TV Series - Reviews and Recommendations......

seanoconn

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

Was a massive fan of Due South when it first came out in the UK, as it was a bit weird. Just discovered the whole lot are available for free on YouTube (legit, not illegal copies) and watched the pilot last night. Going to work my way through them.

Thank you kindly

If you enjoy that quirky Canadian sense of humour then seek out Northern Exposure.
I can't find a source but would like to see if it stands the test of time.

Yeah liked that too (I've referenced it on here in the past)

It was set in Alaska however ....

Okay, "that quirky style". 😉
Turns out it was filmed in Washington though. 😱

What! I’ve been living a lie 😔

Probably too cold for a large film unit to function most of the year in Alaska. Still, spoils it a bit. Regular family viewing with parents back in the day.

elbowloh

seanoconn said:

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

Was a massive fan of Due South when it first came out in the UK, as it was a bit weird. Just discovered the whole lot are available for free on YouTube (legit, not illegal copies) and watched the pilot last night. Going to work my way through them.

Thank you kindly

If you enjoy that quirky Canadian sense of humour then seek out Northern Exposure.
I can't find a source but would like to see if it stands the test of time.

Yeah liked that too (I've referenced it on here in the past)

It was set in Alaska however ....

Okay, "that quirky style". 😉
Turns out it was filmed in Washington though. 😱

What! I’ve been living a lie 😔

Probably too cold for a large film unit to function most of the year in Alaska. Still, spoils it a bit. Regular family viewing with parents back in the day.

Depends where in Alaska. Juneau was very nice and warm when i was there.

pangolin

ddraver said:

This is going to depend a lot on how much you can stand Clarkson but Clarksons Farm has "dropped" on amazon and...it's actually rather good.

Clarkson is a bit more normal in it if, like me, you're 50-50 on the slow burn but increasing over-dramatisation of Top Gear/Grand Tour.

It is a proper insight into the realities of farming life and his genuine love and respect for the British countryside and farmers certainly shines through.

Agreed, couple of episodes in and it's quite entertaining.

darkhairedlord

ddraver said:

This is going to depend a lot on how much you can stand Clarkson but Clarksons Farm has "dropped" on amazon and...it's actually rather good.

Clarkson is a bit more normal in it if, like me, you're 50-50 on the slow burn but increasing over-dramatisation of Top Gear/Grand Tour.

It is a proper insight into the realities of farming life and his genuine love and respect for the British countryside and farmers certainly shines through.

Yep, watched it over the last week. I learnt more about farming from this than I have from anything else over the last 50 years.

singleton

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I recently watched and enjoyed "Behind her eyes". I don't like anything that's too predictable, and this wasn't.

Pross

Watched the whole of Clarkson's Farm now and really enjoyed it. Yes, it had the typical Clarkson type bits in it but I do think he had a lot of respect for what's involved as you could see when discovering how the numbers balanced for the year and that he is lucky to have his other incomes.

shortfall

Has Jimmy McGovern's Time had a mention yet? Probably one of the most powerful and thought provoking television shows of the last 50 years I would say. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting, particularly from Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, utterly believable and depressing. Must watch TV.

ddraver

Indeed, it sparked the Sharpe chat a few pages back...

TheBigBean

elbowloh said:

seanoconn said:

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

pblakeney said:

elbowloh said:

Was a massive fan of Due South when it first came out in the UK, as it was a bit weird. Just discovered the whole lot are available for free on YouTube (legit, not illegal copies) and watched the pilot last night. Going to work my way through them.

Thank you kindly

If you enjoy that quirky Canadian sense of humour then seek out Northern Exposure.
I can't find a source but would like to see if it stands the test of time.

Yeah liked that too (I've referenced it on here in the past)

It was set in Alaska however ....

Okay, "that quirky style". 😉
Turns out it was filmed in Washington though. 😱

What! I’ve been living a lie 😔

Probably too cold for a large film unit to function most of the year in Alaska. Still, spoils it a bit. Regular family viewing with parents back in the day.

Depends where in Alaska. Juneau was very nice and warm when i was there.

I was sceptical about this and was surprised to discover that wikipedia agrees. Juneau is relatively tropical.

