Category: Television

I’m changing up these Thursday posts a bit since we tend to discuss different shows and movies we’ve watched in the comments. So from now on, these Thursday posts are where I share various shows I’ve been watching through out the week or maybe a movie I streamed and you can also use the comments to share what you’ve been watching with other readers as well.

This past week I binge watched Platonic on AppleTV+. Watched a few episodes on the plane and then continued once I got back. It’s a cool show, I had fun watching it. I also binge watched Hijack on AppleTV+. I’m not sure if I like it yet, the first episode felt like it was full of B-rated cast but the show got me hooked so they’re doing something right.

Finally, I watched the movie The Beanie Bubble also AppleTV+. It was fun to watch but if you’re a Beanie Babies fan you might start hating them after this movie.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Haunted Mansion (6.3)
Insidious: The Red Door (5.9)
Meg 2: The Trench (6.0)
The Secret Kingdom (5.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Lotus (4.2)
Cobweb (6.1)
Cats Museum (4.4)
Elemental (6.8)
Farang (6.6)
Hidden Strike (5.8)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (8.2)
Oppenheimer (8.7)
The Flash (7.3)
The Little Mermaid (7.2)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (7.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Flubber (5.3)
Training Day (7.7)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Devil’s Advocate, Netflix’s third Kuwaiti Project (the other two being The Exchange and The Cage) was released this past weekend and is now available to stream on the platform. The 7 episode drama revolves around a football player accused of murdering his wife, and a determined defense lawyer who defies popular sentiment and takes on the case.

I haven’t watched the show yet but as of this post it’s rated pretty high on IMDB with a 7.7 rating and is currently ranked #1 in TV Shows Today on Netflix. The series in Arabic but has English subtitles.

Last night I finished watching the last episode of The Idol on HBO and I loved it. It stars Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn and The Weeknd as Tedros, both of which are the main characters on the show. The Idol is also created and directed by Sam Levinson who was behind the other great (and controversial) HBO series Euphoria. He’s the reason why I watched this show since I was a huge fan of Euphoria and wanted to see more of his work.

The Idol is a drama series about Jocelyn, a pop star aiming to reclaim her fame after a breakdown. Her life takes a turn when she meets Tedros, a nightclub owner with a dark past. The show explores her journey in the music industry and personal life.

The Idol is disturbing. It isn’t a show you binge watch since you want time between the episodes to just recharge. The Weeknd’s character “Tedros” is also the worst, a lot of people have said he’s a bad actor but I don’t think thats true, I think they just really really hate his character and it’s The Weeknd’s acting that brings it to life. And I’m not saying that because I’m a fan of his or anything, I actually didn’t care much for him before this show and I even only realized now while writing this post that it’s actually written The Weeknd and not The Weekend.

If you check the shows rating on IMDB it actually has a 5 out of 10 rating which is pretty terrible. But that’s understandable, so ignore it. The show isn’t for everyone and going through the reviews you can easily spot that. If you have the stomach for it and are willing to plow through the shows 5 episodes, I think you’re in for something really different and great.

I’m a fan of the post-apocalyptic television series “The Last of Us” so when I stumbled into this area by accident, the first thing I did was shoot a video and send it over to a couple of friends who I knew watched the show as well. I felt like I had walked onto the set of the show with the only thing missing being the zombies.

The area is deserted with shrubs growing unchecked and walls covered with graffiti. All the buildings are crumbling because they’ve been neglected for decades, just like on the show. It was also eerily quiet except for the chirping of the birds.

If you want to film a short TikTok zombie flick or something, the area is located behind the abandoned buildings on Fahed Al Salem Street, next to Salhiya Complex. Google Maps

A couple of days ago I got to visit the studios of Beyond Dreams, the entertainment company behind the local Netflix show, The Exchange. I was asked not to reveal the location of the studio but I can describe the location. It’s an old abandoned school that was repurposed as a studio (think Warner Bros or Universal Studios). A large part of the outdoor area of the school was turned into an old Kuwaiti village (used for a different show), while the classrooms around the school were turned into various sets for different shows. I was only given permission to shoot the sets of The Exchange, but I’m going to try and get permission to take pictures of the village set for another post since it looked very realistic and I think would surprise a lot of people that a film set like that exists in Kuwait.

After getting a tour of the studio grounds, we started visiting the different sets of The Exchange. I wasn’t aware they had shot all the home scenes in a studio so I was a bit surprised when I walked into the first set. All the home shots in The Exchange were filmed at this studio location where they built everything down to the very minute details. I was walking around the rooms checking out all the different items on the shelves since there were so many props from the 80s all laid out, many of which wouldn’t be even noticeable on TV but were still there for realism.

I also visited the set of the “Bank of Tomorrow” offices including the conference room where some key parts of the show took place in. I couldn’t visit the set of Hungry Bunny since it was being repurposed for another show, but the main thing I wanted to see anyway was the stock exchange.

