The Return of the Usual TV Shows

I watched Mulholland Drive for the first time recently, had no idea what was going on but enjoyed it. Blue Velvet was the same. Started watching Lost Highway last night and that's mad too. I absolutely love his use of music and getting the actors singing, In Dreams in Blue Velvet is unreal, as is the woman singing Crying in Spanish in MD

Watched Season 3 of RAY DONOVAN in the last week, enjoyed it. His wife is just intolerable though, cannot stand her accent or the part that she is playing. The daughter isn't far behind either. But Ray, Mickey, Terry are all class, as was Lovejoy and Katie Holmes

Twin Peaks

Ive given up on Twin Peaks. Watched the first five episodes of S2 and just couldn't get away with it.

Watched all ten episodes of WestWorld over a week or less, didn't fancy it at first and had to force myself to watch it but it was excellent. Visually stunning, good story, the setting is class (for anyone off the gaming section, it's like Red Dead Redemption)

Loved little things like the piano in a saloon playing modern songs like Back To Black etc

Anthony Hopkins is class in it, as are Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton who has had a beaut of a year with this and Line Of Duty

Well worth a watch

American Gods

Ended with the sort of impact you wanted from a few episodes in. All of the character building and surreal, obfuscated and sinuous plot did little to disguise the fact that the meat on the bones (so to speak) is in the ride and not the ending itself.

Sometimes a little OTT, definitely baffling in places and tinged with dark humour throughout, it would be hard not to be impressed with the sumptuous visual style and the underpinning narrative. It's going to be a wilder jaunt next time out when season 2 makes an already commissioned appearance. I suspect it will be very worthy of your time.

Preacher Season 2

Starts tomorrow!

Watched S3 of BETTER CALL SAUL and tbh it bored me. I don't like his brother, there was too much courtoom sh1te in it, and Saul too is boring compared to in Breaking Bad.

The bits with Fring, Hector and Mike in were good, but it feels like they are stringing it out massively until it gets up to the BB timeline - the ridiculously slow pace it is going it, they will probably make about 7 or 8 seasons of BCS

Anyone been watching Genius?

I’m 4 episodes in and I haven’t a chuffing clue what he’s talking about half the time, but I find it enthralling and cant wait for the next episode to begin.

He’s a bit of a randy bugger as well.

Watched S3 of THE LEFTOVERS, enjoyed it on the whole - there's a couple of nuts episodes, my wife gave up after the first two and having seen the rest of them I can say that she definitely wouldn't have stuck with it Love the actors in it, Justin Theroux is absolutely excellent, as are Carrie Coon and Christopher Ecclestone. The episode with his dad going across Australia was good. The end of the world episode was just mad.

Overall though, taking all three seasons together, The Leftovers is probably in my top 5 shows, absolutely love it. And the score is excellent too, I think I will be listening to songs from that for as long as I live (hoping to learn how to play some of them on keyboard at some point)

Watched RIVERDALE on Netflix with the wife. Probably find it hard to recommend it to people on here given the age of most - it's another high-school setting, with 22-28 year old actors playing 16 year olds - do all these shows use the same high school set, or is every high school in America literally the same?

Some good actors from the 90s in it, although now they are the 40-50 year old parents of the main characters - Luke Perry, Skeet Ulrich, woman from Twin Peaks, bloke from Scary Movie

Nice setting, a couple of attractive girls, reasonable story. It's feels like 13 Reasons Why, Pretty Little Liars etc, so if you're too old for them, you're too old for this

Does anyone watch/has anyone seen POWER?
My wife's friend keeps telling her its amazing, its got its 4th season coming out soon and I keep seeing it pop up when people ask for recommendations of a show to watch - we have tried to watch the very first episode twice now and I think it's appalling, just can't see how I am going to get into it

If you like Grimm / Lucifer type shows, try Midnight, Texas
Good start!

That last scene in the latest Thrones was good, wasn't it? No tits though, feel they're only ever nailing one of tits or dragons per episode.

Watched all of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, thought it was very good.

