What was the last TV show you watched?

[AmateisGal]

Two of the second season episodes of Friends. Yes, I've seen 'em again and again, but the arc where Ross and Rachel are lovers, and the one where Monica is involved with Tom Selleck's Richard, get me every time. It's not that the scenes seemed never to have been written before, as Raymond Chandler said about Dashiell Hammett's work in another time. We've seen romantic tales aplenty before Friends (though the dialogue was, and still is, often very funny). No, it's more that the romantic scenes had never been acted so well on TV and in just that way, with the chemistry between the two sets of leads.

Like the guy with a number of social "ailments," just call me a hopeless romantic.

I really enjoyed those episodes, too. Having Tom Selleck as Monica's love interest was genius.

And there's *nothing* wrong with being a hopeless romantic! (I'm one, too!).

 

[MisterCairo]

She went from Pearl Harbor nurse to a vampire in the Underworld series.

Pearl Harbor was the start of the downfall...

 

[Benzadmiral]

I really enjoyed those episodes, too. Having Tom Selleck as Monica's love interest was genius.

And there's *nothing* wrong with being a hopeless romantic! (I'm one, too!).

Oh, the other point I had was about the story with the two birthday parties for Rachel, with the equally-genius casting of Marlo Thomas (the original TV New York career girl, after all) as Rachel's mother, and Ron Liebman (the actor you cast when you want somebody real) as her father. The script is funny, as a lot of their Season Ones and Twos were without being silly.

The moment that always gets me is when Rachel tells Chandler in the hallway about her family problems, and he gives her a hug, and Ross comes out of the apartment and sees them. Any ordinary sitcom would have had Ross react badly -- but this was no ordinary sitcom. Ross looks surprised; Chandler smiles and gestures to him, and he turns Rachel so that she winds up in Ross's arms. And Chandler fades away. Great timing.

 

[AmateisGal]

Pearl Harbor was the start of the downfall...

It was on AMC a few weeks ago and I watched some of it; can't believe how bad it was. And I really liked it when it first came out. I guess time has a way of showing us how awful some stuff really is...

 

[Babydoll]

Lily's watching "Imagination Movers". If you've never seen it, DON'T!!

It is awful. And there are 3 seasons OnDemand.

Save me!!

 

[AmateisGal]

Lily's watching "Imagination Movers". If you've never seen it, DON'T!!

It is awful. And there are 3 seasons OnDemand.

Save me!!

When my daughter was small, Barney was still on - I watched a few episodes and wanted to scream. Thankfully, my daughter LOVED Blue's Clues, and as I rather enjoyed that one, I was happy to watch them with her.

And then there was the Teletubbies...GAH.

 

[Babydoll]

When my daughter was small, Barney was still on - I watched a few episodes and wanted to scream. Thankfully, my daughter LOVED Blue's Clues, and as I rather enjoyed that one, I was happy to watch them with her.

And then there was the Teletubbies...GAH.

I was sad when Lily outgrew "Blues Clues". That was a sweet show. "Caillou", however..... let's just say when she turned 5, I convinced her that she was too old for him because he was only 4 and she was 5. It worked!

I'm convinced that "Teletubbies" is better if you are inebriated in some way.

 

[AmateisGal]

I was sad when Lily outgrew "Blues Clues". That was a sweet show. "Caillou", however..... let's just say when she turned 5, I convinced her that she was too old for him because he was only 4 and she was 5. It worked!

I'm convinced that "Teletubbies" is better if you are inebriated in some way.

Ohhh...Caillou. That one was hard to stomach, too.

I think Teletubbies would make a great drinking game. LOL.

 

[MisterCairo]

"Caillou", however..... let's just say when she turned 5, I convinced her that she was too old for him because he was only 4 and she was 5. It worked!

Another thing Canada needs to apologize to the world for...

 

[Zombie_61]

...I guess time has a way of showing us how awful some stuff really is...

Fortunately, sometimes it works the other way. My wife and I have been watching a 48-hour marathon of M*A*S*H on the Sundance channel. For whatever reason they've chosen episodes from 1979-81. I watched the series way back when and enjoyed it, but remember thinking it was much less entertaining after Gary Burghoff (Radar) left because they not only made some of the second-tier characters like Klinger, Father Mulcahy, and Major Houlihan more prominent in his absence, but eliminated some of the traits that made them special--Klinger suddenly stops wearing dresses, Houlihan is no longer an adversary to Hawkeye and B.J., and so on. But re-watching them has reminded me of how good the show could be when it wasn't constantly hitting the audience over the head with it's anti-war sentiments. It's not that I disagreed with them, but sometimes they were overly "preachy" and/or heavy-handed; subtlety wasn't their strong suit. Regardless, I've gained a greater appreciation for Jamie Farr (Klinger) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy).

