What was the last TV show you watched?

[Edward]

Great idea, it would either be incredibly good or incredibly bad, but yes, I'd love to see what Tarantino could do with a Superhero movie.

It's a logical genre for him to try, given he's already done the heist thing, the spaghetti Western (albeit set in occupied France), the country house murder mystery (albeit set in the old Wild West), the revenge picture, and a bunch of other tropes. I'd also like to see his take on scifi.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's a logical genre for him to try, given he's already done the heist thing, the spaghetti Western (albeit set in occupied France), the country house murder mystery (albeit set in the old Wild West), the revenge picture, and a bunch of other tropes. I'd also like to see his take on scifi.

Some worked, some didn't - I really liked "Inglorious Bastards" (and as a WWII buff, I went in very skeptical), but you are spot on, he needs to do the superhero thing next.

 

[MisterCairo]

Last night I was able to watch the last two (three really, last one was a two-parter), of Fear the Walking Dead.

Awesome season, it is developing well as a series.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Some worked, some didn't - I really liked "Inglorious Bastards" (and as a WWII buff, I went in very skeptical), but you are spot on, he needs to do the superhero thing next.

Boy, I REALLY don't want to see that. As I've said here endlessly, I think Tarantino is a great talent... but I'm disgusted that he's wasted his career making "homages" to genres that were mostly junk to begin with. I do like some of his films - and he writes tremendous dialog - but I wish he'd do something sometime that wasn't "inspired" by something else. The superhero cycle can burn itself out just fine without his input.

 

[Fading Fast]

Boy, I REALLY don't want to see that. As I've said here endlessly, I think Tarantino is a great talent... but I'm disgusted that he's wasted his career making "homages" to genres that were mostly junk to begin with. I do like some of his films - and he writes tremendous dialog - but I wish he'd do something sometime that wasn't "inspired" by something else. The superhero cycle can burn itself out just fine without his input.

All good points, but Tarantino, despite his talent, might need a genre to riff off of to spark his talent - he might not be able to go another route. It might be the way he gets his inspiration, the way he gets the start of an idea, the way he's able to frame his work.

 

[Zombie_61]

What is the Orville? Is it the new Trek series that is on Netflix, or something else? **Ah, I see - it's a Seth Macfarlane quasi Trek thing. Is it meant to be a sitcom, or is it dramatic?

It was initially promoted as a parody of Star Trek, but it's really a show that was "inspired by" Star Trek (specifically Star Trek: The Next Generation) with some comedy thrown in for good measure. The comedy is hit-and-miss, and so far the drama comes from storylines taken directly from the various Star Trek series' and changed to make them just different enough that MacFarlane and company can't be accused of duplicating them verbatim (i.e., they're MacFarlane's "take" on those storylines). Also, the actual Star Trek productions were all allegedly intended to be aspirational, projecting into a possible future for humankind in which we've managed to evolve into a more utopian species. MacFarlane makes no attempt at this, so even though the show is set 400 years in Earth's future his stories are told from a modern-day perspective.

In my opinion it's not a "great" show, but it has so far been just entertaining enough to keep me watching and I think it's at least a little better than most of the rubbish on television these days.

Watched last week's episode of The Orville...True, I didn't see the previous episodes, and this one might be an outlier. We'll see how the next couple go.

The first couple of episodes were a little rough, but it seems the cast and crew have settled into their various roles and figured out what they want the show to be for now. I think they still need to work on finding a better way to blend the humor with the drama, and the show will probably continue to evolve if it doesn't get cancelled, but for now it is what it is and what you saw was a typical episode. Previous episodes can be seen on Fox's website, but you'll have to sign in with your "TV Provider" to unlock the first episode at this point (and probably subsequent episodes as time passes); this has changed since the last time I visited their site, so they've apparently decided to add this requirement for whatever reason.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Poldark. I continue to enjoy this on many levels, but on others, it is severely lacking. I wish the story was more fluid, or maybe more complex. I'd like to see the characters better explored, rather than falling into predictable actions/reactions. I suppose you can blame the books for this, but I still feel they could take some creative liberties and do more with the material.

Ray Donovan. Like Dexter, this show relies on its formula to work through situations. Like Poldark, the characters could be so much more interesting. They were doing some nice work with Abby's death, but now, I can't see where they are going with any of the series.

