‘THE PROFESSIONALS’, ‘THE SWEENEY’, ‘TILL DEATH US DO PART’.
Three great, classic T.V. series, born from the 70’s.
Please see my thread on ‘The Last Movie You Watched’, regarding these classics…
…I’ve taken my own advice, and set this topic up.
Any series, any era…every TV series is welcome…
We’ve been barrelling through series 1- 3 of Line of Duty in the last couple of weeks at casa.caress. Seventeen episodes from start to finish, we’re watching the last two tonight and it’s been very good indeed. I’m not generally one for police procedural dramas but this was a cracker (as, it has to be said, was Happy Valley, both series of which we crashed through prior to Line of Duty).
We started on season five of Homeland a couple of weeks ago but we abandoned it, two episodes in. I enjoyed the first three seasons but I didn’t take to season four at all and tbh I had no enthusiasm whatsoever for any more. Speaking of shows for which I’ve no enthusiasm, we’ll be returning to The f*cking Affair after tonight (we were waiting for season three to finish its run so we could crash through it). I think The Affair is pretty gormless but @MazzyStar is enjoying it still (I’m hoping she’s forgotten all about Orange is the New Black).
We’re also back on The Walking Dead now season seven has resumed. It’s one of the only shows (Game of Thrones being the other) which we watch week-to-week rather than wait for the season to end and then binge-watching, which is what we’ll be doing with 24: Legacy once it’s finished. Still not sure how I feel about a Jack Bauer-less 24 though.
Once we’re done with The poxy Affair, we’re going to give Stranger Things another go. We watched the first two episodes and, while it was okay, it didn’t really take. But I want to persist with it, it looks like my kind of show.
I like The Affair, even if series typical not that much happened between episode 3 and the last one.
It’s driving me up the wall, Stanters. EVERYONE’S having an affair. It ought to be a farcical comedy. Maybe I should view it as one, I might enjoy it more.
I did quite like the conceit of showing the same events twice through two opposing perspectives with unreliable narrative, but season two didn’t seem to do that anywhere near as well as season one; and of course, it didn’t make the story itself any less dull.
I love the Fiona Apple theme tune though. SinkbackintotheOH-shunn!
I watched only the first season so far. It was very entertaining so far.
Hmmm, dull? Really? Not for me (so far)
‘UFO’, 1970-73.
Gerry Anderson’s classic, bought from ‘Network’ recently.
A fantastic job done of the audio and video restoration. The only thing that dates it now is the fashion…but hey…isn’t that part of the charm of re-visiting yesteryear?
Superlative acting from a great cast…Ed Bishop, George Sewell, Michael Billington, Vladek Sheybal, and, of course, the beautiful Wanda Ventham (mother of Benedict Cumberbatch).
The main theme, by Gerry’s regular composer, Barry Gray, is one that I never get tired of.
DURHAM COUNTY - Season 2
The second season of the Canadian thriller series (with some horror influences) that was intruduced to me as one of the best thriller series in history. Like the first season, the second is well-made, but (again like the first) it also takes an awful lot of time to tell a relatively straightforward story: with six episodes of 45-50 minutes it has a total running time of some 260 minutes (not including the recaps).
Ray Prager, the killer and rapist of the first series is now behind bars, waiting for his trial. Detective Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon) got promoted but his marriage is in ruins and he therefore starts a turbulent affair with a forensic psychiatrist (played by Michelle Forbes), who’s also the medical attendant of Mike’s daughter Sadie, who was kidnapped - and possibly raped - by Ray Prager and who’s testimony in court will be essential. But this foresic psychiatrist has some serious problems of her own …
The second season benefits from at least two terrific performances, by Laurence Leboeuf (as Mike’s daughter) and especially Michelle Forbes as the psychiatrist with a twisted mind who turns out to be her own most troubled patient. Unfortunately the writing leaves something to be desired: there are a few implausibilities and the conclusion - if well-prepared - isn’t entirely satisfactory.
Last three days: The first six episodes of The Affair season three. Only four more episodes to go which we’ll do over two nights but it still somehow feels as though it’s never going to f*cking end. Utter crap. We won’t be watching it tonight though. I’m insisting on watching last night’s episode of The Walking Dead (even though that show has become deeply frustrating too) and @MazzyStar is insisting on watching the new, third series of Broadchurch which begins this evening. The first series of Broadchurch was decent (if you can overlook a couple of fairly glaring lapses in logic), the second series however was comically bad. Soap opera bad.
He he, why do you still watch it?
Will it have an end after the 3rd season?
The wife is still watching it. I mean, at this stage I’m not avidly following every second of it anymore - I’ll be noodling on my tablet of somesuch - but, inevitably, plenty of it seeps in. I guess some would wonder why I don’t take advantage of the time by taking myself upstairs to watch something the wife might not like but we’re just not that couple. I will watch things that I know she’ll hate very late at night and she’ll watch one or two things I’m definitely going to hate on her tablet but, mostly, we’ll try new things together (oo-err, missus!). The Affair was something we both wanted to take a look at but, early into the second season, I knew I was done with it. I’m betting you’ll tire of this show at roughly the same point. There’s not a specific plot point which tips it over the edge, it’s just the weight of general hackneyed cliché and losing count (and interest) in who’s having an affair with who now.
