What was the last TV show you watched?

[belfastboy]

Almost complete on Season 1 of "Mayor of Kingstown". I had read anything about it but like Jeremy Renner. It is a great show so far. It is starting to suffer from the oft repeated series escalation. Each episode the drama heightens, the body count rises and I fear we will jump the shark too soon.

 

[Edward]

So, over a decade after everyone else, I'm beginning to work my way through Netflix's Americanisation of House of Cards. It stands up rather well over a decade later, providing the viewer can see past Kevin Spacey's off-camera fall from grace.

 

[belfastboy]

So, over a decade after everyone else, I'm beginning to work my way through Netflix's Americanisation of House of Cards. It stands up rather well over a decade later, providing the viewer can see past Kevin Spacey's off-camera fall from grace.

I await your review(s) of the later Seasons.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finished Season 1 of Perry Mason on HBO Max. So, so good. The settings and costumes are amazing. Season 2 starts in a few days. Huzzah!

 

[Worf]

Finished Season 1 of Perry Mason on HBO Max. So, so good. The settings and costumes are amazing. Season 2 starts in a few days. Huzzah!

I thought it was a first rate adaptation and it turned so many of the shows tropes on their head that I was watching with my mouth agape for days...

Worf

 

[Doctor Strange]

I finished watching the first season of AMC's Mayfair Witches. Speaking as someone who read all those Anne Rice books years ago...

Considering how well they did with the earlier-aired season of Interview with the Vampire - which I thought was a fascinating update, one that realized the 1994 film is still a perfectly adequate direct telling of the novel, and instead went to some different, interesting places - Mayfair Witches was a HUGE disappointment. I feel like every single decision they made about how to do this adaptation was totally wrong.

Sure, it looks good, but that's the easy part. The storytelling is awful. It moves much too fast and leaves out so much. The eight-episode season rushes all the way to the climax of the 1100-page book, skipping over most of the 13 generations of witches leading to the present. Even if it plans to go back and intersperse flashbacks next season and get to all that, the main plot is already moving on to the (nowhere near as good) sequel novel Lasher.

The acting is mostly flat. We are constantly being told how strong a character Rowan (Alexandra Dadarrio) is... but she's a clueless cipher most of the time, buffeted around by everybody else. Harry Hamlin has a good time chewing the scenery as family head Cortland Mayfair... but he's saddled with a moustache-twirling evil plot that the book character isn't. And as the charismatic demon Lasher, Jack Huston is just dull. Don't get me started on the new characters, like the one guy who replaces the two major male characters in the book... and doesn't make an impression in the same league as either of them.

And one of Rice's greatest ideas - the Talamasca, the thousand-year-old secret organization studying the supernatural that "always watches" - is utterly botched. In the book, their personnel have been following the Mayfairs for hundreds of years and know a tremendous amount about them. Here, they seem to just now be figuring out the Mayfairs are witches and come off as pretty stupid for supposed experts. Not to mention revealing that their local leader (another new character) has mwa-ha-ha villain plans...

The whole thing is insanely dumbed-down, substituting stupid "scary supernatural action" for the novel's overpowering mood, transporting detail, and slow-burn plot revelations. NOT recommended.

 

[AmateisGal]

Season 2, episode one of Perry Mason. Promises to be another great story.

Started watching Pennyworth, the origin story of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred. Quite different, but I'm enjoying it.

 

[Edward]

I finished watching the first season of AMC's Mayfair Witches. Speaking as someone who read all those Anne Rice books years ago...

Considering how well they did with the earlier-aired season of Interview with the Vampire - which I thought was a fascinating update, one that realized the 1994 film is still a perfectly adequate direct telling of the novel, and instead went to some different, interesting places - Mayfair Witches was a HUGE disappointment. I feel like every single decision they made about how to do this adaptation was totally wrong.

Sure, it looks good, but that's the easy part. The storytelling is awful. It moves much too fast and leaves out so much. The eight-episode season rushes all the way to the climax of the 1100-page book, skipping over most of the 13 generations of witches leading to the present. Even if it plans to go back and intersperse flashbacks next season and get to all that, the main plot is already moving on to the (nowhere near as good) sequel novel Lasher.

