What was the last TV show you watched?

[ChazfromCali]

Recently binge-watched Wednesday. Cute. I kinda like it.
Definitely aimed at a younger demographic I think. Reminds me of a Grimm-lite monster of the week kinda thing. Remember Grimm?

Also watching Stranger Things. Dang those kidz are annoying ;-) I almost gave up on it but I'm glad I didn't. Enjoying it a lot.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The pacing never speeds up, no.... actually one of the things I liked about it. Maybe I'm just slowing down as I age, but I've really come to enjoy slow-paced, character stuff of late. I saw The Deer Hunter for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed how it uses that first act to build the characters and their pre-Nam life. (As an aside, the use of de Niro's wearing his uniform as symbolic of his alienation from those who weren't there on his return is just gorgeous.) I see too much stuff these days that isn't interested in building the character... Not for everyone, though, I know.



I was a teenage Peaky, so that didn't bother me.... I was fine with the build up, just the actual reveal felt..... lazy. Maybe they can make that work with another season. It was, however, quite a popular show, so chances are Netflix would prefer to cancel it.



I was wary of that one myself - I've seen *way* more than a lifetime's worth of Jolly WW2 Adventures - but quite enjoyed it despite myself. Great soundtrack. Mayne is a fascinating character; I gather the family are said to be unhappy with his portrayal as it makes him too thuggish in their eyes. Unless you know where to read between the lines, they've kept away from dealing with speculation about Mayne's sexuality. (It was suggested a few years ago that he might have been gay; various political figures in NI queued up to label this a "disgraceful slur", an attitude which I'd rather hope we'd have gotten past by this point, but having grown up in NI....). The young English fella playing him does the accent rather well in my opinion. Be interesting to see what a second season brings.




Started watching that yesterday. I'm in it purely to get to a later season where David Bedella has a significant recurring role. Kinda cartoony. Ryan himself reminds me of Steve Guttenberg in Short Circuit, combined with (this 2/3 way into series 1) a fairly traditional white saviour trope; be interesting to see whether they lean into or subvert that as it goes on. The weird quasi-threesome thing with the solider fella in Vegas seemed oddly shoe-horned into the plot; it really felt to me like there should have been some more engagement with that and the plot, otherwise it reeks a bit of edgelord writing. That said, it may well come back as an issue later on, we'll see.

The shots of Paris are lovely; spending more time there post pandemic there were definitely specific streets I recognised.


This week I also watched ITV's dramatisation of A Spy Among Friends. Based (mostly - Anna Maxwell Martin's character is an invention in order to drive the plot forward) on the true story of Kim Philby's defection from British secret services to the USSR in 1963, and starring Guy Pearce as Philby, with Damien Lewis as Nicholas Elliot, working for British secret services investigating his former colleague and good friend. Reviews have been mixed: mainly, it was disliked by the sort of lazy reviewers who resent being required to think and not having every last element of the plot expositioned and telegrqphed to death. The political rivalry between SIS and MI5 are nicely represented, as well as the (at least in 1963) inherent classism of those services (another purpose for the Mrs Thomas character). The sense of period is beautifully dome, a mix of wardrobe, set, use of what I believe to be period media for some shots, and the quality of sets. The cars are glorious - this being a real golden era for the British motor industry. Watch out for Adrian Edmondson in a real dramatic turn, very different from his earlier, comedic work.

Definitely worth catching for anyone who has an interest in depictions of either espionage in Britain in that period, or that period in Britain more generally. For me, they particularly nailed that idea of the early-mid Sixties when it finally was beginning to be the Sixties in Britain, but the fifties still loomed large, with the NHS still in its relative infancy and rationing not yet a decade over (food rationing in Britain ceased in 1954; the last item rationed was coal, which came to an end in 1958).

Aside from occasional Fleming and le Carre find with Bond up to Moore then another go with Brosnan,
the genre not much drawn to and particularly I've left the Cambridge curse alone. This looks smart.

 

[AmateisGal]

Season finale of Slow Horses. Excellent!

 

[Edward]

Currently watching the third (I think to be final?) series of Pennyworth. The action has moved on five years from the end of the British Civil War depicted in the second series. We're now in the late Sixties, continuing Alfie's adventures in espionage. The show remains the established mix of Sixties London tropes, along with many, lovely aesthetic touches and pop-culture references. As previously, no punches are pulled. This is still not (thankfully) Adam West's batworld being prequeled. Good fun, and worth catching. I really hope DC commission more of this sort of period tuff, they do it so well.

Binged Our Flag is Death, a pirate sitcom from the creative forces behind What we do in the shadows. Tremendous fun, looking forward to the second series already.

