What was the last TV show you watched?

[Edward]

Ashes to Ashes. first episode to this sequel show to Life on Mars (the real one, with Phillip Glennister, not the....version... they did with Harvey Keitel).

 

[MisterCairo]

Tried this... watched 3 episodes but did NOT feel compelled to keep going... What'd I miss?

Worf

No idea. It speaks to you or it does not. It speaks to me, clearly not to you. You gave it a chance at least! Different strokes...

 

[Zombie_61]

No idea. It speaks to you or it does not. It speaks to me, clearly not to you. You gave it a chance at least! Different strokes...

I think this sums it up pretty well. There have been quite a few semi-recent television series--Deadwood, Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful, The Walking Dead, etc.--that gained loyal audiences rather quickly, but every one of those shows bored me to death and, as much as I wanted to like them, I gave up on them before too long. Even Longmire took a while for me to like it, somewhere near the end of the first season if I remember correctly. There was just something about the show that kept me coming back, and I eventually realized I was looking forward to seeing the next episode rather than just tuning in to keep up.

 

[MisterCairo]

I think this sums it up pretty well. There have been quite a few semi-recent television series--Deadwood, Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful, The Walking Dead, etc.--that gained loyal audiences rather quickly, but every one of those shows bored me to death and, as much as I wanted to like them, I gave up on them before too long. Even Longmire took a while for me to like it, somewhere near the end of the first season if I remember correctly. There was just something about the show that kept me coming back, and I eventually realized I was looking forward to seeing the next episode rather than just tuning in to keep up.

I was the same way with The Sopranos, Black Sails, Narcos and Breaking Bad. Could not call them bad, just not of interest to me. To the fans - enjoy!

 

[Zombie_61]

I was the same way with The Sopranos, Black Sails, Narcos and Breaking Bad. Could not call them bad, just not of interest to me. To the fans - enjoy!

Oh, definitely. I could understand why people enjoyed such shows, I just wasn't one of them.

Funny you should mention Black Sails, a show I had almost forgotten about. I've had a bit of a fascination with "Golden Era" pirates for as long as I can remember, enjoy reading about them and whatever history has been recorded about them, and I like a good "pirate movie". Still, for years I've been telling people that if they ever made a movie or television series that showed the actual day-to-day life of a pirate (or any sailor, really) from that era, it would be quite boring. The first season (or so) of Black Sails nearly proved me right.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Beecham House. PBS. It's over, and they didn't get renewed for a 2nd season. As a reviewer wrote, turn it off when you see the Taj Mahal if you don't want to be left hanging. It could have been so much better. So little was earned.

Better Things. FX. I've been catching reruns. Whoever does the soundtrack for this series deserves a big nod. So many great songs that work perfectly, and the remastering of old recordings is top notch. Slim Gaillard's "Dunkin' Bagels" is such a fun song.

 

[MisterCairo]

Starting back on the reboot of Battlestar Galactica. It is hard to believe it premiered on 2004, ancient history in current terms. Both in that I recall it happening at the time and thinking it was not that long ago, and given the quality of the effects for a TV show generally, and for one of that time.

 

[GHT]

2004 eh? I re-watched the 2001 version of Enigma recently. There's always something about watching a re-run. Knowing the main gist of the movie I caught snippets, just small details, that I missed. It's like that with most films that I have seen previously.

 

[Worf]

"Into The Night" - This Belgian made Netflix offering was entertaining enough for Puddin' and I to binge watch it in 2 nights. Only 6 episodes in length the series starts off with a bang... literally and figuratively. An Italian NATO officer slides into a Belgian Airport, desperately tries to find anything heading West but when T.V. reports start filtering in of mass deaths wherever dawn has risen he punches out an airport Security Guard, steals his weapon and hijacks a plane that was headed East to Moscow and points it West into the lingering night.

Of course the plane has a motley collection of passengers unlucky enough to have been on board when it's commandeered and through conversation and flashbacks we learn of their motivations and some of their backstories. The need to stay ahead of the dawn and the short time frame of the episodes make this one taut and desperate ride. The only thing that kept me from rating this thing higher was the atrocious dubbing and the feeble attempt to make shoddy accents match the origins of the speakers. When I mean bad dubbing I'm talking Shaw Brother's 70's Kung Fu movie bad! Still if you can accept some of the "dodgy Science" and the fact that none of the dialog is in the same hemisphere of the lips moving on the screen you can have a rollicking good time.

Worf

 

[Monavillecowboy]

The last network TV was the Alienist.
The last streaming TV was Bosch.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The last network TV was the Alienist.

The new seasons started last weekend. You probably already knew that, but in case anyone else missed it. The opening sequence was fantastic. This show, for being on lowly TNT network, has costumes and scene design like you'd see on HBO or FX. The number of dresses and hats Sara Howard has per episode is astounding. Their wardrobe department must work like dogs. I'm getting a little nervous about the show becoming all the same tricks, but I still think it is a great production.

 

[belfastboy]

"Into The Night" - This Belgian made Netflix offering was entertaining enough for Puddin' and I to binge watch it in 2 nights. Only 6 episodes in length the series starts off with a bang... literally and figuratively. An Italian NATO officer slides into a Belgian Airport, desperately tries to find anything heading West but when T.V. reports start filtering in of mass deaths wherever dawn has risen he punches out an airport Security Guard, steals his weapon and hijacks a plane that was headed East to Moscow and points it West into the lingering night.