The acting is mostly flat. We are constantly being told how strong a character Rowan (Alexandra Dadarrio) is... but she's a clueless cipher most of the time, buffeted around by everybody else. Harry Hamlin has a good time chewing the scenery as family head Cortland Mayfair... but he's saddled with a moustache-twirling evil plot that the book character isn't. And as the charismatic demon Lasher, Jack Huston is just dull. Don't get me started on the new characters, like the one guy who replaces the two major male characters in the book... and doesn't make an impression in the same league as either of them.

And one of Rice's greatest ideas - the Talamasca, the thousand-year-old secret organization studying the supernatural that "always watches" - is utterly botched. In the book, their personnel have been following the Mayfairs for hundreds of years and know a tremendous amount about them. Here, they seem to just now be figuring out the Mayfairs are witches and come off as pretty stupid for supposed experts. Not to mention revealing that their local leader (another new character) has mwa-ha-ha villain plans...

The whole thing is insanely dumbed-down, substituting stupid "scary supernatural action" for the novel's overpowering mood, transporting detail, and slow-burn plot revelations. NOT recommended.

Disappointing.... I'm still keen to see the new Interview, though. I think there was definitely room to keep it straight to the novel (the film leaving out so much, inevitably)... plus the enormous bonus of no Tom Cruise. Granted, he was much better than expected, but all the same.... Is there any word on whether they will take this further, and incorporate a (version of) the other books in the series?

In the same vein - and especially with the revived popularity of sword and sorcery stuff in recent times, I really do think it's about time somebody took on the Highlander property again. I know there was the old series back in the day, but the original film itself would open out into a cracking series (I'm thinking here how Robert Rodriguez opened up and expanded on his run at Dusk Until Dawn into a pretty good one-season series), with the potential to flashback and cover other immortals' stories pre-Quickening. I suspect (I know, I know, BUT...) that with a better handling, resetting the rules a la the second film could even be done. Alternatively, with some good writing, there's possibly a great story or two to be told about mortal Conor as we see him at the end of the first film.

And while I'm on it, Janus Stark would also be a great one for this.... but I digress.

Season 2, episode one of Perry Mason. Promises to be another great story.

Started watching Pennyworth, the origin story of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred. Quite different, but I'm enjoying it.

I'm still gutted that it seems season 4 is the last of Pennyworth; it really needed another series to see it to a firm conclusion. Nonetheless, the four series we have are all fantastic. Enjoy it.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yes, Edward. AMC got the rights to more or less all of Rice's books.

I suspect that another season of Interview will be followed by two or three seasons of The Vampire Lestat, then Queen of the Damned. There's so much story to come in both the vampire and witch series (which, spoiler alert, ultimately cross over characters from both) - and Rice's other supernatural books - that they can spin off new series/seasons for years. YEARS.



Re Tom Cruise and the 1994 film vs. the new Lestat, one of the things the showrunners have been very clear about is that since they're doing the series now, not while Rice is still writing them, the Lestat of their series isn't the loose-cannon Lestat of Interview, who's only seen through Louis' embittered POV. That was the 1994 Cruise interpretation.

The new series is using the Lestat whose own unique voice emerges in The Vampire Lestat and who dominates the later books - still capricious and dangerous, but a far more nuanced character. And Sam Reid's performance does a fine job of keeping him nutjob-scary, yet giving him a more measured, thoughtful aspect.

 

[Edward]

The new series is using the Lestat whose own unique voice emerges in The Vampire Lestat and who dominates the later books - still capricious and dangerous, but a far more nuanced character. And Sam Reid's performance does a fine job of keeping him nutjob-scary, yet giving him a more measured, thoughtful aspect.

That's a very good point - it definitely gives them a big advantage in considering, plotting and writing an adaptation over the position the likes of the Game of Thrones showrunners had to deal with.

 

[Worf]

"Selective Outrage" - This Chris Rock special is his first true comedy special in a while. In the 80's he established himself as a standup with few peers. His HBO specials were amazing. In recent years between age and personal problems his output and "fire" have declined. All of this ended at last years Oscars when "Shug Smith" decided to make a total arse of himself and assault Rock on stage. Most of the past year Rock as be silent about the incident. Not going on Oprah or other talk shows attempting to tell his side of the story and he also did NOT accept Will Smith's apology.