Halt and Catch Fire. The acting, or maybe it was the directing as well, was so poor. Mackenzie Davis and Kerry Bishe stumbling through emotions and scenes like it was an entry level acting class. Reminded me of some of the horrible made-for-TV movies of the 80s.

The Collection. new series on PBS. I didn't notice until this episode that it was an Amazon production. Did it air in the UK before coming to PBS? Too early to tell if this is a good one or not.

 

[AmateisGal]

Poldark. I'm reading the books (I'm on the sixth one) and the books are much more involved in terms of character development, etc. I think the problem is that in Season 3 the Poldark universe is expanded - i.e. there are many more characters added, and instead of focusing mostly on Ross and Demelza and the wicked George Warleggan, it's grown to include Demelza's two brothers, Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna, and more.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A 1970 "Kraft Music Hall" telecast of a Friars Club Roast of Jack Benny. The roastmaster for the evening is a razor-sharp Johnny Carson, with the rest of the dais made up of a cross-section of the Hillcrest Country Club, accented by members of Jack's old radio "gang" and, the odd man out, Ed Sullivan.

This isn't the boozy, goofy kind of roast you got from Dean Martin a few years later, this was a who's who of Golden Era comics at the top of their form, with no quarter asked or given. The best comment of the night comes when Milton Berle, who is sharp as a tack from start to finish, tells Sullivan that he "has all the personality of an empty locker." That's a line I'd be tempted to steal, and I've never before been tempted to steal from Berle. He must have slipped his writer a bonus.

 

[1mach1]

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Seb Lucas]

House of Cards - season one. Not as good as the original British version and although it's engaging enough, it is slow and contrived and never quite feels genuine. Kevin Spacey is solid as the machiavelian protagonist but he plays the role in a such a camp, self-aware manner that I found myself being distracted by the bold artificiality. Not sure I will make it to season two - I can sense it all becoming a soap opera with ever increasingly improbable and "shocking" developments.

 

[Edward]

It was initially promoted as a parody of Star Trek, but it's really a show that was "inspired by" Star Trek (specifically Star Trek: The Next Generation) with some comedy thrown in for good measure. The comedy is hit-and-miss, and so far the drama comes from storylines taken directly from the various Star Trek series' and changed to make them just different enough that MacFarlane and company can't be accused of duplicating them verbatim (i.e., they're MacFarlane's "take" on those storylines). Also, the actual Star Trek productions were all allegedly intended to be aspirational, projecting into a possible future for humankind in which we've managed to evolve into a more utopian species. MacFarlane makes no attempt at this, so even though the show is set 400 years in Earth's future his stories are told from a modern-day perspective.

In my opinion it's not a "great" show, but it has so far been just entertaining enough to keep me watching and I think it's at least a little better than most of the rubbish on television these days.

Thanks. Sounds worth giving a go if it appears on Netflix or otherwsie over here. Be interesting to see how it turns out. Although I always found Trek's positivity about the future refreshing in a sci-fi genre so often dominated by dystopias, I also rather enjoyed Babylon 5's darker take on a not dissimilar concept to some of the Trek material (Deep Space 9 being the most obvious, direct comparison.).

A 1970 "Kraft Music Hall" telecast of a Friars Club Roast of Jack Benny. The roastmaster for the evening is a razor-sharp Johnny Carson, with the rest of the dais made up of a cross-section of the Hillcrest Country Club, accented by members of Jack's old radio "gang" and, the odd man out, Ed Sullivan.

This isn't the boozy, goofy kind of roast you got from Dean Martin a few years later, this was a who's who of Golden Era comics at the top of their form, with no quarter asked or given. The best comment of the night comes when Milton Berle, who is sharp as a tack from start to finish, tells Sullivan that he "has all the personality of an empty locker." That's a line I'd be tempted to steal, and I've never before been tempted to steal from Berle. He must have slipped his writer a bonus.

I've long been intrigued by the American 'roast' concept - I don't think there is a direct equivalent in the UK. Interesting it goes back that far.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Roasts were a tradition of the Friar's Club, an organization of professional comedians, going back to the 1940s as a deliberate comic parody of the standard "testimonial dinner" -- they were originally strictly an "inside" thing for those in the profession, but after bootleg recordings of various roasts became popular, they started to show up on television, in somewhat laundered form, in the late sixties.

