TV You Have Watched

[Neon Ignition]

Clarksons Farm: Series 02
Enjoyed this second run, perhaps not quite as much as the first but still good. The series slightly over focused on the cows and restaurant meaning you got a more limited look but I guess the more well versed Clarkson becomes in running the farm the less there is worth filming. The local council though... shameful and embarrassing conduct

[fuse]

Delighted to see everyone joining in the love for Severance!

We're currently watching Yellowjackets S2, which if I'm being honest, has been tough to keep up with every detail of as it's been too long since I watched the first season. It's still good, just not quite as enthralled as I was with the first season. Only a couple of episodes in though and fully expecting it to ramp up.

Also watching The Power, which is about a world in which young girls start to develop powers which allow them to command electricity. Cue lots of questions about where and why this has come about, and scared authorities (read: men) acting out who are struggling with a potential shift in power. I really like the concept; it reminds me of X-Men but less focused on individualism and more on social upheaval, but the way it keeps jumping between different narratives hasn't paid off yet and I can't help but feel I like the idea more than the execution. We'll see!

[Finsbury Girl]

My son decided to use his own cash to subscribe to Apple TV purely to watch Severance so I'll gladly use his sub to do likewise!

[prinnysquad]

Inside No 9
Season 8


The Bones of St Nicholas - shown at Christmas. I’ve re-watched it and enjoy its exploration of premonition and time loops. I’m not sure if the payoff makes a great deal of sense, but it’s a very atmospheric and well-acted entry. 6/10


Mother’s Ruin - not really my cup of tea, this one. Gory and a dark comedy, it has its moments, but not one I’d be in a hurry to rewatch. The caricature East End villains are deliberate, but nevertheless unappealing. 5/10 at best.


Paraskevidekatriaphobia - a finely-paced farce, with escalating levels of excruciating and irritating absurdity, but a neat couple of payoffs at the end (if somewhat predictable). Shearsmith is superb, and I found the entire thing highly amusing. It reminded me a little of the burglars episode from the first season. 7/10.


Love is a Stranger - very well-written, and both amusing and fascinating in equal doses. The pitfalls of online dating are explored in a macabre manner, with several memorable characters reflecting the myriad of lunatics you can encounter on those sites. Without trying, I spotted the twist from about halfway, but I was still thoroughly impressed by it. 8/10.


3 by 3 - this is a curious one.

->Open Spoiler<-

The entire run up advertised an episode called Hold on Tight that seemed to by a version of On the Buses. They had taken promo shots with themselves and Robin Askwith. At 10pm on the night of the episode, it was replaced by a new gameshow, called 3 by 3, hosted by Lee Mack. It was every inch a typical BBC quiz. There’s a twist at the end where you realise that it was the actual episode of Inside No 9, mocked up to look like an actual replacement gameshow. A prank on the audience. Steve and Reece weren’t in the episode at any point. The usual Inside No 9 title sequence wasn’t there. They went to great pains to make it authentic. The writing of the gameshow script itself was very very natural, and it felt like you were watching genuine contestants on a genuine show, confused as to where the hell Inside No 9 had gone and where Steve and Reece were. It was very clever. However, the whole thing fell apart, impact-wise, for me, because I watched it on I-player. I KNEW it was an Inside No 9, because it said it was. I didn’t know about the lead-up prank particularly. I’d heard about the On the Buses episode, but presumed it would be episode 6. I spent all of this episode knowing it was IN9, just confused as to where they were, and what the payoff would be. I guess if I’d watched it live, I might have fallen for it to a degree. Because at one point I even paused iPlayer to check that I had actually clicked on IN9. So, it was clearly a convincing ruse. The problem with the whole ruse was that it was one-shot. The trick never works again, and all we are left with is the episode. It’s an amazingly written episode in terms of authenticity, but I know a lot of fans didn’t like it at all, because it was just like watching a real gameshow. Critically, it was a success, because of the creatively of the subterfuge. Even the title was a clue - 3 by 3 = 9. But its impact was lost on me.

Bearing in mind I can only rate it for what it is, rather than the live ruse, it’s a 7/10 for me.


The Last Weekend - an episode that requests a lack of critical thinking in terms of plausibility, and a lot of generosity in the payoff, but I’m all about that. It’s supremely well-acted - even more so in hindsight when the ending is known - with a massive volume of subtle comments and touches playing against some truly excellent, deep character writing. I don’t know how these two guys get so much realism out of such brief character sketches. No lines are wasted. Not one. Everything is painstakingly written to squeeze authenticity and pathos out of the characters, yet everything feels natural. 9/10.


Pemberton and Shearsmith continue to show other writers how to write tight, realistic characters. Their stories are inventive and memorable. Some shows can go whole seasons without writing characters are well as these two writers can manage in half an hour.

[Atticus]

I finished Succession last night. Season 4 was pretty much perfection. As wakka says many of the eps focus on a single location or event. Must be expentive to produce tv like this but the result is amazing. So satisfying to watch and a final episode that delivers on misdirection and a genuinely unforgettable finale. Top drawer tv from start to finish.

