Doctor Who is nearing the end of its run and I have to say it has gradually improved after a poor start. A couple of criticisms though. Does the Doctor have to explain absolutely everything? The writers have been really poor at hiding the exposition required in each episode. Secondly, hardly any of the baddies have turned out to be bad. Used now and then this approach would be effective, but almost every week is a bit too much.
It must be remembered that it is fundamentally a kids program.
It's self consciously preachy which winds me up but the messages aren't in themselves bad and it's helped me to talk to my kids about important subjects such as racism/losing loved ones/why mum has a pathological fear or spiders.
Have been watching a CBS series 'SEAL Team'. Almost gave up after the pilot. But tried a second time and have been hooked since. Currently on season 2 and enjoying it. Too under-rated in my opinion.
Watched Maniac - Great performances by Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, with an interesting concept and storyline. There's an edge of Black Mirror/Mr Robot to the near-future dystopia world its set in, and the general kookiness of the show and its characters. I really enjoyed the storyline and themes, and it was brave in what it was trying to achieve, reflecting on grief/reality/mental health etc whilst not being too dark or bogged down by it. It didn't QUITE get there for me, but it was still a very strong story and the main characters have really good arcs. Would definitely suggest, and think it would get better on a second viewing.
My Brilliant Friend started on Sky Atlantic last night. Read all the Ferrante books over the summer so really looking forward to this series. Excellent start. Amazing how the characters and scenes so closely matched up to what my imagination created whilst reading the books.
I recorded this. Haven't read the books but saw an advert for the series and it looks really good. Worth reading the books first?
Just caught the last 3 minutes of Sally4Ever. Probably the most disturbing 3 minutes I have ever watched.
I just saw the bit that I think you are referring to............filth....but funny as fuck.
i was watching the episode i believe you are referring to on a train. I swear at least 5 people could see the screen. Jeez. I now have to make sure I watch it on the way home and in a seat that is hidden from prying eyes! I have binged it though and thought 6 was the last 1, but think there are more as, it was a funny ending but surely more to come!
Has anyone seen any of Narcos: Mexico yet? Only just seen it's available
Saw Episode One last week... really enjoyed it yet didnt realise a lot of it would be in Spanish with subtitles
Note: this is the sole episode I've seen of Narcos as didnt realise it was a spinoff to an original series that has already had three seasons - Definitely plan to go back over them; are they also Spanish with subtitles does anyone know?
Narcos 1-3 is a similar format mate......English and Spanish subtitles interspersed.
Cheers; I have struggled with subtitles in the past as it means you really have to pay attention to whats being said rather than just listening to whats being said and being able to watch whats going on in the whole scene
Regardless I was surprised when I liked watching the end of Ep1 and will probably go back to see 1-3 before watching the rest of Narcos: Mexico now (despite there being no connections) - Helps that I like Pena (he's bloody brilliant in Ant-Man) and Diego Luna who I've been impressed with from the Terminal and Rogue One when I've seen him
Wonder what @Riviera thinks now. Genuinely, not a dig.
And given that the BBC proudly introduced it as " the team that brought you The Night Manager" and Le Carre's sons were involved, what made it all go so wrong?
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long time.
Has anyone seen any of Narcos: Mexico yet? Only just seen it's available
Saw Episode One last week... really enjoyed it yet didnt realise a lot of it would be in Spanish with subtitles
Note: this is the sole episode I've seen of Narcos as didnt realise it was a spinoff to an original series that has already had three seasons - Definitely plan to go back over them; are they also Spanish with subtitles does anyone know?
Narcos 1-3 is a similar format mate......English and Spanish subtitles interspersed.
Cheers; I have struggled with subtitles in the past as it means you really have to pay attention to whats being said rather than just listening to whats being said and being able to watch whats going on in the whole scene
No more flicking through Reddit gone wild whilst watching the tele with the Mrs.
Wonder what @Riviera thinks now. Genuinely, not a dig.
And given that the BBC proudly introduced it as " the team that brought you The Night Manager" and Le Carre's sons were involved, what made it all go so wrong?
I haven't watched it yet. Loving it more with each episode, I think it's been fantastic. However I will not be surprised if the finale is a let down, 90% of TV dramas are.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Wonder what @Riviera thinks now. Genuinely, not a dig.
And given that the BBC proudly introduced it as " the team that brought you The Night Manager" and Le Carre's sons were involved, what made it all go so wrong?
I haven't watched it yet. Loving it more with each episode, I think it's been fantastic. However I will not be surprised if the finale is a let down, 90% of TV dramas are.
My husband liked it. I like the way it was filmed. I also didn't mind FLorence Pugh as liked her in Lady Macbeth, I didn't like Alexander Skarsgaard (liked him in Big Little Lies), didn't like Michael Shannon, spent more time googling filming locations and losing interest in what was going on.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Good for you but it wasn't a patch on Killing Eve for example.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Good for you but it wasn't a patch on Killing Eve for example.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Good for you but it wasn't a patch on Killing Eve for example.
For you.
But Killjng Eve wont have cost a fraction of what this cost the BBC. If you enjoyed it, great, but too many on here did not. It happens but clearly the BBC got things badly wrong. Its getting a lot of things wrong right now. And I am a fan and a defender.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Good for you but it wasn't a patch on Killing Eve for example.
For you.
But Killjng Eve wont have cost a fraction of what this cost the BBC. If you enjoyed it, great, but too many on here did not. It happens but clearly the BBC got things badly wrong. Its getting a lot of things wrong right now. And I am a fan and a defender.
