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| carrobin |
 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:12 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| There's a little British show on our PBS station that I've become addicted to--"Pie in the Sky," with Richard Griffiths as a police detective whose wife owns a restaurant in which he presides over the kitchen. It took a few weeks to hook me in, but I think the episode that got me was the one with the two elderly sisters who conned bed-and-breakfast proprietors but couldn't resist offering them their special bread & butter pudding recipe. Our hero was more interested in finding out their "secret ingredient" than in capturing the perps, but of course he did both. (Marmalade!) |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:11 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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| Haven't seen much tube lately, but continue to catch "Grimm" on Fridays. It seems to have a formula that generates some original themes (at least I haven't encountered them anywhere else) in bringing the world of old German fairytales to a modern urban setting and sensibility. The dots, between real-world bigotry and exploitation and the fantasy metaphors here, are easy for a teen audience to connect and yet don't get in the way of a story that all ages can enjoy. The carnival show story, this week, seemed like a natural approach to the real social issues with exploitative workplaces and conditions that make workers sick. I'm still not all that fascinated by the ongoing Euro sidebar with the telekinetic baby, but maybe it's finally going to intersect with Portland. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:50 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Cosmos was pretty good tonight, and did do a lot to communicate what great scientists Halley, Newton and Hooke were and why Newton and Hooke were flaming assholes despite being two of the five greatest scientists of their time. Christiaan Huygens, Gottfried Leibniz and and Robert Boyle, who were not flaming assholes, were the other other three. Halley seems to have pretty decent himself, and I didn't realize how wide-raging his contributions were. Newton and Hooke's assholery is sometimes blamed on mercury, but I think they were just assholes. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:37 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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As a Leibniz fan (see post in Lobby), I'm glad that his non-asshole status was covered. I've only seen the first ep, as the show conflicts with The Good Wife, and much look forward to this. HG, in the treatment of felt, got a lot of blame back then.
Anyone catch TGW last night? Didn't see that coming! Will be sorry to see Josh Charles go, at least outside of sensual Alicia flashbacks.. I hope Kalinda sticks around, even if she doesn't have Will's pep talks to boost her morale. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:35 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Finally caught up with The Good Wife. It seemed unnecessary to go that far just because Josh Charles's contract was up, but it was undeniably a grabber. It will also have repercussions (to put it mildly) that will be fascinating to watch. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:35 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:47 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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Yeah, you got it right regarding TGW and "repercussions.....fascinating to watch."
The one thing I didn't quite follow was Diane firing the new legal assistant for crying. Now don't get me wrong, I followed the logic as written , that she had only been there a week and hadn't "earned" the right to be all weepy and maybe was overplaying it, but it somehow seemed off to me. I mean, maybe the girl's a "weeper," some people do turn on the waterworks over a hangnail, but I would think it would be a situation where you would just send her home. Maybe the purpose is just to show Diane completely shattered and swinging wildly. Or, conversely, it could be colder and more calculated, as if to say we all need to keep it together and if you can't keep rowing the boat then we will toss you overboard.
Well, either way, it was an interesting dramatic juncture and bred some interesting confusion for me. What a terrific show.
Loved the David Lee reaction, after watching Diane dump the big account, "I found it arousing." |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:04 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I had the same reaction to Diane's firing the intern but my wife simply said "She's not operating with a full deck because of what happened." Maybe women understand better.
David Lee is closer to real-life lawyers I have known and detested than anyone else on the show. Zach Grenier is terrific in the role. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:42 am |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| PBS's 5-hr "Story of the Jews with Simon Schama", just aired on PBS, is well worth retrieving. There is not much new in it, but it's all in the telling, and that's where this fellow Simon Schama excels. His passion reminded me of Jackob Brunowski in "The Ascent of Man". |
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That was great for you. How was it for me? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:07 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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Ken Jennings is on Jeopardy tomorrow, on the Battle of the Decades that's been going on and off this spring. They usually have a movie category, on the tournament shows, though most of the questions aren't too tough. But when champs play, they make them a little tougher.
BW - I believe your wife is right, about Diane's firing of the newbie. I may have been overthinking it. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:40 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Ghulam wrote: Sad to see Letterman go.
Just heard that on the news and did a NOOOOOOOOOO! He's leaving us with nothing but Jimmys. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 11:15 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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Letterman retiring makes me feel old.
Hearing Pharrell Williams on SNL five minutes ago make me feel... less old. I hear that damn "Happy" song everywhere -- radio, the gym, at home -- but it's so annoyingly catchy I'm still not bored of it. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 11:24 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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By the way, I dive-bombed through season-one of House of Cards in four days, and watched the pivotal first episode of S2. Great show, great storyline, but some of the most detestable main characters I've ever seen. Frank and Claire Underwood aren't mere anti-heroes, nor are they complex or misunderstood. They're just sociopathic narcissists.
Characters like Tony Soprano, Jamie Lannister and Walter White are 'bad guys'; Mr. and Mrs. Underwood are bad people. |
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"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?" |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:16 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Nice distinction.
It may be a fault of mine, or maybe it's an English thing, but, like being mesmerised by a cobra about to strike, I find those characters fascinating for their own sake; just as I do the similarly sociopathic Alice in "Luther" and Sherlock, albeit that for the most part the latter pair are on the side of the angels. |
Last edited by jeremy on Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
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