What TV series are you currently watching?

[Brian]

Finished season one. Can someone who's seen more of it tell me: are future seasons about finding a cure and learning more about the virus, or is it mostly about rival groups of survivors acting feral and people within groups acting feral and a regular splash of gore?

Never seen it, but my understanding is the latter and that many fans gave up after a few seasons.

[j winter]

The Tudors.  I found something to kill some time during quasi-quarantine by going back over a decade.  The soapy life of bad boy Henry VIII makes for decent premium cable fare.  Jonathan Rhys Meyers hams it up as the king, and the other regular supporting actors do good enough work.  Production values are shoddy.  Showtime used C- and D-team greenscreen teams, with some exterior shots looking really bad.  Even something as prosaic as lighting is off.  Some of the early episodes use floodlights as a stand-in for the sun, but diffusers were not properly used and color temperature not property adjusted.  And the production team didn't even bother trying to bulk up the too short Meyers as the king ages.  Too, the first two seasons spend much more time to cover less chronological time while the final two season just zoom through the years.  The show's trick, though, is to bring in one veteran actor or actress per season to spice things up: Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole (!), Max von Sydow, and Joely Richardson, respectively, for each season.  It is no surprise that O'Toole delivers his lines as Paul III deliciously, with his dismissive remark about Michelangelo and his quip about women being especially noteworthy.  Ms Richardson is the best thing in the last season.  A good B-.

OK, I now need to see this, just for Peter O'Toole as Paul III -- yet another on the to-watch list....

[Wakefield]

Recently renewed for a fourth season, I decided to check it out. So far, I have enjoyed the first two seasons. Will start/finish season 3 over the weekend.

I thought the same, George. But the third season is a total non-sense... Just in case. 

[vandermolen]

Part 1 of 'The Salisbury Poisonings' - terrific in all respects:

[milk]

Wow! Blackpool England. I've never been to the UK but this show sure makes Blackpool look like the place to avoid. I'm sure it's much nicer than that? But an infestation of "bubble," the latest synthetic drug, makes for gritty party scene (too many guys pulling down their respective pants). Plus, children left barefoot on the road by drunk parents in the pub and a guy with a stomach wound the size of a muffin - from a broken bottle - and, well, I'm kind of hooked. I like the ambulance drivers and even the police. No guns I guess, so no one gets shot. 

[George]

The Night Manager.  I missed this mini-series when it first became streamable, but I'm glad I found it now.  Based on a John le Carre work, it is the first entirely satisfying movie or TV show I've watched in a while.  To be sure, there are some le Carre plot contrivances, but the production is first rate, the plot plausible, and the key actors all do good work.  Pity it is only six episodes.

Thanks for the heads up on this, Todd. My girlfriend and I enjoyed it.

[steve ridgway]

Wow! Blackpool England. I've never been to the UK but this show sure makes Blackpool look like the place to avoid. I'm sure it's much nicer than that? But an infestation of "bubble," the latest synthetic drug, makes for gritty party scene (too many guys pulling down their respective pants). Plus, children left barefoot on the road by drunk parents in the pub and a guy with a stomach wound the size of a muffin - from a broken bottle - and, well, I'm kind of hooked. I like the ambulance drivers and even the police. No guns I guess, so no one gets shot.

The road along the seafront is nice enough in the daytime but many town centres in the UK can become unpleasant at night due to binge drinking, particularly at weekends.

[milk]

The road along the seafront is nice enough in the daytime but many town centres in the UK can become unpleasant at night due to binge drinking, particularly at weekends.

I can't remember anything anymore. I left the US in 2005 and have lived in Japan ever since. I guess many parts of the US can be bad too but something shocked me about this show and Blackpool. First of all, I'd never heard of  the drug "bubble." Also, it just has a very antiquated feeling, like, I can't quite put it in 2020.

[steve ridgway]

I can't remember anything anymore. I left the US in 2005 and have lived in Japan ever since. I guess many parts of the US can be bad too but something shocked me about this show and Blackpool. First of all, I'd never heard of  the drug "bubble." Also, it just has a very antiquated feeling, like, I can't quite put it in 2020.

I haven't heard of that drug, might be one of the recently invented ones. Blackpool used to be a popular seaside resort like 50 years ago but is quite poor nowadays and many people on state benefits are housed in the old bed and breakfast hotels, so it does seem dated.

