What was the last TV show you watched?

[Worf]

I'm hoping Perry Mason makes it to one of my UK streamers soon, it sounds good (even though I have only very limited knowledge of the series to which it forms a prequel).

DON'T and I mean DON'T view the current HBO offering as a prequel to the long running TV series of the 50's/60's. They're as different as chocolate and charcoal. They only resemble each other in the names of the characters and that's it. The OLD Perry Mason was Science Fiction compared to the tough as nails reality portrayed in the current show. Please don't get it twisted. The two worlds aren't even parallels more like diametrically opposed.

Worf

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, this is NOT your (grand)father's Perry Mason. Same character names, different century!

Where the old Raymond Burr series was about a crusading lawyer saving his clients through legal brilliance in a (literally) black and white world, this one is about a 1930s Los Angeles where EVERYONE and EVERTYHING is on a continuum of questionable gray morality. Backroom deals, blackmail, criminals protected by wealth and position, minorities scapegoated... it's a post-L.A. Confidential Perry Mason, with today's inclusion and representation aspects used well, not just as a remake gimmick.

The production and acting is absolutely top notch. This season's story seemed scattered and slow in the early episodes, but it eventually gathered steam and connected up nicely. Anyway, it's an instant classic.

I like - but don't quite love - the series, and I can't put my finger on why I'm not totally gaga for it. It's me, not the show!

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm hoping Perry Mason makes it to one of my UK streamers soon, it sounds good (even though I have only very limited knowledge of the series to which it forms a prequel).

I think you'd really enjoy it.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

GF has a direct vpn USA address feed and I became enamoured of the series, which is taken from the
original Perry Mason stories writ Erle Stanley Gardner in the 1930s. Never heard of its title character before
but this series gives a full freight featuring true to life flawed characters set in gray moral depression era LA.
A fast clip no dawdling storyline pace with a razor strop to brain chew afterwards.

 

[Worf]

"Better Than Us" - Netflix first (and probably last for a while) Russian television series. Set in a near future. Bots do the grunt work, dirty work and ahem... sex work for a pretty nihilistic Russian society. Much like "I Robot", they use and quote Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" and immediately proceed to smash them to bits. A Russian Bot manufacturer, currently run by a ne'er do well first son, acquires a self learning "murder bot" from some sketchy Chinese firm. Of course some schlub tries to assault the beautiful creation and she immediately sends him to the afterlife for his troubles. She then... escapes. Hi jinx then proceed.

Mix in a divorced coroner in a custody battle, a haggard cop who doesn't trust bots, an anti-bot vigilante group and of course the company seeking clean up its mess and the stage is set. Pretty janky visual FX and the tropes come hard and heavy but it grows on you. The first season is 16 episodes so prepare for a long haul. At the end of some of the episodes I wondered how many of the young cast are now shivering in a foxhole in Ukraine? Sigh...

Worf

 

[Edward]

"Better Than Us" - Netflix first (and probably last for a while) Russian television series. Set in a near future. Bots do the grunt work, dirty work and ahem... sex work for a pretty nihilistic Russian society. Much like "I Robot", they use and quote Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" and immediately proceed to smash them to bits. A Russian Bot manufacturer, currently run by a ne'er do well first son, acquires a self learning "murder bot" from some sketchy Chinese firm. Of course some schlub tries to assault the beautiful creation and she immediately sends him to the afterlife for his troubles. She then... escapes. Hi jinx then proceed.

Mix in a divorced coroner in a custody battle, a haggard cop who doesn't trust bots, an anti-bot vigilante group and of course the company seeking clean up its mess and the stage is set. Pretty janky visual FX and the tropes come hard and heavy but it grows on you. The first season is 16 episodes so prepare for a long haul. At the end of some of the episodes I wondered how many of the young cast are now shivering in a foxhole in Ukraine? Sigh...

Worf

Sounds like an interesting show. Did you ever catch the UK-made show "Humans"? Similarish territory, though through a UK filter, reminiscent in some respects of early Black Mirror.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Yeah, this is NOT your (grand)father's Perry Mason. Same character names, different century!

Where the old Raymond Burr series was about a crusading lawyer saving his clients through legal brilliance in a (literally) black and white world, this one is about a 1930s Los Angeles where EVERYONE and EVERTYHING is on a continuum of questionable gray morality. Backroom deals, blackmail, criminals protected by wealth and position, minorities scapegoated...

The production and acting is absolutely top notch. This season's story seemed scattered and slow in the early episodes, but it eventually gathered steam and connected up nicely. Anyway, it's an instant classic.