 

[ChazfromCali]

Good news for us Wednesday fans.

‘Wednesday’ Renewed for a Woeful Season 2

Co-showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough tease what's next in Wednesday's "torturous journey."

www.netflix.com

Funny. At first I really wasn't expecting much from this series, but I've been turned into a fan.

 

[Edward]

Good news for us Wednesday fans.

http://[URL]https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/wednesday-season-2-renewed

[/URL]

Funny. At fist I really wasn't expecting much from this series, but I've been turned into a fan.

I liked it. It has its limitations - I really hope, now they've established the show itself, we get more interaction with normies than 'Hogwarts for weird kids', but it was fun nonetheless, and has a lot of potential.

 

[Frunobulax]

I liked it. It has its limitations - I really hope, now they've established the show itself, we get more interaction with normies than 'Hogwarts for weird kids', but it was fun nonetheless, and has a lot of potential.

I wound up liking it quite well. I had two fears: that it would turn into an angsty, emo CW show, and that Wednesday's character would offer little room for development. I was wrong on both counts.

The Hyde monster gave me Ed Roth Rat Fink vibes. And the character Ono looked like she belonged at the Rocky Horror Picture show house party.

 

[Doctor Damage]

For those of you who are Columbo fans here's a twitter account that posts screenshots from the shows and sometimes adds funny captions. Nice resource for visual images from the show.

https://twitter.com/ColumboScreens

 

[Edward]

I wound up liking it quite well. I had two fears: that it would turn into an angsty, emo CW show, and that Wednesday's character would offer little room for development. I was wrong on both counts.

The Hyde monster gave me Ed Roth Rat Fink vibes. And the character Ono looked like she belonged at the Rocky Horror Picture show house party.

The visuals were lovely - as, of course, we'd have expected from Burton. I also adored Gwendoline Christie in this - I really hope they bring her back in some shape or form. I loved especially that they didn't make a thing of her height - indeed, I don't think it was even mentioned at all?

 

[Edward]

We've picked up the Lionsgate+ channel on a three-month cheap deal as a bolt on to our Prime subscription at the minute. We do this once or twice a year and binge on the stuff we want to see. This time round, it was for the third season of Pennyworth. Having caught up and now waiting for the last three episodes of that to drop, last night I watched the two-parter Houdini, starring Adrien Brody in the title role. It's a lot of fun. Worth seeing for the wardrobe alone - it all looks beautiful. It's a version of Houdini's life and - to my inexpert eye - seems mostly accurate, though they do suggest in a caption right at the start that there's an element of fictionalisation. His death (oops - spoiler alert! ) and the events around that are slightly truncated, but pretty much accurate. The most contentious element will probably be his involvement in espionage. Rumoured for years, this was claimed in a bold fashion in a biography about fifteen years ago - https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/biography-claims-houdini-was-secret-spy/ https://www.grunge.com/617400/did-harry-houdini-live-a-double-life-as-a-spy/ The CIA have greatly played this down, of course https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/was-houdini-a-spy/ - but then they would, wouldn't they?

Either way, it's a cracking romp, and the spy element is actually just a small part of the story, which is really much more about the creation of a mythical hero brand - "America's first superhero" as he has sometimes been dubbed - and the struggles of the mortal man who tried to live up to his own myth. In some ways it reminded me a little of that Cary Grant line - "Even I would like to be Cary Grant." Worth seeing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(miniseries)

 

[Frunobulax]

The visuals were lovely - as, of course, we'd have expected from Burton. I also adored Gwendoline Christie in this - I really hope they bring her back in some shape or form. I loved especially that they didn't make a thing of her height - indeed, I don't think it was even mentioned at all?

Not that I can recall. It was pretty obvious, though.

 

[Edward]

Not that I can recall. It was pretty obvious, though.

Oh, it's inescapable visually, given that she's six three, but it was so nice for it not be be a plot point, or in any way integral to her weird in-show.

 

[Frunobulax]

Oh, it's inescapable visually, given that she's six three, but it was so nice for it not be be a plot point, or in any way integral to her weird in-show.

It also seemed to me they tended to shoot her from a low point looking up, which added to the intimidation factor.

 

[Edward]

It also seemed to me they tended to shoot her from a low point looking up, which added to the intimidation factor.

Now you mention it, yes - classic camera move to suggest an authority figure. Long established, of course - I remember some time ago seeing a presentation on early Soviet cinema which used a lot of camera angles as short-hand for certain imagery. Filming upwards implied strength, pointing the camera down on a performer to make them look weaker and so on. I imagine these sorts of narrative shorthands were especially important when planning a silent narrative, though still very much part of the language of cinema / TV today.

