What TV series are you currently watching?

[KevinP]

Kindred, having read the book, and Butler being probably my favourite author.

Watched three episodes in a row last night, to which my wife said, 'That's not like you.' True, I'm not  a binge watcher.

Some changes from the book, big and small, as there would have to be, but they're all respectful.

[SimonNZ]

[Karl Henning]

After a lengthy hiatus in the middle (not far from the end, really) of Season 6, I've resumed at last my second survey of Star Trek--TNG. I  enjoy all the extras in the Blu-ray edition ("Additional Data" as the menu coyly dubs it.) Or, well, I find I'm not much engaged when the gist is promoting Deep Space Nine ... I simply don't find myself interested. Here and there an episode feels so new to me that I am doubtful that I watched it before. I'm okay with that. 

[VonStupp]

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 4

My wife likes these new iterations of Star Trek, but I am not so sure.
VS

I think I have put a finger on what has been bothering me as I am slowly finishing up this fourth season.

The Discovery and its crew wrap up each episode by raising each other up and strengthening their bonds through endless praise, usually in a most saccharine fashion, often with smiles and tears galore (no ending quips around the captains chair anymore). This isn't bad, but I came to realize this is a mirror of what is happening in my workplace.

Since coming back to work from Covid, there has been a heavy focus on restorative communication practices with weekly reminders of appreciation from on top. In addition, once a week we are given a prompt as an idea to share more about ourselves to strengthen our bonds in the workplace, and once a month we are given team-building activities to bring workmates together.

I think this is probably a result of losing employees and making us feel worth in the workplace. It drives me nuts, although I guess I appreciate the attempt. Perhaps this is a common denominator in the US that is being exampled in Star Trek.

VS

[George]

I'm Dying Up Here

A comic/drama series about comedians in California in the 70s. Very funny, very dark and very well done.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yellowstone:  working on season one on DVD.  Heard that Harrison Ford is in the current season (not certain how many seasons there are so far of it).

PD

[Todd]

The English.  A new mini-series from and starring Emily Blunt, one half of the feted Amazon Prime Video power couple.  This marks the second highly stylized small screen (kinda) Western series I've watched in the last couple years.  This one in no way comes close to matching The Good Lord Bird, but it has its plusses.  But first its minuses.  The dialogue never works since it never quite goes for a surreal approach.  The story, relying on tired timeline jumping paired to geography jumping, doesn't really amount to much, and the final episode payoff disappoints.  It's just not a dramatically effective drama.  The original soundtrack sounds nearly oppressive and suffocating, with the pop music selections only so-so. 

Now, the plusses.  The producers actually opt to go for Native Americans speaking their own language while using supertitles in a few scenes.  That's great.  Second, the story does not sugarcoat the American wars against native peoples, nor inter-tribal enmity.  Third, it goes all the way in showing at least fairly realistic depictions of violence, including prairie justice, and the effects of untreated syphilis on prostitutes.  This is not a romanticized western.  (Now if only some show would depict the more than occasional malnutrition of the period.)  Fifth, Dvorak gets name checked.  Sixth, sound production is off the charts good, though that can also distract.  Foley artists display true artistry – you get to really hear something meant to evoke wind over prairie grass, for instance – and everything is clean and clear. 

And lucky number seven, visuals amaze.  Not so much action shots and the like, but the compositions are at times mesmerizingly gorgeous.  Director Hugo Blick and cinematographer Arnau Valls Colomer use Panavision lenses in a sometimes heavy handed but always fantastic way.  They go for wide shots with ample distortion to add drama to prairie shots.  They typically follow John Ford's advice regarding the horizon, preferring to emphasize the sky.  They use color and flares creatively.  And the way they shoot the people at times approaches high fashion model shoots.  One scene with the two main characters talking on horseback flits back and forth between them, with wide open apertures paired with soft reflectors rendering their faces perfectly and evenly illuminated with creamy, dreamy bokeh backgrounds.  Even when ugliness is depicted, they often craft beautiful images.  The duo even make Spain a credible stand in for the badlands of Kansas and the eastern portion of Wyoming.  (Just pretend the shots do not face west.)  I paused the show a few times to gaze at the shots. 

I will say that Rafe Spall does good work in his role, and lead Chaske Spencer is good in his role.  Ms Blunt doesn't really work for me.

If the show was as good as it looks, it would be great, but as it is, it is not equal to the sum of its parts.

[Fëanor]

...
I will say that Rafe Spall does good work in his role, and lead Chaske Spencer is good in his role.  Ms Blunt doesn't really work for me.

Dunno about in The English, but she works pretty well for me in general.  E.g. I found her really, really hot   in Edge of Tomorrow, (which movie I otherwise didn't like much).