I like - but don't quite love - the series, and I can't put my finger on why I'm not totally gaga for it. It's me, not the show!

Strange you need to rerun Season first fast and Season second slow, preferably with cheese log, crackers, and vodka.

Just polished off the finale episode deuce. A dry run no vodka evening-not recommended.
HBO offered a recap clip afterwards which was nice. Surprising but nice. Very surprised but not in a judgemental way.
Just surprised like a hard right cross to the jaw walked into kind of shocked regular surprise surprise.

 

[LizzieMaine]

After being badly disappointed by the first two seasons of Picard, I was actually pleased with the third. Sure it was inconsistent and as a devoted Niner, I was annoyed how they dragged the changelings in as a red herring when it was always going to be the Borg, but hey. It's the last hurrah, we know it's the last hurrah, and ir was far better a finale than "Nemesis," which I'd forgotten about before I left the bathroom after the movie was over. And anyone who didn't tear up when the lights went on on the Enterprise-D brdge has no soul at all.

 

[Edward]

After being badly disappointed by the first two seasons of Picard, I was actually pleased with the third. Sure it was inconsistent and as a devoted Niner, I was annoyed how they dragged the changelings in as a red herring when it was always going to be the Borg, but hey. It's the last hurrah, we know it's the last hurrah, and ir was far better a finale than "Nemesis," which I'd forgotten about before I left the bathroom after the movie was over. And anyone who didn't tear up when the lights went on on the Enterprise-D brdge has no soul at all.

I liked the first two series for their difference; the story arc bringing it back to the way things were in Series 3 was very effective. Definitely nice to see, as the TNG cast never quite got the big screen outing they deserved imo.

 

[Zombie_61]

After being badly disappointed by the first two seasons of Picard, I was actually pleased with the third. Sure it was inconsistent and as a devoted Niner, I was annoyed how they dragged the changelings in as a red herring when it was always going to be the Borg, but hey. It's the last hurrah, we know it's the last hurrah, and ir was far better a finale than "Nemesis," which I'd forgotten about before I left the bathroom after the movie was over. And anyone who didn't tear up when the lights went on on the Enterprise-D brdge has no soul at all.

I agree with everything you've written except for the Enterprise-D. It has always been the "Las Vegas Disco" version of a Federation vessel, and it's one of the ugliest space vessels ever designed.

Also, apparently, we now know that you don't need an entire crew to operate a Galaxy class ship, merely an experienced bridge crew and one capable engineer.

 

[Worf]

Wifeepoo went down the Bridgeton "rabbit hole" again. She binged "Queen Charlotte" in one and a half days. Crazy. She had to be up at 7:30 for work at the University and went to bed at 2:30 am. What is it with this royals stuff? For me to stay up that late there'd better be a whole lot going on, I'm talking War and Peace type stuff! Mercy!

Worf

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Started on the Miss Marples ("Agatha Christie Marple") via Brit Box. Slowly winding up The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, courtesy PBS. I still occasionally watch Parking Wars; it's bubble gum for my little grey cells.

 

[Edward]

Started on the Miss Marples ("Agatha Christie Marple") via Brit Box. Slowly winding up The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, courtesy PBS. I still occasionally watch Parking Wars; it's bubble gum for my little grey cells.

Are those the Joan Hickson ones? Nobody has ever been as good in that role as her. She was in The Mousetrap in the West End decades ago, when Agatha Christie visited. Christie told Hickson "You're too young for it now, but one day you'll be my Miss Marple." There is a monument of sorts to Christie and The Mousetrap in the West End, which has on it portrayals of a number of her famous characters. Among them is a representation of Marple, clearly based on Hickson.

I'm very much enjoying the latest series of Inside Number Nine on the BBC. This anthology show, now in its eight series, is the work of two of the League of Gentlemen boys, Reece Sheersmith and Steve Pemberton. Although not a period show per se, it is an homage to 1960s-1980s anthology television programmes in the vein of Tales of the Unexpected. Sometimes the twist (as last night's episode) is obvious, given a familiarity with the genre, but still very entertaining.

 

[AmateisGal]

Wifeepoo went down the Bridgeton "rabbit hole" again. She binged "Queen Charlotte" in one and a half days. Crazy. She had to be up at 7:30 for work at the University and went to bed at 2:30 am. What is it with this royals stuff? For me to stay up that late there'd better be a whole lot going on, I'm talking War and Peace type stuff! Mercy!

Worf

I binged it in two days. It was WONDERFUL and better than the other two seasons of Bridgerton. Characters were perfectly cast. I think this particular one is so interesting because it shows King George III's mental illness without hiding the harsh reality of it OR the terribly cruel "treatments" he endured in an attempt to cure himself. By all accounts, Charlotte and George deeply loved each other and she stood by his side.