 

[Worf]

"The Last of Us" - This Netflix offering is based on popular video game series. Man and girl try to survive a "different" zombie apocalypse this time. In a different timeline the outbreak starts in 2003. The show then jumps ahead to 2023 and shows a United States awash in mutated humans with the few normies left behind walls in Quarantine Zones. Our protagonists are based on the Boston QZ. These areas, run by remnants of the federal government are ruled with authoritarian zeal and brutality which of course leads to resistance movements. For reasons of their own, both our protagonists need to leave Boston, but the only thing harder than getting in to the QZ is getting out.

Well directed and well acted this show kept me on the edge of my seat and the threats, both human and non-human had me watching through my fingers. After years HBO may finally have a mainstream hit on its hands that doesn't involve dragons. Be warned though... it's scary. Veterans of the game will also be gratified in that many of the scenes and a good chunk of the dialogue have been lifted whole cloth from the original. I never played these games so am able to view without spoilers or too much prior information. I enjoyed it. GoT viewers hoping to see more of little Lady Mormont will be pleased as will lovers of "The Mandalorian".

Worf

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

With the grandkids and kids, we watched the most recent season of All Creatures Great and Small.

We finished up all four seasons of Remember WENN, which we had not seen since the original run in the late 90s. Real good stuff.

Alternate evenings feature Murdock Mysteries or Castle.

 

[Bushman]

Binged Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix. Well done, with some great guest stars. I haven't finished the last episode yet, but Episode 7 is probably the one I've liked best so far. The episode is shot like a low budget 90s science fiction TV movie, but with the accoutrements of the 1970s. It's interesting because the hour episode is not really horrific until maybe the last 10 minutes, but the episode itself it engaging and interesting enough to put you on edge. It's like watching an hour long jack-in-the-box, except instead of "Pop Goes the Weasel" you get a most engaging conversation with some of the oddest personalities inside a house that on the outside is reminiscient of the Ennis House, but the interior feels like something out of Stargate. The entire episode lulls you into this false sense of calm, then BAM, you get hit with the monster!

The most horrifying episode to me was Episode 5, featuring all the Lovecraftian horrors there are to offer. The episode attacks you both physically and mentally, playing with your interpretation of reality, and bombarding you with grotesque paintings of familial cannibalism and witchcraft. Layered over the visuals was a haunting, echoing soundtrack not dissimilar to the sounds made by the awakening Overlook Hotel from Kubrick's "The Shining." Made worse still was when the episode ended, the door from my basement to my garage decided to be blow open by the wind. Definitely left me spooked.

However, the series I binged last weekend that has left me the most haunted was Chernobyl on HBO Max. Despite some dramatization, the series has been hailed for its accuracy. I cannot get out of my head the scenes of the first episodes where engineers are repeatedly sent back to the reactor to manually shut down the core, only to find that there was no core to shut down. The remains of it were melted two floors below in the basement. The miniseries does not shy away from explaining how something so bad could quickly become so much worse. April 26th was nearly Judgement Day. The day the human race was nearly ended by the egos and greed of politicians who thought it cheaper to build inadequate machinery designed to harness the greatest power known to man. It's only because the right people fought the powers that be to bring about the truth that we're still here to be horrified. One thing I do wish the series had brought up was the proverbial Medusa created by the meltdown: The Elephant's Foot. That is, a dense mass of what was left of the core after the meltdown. It's been referred to as a medusa, because at the time it was discovered, to look upon her meant death from radiation poisoning. The series also does a lot to show the effects of severe radiation poisoning. For weeks, the firefighters who lived the day would find themselves literally cooked to death by the radiation in their bodies. I've seen photos of survivors of the Hiroshima blast. This was far worse.

 

[Edward]

"The Last of Us" - This Netflix offering is based on popular video game series. Man and girl try to survive a "different" zombie apocalypse this time. In a different timeline the outbreak starts in 2003. The show then jumps ahead to 2023 and shows a United States awash in mutated humans with the few normies left behind walls in Quarantine Zones. Our protagonists are based on the Boston QZ. These areas, run by remnants of the federal government are ruled with authoritarian zeal and brutality which of course leads to resistance movements. For reasons of their own, both our protagonists need to leave Boston, but the only thing harder than getting in to the QZ is getting out.

Well directed and well acted this show kept me on the edge of my seat and the threats, both human and non-human had me watching through my fingers. After years HBO may finally have a mainstream hit on its hands that doesn't involve dragons. Be warned though... it's scary. Veterans of the game will also be gratified in that many of the scenes and a good chunk of the dialogue have been lifted whole cloth from the original. I never played these games so am able to view without spoilers or too much prior information. I enjoyed it. GoT viewers hoping to see more of little Lady Mormont will be pleased as will lovers of "The Mandalorian".