[Irons]

Part 1 of 'The Salisbury Poisonings' - terrific in all respects:

Watched part 2 last night. Very realistic, more documentary then drama. I'm no royalist but every time D.S Bailey's wife came on screen - an excellent actress - I am struck by her resemblance to Kate Middleton.

[drogulus]

Part 1 of 'The Salisbury Poisonings' - terrific in all respects:

     Oohh oohh oohh.... I have to check this out.

The Night Manager.  I missed this mini-series when it first became streamable, but I'm glad I found it now.  Based on a John le Carre work, it is the first entirely satisfying movie or TV show I've watched in a while.  To be sure, there are some le Carre plot contrivances, but the production is first rate, the plot plausible, and the key actors all do good work.  Pity it is only six episodes.

     I read the novel way back when and thought it should be done as a series. They did a fine job.

     The Little Drummer Girl series is far better than the movie was, though it might appeal more to admirers of Karla trilogy minutiae than a general spy fiction audience. Park Chan-wook directed.

[drogulus]

     

     I'll probably wait until tomorrow to start this one. I flipped through it and it looks very promising.

[vandermolen]

     

     I'll probably wait until tomorrow to start this one. I flipped through it and it looks very promising.

I think that it's excellent in all respects and very moving. Great score as well

Watched part 2 last night. Very realistic, more documentary then drama. I'm no royalist but every time D.S Bailey's wife came on screen - an excellent actress - I am struck by her resemblance to Kate Middleton.

Yes, I thought that as well. She also reminded me of the estranged wife of the central character in the series 'Bodyguard'. One of the great things about the 'Salisbury Poisonings' is that it rehabilitates the woman who died and who had been judged (not least by myself) to be a drug addicted low-life. The series presents a completely different image of a sad and troubled individual trying to turn her life around. I found the end of Part 3 to be very moving and indeed uplifting. Hope you both like it as much as I did.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

     

     I'll probably wait until tomorrow to start this one. I flipped through it and it looks very promising.

Where can you watch it Drogulus?

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I can't remember anything anymore. I left the US in 2005 and have lived in Japan ever since. I guess many parts of the US can be bad too but something shocked me about this show and Blackpool. First of all, I'd never heard of  the drug "bubble." Also, it just has a very antiquated feeling, like, I can't quite put it in 2020.

May I ask Milk, what lead you to moving to Japan?  If that's not too personal. 

PD

[milk]

May I ask Milk, what lead you to moving to Japan?  If that's not too personal. 

PD

I didn't really have a good reason to move to Japan. Once here, I found reasons to stay. I think guys like me were probably given a lot of advantages, maybe unearned. I'm basically an English teacher and having an MA made everything too easy. I finally decided to complicate my life by getting married and having two kids so I think things are finally starting to feel more even. Japan is a weird place though and I never learned to acclimate. My wife isn't Japanese so that's better too. We just float on the surface and hope for the best.  Now, is that not a pithy explanation of my life?

[steve ridgway]

We just float on the surface and hope for the best. 

That sounds most spiritual 0:).

[milk]

That sounds most spiritual 0:).

Ha ha. I'm definitely much better off but I think I need more spirituality. Maybe I'll make a mindfulness thread. It seems like a lot of music on GMG could be music for mindfulness.
Looking forward to this:

Alone, S7

[steve ridgway]

I'm watching BBC Art of Persia. Episode 1 was good, impressive ruins and gold artworks from thousands of years ago. Persepolis was in there too although without Xenakis' soundtrack .

[milk]

Wow! Blackpool England. I've never been to the UK but this show sure makes Blackpool look like the place to avoid. I'm sure it's much nicer than that? But an infestation of "bubble," the latest synthetic drug, makes for gritty party scene (too many guys pulling down their respective pants). Plus, children left barefoot on the road by drunk parents in the pub and a guy with a stomach wound the size of a muffin - from a broken bottle - and, well, I'm kind of hooked. I like the ambulance drivers and even the police. No guns I guess, so no one gets shot.

One thing I notice in this UK cop reality show is how often the ambulances accompany the police and how much the ambulances do - especially for mental health and addiction problems. Seems like the police work in tandem with ambulances. The other thing I notice is how many words Brits have for getting/being drunk.