Different to pretty much everything that's on at the minute/lately. Elisabeth Moss (MadMen, Top Of The Lake) is excellent again, Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and Yvonne Strahovski (Dexter, Chuck) are both good too, as is the big fat nasty b1tch (who plays virtually the same role as she does in The Leftovers).

Definitely worth a watch. Wouldn't have minded if it ended as it did, but S2 has been ordered apparently.

Onto the next one - got quite a few stacking up now American Gods, Bloodline S3, Dark, Gypsy, Last Chance U S2, Line of Duty S3, Luther, Ozark, Riviera, The Sinner, Top Of The Lake S2, Veep S6

Watched S2 of LAST CHANCE U, just an excellent show about American Football, people and life. If you have any interest in NFL etc you should watch this.

The Defenders

Marvel's The Defenders tries to emulate a small screen grouping of heroes in a formula that worked so well for The Avengers on the big screen. In part it works, but it is an uneven ride whose successes are based on the more popular individual characters such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones - even Luke Cage comes over fairly well - but the Danny Rand/Iron Fist character is weak in his own show and the weakest link in The Defenders too.

That said the show has enough punch to see it through that one character flaw, and it does for the most part deliver on dialogue, action scenes and interplay. It does at times seem to resemble a movie rather than a series, and with only 8 episodes you can watch the whole thing in a single sitting (or three like me) and enjoy some well scripted shows.

8/10 - Enjoyed the first season immensely, but some may find it lacking - especially with character backstory definition and their adversaries - unless they first watch the individual shows that define the characters (or know the characters from the comics) before embarking on The Defenders.

Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling

This is pretty damn good - great upbeat dialogue, good cast, well written characters/story and fantastic chemistry between the leads - am hooked.


*EDIT* Loved that first three part outing - can't wait for the next one (only two parts I believe).

Twin Peaks

The single most frustrating, perplexing, zany, bonkers, but beguiling thing I think I have ever seen.

There are probably not too many that have stuck it out, Lynch basically geared everything to his own tempo and used a staggered beat to let things out slowly then throw in an eye-opener every 2-3 shows which bled a little more detail for the viewer to make sense of it all. The last two had the unenviable task of trying to stitch the threads of the previous 16 shows into something that was watchable and would answer all of the questions. But...in typical Lynch style its still left it hanging, and barring a film or another series that will be the end of Twin Peaks.

I say bravo David Lynch and Mark Frost for bringing such an abstract concept to the small screen. It was a wild, wild ride and I don't think anyone will come close to doing anything like it again.

Finale of DR FOSTER was absolutely pathetic, wanted all three of the main characters dead by about halfway through one of the longest hours of tv I can remember. First series was excellent, the second should have not been made.

Have now watched all four seasons of POWER on Netflix so am up to date. Still can't decide if I actually like it or not, but the wife loves it. The acting and storylines have improved, the first few episodes in particular were pretty amateur. A couple of funny characters in it and some eye candy have probably just about got me through it, but it's nowhere near the levels of the big shows.

Finally finished S3 of BLOODLINE last night. Very good series, quite slow and sweaty, deliberately so. Three class actors/parts for the three main brothers, a couple of nice women to look at and also Batista out of Dexter playing virtually the same character. Well worth watching, all three seasons on Netflix (33 episodes)

Watched LIAR on itv with the wife, thought it started well then got daft as most new shows do, ending was a bit meh and I don't think it needs to come back for a second series, but is

Blue Planet 2, then? Fish changing sex, fish catching terns. Not quite snakes chasing iguanas, but enjoyable all the same.

Fish are on their way to taking over the world, next step they'll be BBQing birds on the beach.

Stunning visuals and interesting stories - the fish cracking the clam open, the ones catching birds, those ugly f.ckers changing sex and the surfing dolphins couldn't fail to make anyone smile.

Is anyone else confused with some tv shows atm - I'm 37 and I'm not sure if I am supposed to fancy the kids or the mams!

Riverdale for example, they're supposed to be high school kids but realistically the actors are 20-25, and the mams are on their second surge and are like 45-50

Modern Family same goes for Hayley and Claire/Gloria. Stranger Things is another one Nancy is actually 20 and Winona Ryder is 46. Bloodline the daughter is nice then there's John's wife and Meg

Cara Buono is top milf in Stranger Things, surely?

