Larry Kart Posted January 18, 2021 Report Posted January 18, 2021 The longstanding and ongoing Netflix series "Grace and Frankie," in which Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin)) are women who have been divorced by their law partner ex-husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) who are now married to each other after 40 years of concealing their mutual love. Grace, a rather uptight age 70 former cosmetics company owner, and Frankie, same age, something of a perpetual counter culture figure, are now contentiously living together in an attempt to make the best of things. Fonda is surprisingly (to me) good, and Tomlin is out of sight. The scripts are very witty at best (one feels that Tomlin writes a fair number of her own lines), and the episodes average about 35-40 minutes, which is ideal for watching several at a stretch. Supporting cast is excellent -- Grace has two grownup daughters, Frankie two grownup adopted sons. Setting is San Diego. The tug-of-war chemistry between Fonda and Tomlin is increasingly delicious and often rather salacious. Grace's daughter Briana, explaining to her young sister Malorie why she's been spending time with a male escort who charges her $300 a pop, says, "His penis has abs." Quote
jlhoots Posted January 18, 2021 Report Posted January 18, 2021 37 minutes ago, JSngry said: Thoughts? I tried to get started, but there was no traction there for me...maybe I gave up too soon? We thought it was an original take on fifties sitcoms. Watched both episodes & plan to continue. Quote
gmonahan Posted January 20, 2021 Report Posted January 20, 2021 On 1/18/2021 at 10:31 AM, jlhoots said: We thought it was an original take on fifties sitcoms. Watched both episodes & plan to continue. I think it's interestingly subversive. There are elements in it that remind me a little of "Pleasantville," a movie I've always liked, but of course, this is the MCU, so it will presumably veer hard into sci fi before too long! gregmo Quote
jlhoots Posted January 20, 2021 Report Posted January 20, 2021 PBS doc. - How It Feels To Be Free Quote
gmonahan Posted January 22, 2021 Report Posted January 22, 2021 Been watching "Pretend It's a City" on Netflix. Fran Lebowitz is a hoot. gregmo Quote
jlhoots Posted January 23, 2021 Report Posted January 23, 2021 Losing Alice - episode 1 (Apple+ TV) Quote
duaneiac Posted January 26, 2021 Report Posted January 26, 2021 While watching an old episode of my all-time favorite TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, I cracked up once again at this marvelously staged joke. Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 27, 2021 Report Posted January 27, 2021 The Bureau (amazon). French secret service. Quote
duaneiac Posted February 5, 2021 Report Posted February 5, 2021 I've been watching a lot of various episodes from While I saw a lot of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents half-hour shows in syndication as a kid and have the first three seasons of that on DVD, I haven't seen many of these hour long episodes. They didn't get syndicated as much, perhaps because it lasted only 3 seasons (1962-65) in that format. I saw a few episodes on a local PBS station many years ago, but that's about it. Some of the stories are a bit slow-paced, some you can see the ending coming a half-hour away. Most of them hold one's interest. The acting is always top-notch and the list of actors who appeared on the show is impressive, from genuine movie stars (James Mason, John Carradine, Lillian Gish, Ray Milland, Christopher Lee, Gloria Swanson), future movie stars (Robert Redford, James Caan, Gena Rowlands, Bruce Dern, George Segal) and several soon-to-be familiar faces on TV (June Lockhart, Lee Majors, Bob Newhart, Pat Buttram, Martin Landau, Robert Culp, Angie Dickinson, Peter Graves, Peter Falk, Ed Asner, even a pre-Goober George Lindsey). It appears Mr. Hitchcock directed only one of these hour-long episodes himself, the rather pedestrian "I Saw The Whole Thing". One of the best episodes I've seen so far is "An Unlocked Window" starring Dana Wynter. A very suspenseful and scary story which holds up well (if one is willing to overlook some plot holes) -- for best effect, watch it alone on a dark & stormy night! Quote
jazzbo Posted February 5, 2021 Report Posted February 5, 2021 "The Boys" S 1. Liking it more than expected. Quote
