What TV series are you currently watching?

[Karl Henning]

My own favorites:

The Howling Man

Time Enough at Last

To Serve Man

Walking Distance ( with an exquisite Bernard Hermann score )

And many others...

Picture if you will,

LKB

Many others, indeed!

[nodogen]

Collateral has just finished on BBC. Most excellent drama (so quite rare!)

[milk]

Rewatching S2 of Fargo w/wife. Surprised that she rates it higher than S1. I guess I agree.

[Karl Henning]

Impossible not to like the original Twilight Zone better, but I do enjoy the '80s series.  I only found out about the latter, from extras on the DVD series of the original series, which included (e.g.) a sample of the remade "A Game of Pool" (nothing could beat Jack Klugman & Jno Winters, to be sure!—yet I do enjoy Maury Chaykin in the Winters role) and "Dead Man's Shoes."

Offhand, "Shatterday," "Nightcrawlers," "The Library," "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium," "The Misfortune Cookie," "To See the Invisible Man," "The Once and Future King," and "Aqua Vita" (among yet others) are all strong stories which do the brand proud.

FWIW, I have not sought out the 21^st-c. series.

Why is it unreasonable to expect later 'revivals' of The Twilight Zone to "match" the original?  Let me count the ways . . .

First, Rod Serling created the idea for the series.  (IIRC, he came up with the title on his own, but later learnt that it was a phrase in technical use by airmen.)  Now, I do not mean only that the process is irreproducible because of the fact of Serling's invention.  There were commercial reasons which drove Serling to the invention, illustrated by a teleplay he had written about the lynching of a black man in the American South, in which the sponsors of the television show demanded sanitizing changes, lest it "offend" some of the audience (i.e., the sponsor's consumers).  Serling learnt, from repeated sponsor interference, that some of the important societal issues about which he was compelled to write, were not going to clear what was in effect The Censors.  So he determined to write of them in the abstract remove of fantasy and science fiction.

Second, Serling the Writer dominated the series, in a way that would probably never be practical for any renewal of the show.  Serling was apt (in an altogether artistically commendable way) to be harsher in self-criticism about repeating himself, or not writing up to his best, even than others.  One may chalk this up to the exhaustive demands of furnishing stories for 30+ episodes each season . . . but that is already spinning off into a tangent.

Third, Serling enjoyed a degree of control over The Twilight Zone which any writer might envy.  No studio which has taken, or may afterwards take, any interest in renewing the franchise will ever yield that to any artist.  Consider Harlan Ellison's experience with the '80s series (even allowing for Ellison's being a, shall we say, thorny character).

Fourth, the tone of the show is powerfully reinforced by the exceptional b-&-w cinematography (with the curious exception of the six or so second-season episodes which were shot on videotape, a regrettable economizing measure which, yes, was a matter of studio interference).  It would be a next-to-impossible eccentricity for any TV show to be shot in b-&-w now (has anyone shot a b-&-w feature since Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog of 1991?)  The 1980s series ('The New Twilight Zone') of necessity compares badly on that head, because although it was shot on film, it was edited in video, so there are no original film negatives from which fresh prints might be made.

Other aspects of the original series (the exceptionally fine writing, the high-end musical scoring, the contemporary acting talent who were attracted simply because of the fine writing) are in theory achievable in comparable degree by any subsequent generation.

In theory.

So, with all these frank, manly confessions, I maintain that the '80s series is well worth watching.  "Quarantine," "Red Snow" (directed by Night Gallery alumnus Jeannot Szwarc), "The Card," "Shelter Skelter," "The Girl I Married," "The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon," "Dream Me a Life," "The Hellgramite Method" – these last three are from the third season.  After the second, the show was dropped by the network, but they shot 30 22-minute episodes in Canada, in order to sell the series into syndication.  By which I only mean to say that there are still shows at the top of their game, even in their "lame duck" era.

[SimonNZ]

Recently:



Justified, seasons 1 and 2
Bosch, season 3
Cardinal, season 1

Strarted:



The Shadow Men, season 3

[drogulus]

     I just completed Series 2 of Happy Valley. There will be a 3rd but not for some time.

     Spoiler: The valley in question conspicuously lacks happiness.

     I'm looking forward to Bosch 4. Most of all I'm waiting for The Americans and Better Call Saul. Odenkirk really shined in The Post and I gots to have my Ehrmantraut fix.

[Mookalafalas]

Last night binge watched season 2 of "Stranger Things".  Enjoyed it immensely.

Watched first episode of "Barry"-- My kind of show. 

Also, finally watching Twin Peaks. I watched it sporadically when it first aired, 30 years ago or so.  I'm about 1/3 through season 2.

[Bogey]

Why is it unreasonable to expect later 'revivals' of The Twilight Zone to "match" the original?  Let me count the ways . . .

First, Rod Serling created the idea for the series.  (IIRC, he came up with the title on his own, but later learnt that it was a phrase in technical use by airmen.)  Now, I do not mean only that the process is irreproducible because of the fact of Serling's invention.  There were commercial reasons which drove Serling to the invention, illustrated by a teleplay he had written about the lynching of a black man in the American South, in which the sponsors of the television show demanded sanitizing changes, lest it "offend" some of the audience (i.e., the sponsor's consumers).  Serling learnt, from repeated sponsor interference, that some of the important societal issues about which he was compelled to write, were not going to clear what was in effect The Censors.  So he determined to write of them in the abstract remove of fantasy and science fiction.

