The TV Series Thread (Summer 2023 edition)

[Parasaurolophus]

Per the discussion in the suggestion forum, I'm going to start trying to split threads that get too long on a regular basis, to see if that makes them a little more accessible to new members and lurkers. The previous thread is here, for your reference.

Otherwise, I'll simply quote the last post and let you all have at it:

We are excited that Season 2 of The Bear will begin this week, as hubby is from Chicago (Italian Beef!) and loves cooking; he has dreams of opening a bunny chow restaurant or food truck (likely to remain a dream rather than a retirement plan).  Season 1 episodes were so frenetic, we needed a calmer show after to lower blood pressure.

Ooh, I forgot about this show after seeing the previews a while back.  Thanks for the reminder! It sounds pretty good.

[ab_grp]

Continuing with my breakfast documentary watching, I finished Sour Grapes last week (on Amazon Prime), about fraud in the high-priced, rare wine auction circuit, focused on a newcomer who may be too good to be true.  It was a little startling to hear about some of the extensive wine collections and crazy wine dinners, but the forensics aspects of the investigation were really interesting. 

Just started Citizenfour, about the documentarians' interactions with Edward Snowden and how that story developed.  Some of the civil liberties infractions are already raising my eyebrows just 11 minutes in.

[hmaria1609]

I watched the series finale of "Endeavour" on PBS's "Masterpiece Mystery!" last night. I'm sad to see the series end but it ended in a solid spot. The principal cast was solid throughout its run. For a few of the long time actors, it was the longest TV series they have done during their acting careers.

Here's a short video on the ending of the series. That's Blenheim Palace where Morse leaves after a concert.

I remember mamselle enjoyed British mystery shows at one time or another.

[ab_grp]

We finished what has been released of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  I am glad to read that Larry David isn't quite the same as his character by the same name on the show.  He plays a very good caricature of himself! Extremely unlikable but the cause of a lot of wincing, gasping, and other general signs of non-PC hilarity.  As I think I said in a previous post, there are some excellent secondary characters (maybe they are also starring roles as well), and some of the scenarios are pretty clever.  Be prepared for some plot devices to continue while others are just apparently forgotten (even big stories).  That's a little hard to get used to, because it's not as though the episodes are totally independent and insular little stories themselves, but there it also feels a little like gaslighting that X from a previous episode is still true while Y from another previous episode either never happened, or the characters involved are just being mega-jerks by not mentioning it.  I am looking forward to what I guess is the final season (12), and I wish that we had each given it more of a chance when we each, separately initially watched an episode or two.  Likely one of us would have convinced the other to watch it sooner.

We also did our periodic rewatching of our favorite Archer episode (Lo Scandalo), and now we're a couple episodes into Alpha House, finally, which ciao_yall recommended.  We're getting to know the characters better and are enjoying the political shenanigans.  It took me a minute to remember where I saw the Senator from PA, Robert from (The Wire).

[ab_grp]

This weekend we watched the Dune miniseries from 2000.  I personally feel that I have now experienced enough Dune, having read the book and watched the older and newer movies as well, but I guess there's a second part of the newer movie coming out at some point.  Since I have reviewed the other versions previously, I will just recap briefly that the Atreides family led by Duke Leto (William Hurt) come to be in charge of the planet Arrakis, where spice comes from.  Spice is a major part of the galactic economy, so being in charge of the planet is a big deal.  The Harkonnens previously had the planet but were bad guys.  The Emperor rules above all, but there is political intrigue afoot since Duke Leto is very popular, and the Emperor feels threatened.  The Harkonnens also try to stick their noses in to cause trouble wherever possible.  In addition, Arrakis is home to the Fremen, desert dwellers who have their own idea about what should happen to the planet.  The miniseries was better than the old movie, and since I can't really remember the new movie very well I think it was probably better than that one in some ways.  I think breaking it into three parts probably helped.  It could very well be 9 or more parts in order to give the necessary background, though I am thankful that it wasn't.  Several changes were made in the miniseries, some of which worked well, and others of which left some gaps that didn't make too much sense to me.  For example, Princess Irulan has a much larger role here than in the book, and I think it helped a bit to round the story out in a fairly short time period (a little over 4.5 hrs total).  In terms of acting, Paul the protagonist came off as a creepy, tantrum-throwing megalomaniac incel IMO.  Saskia Reeves (from Luther) did a good enough job as Jessica.  Little Alia stole the show as she did in the book.  Vladimir Harkonnen is over the top, too, but he is in the book as well.  It was really kind of a strange production.  At some points it seemed staged and lit like a play, and at other times I could have easily been persuaded that this was a movie from the 1970s (especially with some of the special effects... yikes).  Overall, it was better than I expected, and it's not the first version of Dune that had me shaking my head often enough throughout.  Maybe it's just hard to capture such a far-reaching and involved story.

[ciao_yall]

I have been practicing my Spanish with...

The Girls in the Back
Pacquita Salas

I watch both in Spanish.

Each episode first in English, then in Spanish.

[hmaria1609]

Having a go with "Maigret" starring Rowan Atkinson on Kanopy. I remember seeing these feature length episodes on our local PBS station and it wasn't part of the "Masterpiece Mystery" programming. It's only 4 of the Maigret stories though. Looks well done!

I had seen some episodes of "Maigret" with Bruno Cremer in the title role--that's the best known French version adapted for TV.