Rate the last series you completed out of 5 - No spoilers!

[jonathanhoey]

Very late but my partner and I just finished watching The Sopranos. It had completely passed both of us by, so we just watched the entire thing together in order over the last couple of months. 

 

5/5 obviously. 

[hmm]

3 hours ago, jonathanhoey said:

in order

 

I feel like this goes without saying. How do you normally watch your TV...?

 

Welcome to the club though!

[jonathanhoey]

Good point, not sure why I constructed the sentence that way. In my head I was probably going for "from start to finish" or something like that.

[Festoon]

The Bear

Disney+

 

Absolutely amazing. Best I've seen in years. Instant stars in this.

 

Highest praise I can give - but man it's stressful. Uncut Gems stressful.

 

5/5

[Boothjan]

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

 

THE best looking thing I've ever seen on a TV show, and arriving with huge fanfare, I was delighted with this first season.  Not everyone was - the thread on this on here is proof of that - it's not exactly staunchly faithful to Tolkein's work, but from a personal point of view, I found the characters, the pacing and the depiciton of wondrous cities and civilisation to be fantastic TV.

 

There's always one problem with any prequel - you know the fate of some characters and locations right from the off, and although RoP suffers from this, it also manages to succeed in some epic world building which sets up events in the main LOTR trilogy.

 

I went into this being a MASSIVE fan of Peter Jackson's trilogy, and the only Tolkein I've read are the 3 main books (which I enjoyed) and The Hobbit (which I didn't really enjoy) so I'm definitely not a Tolkein 'purist' (for wont of a better word), and I think that actually helped me enjoy this more than if I was.

 

4.5/5

 

Welcome To Wrexham

 

I find the 'All Or Nothing' docs on Amazon to be rather dull, skirting around stuff too much to broadcast a sanitised version of what happens at a football club.  WtW does not do this, and as a result, it's so much better than any of Amazon's offerings.

 

WtW is essentially the story of Wrexham FC, and the takeover by Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds.  What I really liked was this isn't a doe-eyed look at the famous pair, but explores all areas of the club itself, such as the community, the hooligan element, the players, the ups and downs of the team.  McElhenny and Reynolds often take a back seat but when they do feature, they come across very well and certainly don't appear to view Wrexham as a vanity project but a true labour of love.

 

I really enjoyed Sunderland Til I Die on Netflix as this is probably better, but produced in a similar way.  Football clubs aren't all shits and giggles and this gives a very good representations of the good and the bad of the game.

 

4/5

 

This England

 

Not actually sure why I watched this, as it made me quite angry.  The story of the pandemic and the government's mishandling of everything - the one huge mis-step here (aside from it maybe being too soon for such a production) is the portrayal of Boris Johnson.  He's made out to be a bumbling idiot at worst, with the show being oddly sympathetic towards him in places.  Considering what he did (or didn't) do throughout this awful time, I don't find this depiction of what should have been the main antagonist to be particularly responsible.  Kenneth Branagh does a very good Johnson impression throughout, but you're always aware that it's an impression and it tends to grate by the end.

 

What they do manage to do is show Dominic Cummings in a very bad light.  Scheming, intensely arrogant and downright unpleasant, I thought they nailed this aspect, which then asks the question of why Johnson seems to have been treated so differently?

 

Similarly, the scenes of those suffering with the virus, footage of hospitals, effects on family members etc are extremely well done - utterly heartbreaking in fact.  Which is what made me even more angry with the overall output of this - so much of what happened could have been avoided if it wasn't for the hapless instructions and inaction from the government.

 

If they ever did a season 2 which would run over the Christmas lockdown period (and subsequent party gate) maybe it would have been harsher on Johnson, but it's an oversight I found too jarring.

 

On a similar theme, I'd recommend the superb (but very harrowing) Help (with Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham) on More 4 over this any day of the week.

 

2/5

[Mallet]

The Terminal List

 

This is on amazon prime and I loved every minute of it, I hope a second season is in the works 

5/5

 

Missions series 1

 

This a French programme I found on iplayer. It's about 2 competing missions to Mars and what they find. 

