What was the last TV show you watched?

[Touchofevil]

The Walking Dead season premiere. Annoyed with the episode. We felt it was too graphic and drawn out for the sake of shock value.

 

[Touchofevil]

Monday Night Football

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The Walking Dead season premiere. Annoyed with the episode. We felt it was too graphic and drawn out for the sake of shock value.

Scott M. Gimple. He was the ruination of the series. The more control and influence he gained, the worse it became.

SPOILER: I suspect...and this is only MY suspicion at this point...Yeun wanted off the show.

 

[Stearmen]

One of my very favorite Britcoms. "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" It's such a brilliant show. Wish they'd made more episodes.

 

[Touchofevil]

A couple of episodes of Eyewitness.

 

[Touchofevil]

Scott M. Gimple. He was the ruination of the series. The more control and influence he gained, the worse it became.

SPOILER: I suspect...and this is only MY suspicion at this point...Yeun wanted off the show.

We have been finding it more and more difficult to watch, yet we still do because we want to know. The steps the characters took last season, to be in their current predicament, seemed to be contrary to who they were/are. I understand that they want to keep the audience off balance and guessing, but at least let it make sense.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The Durrells in Corfu. Eh, it's OK.

Poldark. Again, I enjoy it, but I wish it was more sophisticated with more complex characters. SPOILER: I didn't care for how they telegraphed Francis' demise. That's not good drama. That's lazy and boring.

Indian Summers. Not my favorite episode. I could use more energy elsewhere and not so much about Banijee.

The Strain. I love that you can watch a 1-hour FX episode in like 35 minutes. If you hate commercials, you can't watch anything on this station. Decent episode, but I already miss The Ancients. DO NOT care about these relationships. Get on with the task. More action. Less love etc.

Westworld. It's getting better, but geez is it ever slow-going. Ms.Wood is an acting force. Probably already Emmy worthy.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I have to agree that Evan Rachel Wood is giving a tremendous performance on Westworld. For me, it's the clear highlight of the series thus far.

Of course, I've been a big fan since she was a young teen on Once and Again. But this role simply wouldn't work at all if the performer couldn't convey her multiple mental states and modes so skillfully - it's a remarkable new level of precision acting for her.

 

[MisterCairo]

Went to bed early exhausted, then woke up at 2 am and not able to sleep, so took in an episode and a half of Sons of Anarchy for a little light entertainment...

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Watched the fourth episode of Timeless. WWII Germany this time, involving rockets, Von Braun and even Ian Fleming. The one sour note was Fleming saying that Von Braun's rockets rained down on England during the Blitz (1940-41) when in fact the first V1 rockets (actually a pulsejet) did not arrive on target until 1944, one week after D-Day. The V-2 (a true rocket) not until September of that year. Otherwise a fun episode. This is not heavy drama and certainly not rigorous history. Another clever diversion from real history when they return to the present.

 

[Formeruser012523]

Watched the fourth episode of Timeless. WWII Germany this time, involving rockets, Von Braun and even Ian Fleming. The one sour note was Fleming saying that Von Braun's rockets rained down on England during the Blitz (1940-41) when in fact the first V1 rockets (actually a pulsejet) did not arrive on target until 1944, one week after D-Day. The V-2 (a true rocket) not until September of that year. Otherwise a fun episode. This is not heavy drama and certainly not rigorous history. Another clever diversion from real history when they return to the present.

Found Timeless to be a bit of a mess. Only the fourth ep? LOL! Was surprised by the harshness toward Von Braun, & of his characters portrayal, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Touchofevil]

The World Series

 

[Stearmen]

Found Timeless to be a bit of a mess. Only the fourth ep? LOL! Was surprised by the harshness toward Von Braun, & of his characters portrayal, thanks for clearing that up.

I tried to watch the third episode, only made it to the first commercial! Shame, it had a lot of promise. They should have hired the writers from Quantum Leap.

 

[Zombie_61]

...This is not heavy drama and certainly not rigorous history...

Speaking of which, earlier today I watched Guns Don't Argue (1957) on TCM. This was a theatrical release, but it's comprised of three segments from the television series Gang Busters (1952) so I think it qualifies for this thread. Both feature poorly acted dramatizations about "true crime" stories, and the movie focuses on some of the more notorious criminals from American history like John Dillinger, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and so on. Early in the movie they tell an abbreviated version of the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow...sort of. I stopped watching it after this segment because it was clear the people who produced this movie were laboring in the shadow of the old quote, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend," and apparently got their "facts" from the sensationalized newspaper articles of the era in which Bonnie and Clyde operated. Also, Parker and Barrow were ambushed and killed by law enforcement on May 23, 1934, yet the clothing the actors wore and the car they drove were from the 1950s when this production was filmed.

 

[Fading Fast]

Watched the fourth episode of Timeless. WWII Germany this time, involving rockets, Von Braun and even Ian Fleming. The one sour note was Fleming saying that Von Braun's rockets rained down on England during the Blitz (1940-41) when in fact the first V1 rockets (actually a pulsejet) did not arrive on target until 1944, one week after D-Day. The V-2 (a true rocket) not until September of that year. Otherwise a fun episode. This is not heavy drama and certainly not rigorous history. Another clever diversion from real history when they return to the present.

Found Timeless to be a bit of a mess. Only the fourth ep? LOL! Was surprised by the harshness toward Von Braun, & of his characters portrayal, thanks for clearing that up.

There are a few good things here - the actors had natural and funny banter for a change and the concept of going to Nazi Germany is intriguing - but, overall, it's a hot mess. The historical inaccuracies irk me as the producers / writers don't seem to respect history (don't really have a passion for it as, if they did, they wouldn't be so cavalier with being accurate) but instead use it almost as a gimmick for story ideas and to show how much more "advanced" our present-day views are.