Well... the storm has broken, the cease fire has ended and the gloves are most definitely OFF! Chris Rock has come back with a vengeance.... seeking well... vengeance!!!! Don't get me wrong parts of his special, particularly his take on abortion were just plain not funny, but that was all appetizers, some were good some weren't. But we all know what we tuned in for and that was to hear his unadulterated take on the infamous "Slap heard Round the World" and in this instance he did NOT disappoint.

He unloads on Smith AND Jadah Pinkett with BOTH barrels. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the routine are spent dissecting their hypocrisy, cowardice and outright villainy. You are told in no uncertain terms what was behind the slap and who should've been slapped instead of Rock! The internet is ablaze with takes... many said he was too harsh but many more (some of whom have been warning us about the Smiths for YEARS) said he should've gone harder. I thought he struck a proper balance not saying anything about the couple that hadn't been revealed from their own mouths! Watch it or not... but the last segment was priceless!

Worf

 

[AmateisGal]

Season finale of The Last of Us. This show was incredible. I just loved it. I predict Emmy nominations for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

 

[Edward]

I'm now starting Series 5 of House of Cards. Quite hard-hitting in some parts. It's interesting to speculate just which events (and which presidents) inspired which events in the story. It's remarkably well written IMO as to render which side of the aisle any fictional character is on largely irrelevant to the drama, which gives it broader appeal. I've never seen the original (or, indeed, read the novel), so that may well be my next move when I'm done with this version. I'm particularly enjoying the breaking of the fourth wall; I don't recall seeing it done so well so consistently in anything else. It's an excellent device to make such an utterly amoral protagonist somewhat more sympathetic than all the other utterly amoral individuals involved. Mrs Marlowe is leaving me to it, as she can't stand that there's noone pleasant in it at all.

 

[Frunobulax]

"Selective Outrage" - This Chris Rock special is his first true comedy special in a while. In the 80's he established himself as a standup with few peers. His HBO specials were amazing. In recent years between age and personal problems his output and "fire" have declined. All of this ended at last years Oscars when "Shug Smith" decided to make a total arse of himself and assault Rock on stage. Most of the past year Rock as be silent about the incident. Not going on Oprah or other talk shows attempting to tell his side of the story and he also did NOT accept Will Smith's apology.

Well... the storm has broken, the cease fire has ended and the gloves are most definitely OFF! Chris Rock has come back with a vengeance.... seeking well... vengeance!!!! Don't get me wrong parts of his special, particularly his take on abortion were just plain not funny, but that was all appetizers, some were good some weren't. But we all know what we tuned in for and that was to hear his unadulterated take on the infamous "Slap heard Round the World" and in this instance he did NOT disappoint.

He unloads on Smith AND Jadah Pinkett with BOTH barrels. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the routine are spent dissecting their hypocrisy, cowardice and outright villainy. You are told in no uncertain terms what was behind the slap and who should've been slapped instead of Rock! The internet is ablaze with takes... many said he was too harsh but many more (some of whom have been warning us about the Smiths for YEARS) said he should've gone harder. I thought he struck a proper balance not saying anything about the couple that hadn't been revealed from their own mouths! Watch it or not... but the last segment was priceless!

Worf

I watched it live the night it aired, and was a bit disappointed. I found his frenetic act to be distracting, though I figured he was trying to embody the "Outrage" and that was a conscious decision. As social commentary, he hit some really high notes (I thought the abortion segment was pretty good), but I didn't really laugh that much. Yeah, he was brutal to the Smiths, but wasn't very funny.


And I love Chris Rock. I'm one of the 32 people who regularly tuned in to "Everybody Hates Chris," which was a brilliant mix of humor and social commentary. I think Rock can do better than what I saw here. And he could reduce the "salty" language by about half and get his point across.

 

[AmateisGal]

The latest episode of Season 2 of Perry Mason. Gosh, I just love this show. The acting by Matthew Rhys as Mason is fantastic. The sets, the costumes, the story...all wonderful.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The latest episode of Season 2 of Perry Mason. Gosh, I just love this show. The acting by Matthew Rhys as Mason is fantastic. The sets, the costumes, the story...all wonderful.