I had heard that a stock exchange was built for the show, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought they might have built various small parts of the exchange but not all of it. You should have seen my face when I walked into the hall and realized they had actually built the whole thing including an upper floor. The stock exchange set was HUGE! I tried to capture how big it was with my video so I hope I managed to get the size of it across.

Netflix hasn’t announced a second season of the show but hopefully, it’s going to get another season because it was actually really good. If you haven’t watched the show, it’s currently streaming on Netflix.

The Kuwait-based Netflix series ‘The Exchange‘ launches today, and after watching two episodes the other night at the show’s premiere, I can’t wait to binge-watch the rest of the season.

‘The Exchange’ is based in Kuwait in the 80s and is inspired by true events. It follows two women who decide to work at the stock exchange, an industry dominated by men at that time. I found the first two episodes very entertaining, and I already have favorite characters and storylines that I’m invested in. It’s that good of a show, and for people like me who grew up in Kuwait in the 80s, it’s super nostalgic.

The series premiers today at 11AM on Netflix and will be available to watch in 190 countries. The show is in Arabic but has English subtitles.

Update: The show is now streaming on Netflix, the whole first season so we can binge-watch it.

This is an officially licensed remake of The Office but as a Saudi Arabian edition and I just added it to my to-watch list. Link

We’re currently super lucky to have three epic shows running simultaneously. I’m sure or at least hoping most of you are watching them, if not you’re missing out big time!

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
First up is the new LOTR series on Amazon Prime Video. I used to be a massive fan of the movies and I remember when the original ones came out I refused to watch them until the extended versions came out on DVD. I even watched the original 1978 animated movie back in the 90s before I even knew what it was. But that was a long time ago and I was much younger so I wasn’t sure I’d still be into it. Turns out I am and this new series on Amazon is making me want to go back and binge-watch everything previously released again. The only downside is the first season is only 8 episodes which feels extremely short since there is so much more I want to see happen.

House of the Dragon
After Game of Thrones, the amount of pressure that must have been on the House of the Dragon team to deliver must have been as epic as the show itself. But, they’ve succeeded and House of the Dragon is in my opinion on the same level as GOT right out the door. It’s basically the same show, it uses the same formula, the same brutality, it still has lots of noble houses which I can never keep track of, and it even has the same opening intro score. House of the Dragon is currently streaming weekly on HBO Max.

Andor
Finally, the third show currently running and you should be watching is Andor, the new Star Wars series. This is the least Star Wars Star Wars from all the new shows that have come out so far. It doesn’t feel very Disney and I think that’s one of the main reasons that I like it so far, I don’t know where it’s going. While The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett were great, they felt too similar, even Obi-Wan Kenobi, I knew who the heroes were and that they were going to kick everyone’s ass. Andor has a completely different feel, kinda like how the movie Joker felt so different from the previous Batmans. Andor is streaming on Disney+.

So we have a new Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Star Wars all streaming at the same time, crazy!

The Cage (القفص) a new Kuwaiti series is slated to premiere on Netflix this coming Friday, September 23. This will be the platform’s first Kuwaiti series and will be composed of eight episodes.

The show features several popular Kuwaiti talents including Khaled Ameen, Hussain AlMahdi, Rawan Mahdi, Lamya Tareq and Hessah Al-Nabhan.

Ameen portrays a social counsellor who is working with a married couple — played by AlMahdi and Mahdi — to help them better communicate and empathise with each other in an effort to save their marriage. However, as the counsellor helps them rekindle their relationship, he faces struggles in his own personal life as well. source

I tried looking for a trailer but strangely couldn’t find one. If you find it, please leave the link to it in the comments.

I’ve been putting together a list of shows that you should watch (or not watch) and because I didn’t post it sooner the list is fairly huge. So I’m going to go through it fairly quick:

Cheer – On Netflix, a reality show about cheerleaders, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought it would. Got totally sucked in just 5 minutes into the first episode.

Reacher – On Prime Video, it was fun to watch.

Severance – One of the most beautiful shows in a very long time or maybe even ever. It’s also starring Adam Scott, Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette and John Turturro whom I all love. But, I did find the show very slow moving but it’s still worth watching. It’s on AppleTV+/

Julia – I wasn’t expecting much and was caught off guard. A great show, really entertaining, it’s based on a true story and it’s starring Niles and Lilith from Fraiser.

We Own This City – If you’re a fan of The Wire you’re gonna love this. Like The Wire, this series is also based in Baltimore and stars a ton of actors from The Wire (but now 20 years older). One of my favorite shows on TV and it’s on HBO.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Although I’m a Star Trek fan I couldn’t really get into this. It’s on Paramount+.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – I’ve been loving all these Star Wars shows and just like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, this one was great. It’s on Disney+.

The Essex Serpent – Started watching it because of Claire Danes but quickly got bored of it. It’s on AppleTV+.

