What was the last TV show you watched?

[Fading Fast]

"Taboo" Just another normal day or two in James Delaney's life:

• Cuts out the tongue of an informer
• Is told his mother tried to drown him when he was a little boy (which perhaps explains his weird underwater hallucinations)
• His factory finishes mixing his unstable gunpowder which he delivers to the Americans under the guise of dead cholera victims
• Zilpha (which must mean cracker house crazy in some language), his half sister / lover (not a typo), freakily but justifiably kills her abusive husband (Zilpha might be the one woman on earth who looks no worse / no better beaten up - she's an acquired taste no matter how you try to slice that apple), then, tells Delaney what she did, which prompts him to dispose of the body, also under the cloak of cholera
• Knowing his factory is to be raided, he takes the rest of his unstable gunpowder on a canal journey to be stored in an abandoned insane asylum - where, many years ago, his father had had his mother committed...of course
• He did squeeze in some time to dig the grave for his half-sister / lover's husband's funeral to be followed by a furious round of sex with the same sister where the, er, passion, was interrupted by his flashbacks to his mother - Oedipus had nothing, not one thing, in the freak love world on this guy
• Throw in some quips and repartee with his sardonic manservant and step mother (also a pending love interest - what the heck, that one's not off-the-charts kinky like Zilpha) and you have the highlights

What on God's Green Earth keeps this man going?


"Victoria"

• Compared to "Taboo" this is like watching an episode of "The Brady Bunch"
• Without Lord M, Rufus Sewell, the episode was flat - he's the energy of the series
• The brooding "I need a life purpose" of her husband Albert echoes the same whining from Phillip on "The Crown -" did these men not know they were marrying into the role of second fiddle when they married THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND!?

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Legion. episode 2. A nicely done show, but I'm out. I might be jumping ship too soon, but I'm just not interested in any of the characters or the story so far.

Girls. I'll be sorry to see this show go, but I respect knowing when to get out. There are other shows trying to fit into this gap, but so far, nothing has.

 

[Fading Fast]

"What will you be watching" edition.

"Home Fires" season 2, April 2nd, Masterpiece promo video below

Story and writing - good / Acting - good / period details (Fedora Lounge candy) - outstanding. And theme music - fantastic (link, 2nd below).

Season 2 Promo Video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/clips/home-fires-s2-preview/

Theme Music: https://soundcloud.com/samuel77/home-fires-main-theme

 

[belfastboy]

Watching the Brit series "Line of Duty" Two seasons completed with one to go and I read there is a 4th season in the can. A fun watch, compelling characters with the usual stellar Brit acting. Season two the plot was very convoluted and a bit far fetched in spots but it is fun TV.

 

[Zombie_61]

I watched the first two episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix, and I absolutely do NOT understand the over-the-top hype and praise for the series. Everything in it is familiar and hackneyed. It's not even sub-Spielberg, it's sub-Abrams-imitating-Spielberg-in-Super 8. And I guess I'm too old for the nostalgia aspect - I was pushing 30 in 1983, so I can't much relate to these middle and high school kids. Winona Ryder's much-vaunted performance is way overdone: she's only got two modes, hysterical and even more hysterical. So I'm not charmed by the characters, and I'm not especially intrigued by the mysteries of the plot. Dangerous secret experiments at a mysterious compound in the woods? Yawn.

I don't know if I'll even watch the rest of the season. It just isn't working for me.

I had the same problem when I started watching Stranger Things in October. Initially I got a "Twin Peaks meets The X-Files" vibe, and I really didn't care for either of those shows, but I kept watching hoping I'd figure out what everyone else saw in the show. In the fourth or fifth episode the adult characters finally get their acts together and start to act more like responsible adults, and that was when it got more interesting to me. After completing the first season I thought it was still better than a lot of what's on television today, but now I'm second guessing whether or not I want to watch the second season when it becomes available.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Anyone care to comment on Billions?

 

[Babydoll]

Hubby's next series of choice? The Killing. Ugh. Trying to hang with it, but just the sheer misrepresentation of our weather is ticking me off to dustraction. IT DOES NOT TORRENTIALLY RAIN NON-STOP HERE!!!

 

[Stearmen]

Star Trek: Errand Of Mercy. Still my hands down favorite of all the different Star Trek's! "Yes, please leave us. The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us."

 

[AmateisGal]

Introduced my daughter to the brilliance of The IT Crowd. She loves Moss. Well, who doesn't?

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Hubby's next series of choice? The Killing. Ugh. Trying to hang with it, but just the sheer misrepresentation of our weather is ticking me off to dustraction. IT DOES NOT TORRENTIALLY RAIN NON-STOP HERE!!!

it's a terrible series anyway.

 

[Babydoll]

Hubby's into it. *sigh*

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Man in the High Castle" Season 2 Finale

• How insanely impressive was the Nazi Party Rally scene in Germany? They've studied "Triumph of the Will" and projected that spectacle forward for how things would be after a WWII Nazi victory

• Obbergruppenfuhrer John Smith and Juliana Crane are the driving foils of the story
  • Smith is the guy you want if you want to win, not if you want moral purity
  • He's a hairsbreadth away from supreme power because he played every thread brilliantly, dispassionately and with comprehensive planning and a Captain Kirk-willingness to take bold risks when he had to
  • Crane's world is getting pretty small - the Resistance doesn't want her, the Germans don't and the Japanese don't - in fact, elements within all three want her dead - finding places to hide, on earth, is getting harder for her
    
  • Smith is a Grandmaster - he sees the board from 1000 feet high and plays a long game with amoral intensity / Crane is a street fighter, hates the game, gropes for morality in an complexly corrupt world and gains victories by throwing intelligent counterpunches engendered by incredible instincts

• Having never read the books, all I know about the films and alternate histories are from this show, but in season 3, they have to start explaining more of that as two seasons is more than enough "believe us this will all makes sense" leeway to ask from your audience

• There is going to be a season 3 - right?

