What Are You Watching

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

S3 of Astrid, where she continues to take both baby steps and giant strides toward fulfilling her potential. I'm sure a lot of people find it cheesy but we love the characters, especially William's support group of brilliant misfits. I didn't think the cases were as good as S2, and writing a bit sloppy but still a favorite.

A friend posted on facebook about the 3rd season of Astrid dropping in PBS Passport. I started watching episode 1 and there is a scene where Raphaelle forgot to pick up her son. I had seen this before. How did that happen? Did they repeat that scene or was the whole episode from a season I'd already seen? What followed that scene was also familiar, so I stopped watching. I will go back to it in case I didn't see the rest of the episodes. I only have it on PBS Passport. They have been showing older episodes on my PBS station (not lately but in the past year).

[Rumpelteazer]

We've been watching The Brothers Sun on Netflix these last couple of days. We've got two more episodes to go.

Normally I'm not one for comedies, but I'm liking this one.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

A friend posted on facebook about the 3rd season of Astrid dropping in PBS Passport. I started watching episode 1 and there is a scene where Raphaelle forgot to pick up her son. I had seen this before. How did that happen? Did they repeat that scene or was the whole episode from a season I'd already seen? What followed that scene was also familiar, so I stopped watching. I will go back to it in case I didn't see the rest of the episodes. I only have it on PBS Passport. They have been showing older episodes on my PBS station (not lately but in the past year).

S2 ended with Astrid barred from joining investigations unless she completed police academy, and that's where S3 picks up. Theo barely appears in S3.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by Hitch

(Granted, there's no real comparison here, but I compare that, 4 "whole" episodes per season, at 90 minutes each, to the first IDK-how-many seasons of the old Perry Mason. Over 30 episodes, 39 for season 1, if you want to be precise, 40 minutes each, for the first season; 30 for the second...sheesh.)

Hitch

It's hard to see how they could crank out so many episodes, not just the sheer workload but technology limitations of film, and logistics- having guest stars and sets ready on tight schedules etc. etc.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

It's hard to see how they could crank out so many episodes, not just the sheer workload but technology limitations of film, and logistics- having guest stars and sets ready on tight schedules etc. etc.

I was gobsmacked the first time I realized that between the first two "seasons" of PM, yup, they had 69 epis. Nearly 70, obviously. That's a BUNCH!

And I admit it, old bag that I am--I enjoy pretty much all of 'em.

(I did see one where a woman starred in the last epi of S1--ep 39--and then...what the heck!? She showed up again as the star of the first epi of S2. I was a bit taken aback and then I decided, "what the hell," the woman that they'd hired for S2 epi 1 must have gotten sick, whatever and they learned bout it whilst filming S1 epi 39, and thought..."screw it, we'll use this girl, who's standing here right now" and that's exactly what they did. Otherwise, it really does not make any sense at all.

The actress' name was Joan Camden. :-)

Hitch

[poohbear_nc]

Memoirs by actors filming TV shows in the 60's tell horror stories of being given pills and injections, falling asleep on set, etc. - from the relentless pace required to churn out these numbers of episodes per season. They would bribe the set people to include lots of chairs on set, etc. Remember how Paul Drake always immediately draped himself over the chair every time he entered Perry's office?

[ownedbycats]

The classic Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action" (aka the 20s gangster episode) is just a goldmine for funny facial expressions.

Spoiler:

[mlewis78]

I watched Saltburn on Amazon Prime. Very strange but critically acclaimed and getting noms for awards. Watched it Monday evening.

Tuesday I watched The Holdovers (Paul Giamatti). Giamatti won best actor in a comedy movie Golden Globe awards on Sunday. I think I am adding this one to my annual Christmas movie list. Saw it on Peacock streaming, included in subscription.

Watched All Creatures Great and Small a few days ago. I love that show. New season (for U.S.) episode 1.

[mlewis78]

Finished watching Fool Me Once on Netflix, based on the Harlan Coben thriller novel. English actors and I suppose settings (nothing iconic). I enjoyed it but can't recommend as a must-see.

Sunday I watched the 2nd episode of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. I could watch the rest of the season on PBS Passport -- it's all there.