Of course the plane has a motley collection of passengers unlucky enough to have been on board when it's commandeered and through conversation and flashbacks we learn of their motivations and some of their backstories. The need to stay ahead of the dawn and the short time frame of the episodes make this one taut and desperate ride. The only thing that kept me from rating this thing higher was the atrocious dubbing and the feeble attempt to make shoddy accents match the origins of the speakers. When I mean bad dubbing I'm talking Shaw Brother's 70's Kung Fu movie bad! Still if you can accept some of the "dodgy Science" and the fact that none of the dialog is in the same hemisphere of the lips moving on the screen you can have a rollicking good time.

Worf

I would think (and hope) that with today's technology the dubbing would be so much better but it ain't. Watched "Snowman" with Val Kilmer in a minor role....(terrible, terrible movie) The movie was in English but for some weird reason Kilmer was dubbed....badly....with what sounded like his own voice. He has had so much facial work that he resembles a cadaver and it is hard to discern if he is totally present or partially in LaLa land. Perhaps he kept screwing up lines and they had to bring in somebody to fix it.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Ernest: The Alienist's outstanding production values are the main reason I am watching. Not for the story or acting, which mostly continue to underwhelm. Who knew that Budapest could make such a great 1890s NYC?!?

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I hear you. I wonder why characters aren't more dynamic. Like this show. There are some outstanding elements to it. Is that simply because they hired some outstanding talent in certain areas? Is it an incomplete vision by the showrunners? They have some talented actors. Why aren't they doing more with their characters? Is that all the fault of the writing and directing? This is the type of situation that leaves me scratching my head. Are these characters going to develop at all? It's not enough that the story is a new story each season. I don't want to see these characters played the same way and with no growth in different story lines. That seems so lazy and with missed opportunities. Sara moving from the police department to private practice isn't character development. This is probably where endless audience testing becomes a real hindrance. They like her like this, so she will remain like this.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I think it's the writing that's the main problem, plus the direction of the actors. (I mean, could Ted Levine be twirling his moustache any harder?!?) I've seen all of these actors give better performances in other things.

And as I said about the first season when it ran: I'd enjoyed the novel when it first came out because a serial killer procedural set in the 1890s was, if not a totally new idea, at least a rare and different animal. Now it's almost 30 years later... and every kind of serial killer story, in every imaginable time and place, has been done to death. So we're mainly left with the interest of the period recreation, and since the characters are, well, thinly drawn and uninterestingly played, the story just isn't that compelling. (I haven't even read the second book, so I don't have the vague memory of the story I did in the first season... but I'm still finding the plot the least interesting thing about the show.)

However, it's definitely a fascinatingly detailed recreation of old New York. I'm gonna keep watching for the sets and costumes!

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The Alienist. TNT. Why are they running two episodes every week? The season will be over in six weeks or less. I was really looking forward to it last night. Can't say why. Was just in the mood. These were a couple of the best episodes of the entire series (season 2, episodes 3 & 4).

I'm confused by Sara's transportation. First, she has a cargo wagon. Then a manned "luxury" carriage, but maybe it was a taxi? Then riding public bus wagon. Maybe that's how it has always been done in NYC when you don't have your own personal carriage.

 

[MisterCairo]

Still catching up on Fear The Walking Dead with the girls. Nearing the end of season three.

 

[belfastboy]

We have been specializing in European TV series...especially Finnish and Polish. Sometimes weird and convoluted plot lines but somehow when they are speaking a foreign tongue it all seems okay. Right now watching Polish series "Signs". It is different than the Finnish shows as they are all shot in winter and it is always covered in snow....OR perhaps they have 10 month winters there?? At least in the Polish show it is spring time in episode 6.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I think this sums it up pretty well. There have been quite a few semi-recent television series--Deadwood, Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful, The Walking Dead, etc.--that gained loyal audiences rather quickly, but every one of those shows bored me to death and, as much as I wanted to like them, I gave up on them before too long. Even Longmire took a while for me to like it, somewhere near the end of the first season if I remember correctly. There was just something about the show that kept me coming back, and I eventually realized I was looking forward to seeing the next episode rather than just tuning in to keep up.

From this it sounds like you prefer shows about ordinary people and situations. Those other shows are somewhat baroque.

I have a similar issue. I did worship Deadwood, and it's one of the few series I've gotten through to the end. I wouldn't even bother with Penny Dreadful - anything with the supernatural I usually find fatally kitsch.

The problem with series TV is so much of it is crime or the occult, both subjects of exquisite tedium after a certain point.

I'm back to reading. Maybe I'll try Longmire again based on what you wrote here- I think I saw 4 episodes but it made no impression on me.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The Alienist. TNT. Another very fine two episodes. Already the season finale next week. I like that they didn't drag it out and play the usual TV crime games. It's also likely that because there are only six episodes, they can throw a ten or twelve episode budget at it and really make it shine. On the other hand, it's often not a good sign when a network quickly purges of a show. Breaking ties with the production company or have no intentions of another season. I can't imagine the ratings are low, but I'm still fooling myself that quality wins out in the end.