ejp626 Posted February 8, 2021 Report Posted February 8, 2021 Exploring some of the bonus features in the Monty Python Blu-ray set. On the Season 4 disc, there are some commercials that the Pythons did including a 25 minute industrial film for Birds Eye Peas! This was shot during Season 3 so it has John in it. It really is not that far different from a full-length show but with a very narrow focus on making peas "younger." As far as I know, no one has interviewed anyone from Birds Eye Peas to see if they got what they thought they were getting. Other random thoughts - the Most Awful Family in Britain sketch from "Party Political Broadcast" seems very much the template for The Young Ones. Maybe the next time through watching The Young Ones I will feel that it is somewhat derivative. Also watching The Oscar Wilde skit from Season 3 I misremembered that as being from Black Adder. Quote
jlhoots Posted February 13, 2021 Report Posted February 13, 2021 On 1/23/2021 at 2:02 PM, jlhoots said: Losing Alice - episode 1 (Apple+ TV) Continuing to watch this series. Quote
jlhoots Posted March 1, 2021 Report Posted March 1, 2021 Finished Losing Alice - liked it a lot. Quote
jazzbo Posted March 1, 2021 Report Posted March 1, 2021 I discovered my wife loves "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and we've watched all the first two seasons and are starting season 3. Wonderful show. Quote
mjazzg Posted March 1, 2021 Report Posted March 1, 2021 American Gods, season two, just started. Loved the book and this adaptation is keeping my eye ntetedt despite some longueurs. Quote
JSngry Posted March 1, 2021 Report Posted March 1, 2021 On 1/18/2021 at 11:50 AM, jlhoots said: Wanda Vision - 1st 2 episodes On 1/18/2021 at 11:53 AM, JSngry said: Thoughts? I tried to get started, but there was no traction there for me...maybe I gave up too soon? On 1/18/2021 at 0:31 PM, jlhoots said: We thought it was an original take on fifties sitcoms. Watched both episodes & plan to continue. On 1/20/2021 at 6:25 PM, gmonahan said: I think it's interestingly subversive. There are elements in it that remind me a little of "Pleasantville," a movie I've always liked, but of course, this is the MCU, so it will presumably veer hard into sci fi before too long! Ok, see, I had NO idea that this was going to be some kind of "Marvel Universe"...I really have neither the time nor the interest for that type of thing. But - the story as it is being told, explains enough of the back story to the point that I don't feel the need to go all retro-geeky, it's fine just as it is. The 30+ minute episode length is perfect, they get a lot in, in that tight time frame. And as it turns out, it's wonderfully inventive and entertaining show, entirely on its own terms, I'm in! Quote
JSngry Posted March 7, 2021 Report Posted March 7, 2021 Finished Wandavision yesterday...it ended up being more Marvel-y than I would have liked, but otoh, they waited until deep enough into it that I was too hooked to stop. Well done, then! Apparently, the show had some success getting people into the series who shared my disinterest in the whole "Marvel Universe" geekery. Is there a lesson there for MArvel Studios going forth, that they can make interesting TV without having to rely on all of that stuff? I hope so. I mean, it's nice if you have that to bring to it, but it was nice for me to not at all have to have it. Quote
ejp626 Posted March 10, 2021 Report Posted March 10, 2021 Have by now gone through all the Monty Python episodes in order. And the two German episodes (out of order). I had assumed I had seen them all over the years, but there were 2 I absolutely had never seen before and 2-3 more that I don't recall seeing but it may just be brain fog. So in its own way that was rewarding. Currently working through Blackadder, at pretty much the same pace. We aim for 1 per night M-Th, but sometimes things come up and we have to skip. I have not decided if the next set will be Father Ted or Fawlty Towers. Maybe leaning a bit towards Fawlty Towers. Anyway, my favorite remains Season 2 of Blackadder, but Season 1 is a bit slier and better overall than I remembered, with some quite amusing asides that are a bit hard to catch on first viewing. I completely forgot that Peter Cook was in Season 1, Episode 1! Quote
Bluesnik Posted March 21, 2021 Report Posted March 21, 2021 Right now Enter the dragon, with Bruce Lee and also a great soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin. Quote
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