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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: On the telly: What are you watching?
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
We started watching Poldark. From the first few seconds I said it would be typical women's drama. All slightly slowed down horse riding through the countryside ith wind in your hair.
If eye candy for the ladies is what rocks your boat then watch it. But there's nothing for me here.
What I am watching is Gotham, a bit of a curate's egg, but every episode has brilliant bits as well as being unnecessarily graphic at times.
Breaking Bad has started from episode one. Not being one who uses Netflix I am keen to see what the fuss was about.
House of Fools and University Challenge are finished for now, so I'll have to look for something else.
And there's Masterchef. The Torode/Wallace style was a breath of fresh air when it replaced the original Grossman programme (Rhodes does not count) but the present format is getting tired. Time for another makeover? It is still better than most food shows though.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I watched Back in Time for Dinner - firstly to marvel at the number of times Giles Coren has managed to recycle the programme idea. But it did bring out how shrewdly food manufacturers have learnt to counterfeit Real Food from the early days of processed goop (still processed but a lot less goopoid).
[ 17. April 2015, 23:12: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
balaam--
Do you have "Masterchef Junior" there? In the US, it's one of Gordon Ramsey's shows. It's really good. All the competitors are kids--ages 6-13, IIRC. (There was a little girl, Abbie, who was 8 and cooking since she was 2.) They are very, very good cooks--on a grownup, professional level (per the judges), and cooking dishes that are similar to the ones from "Masterchef" and "Hell's Kitchen".
Both the kids and judges (from "Masterchef") are much better behaved than on the grownup shows--and they have a lot more fun! Even pouring buckets of oil and other substances over the judges.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
"Grey's Anatomy", "Scandal"*, and "Elementary" were all good last night.
*Do heed the content warning.
ETA: More and more local broadcast stations are adding retro channels. (E.g., digital ch. 5 adding 5.2.)
![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
[ 08. May 2015, 09:22: Message edited by: Golden Key ]
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
I'm also now hooked on The Good Wife - especially love the fact that two of the leads (Alan Cumming and Matthew Goode) are Brits.
Archie Panjabi who plays Kalinda is another Brit.
I have no idea why I was under the impression that Alan Cumming was Canadian since now that I look him I can clearly see he's not the least bit Canadian. Oh well. I would have liked it if we could have claimed him. He's great on The Good Wife. I love that show and have just finished Season 5, which is all they have on Netflix. Looking forward to eventually catching up with Season 6.
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I've been glued to the General Election coverage, so am feeling very tired.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Me too. ![[Snore]](graemlins/snore.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I was watching "slow TV" earlier this week, and loved it.
(This is a programme presented as it is, with no music and no commentary. You just watch what goes on. It can be quite relaxing and refreshing. I found I watched three programmes one after the other without feeling tired.)
I've seen the Dawn Chorus (in a variety of different settings); a glassblower making a glass jug, gradually transforming a small dark cylinder of raw glass into a beautiful large clear glass jug with a handle; and a blacksmith making a kitchen knife, starting with six strips of sheet metal then combined, furnaced, beaten, shaped and worked into a real, polished kitchen knife with a wooden handle.
The photography was artistic and it was lovely to watch skilled craftsmen at work and see the finished articles take shape.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Got to be more interesting than that series on the industrial manufacture of various foods (bread, choccie biccies etc). Endless aerial pans over industrial plant and Greg Wallace in a white coat and hair net.
ETA: and a statutory10 minutes of Ruth Gooding explaining how it was done in The Olden Days.
[ 08. May 2015, 18:49: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I can't bear Greg Wallace so wouldn't have watched that. It is quite nice just to be able to draw your own conclusions instead of having an annoying commentator spoonfeeding you and repeating himself at intervals while showing you recaps of the same pictures for at least the third time.
The Slow TV of the canal barge gliding steadily along the Kennet & Avon canal was a bit boring, though. I'm holding out for the Norwegian fire crackling.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
The glassblowing show sounds really cool. Perfect for the overstimulated.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
What I am watching is Gotham, a bit of a curate's egg, but every episode has brilliant bits as well as being unnecessarily graphic at times.
Fun mindless entertainment. Also an object example of why if you have a character who is the protagonist's love interest they should have a personality and role in the show beyond protagonist's love interest. Were we ever even told what Barbara's job is, or where she gets her money from, or what she does all day?
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
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Posted
Did anyone watch the first episode of "Home Fires"? (Or "Call the WI" as it's been nicknamed here - although that's a bit unfair as I think CTM was a better show) It was vaguely engaging, and we'll probably watch the next episode to see if it develops any more, but we're not sure yet.
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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
What I am watching is Gotham, a bit of a curate's egg, but every episode has brilliant bits as well as being unnecessarily graphic at times.
Fun mindless entertainment. Also an object example of why if you have a character who is the protagonist's love interest they should have a personality and role in the show beyond protagonist's love interest. Were we ever even told what Barbara's job is, or where she gets her money from, or what she does all day?
Is that necessary in fun mindless entertainment? No.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Is that necessary in fun mindless entertainment? No.
If you're going to actually root for the love interest as part of a couple, then yes it is necessary that she have a personality and something to do.
A love interest who is only a love interest is boring. And boring is the one unforgivable flaw in fun mindless entertainment. Being boring and endorsing the world according to the Daily Mail and the two unforgivable flaws. The two unforgivable flaws in fun mindless entertainment are...
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Wolf Hall has just finished airing on PBS over here, and I must say I enjoyed it infinitely more than the book (that wouldn't have been hard), although Mark Rylance's long, hard stares sideways to the camera got a bit wearing after a while.