The tradition today is a very sad shadow of what it once was -- there used to be a sense of genuine affection from the roasters to the roastee, but when you see roasts on Comedy Central now, they come across as malicious and cruel in a way the old ones never did. Another example of knowing the words, but not the music.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Episode 2 of the rebooted Once Upon a Time. Several of the old characters, Regina, Captain Hook, and a grown-up Henry, have been ported over to the new show, and this episode featured a guest appearance by Jennifer Morrison's Emma Swan. But I'm not sure the writers and producers have the hang of the reboot yet. I was sometimes confused as to whether the Magic Realm scenes took place before or after those in modern Seattle, for example. A time stamp would be nice. (Though it might be hard to time-stamp the ones in the Magic Realm. "9:15 pm, October, the third year of King Arglebargle's reign" won't tell us much.)

 

[Fading Fast]

Roasts were a tradition of the Friar's Club, an organization of professional comedians, going back to the 1940s as a deliberate comic parody of the standard "testimonial dinner" -- they were originally strictly an "inside" thing for those in the profession, but after bootleg recordings of various roasts became popular, they started to show up on television, in somewhat laundered form, in the late sixties.

The tradition today is a very sad shadow of what it once was -- there used to be a sense of genuine affection from the roasters to the roastee, but when you see roasts on Comedy Central now, they come across as malicious and cruel in a way the old ones never did. Another example of knowing the words, but not the music.

I don't remember seeing the Friar Club ones on TV, but the Dean Martin Roasts - which were very popular when I was a kid in the early / mid '70s - overall, also had a genuine sense of affection. They never felt mean-spirit, spiteful or angry.

But then I was very, very familiar with that type of "insulting" and "making fun of" as my father's very close friends did that to each other all the time. I grew up watching growing men "roast" each other regularly in my house when his friends were over, so when I saw it on TV, it made sense to me as I got the good-natured feel or friendly subtext beyond the words.

 

[Fading Fast]

First two episodes of the French drama / sitcom "Call My Agent -" a Netflix original

• Scrolling through Netflix's originals we stumbled upon this French TV show - you gotta love our brave new world

• It's a fun drama / soap opera about the lives of the people who work in a high-end French movie talent agency

• It's very professionally done - almost slick - but the characters' personalities feel real (if exaggerated - it's TV after all) which keeps you engaged
  • The first episode revolved around a big French movie star who is in her early 40s and can only get a coveted role in a Tarentino production if she has some minor plastic surgery, something she has sworn not to do / it's handled seriously enough to engage you, but not so intense that you are stressed - it's still basically a light-hearted show

• It's also fun (for an American) to see how a French production, targeting a French audience, presents France as opposed to a French production intended for a US audience

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Poldark. I'm reading the books (I'm on the sixth one) and the books are much more involved in terms of character development, etc. I think the problem is that in Season 3 the Poldark universe is expanded - i.e. there are many more characters added, and instead of focusing mostly on Ross and Demelza and the wicked George Warleggan, it's grown to include Demelza's two brothers, Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna, and more.

I could maybe accept that if this was a half-hour show. Some, if not most, of the greatest TV shows of all time were one hour, and many of them also had to contend with commercial breaks cutting into their volume of content. There aren't that many characters at play here. It's unfortunate to hear the books are richer in character. Such a wasted necessary resource.

 

[MisterCairo]

Sharpe's Regiment. A return to England, so the Chosen Men don't feature much, but a rollicking good story!

 

[Touchofevil]

A few episodes of the latest season of Game of Thrones. This show is done so well. The cinematography is “Wow!” It is much more entertaining than most movies we have seen.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Although I always found Trek's positivity about the future refreshing in a sci-fi genre so often dominated by dystopias, I also rather enjoyed Babylon 5's darker take on a not dissimilar concept to some of the Trek material (Deep Space 9 being the most obvious, direct comparison.)...

Just to be clear, The Orville isn't "darker" than Star Trek, they simply make no attempts whatsoever to show humanity has improved over the last 400 years the way Star Trek tried to do; the characters and their behavior wouldn't be out of place on modern day Earth.