What was the last TV show you watched?

[Fading Fast]

"The Crown" Season 2, Episode something, the one where JFK and Jackie visit

The show has always been style overs substance, but the balance has been tilting even more toward style this year. It's beautiful and manipulative, but it is blithely trampling over history. I'm shallow enough that the gorgeousness and emotionally engaging dialogue keeps me a fan, but I am getting a bit miffed at the fast-and-lose history.

N.B., Best style / manipulative moment this season, when Ann's boyfriend shows up at Buckingham palace to take her out on his motorcycle.

 

[Bugguy]

Flipping Somewhere... I can no longer keep track. It looks like they'll never run out of cities to exploit. The twins were renovating two houses within two blocks at the same time in East Nashville last summer. The only shows more obnoxious are the Real Housewives of Somewhere. Ironic, cable wouldn't be so bad except for the endless timed to coincide commercials. Remember when cable was the thing because you didn't see any commercials. Now at least you can tape and fast-forward.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Binged a couple of back halves of seasons over the last few days:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend season 3 (DVR'd from The CW) - I remain really, really impressed with this series. It's got tremendous guts and ambition, and awesome talent across the entire cast and production. That said, I don't think the second half of the season was nearly as impressive as the first. The songs are still laugh-out-loud killer, but the plot machinations got a bit exhausting. But I'm definitely looking forward to the final season... if it doesn't get canceled. (I recently read somewhere that right from the start Bloom and McKenna mapped out the show as four season-long acts, so I hope it gets renewed and they can finish Rebecca and company's story as intended.)

The Tick season 1 (Amazon Prime) - I feel the same way I did about the first half of the season: it just makes me nostalgic for the animated Tick series and short-but-clever 2001 live action series with Patrick (Puddy) Warburton. It's not bad, though the guy playing the Tick leans much too hard on an Adam West impersonation. Worse, it's just not very funny. At least there's some great scenery chewing by Jackie Earle Hayley as the villain. But it's just not memorable - I found I could barely recall the plot and character details from the first half of the season just a few months ago when I began watching - and it just kind of lays there, the weakest adaptation of the material yet. At least the 25-minute eps zip by quickly...

 

[scottyrocks]

My daughter and I have been watching This Is Us. I think we've covered the first 4 episodes.

I teared up a little during the first one, but not since. The story is developing nicely, and I like the subtle humor mixed in with the drama. Sort of like real life - a little of everything.

 

[HanauMan]

I watched Young Sheldon yesterday, the TBBT spin off. Narrated by Jim Parsons, it follows the exploits of a nine year old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) going to high school in 1989. I went off TBBT a while back but this spin off is pretty funny and I will stick with it and see how it fans out.

 

[Fading Fast]

Original "Star Trek" season 2 episode 2, "Who Mourns for Adonais"

• Remembering the time, these were smart shows. Of course, we know that, but you watch a good one and it jumps out at you anew

• A perfect and classic Kirk, arrogantly dismissive, put down line:
  • APOLLO: But you're of the same nature. I could sweep you out of existence with a wave of my hand and bring you back again. I can give life or death. What else does mankind demand of its gods?
  • KIRK: Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate. [said in Kirk's best Larchmont Wasp lockjaw]

• How come the striking and seemingly reasonably talented Leslie Parrish didn't have more of a career than making guest appearances on every TV series in the '60s?

• I've read that they gave Chekov the "Davey Jones of the Monkey's" wig to attract the "young" generation
  • The wig is so bad that it looks intentionally awful (you just want to pull the stupid thing off his head) - how could that have been thought a good thing?

• Nice to hear Kirk's full-throttle defense and embrace of Western Civilization (they wouldn't write that today)
  • Kirk (regarding the ancient Greek gods): They gave us so much. The Greek civilisation, much of our culture and philosophy came from a worship of those beings. In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?

 

[Zombie_61]

Original "Star Trek" season 2 episode 2, "Who Mourns for Adonais"...

I've read that they gave Chekov the "Davey Jones of the Monkey's" wig to attract the "young" generation. The wig is so bad that it looks intentionally awful (you just want to pull the stupid thing off his head) - how could that have been thought a good thing?...

I've read the same thing, that Walter Koenig was cast because the production staff wanted a "Davy Jones" type to attract young, and particularly female, viewers. Mr. Koenig says he was one of only two actors who auditioned for the role, and was told he had the part within an hour. As for the wig, I've read he had to wear it for his first few episodes because his own hair wasn't long enough to be styled like Mr. Jones', and he/they needed time for him to grow it longer.

However, I've also read his character was partly introduced because George Takei was still filming The Green Berets (1968) and was going to be absent at times during the season, so they created Ensign Chekov to "fill in" for Lt. Sulu.

