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

blazing_saddles

tailwindhome said:

The Stanley Tucci Italian food programme, the name of which I don't recall, is a fabulous looking programme

I just want to go to Italy now


Edit....'Searching for Italy'

I have just watched the first programme and have to say what a delightful escape it proved from the dreary, depressing dramas that both the BBC and ITV are currently churning out every week.

ddraver

daniel_b said:

pblakeney said:

daniel_b said:

Also watched episode 1 of the last Killing Eve series - it was ok, nothing outstanding, presumably episode 2 will ratchet things up a fair bit.

Series 1 was good, can't remember how the second series went but I wouldn't get too excited about the 3rd series. I'm not bothering with the 4th.

I think it got progressively worse, but maybe they will turn it around for this final series.

Said it before and will say it again - Phoebe Waller-Bridge needed the courage to kill it off when she left

(totally understand that the amount of money offered to not do that probably set her up for life though so, glass houses and that)

morstar

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

daniel_b

Just finished the Tourist yesterday, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Some quite imaginitive and brave writing I thought, well acted, and that little bit different.

I see they are contemplating a 2nd series.

tailwindhome

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

blazing_saddles

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yahoo news had a story about viewers complaining about exactly that: it made no sense.

It’s yet another new UK drama getting absolutely panned on IMDb.

I gave it a wide birth. Should have done the same with No Return. More utter Shiite from ITV.

morstar

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yep, there’s a tipping point where you just go eh?

If it was a side thing, whatever, but it’s the whole premise of the story.

kingstongraham

thedirector135 said:

Vikings: Valhalla. Poop. There were no African Vikings.

Don't think they had tv cameras then either. Totally unrealistic.

morstar said:

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yep, there’s a tipping point where you just go eh?

If it was a side thing, whatever, but it’s the whole premise of the story.

I lost interest about half way through episode one. It was clearly going to be ridiculous but try to be earnest about it.

kingstongraham

The Promise is great.

morstar

kingstongraham said:

thedirector135 said:

Vikings: Valhalla. Poop. There were no African Vikings.

Don't think they had tv cameras then either. Totally unrealistic.

morstar said:

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yep, there’s a tipping point where you just go eh?

If it was a side thing, whatever, but it’s the whole premise of the story.

I lost interest about half way through episode one. It was clearly going to be ridiculous but try to be earnest about it.

It is actually a real issue that houses can get sold from under people. Rare but can happen. So the concept could have been used for a legitimate drama. This one simply didn't make sense.

The annoying thing is, the parallel timelines are used to try and hide the gaping holes in the plot which they don't manage.
a) it was a preposterous way to get a mark. 999 times out of a thousand, ends with a bit of fist waving road rage.
b) The mark decided on an exit strategy prior to the sale, the story ends there.

tiyaalford

Of the shows I've seen recently, I've been impressed with "How to Become a Tyrant" narrated by Peter Dinklage. I liked the general idea. Several series, each devoted to one personality. But what you'd expect from Netflix is that the information is too compressed, they crammed everything they could into 30 minutes, so if you thought to watch it in the background of a case, it won't be much more than noise, because you have to focus all your attention when watching it. All in all, I'd say it's not a pity for the time spent, but there are undercounts. I'll give it an 8/10.

masjer

Bear with me on this one -Canal Boat Diaries BBC. We're not talking about knife-edge drama here, just chugging along on a narrowboat, watching the world pass by. Strangely relaxing.

micaab

Arcane on Netflix

Really not my usual kind of thing but gave it a go and there were some really nice touches all the way through.

Worth a try to break the routine of drama series.

daniel_b

blazing_saddles said:

More 4 are showing series 2 of Rocco Schiavone, starting this evening at 9pm.
Hopefully it will continue the character development that was coming along nicely in the second half of series 1.

Meanwhile BBC 4 have The Promise begging tomorrow in the usual slot.
No idea whether it’s worth a look. However, I do know it’s by someone who worked on Spiral and stars some very familiar faces from French drama.

Watched all of the Rocco series, although only 4 episodes sadly, the character and other characters continue to build.

Disappointed with who looks like they might be phased out of the series come the final episode though, I hope they can find a way to bring them back in somehow.

Also just today (with a turbo session) began watching the promise, and it's excellent.
Admittedly I like most French TV (With the exception of the aptly named Trauma), but it's really rather good only 2 episodes in.

