What was the last TV show you watched?

BobHufford said:

"Rumble - The Indians Who Rocked The World" on PBS...

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I hadn't heard of this documentary until your post. After doing a little research, now I want to see it.

A neat little episode of Have Gun -- Will Travel from the show's second season called "The Chase." Paladin is hired to find a woman's husband, a fugitive, before the posse does. The husband, a bank clerk, is accused of shooting the town deputy and fleeing with $20,000. As he begins his search, Paladin is forced to throw in with the town sheriff, who is leading a posse of 3 men -- all of whom, it comes out, have motives (beyond the $2000 reward) for bringing the clerk, Martin, in. And Paladin realizes that, if Martin is innocent, one of these three may be the culprit, out to silence the framed bank clerk before he can tell what really happened.

So we have a classic mystery with three suspects. And writer Fred Freiberger does a double-switch on us; he manages to point suspicion neatly away from the real culprit until the climax. I wish he had let Paladin pull an Ellery Queen and deduce, or at least take a good guess at, the culprit's identity: "I know who killed the deputy. And if I'm right, your life will be forfeit too."

Oh, and an episode of The Fugitive from 1965, "Set Fire to a Straw Man." Kimble is working for a self-made businessman whose sister (Diana Hyland) is a playgirl. She sets her sights on Kimble, who is warned off by the brother. But she persists . . . and he comes to realize that she is psychotic. She is busily fantasizing that Kimble is her long-vanished lover, and she plans to kidnap the child her lover fathered (and which she gave up for adoption several years ago).

An indicator of how well the character Diana plays is drawn is that I was saying, "She's psychotic," before Kimble realizes it. He tells the brother she is "very sick," but never uses the word "psychotic."

The word "pregnant" is never used either. The viewer infers it when Diana's brother says about his warehouse foreman, who adopted the child: "He wanted a kid. There was one available."

A tight little script by Jack Turley and direction by Don Medford, both TV veterans and U.N.C.L.E. alumni.

Counterpart. Starz. An episode finally explaining how the world split (sort of) and so much of the backstory. Brilliant. From a villain to a heroine. I'm telling you The Americans fans, you have to give this one a chance.

You're the Worst. FXX. Not the best, but I'm going to miss this show in some demented way when it is over.

Milk Street. PBS. Best thing to happen to Christopher Kimball is getting pushed out of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country.

Some more late night Frankenstein Chronicles. No spoilers, but not sure how I feel about the latest twist in the story. Close to finishing the first season, will give it a chance.

On PBS last night, an episode of Doc Martin followed by an episode of Grantchester. Solid shows and for me, much better than most of what is on FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

The most current episode of Vikings. Boring. It has deteriorated so much so that I do not care what happens to any character on the show.

Touchofevil said:

The most current episode of Vikings. Boring. It has deteriorated so much so that I do not care what happens to any character on the show.

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That happened to me a season or two back with that show.

Fading Fast said:

That happened to me a season or two back with that show.

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Yeah, it began for us some time before Ragnar was killed. Once he became a hallucinating shell of who he was, our interest began to wane. As Ragnar’s son Ivar became a more central character, we left. We are only watching right now because... I am not sure. We should be watching this season of The Man in the High Castle.

Finished season two of Outlander, and now on season two of Frankenstein Chronicles, which as turned out great. I was sort of worried for a bit, but kept at it and glad. Won't own it like I do Penny Dreadful, but quite entertaining.

The Orville, season two, episodes four and five. I thought the first two episodes of this season were disappointing, but the last three have been better so I'll probably keep watching.

As I've said before, I basically hate-watch the show to see how it abuses the Trek legacy, but I can't stop.

I thought last week's episode (with Ed and the Krill spy disguised as human on the run) was actually pretty good. That is, I liked that it followed up well on the continuity from last season and it had some almost-effective character drama. This was only the second episode of the series that I thought wasn't a total embarrassment.