 

[KY Gentleman]

We just finished the first two seasons of Fortitude. It’s set in “the northern most city in the Arctic.” That’s what we are told, anyway.
Stanley Tucci stars in the first season and Dennis Quaid stars in season two.
It’s an interesting story involving a murder investigation and the scheme to steal
a frozen mastodon from a glacier. It’s a tale that continues to grow stranger and stranger as you progress through the episodes.
You can find it on Amazon and it’s free if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber. I recommend it but be warned it can be a tad gory.

 

[AmateisGal]

Five episodes of Babylon Berlin. I'm hooked. It's dark and erotic and edgy and sinister and fun - in other words, pretty much how Germany was in 1929 - all wrapped up into one.

 

[Worf]

"The Frankenstein Chronicles" - A new series on the Flix, Sean Bean (Lord Edard Stark) plays a "runner" early London law enforcement that stumbles upon a corpse made of combined body parts and it's off to the races from there. Mildly entertaining but I think accuracy suffers.

Worf

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've read the same thing, that Walter Koenig was cast because the production staff wanted a "Davy Jones" type to attract young, and particularly female, viewers. Mr. Koenig says he was one of only two actors who auditioned for the role, and was told he had the part within an hour. As for the wig, I've read he had to wear it for his first few episodes because his own hair wasn't long enough to be styled like Mr. Jones', and he/they needed time for him to grow it longer.

However, I've also read his character was partly introduced because George Takei was still filming The Green Berets (1968) and was going to be absent at times during the season, so they created Ensign Chekov to "fill in" for Lt. Sulu.

The story David Gerrold quoted Koenig as telling was that he read, but then nobody told him for 2-3 hours that he had the part. They kept shuttling him here to wardrobe and there to the hairstyle people. Finally he got fed up and said, "What is going on?" Only then did they tell him he was to be Ensign Chekov. "You mean nobody told you?"

Both Leslie Parrish and Michael "Apollo" Forrest guested on U.N.C.L.E., though in widely separated episodes. I've seen Forrest in Westerns as far back as ABC's 1950s oater Cheyenne. And I think, without looking it up, that Leslie was in the film (or was it the stage?) version of L'il Abner. You're right, though, it seems odd that she didn't have a bigger/longer career.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I started watching The Black List tonight. I’m on Season One episode four. I’ve heard a lot about this series and so far it’s been very entertaining.

 

[Fading Fast]

We just finished the first season of Netflix's "Everything Sucks!," a set-in-the-'90s "nostalgia" comedy-drama centering on - what else - a high school. Like a lot of modern comedy-dramas, it's heavier on the drama (it's no "Friends" or "Frasier" with a punch line ever few minutes), but keeps it light enough that the angst quotient is low.

After a slow start, by the (I think) third episode, you become engaged with the characters and the episodes fly by. While no real new ground is broken - the surface nerds, outcasts, cool kids, teachers, parents are all shown to be more and different from their superficial "labels -" it's done thoughtfully and with enough verve to make it feel fresh.

It reminds me a lot of "Freaks and Geeks," another nostalgia / high school comedy-drama that was smartly done. I won't loose sleep if they don't make a season 2, but will definitely watch if they do.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finished Babylon Berlin. One word? Incredible. Very, very well done. Am now in love with actor Volker Bruch!

 

[HanauMan]

Watched the first episode of Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, about the 1997 murder of the Italian fashion designer Versace. Not my usual TV fare so not yet sure whether I'll continue watching the show but the first episode, with Versace swanning around his Florida palace in a pink robe, reminded me a bit of the old 1980s cop show Miami Vice, something about those bright Miami colors and decadent opulence.

On a brighter note, I also watched episode two of Young Sheldon and it just gets funnier.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Right now, on german public culture-tv channel:

Enjoy!

 

[Fading Fast]

I get that we are late to the party on this one, but SGF and I just started watching "Mozart in the Jungle" (we are in the middle of season 2 so far).

It's slick - even manipulative - but it's smart enough, entertaining enough and moves fast enough that you don't care. Thirty minute comedies aren't real life, but at their best they capture real life's moments of joy, pain, fun, struggle and "Mozart..." does all this.

But its real joy, IMHO, is Gael Garcia Bernal as Rodrigo De Souza a.k.a Maestro. His impish spirit is infectious and a joy to watch.

Comedy writers try to create characters who move through life genuinely oblivious to the normal rules of behavior and thought - Kramer from "Seinfeld" did this noisily - Rodrigo does it with an innocence and childlike joy and mischievousness that powers the show by knocking every one around him off center.

