@natecull There was a bike trail right next to our apartment growing up and I was out there riding around a ton

"made me happy like no recent TV series has made me happy."

http://observer.com/2016/07/the-perfect-deja-vu-of-stranger-things/

--> Yes.. But why? Why isn't other TV doing that?

A feeling of... completeness? It felt like a whole novel, not just a bunch of puzzle boxes and references? Storytelling *as storytelling*, something deeply missing from TV ever since X-Files or maybe even Twin Peaks?

Or is it just that I'm in my 40s and grumpy at the world and it's cheap comfort food?

@natecull the lack of all over the place references actually make it much better, much more real. There are some, but not that much, they look more real that way, instead of forced down your throat. This is something that truly sets it apart from other nostalgia porn these days. Most things that try to be that do it by showing 80s brands up your face all the time, hoping they would trigger an emotion. Now while they do pull out a memory of a feeling, they were just background back then.

@natecull Stranger Things is about the kids and their story. The thing that triggers an emotional response is the relationship between the characters. Now apart from cell phones, making some of the interesting tie-ins less realistic, setting the same story and characters in today would still create a comparable emotional response in viewers. Sure, nostalgia sells and helps a lot with the overall feeling, but for ST it's just the seasoning, with the actual story being the main thing.

@kunev Agreed.

I like that it gives the story room to breathe and grow naturally. The people act like people should, and there are three parallel stories for the kids, teenagers and adults, each facing the same mystery/tragedy/monster but with age-appropriate challenges.

That sort of intergenerational stuff is catnip to me. Where we seem that even the adults, who often in this kind of kid-first story are relegated to props, are facing exactly the same stuff but with added 'adult problems'.

@natecull Definitely. I think it also ties to the fact that you're watching a show with a supposedly kid centric story as an adult. You get to see a nice portrayal of that thing you kind of already know and fear, that at some point adult supervision goes away and you're the supposed adult and you still don't get how any of this shit that's happening works.

@natecull if it's bikes you'll like paper girls so.

@browneyedgirl I only did because my brother happens to have a Netflix account.