Fun fact. Alaska is the most northern, western and eastern US state.

ddraver

One of the (many) things that did for the Into The Wild feller was that he didn't realise that travel in Alaska is much easier in Winter when everything is frozen. In summer an awful lot of it is swamp, beaver pond, mosquito-ridden awfulness...

TheBigBean

ddraver said:

One of the (many) things that did for the Into The Wild feller was that he didn't realise that travel in Alaska is much easier in Winter when everything is frozen. In summer an awful lot of it is swamp, beaver pond, mosquito-ridden awfulness...

He was in a nice bit which is a national park. What did for him was his complete lack of skills. There are some great stories of old explorers mapping telegraph cable routes and living off the land for 18 months.

I have already recommended Alone which is a competition to live as long as possible alone with primitive tools.

morstar

Apologies for low brow recommendation but I am currently very much enjoying Upload on Amazon Prime.

Similar to The Good Place for gentle, slightly offbeat harmless comedy.

I do enjoy lots of challenging stuff but sometimes just want to chuckle and I regularly have done watching this.

daniel_b

I've just finished watching both series of Baptiste, there will be no more.

Not watched the original series that this was spun out of.

Great actor I thought, and series 1 has Tom Hollander in it, who never fails to deliver for me, whether it's a comedy role, or a drama, superb actor imho.

Series 2 had Fiona Shaw in, who I had only seen in the ok killing eve, but she gets to use her skills far more in this series.

Well worth a watch, both on iplayer.

johngti

Wife decided we needed to watch sex life on Netflix. It’s total cr@p but there’s loads of naughtiness and a massive dong in it. And I didn’t need to feel guilty about watching it. Not one for the prudes.

surrey_commuter

briantrumpet said:

Pross said:

ddraver said:

This is going to depend a lot on how much you can stand Clarkson but Clarksons Farm has "dropped" on amazon and...it's actually rather good.

Clarkson is a bit more normal in it if, like me, you're 50-50 on the slow burn but increasing over-dramatisation of Top Gear/Grand Tour.

It is a proper insight into the realities of farming life and his genuine love and respect for the British countryside and farmers certainly shines through.

Heard him being interviewed about it the other day and it sounds like he's become quite passionate about it.

I reckon @surrey_commuter is the target audience...

Am reading through this looking for inspiration. I might turn to you for more suggestions as I rather enjoyed it. To me Kaleb was the star as he was totally un star struck and just called him an effing idiot.

mrb123

shortfall said:

Has Jimmy McGovern's Time had a mention yet? Probably one of the most powerful and thought provoking television shows of the last 50 years I would say. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting, particularly from Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, utterly believable and depressing. Must watch TV.

Finally got round to this recently. Totally agree with all the above.

rick_chasey

Chernobyl on sky is 10/10.

Not seen such a good prog in a long time. Honestly, I would make efforts to get to watch it if you haven't.

5 episodes long, so not a huge investment.

kingstongraham

rick_chasey said:

Chernobyl on sky is 10/10.

Not seen such a good prog in a long time. Honestly, I would make efforts to get to watch it if you haven't.

5 episodes long, so not a huge investment.

Agreed - it's on Now TV, and worth a trial subscription for that alone if you don't have Sky Atlantic.

Mare of Easttown and Succession are also on there and superb.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Chernobyl on sky is 10/10.

Not seen such a good prog in a long time. Honestly, I would make efforts to get to watch it if you haven't.

5 episodes long, so not a huge investment.

Yeah, think it got mentioned quite a bit when it came out. The way it is shot gives it a really claustrophobic feel at times and it was only when watching it that I learned how much worse things could have been. I imagine that is how it would be over here if we had a problem at a nuclear power station under Boris!

The other programme I watched around the same time was The Looming Tower about how the warnings of an attack ahead of 9/11 were ignored, that's excellent too if you haven't seen it yet.

daniel_b

4thed on Chernobyl, watched it on a plane to or from Mauritius a few years back now. Stunningly shot, great actors.

I've just started watching the Italian series Thou Shalt not kill with Miriam Leono as the lead actor - 2008 Miss Italia nonetheless, not that that is why I am watching it I hasten to add, and not that she dresses as it in the series - she is a relatively hardened detective, her mum killed her dad, but we don't yet know why.

3 series on All4 Walter Presents, and a really good start, about 5 episodes in, so far they seem to be 2 parters, not sure if that is the case for all the series, but well worth a look.
Shot really nicely, and based in and around Turin.
https://channel4.com/programmes/thou-shalt-not-kill

rick_chasey

Nice, thanks.