Also, the general immaturity of the story telling is embarrassing - American and British spies are not going to be conversing in hushed English voices in the middle of a Nazi party and the security detail for the most secret of Nazi weapons - rockets - is not going to be two easily-fooled guards languidly standing at the entrance. I could go on, but you almost have to see these stories as kitsch to accept them.

Also, these are the most undisciplined agents ever - they fight about whom to kill and why every episode as they seem to have no protocol (I know they were thrown together as a team, but come on, what is that big governmental organization that runs the team doing with them when they aren't flying around in their goodyear-tire machine)?

I did like the, as ISW said, clever / fun tweak on James Bond history and Wyatt's kid like response.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Those conversations in English in full view of a castle full of Germans bothered me too, but otherwise I thought this was the best episode so far. Sure, it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief and a fluid view of history (which is okay, since they're CHANGING it each week) to accept the plots, but I've come to appreciate the characters. This is clearly never going to be a great show, but if they can keep up the level of enjoyable humor this episode managed, I'm gonna keep watching.

Also, to someone like me who memorized the satirical songs of Tom Lehrer as a kid, having Werner Von Braun say that he only cared about having the rockets go up was a great in-joke!

(Song lyric from 1965 LP That Was The Year That Was: "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?/That's not my department, says Werner Von Braun.")

 

[MisterCairo]

Gotham. Like Paul McCartney once said, it's getting better all the time...

 

[Benzadmiral]

An exciting episode of Trackdown from 1958. It featured veteran TV heavy Richard Devon (did that guy ever get to play a sympathetic character?), Strother Martin (you know him as the horse trader flummoxed by Kim Darby's Mattie in True Grit), and Wallace Ford as the head of a hillbilly-lite family who want the reward offered for Martin -- and are happy to kill Texas Ranger Gilman if that's what it takes.

Come to think of it, Devon did have a sympathetic role as an unsmiling stable owner who helps out Robert Culp's Hoby Gilman in an earlier Trackdown. His motivation is never given or shown, though I might have missed it, but it was nice to see him play against type for once.

 

[MisterCairo]

The IT Crowd. What a laugh that show is!

 

[Edward]

Scott M. Gimple. He was the ruination of the series. The more control and influence he gained, the worse it became.

SPOILER: I suspect...and this is only MY suspicion at this point...Yeun wanted off the show.

From what I have read of his interviews, he'd have liked to have stayed, but at the same time he seems to have agreed that this was an appropriate point to leave. I'm a season behind - we don't subscribe to any T other than Netflix, so buy it as it comes out on DVD. End of next week we're going to start on the sixth series... I have, howeve,r been following the comic book from the start. The death of this character comes at the same time, an in the same manner, in the comic book - it was a huge shock then, a real plot game-changer, and I'm very glad that they had the testicular fortitude to go with it on the TV show. I'm enojying the writing, but then I liked all the character-driven sff they did in Series 2 as well. I like that the TV show has maintained the same sense as the source material that, over time, the zombies have become mere background detail, and the real enemy other survivors. The Tv series has always had the nerve to hold with bumping off major characters, which gives it a real sense of reality. The only ones I have any confidence will see the end on TV are Rick and Carl.... and I don't have that assurance with the source material at all. That's why I love it.

I did wonder if they'd go with the major death they did - that one - because a big part of its impact in the book is the fact that it leaves a woman going through the baby thing on her own (in thed comic book, Lori dies, still pregnant, while fleeing the prison, so there's no Judith). It's an excellent story driver, though, and sets up Negan as a big bad in a way that outstrips the Governor. That this far in they're able to make something shocking - after all those ombie kills, human kills, Rick's increasing brutalisation.... is pretty impressive. It had huge impact on the page; I'll look forward to getting it on disc this time next year to see how they realised it on screen. Taking out two characters in this was a clever feint (especially the order) to keep it fresh for those of us familiar with the source material. FWIW, the other character, in the book, went out with the arrow through the neck; someone else gets that death on screen, I gather. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with Darryl at this point, and how the Saviours operate. In the source material, it's one of the Saviours who is about the closest you'll see to Darryl, the latter having been invented for the TV show (and, according to Kirkland, he will not appear in the book). I wonder if they'll still have Dwight, or will Dwight be very different to avoid being "too Darryl"?


As a side note, I'm really hoping one day that we see a bunch of male zombies wearing matching vests to Darryl's, with those wings on the back. It's very clear from the way that he wears them that they are meant to be colours - note that you lmost never see him without them on, and certainly never on the bike, no matter what other layers he gains / sheds as seasonally appropriate. Definitely the mark of a man who has earned colours within a certain 'system' and they still mean something to him. It would be a cool detail to see that subtly confirmed. Another way that it could come in would be to discover a Saviour or similar who was also a member of the same Club, but a different chapter - conflicting loyalty issues, do commitments / loyalties formed before the zombies still mean something by this time, et al.

Also, the general immaturity of the story telling is embarrassing - American and British spies are not going to be conversing in hushed English voices in the middle of a Nazi party and the security detail for the most secret of Nazi weapons - rockets - is not going to be two easily-fooled guards languidly standing at the entrance. I could go on, but you almost have to see these stories as kitsch to accept them.

I remember when the thing was that almost all WW2 shows would have a line or two of German, then they'd switch to English, the understood convention being that they were still speaking in German, but we could magically understand them. That in a time when audiences were more resistant to subtitling. Not seen this show, though - is there a lot of "foreign" language discussion in it?

Gotham. Like Paul McCartney once said, it's getting better all the time...

I like it a lot - still waiting for season 3 to drop on Netflix, though.

The IT Crowd. What a laugh that show is!

Pure genius... and, for all its surreality, so, so relatable.