It bears no resemblance to Spiral at all, and there is only 2 actors I think I recognise, which is the current commander who featured in the 20 years ago flashback as a younger officer, and the lady on the far left in the picture below who plays the leads mum, or mama should I say.

It reminds me a bit of I think it was called 'Fear by the lake' which was about a daughter of a since deceased police officer father, who managed to solve the case x number of years on.

The later 2 series were stand alone and they also changed the lead character.

The lead actor in this is excellent, she could carry the whole thing on her own, hopefully some follow up series.




The approach of putting a very attractive lead actor in place but having them pretty much hide it all\dress down, is not dissimilar to the highly skilled Miriam Leone in thou shalt not kill.

blazing_saddles

I think I know what you mean with regard Rocco. In that respect I was really disappointed with the "reveal" and how the final episode ended.
As you say it’s difficult to see how one character won’t be phased out, but I checked ahead the person in question appears in most, if not all of the remaining episodes.
After all, there was a back story left open.

As for The Promise, I have’s watched yet, but I immediately recognised the main character as the lead in Les Rivières Pourpres, which in terms of the two series that have appeared on UK tv, immediately preceded The Promise.

It turns out he's not just the lead actor, but also the creator of several top shows, most notably the huge hit series: Braquo.
He also created an earlier series, which included one episode entitled........Engrenage!

daniel_b

blazing_saddles said:

I think I know what you mean with regard Rocco. In that respect I was really disappointed with the "reveal" and how the final episode ended.
As you say it’s difficult to see how one character won’t be phased out, but I checked ahead the person in question appears in most, if not all of the remaining episodes.
After all, there was a back story left open.

As for The Promise, I have’s watched yet, but I immediately recognised the main character as the lead in Les Rivières Pourpres, which in terms of the two series that have appeared on UK tv, immediately preceded The Promise.

It turns out he's not just the lead actor, but also the creator of several top shows, most notably the huge hit series: Braquo.
He also created an earlier series, which included one episode entitled........Engrenage!

Yep you have got me exactly, I didn't want to go into too much details in case I spoiled anything and yes I totally forgot about the back story, no point having that unless they were going to explore it further - that's good to know :-)

I did not recognise the lead's father, and have not seen Les Rivières Pourpres, I'll have to see if there is anyway I can see it.

Ah this is Crimson Rivers?
If so, both series are on All4, though somehow this is the only one on the French section I have not watched - result!

joenobody

morstar said:

kingstongraham said:

thedirector135 said:

Vikings: Valhalla. Poop. There were no African Vikings.

Don't think they had tv cameras then either. Totally unrealistic.

morstar said:

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yep, there’s a tipping point where you just go eh?

If it was a side thing, whatever, but it’s the whole premise of the story.

I lost interest about half way through episode one. It was clearly going to be ridiculous but try to be earnest about it.

It is actually a real issue that houses can get sold from under people. Rare but can happen. So the concept could have been used for a legitimate drama. This one simply didn't make sense.

The annoying thing is, the parallel timelines are used to try and hide the gaping holes in the plot which they don't manage.
a) it was a preposterous way to get a mark. 999 times out of a thousand, ends with a bit of fist waving road rage.
b) The mark decided on an exit strategy prior to the sale, the story ends there.

Hadn't considered the "why wait to take that way out" angle. There were a couple of other things that bugged me...

I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to kill the bloke by crushing up some pills and putting them in the wine. Surely it would have been far too noticeable at the needed dosage? Also, if you're going to drown yourself, is it really as easy as swimming out in to the sea like that? Or was he expecting to keep swimming until he was too knackered to stay afloat?

pblakeney

A slight diversion. Has anyone else tried making the food on the Tucci series?
I've tried two. They were very easy and went down exceedingly well. Nom, nom.

tailwindhome

pblakeney said:

A slight diversion. Has anyone else tried making the fouod on the Tucci series?
I've tried two. They were very easy and went down exceedingly well. Nom, nom.

Haven't tried the food.

But I did try a bottle of Sicilian Nero d'Avola and it was really quite delicious

rick_chasey

I'm re-watching The Wire for the 4th time through, but the first time in about 8 years.