 

I rate entertainment purely on how much I enjoy myself.

 

4/5 and I'm goon to start the second series tonight. 

 

Oh and a quiet admission, I have never seen the Sopranos either. Or Breaking Bad for that matter

[Benny]

I've recently been watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

 

I haven't finished it yet, but it's a solid 3/5

 

I'd been craving some trashy naughties sci-fi and this fits the bill. Glorious trash.

 

It's got some stupid stuff, but also lots of actually quite clever stuff. Terminators just all over the place, which is hilarious and makes them seem rather unthreatening after a while, but I'm just going with it. John is a fucking idiot. Lena Headey is cool. Summer Glau fills up that ridiculous male gazey direction you always expect of shows from this era.

 

The random philosophic ramblings of Sarah sometimes seem a bit half baked, but then you might just get a crazy action scene or two as well.

 

Fun show.

[Mallet]

45 minutes ago, Benny said:

I've recently been watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

 

I haven't finished it yet, but it's a solid 3/5

 

I'd been craving some trashy naughties sci-fi and this fits the bill. Glorious trash.

 

It's got some stupid stuff, but also lots of actually quite clever stuff. Terminators just all over the place, which is hilarious and makes them seem rather unthreatening after a while, but I'm just going with it. John is a fucking idiot. Lena Headey is cool. Summer Glau fills up that ridiculous male gazey direction you always expect of shows from this era.

 

The random philosophic ramblings of Sarah sometimes seem a bit half baked, but then you might just get a crazy action scene or two as well.

 

Fun show.

I enjoyed this a lot back in the day, I still have my DVDs in fact, and I'm bitterly disappointed that it was dropped and never finished.

 

I have been burnt by cancelled shows so often I rarely start a series now that hasn't been finished. I think it's gotten even worse with Netflix and co, so many times a show will catch my eye so I will google it only to find out it was cancelled after a season or two and I think what is the point of even starting it.

[Benny]

I'm particularly enjoying how, like a lot of shows like this from that time, it's a bit of a who's who of TV actors who were in all sorts of stuff or went on to be big parts in all the prestige shows later on.

 

It's a bit of a "hey, it's that guy!" kind of series.

[Arn X Treme]

12 hours ago, Benny said:

I'm particularly enjoying how, like a lot of shows like this from that time, it's a bit of a who's who of TV actors who were in all sorts of stuff or went on to be big parts in all the prestige shows later on.

 

It's a bit of a "hey, it's that guy!" kind of series.

 

I've started rewatching this after seeing you'd  began watching it and you're not wrong. 

 

You've got The Vulture from B99 & the lady from The Shield, and the male lead from Evil in the first episodes.

 

I'm enjoying watching it because I also like to see all the signs of the time like the clothes and hairstyles and this doesn't disappoint.

 

But I'm really looking forward to the second season as I had no idea there was one at the time so even if it's not aged well it's something new to watch. 

[Benny]

Finished watching Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'd maybe bump it to a 3.5/5 as there was some really promising stuff in there. Alas it ends just as it's getting going, but unlike a lot of cancelled shows it does at least wrap up the last season to a satisfying conclusion that gives you probably enough information to work out what was going on.

[Treble]

House of the Dragon

 

Hmm, not really for me. It was better than I expected as the performances and script were good, and the whole production very handsome. 

 

Still, the fact that every person you tagged for imminent demise copped for it, how there was no focus on different tiers of society building a kingdom (where the smallest person could cause a massive splash, or how one seemingly huge pretender to the throne could end up causing a mere ripple) and how plot armour was solidly in place for the main cast of Kings/Queens/Lords/Ladies lessened it to 'decent period drama (with the odd dragon)'.

 

The constant time jumps, repeated names and variants on names, and identical-looking blonde folks was also a bit distancing. 

 

Entertaining, not spectacular, but probably the required 'solid' follow-up to the disaster that was the final season of GoT. 

