Regional Journalist Friend: “If you have the time, check out HBO’s Chernobyl five-part miniseries, which premiered last night. Very grim but quite excellent — a perfect look at the incompetence and blinkered Soviet mentality that contributed to this epochal disaster.”

HE: “Oh, yeah. I made a mental note and then forgot about it. It’s almost oppressive how much quality product is streaming out there. Are you sure I won’t absorb radiation poisoning by watching it?”

RJF: “Yeah, there’s a ton of good stuff on TV, almost too much to keep up with. I promise you won’t get radiation poisoning watching it, although you will be watching God knows how many Ukrainians get it. I love the fact that HBO is not gonna let Netflix control the conversation — Chernobyl, Barry, Game of Thrones, the upcoming Deadwood movie. HBO is really hot now.”

Directed by Johan Renck, written by Craig Mazin, costarring Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Jessie Buckley, Adam Nagaitis, Billy Postlethwaite, Con O’Neill, Barry Keoghan. Shot last spring in Lithuania (Vilnius and Ignalina), a few minor scenes in Lithuania. New episodes debuting Mondays until the final episode on 6.3.19.

97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 82% on Metacritic.