Rodrigo wants to enjoy life; has a gift for music that haunts him (smartly revealed through his ripping conversations with an imaged Beethoven); wants to help others but is also selfish in a non-mean way - all resulting in a small* human ball of basically benevolent crazy and tangled emotions.

There are also a bunch of other very talented actors creating interesting characters - the randy "retired" older maestro who doesn't really want to be retired, the ingenue oboist both insecure and cocky trying to find her place in NYC and the music world and the somewhat lost, aging but too-pretty cellist, amidst others - and all the usual dynamics - jealous musicians, demanding managers, prima donna donors, etc. - but this is De Souza's show and it's better because of that.


* IMDB lists De Souza as 5'7", which tells us that the conversion formula for IMDB height to real-world height is

IMDB height - 4 inches = Real World Height​

 

[Worf]

To EVERYONE here who recommended "Call the Midwife"

Pbbbst!!!!

Puddin' is now ensconced watching it (she's a sucker for period pieces and ANYTHING involving "merry ole England") and ah'm pissed! I'm sure it's a great show as many here have opined BUT despite having viewed my son's birth I'm NOT a fan of the experience and do NOT consider it a form of entertainment. Though I must say the music's pretty damn good, at least what I hear of it wafting upstairs. Still I'm angry at you lot for the following reasons:

1. Can't get near the main T.V. - Home Theatre set-up that I BUILT with my own sweaty hands cause she's merrily binge watching the entire series on Netflix.

2. Have to listen to terrible stories from her on the dangers of child birth and the awful conditions in post-war London's east end.

3. Then there's the soap opera aspects of the entire show. She feels compelled to tell me EVERYTHING about EVERYONE!!!! (Arrrgh)

4. And worst of all, I have been woken several times by the sound of BLOOD CURDLING SCREAMS! I mean it I'm not joking! More than once I've stumbled downstairs from a light sleep thinking that some intruder was gutting Puddin' with a chainsaw or worse!

I know that childbirth is not a walk in the park but Good Lord Man some of that screaming would shut up a Banshee! And for all those snickering it ain't funny!

Worf

 

[Benzadmiral]

A rather famous (at least to Star Trek devotees) and early episode of Have Gun - Will Travel. "Helen of Abajinian" is the Gene Roddenberry script that won him a Writers' Guild award in 1957 or '58. It's fun, but not much happens in the way of Western-style action -- which might be why the episode stood out among the oaters of those days. Paladin himself doesn't do a whole lot except display erudition and worldly-wise sophistication as he agrees to retrieve an Armenian landowner's daughter, who has run off with a young non-Armenian. Paladin bargains hard, "like an Armenian," for his fee, counsels the young man (who until he sees the daughter dance doesn't really want to marry her), and talks the landowner into settling land and livestock on his new son-in-law.

Character actor Harold J. Stone blusters his way through the role of the Armenian dad, and Debra Paget's sister, Lisa Gaye, plays the daughter.

 

[Fading Fast]

To EVERYONE here who recommended "Call the Midwife"

Pbbbst!!!!

Puddin' is now ensconced watching it (she's a sucker for period pieces and ANYTHING involving "merry ole England") and ah'm pissed! I'm sure it's a great show as many here have opined BUT despite having viewed my son's birth I'm NOT a fan of the experience and do NOT consider it a form of entertainment. Though I must say the music's pretty damn good, at least what I hear of it wafting upstairs. Still I'm angry at you lot for the following reasons:

1. Can't get near the main T.V. - Home Theatre set-up that I BUILT with my own sweaty hands cause she's merrily binge watching the entire series on Netflix.

2. Have to listen to terrible stories from her on the dangers of child birth and the awful conditions in post-war London's east end.

3. Then there's the soap opera aspects of the entire show. She feels compelled to tell me EVERYTHING about EVERYONE!!!! (Arrrgh)

4. And worst of all, I have been woken several times by the sound of BLOOD CURDLING SCREAMS! I mean it I'm not joking! More than once I've stumbled downstairs from a light sleep thinking that some intruder was gutting Puddin' with a chainsaw or worse!

I know that childbirth is not a walk in the park but Good Lord Man some of that screaming would shut up a Banshee! And for all those snickering it ain't funny!

Worf

Nope, not snickering at all. That snickering you hear must be coming from somewhere else. ["Excuse me for a second, I have to, uh, get something from the other room -" unrelated, an unexplained sound of belly laughing can be heard muffled through a door.]

If you have to live with 1-5 (especially 3), you might as well break down and just watch the darn thing. Overall it's pretty good time travel to late '50s/early '60s England with some interesting characters although too much lather-rinse-repeat plotting. And the female lead from "Logan's Run" Jenny Agutter is outstanding as Sister Julienne - funny to see her 40 years later (and looking computer aged - same exact face and eyes).