What Are You Watching

[xybert]

Fell down the rabbit hole watching Nardwuar videos on youtube. His schtick starts to wear thin, and i guess somewhat similar to Ali G/Borat there's the 'oh i know who this guy is now' effect where the interviewee's start to know what to expect, but he still get's some cool insights and there are some great candid moments. It's addictive because there are sooooo many videos and they're hit and miss but you finish one and you always see another artist that you want to check out.

 

[kinuta]

House of Cards: To Play The King (BBC) - Ian Richardson is wondrous...and I'm convinced he should have played a vampire at some point in his career.  

He was a great actor. Odd that such an immense talent was mainly confined to tv.

As good as the Kevin Spacey version was, the original was something special.

Especially liked the way he addressed the camera head on, ala Alfie, to reveal his Machiavellian thinking.

Have you ever seen him in ' Murder Rooms: Mysteries Of the Real Sherlock Holmes ' ?

Worth seeking out  if the answer is no.

It's a stretch but the nearest he came to playing a vampire was the overlord alien in Dark City.

Edited August 11, 2015 by kinuta

[Shawn]

 

It's a stretch but the nearest he came to playing a vampire was the overlord alien in Dark City.

Ah!  Yes, I remember that now.  He just had such a great menacing screen presence, he would have made a great horror movie villain.  

I also remember him from those old Grey Poupon commercials...

[jlhoots]

Major Crimes - season finale, underrated series IMHO.

[kinuta]

Major Crimes - season finale, underrated series IMHO.

The programme was very skillfully finessed to get over the seemingly crippling loss of Brenda.

It's very much a team show now, although I wish they'd get rid of the kid, I find him a pain.

I think he was introduced to show off the softer, maternal side of Sharon.

You recall she was a real badass villian and instrumental in Brenda's departure  towards the end of The Closer.

I agree, it's a well made series that is consistently good, except for Rusty.

[jlhoots]

Major Crimes - season finale, underrated series IMHO.

The programme was very skillfully finessed to get over the seemingly crippling loss of Brenda.

It's very much a team show now, although I wish they'd get rid of the kid, I find him a pain.

I think he was introduced to show off the softer, maternal side of Sharon.

You recall she was a real badass villian and instrumental in Brenda's departure  towards the end of The Closer.

I agree, it's a well made series that is consistently good, except for Rusty.

Everytime Julio speaks up I think of Breaking Bad.

The series returns in November.

[kinuta]

Major Crimes - season finale, underrated series IMHO.

The programme was very skillfully finessed to get over the seemingly crippling loss of Brenda.

It's very much a team show now, although I wish they'd get rid of the kid, I find him a pain.

I think he was introduced to show off the softer, maternal side of Sharon.

You recall she was a real badass villian and instrumental in Brenda's departure  towards the end of The Closer.

I agree, it's a well made series that is consistently good, except for Rusty.

Everytime Julio speaks up I think of Breaking Bad.

The series returns in November.

Right, Julio is underwritten and underused.

Send Rusty off to Africa ala E.R. and give his screen time to Julio.

[kinuta]

Murder In The First

The first season, with the emphasis only on the Eric Blunt case, was better but I'm still quite enjoying season two.

 

[A Lark Ascending]

On the proper TV the other night. Dull.

First three episodes. Read some whinging about it but I've been engaged so far.

Must re-watch the Richardson series again - I've not seen it since it was first broadcast.  

Edited August 12, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[jlhoots]

Show Me A Hero - HBO

[JSngry]

[kinuta]

Ray Donovan 

A powerful episode.

[A Lark Ascending]

Soup Cans & Superstars: How Pop Art Changed The World - BBC Four

Nice 90 minute survey for someone like me who knows very little about the subject. Probably a bit glib for those who know this area well. 

[duaneiac]

I like this very funny series, but watching it  several episodes at a time kind of diminishes the humor a bit.  There are no bonus features on the DVD set.

[A Lark Ascending]

Napoleon - a BBC4 3 parter that went out around the time of the Waterloo anniversary.

