What was the last TV show you watched?

[Touchofevil]

I agree 100 Percent. It's grim but also sadly predictable. I can tell where things are heading like I wrote the script. Stupid, selfish teens are why I stopped watching "Fear the Walking Dead". I hate stupidity.

Worf

Same thing turned us away from FtWD. It was getting hard to root for the living.

 

[Touchofevil]

NFL off and on throughout the day.

 

[1mach1]

Catching up on Brooklyn 99

 

[Fading Fast]

From "Movies" channel (or maybe "The Movie" channel up in 1000s on my cable system) a documentary on Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable which linked the two together because they were the most popular pinup girls in WWII.

This was no professionally done TCM affair but a pretty mediocre effort that strong a lot of not-exceptional footage of the two together with a voice over of, almost, a "just the fact ma'am" narrative.

That said, a few things stood out. Between them, they must have had six or seven husband, but not one really good sounding marriage. Betty Grable, who - owing to her and husband Harry James' lavish lifestyle and gambling (both of them) - needed to work, well, forever - kept her body in incredibly slim shape well into her forties. Rita Hayworth - who clearly needed to enter a husbands anonymous program - came across more as a singer / dancer (who held her own with Fred Astaire) than actress.

Worth watching if, like me, you just enjoy this stuff, but otherwise it's a pass.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Just watched the pilot yesterday and agree with your comments, as you said, there is promise here, but this one could go either way - either stronger writing allowing for history to be seen from a modern perspective as the characters develop less certainty about their opinions today and more respect for the time they travel to or it becomes a worse version of the pilot where time-travel is just an excuse for moral preening ("how backwards society was in its norms and laws versus us so-enlightened people today") and silly, over-signaled two-dimensional good versus bad fights. . . .

I caught the second half of Timeless on Friday night. Expected it to be terrible -- as you put it, "How backwards these people were!" -- but at least the male lead was not painted as a wimp. Maybe he was in the first half? But in the part I watched, he knew what he was doing, and was in charge. Nice to see. And though the travelers did everything they could to avoid changing the past, their present still had changes when they came back -- some of those changes very upsetting to them.

The teaser at the program's end, however, gives me the idea that future episodes will visit only the standard famous events in U.S. history. How many times now have we seen the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations as the vehicle for time travel stories?

 

[AmateisGal]

The presidential debates.

Ugh.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Westworld. pilot. It didn't speak to me. Can't put a finger on it, but I'm real disappointed. Not giving up. Not by a longshot.

Divorce. SJP being SJP, like she does in every role. As an actress...strictly as an actress...I don't understand how anyone can view her as royalty, and I think some do. I get Sex in the City and the huge cultural impact it had on women of that generation, but as an actress? She has no range, repeats movements and gestures in every role, etc. It's like watching a drummer, and you can feel them counting beats. Nothing flows or comes naturally. Very mechanical. But I think I can like the show.

The Strain. Another good episode.

 

[Touchofevil]

Penny Dreadful
Too good of a series to end. What will take its place in our lives?

 

[greatestescaper]

Penny Dreadful
Too good of a series to end. What will take its place in our lives?

My wife an I were enjoying, but also not, Penny Dreadful for a while. Then nearing the end of her pregnancy there were some terrible things happening that neither of us could handle and we had to set it aside. We've since picked it back up and are very glad we did. The second season wrapped up very nicely, and we're very excited at the first few episodes of season 3. Towards the end of season 2 we could see that the show was nearing closure, and would rather that it end with a high note (in terms of quality), than many other shows we watch that just continue on too long. That said, I'm really hoping something good will come along to fill the void. We're also feeling that as we near the end of the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Although, in that case, there is an entire book series to catch up on!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Couldn't sleep, turned on the TV to a late-night cable rerun of "Barney Miller," in which a wild-eyed frizzy-haired "time traveler from 2037" is picked up by the men of the 12th Precinct, and immediately begins offering advice about the future. Did you know that you should sell off your gold holdings immediately, and invest in zinc? And don't worry about lawyers, they were banned in 1998. All legal matters in the 21st Century are handled by realtors. It saddens me terribly to think there will never again be sitcom writing this good.

The time traveler was played by the wonderful Richard Libertini, who was the dominant portrayer in the 1970s of wild-eyed frizzy-haired fanatics, screwballs, and nut jobs.