 

[Fading Fast]

It was on AMC a few weeks ago and I watched some of it; can't believe how bad it was. And I really liked it when it first came out. I guess time has a way of showing us how awful some stuff really is...

I have tried to sit through this one several times, but can't and I'm huge WWII buff. I've seen "Tora, Tora, Tora" (a really good movie) and "Midway" (a not really good movie) many times, but I can't make it through "Pearl Harbor" once. There are too many cringe-worthy moments and lines early on.

 

[Edward]

Taboo continues to entertain. I wonder if we'll see a second season. Part of me hopes for it, part of me would rather it stayed just six episodes of brilliance. Greatc characters all of them.

On Netflix, I've started watching Hannibal for the first time, and am enjoying it very much.

The Beeb have clearly taken notice of the success of Man in the High Castle , and have just started a series based on Len Deighton's 1978 novel, SSGB. Set in 1941, it follows an alternate history where Hitler kept the Battle of Britain gonig for just the three weeks longer that he needed to win, there has been a successful Operation Sealion, and England at least has predomiantly fallen to the Nazis. True to 'our' history, the US has yet to enter the war (and may not; after all, what brought the US into the European war was largely Hitler's declaration of war on the US, made in hope that Japan would respond by declaring war on Russia, helping him with the mistake he'd made of opening up a war on two fronts. In this alternative version, the Western front is essentially 'gone' - merely occupyingt and putting down any resistance). THe first episode was great; I'm sensing that a big theme will be (I've never read the book, though I have a copy somewhere) the notion of how you live in an occupied society, and disspelling a lot of fantasy notions that we'd all be Brave Resistance and such, as distinct from keeping our heads down and getting on with life. It also seems to hint at the notion that British Jews could be caught up in the final solution. Intersting stuff so far.

I rewatched the end of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Interesting, that even though he used the Protestant Reclamation to get a divorce, he hated it, and tried to stamp it out in England! For all intense and purpose, he was a Catholic to his dying days!

Well, Henry's end of the protestant reformation, and even his blasphemy laws, were all about political manouevering, never theology. Even to this day, the High Anglican church differs very little from Rome, save the absence of the pope.

Timeless - I'm still enjoying it.

It's got just enough dramatic surprises, just enough decent production design in its historical settings, and a solid cast. And it's also - I'm not quite sure how to say this - in some ways a refreshingly old-fashioned network SF/drama series. At a time when "peak TV" is expanding in all kinds of challenging directions, there's some comfort to be found in an old-school TV show that doesn't require a lot of effort to watch. (E.g., I also watched the pilot for Legion last night. Fascinating, but it was downright exhausting to figure out what was actually going on.) I'm not claiming there aren't some clunky subplots, weak action sequences, varying acting, and assorted dramatic cheap shots. But I can't help but like a show that's partly trying to make history more palatable to the average viewer. And Abigail Spencer has long deserved this kind of juicy lead role.

Anyway, I'm enjoying Timeless enough that I really hope it gets renewed.

This was on Channel 4 in the UK, but they're very poor at keeping anything they don't make themselves on their catch-up service for any length of time, so I missed the first foru episodes. I'm now waiting to see if it appears on UK Netflix. It sounds fun, though - reminds me a bit of the premise of Sliders, from what I hear.

I was sad when Lily outgrew "Blues Clues". That was a sweet show. "Caillou", however..... let's just say when she turned 5, I convinced her that she was too old for him because he was only 4 and she was 5. It worked!

I'm convinced that "Teletubbies" is better if you are inebriated in some way.

I spent the Summer of 1997 watching Teletubbies religiously. I was particualr adept at the Puddle Dance. I was 22, and newly graduated. I still love them.

Fortunately, sometimes it works the other way. My wife and I have been watching a 48-hour marathon of M*A*S*H on the Sundance channel. For whatever reason they've chosen episodes from 1979-81. I watched the series way back when and enjoyed it, but remember thinking it was much less entertaining after Gary Burghoff (Radar) left because they not only made some of the second-tier characters like Klinger, Father Mulcahy, and Major Houlihan more prominent in his absence, but eliminated some of the traits that made them special--Klinger suddenly stops wearing dresses, Houlihan is no longer an adversary to Hawkeye and B.J., and so on. But re-watching them has reminded me of how good the show could be when it wasn't constantly hitting the audience over the head with it's anti-war sentiments. It's not that I disagreed with them, but sometimes they were overly "preachy" and/or heavy-handed; subtlety wasn't their strong suit. Regardless, I've gained a greater appreciation for Jamie Farr (Klinger) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy).

