What was the last TV show you watched?

[Touchofevil]

Patriots vs. Steelers

 

[Stearmen]

Finally got around to watching part one of Victoria. Maybe because I had such low expectations, I thought it was pretty good. All the back stabbing was handled fairly well, condensed into a few caricatures! Lets face it, if they tried to show all the double dealing that really happened, the show would have to be two hours long, shown every day for at least a decade. I do think the dolls were over done, she was 18 not 8! I think we Americans only picture an old lady dressed in black. I think it is nice to see how this tiny young lady, (did you all catch the midget joke?) blossomed into probably the most powerful women ever.

 

[MisterCairo]

With our girls we watched episode 21 of 22 of season one of Once Upon a Time, a show my brother went and introduced us to.

I have now watched the first season of The Bletchley Circle, starring Anna Maxwell Martin. Four women who were uniquely qualified code breakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, get back together in the early 1950s to solve a series of murders using their deductive skills.

 

[Benzadmiral]

The 1959 premiere/pilot of the classic western series The Rebel, starring, of course, its co-creator Nick Adams. A very nice setup for the series, it shows us Johnny Yuma returning to his home town in 1867, only to find his father Ned Yuma has been murdered by a gang of thieves who are dominating and terrorizing the town. Adams was a better actor than he is often given credit for. This time he was backed by Jeanette Nolan (one of the great TV character actresses), John Carradine, and Strother Martin -- and the chief thug was played by Bonanza's Dan Blocker. No cuddly Hoss-like teddy bear this time: Blocker's character was mean.

"Now Johnny Yuma -- he was a rebel."
( -- Jerry Seinfeld)

 

[Fading Fast]

Patriots vs. Steelers

Not that they didn't deserve to win anyway as the Steelers never got into gear, but almost every bounce, every call and every dropped pass went the Pats way.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The Affair. finishing up season 2. There is some clever storytelling in this series, and the writing for Dominic West and Maura Tierney is close to brilliant, particularly with West and his profound vomiting of emotions and epiphanies. The weird thing is that for all the other characters, the writing is lesser. It's noticeable. Maybe West and Tierney are that much better actors, but I'm hesitant to go there. Real conversations. Genuinely interesting conversations. And though this show is dark, if you dig beyond the surface, their relationship isn't dark. It's the light in the show, despite the affair and divorce. I'm afraid to start season 3. I'm getting the vibe this show is going to jump from smart to ridiculous real fast.

Victoria, Mercy Street, and Secrets of the Six Wives. Secrets was the most interesting of the three. Mercy Street went from a period drama to a soap opera.

 

[belfastboy]

The Affair. finishing up season 2. There is some clever storytelling in this series, and the writing for Dominic West and Maura Tierney is close to brilliant, particularly with West and his profound vomiting of emotions and epiphanies. The weird thing is that for all the other characters, the writing is lesser. It's noticeable. Maybe West and Tierney are that much better actors, but I'm hesitant to go there. Real conversations. Genuinely interesting conversations. And though this show is dark, if you dig beyond the surface, their relationship isn't dark. It's the light in the show, despite the affair and divorce. I'm afraid to start season 3. I'm getting the vibe this show is going to jump from smart to ridiculous real fast.

Victoria, Mercy Street, and Secrets of the Six Wives. Secrets was the most interesting of the three. Mercy Street went from a period drama to a soap opera.

I thought season one was brilliant. Second season less so as I began to tire of the characters, not the acting but the characters themselves. I ended up wanting to slap West's character all the time. We cancelled the channel that hosts The Affair and at this point do not care enough to renew to watch season 3.

 

[Touchofevil]

Not that they didn't deserve to win anyway as the Steelers never got into gear, but almost every bounce, every call and every dropped pass went the Pats way.

It is because they are that good. They win with the undrafted, the cast-offs, the no-names. And they win every year. They are better coached and prepared on a more consistent basis than I ever remember seeing in sports. Yes, even better than 49ers during Bill Walsh's tenure.

 

[Touchofevil]

The final two episodes of Narcos.
Well until next season.
So well done all around.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Agents of SHIELD: LMD: makes me think of the John Severin illustrated comic book, where Fury was an unmodified nor enhanced agent, surrounded by cool tech, i.e, LMDs of himself, so he can do spy stuff Howlin' Commando style without the bad guys locating him.

