[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 08 June 2013 - 03:35 AM, said:

Luther is a show that shouldn't work - but does.

The strength of its actors and the compression of the time scale is what carries it through some genuinely ridiculous plotting. My significant other and I watched the second season in one sitting and loved it. LOVED IT. The first season is what got us hooked though and it truly is better.

I think it's all down to Neil Cross' STELLAR writing and showrunning, and Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson...together they are an absolute beast of a machine and produce what I think is one of the tightest series about police I've seen come out of the UK.

[polishgenius]

amphibian, on 08 June 2013 - 03:35 AM, said:

Luther is a show that shouldn't work - but does.

The strength of its actors and the compression of the time scale is what carries it through some genuinely ridiculous plotting. My significant other and I watched the second season in one sitting and loved it. LOVED IT. The first season is what got us hooked though and it truly is better.

I think the first season is better mostly because Alice is more involved - the scenes with her and Luther are brilliant, each time. Good to see her back. Series 2 is probably more consistent though - it's of even quality throughout, whereas the first one has amazing first and last episodes, very good second and fifth ones, and weaker third and fourth.

Great to see it back.



Has anyone else been watching The Fall, another police/crime drama on the BBC? Stars Gillian Anderson, set in Belfast. First season is five episodes (the last of which airs on Monday). It's another serial killer thing, but different from the norm in that's is the very slow-burn unfolding of one case. Very creepy atmosphere, well worth a try. It's already been renewed for a second season.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 08 June 2013 - 12:32 PM, said:

Has anyone else been watching The Fall, another police/crime drama on the BBC? Stars Gillian Anderson, set in Belfast. First season is five episodes (the last of which airs on Monday). It's another serial killer thing, but different from the norm in that's is the very slow-burn unfolding of one case. Very creepy atmosphere, well worth a try. It's already been renewed for a second season.

I have heard nothing but good things about it, and really want to check it out.

[masan's saddle]

I'm enjoying quite a few things on the box at the moment.

Game of Thrones, Hannibal, a full repeat of all the Strikeback seaons on Sky and Arne Dahl ( Swedish crime drama), which whilst not as good as The Killing or Wallander, is my new Saturday night scandinavian fix.

These may now have been joined by a French production called "The Returned" which started on Channel 4 last night. Very promising start, I don't want to spoil it for myself by rummaging around French reviews and whatnot but it's got a definite Twin Peaks/ Lost vibe. Chuck in a serial killer, mystery suicide, seriously freaky little boy and what might turn into a wholly modern take on Zombies and I am definitely giving this a go. It would appear that an English adaptation has also been earmarked.

Anybody else see it ?

[polishgenius]

I'm gonna have to start The Returned (or Les Revenants as it's also known) soon. Does look interesting.


Just watched the season closer of The Fall. Very good indeed.

[McLovin]

We've started THE FOLLOWING.

The pilot was pretty damn impressive.

[QuickTidal]

This is mainly for the Canadians amongst us...though I'm sure some could find the content on other channels.

DISCOVERY WORLD.

They are currently doing a free preview of this specialty network on my cable company...and I've never been this in love with a tv channel in my life.

Forget the regular Discovery Channel programming (the one that comes with basic cable)...as this specialty channel is LEAPS and BOUNDS better. I'm already planning to order it when the free preview month is up.

I stumbled upon the free preview of it VIA an advert for CHARLEY BOORMAN'S: EXTREME FRONTIERS (The same Charley Boorman from the LONG WAY DOWN / ROUND series), and basically sat with my remote and set a whole slew of shows to PVR and see how I liked them.

Well, it's only been 8 days so far but I'm already head over heels in love with a whole crapload of shows.

Here's a quick list for anyone who wants to look up these shows specifically...but they are ALL worthy of your time. And they are ALL in HD, and look breathtakingly gorgeous.

RISE OF THE CONTINENTS: (Basically a geography show about the formation of the continents, and done through features that you can see today which indicate the birth pangs from a millenia ago)

http://www.discovery....aspx?sid=52721

ANDREW MARR'S HISTORY OF THE WORLD: (A show that showcases humanity's rise from hunter gatherer Homo Sapiens, through 70,000 years...all done with stellar narration, actors and CGI and sets)

http://www.discovery....aspx?sid=51065

CHARLEY BOORMAN'S: EXTREME FRONTIERS: (Like mentioned above, Boorman spends his time in countries, visting and experiencing its most "extreme places")

http://www.discovery....aspx?sid=51366

WATERFRONT CITIES OF THE WORLD: (Focusing on various waterfront cities, and then digging into them VIA the people who are attached to aspects of that city to see what makes them tick)

http://www.discovery....aspx?sid=31928

GREATEST CITIES OF THE WORLD: (British Documentarian Griff Rhys Jones spends 24 hours in a particular city and partakes of activities that are the lifeblood and flow of that city)

WHEN ROME RULED: (Another CGI and Actor series mixed with modern day narration and footage that chronicles Rome from it's birth and building, through all the years it existed and dominated)

Those are the ones that I've PVR'ed and watched...and nearly every one has riveted me without fail. For anyone who loves documentary style shows like this, and loves it even more when they are in High Definition....you GOTTA check some of these out. I've barely been watching anything but this stuff for days on end.