I have been having a lot of dreams/nightmares relating to Chernobyl. The roof scene especially. Oh my god, can you even imagine?!

Generally, I have quite the fascination with soviet Russia - I've read so much about it.

I do think regarding accuracy I read that people from that part of the world during that time were blown away by how accurate all the mis-en-scene stuff was. The clothes, the buildings, etc. Even apparently Russian drama's don't get that close.

What does seem to be less accurate is the "if you don't toe the line you will get shot" bit, which would have been right in the 30s but not so much in the 80s.

ddraver

Try Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy if you want a well written account

blazing_saddles

daniel_b said:

4thed on Chernobyl, watched it on a plane to or from Mauritius a few years back now. Stunningly shot, great actors.

I've just started watching the Italian series Thou Shalt not kill with Miriam Leono as the lead actor - 2008 Miss Italia nonetheless, not that that is why I am watching it I hasten to add, and not that she dresses as it in the series - she is a relatively hardened detective, her mum killed her dad, but we don't yet know why.

3 series on All4 Walter Presents, and a really good start, about 5 episodes in, so far they seem to be 2 parters, not sure if that is the case for all the series, but well worth a look.
Shot really nicely, and based in and around Turin.
https://channel4.com/programmes/thou-shalt-not-kill

Watch out for the episode where she almost has to wear something that isn't grey.
Definitely left wide open for series 4, then along came Covid.....

Chernobyl is the highest rated show on Imdb btw.

johngti

Agree about Chernobyl. Awesome tv. I can also recommend the expanse if you have Amazon tv. Binged it during lock down. Thought it was excellent

pblakeney

johngti said:

Agree about Chernobyl. Awesome tv. I can also recommend the expanse if you have Amazon tv. Binged it during lock down. Thought it was excellent

Just proves that people are different since I got bored during the second series.
Does it improve?

seanoconn

pblakeney said:

johngti said:

Agree about Chernobyl. Awesome tv. I can also recommend the expanse if you have Amazon tv. Binged it during lock down. Thought it was excellent

Just proves that people are different since I got bored during the second series.
Does it improve?

Same here, how long do you need to wait for something to get good?

johngti

Yeah it dragged a bit but probably starts improving a lot from the third series I think. But then again, I’m a huge nerd so…

surrey_commuter

Not a regular on this thread so apologies if already covered but I watched the first episode of 9:11 One Day in America and it is the best thing I have seen in ages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGEssh5UAak

masjer

The Shield Amazon It's quite old now but it's brilliant. 7 seasons in total. Watched 5 now and it just gets better and better. The most entertaining cop series ever?
Halt and catch fire Didn't think I'd like this, but it's great.
Invincible cartoon. Strangely entertaining.
Patriot Amazon. Great, Very quirky, but axed before the last season.
Undone Different in a good way.
Mr Robot Superb.
Umbrella Academy Very entertaining.
Mindhunter Slow, but classy.

daniel_b

blazing_saddles said:

daniel_b said:

4thed on Chernobyl, watched it on a plane to or from Mauritius a few years back now. Stunningly shot, great actors.

I've just started watching the Italian series Thou Shalt not kill with Miriam Leono as the lead actor - 2008 Miss Italia nonetheless, not that that is why I am watching it I hasten to add, and not that she dresses as it in the series - she is a relatively hardened detective, her mum killed her dad, but we don't yet know why.

3 series on All4 Walter Presents, and a really good start, about 5 episodes in, so far they seem to be 2 parters, not sure if that is the case for all the series, but well worth a look.
Shot really nicely, and based in and around Turin.
https://channel4.com/programmes/thou-shalt-not-kill

Watch out for the episode where she almost has to wear something that isn't grey.
Definitely left wide open for series 4, then along came Covid.....

Chernobyl is the highest rated show on Imdb btw.

I will keep an eye out for that - somehow she transcends the greyness though, she has quite an understated presence if that makes sense.
I'm about 8 episodes through not I think, like the 2 parter aspect, allows them to go a bit deeper story line wise, but not make it an entire series.
Do you know if it has been canned?
I noticed series 3 was a while back and the last, so had assumed they had decided to stop making it.