the thought experiments in how a blind society could function in that environment. We haven’t bothered with anything else. I’d say save your free year until they have more content.

I haven’t watched See, partly because I couldn’t get past the absurd premise . . .
 
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Spinal Tap is not a mockumentary. It is, of course, a ROCKUMENTARY!!

Well auto-correct did try to tell me that...

I haven’t watched See, partly because I couldn’t get past the absurd premise . . .

I only gave it a chance because my wife wanted to watch it for Jason Momoa. Even he couldn't keep her interest piqued. I've always been into science fiction and the like and am particularly partial to post-apocalyptic stories. Suspension of belief is necessary at times, but when I have to throw it out the window entirely, I just feel insulted.

I was very enthusiastic about Apple taking on Isaac Asimov's Foundation series when I first heard about it, but now? Well we'll, uh, see.
 

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I was very enthusiastic about Apple taking on Isaac Asimov's Foundation series when I first heard about it, but now? Well we'll, uh, see.

I don't know about you, but the Foundation books that Asimov wrote were kind of boring to me. Very wordy with very little mystery or action. Most of his later writings were great though. I especially liked "The Stars Like Dust" which was kind of a follow up take off to the Foundation books. Good mystery and action in that one.
 
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I don't know about you, but the Foundation books that Asimov wrote were kind of boring to me. Very wordy with very little mystery or action. Most of his later writings were great though. I especially liked "The Stars Like Dust" which was kind of a follow up take off to the Foundation books. Good mystery and action in that one.

Well much of his work is a bit hard to read today. He was very prone to grandstanding in particular. But the underlying concepts are sheer genius. I'm a big fan of his robot novels and short stories (I have read literally all of them, even having ordered a collection of short stories from the UK), but truthfully it's the "Caliban" trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen that I feel showcases his concepts most fully, and is easier to read/digest. I highly recommend it.
 
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We have enjoyed our Apple TV since it came out years ago, We have the first model. we haven't had any issues. I guess some like it and others don't. We use ours almost everyday mostly to watch movies and shows that cable doesn't have. anyway we enjoy ours!
 

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