I finished season two, it's good. Not as focused, and a few divergent threads don't build up to much, but it's a good time.

Would agree with Tom there regarding Stranger Things 2 - the show is not quite as tight as in season one (especially Episode 7) but overall it was satisfying and definitely left me wanting season 3 to start ASAP. I'd like the focus to be harder on the immediate environment and less on background filler, as IMO that is where season two unwound just a bit.

Still a solid 8/10 for me having watched it twice.

Watched all eight episodes of THE SINNER in three nights on Netflix, well worth watching. Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman are excellent in it, good story and a decent ending (which is becoming more of a rarity every year)

Guardian best 50 TV shows of 2017, Handmaid's Tale #1

Ive seen 17 of them and got a few more on my to watch list

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/30/the-50-best-tv-shows-of-2017

Watched Season 2 of THE CROWN on Netflix, very good enjoyed it. Not sure how much of it is fact or just based on a fact and then spun out, but it is educational to me as I have never really read up on the history of the Queen etc

Was the last season with Claire Foy and Matt Smith as the leading two, both are excellent in it - read that Olivia Colman is to take over as the Queen from now on

Watched THE MINIATURIST on iplayer which was on tv over xmas, enjoyed it - only two episodes, based in 1600s Amsterdam so quite different from most stuff on at the minute. And Anya Taylor-Joy is in it who is excellent and very 'gifted' ...

Watched THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD on Netflix, 8 episodes in three nights, thought it was excellent.

Started off as a dark comedy and I was giggling every minute, changed tone about halfway through and the laughs weren't as frequent but I loved both the main characters, the lad in particular I found hilarious without him having to do much.

Not sure whether it's a comedy, a drama or what, I just enjoyed it. Presumably filmed somewhere down South but somehow feels very American, especially with external/scenery shots.

Unabomber - 9.5/10

As close to a 10 as I could go for the genre, probably enjoyed It more than Making a Murderer.

Really good show, helped massively by how interesting of a 'villain' the bomber is. It's on Netflix and is an easy two day binge watch.

Watced Big Little Lies over the weekend. Class TV, can see why it's picking up so many awards. Some tunes in there as well.

There's a playlist on spotify with all the songs on, the title one is the best though

There's a playlist on spotify with all the songs on, the title one is the best though

Good shout, I'll have to check that out.

On topic, I'm still well into Discovery - the recent reveal was a bit ham fisted, but I loved it - and I watched the first episode of Black Lightning this morning. Cheesy as, but I dig it.

Watched S4 of BLACK MIRROR, enjoyed all of them (except for the actual setting of ep1, anyone who likes star trek etc will like it). The way technology is/is going, all of them don't seem too much of a leap to believe could happen to some extent in the next 10-50 years.

My order of preference of the episodes is 6, 2, 4, 3, 5, 1. Although not the best episode, the robot sentry dog in ep5 is excellent!

not sure if i've mentioned it yet but The Orville is worth a watch if you like Star Trek

i know this one is a bit old but we've just started watching Fargo

almost done the first season and its brilliant so far

I preferred S2 to S1. The third has just gone up on Netflix recently, not seen that yet

probably gonna get season 1 done, then do the rest when i get back from offshore

I didn't really care for this season of Black Mirror. First episode was good, second was fine, third was wank, fourth was OK, fell asleep during robo-dog and I'm assured six is naff, so won't bother.

Definitely horses for courses - one of my mates picked them in virtually the opposite order to me

6 is definitely worth watching though

Watched THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD on Netflix, 8 episodes in three nights, thought it was excellent.

Started off as a dark comedy and I was giggling every minute, changed tone about halfway through and the laughs weren't as frequent but I loved both the main characters, the lad in particular I found hilarious without him having to do much.

Not sure whether it's a comedy, a drama or what, I just enjoyed it. Presumably filmed somewhere down South but somehow feels very American, especially with external/scenery shots.

The main lass in this is from Northallerton.

Really, never looked actually, knew her accent was northern but thought it was more over Blackburn kind of way