What was the last TV show you watched?

[Worf]

"The Boys" - Wow.... I was familiar with the Graphic Novels but man has Kripke taken this property in some new and amazing directions. So popular a spin-off is already in the works. Wow... these are some messed up "Supes". Still and all they've rightfully changed and toned down (I know hard to believe if you've watched the show) the violence. Most important though is that they've fleshed out all sides of the characters "heroes" AND "villains". In the books almost everyone is despicable, in the series there's REAL character development, great backstories and consequences. I'm lovin' it!

Worf

 

[Worf]

"Ratchet" - Wow... what a mess. I've only seen "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" once and that was some time ago. I know that "Nurse Ratchet" was the titular villain of the exercise and is considered by many to be one of the greatest antagonists in modern film history but I was not overly moved by the film. Now the character is given 8 episodes on Netflix to ply her trade. If Puddin' hadn't spent the last 18 years working in a State run Psychiatric facility (where I also volunteered from time to time) perhaps our experience would've been more engaging.. But when the setting of your story looks more like Baden Baden than Creedmore, Willowbrook or Bellevue you immediately know that reality has little to do with the story.

Murder, manipulation, excessive gore stupid characters doing stupid things it all adds up to what many have called "just another season of American Horror Story" and in that its produced by the same person who runs that franchise the criticism makes perfect sense. Great clothes, cars, sets etc.. but no heart. Everyone's despicable or horribly broken and you wind up caring for almost no one. Also if you know anything at all about forensic psychology or procedures used with violent criminals while in psych facilities you know that the revolving door premise of the show is pure lunacy.

I'll probably skip Season 2

Worf

 

[belfastboy]

Netflix...."Criminal, UK". This is a 7 episode series and it is brilliant TV. Great writing and even better performance. I avoided it for a while as the premise seemed so dry. All action takes place in a police interrogation room. All episodes take place in just 2 rooms and a hallway....very dry at first glance but it is riveting. Each episode is the story of an interview of a suspect or 'witness' to a major crime. Check it out it is stellar and I power watched all 7 and am now sorry it is over.

 

[MisterCairo]

Hallowe'en episode of The Addams Family, 1964. Don Rickles plays one of two thieves, best dressed robbers I have ever seen, hiding from the cops. They hide in their front yard, and are invited in for some refreshments. Spooky mayhem ensues.

Pugsley and Wednesday go out dressed as normal people of course. They look so "scary" that grandma advises them to advise people "do not worry, we are perfectly normal children".

Good times...

 

[AmateisGal]

"The Boys" - Wow.... I was familiar with the Graphic Novels but man has Kripke taken this property in some new and amazing directions. So popular a spin-off is already in the works. Wow... these are some messed up "Supes". Still and all they've rightfully changed and toned down (I know hard to believe if you've watched the show) the violence. Most important though is that they've fleshed out all sides of the characters "heroes" AND "villains". In the books almost everyone is despicable, in the series there's REAL character development, great backstories and consequences. I'm lovin' it!

Worf

The last episode they released was really good. We learned all these new things about the characters that made a world of difference. And yeah, they toned down the violence (a bit). Looking forward to this week's episode!

 

[AmateisGal]

Have started watching Lucifer mostly because of the delicious Tom Ellis, but I find it fascinating as a "what might happen" scenario if the devil decided to abandon Hell and live in L.A. for awhile, solving crimes with a woman who resists his charm. Yes, it's rather mindless entertainment, but fun.

 

[Bushman]

Continued watching Ratched on Netflix. You can see where the cruel nurse got her ideas from in this show, even if she's already cruel and manipulative.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016 version). Diverting fun with a slightly turgid resolution.

 

[Edward]

Had the flu jab on Saturday morning, so the weekend turned into a TV binge. Not that we had any real opportunity of doing anything else much aswe're still sheltering, but I didn't feel much up to anything else.

So. Binged series one of Pennyworth, the roughly sixties-set 'Batman's butler's early years' series. Absolutely beautiful. Very well written, with as much cynicism about Britain, its monarchy and insidious class system as about the fascists that form the main vilains of the piece. Lots of lovely little details (such as Alfred living on Micklewhite Avenue). All those wonderful 1960s British cars. And it's an alternative world, well though out and not yet fully revealed. It's not entirely clear how intact the Union is. Clearly there was a war, but it did not go entirely as it did in our world (references are made to "The German Reich" in away which implies Nazi Germany did not suffer defeat and humiliation post-war). The Court of CHancery is back - in a shaodwy form, overseeing "treason" - and the state also offers not only public executions (hanging reverted to kicking away the stool - followed by disembowelment), but the return of being sentenced to death by starvation, hanging in a gibbet in a public street. I look forward to seeing more of this world revealed across the next series.

