What was the last TV show you watched?

[Edward]

Agatha Christie's Why didn't they ask Evans? on Britbox. First two of three parts. A very nice adaptation, all looks beautiful. Particularly nice menswear - I believe I've spotted at least two SJC / Cathcart pieces, and one possible Aero leather, or very similar.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I've recently been watching a bunch of current series:

The First Lady on Showtime. This first season cuts between the experiences of Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis). Future seasons will be about different first ladies. This one is better than I expected, with interesting details I didn't know about these ladies and their presidents/administrations, fine production values, and strong acting. All the leads are excellent, but I think Pfeiffer is the one who'll get the Emmy nom.

Gaslit on Starz. Tells the story of Watergate, etc. via Martha Mitchell (Julia Roberts). This one's also better than I expected, also has fine production values and strong actors (Sean Penn [unrecognizable] as John Mitchell, Dan Stevens as John Dean, Shea Wigham as wacko G. Gordon Liddy, etc.) I mean, I lived through this history as an adult and have read/seen so much about it since, but I've still found this a worthwhile watch.

The Man Who Fell to Earth on Showtime. I don't think it's that good - either as a sequel to the 1976 film or as its own story - but I haven't been able to quit it.

Gentleman Jack on HBO. I've really liked this series from the start, and the current season hasn't disappointed. A fascinating and weird true-ish story.

I finished Moon Knight on Disney+. I didn't like it. Despite a strong performance by Oscar Isaac, I thought it was the weakest Marvel series so far, and that it didn't make any logical sense by the conclusion. Which personality is the real one? Which side is evil? Does it really matter? Feh! Makes Iron Fist look like Shakespeare.

The Boys on Amazon Prime. The new season is just as nasty and outrageous as ever, and it remains an excellent commentary on fictional superheroes and real society. It's strong stuff - like Watchmen on steroids, definitely NOT for kids - but it really knows what it wants to say about heroism and media.

 

[Edward]

Just started with the Boys recently, and rather enjoying it. Watchmen is definitely a good reference point there - though this is the Minutemen as if they were all the Comedian!

Finished ...Evans? the other night, very good indeed. Well worth watching - if you don't like the story, just stay for the beautiful wardrobes! Now I'm bingeing on Broadchurch which I never got into before, but it's very good. I also recently watched, again on Britbox, a sotcom / crime caper called The Curse, set in East London in the early 1980s. Quite good fun, not least an outstanding cameo turn by the legendary Michael Smiley as a big time druglord and professional psychopath. Like a Guy Ritche caper, but believable, and with a far more subversive eye sending up rather than coming dangerously close to celebrating toxic masculinity.

 

[MisterCairo]

First episode of the newest season of The Boys.

There are no words to describe one scene.

None I can set out here...

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

The third episode of the Disney+ series Obi-wan Kenobi. At first, I hesitated to post some thoughts on the series so far, but after checking the comments on IMDB I get the impression I echo much of the opinions found there.

Not a SW fanboy, but nonetheless I agree with (A.) the criticism of Obi-wan being written as a fearful, Force fumbling, light-saber fumbling, confused loner; and (B.) the criticism of the writers for the ignorance or disregard (choose one) of the established chronology of the Obi-wan character and story-arc. For a fuller spectrum of the issues surrounding the series, please refer to the entry in IMDB.

Will I continue to watch it? Well, shucks, I guess so.

 

[MisterCairo]

Episode three of The Boys, just finished the first part (seven episodes I think) of Stranger Things (really good so far) season four, and re-watching Peaky Blinders, season four (The Vendetta season) to get up to speed in anticipation of the newly released on our side of the pond season six.

 

[MisterCairo]

The most recent episodes of Mayans and The Boys.

 

[Worf]

Puddin' still continues to work her way through "The Vikings". All her bloodthirsty viewings of late have me sleeping with one eye open. We watched the first 4 episodes of "The Boys". Just when you think they can't push the envelope any farther... they do... they push the envelope to the point where its ripped to shreds and laying in the trash heap. As M.C said... "there are no words". I did love the scene between Stan Edgar and Homelander. It is the most satisfying and understated dressing down of a "superhero" by a mere mortal you're ever likely to witness. Great writing.

Worf

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'm enjoying The Boys too!

I watched the first half of the six-ep season of The Time Traveler's Wife on HBO. I had loved the original novel, and I thought the 2009 film adaptation with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams did a pretty good job on an especially difficult book to dramatize. So now Steven Moffat takes a crack at adapting it long form...

So far, it's a mixed bag. Rose Leslie is very good as Claire; Theo James is okay, but I find him a bit underwhelming as Henry. The tone is very uneven, playing alternately as awkward comedy and looming tragedy. And while there are some things that the added time/budget makes possible to do better, the story still has some stuff baked in that, if anything, is even more disturbing today. Like all those scenes of a 40-year-old naked man interacting with a six-year-old girl: I mean, he's literally grooming her to be his eventual lover and wife. Ewww...

And of course, this is now, when no story can be told simply: it's always flashbacks within flashbacks or some other mess-with-the-timeframes approach. So not only is the story told with constant time jumps (vs. the earlier film, which made a point of keeping Claire's POV moving forward with coherent chronology vs. Henry's being unstuck in time), but with all-over-the-chronology "confession" sequences with Clarie talking to a video camera... including when she's an old lady, long after the end of the story proper. And since this is being done as an ongoing, not limited, series, the major events are unfolding slowly. Stuff that happened halfway through the 2009 film (like their finding a doctor for Henry's time-travel problem) hasn't occurred yet: they are probably saving that plotline for the next season.