I thought it was a complete failure of style over substance and neither of us could wait to finish it. I was hoping every single one of them would get killed to make sure there's zero possibility of another series of moody whispering, pregnant pauses and one of the least appealing female leads I've seen in a long timee.
Awful.
WHAT??????????????? Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
Good for you but it wasn't a patch on Killing Eve for example.
For you.
But Killjng Eve wont have cost a fraction of what this cost the BBC. If you enjoyed it, great, but too many on here did not. It happens but clearly the BBC got things badly wrong. Its getting a lot of things wrong right now. And I am a fan and a defender.
What are you on about?
Well, a TV programme costs Money. This is contained in something called a Budget. The Budget for the programme is part of the bigger Budget for all programmes. If you spend a very large part of that Budget on one programme, you have to be very sure that it will be appreciated by a large proportion of the Target Audience, otherwise it will be a Waste of Money, and leave less Money for other programmes.
Little Drummer Girl and Informer were quite good in that both explored the notion that being a 'goodie' and a 'baddie' is a rather nuanced position and those involved are impacted. I like the East London setting for Informer, and the less visited settings for Little Drummer Girl. Both were OK and worth watching and both better than the indulgent Night Manager I thought. In terms of sheer fascination and playing with convention, and a better script and better acting, Killing Eve triumphed. Jodie Comer and the whole cast were pretty much faultless, yet also had a freshness. Another personal fave from this year has been Better Call Saul, which edges Killing Eve into second place by a hairs breadth.
My Top 10 series of 2018 (this is what I've watched in 2018 rather than what was released this year):
1. Succession 2. High Maintenance season 2 3. Patrick Melrose 4. Big Little Lies 5. Better Call Saul season 4 6. The Deuce season 2 7. Halt & Catch Fire 8. Killing Eve 9. The Marvellous Mrs Maisal 10. Inside No. 9
Ending was a bit of a wrap up but i thought the little drummer girl was excellent. Surprised to read so many didn't like it. Can't see how you can compare a period piece with the night manager though, apart from having the same author, the screen plays were from totally different genres. But then I had some issues with the second half of the night manager and couldn't see the fuss past over use of pyro and a bare arse.*
* I am aware this is probably an unpopular opinion on the night manager!
I thought I'd copy @Jints and do my Top 10, but somehow I find it difficult to rank them so precisely, so I'll do it like this:
As brilliant as always: Spiral, the Bureau Not quite as good as I hoped, but still worth watching: McMafia, and the final series of The Bridge Enjoyable: Collateral, Salamander 2, HS13, Killing Eve Very good, exceeded expectations: A Very English Scandal, Trust, Informer
Overall favourite: Bodyguard. When several episodes leave me breathless and in need of a drink, I call that high class dramatic entertainment
Haven't got to watch series 2 of Occupied but what strikes me about this list is that there isn't so much Scandi. Are they losing it, or is BBC4 not able to buy so much of it? The other thing is that several of the above were BBC1 rather than BBC2, which is where in the past I'd expect my type of stuff to be. Tells me the BBC has delivered on its broad drama remit admirably this year (with one abject exception :-) )
@PragueAddick I found the Scandi Alex and Before we die were excellent. Half way through Farang - Dead man running and this is excellent also but based in Thailand. In case you ask they are all on More 4.
Comments
Got "Gun no.6" recorded, which has its own thread.
Quite enjoying "the Foreign Office", episode 2 features Boris Johnson being himself. It's like an episode from "The Thick of It".
quite glad its over.
You HAVE to watch it, incredible series.
Wonder what @Riviera thinks now. Genuinely, not a dig.
And given that the BBC proudly introduced it as " the team that brought you The Night Manager" and Le Carre's sons were involved, what made it all go so wrong?
Awful.
Florence Pugh has been wonderful.
You're welcome...
I like the East London setting for Informer, and the less visited settings for Little Drummer Girl. Both were OK and worth watching and both better than the indulgent Night Manager I thought.
In terms of sheer fascination and playing with convention, and a better script and better acting, Killing Eve triumphed. Jodie Comer and the whole cast were pretty much faultless, yet also had a freshness.
Another personal fave from this year has been Better Call Saul, which edges Killing Eve into second place by a hairs breadth.
1. Succession
2. High Maintenance season 2
3. Patrick Melrose
4. Big Little Lies
5. Better Call Saul season 4
6. The Deuce season 2
7. Halt & Catch Fire
8. Killing Eve
9. The Marvellous Mrs Maisal
10. Inside No. 9
* I am aware this is probably an unpopular opinion on the night manager!
As brilliant as always: Spiral, the Bureau
Not quite as good as I hoped, but still worth watching: McMafia, and the final series of The Bridge
Enjoyable: Collateral, Salamander 2, HS13, Killing Eve
Very good, exceeded expectations: A Very English Scandal, Trust, Informer
Overall favourite: Bodyguard. When several episodes leave me breathless and in need of a drink, I call that high class dramatic entertainment
Haven't got to watch series 2 of Occupied but what strikes me about this list is that there isn't so much Scandi. Are they losing it, or is BBC4 not able to buy so much of it? The other thing is that several of the above were BBC1 rather than BBC2, which is where in the past I'd expect my type of stuff to be. Tells me the BBC has delivered on its broad drama remit admirably this year (with one abject exception :-) )