Current Watching

[Amor de Cosmos]

Well I like it and it's covered some interesting issues in the past about immigration and unionising in big retail companies.

If you want to watch a comedy, Kim's Convenience on Netflix is just wonderful.

Yeah Kim's is a Canadian Ledg, like Schitt's Creek and like the latter it's good, but wears a bit thin for me after a few seasons. Maybe that's just what happens to sitcoms. I'll take a look a Superstore.

[Amor de Cosmos]

What have you already seen? TV series wise? And, have you done "Still Game"?

No. Where do I look? The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is by some distance the most reliably funny series I've seen in the past few years. It only ran for three seasons so I suspect that's why.

[Hot Pepsi]

I watched it, tuning in each week, and it kind of left me cold. I never got invested or cared. The actor playing Karli was the revealed face of "Enfys Nest" in Solo and she really didn't carry the Karli role for me either. She was too blank-faced and pouty instead of passionate and determined. It's as if staring into the middle distance is how leadership happens.

And then we had all the stuff about the shrimp boat and trying to keep it, and we were meant to care about LaMarr even though he was a sidekick to a side story. And I dunno. It felt like a mess tbh. Who were the good guys? Both sides felt like bad guys.

They clearly had to stitch it back together after taking out a "plague" subplot and maybe other stuff they couldn't film during the pandemic.

I didn't really care about the Flagsmashers either.

I liked Wandavision more, but this was fine. Not awesome, just ok. It just crammed too much into too few episodes.

I like Invincible a lot more.

[Hot Pepsi]

No. Where do I look? The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is by some distance the most reliably funny series I've seen in the past few years. It only ran for three seasons so I suspect that's why.

It hasn't been cancelled. Season 4 will come eventually, but production was delayed by COVID-19.

[Amor de Cosmos]

It hasn't been cancelled. Season 4 will come eventually, but production was delayed by COVID-19.

Ah cheers! I'd seen Rachel Brosnahan in a couple of other things recently and assumed it was done and dusted.

[ursus arctos]

I think they have started filming again, or re about to do so.

The return of film crews to the neighbourhood is yet another sign of pandemic easing.

[Hot Pepsi]

I think they have started filming again, or re about to do so.

The return of film crews to the neighbourhood is yet another sign of pandemic easing.

I think they started in January. I think I read that.

[ursus arctos]

Yup, I've since confirmed that they were advertising for extras in late January

The prevalence of outdoor dining setups is going to cause them some issues

[Gerontophile]

Well it's more of an unconscious thing in terms of choice (I'd also add Ginny and Georgia (or the other way round?) They're just more appealing and interesting to us I guess. Though the notion that every police force in the Western hemisphere, is dominated by a female hard-ass is a bit of a cliche, not to mention really unlikely. The only male focused shows we've watch lately have been the Irish policier Bloodlands, and the Swedish hockey drama Beartown, both excellent BTW.

"Welcome to the world of Cacharel, this is Madeleine speakKING"

If that's whats on TV, and it's good, what's the issue?

Sir... you are way beyond sexism, but it's not about you. Quick joke: How many straight men does it take to make an episode of "Drag Race"?
Answer: Who cares. Is it good?

[Gerontophile]

Why is someone on Jimmy Fallon pretending to be Rita Rudner?

Rupi Kaur there, riffing on... stuff I agree with, but refusing to mention that she has ripped her whole thing from Rita Rudner. Slap me silly, if I am incorrect.

[Gert from the Well]

Emmerdale re-runs - someone has stolen 3 potential prize winning carrots and a onion from Seth's garden. Betty and Biff have organised a neighbourhood vegetable watch in an attempt to catch the culprit.

[Gerontophile]

TANGENT ALERT: How come there are so many American (north) comedians called 'Seth'?

Not everyone is that dyslexically Jewish.

[Hot Pepsi]

I think it was just a popular boys name in the US in the 70s.

[ursus arctos]

And the 60s.

Several of my primary school classes had more than one.

[WOM]

It wasn't a name I was really conscious of until that crop of comedians came along. I've never really known any, but my work partner's little kid is a Seth.

[Patrick Thistle]

I watched Our Man in Havana earlier. I'd recorded it off Sony Films channel. Had never seen it before. The comedy is understated gold. I loved the resolution. Could well.imagine that happening.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

BBC2 had a very entertaining documentary last night about the rebirth of Derry City FC in the 1980s. The tone was unashamedly partial and affectionate but, with the Super League splashed across all the news bulletins, it was a welcome reminder of why football can be a wonderful thing.

I recorded this and watched it last night, really enjoyed it. I hadn't realised that Derry City had played in the NI league system before 1972 and the RoI one from the mid 1980s. The rebirth of the club is a wonderful story and much of the footage is really joyful. It's on i-player if anyone else wants to give it a go:

BBC iPlayer - Different League: The Derry City Story

[Uncle Ethan]

Just watched Nomadland. Brilliant.

[hobbes]

Why is it Sky, for all their barrels of cash, can't make a TV series that doesn't look and sound like it cost 8 pence to make?
BBC can do it. Channel 4 can do it. Shit, even ITV - the Lidl of TV channels - can make a professional looking tv show that doesn't appear to have been scripted by slightly fewer than infinite monkeys.
Intergalactic looks about 50% shitter that Red Dwarf did in 1986 and the characters are significantly more one dimensional. It's the sort of appalling dogshit that SyFy would have knocked back and they commissioned Sharknado.
Which is a shame, because there's been some really great female led science fiction over the last few years, like Fringe, killjoys, Orphan Black etc.

[Hot Pepsi]

Apple+‘s Mosquito Coast is off to an interesting start. I haven’t read the book it’s sorta based on* but I saw the Harrison Ford film version in the 80s and so far the plot is very different, even though the main characters are similar.

* The book was written by Paul Theroux. The lead role in the show is played by Justin Theroux, the author’s nephew.

[danielmak]

Episode 2 of Mare was packed with a lot of twists. I'm surprised by how much unfolded in an hour. Felt like I had watched for a couple hours, but in a good way.

The other night I watched Better Days, which was one of the Oscar nominees for Intentional Film. It's a Chinese film. This one was long enough that I watched across two nights. Excellent cinematography and an interesting twist on a bullying in school story. Definitely not an uplifting film and at times felt very novella/soap operaish given the amount of tears but I thought it was a good film.

[Gert from the Well]

Alister Appleton is challenging Portillo in terms of sartorial elegance in today's Escape to the Country. First outfit matched a dark blue shirt, top two buttoned undone, with a vibrant orange cardigan. Undone top and bottom buttons served to draw the viewers eyes to the post-lockdown belly. Second outfit for a visit to a wild flower garden was a royal blue chore jacket with red buttons. How much these outfits were inspired by rural Shropshire I cannot say.

[elguapo4]

Portillo is on BBC2 in half an hour, we'll have to see if he rises to the challenge.

[elguapo4]

Blue/green check jacket matched with orange shirt and trousers.

[Gert from the Well]

The champ remains undefeated