I'll keep watching, but I'm not bowled over. At least it's not annoying me as much as The Man Who Fell to Earth, which I've now quit in disgust twice...

 

[MisterCairo]

Finished season 5 of Peaky Blinders to catch up, starting season 6 (sniffle, sniffle) tonight.

Watching the last espisode, knowing it is the last ever with Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly, it was curious to be reminded of her last lines.

Her last words in character are her quitting the Shelby business.

Last words spoken are "...my resignation".

 

[Who?]

The last TV show I watched regularly was probably “Gunsmoke”.

I did watch clips of ”Game of Thrones” because I read all the books, but I was somewhat dismayed by the liberties the TV folks took.

I gave up TV about 30 years ago.

 

[Edward]

Finished season 5 of Peaky Blinders to catch up, starting season 6 (sniffle, sniffle) tonight.

Watching the last espisode, knowing it is the last ever with Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly, it was curious to be reminded of her last lines.

Her last words in character are her quitting the Shelby business.

Last words spoken are "...my resignation".

Her absence is beautifully, and respectfully, dealt with in Series 6. I look forward to seeing what you make of it. Not everyone over here got what they wanted from it, but I loved it. We have been promised at least one cinematic outing to follow...

 

[Edward]

Perhaps ironically having this week for the first time contracted Covid after avoiding it successfully for so long (I am Carl Grimes and I claim my five pounds), I have been watching Survivors on Britbox. Had previously only seem the 2008 redux, which only lasted one series, mostly amidst much press mockery of it for being unrealistic. Ahem. Greatly enjoying the 1975 original, though - and reflecting on the hardships they suffer, knowing that in 2022 if that scenario repeated I think many more people would struggle far more. The first couple of episodes had that 'mid 1970s British TV' air of feeling like stage-plays that happened to be filmed, but the naturalism has improved as it went along. Still holds up very well. Interesting too how many of the dynamics explored as similar to what we see in the likes of The Walking Dead (barring the obvious; Survivors is about a post-pandemic world where 90% of people have died from disease, not zombies) in the modern era. There's a lot of great TV made nowadays too, though I can't help but feel that sometimes the low-budget nature of so much of 1970s British TV did it huge favours in forcing the quality of the writing and performance to carry the whole rather than depending on effects and such.

 

[Touchofevil]

Finished off Ozark and have watched a few episodes of the last season of Peaky Blinders.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Perhaps ironically having this week for the first time contracted Covid after avoiding it successfully for so long (I am Carl Grimes and I claim my five pounds), I have been watching Survivors on Britbox. Had previously only seem the 2008 redux, which only lasted one series, mostly amidst much press mockery of it for being unrealistic. Ahem. Greatly enjoying the 1975 original, though - and reflecting on the hardships they suffer, knowing that in 2022 if that scenario repeated I think many more people would struggle far more. The first couple of episodes had that 'mid 1970s British TV' air of feeling like stage-plays that happened to be filmed, but the naturalism has improved as it went along. Still holds up very well. Interesting too how many of the dynamics explored as similar to what we see in the likes of The Walking Dead (barring the obvious; Survivors is about a post-pandemic world where 90% of people have died from disease, not zombies) in the modern era. There's a lot of great TV made nowadays too, though I can't help but feel that sometimes the low-budget nature of so much of 1970s British TV did it huge favours in forcing the quality of the writing and performance to carry the whole rather than depending on effects and such.

" though I can't help but feel that sometimes the low-budget nature of so much of 1970s British TV did it huge favours in forcing the quality of the writing and performance to carry the whole rather than depending on effects and such."
Excellent observation.

 

[Touchofevil]

A couple more episodes of Peaky Blinders. Dark, intense, and entertaining.

 

[jordan93]

Recently I watched the last tv show peaky blinders (https://subdl.live/peaky-blinders-season-2-subtitles/) and It is one of the best tv series I've ever watched. I will definitely recommend this series to watch. The series is worth every second of your life.

 

[Touchofevil]

UFC 276 preliminaries on ESPN. A pretty nice card so far tonight.

 

[Zombie_61]

The Old Man (2022). Jeff Bridges stars as Dan Chase, a former CIA officer who is living "off the grid" when he finds himself the target of people who want to kill him. Co-starring John Lithgow as Harold Harper and Alia Shawkat as Angela Adams, two agents trying to help Chase, and Amy Brenneman as Zoe, a civilian who becomes accidentally entangled in Chase's life. So far there appear to be seven episodes in the first season, one airs per week on FX, and a second season hasn't been greenilt yet. Aside from simply wanting to work, I don't know what Bridges' motivation was for accepting this role because it's very unlike most of the roles he's chosen lately. So far I'm enjoying the way the story is slowly unfolding, and I'm hoping they aren't going to screw it up.

 

[belfastboy]

Netflix...."The Girl from Oslo". Not a bad drama. The only flaw is that pretty much all the characters did not elicit any sympathy from us whatsoever. It was weird in that at one point I was rooting for the ISIS bad guys. Filled with plot twists and turns....only 6 episodes so I didn't waste too much time on it.