The TV Thread

CHRISB50

I just finished watching We Own This City. 

Another amazing David Simon series. 

Really enjoyed it. Shocking that it’s true. 

CHRISB50

Philly_Q said:

I've just started Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix.

It's extraordinary how much it feels like the (fictional) TV series.  The games, so far, are identical... nobody actually dies, of course (not in the first two episodes, at least), but it's still surprisingly tense and already there's that backstabbing element where people are plotting against others they see as competition.

The contestants are mostly Americans, with a few Brits, Australians and at least one Italian, and there are a lot of away-from-the-game interviews with people saying why they're there, what they want to achieve etc - which is a little irritating at first but you soon get used to it.

The producers have done a very good job of focusing on people who may (or may not) emerge as significant players in the game, and you quickly get an idea of who many of them are, even though they started with 456 contestants.  It's good stuff.

I’m watching it with my youngest daughter.  

She got really into playing the Roblox version of Squid Game and wanted to watch the actual series. 

There’s no way on earth that’s happening for a few years so I thought I’d appease her with this. 

We watched the battleships episode last night. 

Quite enjoying it so far. 

Nitefly

Kilgore said:

Finished Boat Story. Quirky and entertaining. Stay to the end, it would be easy to miss the scene after the credits on the last episode.

I'm glad you mentioned that, @Kilgore - Our Maud hadn't watched that last bit so was pleased when I passed that on to her! 

AlbertC

goldtop said:

All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)

This is a remake of Allo Allo. It's not meant to be, but that's exactly what you get over 4 episodes. Hugh Laurie is Rene, Herr Flick has gone violently psycho, and there's a secret radio in a loft somewhere in St Malo. And the painting of the fallen madonna with the big boobies is replaced by an unfeasibly large and mysterious diamond. There are radios you can repair with chewing gum; secret messages from the resistance in a baguette. (Yes, really.)

The writing budget was spent on unnecessary special FX, the laughs replaced by violence. Unlike Allo Allo, the accents are annoyingly unfunny. All the French people are played with middle-class British accents, I don't think there's a French actor in it.

3/10 (the missus made me watch it!)

Perfect review.
Having read and enjoyed the book I was looking forward to this but that didn't last long..
It reminded me of this classic Smith & Jones sketch - 

jonnyburgo

Recently finished Top Boy. Brilliant series, great acting and plotlines, doesn't get stale at all throughout the 5 seasons and an intense ending. Proper Peng innit.

EricTheWeary

We have started on A Murder at the End of the World on Disney. I think the idea is a Gen Z Sherlock Holmes figure. I'm vacillating between ooh that's clever and ooh that's convoluted and slow. 
I finished off the last Shetland, speaking of convoluted and slow. Although it does have Lorraine McIntosh playing a baddy so it's one for any Deacon Blue fans. Ashley Jensen plays the new detective but the play off between her character and the existing ones just seems awkward like we are constantly trying to work out who is supposed to be the star. Lovely scenery though. 

Brio

The first three episodes of Reacher Season 2 dropped this morning. :-)

boogieman

Talking Picture channel is showing some of the BBC MR James Xmas ghost stories at the moment. I watched Lost Hearts tonight, I’ve never seen it before but it was a bit crap to be honest. They’re showing the Treasure of Abbot Thomas and Whistle and I’ll Come To You among others next week. Seem to be on around 8 -9 pm on various days. 

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

Talking Picture channel is showing some of the BBC MR James Xmas ghost stories at the moment. I watched Lost Hearts tonight, I’ve never seen it before but it was a bit crap to be honest. They’re showing the Treasure of Abbot Thomas and Whistle and I’ll Come To You among others next week. Seem to be on around 8 -9 pm on various days. 

I'm never home at that time of the evening, but I have seen them all quite a few times.  I think there's another new one this year, based on Lot No. 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Kilgore

I really enjoyed The Tourist, looking forward to season 2.  It starts 1/1/24. I'm not sure how it will work now that Elliot knows who he is.

 The memory loss kept you guessing about what was actually going on. I'm not sure it will live up to the first series but I'll definitely watch.

ewal

I've watched alot of Scandi/Euro dramas on various channels and being over the novelty it takes a good one to impress me. A Nearly Normal Family on Netflix is just that. It's as much a family drama as it is a crime drama, is extremely well acted, edited and shot, seamlessly jumping about the timeline without being confusing.

