Author Topic: Television tonight: what's worth watching?  (Read 333582 times)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1075 on: 27 June, 2017, 03:34:00 pm »
We're catching up on The Night Of at the moment. It's very good, but almost unbearably tense. I still haven't made up my mind if he did it or not, and I suspect it's not going to get much clearer in the remaining episodes...
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1076 on: 28 June, 2017, 01:04:40 pm »
We're catching up on The Night Of at the moment. It's very good, but almost unbearably tense. I still haven't made up my mind if he did it or not, and I suspect it's not going to get much clearer in the remaining episodes...

OK, well it did kind of get clearer...

As an exposition of the complexities and ambiguities of the criminal justice system, and a philosophical treatise on notions of guilt and innocence, it's well worth watching. I didn't see the original British series on which it is based - Criminal Justice - but I imagine it's very different, given the differences in the way American courts work, and conditions in American prisons.

Definitely not recommended for people who like 'happily ever after' endings.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Basil

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1077 on: 09 July, 2017, 09:32:28 pm »
Well, you've just missed it, but Wolf Works on BBC 4 tonight was just stunning.  If you're not sure if you like modern dance or ballet, try this.  I hope it will be available on iPlayer soon.
The ballet is in three acts based on the works and life of Virginia Woolf.  The first is one of the most poignant things I have ever seen as Woolf and her younger selves inside work together.  Grit in my eye.
The second act, based on her novel Orlando, a gender and time bending romp, is so busy it's hard to keep up with what is going on in all parts of the stage at once.  Sometimes you forget whether a particular performer is male or female, and then you realise that Hey, that's not important right now.  The finale to this act is just stupendous.
The third act, Tuesday, deals with her life, breakdowns and eventual suicide, interwoven with another of her works (I have to admit that I'm not sure which).  Again, stunning, busy and modern.  Men lifting men, women lifting women.  This is what we want.  No boundaries.

Very very highly recommend.
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Mrs Pingu

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1078 on: 06 September, 2017, 06:08:10 pm »
Mitchell & Webb fans may be interested to know their new series: Back, starts tonight on C4.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

fuzzy

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1079 on: 21 September, 2017, 11:30:42 am »
The other night saw Electric Dreams on Channel 4, the first of 10 stand alone adaptations of Phillip K Dick stories. Episode one was The Hood Maker, a story about a future society where telepaths (teeps) seem to be at odds with the world?

Anyhow, ep1 stars features Richard Madden (Rodd "The King in the North" Stark) and Holliday Grainger (Robin Ellacott- the secretary come trainee private dick in Strike) and I enjoyed it. Looking at the IMDb listings, some big names will feature in future episodes.

Eletric Dreams IMDb

mattc

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1080 on: 22 September, 2017, 10:17:05 am »
I thought that was pretty good (although I have watched Ms Grainger far too recently in her other role!).

I've seen much much worse sci-fi on telly, so I'm pretty optimistic about the rest of the series.
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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1081 on: 22 September, 2017, 11:06:21 am »
Watched Season 2 of The Expanse with my son. Since until a week ago he lived in Edinburgh, this was a rare indulgence. It didn't disappoint. Nobody says "Go fuck yourself" like Shohreh Aghdashloo
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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1082 on: 30 September, 2017, 08:25:17 pm »
Continued Monday I think, but we’ve been away and just watched the first episode of a programme on BBC4 - The Vietnam War. Superb.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Ruthie

  • Her Majester
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1083 on: 30 September, 2017, 08:38:41 pm »
On i-Player, but very good - Hypernormalisation.  Scary stuff mind.  Donald Trump's in it.  So is Patti Smith.
Milk please, no sugar.

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1084 on: 02 October, 2017, 07:26:26 am »
Watched Season 2 of The Expanse with my son. Since until a week ago he lived in Edinburgh, this was a rare indulgence. It didn't disappoint. Nobody says "Go fuck yourself" like Shohreh Aghdashloo

Love that series. Books are worth reading too.