[QualityChimp]

We finished off The Power (Prime) (we want more!) and Taskmaster (All4)(We want and are getting more!).
Been dipping into The Cleaner (iPlayer) for some laughs, although my wife has seen S2 and I might have to watch the rest on my own.

We've started Citadel (Prime) and it's a pretty ridiculous show. Like a cross between Mission: Impossible, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Dollhouse. There are some ridiculous action scenes and if you can get past the obvious greenscreenage, it's like a videogame in its outlandish execution. There's a new twist every episode, it seems, and it's keeping us interested, despite the outlandishness of it.

I finished watching the first episode of Jack Ryan (Prime) and really enjoyed it. Deffo going to watch more.

[fuse]

Also keen for more of The Power! There was one storyline I wasn't so mad about how they wrapped it up, but then there was another that I think has a lot of potential to go places.

Finished Yellowjackets S2 as well, which yes, did get me back on board, even if I think it's deviating slightly from what made the first so compelling.

->Open Spoiler<-

It does feel like there is a very specific approach they're taking here which moves away from how some other shows just continued layering up unanswered mystery upon unanswered mystery. My senses all went on high alert when they started ****ing around with the opening credits, but the more surreal bits have been explained away a bit too easily and we're instead left at the end of the season with not a huge amount of questions left to answer other than "how did they survive the rest of the time?"

[Anpanman]

Nest of Vipers - Inspector Montalbano.

I read the book so time to watch the drama, they are available on iPlayer.

Like a lot of dramas done via screenplay from a novel it's a hard job for them to cram everything in but it's a really good attempt. Certain changes from the novel as you expect but overall very good.

This is one of the later drama's, title sequence slightly tweaked, Montalba's girlfriend Livia has a new and very good actress and all the actors are clearly older.
The musical score has won awards which will be of no surprise to anyone seeing one or two of these, this episode does have a dark subject matter and ends with a haunting song by Olivia Sellerio who sings it wonderfully.
Bravo!

[Neon Ignition]

Arnold
Three part biography on Netflix from Arnie himself. The first part might be the most interesting, charting much of his mindset and youth being brought up by a father and elders who had lost World War II so brough their frustrations and harsh mindsets home to their families. The second part is about his acting career and the third about his time as Governor and settling into growing old. It's an interesting overview even if Arnie's ego remains too large to allow any real deeper insight, largely only references darker times or mistakes in his life that he was previously caught out on on public record.

[Neon Ignition]

FUBAR: Season 01
As much as Arnie tries ot anchor this True Lies styled series, it's just not very good with the scripts, budget and cast around him just not close to up to par

[QualityChimp]

Arnold
Three part biography on Netflix from Arnie himself. The first part might be the most interesting, charting much of his mindset and youth being brought up by a father and elders who had lost World War II so brough their frustrations and harsh mindsets home to their families. The second part is about his acting career and the third about his time as Governor and settling into growing old. It's an interesting overview even if Arnie's ego remains too large to allow any real deeper insight, largely only references darker times or mistakes in his life that he was previously caught out on on public record.

I listened to the audiobook of his biography and I was annoyed at how little time he spent talking about the films - it seemed like an inconvenience whilst trying to promote bodybuilding and increase his property portfolio.

Also, only the first chapter is read by him and it's really jarring when it switches to someone else.

This series sounds very much like the TV adaptation of the book - getting caught having boned the maid and siring a child one of his few honest admissions of making a mistake.

Still, I like the guy and think he has some really positive messages to say.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, as much as he's mellowed with age he definitely still has a strong sense of trying to preserve the image of Arnold rather than show the real him

[Finsbury Girl]

Rewatching The Bear in anticipation of series 2 in July sometime. It is still very special indeed.

[QualityChimp]

Finished off Citadel (Prime) last night and it's pretty decent.
Very far fetched, but plays out like a videogame with some ludicrous but fun action sequences.
The plot is very twisty-turny, with the question of who can be trusted shifting with every episode.

Looks like there is a 2nd series coming, but there's also a spinoff one too before that.

We then wanted something lighter, so continued with The Cleaner (iPlayer), which is a lovely little show and has some interesting characters.

[Lebowski]

Never really, watched Black Mirror before, bar the pig ****er episode that really put me off it. My son and his girlfriend put on the latest's series and we watched a few. Loch Henry, Joan is Awful and Demon 79 so far. Its entertaining TV but your left kind of waiting for the big twist every episode and expecting it. What really surprised me is how its like a modern day Tails of the unexpected or Twighlight zone as its all fables and cautionary tales. It's a good platform and certainly like nothing else on TV at the moment so i might binge some of the earlier seasons when we finish this one.

Loch Henry was the weakest episode for me so far, the characters and acting was pretty comical and very cliche in places, i was expecting more of a supernatural spin but what we got was a very standard mid 80s murder mystery TV.

Edit ------

We watched the tent pole episode "Beyond the Sea" last night and clocking it at an hour and ten minutes its a lot of TV for your money just a shame its predictable with very little payoff or development, I'm beginning to see a pattern here expect the worst outcome for each scenario and you have black mirrors formula down pretty consistently, very mixed so far.