What was the last TV show you watched?

Good Omens was beautifully done. I've long had mixed feelings about TV adapatations of Pratchett's work (in this case, Pratchett's collaborative work with Neil Gaiman) because the joy of his stuff was always how he used language, and that never crossedcto other media so well. This, however, was a triumph. Great casting (though part of me would have loved to have seen Tennant and Sheen cast the other way around as it would have been interesting seeing them play against type, but that's a small point). Sheen's Azrael bore distinct echoes of his Tony Blair, which amused me. Have to admit, as a mere Methodist, I do struggle to see how anyone could reasonably take offence, I found it's theology fairly sound, lovely, gentle humour. But then I like to think God has rather a sense of humour (see not least Moses and where he grew up!) - those who object to such series rarely do.

The appearance of Elvis was cute; it's just a shame the punchline for the gag - Death standing at the cafe's quiz machine and saying, in answer to the obvious question, "I don't care what you say, I never laid a hand on him!" - didn't make the script edit. Minor point, though.

 

Binged Stranger Things season 3 this weekend. Enjoyed it.
Have been rewatching Frasier for the past year. A couple of eps at the end of the day every other day or so. Started with the pilot and am now 4 eps from the end.
So I decided to rewatch Friends next...by the 3rd ep I was done with it.
Unlike Frasier, it now comes off as a dumbed down show with forced comedic acting, poorly written, and too dated. Schwimmer's acting is possibly the worst in sitcom history.
I think I'm going to rewatch Frasier again...

 

We have started watching Schitt's Creek finally. Quite funny, three episodes in.

 

I think I enjoyed it more than the other series. My one real quibble was how forced and clumsily 'woke' the coming out scene was - not least given the abandon with which 'fag' is thrown around as an insult in virtually *all* of the show's source material / reference points. I'm certainly fine with them dropping the period homophobic insults as a general rule, but please don't shoehorn in contemporary values and pretend it was all cool then. It's like pretending that Jesse Owens would have had the opportunity to run against the Aryans in his home country.

I've often speculated that Friedns could have been the poor quality precursor to a vastly superior spin-off, in the way that the tedious Cheers spawned the (for a few seasons, at least) vastly superior Frasier. Unfortunately both the half-decent actors in Friends were able to get other work, so instead we got the even worse Joey.

 

We started watching last winter but with warm weather we quit. It was entertaining and I'm sure we will return to it in the fall.

 

We have now finished the first season. We find it quite hilarious, few shows make us laugh out loud!

 

Finishing up Jessica Jones season 3 on Netflix. one more episode to go.

I know a lot of people didn't like Jessica Jones, but I do. It shows that not everything with superheroes needs to have explosions every few minutes and massive fight scenes. I like the psychological aspect of being a superhero but finding yourself in situations where punching things is only going to make the situation worse. I think if superheroes were real, there would be far more instances of questioning morality and trying to abide by the laws than there would be flying around and causing widespread collateral damage.

 

My wife and I are watching Bodyguard on Netflix, quite enjoying it so far. Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes starring, and an unrecognizable Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders).

 

In The Dark
It was not half bad.
The production and editing reminded had similarities to Bosch.

I tried to watch The Dark but gave up after about 8 minutes into the first episode...just can't do the 'kung fu' dialog overdubbing.

Finished the last ep of Frasier last night...spent over a year watching the entire run of seasons. Might just start it over again.

 

I watched the first episode when it came out and turned it off. Thought it was terrible drek. Surprised to see all the accolades and perhaps I need give it another shot.....but then I have always had a hard time with the two lead actors.....never found them that funny.

 

Finished the 8 part Netflix series "Trotsky"...a Russian production. Enjoyed it and found it interesting to see how the Russians treat their history these days. Not a Russophile so not sure of its detailed historical accuracy but did not paint a good picture of either Trotsky or Stalin. Lenin faired a bit better.

 

Just started with Vikings on Prime. Quite fun so far.

 

I'm also nearly done watching season three of Jessica Jones - two eps to go. Though seasons two and three haven't matched the stunning first season, it remains the best series of the now-ended Netflix Marvel experiment, IMHO. Krysten Ritter will probably never get another chance to play such a conflicted and fascinating character, what a role!