It's interesting how the show moved in waves, responding to the contemporary world. As Mr Duck said, "It was set in Korea, but it was about Vietnam." The shift to being more character-based drama was quite pronounced, and would have happened around the time of the ending of the Vietnam conflict. Interesitngly, though, some of the strongest material on the nature of conflict was during the first three, "Comedy-Mash" seasons.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Victoria. is Jenna Coleman wearing contacts? is it the lighting or special effects? her eyes are freaking me out and are a strange beautiful, and I can't tell whether it is her true eyes or something artificial playing tricks. see the locomotive ride for a great example.

 

[Bushman]

I have tried to sit through this one several times, but can't and I'm huge WWII buff. I've seen "Tora, Tora, Tora" (a really good movie) and "Midway" (a not really good movie) many times, but I can't make it through "Pearl Harbor" once. There are too many cringe-worthy moments and lines early on.

Same, man. I can barely get through the movie,and even then I usually turn it off after the attac, which itself still isn't very historically accurate. .

 

[GHT]

I have tried to sit through this one several times, but can't and I'm huge WWII buff. I've seen "Tora, Tora, Tora" (a really good movie) and "Midway" (a not really good movie) many times, but I can't make it through "Pearl Harbor" once. There are too many cringe-worthy moments and lines early on.

The hero is just too superhuman, he goes from being a spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain to fighter pilot at the time of the Pearl Harbour attack, to bomber pilot on the retaliatory attack on Japan.
If you want a real American hero, one who was a member of the RAF's Eagle Squadron, (American volunteers,) you would be immensely proud of Raimund Sanders Draper, who deliberately sacrificed his own life in order to prevent flying into a school. Click on the link, in his honour and for the eternal gratitude of The British, the school was renamed after this brave man.

 

[Fading Fast]

Victoria. is Jenna Coleman wearing contacts? is it the lighting or special effects? her eyes are freaking me out and are a strange beautiful, and I can't tell whether it is her true eyes or something artificial playing tricks. see the locomotive ride for a great example.

I think it's contacts or CGI or her eyes are just naturally some freaky super-blue and glowing color.

The two train scenes were the best of another episode badly missing Rufus Sewell as Lord M.

And I'm no expert on (well) anything, but I doubt the Queen's chef would have been allowed to use one of the royal rooms for his one-on-one meal with the seamstress. The divide was too great / protocol to strict and the senior staff would never have allowed it.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I gotta say about Victoria, I'm fine without Rufus, and I like Rufus.

 

[Fading Fast]

Taboo continues to entertain. I wonder if we'll see a second season. Part of me hopes for it, part of me would rather it stayed just six episodes of brilliance. Greatc characters all of them.

On Netflix, I've started watching Hannibal for the first time, and am enjoying it very much.

The Beeb have clearly taken notice of the success of Man in the High Castle , and have just started a series based on Len Deighton's 1978 novel, SSGB. Set in 1941, it follows an alternate history where Hitler kept the Battle of Britain gonig for just the three weeks longer that he needed to win, there has been a successful Operation Sealion, and England at least has predomiantly fallen to the Nazis. True to 'our' history, the US has yet to enter the war (and may not; after all, what brought the US into the European war was largely Hitler's declaration of war on the US, made in hope that Japan would respond by declaring war on Russia, helping him with the mistake he'd made of opening up a war on two fronts. In this alternative version, the Western front is essentially 'gone' - merely occupyingt and putting down any resistance). THe first episode was great; I'm sensing that a big theme will be (I've never read the book, though I have a copy somewhere) the notion of how you live in an occupied society, and disspelling a lot of fantasy notions that we'd all be Brave Resistance and such, as distinct from keeping our heads down and getting on with life. It also seems to hint at the notion that British Jews could be caught up in the final solution. Intersting stuff so far....

Not yet being shown in America, but assume it will make it here as all the quality BBC stuff eventually does. Can't wait.

 

[Stormy]

I'm trying sooooo hard to get into "Taboo," but I just can't. And it's kinda frustrating! I love the characters and setting. The costumes are wonderful. But ... well ... I just don't get it.

 

[Touchofevil]

Last night, another couple of episodes of Marcella.

Right now, Johnny Carson from 1985 with Robert Blake and Christie Brinkley. Man was he a great host.