The TV Series Thread (Fall/Winter 2023)

[sprout]

I've played a few Fallout games and I loved the series too.  They really captured the atmosphere of the video games.  And Walton Goggins is always a joy to watch.

Last night we finished season 2 of Extraordinary on Hulu.  1/2 hour comedy series centered on a 25yo with issues who lives in a world where everyone (except her) acquires a superpower when they turn 18.  I thought the premise seemed kind of interesting and when ads for season 2 started showing up I thought, "oh, this actually looks really funny!"  So we watched it, it's very well done, very funny if a bit cringe at times.  And the actress who plays Sister Michael in Derry Girls is in it.

[hmaria1609]

Finished watching the BBC legal drama "Silk" on Kanopy.
I remembered watching the 1st season on PBS's "Masterpiece" and liked it. I didn't know there were 2 more seasons after that. Well done series and quite a number of familiar faces!

[sprout]

Binged season 1 of the Vince Staples show on Netflix last night.  Highly recommended!  If you miss the faintly surreal, deadpan storytelling of Atlanta, this might scratch that itch for you.

[RatGuy]

I'm watching Zone Blanche before it leaves Netflix. Pretty good so far but I hope it gets more clearly supernatural or fantastic

[Wahoo Redux]

The Missus and I have been watching Hacks.  Comedy / Drama.  Maybe not one of the great long-form franchises, but very, very good. 

[RatGuy]

ab_grp: how are you seeing Homicide? I didn't think it was streaming anywhere. It was a favorite of mine.

I just read a headline that NBC has confirmed that once they finalize securing the music rights to Homicide, they'll begin shopping it around to streaming platforms. So fingers crossed that it may finally be available again!

[Sun_Worshiper]

ab_grp: how are you seeing Homicide? I didn't think it was streaming anywhere. It was a favorite of mine.

I just read a headline that NBC has confirmed that once they finalize securing the music rights to Homicide, they'll begin shopping it around to streaming platforms. So fingers crossed that it may finally be available again!

That would be great. I didn't watch Homicide, but I love The Wire and really enjoyed We Own These Streets (which I strongly recommend to those of you who are into David Simon shows).

[Larimar]

Just started rewatching Pie in the Sky, a British mystery series from I think the '90's, featuring protagonist Henry Crabbe, who has to balance the police detective work he really wants to retire from with running the titular high-end restaurant with his wife Margaret. I like the characters and the in-jokes, and the fact that the show isn't graphic about the crimes. It's intelligent and fun. Also learned the bit of trivia that the actor who plays Henry Crabbe also played Harry Potter's Uncle Vernon in the movie series. Whaddayaknow.

[hmaria1609]

Watching season 9 of "Grantchester" on PBS. There's a new vicar coming as Will agrees to accept a transfer to Newcastle.

[ab_grp]

We just finished season 3 of Homicide.  This season, things really started heating up! I am looking forward to season 4 now.  But first we have the final season (4) of Succession and then another season of Doctor Who.

In our Prime watchings, we finished Person of Interest a few days ago.  We both thought that was a very good series.  And it's got some aspects that are especially pertinent these days about cybersurveillance and AI.  And although some of the characters can be a little much at times, the cast was strong.  There are a couple episodes in particular that I thought were just some of the best I have seen on TV.  I wasn't surprised to see one rated as a 9.8 in IMDB.  Kind of surprised it wasn't higher! I just looked back in the thread and noticed I didn't really say what this one was about.  One of the main characters (played by Michael Emerson) developed a system that could take in information from many cameras and devices all over the city and really the world and could use that info to detect threats.  These would be premeditated actions.  It couldn't predict crimes of passion, or that sort of thing.  It separated them into relevant (to the country's interests) and irrelevant.  He sold it to the government to be used to identify and prevent threats of the first kind, but he regretted that the irrelevant threats (e.g., the murder of some random Joe) just got deleted at the end of each day, so he created a mechanism to receive that information in the only way he could.  He then kind of accumulated a group who goes around trying to prevent these irrelevant threats from occurring.  It's a mix of computer geeks, law enforcement types, and special ops types, primarily.  It probably doesn't sound great from that, but the cast really works together well, and the stories were compelling.  It raises a lot of good philosophical questions about AI and cybersurveillance.

After that, we watched the mini-series of The City and the City, based on the Mieville novel.  If you have read the book, you might guess that it could be difficult to portray this environment on film.  It's an unusual crime thriller, and I don't want to say too much about it.  They do deviate somewhat from what I remember of the book, but we enjoyed it for what it was and didn't want to stop watching (though the ending was a bit weak).  However, I am not sure what I would have thought had I not read the book first.  I think I would have been more confused about what was going on with the location and then might not have been drawn in to the story as much, but I'm not sure.  From the reviews, it looks like people either loved it or got lost and thought it didn't pan out so well.  I finally had to look up who played the main character Inspector Borlu and realized he played The Governor on The Walking Dead.  Aside from that, most of the actors were unfamiliar to me.  Now we are watching Nashville, so that's a bit more straightforward.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Maid (Netflix)

This series follows a young single mother as she raises her daughter while navigating poverty, an abusive relationship, mental illness, and various other challenges. The show is mostly well done, although not without a few weaknesses. A particularly highlight is watching Andie MacDowell, who seems to be having the time of her life playing the mother (fun fact: she is the real life mother of the lead actress).

Grade: A-

[RatGuy]

In our Prime watchings, we finished Person of Interest a few days ago.  We both thought that was a very good series. 

PoI is one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm quite sad that I missed the boxed set when it was released on bluray, because that was one of the finest-looking TV-on-Blu series I've seen -- and a network series at that!

But yes, it's only become more relevant in the decade since it aired, and I couldn't help thinking that the latest Mission Impossible movie didn't investigate that topic nearly as well.