The TV Thread

boogieman

Timcito said:

Anyone else finding Black Sails on Netflix to be uninspiring? I've somehow got through 6 episodes, kinda hoping it will pick up, but it hasn't so far.

I haven't put my finger on why exactly. I'm usually a sucker for historical drama, but this one seems relentlessly flat, despite its attempts at rugged authenticity through unglamorized characters, unfiltered violence, and a fair portion of T&A. Maybe the characters are inexpertly drawn or the plot has failed to create tension. Could be the latter, but I'm still not sure.  

I think it got dragged out for too long, on a very thin premise. I liked the early episodes but thought it lost its way as it went on. 

boogieman

Finished off Red Eye (ITV X) but I don’t know why I bothered. Utter bollocks. 

Timcito

boogieman said:

Timcito said:

Anyone else finding Black Sails on Netflix to be uninspiring? I've somehow got through 6 episodes, kinda hoping it will pick up, but it hasn't so far.

I haven't put my finger on why exactly. I'm usually a sucker for historical drama, but this one seems relentlessly flat, despite its attempts at rugged authenticity through unglamorized characters, unfiltered violence, and a fair portion of T&A. Maybe the characters are inexpertly drawn or the plot has failed to create tension. Could be the latter, but I'm still not sure.  

I think it got dragged out for too long, on a very thin premise. I liked the early episodes but thought it lost its way as it went on. 

I feel that with the raw materials of piracy, conflict, nookie and intrigue in an exotic setting, it should be good, but, for me at least, it just isn't.

boogieman

Timcito said:

boogieman said:

Timcito said:

Anyone else finding Black Sails on Netflix to be uninspiring? I've somehow got through 6 episodes, kinda hoping it will pick up, but it hasn't so far.

I haven't put my finger on why exactly. I'm usually a sucker for historical drama, but this one seems relentlessly flat, despite its attempts at rugged authenticity through unglamorized characters, unfiltered violence, and a fair portion of T&A. Maybe the characters are inexpertly drawn or the plot has failed to create tension. Could be the latter, but I'm still not sure.  

I think it got dragged out for too long, on a very thin premise. I liked the early episodes but thought it lost its way as it went on. 

I feel that with the raw materials of piracy, conflict, nookie and intrigue in an exotic setting, it should be good, but, for me at least, it just isn't.

I’ve watched all the series but it’s strangely flat and uninvolving. I can’t really figure out why either, as like you say it should be great given the ingredients, but…..overall it’s definitely a bit meh. 

Jfingers

I've arrived late to Always Sunny In Philadelphia, it's replaced Family Guy as my just another half an hour thing at the end of the night.

Loudermilk was excellent. Both Netflix. Any Trailer Park Boys things float my boat for that slot too.

munckee

I remembered there being some comments here about Fallout saying you didn't need to know the game, which I don't, bingewatched it over the bank holiday weekend - I thought it was really good, the humour reminded me of umbrella academy.

sinbaadi

The Fortune Hotel (itv)

What to say about this? 
Someone took The Traitors, and changed the game, but kept as much as possible of the rest of it.  Music, cliffhangers, players talking to camera, presenter-style, tension.  All of it.  The very simple (on the face of it) game is so much like The Traitors that it might as well be the same game, it's engineered to force all the same things.

But it's good in the same ways as The Traitors, and if you liked that you'll like this.  Stephen Mangan adds a lot of credibility to be honest.  As said; the production company knew exactly what they wanted to make.

AlbertC

Haych said:

Finished Bodkin last night.

I enjoyed it, I think some of the sub-plots were more engaging than the actual story, but that wasn't so bad in itself.

The characters, especially Dove (Siobhan Cullen) and Seamus (David Wilmot), were quite well written and portrayed, I think that kept me watching as much as anything else.  

I’m 4 episodes in and quite liking it so far. It’s quirky and got that Oirish hokeyness but not laid on too thick. I'm intrigued to see if what’s going on in Ireland is somehow connected to the guy who supposedly committed suicide in London. 

Hurling_Fruitmig

We finally got around to watching Mr Bates vs The Post Office at the weekend. Despite having followed the Horizon scandal off and on for years thanks to occasional BBC radio current affairs and finance coverage, the scale of the thing is shocking. In some ways even more so now that the public inquiry has and continues to reveal the attitudes of many of those involved on the POL side.

bobblehat

Recently finished Loudermilk and thought it was great.Finished Bodkin last night. Great fun. Both on Netflix.

Timcito

I got to the end of season 6 of Vikings last night, and what a phenomenal series it's been. Definitely the best I've seen for a long time - I'm really going to miss it!

boogieman

Timcito said:

I got to the end of season 6 of Vikings last night, and what a phenomenal series it's been. Definitely the best I've seen for a long time - I'm really going to miss it!

