What was the last TV show you watched?

MisterCairo · Sep 6, 2016

I've now finished watching The Last Kingdom. It's really well done, and it grew on me quickly over the eight episodes. I've read all the books to date (Last Kingdom came out in 2004), and the new one is out this year. Definitely looking forward to the next series. Carnival Films is now partnering with Netflix vice BBC America to produce it, filming started in June this year.

Benzadmiral · Sep 6, 2016

As part of their 50th-anniversary homage to Star Trek this weekend, H & I ran the first 2 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series. I remember the show when it was new, but hadn't seen these in some years. Yes, the animation is not great. But we had the original actors' voices and writers from the original show, and the plots were not kiddie stuff, either.

"Beyond the Farthest Star": the premiere episode in September 1973, written by "Where No Man Has Gone Before" scribe Samuel A. Peeples. The Enterprise, pulled into orbit around a dead star, discovers the dead hulk of a 300 million-year-old starship. They find to their horror it is inhabited by a formless but very dangerous Entity which leaps aboard Kirk's ship. This one had that classic "sense of wonder" that marks the great SF and the best episodes of Trek. At one point in the alien control room, music, control panel lights, and a fantastic camera pan across Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott combine powerfully to remind me of the climax of Forbidden Planet.

"Yesteryear," by Dorothy Fontana, in which Spock must travel back in time to Vulcan and save his own seven-year-old life to restore the timeline that he, and we, know. The story is superb, with memorable dialog and good characterizations for a 24-minute show. Mark Lenard reprises his role as Spock's father; and we at last see the "teddy bear" "with six-inch fangs" Spock mentioned once before in the live series. (In fact Roddenberry declared this one to be "canon" for the series, unlike the other animated episodes.)

****

Kirk (upon Spock's return): I sent the others up to the ship. What happened?
Spock: One small thing was changed this time. A pet . . . died.
Kirk: A pet? That couldn't mean much, in the course of time.
Spock (expressionless): It might . . . to some.

****
(Yeah, I'm a big softy. That gets me every time.)

Both of these, and the later "The Slaver Weapon" (adapted by SF great Larry Niven from his own short story), are well worth any Trek fan's time.

Stearmen · Sep 7, 2016

Pope Vs Hitler. A pretty good show. As usual, things are not black & white, but many shades of grey in the real world!

Fading Fast · Sep 7, 2016

Benzadmiral said:
As part of their 50th-anniversary homage to Star Trek this weekend, H & I ran the first 2 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series. I remember the show when it was new, but hadn't seen these in some years. Yes, the animation is not great. But we had the original actors' voices and writers from the original show, and the plots were not kiddie stuff, either.

"Beyond the Farthest Star": the premiere episode in September 1973, written by "Where No Man Has Gone Before" scribe Samuel A. Peeples. The Enterprise, pulled into orbit around a dead star, discovers the dead hulk of a 300 million-year-old starship. They find to their horror it is inhabited by a formless but very dangerous Entity which leaps aboard Kirk's ship. This one had that classic "sense of wonder" that marks the great SF and the best episodes of Trek. At one point in the alien control room, music, control panel lights, and a fantastic camera pan across Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott combine powerfully to remind me of the climax of Forbidden Planet.

"Yesteryear," by Dorothy Fontana, in which Spock must travel back in time to Vulcan and save his own seven-year-old life to restore the timeline that he, and we, know. The story is superb, with memorable dialog and good characterizations for a 24-minute show. Mark Lenard reprises his role as Spock's father; and we at last see the "teddy bear" "with six-inch fangs" Spock mentioned once before in the live series. (In fact Roddenberry declared this one to be "canon" for the series, unlike the other animated episodes.)

****

Kirk (upon Spock's return): I sent the others up to the ship. What happened?
Spock: One small thing was changed this time. A pet . . . died.
Kirk: A pet? That couldn't mean much, in the course of time.
Spock (expressionless): It might . . . to some.

****
(Yeah, I'm a big softy. That gets me every time.)

Both of these, and the later "The Slaver Weapon" (adapted by SF great Larry Niven from his own short story), are well worth any Trek fan's time.

