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What was the last TV show you watched?

Edward

Bartender
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25,082
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London, UK
Fawlty Towers, oft cited as the greatest/one of the greatest Britcoms ever - twelve episodes made and aired four years apart (6 in 1975 and, post divorce between Cleese and Booth, 6 in 1979).

Indeed; Faulty Towers is still seen as a model by sitcom writers today. There's a real culture of "end it while it's till considered great", or following a particular story arc. UK TV historically doesn't seem to have the same commonality of shows being kept going as long as the ratings stay high - though that's changing somewhat with the age of reality TV (Big Brother, X Factor, et al).
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
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33,768
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The second and concluding part of Burns' "Jackie Robinson."

The final two hours of this four-hour documentary were even more compelling than the first, detailing Robinson's post-baseball life, which amounted to sixteen years of continuous disappointment and tragedy before his death at the age of fifty-three. Robinson's political trajectory is the major theme of the film, as he tried to find a home in the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party, only to see the party itself veer sharply to the right, first with the rise of the Goldwater movement, and then with the Nixon's embrace of the "Southern Strategy." Robinson had been a solid supporter of Nixon in 1960, and he took the betrayal personally. Meanwhile, Robinson himself was being rejected by the increasingly-militant Civil Rights movement, whose young firebrand leaders considered him an accomodationist relic. He took this betrayal personally as well, as he struggled to find some relevent place in the sixties. Against all this came the loss of his oldest son -- who had managed to overcome addiction to drugs only to die in a car accident.

Burns weaves all this together without making it seem manipulative -- Rachel Robinson remains the primary voice of the film, and you really pick up the sense of just how much she still misses her husband, forty-four years after his death. The most shocking images in the film are of Robinson throwing out the first ball at the 1972 World Series -- he was the same age I am now, and looked like a frail, broken old man. I remember watching that game, and seeing his appearance and thinking of him as some fossil out of the distant past, not realizing he'd only played his last game sixteen years earlier.

He died just nine days after making that appearance, and Rachel Robinson's description of how he died was genuinely heartbreaking. She avoided tears in relating the story, which means she's a much stronger woman than I am.
 
Messages
17,221
Location
New York City
^^^Great, insightful review Lizzie.

Watched the first episode of the new season of "Call the Midwife." The show's plots have, overall, a wash-rinse-repeat structure too them, but they usually manage to bring in a fresh angle or interesting perspective to the familiar story. That said, the enjoyment in this show comes from the period style - 50s East End London - and characters you come to know overtime - who grow and evolve in, mostly, true-to-life ways. I'm always amazed that this - not great, but good and very period thoughtful - show has almost no following at Fedora.
 
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Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
Another couple of episodes of Daniel Boone. I am getting a little to predictable! Glad I stopped recording them, otherwise, I would never get through all of them!
 

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