Physical – I had bookmarked this show ages ago but only started watching it recently. It was really really good and nothing at all like I expected it to be. Definitly recommend watching it. It’s on AppleTV+

The Baby – It’s on AppleTV+, I got bored by episode 3.

The Terminal List – The series stars Chris Pratt which is the biggest issue with it. It was fun to watch but I’m so used to Chris being the goofy character on Parks & Rec that it feels really weird watching him try and be this serious angry maniac. It’s on Prime Video.

Industry – What Euphoria is to Sex and the City, Industry is to Billions. Would definitely recommend it. It’s on HBO.

The Patient – Just started watching this new show starring Steve Carell. I’m two episodes in and it seems interesting but I have a feeling I might get bored in a couple of episodes. It’s on Hulu.

Welcome to Wrexham – Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Ryan Reynolds partner up to buy a football team in Wales. This isn’t a joke, it’s actually based on real life. So bizarre. It’s streaming on Hulu.

I Love That for You – Light-hearted comedy, would watch or at least have playing in the background. It’s on Showtime.

City on a Hill – If you can’t tell I’m a huge fan of crime dramas and this show is no exception. Stars Kevin Bacon who is so incredibly good, like one of my favorite actors on TV right now. Season 3 is streaming right now on Showtime and is produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

A few days ago a news clipping circulated on social media about an Italian woman who lost her cat and is offering a reward of €120,000 to whomever finds it. The article seemed fishy since the lady mentions that she had read a lot of good stuff about animal rights in Kuwait so that should have been a big clue. Well turns out the whole thing was not real and it was actually a marketing stunt for the hilarious Instagrammer @instasayood.

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A post shared by SHASHA – شاشا (@shashavod)

Sayood is joining SHASHA TV and will be launching a new animated show called ‘Fabio’ which like his previous animations will be dealing with local issues. The trailer is out now and you can check it out below. It’s in Arabic so if you were thinking about learning the language, now you have an incentive to do so.

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A post shared by 🐦Sayood (@instasayood)

The new Netflix series starring comedian Mo Amer was released a few days ago and has been getting great reviews. You might know Mo from the popular Hulu series ‘Ramy‘ who is also a creator of this show.

A few months ago I discovered Mo was actually born in Kuwait and lived here till the age of 9. I only found out when he brought it up during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel (embedded below). The only reason Mo left Kuwait was because of the 1990 Iraq invasion.

If you have Netflix and are looking for a new funny show to watch, here is the Netflix page for Mo.

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan then you probably already know that yesterday the first episode of the GOT prequel House of the Dragon was released. I watched the first episode last night and it was amazing and I can’t wait for the rest of the season to play out. If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones that’s fine, you can still watch House of the Dragon since it’s a prequel and so you don’t need to have watched GOT to understand whats going on.

I watched House of the Dragon on HBO Max on my AppleTV using a smart DNS service. I’ve posted about this service before but I’ll explain it again for those of you who missed my previous posts. Smart DNS works like a VPN into making the streaming services think you’re living in the US. But, unlike VPNs, setting up a smart DNS service is easier and it’s not something you need to turn on and off all the time. It also doesn’t slow down your internet connection.

You need two things to start streaming House of the Dragon, a smart DNS, and a HBO Max subscription.

Smart DNS
If you have an Apple TV or a Smart TV, setting up smart DNS is as simple as going into your settings menu and adding some numbers. I use a DNS service from Smart DNS Proxy (affiliate link) and it allows me to stream from any of the services including Showtime, HBO, Huly, Paramount, Dinsney and more. They also provide easy step by step guides on how to set up the DNS service on your Apple TV and other devices. I’ve been using them for a few years and never ran into issues with them. A full year subscription costs my $18. Link

HBO Max Subscription
Subscribing to HBO Max or other US streaming services is also really simple as long as you do it through your Apple device. If you have an iPhone you might also have a US Apple Store account. An easy way to know if you have a US or Kuwait Apple Store account is how you pay for your apps and subscriptions. Is your Kuwaiti credit card connected to your Apple account? Or do you buy Apple cards and recharge your account that way? If it’s the latter then you probably have a US account. In that case, you need to subscribe to the streaming services either through your phone or other iOS devices. That way the subscription will be deducted from your Apple account and you won’t have to use a US credit card to pay.

That’s pretty much it. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

Last week Disney+ officially launched in Kuwait but a lot of people were having issues signing up mainly because they were trying to sign up with the U.S. version of the app. If you’re trying to subscribe to the Middle East version of Disney+ then you need to download the app from the Kuwait Apple Store. Disney+ in our region is structured a little differently than in the U.S. with a different user interface and a different login system that uses a mobile number instead of a Disney ID.

If, like many people, you don’t have a Kuwait-based Apple Store account, then you can still sign up and stream Disney+ the old-fashioned way, from your browser. Link

The court has dismissed the lawsuit filed by a Kuwaiti lawyer against the MOC demanding the blocking of Netflix due to the Arabic movie Perfect Strangers. Phew… Source