[Jakovasaurus]

Those who fail to learn history are doomed to drunk repeat it.

Drunk History on Comedy Central: http://www.comedycen...s/drunk-history

[Abyss]

Every once in a whiles, Discovery gets it exactly right...

http://dsc.discovery...hows/shark-week

...whoever thought of this deserves a raise. And beer.

[Jakovasaurus]

Discovery has been firing on all cylinders of late. Naked and Afraid is absurd too: http://dsc.discovery...aked-and-afraid

[amphibian]

The newest season of True Blood is immense fun. They finally figured out how to take the primary focus off Sookie by making all kinds of shit go down at once to everybody - so that only like five characters even care about Sookie at this point. Everybody else has their own stuff going on and it's so much fun to watch.

[Slow Ben]

My free HBO ran out after 2 episodes. I'll enjoy it when its on DVD though!

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 19 July 2013 - 08:55 AM, said:

The newest season of True Blood is immense fun. They finally figured out how to take the primary focus off Sookie by making all kinds of shit go down at once to everybody - so that only like five characters even care about Sookie at this point. Everybody else has their own stuff going on and it's so much fun to watch.

I would argue that the first 3-4 eps of this season were fairly bad, with everyone running around in disconnected mostly irrelevant storylines much like last season.
It was only the last two eps where the storylines (including Sookie's) coherred into something worth watching.

[tiam]

I have seasons 3-4 of Sons of Anarchy to watch and have just remembered that the gf got me 2 seasons of Boardwalk Empire which I understand has Omar in it.

All in (prohibition era) game yo...

[amphibian]

Abyss, on 19 July 2013 - 01:37 PM, said:

I would argue that the first 3-4 eps of this season were fairly bad, with everyone running around in disconnected mostly irrelevant storylines much like last season.
It was only the last two eps where the storylines (including Sookie's) coherred into something worth watching.

True Blood has always had goofy jaunts into disparate stories that are hit or miss. For this season and for me, everything but the Sam/Emma/new naive girl/werewolves arc works. That's a hell of an achievement for True Blood and the working storylines are fun as hell to watch.

Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) and Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) are the show's rescue again and again. It is tremendous fun to watch them bumble around and navigate incredibly dangerous/weird/mundane things and engage in physical comedy now and then.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 19 July 2013 - 02:44 PM, said:

Abyss, on 19 July 2013 - 01:37 PM, said:

I would argue that the first 3-4 eps of this season were fairly bad, with everyone running around in disconnected mostly irrelevant storylines much like last season.
It was only the last two eps where the storylines (including Sookie's) coherred into something worth watching.

True Blood has always had goofy jaunts into disparate stories that are hit or miss. For this season and for me, everything but the Sam/Emma/new naive girl/werewolves arc works. That's a hell of an achievement for True Blood and the working storylines are fun as hell to watch.

Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) and Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) are the show's rescue again and again. It is tremendous fun to watch them bumble around and navigate incredibly dangerous/weird/mundane things and engage in physical comedy now and then.

The goofy storylines last season were very, very weak, and the various stories almost never, ever, ever overlapped. Each character set was in their own little bubble and rarely crossed over at all. It's a soap opera approach to tv 1hr drama and it doesn't work. Plus the whole Terry/Efreet thing was immensely irritating, Andy's plotline was just stupid, and Sookie pretty much did nothing except puke on Alcide that one time.

Andy and Jason waver for me between hysterical and time-filler. Last season was too much of the later.

This season everything is now mostly tying together nicely. Billith/Jessica, Eric v the governor, Pam/Tara, Sookie/Warlow and Andy/Fae are all interweaving very nicely. Sam/Emma and Alcide's plots are separate from the rest but linked by the anti-supernaturals overplot, tho less interesting. I'm bummed it doesn't look like Lafayette will get his own stoyrline this season.

Unfortunately it looks like we're going to get another pointless Terry/Arlene plot, but that's what ffwd is for.

[worry]

Well, the best thing about not having a Lafayette plot is that every time he gets one, they inexplicably turn him into a coward, so doing very little is better than doing that again. Despite a lot of goofy misses, last season did have the advantage of Russell Edgington, but this season at least has Newlin, the return of Anna Camp (who improves just about everything), and a couple small scale ringers in Jurnee Smollett and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Vamp Camp is already so much cooler than Vampire King HQ (which may as well have been designed by Tommy Wiseau), and there's been a couple pretty solid surprises already. I'm kind of impressed that Billith is actually interesting, but Eric and Jessica are still far and away the show's highlights. They always give great performances regardless of the hit or miss writing.

Now I'm gonna watch the Newsroom premiere and see if my 50/50 love/hate relationship with it tips in either direction.

[Tiste Simeon]

Mrs Tiste & I have recently started Dexter on Netflix. Hugely entertaining!

[QuickTidal]

Oh man, the last line of BAND OF BROTHERS always gut punches me.

"I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said 'No… but I served in a company of heroes.'"

Cue wiping away of manly, manly black and decker tears.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 28 July 2013 - 09:52 PM

[Primateus]

I saw Orange is the new Black, a Netflix original this weekend. Quite entertaining and interesting show.

I recommend you watch it.