 

3/5

[Silent Runner]

The Patient

 

Domhnall Gleeson is a serial killer trying to stop killing people. To do this he kidnaps his therapist, Steve Carrell, in-prisons him in his basement and forces him to take therapy sessions with him.  

 

This is a 10 part drama from the creators of The Americans that finished up last night. I thought this was really excellent but maybe didn't need 10 episodes to tell the story. The 2 leads are superb and the scenes they have together are tremendous. There's real tension and you're never really sure where it's going to go. 

 

I think it's on Disney soon, it's definitely worth watching and I'm sure the two lads will win a ton of awards.

 

4/5

[Ry]

LOTR The Rings of Power - 2/5. Terribly written, absolute baffling plotholes, full of unlikeable characters. Nonsensical pacing and just a bit of a bore to watch. 

 

House of the Dragon - 4/5. The opposite of above. 

 

Always Sunny in Philadelphia - 5/5. Maybe my 4th rewatch of the whole series (so far). One of the best comedies ever made and infinitely rewatchable.

[Rayn]

Yellowjackets (2021, SkyShowtime)

Been meaning to start watching this for some time now but the comparisons to Lord of the Flies and Lost kinda held me back. Not that I don't like Lord of the Flies and Lost (the latter is one of my favourite TV series ever) but when series are made "inspired by" they often end up as bleak copies. 

 

Once I started viewing I knew I was in for a treat. Great performances by the main cast and some really interesting sub plots that mostly ties together throughout the season. 

All in all, a great character driven drama with plenty of action, mystery, gore and suspense thrown into the mix. 

 

4 plot twists out of 5

[Boothjan]

House of the Dragon

 

Well I thought this was absolutely brilliant and I'm going to be arrogant and say 'I told you so' because I said before it aired that it had lots of promise, and I expected it to be very good.

 

I think it's different enough from GoT to work very well.  It deals with far fewer locations and characters, and this really helps.  Also, there's not all that much source material for it aside from what is essentially a history book giving a basic synopsis*, and this means that the writers have been able to add in some great political intrigue, fleshing out the characters (helped by some awesome performances across the board).

 

Matt Smith in particular is clearly having the time of his life.  Some of his lines are up there with the best in GoT.  I'm not sure it needed a 'comedy element' to it - it works on a different level to GoT and with fewer 'main players' I don't think that comic relief was necessary and wouldn't have worked.  Characters in HotD may be pretty much all unlikeable but I don't think they're 2 dimensional.  Alicent in particular is really well written (and acted) and her actions aren't simply black and white.    

 

I also thought the tension was perfectly pitched throughout - in this sense, the scene is superbly set up for season 2.  

 

I've loved this and intend on a full rewatch later this week.

 

5/5

 

*I absolutely loved Fire and Blood, and I'm pleased it was so different in style to ASOIAF.  When I found out they were adapting the very best part of it for the screen, I was instantly excited and there's so many more twists and turns to go.  They've paced this a lot better than I thought they would, and I reckon there are a good 3 seasons worth of this which could be done at a very high quality indeed.  

[grounded_dreams]

Just finished watching This Country, its one of those shows I've heard of, knew it had won loads of awards but for some reason never seen.

Partner and I adored it, funny, heart-felt and a lovely enjoyable show. We viewed all three seasons over about a week.

5/5

 

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

[Commander Jameson]

The Other One on BBC iPlayer is very good. Two mismatched sisters find each other.

[PeteJ]

24 minutes ago, grounded_dreams said:

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

Parks and Recs and Schitt's Creek are your best choices, both are wonderfully written after admittedly iffy starts. Unless you are looking for UK shows, in which case I'm out of ideas. 

[schmojo]

1 hour ago, grounded_dreams said:

Just finished watching This Country, its one of those shows I've heard of, knew it had won loads of awards but for some reason never seen.

Partner and I adored it, funny, heart-felt and a lovely enjoyable show. We viewed all three seasons over about a week.