Ratched - while I remain unconvinced of the value of yet another explaining away of a great villain as "just misunderstood", or glorified fanfiction, I've enjoyed the first few episodes of this I watched. It looks beautiful, and I want *all* the clothes. Hell, I'd even wear her wardrobe, let along the Doctor's suits. I don't think it's going to be anywhere near as clever as it seems to think it is, but it looks lovely: Noir by Burton. Entertaining enough for me.

The Walking Dead, World's End - only the one episode so far. IT hasn't bitten me immediately the way TWD did, but it took a few episodes of FTWD to hook me, and I greatly enjoyed that thereafter. The interesting angle here is that it focusses on kids who were only six o so when the zombie plague first kicked off, and so have grown up not only with zombies, but the authoritarian political structures that have emerged in that context and by response. It's intended focus is on the long term effects of such an existence with the zombies being more a background noise than front and centre. Aconcept they played with a bit in the soruce material where they had more space to play with Karl, Sophia and so on. Be interesting to see how this pans out.

Hunters turns out to be great fun - very self-consciously shooting for a Tarantino feel, but that's not a bad thing. I had reservations about including the fictional human-chess game (same criticisms as voiced by the Auschwitz foundation), but that aside I like it very much. If anything, it's nice to see a mainstream show openly poiting the finger at how Nazis who could advantage the allies sometimes got an easy ride post war, such as in NASA. That and the implications - all too often downplayed in anything which deals with the Holocaust and its impact - that anti-semitism was often common in the Allied nations too. Some great performances here and snappy dialogue. I like the English nun so far (especially with 'the implications' in episode 4 or so giving the character depth), and Lillian from Kimmy Schmidt is great. Great ensemble overall, though.

Finished Band of Brothers the other week; glad that in the end I gave it a go after having been a bit put off by Saving Private Ryan. Really great show.

 

[scotrace]

Ratched- I didn't care about the enormous plot holes. As Worf pointed out, the whole hospital, spit shined as it was, was preposterously without mayhem. Patients allowed to roam freely, serial killer asked to join a party, all rubbish.
And the legless-armless man story is stupid. There's not that much LSD in the country.

But, oh, those clothes. I'm with you, Edward, the suits! And my Missus looks so much like Sarah Paulson, she can finally see herself being able to pull off vintage. Which would be great because I keep giving her great pieces....

The Dr's office, amazing. That very specific blue everywhere. The cocktail service set. All of it. The story pay be rubbish, but it's all so pretty, and doesn't drag on for a million wildly off plot episodes like AHS.

 

[AmateisGal]

Had the flu jab on Saturday morning, so the weekend turned into a TV binge. Not that we had any real opportunity of doing anything else much aswe're still sheltering, but I didn't feel much up to anything else.

So. Binged series one of Pennyworth, the roughly sixties-set 'Batman's butler's early years' series. Absolutely beautiful. Very well written, with as much cynicism about Britain, its monarchy and insidious class system as about the fascists that form the main vilains of the piece. Lots of lovely little details (such as Alfred living on Micklewhite Avenue). All those wonderful 1960s British cars. And it's an alternative world, well though out and not yet fully revealed. It's not entirely clear how intact the Union is. Clearly there was a war, but it did not go entirely as it did in our world (references are made to "The German Reich" in away which implies Nazi Germany did not suffer defeat and humiliation post-war). The Court of CHancery is back - in a shaodwy form, overseeing "treason" - and the state also offers not only public executions (hanging reverted to kicking away the stool - followed by disembowelment), but the return of being sentenced to death by starvation, hanging in a gibbet in a public street. I look forward to seeing more of this world revealed across the next series.

Ratched - while I remain unconvinced of the value of yet another explaining away of a great villain as "just misunderstood", or glorified fanfiction, I've enjoyed the first few episodes of this I watched. It looks beautiful, and I want *all* the clothes. Hell, I'd even wear her wardrobe, let along the Doctor's suits. I don't think it's going to be anywhere near as clever as it seems to think it is, but it looks lovely: Noir by Burton. Entertaining enough for me.

