What was the last TV show you watched?

[Doctor Strange]

"Mute" - along with many Zone episodes from the fourth season when they unwisely expanded the show to an hour - is padded and slow moving, but it's such an interesting idea. (Hey, it's a Richard Matheson script.) Do you realize that the little girl was played by eighties TV sexpot Ann Jillian?!?

And "The Long Morrow" is your classic Zone riff on "The Gift of the Magi".

 

[Fading Fast]

"Mute" - along with many Zone episodes from the fourth season when they unwisely expanded the show to an hour - is padded and slow moving, but it's such an interesting idea. (Hey, it's a Richard Matheson script.) Do you realize that the little girl was played by eighties TV sexpot Ann Jillian?!?.

The hour-long format, as you said, took away from the crispness of the stories as, like with "Mute," those episodes sorta amble along with filler and fluff.

I did not catch that the girl was Ann Jillian, but she had an "adult" face as a kid (if that makes sense - you could see the coming adult she'd be). I have not thought of Ann Jillian since the '80s - she disappeared.

...And "The Long Morrow" is your classic Zone riff on "The Gift of the Magi".

"TTZ" milked that cow as many times as it could - and, usually, successfully.

You didn't comment, but the episode "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" was such a blatant rip off of "Sunset Boulevard" that I was a bit surprised. They did change the ending, but otherwise, it's pretty much the movie's story.

 

[Worf]

Just finished our binge watching both seasons of The Man in the High Castle. Hubby says he is content if it ends there. I still have a lot of questions.

There WILL be more... The Japanese and the rest of the world escaped annihilation by the skin of their nethers. I don't expect the more blood thirsty elements of the Greater German Reich will leave it at that. Also Joe and his Daddy ain't daid yet.

Worf

 

[Babydoll]

There WILL be more... The Japanese and the rest of the world escaped annihilation by the skin of their nethers. I don't expect the more blood thirsty elements of the Greater German Reich will leave it at that. Also Joe and his Daddy ain't daid yet.

Worf

Hubby was more concerned about the Trade Minister surviving the kerfuffle at the Kimpetei building. He was yelling at the tv "don't go in!!".

 

[Doctor Strange]

"The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" owes a debt to Sunset Boulevard, it's true. But we'll give it a pass since it's a very early episode - number four - and Zone was just finding its way.

And we have to remember that in 1959 if you hadn't seen Sunset Boulevard since 1950, you probably hadn't seen it again (or at all). A world before most big studio films had played on broadcast TV, and of course there was no cable, VHS, DVD, streaming... Only oddball 16mm collectors (like me, though I didn't start until the early 70s) had ready access to films back then.

 

[Formeruser012523]

Very much looking forward to Sherlock, Season 4 starting tonight.

Season 4 episode 1 of Sherlock. WOW. Incredible.

Found myself quite disappointed in the first episode of Sherlock. Guess I'm expecting more from the writers because I know they can be better. This time they're just . . . not.

 

[DNO]

Found myself quite disappointed in the first episode of Sherlock. Guess I'm expecting more from the writers because I know they can be better. This time they're just . . . not.

I had the same reaction. Somewhat disappointed. Here's hoping the next two episodes improve.

I just discovered FX Canada is having a Fargo season 2 marathon today! Just started watching...missed the first 4 episodes, though. The season 1 marathon yesterday was terrific.

 

[Formeruser012523]

I had the same reaction. Somewhat disappointed. Here's hoping the next two episodes improve.

I just discovered FX Canada is having a Fargo season 2 marathon today! Just started watching...missed the first 4 episodes, though. The season 1 marathon yesterday was terrific.

I'm holding out hope, as well.

Enjoyed Fargo, immensely. Season 1 was great, season 2, I'll let you be the judge.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Downton Abbey. marathon. I love the ability to turn on the TV at any moment and have an episode in progress. Someone needs to start a channel where each user can load their favorites and set them to run indefinitely. You're the programmer, yet it feels like the channel is made for you...because it was made by you.