This week's first contact episode found the show again hobbled by its usual stupidity. Compared to its obvious inspiration (the outstanding TNG episode "First Contact" - NOT to be confused with the outstanding TNG film "First Contact") it was superficial and sloppy, and its central plot point unbearably stupid. It totally ignored the obvious argument that the length of days/months/years were surely different on this planet, Bortus's homeworld, and Earth, so any "calendar" was impossible to apply to all of them... which would have shut down the whole exiled jeliaks subplot immediately. While I liked its intended anti-superstition/religion stance (hey, my favorite TNG ep is "Who Watches the Watchers?"), the story was just handled typically badly. And MacFarlane had sole writing credit for this one, so we know who to blame.

^ Also, considering the "first contact" planet's level of technology, the importance they place on their cultural astrology, and the relatively low orbit of the solar array, don't you think they would immediately investigate the appearance of a "new star" that could drastically alter their beliefs and be able to verify rather quickly that the array wasn't a new star?

And then there's the more obvious choice. The Rigorians ask the crew of the Orville to take their "undesirable" personnel, leave the planet, and never return, but that wouldn't have been much of an episode.

A few episodes of Law & Order. I find it difficult to tire of this show.

BobHufford said:

"Rumble - The Indians Who Rocked The World" on PBS.

Eye opening...

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This I need to see. I love Link Wray - my current phone ringtone is Run Chicken Run. He's one of the late greats I wish I'd been able to see live.

MisterCairo said:

Finished season two of Outlander, and now on season two of Frankenstein Chronicles, which as turned out great. I was sort of worried for a bit, but kept at it and glad. Won't own it like I do Penny Dreadful, but quite entertaining.

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I'm two thirds of the way through outlander season 2 and enjoying it in the main. There are elements of the show you just have to accept as fantasy, but there are also some fantastic bits. I particularly find the portrayal of Bonnie Prince Charlie to ring true.

I believe I've said it before, but if I ever need a lawyer for a real problem, I want Eugene from "The Practice."

Two neat vintage episodes of different series.

First was "The Stranger in the Mirror," a Season Three entry for The Fugitive. "After three police officers are murdered, Kimble (David Janssen), the new stranger in town, becomes the obvious suspect. His situation is complicated by his boss (William Shatner), a former cop who suffers from a mysterious psychiatric problem." Filmed and aired about a year before Shatner's debut as Capt. Kirk, it's a tense little story with psychological underpinnings. Bill is utterly believable, both in his character's energetic, "real" phase, and as the man's cop-hating, cop-killing second personality. No attempt is made to suggest true "split personality," and no mention is made of "fugue states" or other psychiatric terms. Odd that a TV series about a doctor so rarely got the medical details right, or so often failed to bring them in to shore up a story.

Second, a Have Gun -- Will Travel spring 1959 entry, "The Man Who Lost." Paladin is hired to bring in one Ben Coey (long-time character actor Mort Mills) for a murder, and for killing members of the posse hunting him. Making it even worse is that (though the term "rape" is never uttered) the killer also "outraged" the wife, whose brother (Jack Elam in a play-it-straight performance) is Paladin's client. Paladin snares Coey, who protests his innocence to the point where Paladin wonders if the man is wrongly accused. Still, he says, "You'll get your trial."

Mills, who acted in approximately 1000 oaters of the time, gives a bravura performance here. His Coey has you believing him . . . until, in a horrifying scene, he is confronted with the woman he is accused of raping. She stares wordlessly at him, and Coey smiles at her without remorse and says, "Hello, Beauty." The wife breaks down, and Paladin whips a hand across Coey's face. But he still will not turn the man over to the murderous brother-in-law.

The story is probably one of the strongest in all of HGWT's run, and that is saying something. Written by Harry Julian Fink, later the co-creator of Dirty Harry. When you see Fink's name on a piece of '50s or '60s TV, I suspect you're about to get a story about a vivid character.

Rheumatoid arthritis flare means BINGE WATCHING!

The British show, Sex Education, on Netflix. Note: NOT for the faint of heart. Pretty graphic and they don't pull any punches. But it's also a really wonderful show. I enjoyed it a lot (yes, I watched the entire thing in two days).

Season 2 of The Punisher. I think it was probably better than Season 1, or maybe they're equal, though I don't think the storyline in season 2 was as strong as season 1. Jon Bernthal deserves an Academy Award for his performance. He's absolutely brilliant.