Second, Serling the Writer dominated the series, in a way that would probably never be practical for any renewal of the show.  Serling was apt (in an altogether artistically commendable way) to be harsher in self-criticism about repeating himself, or not writing up to his best, even than others.  One may chalk this up to the exhaustive demands of furnishing stories for 30+ episodes each season . . . but that is already spinning off into a tangent.

Third, Serling enjoyed a degree of control over The Twilight Zone which any writer might envy.  No studio which has taken, or may afterwards take, any interest in renewing the franchise will ever yield that to any artist.  Consider Harlan Ellison's experience with the '80s series (even allowing for Ellison's being a, shall we say, thorny character).

Fourth, the tone of the show is powerfully reinforced by the exceptional b-&-w cinematography (with the curious exception of the six or so second-season episodes which were shot on videotape, a regrettable economizing measure which, yes, was a matter of studio interference).  It would be a next-to-impossible eccentricity for any TV show to be shot in b-&-w now (has anyone shot a b-&-w feature since Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog of 1991?)  The 1980s series ('The New Twilight Zone') of necessity compares badly on that head, because although it was shot on film, it was edited in video, so there are no original film negatives from which fresh prints might be made.

Other aspects of the original series (the exceptionally fine writing, the high-end musical scoring, the contemporary acting talent who were attracted simply because of the fine writing) are in theory achievable in comparable degree by any subsequent generation.

In theory.

So, with all these frank, manly confessions, I maintain that the '80s series is well worth watching.  "Quarantine," "Red Snow" (directed by Night Gallery alumnus Jeannot Szwarc), "The Card," "Shelter Skelter," "The Girl I Married," "The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon," "Dream Me a Life," "The Hellgramite Method" – these last three are from the third season.  After the second, the show was dropped by the network, but they shot 30 22-minute episodes in Canada, in order to sell the series into syndication.  By which I only mean to say that there are still shows at the top of their game, even in their "lame duck" era.

It is like the original '33 King Kong. There is only one.

[Ken B]

Karl asked about black and white. There have been a few since 1991. The Coens did The Man Who Wasn't There, and a few years ago there was the wonderful film The Artist. There have been a few more. Schindler of course too.

[Bogey]

Karl asked about black and white. There have been a few since 1991. The Coens did The Man Who Wasn't There, and a few years ago there was the wonderful film The Artist. There have been a few more. Schindler of course too.

Without searching wasn't the Ed Wood film with Depp B&W?

[Mirror Image]

Good to see you posting again, Bill!

[NikF]

Without searching wasn't the Ed Wood film with Depp B&W?

Yeah, it was.

Black and white recent(ish) cinema? Although shot in colour Pleasantville and also La Haine both come to mind. And about ten years ago there was a 16mm feature about a man versus machine chess competition, but the title of that one escapes me.

Also: hello again, and if the info on the forum is correct, happy birthday.

[drogulus]

     Old: All Creatures Great And Small

     New: Occupied

     They both suck......notly.

     Not much needs to be said about All Creatures, there's nothing else quite like it and I can't imagine how it got made. They must have paid the animals a fortune to withstand the radioactivity of Robert Hardy going full blast. No wonder Peter Davison escaped to the relative calm of Dr. Who.

     I'm a couple of episodes in on Occupied, a Norwegian political thriller set in the near future, and I'm committed. It's on Netflix.

[Draško]

Recently:

First season takes some time to get the tone right, but second, with Benetts, is fantastic. My favorite season.

[Draško]

Three episodes in and Babylon Berlin looks excellent, police thriller set in late 1920s Berlin underworld. Cabarets, dance crazes, seedy blackmails, political plots with Russians. Lots of storylines and characters are getting entwined, let's see how it plays out.

I just love gardening programs, to garden vicariously. 

[SonicMan46]

First season takes some time to get the tone right, but second, with Benetts, is fantastic. My favorite season.

Love Justified - have probably watched at least 3 times - wife not a fan - we live just 2-3 hrs from the Lexington, KY area and have visited + toured a number of the famous Kentucky distilleries, so I seem to relate to this series!

For a 'couples watch', we just bought and finished the last season of Major Crimes which we love - started to watch the old series Jag and enjoyed the first season (from the 1990s!) for free on Amazon Prime - wanted to charge to continue, so looked at the cost of the entire series (on 55 DVDs) which was just over $60 - our cheapest route, so now watching Season 2 and enjoying - obviously will take a while - wife is NOT a 'binge watcher'  - Dave

[drogulus]

     I watched the first episode of the final season of The Americans. Everything the last few years have prepared us for is starting to happen. A sense of dread, of no good outcome hangs over the show.

     About the gruesome violence, I share the general view that having the couple be both deep cover espionage agents and assassins is unrealistic as plot, but at the level of psychology absolutely necessary and appropriate. In real life the assassins wouldn't meet or even know of the existence of Directorate S agents. Yet, if the spies report back to Moscow about a problem with someone and the person mysteriously dies, they know without ever being told what happened.

[SimonNZ]

Twin Peaks, season three

Very mixed feelings about this. I loved the first three episodes, and episode eight was truly remarkable, and generely any parts that resembled Eraserhead or Inland Empire. But man the "Dougie" stuff was terrible, and there was so much of it The Gordon stuff wasn't handled with the same humour as the original show. And most of the bits with the old cast were all to brief cameos or overstayed their welcome.I was also somehow under the impression that this was going to reach some kind of resolution, not just throw up more questions and leave the door open for a season 4.

[SimonNZ]

Been watching one two-hour episode a week of this each weekend with a friend. Half way through the ten episodes now and finding it as superb as everyone had said.

[Mirror Image]