The Walking Dead, World's End - only the one episode so far. IT hasn't bitten me immediately the way TWD did, but it took a few episodes of FTWD to hook me, and I greatly enjoyed that thereafter. The interesting angle here is that it focusses on kids who were only six o so when the zombie plague first kicked off, and so have grown up not only with zombies, but the authoritarian political structures that have emerged in that context and by response. It's intended focus is on the long term effects of such an existence with the zombies being more a background noise than front and centre. Aconcept they played with a bit in the soruce material where they had more space to play with Karl, Sophia and so on. Be interesting to see how this pans out.

Hunters turns out to be great fun - very self-consciously shooting for a Tarantino feel, but that's not a bad thing. I had reservations about including the fictional human-chess game (same criticisms as voiced by the Auschwitz foundation), but that aside I like it very much. If anything, it's nice to see a mainstream show openly poiting the finger at how Nazis who could advantage the allies sometimes got an easy ride post war, such as in NASA. That and the implications - all too often downplayed in anything which deals with the Holocaust and its impact - that anti-semitism was often common in the Allied nations too. Some great performances here and snappy dialogue. I like the English nun so far (especially with 'the implications' in episode 4 or so giving the character depth), and Lillian from Kimmy Schmidt is great. Great ensemble overall, though.

Finished Band of Brothers the other week; glad that in the end I gave it a go after having been a bit put off by Saving Private Ryan. Really great show.

So glad you watched Band of Brothers! My daughter has watched it four or five times now. She's just a little obsessed with it. It's one of the best TV miniseries ever, I think.

 

[MichaelRhB]

NYPD Blue. Watching it now.

 

[Edward]

So glad you watched Band of Brothers! My daughter has watched it four or five times now. She's just a little obsessed with it. It's one of the best TV miniseries ever, I think.

I think one of the things I found most refreshing about it was how it humanised "the enemy", even the SS. There was something especially affecting about the final scene where the German officer debriefs his troops as they surrender, and the American boys see the commonality between soldiers of different sides, irrespective of nationality, cause, race, victor or vanquished.

 

[MisterCairo]

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016 version). Diverting fun with a slightly turgid resolution.

As a massive fan of the books, I wondered how they could possibly transfer this to a screen of any sort.

After three episodes it hit me. They can't.

 

[MisterCairo]

The final episode of the last season of The Walking Dead. Finally!

Recording the new series, not seen the first episode yet. First episodebof Fear is on tonight, cannot wait, and we caught the girls up over the spring and summer!

 

[MisterCairo]

I think one of the things I found most refreshing about it was how it humanised "the enemy", even the SS. There was something especially affecting about the final scene where the German officer debriefs his troops as they surrender, and the American boys see the commonality between soldiers of different sides, irrespective of nationality, cause, race, victor or vanquished.

I feel the same way with Das Boot. I am rooting for them the whole time, thinking, wait, what the hell?

Still glad they lost though!

 

[Edward]

I feel the same way with Das Boot. I am rooting for them the whole time, thinking, wait, what the hell?

Still glad they lost though!

You'd be inhuman not to sympathise with the plight of the U-boat crews, especially knowing how few of them made it home!

 

[MisterCairo]

You'd be inhuman not to sympathise with the plight of the U-boat crews, especially knowing how few of them made it home!

If I recall, it opens with a statement that 3 of 4 who went to sea in a U-boat did not survive.

I recall saying to my German ethnic friend watching with me I wished it were 4 of 4. He had the temerity to ask me why. So perhaps the war could have ended sooner I replied. Oh, right, he conceded.

 

[Edward]

If I recall, it opens with a statement that 3 of 4 who went to sea in a U-boat did not survive.

I recall saying to my German ethnic friend watching with me I wished it were 4 of 4. He had the temerity to ask me why. So perhaps the war could have ended sooner I replied. Oh, right, he conceded.

They had a hard war. They were also, memory insists, the branch of the Reich's forces with the fewest actual Nazis involved, though I wish I could remember where I read that.

 

[MisterCairo]

They had a hard war. They were also, memory insists, the branch of the Reich's forces with the fewest actual Nazis involved, though I wish I could remember where I read that.

They did indeed, but as their side started it my sympathy is somewhat diminished. I save most of it for the names on the cenotaph in my town square.

Still a great movie though.

Mr. C
Commander
Judge Advocate General Branch
Canadian Armed Forces