You know there’s a follow on series, Vikings Valhalla, right? It’s on Netflix. Not quite as good as Vikings but still very watchable. Series 3 (the last one they’re making apparently) is coming soon. 

Timcito

boogieman said:

Timcito said:

I got to the end of season 6 of Vikings last night, and what a phenomenal series it's been. Definitely the best I've seen for a long time - I'm really going to miss it!

You know there’s a follow on series, Vikings Valhalla, right? It’s on Netflix. Not quite as good as Vikings but still very watchable. Series 3 (the last one they’re making apparently) is coming soon. 

I've already seen what Netflix has offered so far with Vikings Valhalla. Yes, it was excellent, and it's good to hear there's another season on the way.

CaseOfAce

bobblehat said:

Recently finished Loudermilk and thought it was great.Finished Bodkin last night. Great fun. Both on Netflix.

Did your eyes roll in Season 3 when Loudermilk bought the vintage Telecaster from the pawn shop to make amends to the woman who's career he'd wrecked in the past? Like seriously ? he'd have the chunk of change to splash out on such an object!?!? Obviously the show writers took their eye of the ball on that one!?

bobblehat

CaseOfAce said:

bobblehat said:

Recently finished Loudermilk and thought it was great.Finished Bodkin last night. Great fun. Both on Netflix.

Did your eyes roll in Season 3 when Loudermilk bought the vintage Telecaster from the pawn shop to make amends to the woman who's career he'd wrecked in the past? Like seriously ? he'd have the chunk of change to splash out on such an object!?!? Obviously the show writers took their eye of the ball on that one!?

Haha , Yes, not sure how vintage is was though .Looked minty fresh considering it was in a Pawn shop for 20 years. Great show though.Shame it ended when it did.

Timcito

I started a British crime drama on Netflix last night called Fool Me Once. It seems okay but a little formulaic; I've seen a bundle of similar series that all seem to have the same routine: a kaleidoscope of disparate events and characters in the opening scenes that gradually coalesce into a coherent whole, plus some preposterous shock element involving terrible secrets which completely upend the equilibrium of someone's life. Oh yes, and they all seem to have that tall 40-something actor with the pointy nose and the northern accent!

One thing that did occur to me last night night, though, was the demise of the posh English accent in TV drama. Time was when all the principal characters in a drama like this would be speaking RP/ BBC English/ 'Queen's' English, while the minor 'local colour' characters or villains might speak with a regional accent. I remember Oliver Reed in one Parkinson interview from the 70s saying that his passage into English drama was facilitated by his already being 'able to speak English,' as he put it. I think the Peter O'Tooles and Richard Burtons of the acting world were forced to undergo elocution lessons back then, partly to 'posh up' what might otherwise have been an intrusive and unwelcome regional brogue that prevented them from being taken seriously.

Well, in Fool Me Once, we have one actor with a posh accent, Joanna Lumley, who plays a wealthy matriarch in a leafy mansion. Everyone else, including her daughter, speaks with a variety of regional accents. Lumley's daughter sounded distinctly Mancunian to me, which seemed a little odd; looks as though neither her mother's speech nor her inevitably expensive private schooling made any difference ... or may be the actor simply couldn't do a posh voice! Anyway, there was Lumley in her archaic leafy English mansion with her archaic cut-glass accent. Both seemed like relics of a past age. It led me to wonder if the classic posh English accent is even a liability these days. Is that so, do you think?   

RocknRollDave

Race Across The World BBC iPlayer

As well as watching some people bodge and blag their way through foreign lands, it gives a little insight into countries I knew very little about.

CaseOfAce

bobblehat said:

CaseOfAce said:

bobblehat said:

Recently finished Loudermilk and thought it was great.Finished Bodkin last night. Great fun. Both on Netflix.

Did your eyes roll in Season 3 when Loudermilk bought the vintage Telecaster from the pawn shop to make amends to the woman who's career he'd wrecked in the past? Like seriously ? he'd have the chunk of change to splash out on such an object!?!? Obviously the show writers took their eye of the ball on that one!?

Haha , Yes, not sure how vintage is was though .Looked minty fresh considering it was in a Pawn shop for 20 years. Great show though.Shame it ended when it did.

If you enjoyed Loudermilk check out Flaked on Netflix. Similar sort of theme - deadbeat drifts around Venice Beach with a motley cast.

VimFuego

very late to this, but finally got hooked on Killing Eve. Not sure why I didn't get into it first time round, guess I wrongly assumed it was just another detective show, but I'm loving the quirkiness etc.

CaseOfAce

Continuing the theme of "late to the party"- we've started watching Ozark on Netflix.
Geez.. it's DARK... halfway thru the first season - and - some sort of light relief / comedy would be gratefully received.
I know it's about a family man tasked with cleaning a grotesque amount of money for a Mexican cartel... but even Breaking Bad had some humour in amongst the pathos.
Sticking with it for now to see how it goes.