I remember watching these as a kid and, as I was also discovering the original TV series, almost being confused as to timelines, etc., (I was 8 and kids / society in general wasn't as plugged into the "business models" of the entertainment industry as we are today).

That said, I also remember reading, years ago, that Shatner struggled financial after "Star Trek" was cancelled (divorce, big spending, no residuals) until the movies came out - so I assume doing the animated voices didn't pay much in those days (I think it's a decent payday for a star today)?

Doctor Strange · Sep 7, 2016

I believe it can be a big payday for an established star in an animated feature... but for ordinary actors working on TV cartoons, it's likely just a bit above scale. No doubt it was even less in 1970.

And let's remember that Trek was viewed as a canceled failure at that point, not a beloved juggernaut franchise, and Saturday morning cartoons were a kid-pacifying ghetto nobody took seriously. There wasn't much pay or glory involved.

Benzadmiral · Sep 7, 2016

Doctor Strange said:
. . . And let's remember that Trek was viewed as a canceled failure at that point, not a beloved juggernaut franchise, and Saturday morning cartoons were a kid-pacifying ghetto nobody took seriously. There wasn't much pay or glory involved.

A big part of why GR, Dorothy Fontana, and David Gerrold, among others, made a point of going to the early ST conventions. At the first I ever attended, in June of '73, those three were there. They were at pains to explain that the ST Animated show was not going to be kiddie fare: "It will be Star Trek," with an adaptation by Larry Niven of a tale from his Neutron Star collection, and with scripts by Fontana, Gerrold, and others who had written for the original. (Writers were important to SF fandom, and ST fandom too.)

Given that they only had, what, 24 minutes of story time for each ep, it's amazing what they managed to pull off in that Saturday morning ghetto!

Doctor Strange · Sep 7, 2016

I never really saw the animated series myself. It aired when I was in college, and in those days, there were hardly any TV sets around. (There's a bunch of "beloved" shows from the mid-70s I missed.) I saw some episodes later, and while I respect the talent involved (and I'm an animation fan as well as a Trekker)... I just couldn't get into them. And after most of the series was declared non-canon, I never went back.

But I'm well aware that it had and has devoted fans. Trek fandom is big enough for many areas of specialization!

MisterCairo · Sep 7, 2016

The Jays throwing another one away to the Yankees.

Fading Fast · Sep 7, 2016

MisterCairo said:
The Jays throwing another one away to the Yankees.

And it's not like it's going to help the Yankees.

Gregg Axley · Sep 8, 2016

Kojak
Yeah, I know it's a 70's cop show but the wife and I never saw it when it came out because we were too young.
Also Ice Road Truckers, sorry to see Darrel Ward go, what a tragic end to his life.

Touchofevil · Sep 8, 2016

Barney Miller

Worf · Sep 8, 2016

"Hard Knocks"

"On Any Given Wednesday"

Boy football's not even here and these ja mok's are already babblin' in mid season form.

Worf

green papaya · Sep 8, 2016

GOMER PYLE USMC , I picked up the entire series at WALMART it includes every episode from 1964 - 1969

only $34.97 for the boxed DVD set

today I watched the episode about Gomer Pyle training a military sentry dog [German Shepperd] and the dog becomes too friendly so they end up letting the Marine Col have it for his daughters new pet.

Zombie_61 · Sep 8, 2016

Doctor Strange said:
I never really saw the animated series myself. It aired when I was in college, and in those days, there were hardly any TV sets around. (There's a bunch of "beloved" shows from the mid-70s I missed.) I saw some episodes later, and while I respect the talent involved (and I'm an animation fan as well as a Trekker)... I just couldn't get into them. And after most of the series was declared non-canon, I never went back.

But I'm well aware that it had and has devoted fans. Trek fandom is big enough for many areas of specialization!