Worf

I've heard a lot of good buzz bout this. If it's on Netflix in the US, hopefully we'll get it on that too here soon.

Binged Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix. Well done, with some great guest stars. I haven't finished the last episode yet, but Episode 7 is probably the one I've liked best so far. The episode is shot like a low budget 90s science fiction TV movie, but with the accoutrements of the 1970s. It's interesting because the hour episode is not really horrific until maybe the last 10 minutes, but the episode itself it engaging and interesting enough to put you on edge. It's like watching an hour long jack-in-the-box, except instead of "Pop Goes the Weasel" you get a most engaging conversation with some of the oddest personalities inside a house that on the outside is reminiscient of the Ennis House, but the interior feels like something out of Stargate. The entire episode lulls you into this false sense of calm, then BAM, you get hit with the monster!

The most horrifying episode to me was Episode 5, featuring all the Lovecraftian horrors there are to offer. The episode attacks you both physically and mentally, playing with your interpretation of reality, and bombarding you with grotesque paintings of familial cannibalism and witchcraft. Layered over the visuals was a haunting, echoing soundtrack not dissimilar to the sounds made by the awakening Overlook Hotel from Kubrick's "The Shining." Made worse still was when the episode ended, the door from my basement to my garage decided to be blow open by the wind. Definitely left me spooked.

I found this series charming, though with its limitations. That 70s set one had a great set-up, but for me it just sort of died without any proper narrative payoff. The Lovecraft- based ones were the best of the lot: I'd love to see G del T take on more of that mythos. The final, 50s set episode is pretty good too.

However, the series I binged last weekend that has left me the most haunted was Chernobyl on HBO Max. Despite some dramatization, the series has been hailed for its accuracy. I cannot get out of my head the scenes of the first episodes where engineers are repeatedly sent back to the reactor to manually shut down the core, only to find that there was no core to shut down. The remains of it were melted two floors below in the basement. The miniseries does not shy away from explaining how something so bad could quickly become so much worse. April 26th was nearly Judgement Day. The day the human race was nearly ended by the egos and greed of politicians who thought it cheaper to build inadequate machinery designed to harness the greatest power known to man. It's only because the right people fought the powers that be to bring about the truth that we're still here to be horrified. One thing I do wish the series had brought up with the proverbial Medusa created by the meltdown: The Elephant's Foot. That is, a dense mass of what was left of the core after the meltdown. It's been referred to as a medusa, because at the time it was discovered, to look upon her meant death from radiation poisoning. The series also does a lot to show the effects of severe radiation poisoning. For weeks, the firefighters who lived the day would find themselves literally cooked to death by the radiation in their bodies. I've seen photos of survivors of the Hiroshima blast. This was far worse.

I think this has just cropped up on one of my options too, keen to see it. There was another, film-length version of the story a year or two ago as well that was pretty good. Terrible incident, I remember it well. Living in the very North-east corner of Ireland, my mother thereafter got very fixated on our proximity to Sellafield over the water in Scotland.

 

[AmateisGal]

"The Last of Us" - This Netflix offering is based on popular video game series. Man and girl try to survive a "different" zombie apocalypse this time. In a different timeline the outbreak starts in 2003. The show then jumps ahead to 2023 and shows a United States awash in mutated humans with the few normies left behind walls in Quarantine Zones. Our protagonists are based on the Boston QZ. These areas, run by remnants of the federal government are ruled with authoritarian zeal and brutality which of course leads to resistance movements. For reasons of their own, both our protagonists need to leave Boston, but the only thing harder than getting in to the QZ is getting out.

Well directed and well acted this show kept me on the edge of my seat and the threats, both human and non-human had me watching through my fingers. After years HBO may finally have a mainstream hit on its hands that doesn't involve dragons. Be warned though... it's scary. Veterans of the game will also be gratified in that many of the scenes and a good chunk of the dialogue have been lifted whole cloth from the original. I never played these games so am able to view without spoilers or too much prior information. I enjoyed it. GoT viewers hoping to see more of little Lady Mormont will be pleased as will lovers of "The Mandalorian".

Worf

My daughter grew up watching YouTubers play "The Last of Us" (she's now 22) and she was super excited for this show. We watched the first episode and I was not disappointed. I am a huge Pedro Pascal fan, and he totally nailed this part.

 

[AmateisGal]

I've been watching Midsomer Murders starting with Season 1, Episode 1! I don't know why I never watched this series before, but I am loving it. The early seasons - set in the late 1990s - hold up really well.