Maybe it's just me and the mood I'm in, but I think it's a significant cut above the usual.

MagicPigDetective

jonnyburgo said:

Recently finished Top Boy. Brilliant series, great acting and plotlines, doesn't get stale at all throughout the 5 seasons and an intense ending. Proper Peng innit.

Yes fam… just started it, two episodes in, it’s quality. 

BigBearKris

Fallout TV series on Prime in April. 

Looks interesting indeed!

Brio

Obliterated on NetFlix.
Funny as heck, voilent and profane with drugs and nudity. Very shallow. 8 episodes of perfect popcorn.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Bit late to the party, but just started the original Danish series Borgen, which is all available on Netflix these days. I remember giving it a brief go years ago when it was first on TV, but only watched a couple of episodes. Can't remember why I stopped exactly, but just didn't capture the imagination maybe?

Few episodes in now and really enjoying it, finally seeing what all the hype is about! 

Philly_Q

Just started on Reacher season 2, on Amazon Prime... I'm finding it slightly hard work to be honest, all the crap banter between Reacher and his Special Investigations Unit is winding me up a bit.  That said, I don't remember Bad Luck and Trouble being one of the better books.

joneve

Philly_Q said:

Just started on Reacher season 2, on Amazon Prime... I'm finding it slightly hard work to be honest, all the crap banter between Reacher and his Special Investigations Unit is winding me up a bit.  That said, I don't remember Bad Luck and Trouble being one of the better books.

I just recently re-finished Bad Luck and Trouble (in audio form) and it’s definitely a good book. But they’ve changed elements of the book which is slightly irksome. I’m still enjoying it though. AND, I get the need to give some back story to his previous life in the military and developing those characters a bit more as it’s not always something you can do in a novel. 

Plus it starts to ramp up a bit more towards the end so we’ll see how that goes. 

Hopefully they’ve picked one of the first 5-10 books for season 3 

Chalky

As a fan of The Boys, just watched first episode of Gen V.

Oh dear...

Lead actress has very limited facial acting ability so you have to pay attention to her words.  The dialogue is utterly banal and forgettable.  Plenty of swearing does not remove the need for realistic and meaningful words.  Certainly not a script where every line is carefully crafted to move the story along.

Obligatory outrageous sex scene? Tick, but really doesn't work.

The story is a Lego-box of other teen TV and movies.  For example, arrival scene at Godolkin University?  Straight mashup of similar scenes from Hogwarts and Monsters University Inc.

Also borrows heavily from Ms Marvel, in that the lead character morphs from being a strong character with awesome superpowers in one scene, then into a silly character with all the gravitas of a naive 13 year old in the next scene.  And then morphs back again in the following scene.

And finally the perennial superpower problem - if your character has an awesome superpower and has had it for years, that fact better be reflected in their personality and outlook on life.  They can't flip flop around simply as needed to 'make the scene work'.  Otherwise the character loses credibility rapidly.

RocknRollDave

Personally, I thought Boat Story was a load of absolute bilge. A complete waste of Daisy Haggard's acting.
If I had known how bad the final episode was going to be, I'd never have bothered watching any of it.

Her Back To Life thing was so much better.

Philly_Q

joneve said:

Philly_Q said:

Just started on Reacher season 2, on Amazon Prime... I'm finding it slightly hard work to be honest, all the crap banter between Reacher and his Special Investigations Unit is winding me up a bit.  That said, I don't remember Bad Luck and Trouble being one of the better books.

I just recently re-finished Bad Luck and Trouble (in audio form) and it’s definitely a good book. But they’ve changed elements of the book which is slightly irksome. I’m still enjoying it though. AND, I get the need to give some back story to his previous life in the military and developing those characters a bit more as it’s not always something you can do in a novel. 

Plus it starts to ramp up a bit more towards the end so we’ll see how that goes. 

Hopefully they’ve picked one of the first 5-10 books for season 3 

Since they've gone straight from 1 to 11 (that's quite Spinal Tap-ish) I'd imagine they'll jump back and forth in the sequence, and of course they're never going to adapt all of them.

Agreed that the earlier books were, on the whole, better.  I read them all in sequence (although that's not entirely a chronological sequence) a few years back, and I felt things were getting tired in the more recent ones.  I haven't read any of the last few books co-written with Andrew Grant/Child.