After all the hell caused in a free falling world of finance, ensconced at GF's, who has a vpn ip USA address,
which feeds direct HBO I flipped and clicked the remote and stumbled upon or I should say tripped over Perry Mason.
Hooked like heroin. Took season one in one shot. Started deuce with Mason ostensibly a civil practitioner, drawn
back to criminal law. Absolutely love this show.

 

[AmateisGal]

After all the hell caused in a free falling world of finance, ensconced at GF's, who has a vpn ip USA address,
which feeds direct HBO I flipped and clicked the remote and stumbled upon or I should say tripped over Perry Mason.
Hooked like heroin. Took season one in one shot. Started deuce with Mason ostensibly a civil practitioner, drawn
back to criminal law. Absolutely love this show.

So glad you are enjoying it!

 

[Edward]

I await your review(s) of the later Seasons.

Finished the last one yesterday. They definitely get campier quickly from I think #3 onwards, though I still rather enjoyed them. The 'what ifs' about constitutional law in the last couple especially I rather enjoyed - the sort of speculative stuff that appeals to me. I think they did well in the way they spun the sixth series; Spacey's fall from grace off-screen resulting in him becoming persona non grata obviously had to be written in to the script. I don't know what stage they were at before that; would be interesting to have seen how the story would have mapped out differently had they still been wanting to work with him.

The breaking the fourth wall device, the way they used it. I liked it a lot. Interestingly, it made Francis for some time a vastly more sympathetic character to me than Claire, because it allowed him to be honest with 'us', an option she didn't have. That shifted when he went out and she began to be the one who broke the fourth wall. I enjoyed the device being deployed that way - a Presidential perk, if you like - and how it subtly shifted perception of the characters. Next step is to go back to the original BBC work, which I've not yet seen...

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Last Perry Mason episode. I cherish this show for its depiction of a character roster of flawed men and women.
Or rather real men and women, people whom are flawed, fighting their own failings. And demons. That LA detective
is evil, a dual family man and devil. And the encampment outside town where the firm investigator finds kids shooting rats to eat-not for silliness. Punches me hard in the gut. The whole show is a good mind twist. Gives my brain a leather
belt to chew days on.

 

[MikeKardec]

Revisiting the 2 Season TV Series Manhattan, a fictionalization of the story of the making of the atomic bomb. I have to go into some technical details in a thing I'm writing and thought I'd see if there were any lessons to be learned. Anyway, great cast, great look, well written. It does a good job of capturing the towering, and not all that stable, personalities on the project. As a kid I knew some of the generation of top physicists that came right after this crowd and, yeah, the characterizations are quite believable.

A few peeves: I'm just not interested in on screen sex anymore unless the information in the scene is actually needed to more the plot forward. If it is a necessary environment to deliver that information, have at it. Otherwise, boring! There's a bit of this. Is it a bone that is being thrown to female audience members in what is otherwise a very masculine show? I don't know, but I have a feeling that the ladies care more about "romance" than "sex."

I flat out hate it when a character is driving a car from the year the film takes place in and it is clearly a worn out piece of junk from a Hollywood rental facility. Just have the character driving a car that's a few years old. Roads were lousy and man automobiles aged quickly. With the depression and the war people were not able to keep their cars in top shape. I see this mistake ALL the time!

All the non-scientist women want to know, have to know, can't stop them selves fro trying to know, what their husbands are working on. Even if that "knowing" would lead to significant repercussions. I'm sure this was an issue, I can see that this is a trait that is more female than male ... but it's too many of them. I never like it when a whole community behaves the same way. The element that has been missed (I think, I haven't review all of it yet) is that this aspect might have been pursued with a select wife or a few of the wives attempting to question the character played by the always excellent Katja Herbers, a young lady physicist. The "Bluebeard's closet" aspect of the story, where the women simply MUST know and can't believe the secrecy is serious, but then find out, is well worth dealing with, but it was never really approached correctly. A story unto itself.

Anyway, so far so good. I'm liking it a lot!