 

[Babydoll]

"The Man in the High Castle" Season 2 Finale

• How insanely impressive was the Nazi Party Rally scene in Germany? They've studied "Triumph of the Will" and projected that spectacle forward for how things would be after a WWII Nazi victory

• Obbergruppenfuhrer John Smith and Juliana Crane are the driving foils of the story
  • Smith is the guy you want if you want to win, not if you want moral purity
  • He's a hairsbreadth away from supreme power because he played every thread brilliantly, dispassionately and with comprehensive planning and a Captain Kirk-willingness to take bold risks when he had to
  • Crane's world is getting pretty small - the Resistance doesn't want her, the Germans don't and the Japanese don't - in fact, elements within all three want her dead - finding places to hide, on earth, is getting harder for her
    
  • Smith is a Grandmaster - he sees the board from 1000 feet high and plays a long game with amoral intensity / Crane is a street fighter, hates the game, gropes for morality in an complexly corrupt world and gains victories by throwing intelligent counterpunches engendered by incredible instincts

• Having never read the books, all I know about the films and alternate histories are from this show, but in season 3, they have to start explaining more of that as two season is more than enough "believe us this will all makes sense" leeway to ask from your audience

• There is going to be a season 3 - right?

Yes, there will be a Season 3. Said to be released in late 2017. And I fully agree with your next-to-last point!

Hubby things that alternate (or parallel) realities are in play, with the trade minister zapping back and forth by closing his eyes. We shall see.

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes, there will be a Season 3. Said to be released in late 2017. And I fully agree with your next-to-last point!

Hubby things that alternate (or parallel) realities are in play, with the trade minister zapping back and forth by closing his eyes. We shall see.

I'm leaning in the direction of your husband and for the same reason - the Trade Minister seems to be slipping between the two realities. Also, it's hard to reconcile a single timeline with all the films.

 

[Babydoll]

It reminds me in ways of the series 11.22.63. Have you watched it? The whole premise is to go back in time to change history (namely JFK's assassination), but ultimately if you mess with even one aspect of history, there is a far-reaching cascade domino effect that will change things you never imagined.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Star Trek: Errand Of Mercy. Still my hands down favorite of all the different Star Trek's! "Yes, please leave us. The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us."

An important story for the Star Trek universe for sure, and another fascinating script by Gene L. Coon -- the reason David Gerrold said that Trek flourished "because it had good Genes" (the other being Mr. Roddenberry, of course). Coon developed the Klingons with EoM, wrote the stories featuring Khan and the silicon creature the Horta, and a ton of other elements that we now take for granted in the Trek world.

 

[Benzadmiral]

It reminds me in ways of the series 11.22.63. Have you watched it? The whole premise is to go back in time to change history (namely JFK's assassination), but ultimately if you mess with even one aspect of history, there is a far-reaching cascade domino effect that will change things you never imagined.

Haven't seen it, but have read the Stephen King novel several times. In the novel, anyway, part of the catch to time travel is that each jaunt into the past, 1958 and onward, is a reset. So if you save someone's life on Trip No. 1, when you step back to the past, you've got to do it all over again.

 

[Babydoll]

Haven't seen it, but have read the Stephen King novel several times. In the novel, anyway, part of the catch to time travel is that each jaunt into the past, 1958 and onward, is a reset. So if you save someone's life on Trip No. 1, when you step back to the past, you've got to do it all over again.

Yes, and with wach reset you have the chance to domino effect another aspect of history. Interesting (and maddening) concept.

 

[Fading Fast]

It reminds me in ways of the series 11.22.63. Have you watched it? The whole premise is to go back in time to change history (namely JFK's assassination), but ultimately if you mess with even one aspect of history, there is a far-reaching cascade domino effect that will change things you never imagined.

I have not but will look for it.

I think it was in the book, "Time and Again," that I first read the two theories of time travel distortion. One is the "butterfly flapping its wings" theory which is that any small change will have a major impact on the future and the other is the "pebble in the river" theory which is that most small changes won't impact the big flow of history.

If I think too hard about time travel, my brain just gets wrapped into knots anyway, so I normally just run with the story as presented until it hits a limit - like "The Man in the High Castle" has - which is when I start to expect some reasonable explanations.

 

[Fading Fast]

Original "Star Trek" TV series, The Doomsday Machine episode.

It's episodes like this that have build the legend of Kirk.

He's adrift on an all but dead ship, but seeing the Enterprise engaged in a life and death struggle with a doomsday type of weapon he wills his addled ship back to a limp life to help in the fight. He then, again from a different ship, enacts a near coup - or, at least, commits a serious breach of command protocol - to retake control of the Enterprise and hands it back to Spock. Finally, he identifies a weakness in the doomsday machine leading him to risk his own life in a desperate attempt to destroy the machine and save the Enterprise.

Despite sounding cheesy as all heck - and by today's standards, it's not the best writing or acting - Kirk (Shatner) manages to pull it off with enough credibility to keep you engaged and believing at some level. Picard was thoughtful reflection, considered collaboration and nuanced decisioning (theoretically, better command qualities); whereas, Kirk is instant intelligence mixed with emotion, moxie, guts and, always, a big gamble that wills action and results. Maybe not the best on-paper way to command, but it makes for wonderful TV.