 

[Stearmen]

The Librarians And The Wrath Of Chaos. A couple of nice cameos!

 

[MisterCairo]

The latest Gotham! Talk about a blood bath...

 

[Touchofevil]

A couple of episodes of Black Sails.

 

[Touchofevil]

It is because they are that good. They win with the undrafted, the cast-offs, the no-names. And they win every year. They are better coached and prepared on a more consistent basis than I ever remember seeing in sports. Yes, even better than 49ers during Bill Walsh's tenure.

Actually the San Antonio Spurs under Popovich are a better comparison to the Patriots than the 49ers.

 

[Stearmen]

Six Wives. PBS. If ever there was a man that personified the saying, "truth is stranger then fiction," it was Henry VIII. If you walked into a fiction publishers office, with the story of his life, you would be laughed at, and then thrown out! Like most Americans, I thought he was a fat, disgusting, slob, that had all his wives heads chopped off! The truth is a lot more exciting then Lady Diana.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Six Wives. PBS...Like most Americans, I thought he was a fat, disgusting, slob...

Well, he still could've been that and probably was at least a bit on the pudgy side. At the time, that was more attractive than being skinny, because the wealthy were more likely to be weighty. They could financially afford to be overweight. The upper class often set the paradigm for what is attractive in a period of time. It's still pretty much that way. Let's be real here. He could have been 350LBs and still had pretty much any woman he wanted. As Mel Brooks so aptly said, "It's good to be the King." That's something I already don't like about this series, but you could say that about every show on TV. The paintings of him show a man who had pudgy cheeks, a round face, and is clearly not a small fella, yet the actor they chose for this series is thin and has a square jaw. All the women, even the chamber maids, are attractive.

I think it was David Hume --the Scottish philosopher from The Enlightenment, and the guy who is considered the father of psychology-- who was not an attractive man at all from a physical perspective, but who was quite the playboy. Had loads of charisma and was a man of status and respect.

 

[Touchofevil]

More Black Sails

 

[Stearmen]

Well, he still could've been that and probably was at least a bit on the pudgy side. At the time, that was more attractive than being skinny, because the wealthy were more likely to be weighty. They could financially afford to be overweight. The upper class often set the paradigm for what is attractive in a period of time. It's still pretty much that way. Let's be real here. He could have been 350LBs and still had pretty much any woman he wanted. As Mel Brooks so aptly said, "It's good to be the King." That's something I already don't like about this series, but you could say that about every show on TV. The paintings of him show a man who had pudgy cheeks, a round face, and is clearly not a small fella, yet the actor they chose for this series is thin and has a square jaw. All the women, even the chamber maids, are attractive.

I think it was David Hume --the Scottish philosopher from The Enlightenment, and the guy who is considered the father of psychology-- who was not an attractive man at all from a physical perspective, but who was quite the playboy. Had loads of charisma and was a man of status and respect.

Actually, for most of his life, up until the jousting accident in his mid 40s, he was in great shape. He stood 6'2" tall with a 32 inch waist, and weighed in at 28 stone, (210lbs.) Unfortunately, the leg wound never healed properly, it was said, you could smell him before you saw him. I think I would get a little fat and grumpy if that was me! He also probably suffered an traumatic brain injury at the same Joust. Here is a photo of his armor when he was in his 20s, of course, he had to have his codpiece. Like I said, truth is stranger!

 

[Worf]

"Arrow" - This season...... stinks. The main villain is boring, the romances don't have any emotion... and the Russian backstory is tired. The whole thing is a bore.

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

Watched the first two episodes of "Taboo"

It is visually so beautiful, so rich, so detailed and so, almost hauntingly, evocative of its time period that I'd enjoy it even if the story and acting weren't equally impressive, but fortunately, so far, they live up to the visual.

It's another example of TV being the most creative entertainment vehicle we have today - I haven't seen a movie in a long time that is as engaging, cinematographically striking and smart as these two episodes.

Tom Hardy, Jonus Hayman (underused in "The Paradise") and Jonathan Price own the screen with Oona Chaplin bringing her unique blend of anti-Hollywood looks and subtle but powerful emotions to amp up every scene she's in.

The East India Company as a fulcrum is reasonably untapped source material so, hopefully, the stories will build and not become lather-rinse-repeat as many do.

Oh, and once again, another example of an angry, ugly, viscous, disease-ridden world that makes me thank God everyday that I was born in this time and in this place.