We're apparently getting the re-invented Poldark in June ...
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I too am enjoying Wolf Hall. It's subtle, a word not often used about television.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
Finally finished The Musketeers - we recorded about 5 eps as we were out a lot, and discovered last night that we were missing the final ep! Fortunately some naughty person had put it on YouTube.
I'm going to miss my lovely boys. I do like a little swashbuckle now and then.
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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ChastMastr
Shipmate
# 716
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Posted
We're now watching Monsters and Mysteries in America; Steven Universe, Adventure Time; the latest Sentai series (Ninninger); and Kamen Rider Drive.
Alas, Daily Show and Nightly Show are off this week, but we usually watch them.
I miss Colbert. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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My essays on comics continuity: http://chastmastr.tumblr.com/tagged/continuity
Posts: 14068 | From: Clearwater, Florida | Registered: Jul 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
My shows of the week are sucking rocks. Drag Race Sucks. Nurse Jackie is turning into warm watery diarrhea. I'm going to bed with a book.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Rather a lot of baseball and shows about fixing up old cars like Wheeler Dealers, etc. We also watch Jeopardy nightly!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
What I am watching is Gotham, a bit of a curate's egg, but every episode has brilliant bits as well as being unnecessarily graphic at times.
Fun mindless entertainment. Also an object example of why if you have a character who is the protagonist's love interest they should have a personality and role in the show beyond protagonist's love interest. Were we ever even told what Barbara's job is, or where she gets her money from, or what she does all day?
I've rarely watched "Gotham"--too dark for me. I'm more for the Adam West series I loved as a kid, and some of the theatrical movies.
But if we're talking Barbara Gordon, then presumably either the library work from the old TV series--or what she got up to in "Birds of Prey", a wonderful but short-lived show. (With lots of woman power! ![[Cool]](cool.gif) )
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Just watched a movie on TV: "The Pope Must Diet". It's about a priest who accidentally becomes pope, in a situation of great corruption. It's a comedy and something of a spoof, but there's a lot more to it than that.
I wonder if Pope Francis has seen it? I suspect he'd like it. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Has anyone seen "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell"? I missed the first episode last week, but it sounded interesting.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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TurquoiseTastic
Fish of a different color
# 8978
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Posted
I caught an episode of "1864" on BBC4 last night. It was quite interesting but I suspect the historical resonances are rather Denmark-specific...
Posts: 1092 | From: Hants., UK | Registered: Jan 2005
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Has anyone seen "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell"? I missed the first episode last week, but it sounded interesting.
I saw it and enjoyed it. I had just started reading the book. Which is long and I'm still only 50% through. I'd hoped to get finished before episode 2 but I think I'm still far enough ahead to safely watch.
It's set in the early 1800s and the book is written in the style of someone like Jane Austen, down to old-fashioned spellings. I mention that partly because the other thing I re-watched Friday and yesterday was the whole of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice.
Also I watched the whole series of Car Share on iPlayer - which was only 6x30mins. It'd not be to everyone's tastes and there were times when it was leaning too much on Peter Kaye's usual tropes (oddly specific mundane details), and the story line was pretty predictable. However I liked the relationship between the main characters which could have felt forced but didn't, and I liked that they didn't wrap it all up too neatly.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
I must watch Jonathon Strange, I read the book a few years ago and loved it, despite not being a novel reader. Her other book 'The Ladies of Grace Adieu' is a book of short stories of faerie and I highly recommend it.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
The whole family is really enjoyig Jonathan Strange, even my husband who didn't get on with the book. My son and I that loved it are both really pleased that they've managed to capture the spirit of it, while smoothing it out a bit.
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well, that was certainly interesting stuff, if quite creepy! Some excellent acting in it. I had a look at the book in Waterstone's today but think I might get it from the library instead.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Wet Kipper
Circus Runaway
# 1654
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Also I watched the whole series of Car Share on iPlayer
we're working our way through these bit by bit and I really like it. Especially the cheesy local radio adverts and announcers.
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- insert randomly chosen, potentially Deep and Meaningful™ song lyrics here -
Posts: 9841 | From: further up the Hill | Registered: Nov 2001
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
We watched The Armada last night and that was very interesting. Even Mr Nen was semi-engaged and it takes a lot for a history programme to do that to him. I suspect it may have had something to do with some of the attractive young female historians who contributed, but I may be doing him an injustice. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarasa:
The whole family is really enjoyig Jonathan Strange, even my husband who didn't get on with the book. My son and I that loved it are both really pleased that they've managed to capture the spirit of it, while smoothing it out a bit.
My wife enjoyed it, but I don't think I quite finished it when I had a go at it several years ago.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
I'm enjoying Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell as well. Obviously some of the characters are different from the way I imagine them. (Also, there are minor characters whom I'd forgotten about but whom you actually notice when they're given actors with lines.)
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
But if we're talking Barbara Gordon, then presumably either the library work from the old TV series--or what she got up to in "Birds of Prey", a wonderful but short-lived show. (With lots of woman power! )
Different Barbara Gordon - the joys of comic continuity mean that Commissioner Gordon's first wife was also named Barbara. It occurs to me as I write this that she can't be surnamed Gordon in Gotham if she's not married to him.
I haven't watched the last two episodes of Gotham, since the writers seem to try to interest us in the character again by showing us that she's really good at needing rescuing.
A pity - the actor had a lot of charisma in Being Human, where she actually had a part.
[ 28. May 2015, 07:14: Message edited by: Dafyd ]
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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