5/5

 

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

 

It may be technically  a US show, but the What We Do In the Shadows is a winner. I also liked Crashing, the sitcom Phoebe Waller-Bridge did before Fleabag.

[Silent Runner]

57 minutes ago, schmojo said:

 

It may be technically  a US show, but the What We Do In the Shadows is a winner. I also liked Crashing, the sitcom Phoebe Waller-Bridge did before Fleabag.

 

Similar to this, there's a New Zealand show called Wellington Paranormal. It has the same mockumentry, fly on the wall style as This Country. 

[James Lyon]

4 hours ago, grounded_dreams said:

Just finished watching This Country, its one of those shows I've heard of, knew it had won loads of awards but for some reason never seen.

Partner and I adored it, funny, heart-felt and a lovely enjoyable show. We viewed all three seasons over about a week.

5/5

 

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

 

Ever tried Still Game?

[grounded_dreams]

Thanks for all the recommendations, shall check them out

[iknowgungfu]

On 05/11/2022 at 08:22, grounded_dreams said:

Just finished watching This Country, its one of those shows I've heard of, knew it had won loads of awards but for some reason never seen.

Partner and I adored it, funny, heart-felt and a lovely enjoyable show. We viewed all three seasons over about a week.

5/5

 

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

Kim’s Convenience ticks a lot of boxes for me too. Can be found on NF. 

[PK]

On 05/11/2022 at 08:22, grounded_dreams said:

Just finished watching This Country, its one of those shows I've heard of, knew it had won loads of awards but for some reason never seen.

Partner and I adored it, funny, heart-felt and a lovely enjoyable show. We viewed all three seasons over about a week.

5/5

 

Looking for any recommendations similar to this, if anyone can suggest something. Things we've watched already and enjoyed:

Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, all the Partridge shows, Detectorists, both The Office versions and Extras. Sure there are others but can't think of them atm.

Watched the new Daisy May Cooper show, Am I Being Unreasonable?, which was decent.

 

Tried Stath Lets Flats, The Young Offenders, Ladhood but couldn't get into these.

 

Thanks

 

Him & Her, it's all on iPlayer and is a masterpiece. It's about a couple in their early 20s who loaf around their flat.

 

Doesn't sound great from the premise but every episode is like a perfect little play.

[Festoon]

13 hours ago, iknowgungfu said:

Kim’s Convenience ticks a lot of boxes for me too. Can be found on NF. 

 

I liked everything about it except for the main actress - she's a bit wooden. Everyone else, Simu Liu (obv.) his mate Kimchi, the dad and mother (exceptional) and particularly the boss Shannon - she's a really great comic actress.

[Vimster]

The Capture series 1

Very post-Line Of Duty earnest police drama with an admittedly intriguing premise. My main issue is with the unlikability of the main characters, all very serious, I felt it very difficult to have any sympathy for the main police woman who even when things became more difficult was still arrogant and snobbish. Also if I went back to my old place of work to use the facilities they'd tell me where to go pretty sharpish. Felt more like a good idea fleshed out into a multi-part drama. It has the right pace though and lots of twists and turns, but it didn't have me gagging for series 2. 

 

3/5

[iknowgungfu]

9 hours ago, Festoon said:

 

I liked everything about it except for the main actress - she's a bit wooden. Everyone else, Simu Liu (obv.) his mate Kimchi, the dad and mother (exceptional) and particularly the boss Shannon - she's a really great comic actress.

I liked the daughter in this (Janet?). It was her first acting gig but her facial expressions always seemed to show what she was thinking/feeling all the time - particularly when exasperating with her parents. 

[ImmaculateClump]

Killer Sally - ***½

[Silent Runner]

Interview with The Vampire

 

Finished this tonight, it's only 7 episodes so I got through it over a couple of weeks, and I thought it was tremendous. Violent, camp, gothic and pretty funny in places. I've not read the book or seen the film so it was all new to me. Hopefully there's a season 2 or a season 1 part 2 because I really want to see where the story goes.

 

4.5/5