It’s been confirmed for a fourth season. No air dates confirmed yet but, going by previous seasons you can expect season four to air in October or maybe November 2017.
I recently watched Lars von Trier’s Riget a.k.a Kingdom. I remember seeing a episode or two in the nineties but this was the first time I saw the whole thing. It has a cool atmosphere and it starts really promising, I was really hooked on the first few episodes but sadly it just starts to decline very soon with absurd and stupid storylines and it doesn’t have any proper ending. Too bad it wasn’t the gem I was hoping for.
I think it is.
I really love it, and there a even several moments of genuine horror, despite all the grotesque humour. Unfortunately the third and final season was never made, so it can’t have a proper ending.
As in almost every year, I’m currently revisiting some episodes from my favorite TV series The X-Files, selected basically from the first 6 seasons. Episodes like Darkness Falls, The Erlenmeyer Flask, Gethsemane, E.B.E., Tunguska, Anasazi and lots of others as well never get old no matter how many times I’ve watched them. Maybe I’ll revisit the first movie too in the near future, haven’t watched it in quite a long time.
Watched first half of first season of Alias Smith and Jones. I had never seen the series before but I remembered people mentioning it here so I loaned the dvd from public library. Light hearted western fun with charming main actors. Some well known western actors also make appearances like Slim Pickens and Brett Halsey.
Finished The Affair at last, and the third season finale was laughable even by The Affair’s standards.
Anyway, on to better things. Or rather, Stranger Things. Four episodes in out of eight in total (I’m watching Ep.5 as I write this), and it’s really very good. Wynona Ryder has had little to do so far except appear at her wit’s end, playing a mother who’s child has gone missing, but largely I’m struck by how atypical most of the cast look for a big 21st century TV show. It’s set in the early eighties but it looks as though it was made in the eighties too (I mean that in its best sense).
Finished Stranger Things, and it was excellent. Very excited for season two, whenever that’s due.
Next, we’re hitting season two of Fargo. I adore the movie and I should’ve adored the first season of the TV show, too; all the ingredients were right. Somehow though it felt like a bit of a slog, particularly through the middle episodes. Everything I’ve heard about this second season suggests it’s superior to the first however, and I’m looking forward to seeing for myself. We might be starting this tonight but we’ll likely start on Tuesday.
Still haven’t gotten around to Fargo, but yesterday I decided to make a start on the Star Trek original series blu-ray I got for Christmas. I’ve never previously seen an episode from start to finish (well, I mean I might’ve back when I was a nipper but I don’t recall ever seeing a full episode) and tbh I still don’t have any interest in any of the spin-off shows; maybe a combination of these original episodes plus the upcoming new show might change that but, for now, William Shatner and co. will do fine. So far (six episodes in), so good. I was surprised to find though that it just kind-of… well, started. There was no “Origin Story” episode placing all of the principals in their respective chairs and sending the enterprise up into its “five year mission to boldly go…” etc. etc. That first episode could have been the twenty-first. I guess it’s not important, I was just surprised from a show with so much apparent lore.
Hi, Asa.
Great photo. Goodness knows what’s going on, below the 'Enterprise’s decks!
Just look at De Forrest Kelley’s face!
Finally started on Fargo season two last night. Only watched two episodes but it’s excellent so far. Quite a few faces in there, too: Ted Danson, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Jean Smart…
Twelve episodes into Star Trek now; very easygoing, amiable stuff but nothing essential by any means. Filler television, but good filler television.
TRAPPED (Ófærð - 2015)
An Icelandic crime television series in 10 parts. Everybody seems to think this is a fantastic show and no, I’m not going to tell you it’s bad, but I was nevertheless a bit underwhelmed. The story is set in midwinter, in Seyðisfjörður, a remote community in eastern Iceland. Shortly before the arrival of the ferry from Danmark - the connection with the outside world - a mutilated corpse is found in the local harbour. The local police chief thinks the killer is on board of the ferry and therefore orders that nobody may leave the ship: the passenger are - just like the inhabitants - trapped in this remote corner of the world.
Admittedly the series has a lot to speak for it: it’s beautifully filmed, creating a haunting atmosphere that almost makes us feel the blizzards that turn the community into an icy inferno. This is not a glossy show with hip detectives wearing designer clothes, writing info on transparent walls; instead it features real people, living in real houses, played by actors who don’t look like movie stars. The problem is the script: there are too many plotlines and too many characters; some of the plotlines are neatly tied together in the end, but others lead nowhere. Some subplots were - at least that was my idea - introduced to distract viewers from the (all in all rather flimsy) central plot.
