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

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Very much a fan of Clarkson as the voice against NIMBYism, but let's not fall into the trap that the programme is not remotely an even handed account.

Although the footage of the meeting is from the actual Council online coverage I believe as the TV cameras weren't allowed to film so whilst it was editted the stupid things the Councillors said were what they said. I'm pretty sure they'd be threatening legal action if the programme was distorting the truth significantly.

seanoconn

Yellowstone, Rancher/Landowner testosterone fuelled drama. Bit late to the party but slightly hooked now. IMdB 8.7 is fair.

seanoconn

Shrinking. Jason Segel, Harrison Ford comedy drama about a messed up therapist. 1 episode in and will be watching more.

bonk_king

seanoconn said:

Yellowstone, Rancher/Landowner testosterone fuelled drama. Bit late to the party but slightly hooked now. IMdB 8.7 is fair.

This is a great show. Thankfully, like yourself, I was late to this show too, but that means you have the added advantage of bingeing it, and I did big style.

Unfortunately when you get to season 5 the producers did a "better call Saul" on it and split the 5th season up into two parts.

I've watched all I can of it now, the rest of season 5 is meant to air in the summer, which is a real bummer.

I've just started watching "Succession" too. I've never seen a show with so many despicable characters in, and they're family!!! I love it.

tailwindhome

Lyra. Channel 4.

Posthumous documentary on the life and journalism of Lyra McKee, 29, murdered by the Real IRA on the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

Not an easy watch, but recommended

skyblueamateur

Just finished Blue Lights on the BBC. Good TV.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Just finished Blue Lights on the BBC. Good TV

I enjoyed this too. Although, I have to admit it didn't come across as a sparkling endorsement of social conditions In Northern Ireland. As it is a police drama I guess this is perhaps the point though!

As an aside, having previously mentioned 'Better Call Saul', apparently Bob Odenkirk was in Birmingham doing a one on one interview about his life and career with David Baddiel at the Alexandra Theatre last night. Gutted I missed that, never saw it advertised anywhere locally, had no clue it was going on.

Tashman

skyblueamateur said:

Just finished Blue Lights on the BBC. Good TV.

This improved massively after the first 20 minutes of Ep1. It almost seemed a little too jolly and jarred a little with the 2nd half.
I agree it's been good since then though.

daniel_b

My turbo sessions are currently being accompanied by Inspector Ricciardi - a walter presents, channel 4 thing.
Same main actor who was in the red door, and also similarly he can kind of see the dead - handy for investigations as it happens.
Oh and it's set in something like the 1930s.



I have yet to start Don't leave me, it's set in Venice, I believe in current day, but best of all it has the sublime Sarah Felderbaum (Livia from young montalbano) in it, though I fear not in enough of a main role
Had the main role been played by Miriam Leone, I think I would simply have passed out.

seanoconn

seanoconn said:

Yellowstone, Rancher/Landowner testosterone fuelled drama. Bit late to the party but slightly hooked now. IMdB 8.7 is fair.

Me/Yellowstone seemed to have run out of impetus by the start of season 4. Rehashing the same storyline with new bad guys and slightly more dead bodies is getting a bit tedious.

seanoconn

seanoconn said:

Shrinking. Jason Segel, Harrison Ford comedy drama about a messed up therapist. 1 episode in and will be watching more.

Finished now and was the best comedy series I’ve seen for a while. Very likeable.

masjer

Barry
Nowtv
IMDB 8.4

A dark comedy following a reluctant hitman (Barry). Good at his ‘job’ but looking for a way out, joins an acting school run by Henry Winkler (aka The Fonz).
Easy viewing in 30 mins episodes. Well acted/written.

thegreatdivide

Barry is amazing. I'm a few eps into season 4 now. It's gone very dark...

daniel_b

Just finished Don't leave me on All4, really loved it, and not purely due to Sarah Felderbaum, who was not in it anything like enough.

Despite this it was still an excellent series with plenty of twists and turns, and not all telegraphed like they often can be.

daniel_b

Just watched the entirety of the Curse series 2 - the bulk of the people just do nothing crew, set in the 80s, this time in Spain - probably just as good and funny as season 1 - both available on the C4 player.

masjer

Gomorrah
Nowtv
IMDB 8.7
Italian language.

I've barely started on this (5 season) drama, but so far it's been engrossing.

ddraver

The Last if Us.

Not sure it lives up to all the hype, but it is still very good.

Pedro Pascal can sure pick a role and Bella Ramsey is going to be a superstar!

(Involves zombies but it is not really about zombies)

masjer

masjer said:

Gomorrah
Nowtv
IMDB 8.7
Italian language.

I've barely started on this (5 season) drama, but so far it's been engrossing.

UPDATE.

Having watched more episodes of this drama, it’s turning out to be one of the finest series I’ve watched.
It’s a gritty organised crime drama set in the ghettos of Naples. It feels refreshingly authentic with a good tempo, great cast and plenty of tense action. This is far removed from the usual US styled Italian mob series.
Italian language (with subtitles) really places you there.

Stevo_666

ddraver said:

The Last if Us.

Not sure it lives up to all the hype, but it is still very good.

Pedro Pascal can sure pick a role and Bella Ramsey is going to be a superstar!

(Involves zombies but it is not really about zombies)

I'm waiting for the second series to come out.

thegreatdivide

Silo on Apple TV is shaping up well. Second season already in production (although no doubt the writers strike will put paid to that soon).

seanoconn

thegreatdivide said:

Silo on Apple TV is shaping up well. Second season already in production (although no doubt the writers strike will put paid to that soon).

Enjoyed the first two episodes, bit of a dip in the third. Hoping it picks up again.

ddraver

Rewatched a few Black Mirror Episodes while at a loose end...