 

[Touchofevil]

Some NFL and then last night a couple of episodes of The Man in the High Castle. Sadly, only two more episodes to go.

 

[Fading Fast]

Season 2, Episode 4 "Man in the High Castle" we are forcing ourselves to slow-walk our way through this season so that we have them to look forward to.

Each episode is a little gem. What we haven't talked about here much is how insanely beautiful the sets and period details are. Of course, the set designers have some leeway as this is an alternative history so they can play off what was accurate but don't have to be spot on as - who knows - something could have be invented sooner in that alternative history than the past we know.

The pre-war and, usually, dilapidated architecture of the resistance houses and neutral zone shows its former glory with incredible moldings, woodwork and tile. The Japanese trade minister's house and office are aesthetically stunning and a wonderful blend of American and Japanese influences (fitting for his American location). The uber-Nazi architecture of the victorious Reich is consistent with Hitler's architect Albert Speer's vision of gigantic scale and clean Art Deco lines.

But even the small details - the fabric-covered buttons on Juliana's coat, the embossed eagle on the back of John Smith's leather office chair or the Japanese Trade Ministers cufflinks - all serve to increase the atmospheric feel and mood of the show. It seems no detail is too small to get thoughtful attention. Even the dystopian aesthetic of the neutral zone and similar depredated parts of the conquered cities show a attention and deliberation that make them appealing, even if in a frightening "Mad Max" way.

I know the next time I watch these episodes, without the need to follow the plots and stories closely, I'll be focused in on these incredibly gorgeous sets and details.

 

[Benzadmiral]

The premiere episode from 1957 of Maverick, "War of the Silver Kings." From the very start we can tell that James Garner's Bret Maverick is not your typical gunslinger, lawman, or bounty hunter. In the very first scene he pulls a minor scam on the hotel clerk, who is reluctant to even talk to Bret in his dusty travel clothes, until Bret hands him an envelope full of what the clerk assumes is $5000. Bret removes his (only) $1000 bill from the envelope and seals it for the hotel safe, and the clerk is falling all over him. What the clerk doesn't know and we do is that Bret has cut out a sheaf of newspaper to the bill size and packed the envelope with nothing but newsprint.

To defeat the local silver kingpin (who cheats at cards and has had him roughed up), he uses psychology, legal research, and a newspaper ad -- completely legal -- stating that King, the silver magnate, ". . . has NOT tried to kill me today. (Watch this space tomorrow!)"

 

[MisterCairo]

Surprised to find on our PVR a double episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine! Hilarious and a cliff hanger!

 

[Touchofevil]

Just one episode of The Man in the High Castle. Only one more left and then we will have to find something else to watch.
We are looking forward to Tom Hardy's Taboo; it looks to be pretty entertaining.

 

[1mach1]

Doctor Who Christmas special

 

[DNO]

I'm holding out hope, as well.

Enjoyed Fargo, immensely. Season 1 was great, season 2, I'll let you be the judge.

I've seen both seasons before and enjoyed each one. That was the the second time, and like every other excellent production, such as Deadwood, The Wire, and Sopranos, the series will reward a third viewing as well.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

and like every other excellent production, such as Deadwood, The Wire, and Sopranos, the series will reward a third viewing as well.

This is one of the most telling things about any art. Can it be experienced multiple times and continue to reward in new ways? I've found TV and movies are especially susceptible to failing upon a second viewing. For instance, I thought Breaking Bad was a solid, enjoyable show, but then I watched it a second time. For me, it completely fell apart. From an 8 to a 4.5.

 

[Stearmen]

The Librarians And The Curse Of Cindy. Pretty funny!

 

[Bushman]

Chicago PD. I don't usually care for it, but tonight it tied into Chicago Fire, which I do enjoy, so I was kinda forced.

 

[Touchofevil]

The final episode of The Man in the High Castle. A great season ending send-off.
There must be a third season.
The first two episodes of Poldark. A let down after just watching TMitHC, but that is to
be expected.