What Are You Watching

[cc_in_oh]

I didn't realize Shetland was returning - I'll check it out. In the last 3 or 4 months I've finally gotten around to reading the Shetland and Vera series. The characters in the books are a lot more complicated than the shows and for me they were consistently good reads.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I didn't realize Shetland was returning - I'll check it out. In the last 3 or 4 months I've finally gotten around to reading the Shetland and Vera series. The characters in the books are a lot more complicated than the shows and for me they were consistently good reads.

Mr. H's hearing loss--even with The World's Most Expensive Hearing AidsⒸ--make both those shows tough on him. He can't understand a damn word that Vera says and it's a close second in incomprehensibility with the accents there, which are, let's not kid ourselves, pretty heavily mixed. And only a few more understandable than the others. I was lucky, born with great ears for that sort of thing, but a) he wasn't in the first place and b) after flying old junk airplanes and all that rot, his hearing is utterly shot anyway, above and beyond normal male hearing loss. sigh.

We recently tried to rewatch The Last Detective, but the bl**ding captions are AWFUL. I mean, bl**ding AWFUL, at least on...Acorn? No, I think it's Britbox. Just...firstly, the dialogue is fairly quickly spoken, which makes it hard for the captioners, but they just did such a sh*t job; it's as if they didn't care and just slapped in stuff that was close, but no cigar. Or cigarette, or...hell, not even one of those electronic ciggies today. Just...impossible. And he's not a super-fast reader, either so...the combo of heavy accents, to his ears, plus questionable captioning that is NOT what's spoken plus those shows that are done by a pack of flying chimpanzees...no bueno. Sigh. (I am really going to investigate, one of those days, and see what good-intentioned volunteers or ????, maybe, can do about FIXING bl**dy closed-captioning!!!)

Hitch

[cc_in_oh]

One of the first Scottish shows we watched was Case Histories (Jason Isaacs) - we were lucky to pick up every 3rd or 4th word! Couldn't turn on subtitles because my editing app didn't recognize the format, a consistent problem with Acorn but fortunately not with PBS or Britbox.

[Rumpelteazer]

My sister and I just finished the new Goosebumps series. We can remember the original series from 1995 (so I was in my mid teens and discovering my taste of scary fiction). Which were aired on Dutch TV on Saturday morning together with Are You Afraid of the Dark?

We really enjoyed this new series. It isn't one story per episode and it's a bit darker than we remember the original to be. Unfortunately it has an open ending, so hopefully a second season will be picked up.

[Hitch]

FYI, for those of you that haven't noticed, S24 of Midsomer Murders is back, and it's streaming on ACORNTV via Roku, et al.

Betty is blinking huge now. I don't mean a BBW, I just mean she's like...8? 10? I do' know but it feels like a lotta years have gone by. I'm not sure that's the same Paddy. The Inspector ageth.

I thought the first episode--they're dribbling them out sigh, was...okay. Not the best thing ever but then again...24 years is a long time to keep the energy going, amirite?

Hitch

[ownedbycats]

A week or two back I started watching the original series Star Trek episodes.

And while I've read about the history of fanfiction and the show's role in popularizing, well, slashfics, I was not expecting to see Captain Kirk literally batting his eyes at Mr. Spock. Good lord.

[cc_in_oh]

Watched Wisting (Norway) - not bad, and now Acquitted (Also Norway), a little different - a successful businessman returns to hometown 20 years after acquittal for murder of a teenage girl. Not that great 2 eps in but it's a Walter Presents so we won't give up on it yet.

Coming up are latest seasons of Vera, Father Brown, Silent Witness, Grace and Dark Winds.

[poohbear_nc]

Watched 4 seasons of The Bay - mediocre police procedural with way too much time spent on the lead officer's domestic tribulations - and way too saccharine plot resolutions ...

[Rumpelteazer]

We watched A Haunting in Venice last night. The third one in the new Hercule Poirot series by Kenneth Branagh. It was definitely better than the second movie, Death on the Nile, which tried to be funny but failed. This one is the complete opposite of Death on the Nile, it's a spooky story. But there were some things that just didn't ring true to me. I don't think they celebrated Halloween in Venice in the 1940s. Entertaining but forgettable for me.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

We watched A Haunting in Venice last night. The third one in the new Hercule Poirot series by Kenneth Branagh. It was definitely better than the second movie, Death on the Nile, which tried to be funny but failed. This one is the complete opposite of Death on the Nile, it's a spooky story. But there were some things that just didn't ring true to me. I don't think they celebrated Halloween in Venice in the 1940s. Entertaining but forgettable for me.

Oh, funny...I really hated it. I mean...I'm now accustomed to Branagh having the unmitigated gall to think that he's somehow smarter, wiser, better (a better writer), etc. than the Dame. Oh, fine, sure, think that. (putz). But AHIV is...other than using names, it's 100% unrelated to the original story, which was actually pretty good and creepy in the first damned place.

I admit, I'm a bit of a purist about the whole "new" Poirots. I didn't even much like the reworked DOTN or the like in the Suchet Series. When the last season or so of the Suchet Poirots started piling up--like AWD (Appointment With Death), with the completely nutty plot points all changed in that. I was not a happy camper then, either, so it's not just Branagh that peeves me. But at LEAST the Suchets made a half-baked attempt to be remotely faithful to the plot.

This mess? AHIV? Yeah, no, not for me, I fear.

Although at least the cinematography and the sets are quite nice. I'll give 'em that.

Hitch

[poohbear_nc]

I was totally underwhelmed with AHIV - bored even. The only interesting part was the casting of Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver - that worked ... but the script was lacking and the acting lackluster.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I was totally underwhelmed with AHIV - bored even. The only interesting part was the casting of Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver - that worked ... but the script was lacking and the acting lackluster.

Pretty much, yupperdoodle. Overwrought and underdelivered at the same time and why--WHY???-change the original plot, which actually worked? Was a nice, sneaky, mean-spirited old thing that incorporated the death of a mere child?

Sigh.

Hitch

[ownedbycats]

Star Trek. The "Shore Leave" episode. That was... just... ???

I gave up trying to follow along the plot halfway through. The main thing that struck me is the random tiger that Kirk and Spock clearly thought was some wild dangerous beast just casually chilling there on the rocks not interested in them (I know, I'm a cat person).

Also, uh, this scene.

Spoiler:

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Watched 4 seasons of The Bay - mediocre police procedural with way too much time spent on the lead officer's domestic tribulations - and way too saccharine plot resolutions ...

We just finished S4 - bland but inoffensive - we'll watch S5 if there is one.

Finished Acquittal -

Spoiler:

It keeps you guessing about the main character - we guessed the culprit by a process of elimination but weren't sure until the end.

[pdurrant]

Watching Scott Pilgrim vs the World - the animated series, on Netflix. NOT just an animated version of the live action film.