 

[AmateisGal]

Queen Charlotte. Just a brilliant show. Really humanizes George III's struggle with mental illness. Though this is a very fictionalized version of 18th century England (for example, high society is made up of whites, blacks, Asians, and other groups with all having extreme wealth and power) they did portray the true measures taken to try and "cure" George - frightfully horrific treatments.

Latest episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I love this show but this season has felt...off. Too bad as it's the last season.

I'm trying to stay engaged with Citadel on Amazon Prime, but there's something about it that is just...wrong. I don't know if it's the pacing or the jumping back and forth in time or what.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Fancied a go at the remote yesterday for series safari hunting since Perry Mason season 2 has ended,
so I'm a bit out of sorts, addictive habit-forming Mason is and all. I need another Mason or Queen's Gambit
caliber to hold me in good stead until the Series#3 bus arrives. I may just hunt down loose Twilight Zones found You Tube listing. American television circa 1950s-60s is a diamond field with rich soil ploughed deep furrows.

 

[Worf]

Fancied a go at the remote yesterday for series safari hunting since Perry Mason season 2 has ended,
so I'm a bit out of sorts, addictive habit-forming Mason is and all. I need another Mason or Queen's Gambit
caliber to hold me in good stead until the Series#3 bus arrives. I may just hunt down loose Twilight Zones found You Tube listing. American television circa 1950s-60s is a diamond field with rich soil ploughed deep furrows.

The Twilight Zone is superior fare... for the most part, but I liked "The Outer Limits" as well. I'm assuming you have HBO. There are three series on there you MUST watch if you haven't already:

"The Wire:"
"The Sopranos" and perhaps
"True Blood" (the first 4 seasons at least)

I cannot recommend "Game of Thrones" I've never been so disappointed in the end of a series in my life. I won't even touch the latest offering. "Fool me once.....

"Big Little Lies" was a good one as was "Deadwood". There's a lot to watch on there. The first and third seasons of "True Crime" were also stand outs.

Worf

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Are those the Joan Hickson ones? Nobody has ever been as good in that role as her. She was in The Mousetrap in the West End decades ago, when Agatha Christie visited. Christie told Hickson "You're too young for it now, but one day you'll be my Miss Marple." There is a monument of sorts to Christie and The Mousetrap in the West End, which has on it portrayals of a number of her famous characters. Among them is a representation of Marple, clearly based on Hickson.

I'm very much enjoying the latest series of Inside Number Nine on the BBC. This anthology show, now in its eight series, is the work of two of the League of Gentlemen boys, Reece Sheersmith and Steve Pemberton. Although not a period show per se, it is an homage to 1960s-1980s anthology television programmes in the vein of Tales of the Unexpected. Sometimes the twist (as last night's episode) is obvious, given a familiarity with the genre, but still very entertaining.

We are watching the Geraldine McEwan series. We will definitely try the Hickson series.
Many, many years ago on a student trip I saw The Mousetrap in London. Being a youngster, I admit I didn't appreciate it as I should have. On the same trip the group saw Canterbury Tales, Sleuth, the stage production of Gone with the Wind, and the RSC presentation of Antony and Cleopatra.

 

[AmateisGal]

Miss Scarlet and the Duke. A fun murder mystery show.

 

[Edward]

We are watching the Geraldine McEwan series. We will definitely try the Hickson series.
Many, many years ago on a student trip I saw The Mousetrap in London. Being a youngster, I admit I didn't appreciate it as I should have. On the same trip the group saw Canterbury Tales, Sleuth, the stage production of Gone with the Wind, and the RSC presentation of Antony and Cleopatra.

Geraldine McEwan was a very good casting too. She had the misfortune to come after Joan Hickson on British TV which meant I think she got a lesser reception than she really deserved, but she was good. Hickson remains very much the Suchet of Marple, albeit that if memory serves she didn't quite have the same opportunity he did in being able to play out all the character's stories. The weakest Marple I've seen was a version of The Mirror Cracked starring Angela Lansbury. Not Lansbury's fault - it was a seventies made version, and set contemporaneously rather than the period setting more conventionally associated with Christie, which didn't really work. Christie wrote the stories over many years - the last Poirot was, I believe, in the early seventies - but they don't always play well outside of the 20s-50s setting. That of course was the genius of the Knives Out franchise, which does fit the genre conventions very neatly into the modern world (could be said to be a post-Sherlock thing, though I have no idea if the latter was an influence there).