 

[MisterCairo]

^^^

I remember that episode though I haven't seen it in probably thirty years. Especially the "zinc" bit...

 

[1mach1]

The presidential debates.

Ugh.

I'm sorry.

 

[Touchofevil]

Two more fabulous episodes of Penny Dreadful. It is all starting to a head. Phenomenal. So well done all the way around.

 

[LizzieMaine]

^^^

I remember that episode though I haven't seen it in probably thirty years. Especially the "zinc" bit...

"I think I could spring for a couple of tons."

 

[Benzadmiral]

Couldn't sleep, turned on the TV to a late-night cable rerun of "Barney Miller," in which a wild-eyed frizzy-haired "time traveler from 2037" is picked up by the men of the 12th Precinct, and immediately begins offering advice about the future. Did you know that you should sell off your gold holdings immediately, and invest in zinc? And don't worry about lawyers, they were banned in 1998. All legal matters in the 21st Century are handled by realtors. It saddens me terribly to think there will never again be sitcom writing this good.

The time traveler was played by the wonderful Richard Libertini, who was the dominant portrayer in the 1970s of wild-eyed frizzy-haired fanatics, screwballs, and nut jobs.

Not only that (I still chortle over lines from the "pot brownies" episode *), but there was a certain realism to Barney Miller. My once-upon-a-time aunt-in-law was one of the first woman police captains in town. We were talking once, and she referred to Hill Street Blues as "my training film." But she said that Miller came closer than any other series, serious or not, in capturing what day-to-day work in a precinct was like.

* Sgt. Yemana (stoned out of his mind): Anybody seen my legs? . . . [gestures] They're about this long.

Yemana (later, apropos of nothing): Mooshi-mooshi . . .

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was a show that stood out among the general run of seventies television for the quality of its writing, along with "All in the Family" and the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart shows. Those four programs probably did more to shape my own tastes in comedy than any other media of the time, and I was later impressed to learn how many of those writers had deep roots in radio.

People will go on about how today is the "golden age of television," but that stops at drama. There is very little comedy on television today that's as well-written as the best sitcoms of forty years ago. The best writers working in TV during the '70s were working in comedy.

 

[Touchofevil]

It was a show that stood out among the general run of seventies television for the quality of its writing, along with "All in the Family" and the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart shows. Those four programs probably did more to shape my own tastes in comedy than any other media of the time, and I was later impressed to learn how many of those writers had deep roots in radio.

People will go on about how today is the "golden age of television," but that stops at drama. There is very little comedy on television today that's as well-written as the best sitcoms of forty years ago. The best writers working in TV during the '70s were working in comedy.

Fortunately, channels like MeTv are around to introduce the youngsters of today to these shows. My students will often remark that shows like these are pretty funny despite that they are really old. I, of course, will agree on both counts.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It disturbs me terribly to think that shows like that are "really old," but in fact there is a greater degree of separation between a kid discovering those shows today than there was for me when I started listening to Fred Allen's radio shows in the 1970s.

Archie Bunker, if he were an actual man still alive today, would be ninety-two years old.

 

[ChiTownScion]

The best writers working in TV during the '70s were working in comedy.

Satirical magazines were better then (early 1970's) as well. Specifically, the National Lampoon. It hit its peak for about 5 years, then fizzled. Yeah, there were the movies and the radio show, but the magazine in its day set the standard for iconoclastic humor- usually not in the best of taste.

 

[Fading Fast]

It was a show that stood out among the general run of seventies television for the quality of its writing, along with "All in the Family" and the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart shows. Those four programs probably did more to shape my own tastes in comedy than any other media of the time, and I was later impressed to learn how many of those writers had deep roots in radio.

People will go on about how today is the "golden age of television," but that stops at drama. There is very little comedy on television today that's as well-written as the best sitcoms of forty years ago. The best writers working in TV during the '70s were working in comedy.

Those were four well-above-the-average shows. What's nice is they were general acknowledge that way at the time. All those shows (MTM the least) had pretty big followings amongst high school kids who are not shy about mocking things.

On your second point, also couldn't agree more. I think we are going through a Golden Era of TV, for drama - the TV drama shows are much better, smarter and engaging than most movies, but where the heck are the good comedy shows?

Tried a new Ted Danson comedy show - "The Good Life -" all but unwatchable. We've watched a show "Younger" which is okay, but hardly up to the standards of great or even very good comedy and nowhere near the level of current TV drama shows.