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1085 on: 02 October, 2017, 07:28:49 am »
Spent most of the Sunday with the sniffles and binge-watched Line of Duty Season 4.
Cringed when Hastings said "Darling" and knew it was a set up for later, but otherwise enjoyed it.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1086 on: 15 October, 2017, 10:14:35 pm »
Electric Dreams has been good. A series of Philip K Dick short stories that are somewhat pushing the thinking about conciousness and reality. Enjoyed tonights.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1087 on: 19 October, 2017, 04:51:18 pm »
Been binge watching Rellik on iPlayer while Daniel has been feeding and sleeping (I'm on Shared Parental Leave atm).  I can see it being quite confusing if you watched it as broadcast, with a week between episodes, but it's great watched as-one.  It's a really interesting concept - the reverse chronological narrative is surprisingly suspenseful.

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1088 on: 19 October, 2017, 05:22:11 pm »
I gave up halfway through the second episode, it irritated me too much.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1089 on: 21 October, 2017, 08:14:18 am »
I gave up halfway through the second episode, it irritated me too much.
Your loss...

Karla

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1090 on: 23 October, 2017, 12:38:54 am »
So, is anyone watching Game of Attempting to Blow Up Thrones?

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1091 on: 23 October, 2017, 01:28:01 pm »
We've just this weekend finished the first series of David Fincher's Mindhunter on Netflix. Very good.

Avoids the usual torture porn aspect of many serial killer dramas, instead it's mostly talking - and all the better for it. Pretty much all the men in it are thoroughly appalling, even the good guys.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1092 on: 23 October, 2017, 11:15:32 pm »
We've just this weekend finished the first series of David Fincher's Mindhunter on Netflix. Very good.

Avoids the usual torture porn aspect of many serial killer dramas, instead it's mostly talking - and all the better for it. Pretty much all the men in it are thoroughly appalling, even the good guys.

Really enjoyed it. Although I would put the the (leading) women in the same boat as the men.

Steph

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1093 on: 24 October, 2017, 12:34:32 pm »
Guilty pleasure...Vikings.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

ian

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1094 on: 07 November, 2017, 08:35:02 pm »
Watched Season 2 of The Expanse with my son. Since until a week ago he lived in Edinburgh, this was a rare indulgence. It didn't disappoint. Nobody says "Go fuck yourself" like Shohreh Aghdashloo

Love that series. Books are worth reading too.

I quite like it, and maybe it's just me, but I do find some of the acting a bit, erm, variable in quality. Which I find a bit jarring in these days of high-ish production values.

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1095 on: 07 November, 2017, 08:59:27 pm »
Yeah, it shows it's roots from time to time.  The SyFy channel normally makes pretty poor TV shows and it probably showed through a bit in season2. It took Bobbie Draper a long time to fit into her role.

Kim

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1096 on: 07 November, 2017, 09:45:42 pm »
It feels like Babylon 5 with a less intricate storyline and much better special effects.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1097 on: 08 November, 2017, 09:26:36 am »
It feels like Babylon 5 with a less intricate storyline and much better special effects.

Where does that leave it on the internationally-recognised Big Pile Of Shit scale :demon:
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ian

Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1098 on: 08 November, 2017, 11:22:01 am »
It is a bit Babylon 5y (oh, I confess, I watched 'em).

Anyway, I'm just starting on series 2. It's Nagata and Draper (who, I suppose may indeed improve) who're a bit annoying in the acting stakes – the other main characters mostly OK, Holden is played with sufficient self-righteous annoyance, Miller is still the best thing in it.

This said, the books take a long time to get anywhere...

Riggers

  • Mine's a pipe, er… pint!
Re: Television tonight, whats worth watching
« Reply #1099 on: 08 November, 2017, 02:30:31 pm »
Forget all that nonsense above . . .  The Detectorists is back on tonight at 10pm BBC4. Episode 1 of the 3rd series. Excellent!

Talking of 'excellent', so too was Motherland last night, on BBC2 at 10pm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/11/07/motherland-reaches-similar-comedy-heights-fawlty-towers-review/
Certainly never seen cycling south of Sussex