This one really wound me up. Andrew Roberts, an historian I don't seem to have come across apart from as a name, seems to be the epitome of the brash, over-confident, privately educated toff. Arrogantly presents the series as a debunking of myths, scathingly rubbishing interpretations he disapproves of. Yet the whole thing seems to be based around his adolescent hero worship of Napoleon (something he highlights regularly). Roberts seems quite keen on dictatorship in the 'right' hands! 

Reading about him on the web my antipathy was quickly backed up - inherited wealth, extremely right wing, apologist for things like Amritsar.

Imagine he's in line for a peerage.

Will watch part 2 and 3 if only to be further outraged.     

[Good lord, even the Daily Telegraph was unimpressed!: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11681648/Napoleon-episode-2-review.html] 

Edited August 30, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[jlhoots]

Just finished Show Me A Hero.

Now watching Public Morals.

[A Lark Ascending]

Finished the two Roberts programmes. He's at his best when describing the military tactics. But his assessment of Napoleon throughout is very poor history. He starts with a thesis - Napoleon was a great man, misunderstood by posterity - and then collects his evidence to support it.

If he ever gets bored with history he has a great future as a jazz critic!  

Edited September 1, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[jazzbo]

Hannibal finale (they should have left off the last scene,) and I've been re-watching Heroes, went through the first two seasons.

[erwbol]

Hannibal finale (they should have left off the last scene).

A continuation is still a possibility, just not on NBC. A movie in a few years time perhaps. Bryan Fuller has been talking openly about the meaning of that final scene, his ideas for a continuation and what would have happened in a fourth season.

---

Quote:"Martha De Laurentiis is investigating financing for a feature film and there’s any of a number of scenarios."

On that final scene:"Speaking of Bedelia, the series' final image isn't them going off the cliff, but Bedelia waiting to serve a guest who is never going to come. How did you decide that was the image you wanted to end it on.  

Bryan Fuller: Well, that's a really interesting interpretation of the scene. You think she cut off her own leg and is going to serve it to somebody?

She seems as if she is throwing a dinner party. 

Bryan Fuller: (laughs) No, that's our little nod to the audience that perhaps Hanibal could have survived that cliff dive. She's sitting at the table with her leg on the table and she's looking absolutely terrified, and she grabs the fork and hides it under her napkin and waits for whoever's going to return. This woman still has some fight in her. We don't know if Hannibal is indeed serving her her leg, or is it Hannibal's uncle Robertus, or Lady Murasaki, or is it Will Graham?

So it was just your tease for the possibility of more?

Bryan Fuller: Yes. But I love your interpretation! (laughs) I love the thought that she's thinking, "Fuck! I cut off my leg for no reason!"
 

 

[jazzbo]

I took you off ignore to read this comment. I just think it was unneccessary and would have preferred the final scene to be Will and Hannibal's. On top of that it seemed uncharacteristic of Hannibal and his culinary habits to me.  If there's something else to come that would be great. But I doubt it.

 

Edited September 1, 2015 by jazzbo

[erwbol]

I took you off ignore to read this comment. I just think it was unneccessary and would have preferred the final scene to be Will and Hannibal's. On top of that it seemed uncharacteristic of Hannibal and his culinary habits to me.  If there's something else to come that would be great. But I doubt it.

 

That's OK. I took you off ignore to see if anyone had commented on the Hannibal finale yet. 

[Shawn]

I'll have to wait until Amazon Prime adds season 3 of Hannibal before I finish it.  I watched about 4 episodes of the season but then realized I just wasn't in the mood for the series right now, by the time it comes out for streaming I'm hoping I'll be in a more receptive frame of mind.  

[erwbol]

The second half is very different from the first, more like two seasons in one. The Red Dragon storyline was done very well in the last six episodes.

[Shawn]

I didn't have a problem with the quality of the episodes or anything like that, I just realized that I would appreciate it more in a different headspace.  I did that with Breaking Bad as well, started watching it and realized it wasn't going to click...I waited 2 years and then revisited and that's when I got hooked.  

[jazzbo]

Started on Heroes Season 3, I like this show more than some I guess, and I'm glad it's coming back "Reborn."

Also got caught up on "Hell on Wheels" and watched some episodes of "Car Matchmaker," which is a fun show.