2nd time through I really saw Stringer Bell in a different light - first time I saw him as quite sensible and forward thinking in terms of seeing drug dealing through the lens of business. Second time I saw it as a bit naieve, not understanding that drug dealing *is* different, and he was a bi delusional to think he could get out of it.

This time he comes across as more tragic; he's actually just very ambitious and desperate to get out of the game to be a respectable well off business man but he can't escape the clutches - Avon has fewer ambitions.

But the main thing that's different this time around is how much of a d!ck McNulty is. Before I tended to see him through the lens of being a flawed hero who deep down understands what the real problems are and just creates a lot of collateral damage in the process.

This time around I see him as a total pen!s and at least as destructive as he is productive. I really don't like him this time around and I'm much more sympathetic with the others around him who get royally p!ssed off with him.

kingstongraham

joenobody said:

morstar said:

kingstongraham said:

thedirector135 said:

Vikings: Valhalla. Poop. There were no African Vikings.

Don't think they had tv cameras then either. Totally unrealistic.

morstar said:

tailwindhome said:

morstar said:

Our House was a mini drama on ITV for 4 nights this week.

A bleak ending to an OK drama, just disappointing that some bits really didn’t seem to make sense.

The car crash that created the leverage was an extremely unlikely way to get a mark on the hook. If he wasn’t a mark until they made him crash, he could have been worth nothing.

Once Bram had decided on his way out, why even proceed with the house sale? At that point, they have no leverage against him.

I can happily skirt past little stuff but when there’s a major flaw, it’s a bit tricky to ignore.

Still half way through ep 3

But so far, the costs of paying the blackmail are higher that the costs of the police being told.

It makes no sense

Yep, there’s a tipping point where you just go eh?

If it was a side thing, whatever, but it’s the whole premise of the story.

I lost interest about half way through episode one. It was clearly going to be ridiculous but try to be earnest about it.

It is actually a real issue that houses can get sold from under people. Rare but can happen. So the concept could have been used for a legitimate drama. This one simply didn't make sense.

The annoying thing is, the parallel timelines are used to try and hide the gaping holes in the plot which they don't manage.
a) it was a preposterous way to get a mark. 999 times out of a thousand, ends with a bit of fist waving road rage.
b) The mark decided on an exit strategy prior to the sale, the story ends there.

Hadn't considered the "why wait to take that way out" angle. There were a couple of other things that bugged me...

I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to kill the bloke by crushing up some pills and putting them in the wine. Surely it would have been far too noticeable at the needed dosage? Also, if you're going to drown yourself, is it really as easy as swimming out in to the sea like that? Or was he expecting to keep swimming until he was too knackered to stay afloat?

None of that happened before the end of episode one, and it was already obviously going to be an overblown load of shit, so you've only got yourselves to blame if you carried on watching.

joenobody

kingstongraham said:

None of that happened before the end of episode one, and it was already obviously going to be an overblown load of censored , so you've only got yourselves to blame if you carried on watching.

Guess we were just too optimistic. about how it would turn out. I thought the photo. he left was actually going to be a clue as to his location, and that she'd figure it out and end up joining him out there. There were definitely many moments of "you haven't done it yet, but surely now is when you'd go to the police?"

blazing_saddles

daniel_b said:

blazing_saddles said:

I think I know what you mean with regard Rocco. In that respect I was really disappointed with the "reveal" and how the final episode ended.
As you say it’s difficult to see how one character won’t be phased out, but I checked ahead the person in question appears in most, if not all of the remaining episodes.
After all, there was a back story left open.

As for The Promise, I have’s watched yet, but I immediately recognised the main character as the lead in Les Rivières Pourpres, which in terms of the two series that have appeared on UK tv, immediately preceded The Promise.

It turns out he's not just the lead actor, but also the creator of several top shows, most notably the huge hit series: Braquo.
He also created an earlier series, which included one episode entitled........Engrenage!

Yep you have got me exactly, I didn't want to go into too much details in case I spoiled anything and yes I totally forgot about the back story, no point having that unless they were going to explore it further - that's good to know :-)

I did not recognise the lead's father, and have not seen Les Rivières Pourpres, I'll have to see if there is anyway I can see it.

Ah this is Crimson Rivers?
If so, both series are on All4, though somehow this is the only one on the French section I have not watched - result!

