TV You Have Watched

[Dogg Thang]

I agree that the excessive gore was an attraction at first, but feels like it's a distraction from the story now, but I've yet to start the latest season.
I remember getting into Spartacus: Blood and Sand because of the bewbs and violence, but bu the final series, I was literally fast-forwarding the rumpy-pumpy to get to the plot. Those first couple of Spartacus series were fantastic telly, by the way.

I only saw a few episodes of that show and I don't think I was in the right head space for it but it did seem good.

[QualityChimp]

I only saw a few episodes of that show and I don't think I was in the right head space for it but it did seem good.

Blood & Sand was the first series. When lead actor Andy Whitfield battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma, they halted a sequel series and instead did a prequel series (Gods of the Arena), which was also brilliant and had one of my biggest OMG moments towards the end.
John Hannah's swearing was particularly hilarious.

I'd probably just watch these, but if you like it, you can watch S3 and 4.

My mate was raving about it, so I tuned in and they were cutting a guy's knob off, so turned it off again, but he insisted I start from the beginning and really glad I did.
The constant skullduggery and manoeuvring was so gripping.

[fuse]

I tuned in and they were cutting a guy's knob off, so turned it off again, but he insisted I start from the beginning and really glad I did.

Yeah I can imagine how it'd look pretty weird if you did it from the halfway mark.

[Neon Ignition]

Race Across the World: Series 03
Enjoyed this one but it was probably the weakest run overall so far for only one reason... and I hate to say it... Canada. By the time you're three eps in they see some epic sights but the main trouble with the route in this run is that quite a lot of the journey is fairly samey and requires spending a lot of time with the contestants hitching rides outside gas stations. Given the year it was filmed that makes sense as it meant there was no need to border cross but the show works better when the situation they're in changes up on them more often.

[egparadigm]

Presumed Innocent on Apple TV. Hard to disagree with the Guardian review which said it was impossible to care about the characters. But it was atmospheric enough, so I kept going until the end which turned out to be… utterly stupid.

[fishbowlhead]

Delicious in Dungeon. Absolutely fantastic from start to finish.

[Neon Ignition]

Celebs Race Across the World
It was okay, definitely the weakest of the series. It's clearly an easy mode version of the contest and whilst no doubt gruelling in its own way it clearly also means less to them, overall just less engaging and an example where the celeb angle detracts from a concept.

[egparadigm]

Manhunt. About the Lincoln assassination. I think it’s bloody good stuff, very atmospheric and somewhat educational. The only bit I haven’t liked so far is at the end of episode 6 when

->Open Spoiler<-

they indulge a conspiracy theory that the Secretary Stanton was involved in the plot. It’s unnecessary.

[Finsbury Girl]

Finally got around to the last few episodes of The Night Agent - it really did veer into silly territory, it started out with a cool premise went downhill a fair bit with some really stupid plot points, action towards the end was ok. As soon as the

->Open Spoiler<-

ex addict estranged father hero secret service agent talked about seeing his daughter again I knew it was the end for him lol

. It has set up for a second series, not sure if I will watch tbh.

[Finsbury Girl]

Binged Sugar over the weekend. It was going swimmingly until

->Open Spoiler<-

the reveal

. To be honest it almost completely ruined it for me but once I got used to it, I was fine. The ending was pretty cool, perfect set up for another season. Colin Farrell was superb.

[fallenangle]

Sorry to see the end of what was the last series of The Great on C4.

Not the best of these three works of genius but enough of what made The Great great to satisfy.

It includes a wonderful change of tone towards the end of the series which Elle Fanning as Catherine delivered with pitch perfect skill. Great performances from her and Nicholas Hoult as deposed man-child Czar Peter throughout. You also can not overlook the supporting players, the writer(s) and the superb production in all departments who all contributed consistently to this unique body of work.

Elle Fanning's final scene is a particularly joyous tour de force.

A classic three series set that I hope will be enjoyed by new generations of viewers long into the future.

Also good to see the latest series of Vienna Blood back on BBC2 (Sunday). Like The Great, the production is pure quality but as with most of the last series, the unique components it originally had, at least in this episode, have become attenuated to the point where they barely feature.

The whole volatile political backdrop at the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire, including the anti-Semitism, bubbling just beneath the surface that likely helped form some of Hitler's ideas and led to the start of WW1 has quietly been put on the back burner. Thus it has become something less remarkable: an entertaining enough period crime investigation drama.

Still worth watching nonetheless.

[Finsbury Girl]

Slow Horses - series 2. Was good to see Jackson and the team getting out and about & doing a bit more spy stuff. The story started out great but then some of the "surprises" were fairly obvious but that didn't take the shine off too much. Freddy Fox does a great job playing the biggest knobhead on the show. Gary Oldman continues to steal the show, him and Kristen pretty much dominate whenever they're on the screen. Looking forward to season 3. Oh the cinematography is great, they make London in 4k look amazing!

[Atticus]

We just finished S2 of Slow Horses tonight. Class season of tv. Only 6 eps but not a second wasted. To echo the comments above, Gary Oldman is amazing in every scene he’s in, helped it must be said by some quality writing. Looking forward to S3. Not sure how many more there’ll be so it’ll be one to savour.

[Dogg Thang]

Do you guys live together?

[Neon Ignition]

30 Coins: Season 02
Because no-one watches this and certainly won't now that it's been axed before the final season is made: To recap: The 30 Coins are objects of strong religious power, drawing evil in their wake. They are the coins that Judas was paid with to betray Jesus and in the first season the small population of a Spanish town find themselves caught up in the battle between a Priest and a Demon who are in pursuit of one of the coins. The second season adds Paul Giamatti to the cast and takes things international with the plot shifting to evil priests racing to collect the coins before the Demon can stop them or a Billionaire can. The Demon wants to instill the Devil to rule Earth to at least hold it under some kind of continued existence, the Priests want them to rule themselves and the Billionaire wants to use them to survive a summoning spell that will bring the world ending gaze of the eye of God. The show... doesn't shy from its set up and you can add all sorts of creatures, UFO's etc to the mix. It just about gets away with it too. Not high brow but would have been interesting to see the ending.