Damn, some of them are exceptional. My favorite changes every time but I found "Hated in the Nation" (the bees one) properly chilling this time and San Junipero as uplifting as ever...

skyblueamateur

Watching Once Upon A Time in NI.

A massively bleak and depressing watch. Shows the futility of it all.

I’d recommend everyone to watch it.

laurentian

skyblueamateur said:

Watching Once Upon A Time in NI.

A massively bleak and depressing watch. Shows the futility of it all.

I’d recommend everyone to watch it.

I'm loving this series.

Grew up in England and "the troubles" were a constant on the news but seemed so far away to me in my teens.

Went to NI for work in the early 90s and it was only then that it truly hit me that this was happening in the UK. The soldiers on the streets, the troop carrier that came carreering round a bend towards me whan I was in a taxi, the murals, one village painted red, white and blue and the next one covered in the Irish tricolur, car stopped and searched etc etc. The troubles were the first thing that people wanted to talk to me about wherever I went. Looking back, I think they were trying to get my opinion as a "normal" englishman - they seemed almost apologetic about it. This series shows the effect the troubles had on people who had, for many reasons, got caught up in them or been affected by them - how they had little choice as to which side of the divide they were positioned and how some took the decision to fight (in varying degrees) for one side or the other.

The interviews are incredibly poignant, sometimes funny, and surprisingly candid.

It is a great watch - a real eye-opener.

Tashman

Feels like an interesting series. Growing up as an army brat in the 80s, I thought getting the car searched on the way home to the quarters was a normal thing. it was only when dad left and we moved to a "normal" housing estate I realised it was unusual. I'll have to check with dad if he's watched it and see his perspective as someone who regularly patrolled there through the 60s and 70s.

Pross

laurentian said:

skyblueamateur said:

Watching Once Upon A Time in NI.

A massively bleak and depressing watch. Shows the futility of it all.

I’d recommend everyone to watch it.

I'm loving this series.

Grew up in England and "the troubles" were a constant on the news but seemed so far away to me in my teens.

Went to NI for work in the early 90s and it was only then that it truly hit me that this was happening in the UK. The soldiers on the streets, the troop carrier that came carreering round a bend towards me whan I was in a taxi, the murals, one village painted red, white and blue and the next one covered in the Irish tricolur, car stopped and searched etc etc. The troubles were the first thing that people wanted to talk to me about wherever I went. Looking back, I think they were trying to get my opinion as a "normal" englishman - they seemed almost apologetic about it. This series shows the effect the troubles had on people who had, for many reasons, got caught up in them or been affected by them - how they had little choice as to which side of the divide they were positioned and how some took the decision to fight (in varying degrees) for one side or the other.

The interviews are incredibly poignant, sometimes funny, and surprisingly candid.

It is a great watch - a real eye-opener.

Will watch that, I had a similar experience when I first visited NI with my friend and his family in 1986. We were travelling in a Peugeot 505 with 3 rows of seats that was fully loaded and as we were crossing a checkpoint the car stalled resulting in a very nervous looking soldier coming out of the guard room. We also took a wrong turn travelling through Derry to get to Donegal and found ourselves heading into the Bogside. It was hard to believe we were still in the UK when going to a swimming pool in Derry that was surrounded by razor wire and CCTV cameras.

daniel_b

masjer said:

masjer said:

Gomorrah
Nowtv
IMDB 8.7
Italian language.

I've barely started on this (5 season) drama, but so far it's been engrossing.

UPDATE.

Having watched more episodes of this drama, it’s turning out to be one of the finest series I’ve watched.
It’s a gritty organised crime drama set in the ghettos of Naples. It feels refreshingly authentic with a good tempo, great cast and plenty of tense action. This is far removed from the usual US styled Italian mob series.
Italian language (with subtitles) really places you there.

You should definitely be watching 'The Hunter' in that case, on Channel4 player - into it's 3rd series, and proper top quality drama. Set in the 80s and 90s, partly fact based.



It's been mentioned more than once somewhere earlier in this thread.

DeVlaeminck

OUATINI actually got my daughter to put her phone down - she found the footage of Michael Stone attacking the funeral and the army guys getting pulled out of their car at the funeral for one of those victims particularly shocking.

Obviously it wasn't how we used to live unless you lived in urban Northern Ireland - but some of the rioting, mass protests with largely working class participation and so on did seem to be very of their time with parallels albeit on a lower level elsewhere in the UK. If we look elsewhere in Europe even the bombing campaigns with some popular support has equivalents at that time which you can't imagine now.

masjer

daniel_b said:

masjer said:

masjer said:

Gomorrah
Nowtv
IMDB 8.7
Italian language.

I've barely started on this (5 season) drama, but so far it's been engrossing.

UPDATE.

Having watched more episodes of this drama, it’s turning out to be one of the finest series I’ve watched.
It’s a gritty organised crime drama set in the ghettos of Naples. It feels refreshingly authentic with a good tempo, great cast and plenty of tense action. This is far removed from the usual US styled Italian mob series.
Italian language (with subtitles) really places you there.

You should definitely be watching 'The Hunter' in that case, on Channel4 player - into it's 3rd series, and proper top quality drama. Set in the 80s and 90s, partly fact based.


It's been mentioned more than once somewhere earlier in this thread.

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve still got some way to go with Gomorrah (5 seasons in all). By the time I’ve finished, I should be able to watch The Hunter without the need for subtitles and set up my own organised crime syndicate.

Pross

skyblueamateur said:

Watching Once Upon A Time in NI.

A massively bleak and depressing watch. Shows the futility of it all.

I’d recommend everyone to watch it.

Just on the second episode. Some of the footage is pretty gruesome, probably more so than I’ve ever seen on British TV before.