Author |
Message |
|
bartist |
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:22 am |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
The only new series I've checked out (other than Orville) is The Good Doctor. Found it pretty dull, but I guess its ratings reflect that autism is "in" these days.
Saw the second season of "Fargo," which was, as some here said, better than the first season. I didn't see much point in the UFO thing, though. Nor does it seem obligatory to honor the Coen Bro canon with a UFO - IIRC, there was one UFO in The Man Who Wasn't There, and that's it. The cast was outstanding.
Saw an episode of The Good Place - this really is a clever philosophical comedy, kind of a rare thing on tv. Will try to catch more of the series. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
Back to top |
|
Syd |
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:35 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
Tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy sure looked like they were trying to set up a California spinoff, which would of course have to be called Private Practice--until I finally noticed Owen Hunt's sister is named Megan. Are we ready for a revival of Body of Proof? |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
Back to top |
|
bartist |
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:09 am |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
I recall seeing a few of those; not bad 21st century "Quincy."
Orville had a clever satirical jab at a rather Trumpian "perfect democracy" last night. Nice borrow from the "Fizzbin" episode of STOS, a parallel Earth. (A Piece of the Action - but I always thought of it as the Fizzbin episode) |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
Back to top |
|
billyweeds |
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:43 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
Two new series I've liked are Mindhunters on Netflix--a fictionalized but very realistic depiction of the real-life origin of serial-killer research by the FBI in the late 70s--and Ten Days in the Valley--a ten-episode (one ep per day) series starring Kyra Sedgwick about a child kidnapping, but in no way the usual cliche-ridden nonsense you normally get with such stories. Sedgwick is terrific as the child's mother, a hugely successful but drug-dependent television writer with a ton of issues. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
carrobin |
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:43 pm |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
Lately I've been watching "Boston Legal" on the Ovation channel on Monday mornings--that channel is next to TCM, so I often check it when I'm keeping track of the movies. Anyway, it's remarkable how much Denny Crane resembles Trump--physically (hair excepted) and psychologically. Except that Denny is actually almost as clever as he thinks he is, and there's a likeable quality about his boyish egotism. And I can't imagine Trump having the kind of relationship that Denny has with Alan Shore (actually, that's a pretty rare sort of relationship), with anyone, man or woman. And if Denny were president, he'd know how to maneuver through the things he didn't know, rather than claiming he already knew everything. (As the series went on, of course, Denny's mentality started slipping--he called it Mad Cow, Alan called it Alzheimer's, but it did lead to one of my favorite series finales.) The lawsuits and trials they deal with are also still quite relevant, which is a bit depressing sometimes, even though they win. But it's always fun to see them spring Betty White from prison. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
bartist |
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:16 am |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
The jail hasn't been built that can hold Betty White.
I've always wondered if there were some Denny Crane in the real Shatner. Guess that tells how much Shat owned that role. I want to see some of those BL eps again. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
Back to top |
|
bartist |
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:06 pm |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
I can see how season 2 of "Humans" got a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Outstanding. Great acting ensemble. Like watching a genre grow up and become fully adult. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
Back to top |
|
Syd |
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:57 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
Meanwhile, Blindspot had to jump ahead a couple of years, gave Jane a second set of tattoos (which come alive with the appropriate stimulus; basically they're fluorescent), is probably doomed as a series, and was an incredible amount of fun tonight. Is there anyone on this series that's more than one step away from a jail cell? |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
Back to top |
|
carrobin |
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:48 pm |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
Last night's "Simpsons" was a classic, with Marge running for mayor and winning, thanks not so much to her obvious abilities but to the audience appeal of a moronic husband. There were a lot of Trump parallels, and at one point someone mentioned Kellyanne Conway--drawing a response from one of the women campaign workers, "It's so inspiring to know that a woman can be Josef Goebbels!" But Marge lost her bid for reelection when she became tired of making constant jokes about Homer's stupidity and obesity, and declared that they were a happily married couple.
Which reminds me that I caught the end of a "Boston Legal" last week in which Alan Shore and Denny Crane were having their always interesting chat with their cigars and drinks, and mulling over the most recent case. Without knowing what case they were discussing, I still agreed with Alan's gloomy comment: "Remember when there was compassion, soul, humility--we've become a mean nation." And that was how many years ago? |
|
|
Back to top |
|
bartist |
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 11:55 am |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
Recently been watching a few episodes of a Star Trek series I had always ignored, "Voyager" and surprised to find it's not bad, taking on some interesting philosophical questions. I knew Jeri Ryan played a character called "Seven of Nine," but hadn't seen the episodes that clarify what that's about. She was a captured Borg who was "deprogrammed" from the Collective and struggles to adjust to the whole idea of individuality and personal autonomy. This makes for some interesting interactions and gives the franchise another foil, a la Spock, who offers a non-human perspective on shipboard issues.
Nor had I realized the reason it's called "Voyager," arising from the dramatic predicament set up in the series opener. They really DO go boldly where no one from the Federation has gone before (though IIRC, the original series has a single episode with a similar hurled-vast-distances plotline).
Now I'm hoping Q will appear. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
Back to top |
|
Befade |
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:37 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
|
What I appreciated about Mindhunters was that it wasn't good guys vs. bad guys. The good guys weren't crazy but they were flawed. |
_________________ Lost in my own private I dunno. |
|
Back to top |
|
Syd |
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:45 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
I'm watching "Round Planet," which is a BBC nature series which shows you what might have happened to "Planet Earth" if Sir David had been demented and addicted to bad jokes. I'm not sure if I'll make it through the whole series, but it does have good footage (some of it, I believe from "Planet Earth") and I laughed out loud quite often. |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
Back to top |
|
Syd |
Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:06 am |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
Syd wrote: I'm watching "Round Planet," which is a BBC nature series which shows you what might have happened to "Planet Earth" if Sir David had been demented and addicted to bad jokes. I'm not sure if I'll make it through the whole series, but it does have good footage (some of it, I believe from "Planet Earth") and I laughed out loud quite often.
I made it through the whole series, and it's delightful. Some of the footage I recognize from "Planet Earth" and the rest I believe is outtakes from that series. I really liked the episode on bears and how they seem to take the most challenging methods of Darwinian survival. Sure, ignore this stream full of rainbow trout and glens full of berries and climb three thousand meters to hunt moths. That's the ticket. |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
Back to top |
|
knox |
Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 3:53 pm |
|
|
Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
|
Darwinian?? Climbing for moths when you've got trout in the stream sounds more like a case against Darwin's adaptationist concept. Sounds more like "bear culture, " where the bear who does the rugged moth hunt impresses the female bears and increases his social/reproductive status. It surely not a pragmatic adaptation, where you are obtaining the most food for the least expenditure of energy. LOL
Clearly, I'm oversimplifying evolutionary biology. Sounds like a fun series. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
carrobin |
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:44 am |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
"The Simpsons" continues to be the smartest show on TV, after all these years. There are always half a dozen lines I want to scribble down, but they come so fast that there's seldom time. Tonight, though, I had to take a note on Mr. Burns' dream about Orson Welles in heaven--
"God hired me to direct a rainbow, but I spent half the budget on indigo--I'll play red myself!" |
|
|
Back to top |
|
|