Just looking over the scheduling and what do you know? Crimson Rivers series 3 premieres this evening on More 4 in the 9pm Rocco slot.

daniel_b

blazing_saddles said:

daniel_b said:

blazing_saddles said:

I think I know what you mean with regard Rocco. In that respect I was really disappointed with the "reveal" and how the final episode ended.
As you say it’s difficult to see how one character won’t be phased out, but I checked ahead the person in question appears in most, if not all of the remaining episodes.
After all, there was a back story left open.

As for The Promise, I have’s watched yet, but I immediately recognised the main character as the lead in Les Rivières Pourpres, which in terms of the two series that have appeared on UK tv, immediately preceded The Promise.

It turns out he's not just the lead actor, but also the creator of several top shows, most notably the huge hit series: Braquo.
He also created an earlier series, which included one episode entitled........Engrenage!

Yep you have got me exactly, I didn't want to go into too much details in case I spoiled anything and yes I totally forgot about the back story, no point having that unless they were going to explore it further - that's good to know :-)

I did not recognise the lead's father, and have not seen Les Rivières Pourpres, I'll have to see if there is anyway I can see it.

Ah this is Crimson Rivers?
If so, both series are on All4, though somehow this is the only one on the French section I have not watched - result!

Just looking over the scheduling and what do you know? Crimson Rivers series 3 premieres this evening on More 4 in the 9pm Rocco slot.

Excellent, that gives me 3 series of it to watch, and he does come across as a good actor in The Promise.
Finished watching the series last night - imho the ending was ok, but it could have been better, I wonder if perhaps they had to cram it all into 6 episodes, there was a lot less room for red herrings, and deviations along the way.
It was still good though, and I'd watch a second series for sure.

I thought they did really well with the sister actors both young and old, thought they really bore a resemblance to each other, probably the younger one more than the older main actor.

Mad_Malx

thedirector135 said:

The Responder. A tale about a hobbit coming to terms with his Freudian authoritarian suicidal tendencies.

Quite enjoyed that; Graham, the Baghead girl and feckless pal were good. Is the bad perm scouser drug dealer still a thing?

“You don’t know me” from a while back was good too.

daniel_b

I'm already 6 episodes (3 stories) though series 1 of Crimson Rivers - it's awesome, not AS good as Spiral and quite different in concept and execution, but it is better than The Promise, which was let down by the ending I thought, and perhaps lack of episodes.

Erika Sainte is a superb actor.

daniel_b

Series 1 of crimson rivers now finished, excellent.

Even better news for Walter Presents, is series two of The Hunter.
Set in the 90s, based around true events revolving around the anti mafia department, that presumably is still going.

An absolutely gripping and tense first series, I hope it will continue in the same manner.

Series 1: https://channel4.com/programmes/the-hunter
Trailer: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NjHAbIz9BqE

Season 2 starts in 2 weeks.

Additionally on All4, stumbled onto 'The Curse' which contains a fair amount of the cast from 'People just do nothing' - 6 parts, but only 25ish minutes each.
Only 1 watched so far, but highly entertaining.
Set in the mid 1980s.

daniel_b

4 episodes into The Curse now, it's really very good.

Proper black comedy, top drawer.

morstar

Watching The dropout on Disney.

Based on the story of Elizabeth Holmes who had an idea for a blood analysis device that ended up in a multi million dollar fraud.

Quite good. Eccentric character seemingly sometimes on the verge of losing the plot before becoming an almost cult like leader devoid of principle.

Makes me think of Lance Armstrong. Much as these people don’t deserve sympathy, it does cause you to think how difficult it must be living an enormous lie that some people are desperate to uncover.

morstar

morstar said:

Watching The dropout on Disney.

Based on the story of Elizabeth Holmes who had an idea for a blood analysis device that ended up in a multi million dollar fraud.

Quite good. Eccentric character seemingly sometimes on the verge of losing the plot before becoming an almost cult like leader devoid of principle.

Makes me think of Lance Armstrong. Much as these people don’t deserve sympathy, it does cause you to think how difficult it must be living an enormous lie that some people are desperate to uncover.

Bizarre coincidence.
Literally only 30 mins or so after posting this, I have just seen an advert for a Numan service that is effectively the service they were aiming to provide in this drama. There was nothing wrong with the idea, they just weren’t able to deliver it. I assume Numan aren’t repeating the same mistake.