Telly thread

[Mr_Danger]

Watched all but the last episode of The Rig on prime. I didn’t know anything about the plot so was a bit taken aback and excited by the prospect of this being The Thing but on an oil rig. That soon disappears with some typically shit British production and writing with the plot kind of meandering for about 4 episode. Martin Compston is good in heroic moments though and his firing a flare to ignite a big fuck off pilot light atop of a crane was pretty cool, not as good as his shoot out from inside the upturned police van in Line of Duty though.

[organizedkaos]

22 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Seriously underrated from that show is how terrifying Liv Tyler is in it.

Lindelof gets a lot of shit for Lost (and rightfully so for some of it) but I think he's the absolute master of twists. Lost, The Leftovers and Watchmen all have some of the best twists you'll ever see in a TV show. I can't think of anything else that even comes close in comparison.

also the reveal of what Mrs Davis is/was is absolutely wonderfully mad (imma keep banging this drum it would appear)

[DavidB6937]

A gentle reminder that Severance is back and it's as wonderful as ever. Only one episode at a time like the good old days.

[DavidB6937]

Double post but I was as excited over the new Severance title sequence as most other shows episodes in general. What a show. It makes me rage in the best way.

[Carbomb]

On 1/7/2025 at 10:56 AM, RedTwoster said:

If there’s an opposite to being typecast, it’s Walton Goggins. It’s kind of baffling that he’s frequently overlooked for major awards. It’s pretty astounding how many memorable characters he’s played in the past year or so alone - Baby Billy in The Righteous Gemstones, The Ghoul in Fallout, Cecil in Invincible and the hero in I’m a Virgo. Then you have Boyd in Justified, Shane in The Shield - he’s seriously underrated, what a talent.

He also played a transsexual dominatrix in Sons of Anarchy called Venus van Damme. For what was clearly intended to be a throwaway, joke character, he surprisingly ended up making her very sympathetic and even, dare I say, nuanced.

[Gus Mears]

They've uploaded Ideal onto iPlayer. Praise be!

[wordsfromlee]

11 minutes ago, Gus Mears said:

They've uploaded Ideal onto iPlayer. Praise be!

Theres also a live show tour too

[Dai]

Coming to the end of my The Middle viewing and it got me thinking, has there been a great 24 episode a season sitcom created in the last 5 (even 10) years? Are they even made any more? I, for one, never hear of them any more. I assume its to do with the rise of streaming rather than traditional TV, but for years you always read about how valuable shows like Friends/Seinfeld/The Office were for the streamers, and how much they were willing to pay for them, so theres clearly a value in producing them too I would of thought. Its a shame as these sort of easy watch, pick an epiosde at random, shows take up a fair bit of my viewing. Im suprised that a streamer hasnt even attempted it. I understand why a 24 episode season of a normal show isnt done as the cost would be huge, but surely with a sitcom the cost is significantly less.

 

Two more things watched off Apple TV which Id recommend; The Adventures of Dick Turpin and Shrinking are both good, not great shows. Dick Turpin has a solid cast around Noel Fielding, who is pretty good himself. It clearly had a big budget with some nice visuals, and whilst not all of the jokes always land, its an easy watch with the occasional great gag. Shrinking seems to get a massive amount of love from the critics, but I wouldnt say its as unbelievably good as they make out. Still, an easy watch with some good laughs too, and Harrison Ford is tremendous in it.

 

Silo had a very good season finale, but the season on the whole was very slow and plodding. It took them the first 2 seasons to cover 1 book, which you can definately tell in the pace. They now have just 2 seasons to cover 2 books, which bodes well for a better next couple of seasons.

[HarmonicGenerator]

4 hours ago, Dai said:

Coming to the end of my The Middle viewing and it got me thinking, has there been a great 24 episode a season sitcom created in the last 5 (even 10) years? Are they even made any more? I, for one, never hear of them any more. I assume its to do with the rise of streaming rather than traditional TV, but for years you always read about how valuable shows like Friends/Seinfeld/The Office were for the streamers, and how much they were willing to pay for them, so theres clearly a value in producing them too I would of thought. Its a shame as these sort of easy watch, pick an epiosde at random, shows take up a fair bit of my viewing. Im suprised that a streamer hasnt even attempted it. I understand why a 24 episode season of a normal show isnt done as the cost would be huge, but surely with a sitcom the cost is significantly less.

 

The only one I can think of is probably Abbott Elementary. Season 3 was shorter because of the strikes but 1 and 2 were both 20-ish episodes each, and are great.

[Merzbow]

I think I'm in the minority that really enjoyed the slow pace of Silo, but yeah that was an excellent season finale.

Finally finished For All Mankind and it definitely picks up as it goes along in to the 80's 90's and beyond, it's still a bit wooden and the depictions of Soviet Russia and the DPRK are sketchy but I've seen far worse in American drama before. I'll catch the next season for sure, whenever it's out.

Starting Pachinko while I wait for more Severance, a solid start so far.

[Rossman]

10 hours ago, Dai said:

 

Two more things watched off Apple TV which Id recommend; The Adventures of Dick Turpin and Shrinking are both good, not great shows. Dick Turpin has a solid cast around Noel Fielding, who is pretty good himself. It clearly had a big budget with some nice visuals, and whilst not all of the jokes always land, its an easy watch with the occasional great gag. 

 

It hasn't really been explained why. But they were filming the 2nd series of Dick Turpin. Got 3/4's done then broke up for Xmas. Come January and time to start filming again, Noel Fielding never came back and pulled out from the show. So the whole show has been canned now. A lot of cast, crew, etc who have a lost a payday.

[BomberPat]

speculation in last week's Popbitch is that Noel Fielding has long Covid, and health-wise hasn't been able to keep to the schedule.

[Merzbow]

Severance...

Spoiler

Why the hell does Lumon have a folk horror department?! God, I love this show.

 

 

[DavidB6937]

If anyone else has been waiting impatiently for the new season of Hacks, apparently it's moving to Sky and S3 will be available from 7th Feb along with the first two.

[DavidB6937]

Just when I thought I couldn't love Severance any more. This week's episode.