I somehow missed the animated Star Trek series as well. I was 12 years old when it premiered in September of 1973, and I had been watching the original series since it's premiere in 1966, so I think I probably would have been one of those devoted fans if it had caught me at the right age. I finally watched the first two or three episodes on Netflix a couple of months ago and, while my 55-year-old mind found them interesting and better than most of the Saturday morning cartoons I grew up watching, the stories definitely seemed to be simplified for younger viewers. As such, it didn't hold my interest long. I'll probably re-visit it and watch more episodes from time to time, but if that doesn't happen I won't feel as if I've missed much.

Touchofevil · Sep 8, 2016

An episode of Ripper Street

Fading Fast · Sep 8, 2016

The first episode of "The Night Of."

Impressively filmed (the opening sequence is a wonderful modern riff on classic noir imagery and style) and, overall, the writing and acting is impressive and engaging.

My one quibble, so far, is that the lead character drove blithely through so many figurative red lights that I have trouble believing he would have done what he did (probably, seven times I practically called out to the TV, "get out now man while you still can, this chick is cracker-house crazy"), but maybe this night was his unplanned, condensed rumspringa or he isn't who he appears to be.

The detective and opposing attorney seem written a bit like stock characters, but the actors are imbuing them with so much passion that it's working. Overall, very much looking forward to the rest of it.

One last point, notwithstanding anything I just wrote, the show - or at least the first episode - is so intense that it is mentally exhausting. I felt drained when it was over.

Doctor Strange · Sep 8, 2016

I only made it 15 minutes into the first episode... and found that I was already incredibly tense and disturbed BEFORE ANYTHING BAD EVEN HAPPENED. I decided to quit immediately. I'm sure it's a good series, and I may give it another shot sometime, but on premiere night I didn't feel I could handle it.

Benzadmiral · Sep 8, 2016

An early episode of the 1957 Western series Trackdown with Robert Culp starring as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman. I only dimly recall reruns of this show from my early grammar-school days, and am mostly familiar with Culp from his I Spy and later work, so these are fun. A standard oater half-hour, with Culp's Gilman taking a group of convicted criminals in a wagon to prison. The catch: One of them is a woman, and her brother-in-law is trailing them, planning to kill her -- the person he blames for his brother's death during the bank robbery that has landed her and the other men in jail.

Culp is convincing, as always, and walks and runs like no other actor in TV history. If you don't believe me about that latter point, watch episodes of I Spy or the Outer Limits script "Demon with a Glass Hand."

Touchofevil · Sep 9, 2016

Doctor Strange said:
I only made it 15 minutes into the first episode... and found that I was already incredibly tense and disturbed BEFORE ANYTHING BAD EVEN HAPPENED. I decided to quit immediately. I'm sure it's a good series, and I may give it another shot sometime, but on premiere night I didn't feel I could handle it.

The intensity is what hooked us. And then we just had to know.

Touchofevil · Sep 9, 2016

Fading Fast said:
The first episode of "The Night Of."

Impressively filmed (the opening sequence is a wonderful modern riff on classic noir imagery and style) and, overall, the writing and acting is impressive and engaging.

My one quibble, so far, is that the lead character drove blithely through so many figurative red lights that I have trouble believing he would have done what he did (probably, seven times I practically called out to the TV, "get out now man while you still can, this chick is cracker-house crazy"), but maybe this night was his unplanned, condensed rumspringa or he isn't who he appears to be.

The detective and opposing attorney seem written a bit like stock characters, but the actors are imbuing them with so much passion that it's working. Overall, very much looking forward to the rest of it.

One last point, notwithstanding anything I just wrote, the show - or at least the first episode - is so intense that it is mentally exhausting. I felt drained when it was over.

I too enjoyed the noirish intro as well. Nice cinematography.
Naz's decision making process annoyed us as well and cursed him throughout. But sometimes people do have nights wherein they seem to go stupid and out of character; I have known a few.
Enjoy.

What was the last TV show you watched?

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up

Fading Fast

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up

Fading Fast

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up

Touchofevil

Worf

I'll Lock Up

green papaya

One Too Many

Zombie_61

Touchofevil

Fading Fast

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab

Touchofevil

Touchofevil

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