I'm also halfway through the new season of Stranger Things, but it's just so I can keep up with all the internet chatter. As I've said before, I have never liked the show. Partly because I'm too old to revel in its ersatz eighties-kid nostalgia (I was already in my thirties), and honestly, it's not even faux-Spielberg, it's faux-JJ Abrams aping Spielberg in Super 8.

 

Over the past few weeks: Yellowstone, Outlander, Fortitude, UFC, Sneaky Pete, After Life, and a few other shows but I cannot remember what they were.

 

Currently trying to power through Marvel's Runaways on hulu. All in all, it isn't that interesting of a show. I'm mainly watching it in case it has some sort of crossover with any of the movies or other Marvel tv shows (Cloak and Dagger are primed for a crossover).

 

Nicely put. On both counts. Isn't Krysten Ritter fantastic? It's the kind of part that not so many years ago only a man would have been allowed to play. It's such a great bloody role for Ritter. Stranger Things was pretty awful derivative, dumb material and Ryder's incessantly shrill performance made me want to burn my ET plush doll.

 

We just wrapped up a vacation with the in-laws and in the evenings we watched season 6 of When Calls the Heart (they hadn't seen it yet and we were happy to rewatch it), the second half of Corner Gas, season 5, and I got my brother-in-law to watch Crime Story, about 3 episodes; he is now a fan.

 

A few more episodes of Sneaky Pete. Not as strong as the first two seasons, but still pretty entertaining.

 

The Handmaid's Tale. Hulu. I've stuck with it. While dark and so very depressing, both the characters and story are not without reward, and while the story is uber-suffocating in design, the characters nuance their way, in tiny steps, through development. I suppose that should go without saying. I just started the third season. You have to trudge through some evil socio-political malaise for a while there, but on the other side of that, we see some light as cracks appear in the facts of the situation. The makers of this ugliness begin to realize, "What have we done?!" And of course, like in real life, when enough of the ruling class doesn't like something, things begin to happen. I want it to be like this...uh...then again, maybe not.

 

Tab Hunter Confidential from 2015 on TCM

A documentary on the life of Tab Hunter.

Here's what I thought I knew about Tab Hunter before the documentary: a poor man's Troy Donahue, did a bunch of college movies where he played the all-American boy, short career, maybe came out several years back that he was gay (not sure), passed away recently.

I was batting a bit below 500 as he past away recently (in 2018) and he did come out several years prior, but I was all but wrong about everything else - except, he was one of the original all-American-boy actors.

In the late '50s, Hunter was a huge star for about five-odd years with, like Elvis, a fan base of teens despite being in his late 20s during his career peak. He was also one of the original "triple threats -" a star in movies, TV and music. During those years, he was one of Warner Brothers top-grossing movie stars while also having several gold records and top-selling albums plus, at the same time, he was popular on many TV shows, even having his own show for a year.

We can debate the quality of his work - and the critics hated it - but the guy was a money-making machine and enormous pop icon for about five years. Unfortunately, as was common at the time, he had to hide his homosexuality as the press tried to out him while his studio (successfully) protected him. And, as with other heartthrobs / teen idols who were closeted, the irony wasn't lost on Hunter who, both at the time and later in life, came across as surprisingly and impressively not bitter about the challenges he faced.

And he did face challenges as when he negotiated out of his studio contract in the early '60s - he wanted more challenging rolls / more control / etc. - the press hurt him with salacious stories. While his career had probably already passed its peak, with the added fuel of the negative press, it went downhill fast - also not helped along by the rise of the next all-American pretty boy, Troy Donahue.

After that, he seemed to have come in an out of Hollywood over the next several decades - mainly on TV - while devoting his time to horses, which the documentary left unclear as to whether it was a paying career or just a successful hobby. Either way, he seemed to do all right and, as noted, eventually came out in the early 2000s.

And to close the loop, I was wrong as he only starred in one "college" movie and he pre-dated - and was much bigger than - Troy Donahue. Owing to the documentary and TCM's commentary, I've recorded what are said to be two of his best movies That Kind of Woman and Battle Cry - Damn Yankees is another, but I missed recording it. I'll report back after I get time to see them.