[Todd]

Dunno about in The English, but she works pretty well for me in general.  E.g. I found her really, really hot in Edge of Tomorrow, (which movie I otherwise didn't like much).

I meant her acting. 

[Fëanor]

Dunno about in The English, but she works pretty well for me in general.  E.g. I found her really, really hot   in Edge of Tomorrow, (which movie I otherwise didn't like much).

I meant her acting.

... Oh that. 

[Irons]

Assisted dyeing is a grim subject but the two part BBC drama Mayflies is more about friendship. Starring Tony Curran and Martin Compston, who is all over our screens at present. What would you do if your best mate from your teens who has terminal cancer asks you to facilitate a trip to a Swiss Assisted Dyeing clinic? Not as grim as it sounds (not viewed second episode yet) as parts are very funny in a gallows humour way.

[Karl Henning]

Well, after a hiatus (mostly a matter of watching Rod Serling's Night Gallery in the superb blu-ray upgrade) I am back to season 7 of Star Trek: TNG and The Loner (Serling's Western, starring Lloyd Bridges.I just enjoyed, very much, the 1966 pilot for Mission: Impossible, but I do not enjoy at all the packaging of the blu-ray set. Mild correction: I do think well of the fact that they eschewed the traditional plastics, but this cardboard package design is useless.

[George]

Just started this. Not great, but good enough.

[Fëanor]

Dunno about in The English, but she {Emily Blunt} works pretty well for me in general.  E.g. I found her really, really hot   in Edge of Tomorrow, (which movie I otherwise didn't like much).

Hah!! I finally noticed the guywires that are actually supporting her weight while she does that maneuver.  (It always seemed unfeasible given her hands have to be forward of her centre of mass.)

Still hot though 

[Todd]

The first four seasons of Mayans MC, or Ode to Scumbags, Diversity Edition.  Hey, if you're gonna do it, do it right, and Kurt Sutter and crew do it right.  First, the show has only one Anglo main character, and that is the trophy wife of a drug lord.  Second, the show has all manner of Latinos and Latinas from all over the Western Hemisphere, as well as some Native Americans.  Not all of the characters speak Spanish – a nice touch.  Third, the show is more compact and even faster paced than SOA.  The main difference in the approach is that this fictional club has no compunction about drug running.  Human trafficking is their limit.  (See, they're not that bad.)  The show also has multiple cameos from stars of the first show sprinkled in. 

The show centers on EZ Reyes, following him from snitch to would-be gang leader.  Like SOA, most of the characters are abominable, the violence gratuitous, and so forth.  But it entertains.  One thing it does better than the show from which it spun off is that many of the younger cast members are prettier than in the original show.  The three main young men – the Reyes brothers and the big, bad drug lord – are smokin' hot 'n' sexy, with muscly abs on display many times.  The main young females are uniformly beautiful, whether they play an amateur porn star, a junkie, a Venezuelan born revolutionary leader (yep, that's right), the drug lord's wife, or EZ's girlfriends, including Sulem Calderon, one of the loveliest young women I've seen in a TV show or movie in a while.  She even does the sweet and innocent thing well.  For gravitas, Edward James Olmos is on hand, especially in the first couple seasons.  I'll probably watch the upcoming season(s).

[VonStupp]

Doctor Who: Series 8 (2014)

Way behind in Doctor Who. No one I talked to stuck with Peter Capaldi, so I was hesitant. Colour me surprised that I really liked his entry into the new run.

VS

[drogulus]

     I just finished the second series of Slow Horses. It's got spies in it, and humor, and most of all it has Gary Oldman going medieval on the scenery like only he can.

[SimonNZ]

Started the 7-part documentary TraumaZone on the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the oligarchs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0d3hwl1/russia-19851999-traumazone

[Irons]

Watching and enjoying the Italian drama La Porta Rossa. Towards the end, not at the very end, of every episode music strikes up which is spine tingling in effect. Much to my shame I was unable to place it but guessed Beethoven. Turns out to be an arrangement of the second movement of the 7th Symphony.

https://youtu.be/ABRxvbZnHpk

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Watching and enjoying the Italian drama La Porta Rossa. Towards the end, not at the very end, of every episode music strikes up which is spine tingling in effect. Much to my shame I was unable to place it but guessed Beethoven. Turns out to be an arrangement of the second movement of the 7th Symphony.

https://youtu.be/ABRxvbZnHpk

That show sounds like it has an interesting premise.  And a very nice arrangement of that Beethoven movement!

Sort of lost interest here in Yellowstone, so will have to find something else to watch.  Will see if I can get ahold of Season One of La Porta Rossa from a local library.

PD