[neil_swann80]

Reacher - Nice to watch a show that isn't constantly pandering. Action-packed switch off your brain and enjoy awesomeness.

[ownedbycats]

Star Trek Original Series: Obsession

Captain Kirk goes all PTSD Captain Ahab against a gaseous cloud creature. Also, Lieutenant Leslie dies. He shows up walking by in the background later.





He also shows up alive two episodes later with zero explanation. Must be very dedicated to his job.



Also, Mr. Spock tries to stop the gaseous cloud creature from coming through a vent in a very ineffective manner.

[mlewis78]

I re-watched Sideways (Paul Giamatti as Miles) last night on Peacock streaming. The first time I saw it years ago, I didn't like it much, but the 2nd time I did like it. This time it was OK enough to have on as background while I was online. I just didn't like his friend Jack.

[Jordan5]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Public Service Announcement:

Dunno if any of you good folks noticed, and I also don't know how many of you are going to give it another shot, (I'm equivocating) but the newest Father Brown, S.11, will arrive on Britbox, Tuesday January 23rd, with two episodes.

Unfortunately, it appears that the two S. 10 female sidekicks are still there, and I did not see any sign of Lady (whatever his first name is? Do we know) Montague (sp?) (aka "Lady Felicia"), the old Irish Housekeeper, or Sid. (sigh).

Thus, offered FWIW.

Hitch

Honestly, S10 was tough enough to get through. But S11 is straight-up unwatchable. 🤮 Literally--I had to force myself to get through a couple of eps. It's become a dumbed-down, nuance-free pantomime with two horrible lead characters that should never have survived past S10--Devine and Brenda. The one returning character (Sullivan) is so changed he should sue for slander--and he's burdened with his and Devine's godawful chemistry-free romance. And the mysteries (which did have some good ideas) sink under boring secondary characters, lame execution, and utterly unfunny whimsy. Lady F and Flambeau are back for an ep., respectively, but no one else.

I suspect what happened here was that the show was supposed to end in S9. But the BBC resurrected it with a promoted-from-writer showrunner, a promoted-to-producer, and several new writers. (Hey, those Britbox/PBS streaming profits are so huge they would tempt even Father Brown, no? &#128521 Unfortunately, the new team is too weak to continue the show on even a halfway-watchable level, forget having the talent to introduce new lead characters. The idea seems to be to make everything "quirky, adorkable, and funnee," much like Devine's character is supposed to be, and it just doesn't work. A shame--I really loved the first few seasons of FB, and to watch it go under because of incompetence/lack of talent/no feel for the material is heartbreaking...

[Rumpelteazer]

Earlier this week we finally watched The Essex Serpent, based on the novel by Sarah Perry. To be honest I tried reading the book, but gave up after a couple of chapters, it just couldn't interest me.

My sister enjoyed the series, I thought it was very boring to be honest.

[ownedbycats]

Star Trek S2E23: The Omega Glory

Yeah, this was definitely a stupid episode.





This is an alien planet, by the way. Unlike some other episodes that try to half-ass an explanation on why there's a Nazi planet or a 1920s gangster planet or a 20th-century Roman Empire planet, there's literally zero explanation here.

I guess there's some message here about the Cold War with the "Kohms" and "Yangs" who biological warfared each other at some point in the past? The whole episode really was kind of confusing between the patriotism, all the talk about the Prime Directive (which Captain Kirk is suddenly very worried about despite him interfering multiple times before), and the subplot about a virus that turns people into salt:



A good portion of the episode is spent trying to figure out how to cure this. (Or isolate some sort of fountain-of-youth serum? Yeah, I don't get it either.) Eventually, they... somehow... come to the conclusion that staying on the planet for a few hours causes you to become fully inoculated and not turn into salt. So they can beam up anytime... and spread the disease to the rest of the Enterprise crew, I guess.

Also, there's a part where Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are thrown into prison while Dr. McCoy is taken out of the prison to work on figuring out the disease. Later Kirk and Spock manage to break out of the prison and knock out the guy guarding Dr. McCoy.

Without even looking up: "Good morning, Jim."